•Y^LE«¥MiyEI&SflirY" • iLHiaisAisy •

DEPOSITED BY THE

LINONIA AND BROTHERS LIBRARY

THE SPANISH COIQUEST
IN AMERICA,

AND ITS RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF
SLAVERY AND TO
THE GOVERNMENT OF COLONIES.

BY ARTHUR HELPS.

VOL. I.

NEW YOEK:
HAEPEE & BEOTHEES, PUBLISHEES,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1856.

TO THE

REV. ROBERT PHELPS, D.D.,
MASTER OF SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

My dear Friend,
I DEDICATE this hook to you, because it is based
upon '¦'¦The Conquerors of the New World and
their Sondsmen," which I dedicated to you several
years ago.
Finding that, for the completeness of the work, it
required to be more developed, I have been obliged to
extend its plan and to enlarge its form.
I need hardly dwell upon the difficulty of my enter
prise, and the labor which, for many a weary year, it
has entailed upon me. I feel, however, that the more
it has cost me, with the greater confidence I can dedi
cate it to you, who will not look so much upon the re
sult, whether successful or unsuccessful, as upon the
expense of life and energy which it represents.
If the work should afford the least aid or enlighten
ment to those who would legislate wisely upon mat
ters connected with slavery or colonization, neither
you nor I shall regret any labor that has been ex
pended upon it.
At the time of my former dedication you were Vice-
chancellor of Cambridge, and I had the additional

iv Dedication.
pleasure of paying a mark of respect to the first officer
in a University which I always look upon with due
filial reverence and gratitude. These feelings have not
grown weaker in the lapse of time, and I am glad to
have an opportunity of renewing my expression of
them. It is nearly seven years since I dedicated the "Con
querors" to you; and it is a pleasure to think that,
though so much has changed in us and around us
during these boisterous years, we have the same se
cure friendship for each other as we had then, and, in
deed, as we had when we were at college together.
I remain, my dear friend, yours affectionately,
Arthur Helps.
June, 1855.

PREFACE.

THE present history being a work of a peculiar
kind, and the drift of it not likely to be perceived
until the reader has advanced some way in the work,
it may save him trouble, and may secure his attention
to what he would otherwise be likely to pass by as
unimportant, if I endeavor to explain at once the ob
ject in view, and the mode in which that object has
been pursued.
Some years ago, being much interested in the gen
eral subject of slavery, and engaged in writing upon
it, I began to investigate the origin of modern slavery.
I soon found that the works commonly referred to
gave me no sufficient insight into the matter. Ques
tions, moreover, arose in my mind, not immediately
connected with slavery, but bearing closely upon it,
with respect to the distribution of races in the New
World. " Why," said I to myself, "are there none
but black men in this island ; why are there none but
copper-colored men on that line of coast ; how is it
that in one town the white population predominates,
while in another the aborigines still hold their ground ?
There must be a series of historical events, which, if

vi Preface.
brought to light, would solve all these questions, and
I will endeavor to trace this out for myself."
In the simplicity of one who had never before de
voted himself to historical writing, I thought, after a
time, that I would give a slight sketch of what I had
discovered, and that this would be sufficient for my
purpose. Eventually, however, I found that I was involved
in a large work, and that there was much to be told
about the early discoveries and conquests in America
which is not to be met with in its history as hitherto
narrated. I am confirmed in this opinion by one of
the greatest lawyers and most learned men that Spain
has produced, whose office* gave him access to all the
colonial records of that country. He justly remarks
that the historians of New Spain neglected to treat of
that which was the great result of all the political
transactions they narrated. He alludes to the subject
of encomiendas.\ I have, unconsciously as far as his
remark is concerned (for I did not meet with it until
* Antonio de Leon Pinelo, Relator del consejo de las Indias. He
was also the author of the great bibliographical work Epitome de la
biblioleca oriental y occidental ndutica y geogrdfica. The Biographie
Universelle thus describes his labors : " Le nombre des pieces dont ii
eut a. faire le depouillement, est -vraiment prodigieux : le tome premier
contient l'extrait d' environ cinq cents volumes de cedules royales, com-
prenant 120,000 feuilles, et plus de 300,000 decisions."
t " No parece tan facil el fundar, con decisiones Reales, i continua-
cion de tiempos, el estilo que en las Encomiendas se observa en Nue-
va-Espana ; punto en que no ha reparado, siendo tan essencial al govi-
erno, ninguno de sus historiadores Francisco Lopez de Gomara Fr
Antonio de Remesal, Antonio de Herrera, Fr. Juan de Torquemada
ni otros, que tratando sus materias politicas, dexan la de las Encomi
endas, siendo el fin a que todas se dirigen." — Antonio de Leon Pine
lo. — Tratado de Confirmaciones Reales, part i., cap. 4. Madrid 1630

Preface. vii
I had matured my own plan), been endeavoring to
write a history that should not be liable to this cen
sure. To bring before the reader, not conquest only,
but the results of conquest — the mode of colonial gov
ernment which ultimately prevailed — the extirpation
of native races — the introduction of other races — the
growth of slavery, and the settlement of the encomi-
endas, on which all Indian society depended — has been
the object of this history.
I have now a few words to say about the mode of
accomplishing my object. I found that I could not
avail myself of any thing that had been written be
fore. Other men have written, and I believe success
fully, of the various conquests and discoveries made
in America ; but I have been obliged, both for the read
er's sake and for my own, to tell my story in my own
way. It does not suffer itself to be told in any one
conquest or in any one discovery. It sometimes lies
wholly in the New World, sometimes wholly at the
court of Spain. It depends, at one time, on some
powerful minister ; at another, upon some resolute
conqueror. It follows the course of the remarkable
men of the day, and now rises up in one colony, now
in another, its direction not being governed by the rel
ative importance of the colonies. Guatemala, for in
stance — a country of which we have heard but little
in Europe — becomes, at one period, a most important
field for investigation in a general history of Spanish
Conquest in America. A number of remarkable men
happen to be in Guatemala at the same time. Their
proceedings give the most apt illustration of their the
ories respecting slavery, colonization, and colonial gov-

viii Preface.
ernment. Hence Guatemalabecomes, for several years,
the geographical centre of the narrative, as the Pearl
Coast had been at a former period.
I feel that, in a work of such extent as this history
of the Spanish Conquest, there must be much that is
imperfect, and much that is briefly narrated. Being
obliged to take a general survey of a large field of his
tory, as well as to enter minutely into detail in those
parts of the subject which are important for my pur
pose and comparatively new to the world, there are
particular sections of the history which have necessa
rily been treated by me with a certain brevity. But,
as Oviedo, an historian constantly referred to in the
following pages, declares, most men are delighted at
coming to an end {los mas hombres son amigos de
conclusion) ; and, therefore, any brevity which is not
merely justifiable, but requisite, will, I doubt not, be
readily accepted.
I may add that, as regards the authorities I have
had recourse to in writing this history, I am greatly
indebted to the vast collections of the historian Munoz
(wisely intrusted to the care of that courteous and
learned body, the Royal Academy of Madrid), to the
publications which have taken place, in recent times,
of documents and even of histories which had hitherto
remained in manuscript ; and also, incidentally, to the
spirit of research which has groAvn up of late years in
America, and which has brought to light many valua
ble works connected with the early records of that
country. I have also been singularly fortunate in the number
of friends who have taken an almost paternal interest

Preface. ix
in the book, and who have aided me by advice, criti
cism, research, and co-operation.*
I commend the work to the reader in the hope that
it will make him desirous to turn from my pages to
those of other historians, ancient and modern, who will
enable him to supply for himself the deficiencies which
there are in this history, and to correct the errors with
which it must abound, whatever pains may have been
taken. * In speaking of the co-operation I have had the good fortune to
meet with, I must especially mention the assiduous labors of a gentle
man who has done much to add to the value of this work by illustrat
ing it with maps, carefully executed according to scale, and, in several
instances, based upon original authorities which he has anxiously scru
tinized.
A2

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

BOOK I.
PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Remarks. — Discovery of the Canary Islands. — Bethen-
court. — Portuguese Discoveries in Africa under Prince Henry of
Portugal  Page 17
CHAPTER II.
Ca da Mosto's Voyage. — Prince Henry's Death. — His Character. —
Farther Discoveries of the Kings of Portugal  58

BOOK II.
COLUMBUS. CHAPTER I.
Discovery of America  93
CHAPTER II.
Administration of Columbus in the Indies  131

BOOK III.
OVANDO.
CHAPTER I.
Written Instructions to Ovando. — Singular Interview between Ferdi
nand and Isabella and the new Governor. — State of the Royal Fam
ily of Spain. — Ovando's Arrival at St. Domingo. — Revolt of Higuey.
— Ultimate Form of Repartimiento  177

Contents.

CHAPTER II.
Ovando's Mode of managing the Spaniards. — His tyranny in Xaragua.
—Barbarities in Higuey.— Death of Queen Isabella.— Capture of the
Lncayans. — Don Diego Columbus appointed Governor of the In
dies. — Character of Ovando's Government  Page 199

BOOK IV.
THE DOMINICANS.
CHAPTER I.
Don Diego Columbus lands at St. Domingo. — New Repartimientos. —
Earliest Notice of Las Casas. — Arrival of the first Dominican Friars.
— Hispaniola dispeopled. — Modes of replenishing the Colony with
Indians. — Negroes in the Indies  227
CHAPTER II.
The Dominicans -protest^ against,Indian .slavery. — Father Antonio's
Sermon. — Both the Colonists and the Monks appeal to Spain. —
Father Antonio sees the King. — The Laws of Burgos  239

BOOK V.
OJEDA AND NICUESA.
CHAPTER I
Nature and Customs of the Indians. — Minor Voyages.  Ojeda and
Nicuesa start on their Voyage. — Ojeda's Misfortunes. — His
Death  263
CHAPTER II.
Enciso's Re-enforcements. — Establishment at Darien. — Nicuesa's
Misfortunes with his own Colony.— Nicuesa rejected by the Men
of Darien  „q„

Contents. xiii
BOOK VI.
VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA.
CHAPTER I.
Vasco Nunez's Dealings with the neighboring Caciques. — First No
tice of the Pacific. — Factions at Darien. — Vasco Nunez resolves to
discover the South Sea. — Succeeds in his Enterprise, and takes pos
session of the Pacific for the Kings of Castile. — His Return to
Darien  Page 321
CHAPTER II.
The Government under Pedraias, with the various Expeditions under
taken by his Captains  353
CHAPTER III.
The Fate of Vasco Nunez  389

BOOK VII.
CUBA.
CHAPTER I.
Cuba discovered by Columbus. — Colonized under Velasquez. — Fate of
the Cacique Hatuey. — Expedition of Narvaez and Las Casas. — Mas
sacre at Caonao, and its Consequences. — Towns founded in Cuba by
Velasquez  415

BOOK VIIL
LAS CASAS AS A COLONIST AND A REFORMER.
CHAPTER I.
The Conversion of Las Casas. — His Voyage to Spain. — The Death of
King Ferdinand  435
CHAPTER II.
Las Casas sees the Cardinal Ximenes. — The Administration of Indian
Affairs by the Cardinal. — Appointment of the Jeronimites. — Coming
of Charles to Spain. — Death of Ximenes  459

BOOK I.
PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.  DISCOVERY OF THE CANARY ISLANDS.
— BETHENCOURT. — PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA UNDER
PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL. CHAPTER II.
CA DA MOSTO'S VOYAGE.  PRINCE HENRY'S DEATH.  HIS CHARAC
TER.  FARTHER DISCOVERIES OF THE KINGS OF PORTUGAL.

¦* .*£ *>. I^A, *> .-^
=4EHJE '^s^'

SPANISH CONQUEST IN AMERICA,

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.  DISCOVERT OF THE CANARY
ISLANDS.  BETHENCOURT.  PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN
AFRICA UNDER PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL.
THE history of almost every nation tells of some
great transaction peculiar to that nation, some
thing which aptly illustrates the particular character
istics of the people, and proclaims, as we may say,
the part in human nature which that nation was to
explain and render visible. In English history, the
contest between the Crown and the Parliament; in
that of France, the French Revolution ; in that of
Germany, the religious wars, are such transactions.
All nations of the same standing have portions of
their several histories much alike. There are border
wars, intestine divisions, contests about the succes
sion to the throne, uprisings against favorites, in re
spect of which, if only different names be applied to
the account of one and the same transaction, it will
serve very well for the history of various nations, and
nobody would feel any strangeness or irrelevancy in
the story, whether it were told of France, England,

18 Introductory Remarks.
Germany, or Spain. Carrying on this idea to the
history of our system, if the other worlds around us
are peopled with beings not essentially unlike our
selves, there may be among them many Alexanders,
Csesars, and Napoleons : the ordinary routine of con
quest may be commonplace enough in many planets ;
and thus the thing most worthy to be noticed in the.
records of our Earth may be its commercial slavery
and its slave-trade ; for we may hope, though the dif
ference be to our shame, that they have not had these
calamities elsewhere.
The peculiar phase of slavery that will be brought
forward in this history is not the first and most natu
ral one, in which the slave was merely the captive in
war, " the fruit of the spear," as he has figuratively
been called, who lived in the house of his conqueror,
and labored at his lands. This system culminated
among the Romans ; partook of the fortunes of the
Empire ; was gradually modified by Christianity and
advancing civilization ; declined by slow and almost
imperceptible degrees into serfage and vassalage ; ahd^7
was extinct, or nearly so, when the second great pe
riod of slavery suddenly uprose. This second period
was marked by a commercial character. The slave
was no longer an accident of war. He had become
the object of war. He was no longer a mere acci
dental subject of barter. He was to be sought for,
to be hunted out, to be produced ; and this change
accordingly gave rise to a new branch of commerce.
Slavery became at once a much more momentous
question than it ever had been, and thenceforth, in
deed, claims for itself a history of its own.
Black against mankind, and almost unaccountably
mean and cruel as much of this history is, still it is

Introductory Remarks. 19
not without a phase of true valor and noble endeavor,
which may compensate a little for the deep darkness
on the other side. The history of slavery is not
merely an account of commercial greediness and reck
less cruelty carried to the uttermost, but it embodies
the efforts of the greatest men of many periods ; dis
plays in the fullest light their errors, their disputa
tions, their bewilderments ; partakes largely of the
nice questions canvassed by ecclesiastics ; is com
bined with the intrigues of courts and cabinets ; and,
alas ! is borne on the winds by the resolute daring
of hardy mariners and far-seeing discoverers — men
who should have been foremost in the attack upon
all mean cruelty, and some of whom thought that
they were so. Again, in the history of slavery, if it
could be well worked out, lie the means of consider
ing questions of the first importance respecting colo
nization, agriculture, social order, and government.
The remarkable persons connected with the history
of modern slavery are alone sufficient to give it some
interest. These are the members of the royal family
of Portugal throughout the fifteenth century, with
Prince Henry at their head; then there are Ferdi
nand and Isabella, Columbus, and the whole band of
brave captains who succeeded him in the discovery
and conquest of Spanish America ; there are Charles
the Fifth, Ximenes, Las Casas, Vieyra, and hosts of
churchmen and statesmen from those times down to
the present.
Lastly, there is the fate of one continent, perhaps ,
we may say of two, deeply concerned in the history *
of slavery.
The importance of the records in this matter is
not to be measured by the show they make, which is

20 Introductory Remarks.
often poor enough. There is many a small skirmish
in the history of slavery, which has had more effect
upon the fortunes of mankind than pitched battles
have had between rival nations contending apparent
ly for universal empire ; for the result of any battle
may almost be said to depend for importance, not so
much upon the measure of success obtained by either
side, nor certainly upon the original object of the war,
as upon the essential difference between the contend
ing parties, and upon the opinions they hold of each
other : greatly on the contempt, whether deserved or
not, which the victors have for the vanquished. Sup
posing, therefore, that one nation or race fails to ap
preciate another which it wars successfully against,
the result of that war is likely to be larger, especially
for evil, as the misappreciation in question is greater.
The consequences of battle, whether between races or
individuals, where each knows the worth of the jother,
are seldom such as to obliterate the fame and courage,
or change the whole social aspect of the vanquished
party. But when Spartan conquers Helot, barbarian
Goth or Visigoth subdues the polished Roman, or civ
ilized man with his many implements invades and op
presses the simple savage, then come the cruelty and
dire mismanagement which are born of ignorance and
want of sympathy. And thus, as in all human af
fairs, we have to discover the righteousness that there
is in right understanding.*
"With all due appreciation, however, of the subject
of slavery, it must be confessed that it is one which,
* " Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and
equity ; yea, every good path.
" When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleas
ant unto thy soul." — Prov., chap, ii., v. 9, 10.

Introductory Remarks. 21
if treated by itself alone, would lack dramatic interest
for a history. It has no single thread to run upon,
like the account of any man's life, or the history of a
nation. The story of slavery is fragmentary and con
fused — having a different state of progress to deal with
in different parts of the world at the same time — -and
is deficient in distinct epochs to be illustrated by great
adventures. Moreover, people think that they have
already heard all about it; but this, however, is'not so.
It may therefore be allowed that the reader must
bring with him much of the interest which he -would
have to maintain in studying the history of slavery,
if considered strictly by itself. Even then, however,
it would not be without that element of the sublime,
which consists in great extent, although of desolation.
In looking over a vast morass, unmarked by tower, or
citadel, or town, which the horizon descends upon but
does not bound, the shaping mind may discover more
to think of than in the landscape that laughs with
every variety of scenic beauty. And here, too, in this
subject of slavery is one which, were it ever so dull,
presents at all times an indefinite extent of human
struggle and human suffering. Happily, however, a
subject so deeply and terribly connected with human
ity, and which demands the study of the historian,
has entwined itself with the most interesting events
in secular history; and whenever these are truly and
fully told, it can not but appear, even though it be
sedulously kept in the background.
My intention in this work is to make a contribution
to the general history of the second period of slavery,
by giving such an account of the origin and progress
of modern slavery as will embrace the principal events
which led to the subjection of the Indians of the New

22 Discovery of the Canary Islands.
World, and to the introduction of negro slavery in
America and the West Indies. The work will thus
become, in great part, a history of Spanish America ;
and, as such, will track Columbus over seas hitherto
unsounded by mortal man, will follow the fortunes of
Vasco Nunez, Cortes, and Pizarro; and through the
mother country— at that time the most important and
menacing state in the world— be intimately connected
with the perplexed affairs of European politics in the
sixteenth century.
Previously, however, to entering upon these inter
esting times, the history of modern slavery must com
mence with the history of African discovery ; and the
first great step in that was the discovery of the Ca
nary Islands. These were the " Elysian fields" and
"fortunate islands" of antiquity. Perhaps there is
no country in the world that has been so many times
discovered, conquered, and invaded, or so much fabled
about, as these islands. There is scarcely a nation
upon earth of any maritime repute that has not had
to do with them. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Ro
mans, Moors, Genoese, Normans, Portuguese, and
Spaniards of every province (Aragonese, Castilians,
Gallicians, Biscayans, Andalucians) have all made
their appearance in these islands.* The Carthagin
ians are said to have discovered tham, and to have
reserved them as an asylum in case of extreme dan
ger to the state. Sertorius, the Roman general, who
partook the fallen fortunes of Marius, is said to have
meditated retreat to these "islands of the blessed,"
and -by some writers is supposed to have gone there.
* Viera y Claviqo, Historia General de las Islas de Canaria, Mad
rid, 1772, lib. iii.

Discovery of the Canary Islands. 23
Juba, the Mauritanian prince, son of the Juba cele
brated by Sallust, sent ships to examine them, and
has left a description of them.*
Then came the death of empires, and darkness fell
upon the human race, at least upon the records of
their history. When the world revived, and especial
ly when the use of the loadstone began to be known
among mariners, the Canary Islands were again dis
covered. Petrarch is referred to by Viera to prove
that the Genoese sent out an expedition to these isl
ands, f Las Casas mentions that an English or French
vessel bound from France or England to Spain was
driven by contrary winds to the Canary Islands, and
on its return spread abroad in France an account of
the voyage. % The information thus obtained (or per-
* Vieea, lib. i., sec. 18.
t Peteaeca, de Vita. Solitarid, lib. ii., sec. 6, cap. 3.
t Las Casas, Historia General de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 17.
The original of this work is to be found in the library of the Royal
Academy of History at Madrid. Four or five copies have been taken,
of which the author possesses one. It is a work of the highest his
torical value, as Las Casas saw with his own eyes, and was himself
engaged in, many of the transactions which he narrates ; and, more
over, he had taken care to collect contemporary documents, relating to
important events, which have since perished.
The course of the narrative is often broken by outbursts of gener
ous indignation at the treatment of the Indians, or by laborious trains
of argument to prove that they were free men. The»e parts, there
fore, of the history, which were very fitly addressed to the reader of
his own time, have ceased to interest the modem reader, who is gen
erally too much disposed to agree with Las Casas to care to listen to
his arguments or his denunciations. Occasionally, as will be seen, the
narrative is admirable, sparkling with the vivacity and intelligence of
the writer, and adequately expressing the deep concern which he took
in his subject. Indeed, his history is in great part his autobiography.
It would be surprising that a work of such value should not have
been printed, but for the fact that Herrera, the royal historiographer
of the Indies in the seventeenth century, has made the greatest use of
Las Casas, weaving in long extracts from the Historia General, taken
almost verbatim.

24 BethencourCs Expedition.
haps in other ways of which there is no record) stimu
lated Don Luis de la Cerda, Count of Clermont, great
grandson of Don Alonzo the Wise of Castile, to seek
for the investiture of the Crown of the Canaries, which
was given to him with much pomp by Clement the
Sixth, at Avignon, A.D. 1344, Petrarch being pres
ent.* This sceptre proved a barren one. The affairs
of France, with which state the new king of the Ca
naries was connected, drew off his attention, and he
died without having visited his dominions. The next
authentic information that we have of the Canary Isl
ands is that, in the times of Don Juan the First of
Castile, and of Don Enrique his son, these islands
were much visited by the Spaniards.! In 1399, we
are told that certain Andalucians, Biscayans, Guipuz-
coans, Avith the consent of Don Enrique, fitted out an
expedition of five vessels, and making a descent on
the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canaries, took cap
tive the king and queen, and one hundred and seventy
of the islanders.^
Hitherto there had been nothing but discoveries,
rediscoveries, and invasions of these islands ; but, at
last, a colonist appears upon the scene. This was
Juan de Bethencourt, a great Norman baron, lord of
St. Martin le Gaillard, in the county of Eu, of Bethen
court, of Granville, of Sancerre, and other places in
Normandy, and chamberlain to Charles the Sixth of
France. Those who are at all familiar with the his
tory of that period, and with the mean and cowardly
barbarity which characterized the long-continued con
tests between the rival factions of Orleans and Bur
gundy, may well imagine that any Frenchman would
* Vieka, lib. i., sec. 21.
t Oktiz de Zuniga, Annates, A.D. 1399, p. 262.
t Vieea, lib. iii , sec. 25.

Bethencourt's Expedition. 25
then be very glad to find a career in some other coun
try. Whatever was the motive of Juan de Bethen-
court, he carried out his purpose in the most resolute
manner. Leaving his young wife, and selling part of
his estate, he embarked at Rochelle in 1402 with men
and means for the purpose of conquering, and estab
lishing himself in, the Canary Islands. It is not requi
site to give a minute description of this expedition.
Suffice it to say, that B6thencourt met with fully the
usual difficulties, distresses, treacheries, and disasters
that attach themselves to this race of enterprising
men. After his arrival at the Canaries, finding his
means insufficient, he repaired to the court of Castile,
did acts of homage to the king, Enrique the Third,
and afterward renewed them to his son Juan the
Second, thereby much strengthening the claim which
the Spanish monarchs already made to the dominion
of these islands. Bethencourt, returning to the isl
ands with renewed resources, made himself master of
the greater part of them, reduced several of the na
tives to slavery, introduced the Christian faith, built
churches, and established vassalage. On the occasion
of quitting his colony in A.D. 1405, he called all his
vassals together, and represented to them that he had
named for his lieutenant and governor Maciot de Be
thencourt, his relation ; that he himself was going to
Spain and to Rome to seek for a bishop for them ;
and he concluded his oration with these words : " My
loved vassals, great or small, plebeians or nobles, if
you have any thing to ask me or to inform me of, if
you find in my conduct any thing to complain of, do
not fear to speak ; I desire to do favor and justice to
all the world."* * Vieka, lib. iv., sec. 20.
Vol. I.— B

26 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
The assembly he was addressing contained none of
the slaves he had made. We are told, however, and
that by eye-witnesses, that the poor natives them
selves bitterly regretted his departure, and, wading
through the water, followed his vessel as far as they
could. After his visit to Spain and to Rome, he re
turned to his paternal domains in Normandy, where,
while meditating another voyage to his colony, he died
A.D. 1425.
Maciot de Be'thencourt ruled for some time success
fully; but afterward falling into disputes with the
bishop, and his affairs generally not prospering, Ma
ciot sold his rights to Prince Henry of Portugal—
also, as it strangely appears, to another person — and
afterward settled in Madeira. The claims to the
government of the Canaries were for many years in
a most entangled state, and the right to the sovereign
ty over these islands was a constant ground of dispute
between the crowns of Spain and Portugal.
Thus ended the enterprise of Juan de Bethencourt,
which, though it can not be said to have led to any
very large or lasting results, yet, as it was the first
modern attempt of the kind, deserves to be chronicled
before commencing with Prince Henry of Portugal's
long-continued and connected efforts in the same di
rection. The events also which preceded and accom
panied Bethencourt's enterprise need to be recorded,
in order to show the part which many nations, espe
cially the Spaniards, had in the first discoveries on the
Coast of Africa.
We now turn to the history of the discoveries made,
or rather caused to be made, by Prince Henry of Por
tugal. This prince was born in 1394. He was the

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 27

son of John the First of Portugal and Philippa
the daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
That good Plantagenet blood on the mother's side
was doubtless not without avail to a man whose life
was to be spent in continuous and insatiate efforts to
work out a great idea. Prince Henry was with his
father at the memorable capture of Ceuta, the ancient
Septem, in the year 1415. This town, which lies
opposite to Gibraltar, was of great magnificence, and
one of the principal marts in that age for the produc
tions of the Eastern World.* It was here that the
Portuguese nation first planted a firm foot in Africa ;
and the date of this town's capture may, perhaps, be
taken as that from which Prince Henry began to med
itate farther and far greater conquests. His aims,
however, were directed to a point long beyond the
range of the mere conquering soldier. He was espe
cially learned for that age of the world, being skilled
in mathematical and geographical knowledge. And it
may be noticed here, that the greatest geographical
discoveries have been made by men conversant with
the book-knowledge of their own time. A work, for
instance, often seen in the hands of Columbus, which
his son mentions as having had much influence with
him, was the learned treatise of Cardinal Petro de
Aliaco (Pierre d'Ailly), the Imago Mundi.
But to return to Prince Henry of Portugal. We
learn that he had conversed much with those who had
made voyages in different parts of the world, and par
ticularly with Moors from Fez and Morocco, so that
* " Toda Europa considerava a Ceuta como hum erario das preciosi-
dades do Oriente, indo a ella buscar as drogas de preco, que produzia,
nao so Alexandria, e Damasco, mas a Libia, e o Egypto." — Vida do
Infante, Lisboa, 1758, p. 26.

28 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
he came to hear of the Azenegues, a people bordering
on the country of the negroes of Jalof.
Such was the scanty information of a positive kind
which the prince had to guide his endeavors. Then
there were the suggestions and the inducements which
to a willing mind were to be found in the shrewd con
jectures of learned men, the fables of chivalry, and,
perhaps, in the confused records of forgotten knowl
edge once possessed by Arabic geographers. The sto
ry of Prester John, which had spread over Europe
since the Crusades, was well known to the Portuguese
prince. A mysterious voyage of a certain wandering
saint, called Saint Brendan, was not without its influ
ence upon an enthusiastic mind. Moreover, there were
many sound motives urging the prince to maritime
discovery, among which a desire to fathom the power
of the Moors, a wish to find a new outlet for traffic,
and a longing to spread the blessings of the faith, may
be enumerated. The especial reason which impelled^
Prince Henry to take the burden of discovery on him-

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 29
self was, that neither mariner nor merchant would be
likely to adopt an enterprise in which there was no
clear hope of profit.* It belonged, therefore, to great
men and princes, and among such he knew of no one
but liimself who was inclined to it. This is not an
uncommon motive. A man sees something that ought

to be done, knows of no one who will do it but him
self, and so is driven to the enterprise, even should it
be repugnant to him.
And now, the first thing for those to do who would
thoroughly understand the records of maritime discov
ery, is the same as it was for Prince Henry, in which
we may be sure he was not remiss, namely, to study
our maps and charts. Without frequent reference to
* " E porque o dicto senhor quis desto saber a verdade, parecen-
dolhe que se elle ou alguu outro senhor se nom trabalhasse de o saber,
nehuus mareantes, nem mercadores, nunca se delle antremeteryam,
porque claro sta que nunca nehuus daquestes se trabalham de navegar
senom pera donde conhecidamente speram proveito." — Azueaea,
Chronica de Guine, cap. 7.

30 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
maps, a narrative like the present forms in our mind
only a mirage of names, and dates, and facts ; is
wrongly apprehended even while we are regarding it,
and soon vanishes away. The map of the world being
before us, let us reduce it to the proportions it filled
in Prince Henry's time; let us look at our infant
world. First, take away those two continents, for so
we may almost call them, each much larger than a
Europe, to the far west. Then cancel that square,
massive-looking piece to the extreme southeast : hap
pily there are no penal settlements there yet.* Then
turn to Africa : instead of that form of inverted cone
which it presents, and which we now know there are
physical reasons for its presenting, make a cimeter
shape of it by running a sHghtly-curved line from Juba
on the eastern side to Cape Nam on the western. De
clare all below that line unknown. Hitherto we have
only been doing the work of destruction, but now scat
ter emblems of Hippogriffs and Anthropophagi on the
outskirts of what is left in the map, obeying a maxim
not confined to the ancient geographers only: where
you know nothing, place terrors. Looking at the map
thus completed, we can hardly help thinking to our
selves, with a smile, what a small space, comparative
ly speaking, the known history of the world has been
transacted in up to the last four hundred years. The
idea of the universality of the Roman dominion shrinks
a little, and we begin to fancy that Ovid might have
escaped his tyrant, f The ascertained confines of the
world were now, however, to be more than doubled in
the course of one century ; and to Prince Henry of
* This was written before gold was discovered in Australia, and
when penal settlements were the most notable things in the colony.
t " But the empire of the Romans filled the world ; and when that

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 31
Portugal, as to the first promoter of these vast discov
eries, our attention must be directed.
This prince, having once the well-grounded idea in
his mind that Africa did not end where it was com
monly supposed, namely, at Cape Nam (Not), but that
there was a world beyond that forbidding negative,
seems never to have rested until he had made known
that quarter of the globe to his own. He fixed his
abode upon the promontory of Sagres, at the southern
part of Portugal, whence for many a year he could
watch for the rising specks of white sail bringing back
his captains to tell him of new countries and new men.
We may wonder that he never went himself, but he
may have thought that he served the cause better by
remaining at home, and forming a centre whence the
electric energy of enterprise was communicated to many
discoverers, and then again collected from them. More
over, he was much engaged in the public affairs of his
country. In the course of his life he was three times
in Africa, carrying on war against the Moors ; and at
home, besides the care and trouble which the state of
the Portuguese court and government must have given
him, he was occupied in promoting science and encour
aging education.
In 1415, as before noticed, he was at Ceuta. In
1418 he was settled on the promontory of Sagres.
empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe
and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of imperial despotism,
whether he was condemned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the
senate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rocks of Seriphus,
or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair.
To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he
was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could
never hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored
to his irritated master." — Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. i., p. 97, Ox
ford edition.

32 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
One night in that year he is thought to have had a
dream of promise, for on the ensuing morning he sud
denly ordered two vessels to be got ready forthwith,
and to be placed under the command of two gentlemen
of his household, Joham Goncalvez Zarco and Tnstam
Vaz, whom he ordered to proceed down the Barbary
coast on a voyage of discovery.
A contemporary chronicler, Azuraka, whose work*
has recently been discovered and published, tells the
story more simply, and merely states that these cap
tains were young men, who, after the ending of the
Ceuta campaign, were as eager for employment as the
prince for discovery, and that they were ordered on
a voyage having for its object the general molestation
of the Moors, as well as that of making discoveries
beyond Cape Nam. The Portuguese mariners had a
proverb about this cape, " He who would pass Cape
Not, either will return or not" {Quern passar o Cabo
de Nam, ou tornard ou nam), intimating that if he
did not turn before passing the cape, he would never
return at all. On the present occasion it was not
destined to be passed ; for these captains, Joham Gon
calvez Zarco and Tristam Vaz, were driven out of their
course by storms, and accidentally discovered a little
island, where they took refuge, and from that circum
stance called the island Porto Santo. " They found
there a race of people living in no settled polity, but
* This authentic and most valuable record was discovered in the
Bibliotheque Imperiale at Paris, by Senhor Fernando Denis, in 1837 ;
was published by the Portuguese embassador, the Visconde Da Carre-
ira, who transcribed the MS. with his own hand, and was annotated
by the learned Visconde Da Santarem. It is a book well worth the
care that has been bestowed upon it, as being " O primeiro livro escripto
por autor europeo sobre os paizes situados na costa occidental d' Africa
alem do Cabo Bojador."

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.

33

not altogether barbarous or savage, and possessing a
kindly and most fertile soil."* I give this description
of the first land discovered by Prince Henry's cap-

jCish Gibraltii,
^71cufeirutiii
Caiiivrylh C.Bia»cm

c-

"tf*

CofGooHSope^

* " Hallaron alii gente nada politica, mas no del todo barbara o set
vage, y posseedora de un benevolo y fertilissimo terreno." — Faria y
Squsa, Asia Portuguesa, Lisbon, 1666, torn, i., part i., cap. 1.
B2

34 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
tains, hinking it would well apply to many other lands
about to be found out by his captains and by other
discoverers. Joham Goncalvez Zarco and Tristam
Vaz returned. Their master was delighted with the
news they brought him, more on account of its prom
ise than its substance. In the same year he sent them
out again, together with a third captain, named Bar
tholomew Perestrelo, assigning a ship to each captain.
His object was not only to discover more lands, but
also to improve those which had been discovered. He
sent, therefore, various seeds and animals to Porto
Santo. This seems to have been a man worthy to
direct discovery. Unfortunately, however, among the
animals some rabbits were introduced into the new
island, and they conquered it, not for the prince, but
for themselves. Hereafter we shall find that they gave
his people much trouble, and caused no Httle reproach
to him.
We come now to the year 1419. Perestrelo, for
some cause not known, returned to Portugal at that
time. After his departure, Joham Goncalvez Zarco
and Tristam Vaz, seeing from Porto Santo something
that seemed like a cloud, but yet different (the origin
of so much discovery, noting the difference in the like
ness), built two boats, and, making for this cloud, soon
found themselves alongside a beautiful island, abound
ing in many things, but most of all in trees, on which
account they gave it the name of Madeira (wood).
The two discoverers, Joham Goncalvez Zarco and
Tristam Vaz, entered the island at different parts.
The prince their master afterward rewarded them
with the captaincies of those parts. To Perestrelo he
gave the island of Porto Santo to colonize it. Pere
strelo, however, did not make much of his captaincy,

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 35
but after a strenuous contest with the rabbits, having
killed an army of them, died himself. This captain
has a place in history as being the father-in-law of Co
lumbus, who, indeed, lived at Porto Santo for some
time, and here, on new-found land, meditated far bold
er discoveries.
Joham Goncalvez Zarco and Tristam Vaz began the
cultivation of their island of Madeira, but met with
an untoward event at first. In clearing the wood,
they kindled a fire among it, which burned for seven
years, we are told ; and in the end, that which had
given its name to the whole island, and which, in the
words of the historian, overshadowed the whole land,
became the most deficient commodity. The captains
founded churches in the island ; and the King of Por
tugal, Don Duarte, gave the temporalities to Prince
Henry, and all the spiritualities to the knights of
Christ. While these things were occurring at Madeira and
Porto Santo, Prince Henry had been prosecuting his
general scheme of discovery, sending out two or three
vessels a year, with orders to go down the coast from
Cape Nam, and make what discoveries they could;
but these did not amount to much, for the captains
never advanced beyond Cape Bojador, which is situ
ated seventy leagues to the south of Cape Nam. This
Cape Bojador was formidable in itself, being termin
ated by a ridge of rocks with fierce currents running
round them ; but was much more formidable from the
fancies which the mariners had formed of the sea and
land beyond it. " It is clear," they were wont to say,
" that beyond this cape there is no people whatever ;
the land is as bare as Libya — no water, no trees, no
grass in it ; the sea so shallow that at a league from

36 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
the land it is only a fathom deep ; the currents so
fierce that the ship which passes that cape will never

Zislcnilg,.
£agre& Gibral&
Canary If^^JfC. Warn
3t.l?m-0&e1leSr4£
C.Bla1lC\

CtfGoooLEope^^

return;"* and thus their theories were brought in to
justify their fears.
This outstretcher (for such is the meaning of the
* Azueara, Paris, 1841, cap. 8.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 37
word Bojador) was therefore as a bar drawn across
that advance in maritime discovery which had for so
long a time been the first object of Prince Henry's life.
The prince had now been working at his discoveries
for twelve years, with little approbation from the gen
erality of persons {con poca aprovacion de muchos),
the discovery of these islands, Porto Santo and Ma
deira, serving to whet his appetite for farther enter
prise, but not winning the common voice in favor of
prosecuting discoveries on the coast of Africa. The
people at home, improving upon the reports of the
sailors, said that '* the land which the prince sought
after was merely some sandy place like the deserts of
Libya ; that princes had possessed the empire of the
world, and yet had not undertaken such designs as
his, nor shown such anxiety to find new kingdoms ;
that the men who arrived in these foreign parts (if they
did arrive) turned from white into black men ; that
the king, Don John, the prince's father, had endowed
foreigners with land in his kingdom, to break up and
cultivate it — a thing very different from taking people
out of Portugal, which had need of them, to bring them
among savages to be eaten, and to place them upon
lands of which the mother-country had no need ; that
the Author of the world had provided these islands
solely for the habitation of wild beasts, of which an
additional proof was, that those rabbits the discoverers
themselves had introduced were now dispossessing
them of the island."*
There is much here of the usual captiousness to be
found in the criticism of by-standers upon action, mix
ed with a great deal of false assertion and premature
knowledge of the ways of Providence. Still it were
* Faeia y Sousa, torn, i., part i., cap. I.

38 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
to be wished that most criticism upon action was as
wise ; for that part of the common talk which spoke
of keeping their own population to bring out their own
resources had a wisdom in it, which the men of future
centuries were yet to discover throughout the Penin
sula. Prince Henry, as may be seen by his perseverance
up to this time, was not a man. to have his purposes
diverted by such criticism, much of which must have
been in his eyes worthless and inconsequent in the
extreme. Nevertheless, he had his own misgivings.
His captains came back one after another with no
good tidings of discovery, but with petty plunder
gained, as they returned, from incursions on the Moor
ish coast. The prince concealed from them his cha
grin at the fruitless nature of their attempts, but probr
ably did not feel it less on that account. He began
to think, Was it for him to hope to discover that land
which had been hidden from so many princes ? Still
he felt within himself the incitement of " a virtuous
obstinacy," which would not l&t him rest. Would it
not, he thought, be ingratitude to God, who thus
moved his mind to these attempts, if he were to de
sist from his work, or be negligent in it?* He re-
* Porem quando os capitaes tornavam, faziam algumas entradas na
costa de Berberia (como atras dissemos), com que elles refaziam parte
da despeza, o que o Infante passava com soffrimento, sem por isso
mostrar aos homens descontentamento de seu servico, dado que nao
cumprissem o principal a que eram enviados. Porque como era Prin
cipe Catholico, e todalas suas cousas punha em as maos de Deos, pa-
recia-lhe que nao era merecedor que per elle fosse descuberto, o que
tanto tempo havia que estava escondido aos Principes passados de Hes-
panha. Com tudo, porque sentia em si hum estimulo de virtuosa per-
fia, que o nao leixava descancar em outra cousa, parecia-lhe que era
ingratidao a Deos dar-lhe estes movimentos, que nao desistisse da obra,
e elle ser a isso negligente." — Barros, Lisbon, 1778, dec. i., lib. i.,
cap. 4.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 39
solved, therefore, to send out again Gil Eannes, one
of his household, who had been sent the year before,
but had returned, like the rest, having discovered
nothing. He had been driven to the Canary Islands,
and had seized upon some of the natives there, whom
he brought back. With this transaction the prince
had shown himself dissatisfied ; and Gil Eannes, now
intrusted again with command, resolved to meet all
dangers rather than to disappoint the wishes of his
master. Before his departure, the prince called him
aside and said, " Vou can not meet with such peril
that the hope of your reward shall not be much great
er ; and, in truth, I wonder what imagination this is
that you have all tlken up — in a matter, too, of so
little certainty ; for if these things which are reported
had any authority, however little, I would not blame
you so much. But you quote to me the opinions of
four mariners, who, as they were driven out of their
way to Frandes or to some other ports to which they
commonly navigated, had not, and could not have
used, the needle and the chart ; but do you go, how
ever, and make your voyage without regard to their
opinion, and, by the grace of God, you will not bring
out of it any thing but honor and profit."*
We may well imagine that these stirring words of
the prince must have confirmed Gil Eannes in his re
solve to efface the stain of his former misadventure ;
and he succeeded in doing so ; for he passed the dread
ed Cape Bojador — a great event in the history of Af
rican discovery, and one that in that day was consid
ered equal to a labor of Hercules. Gil Eannes re
turned to a grateful and most delighted master. He
informed the prince that he had landed, and that the
* Azuraea, cap. 9.

40 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
soil appeared to him unworked and fruitful ; and, like
a prudent man, he could not only tell of foreign plants,
but had brought some of them home with him in a
barrel of the new-found earth — plants much like those
which bear in Portugal the roses of Santa Maria. The
prince rejoiced to see them, and gave thanks to God,
" as if they had been the fruit and sign of the prom
ised land; and besought our Lady, whose name the
plants bore, that she would guide and set forth the
doings in this discovery to the praise and glory of
God, and to the increase of His holy faith."*
The pious wish expressed above is the first of the
kind that we have occasion to notice in this history ;
but similar wishes seem to have been predominant in
the minds of the greatest discoverers and promoters
of discovery in those times. I believe this desire of
theirs to have been thoroughly genuine and deep-seat
ed ; and, in fact, that the discoveries would not have
been made at that period but for the impulse given to
them by the most pious minds longing to promote, by
all means in their power, the spread of what to them
was the only true and saving faith. There is much
to blame in the conduct of the first discoverers in Af
rica and America ; it is, however, but just to acknowl
edge that the love of gold was not by any means the
only motive which urged them, or which could have
urged them, to such endeavors as theirs. We shall
more readily admit the above conclusion if we keep
in our minds the views then universally entertained
of the merits and efficacy of mere formal communion
with the Church, and the fatal consequences of not
being within that communion. A man so enlightened
* Barros, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 4. Azueara, cap. 9.

Portuguese Discoveries %n Africa. 41
as Las Casas scorns to be bound by passages brought
against him in argument from the works of heathen
writers — men who are now living in hell, as he says ;
and Columbus, in giving an account of his third voy
age to the Catholic sovereigns, says that in temporal
matters he has only a " blanca" for the offertory, and
that in spiritual matters he is so apart from the holy
sacraments of the holy Church, that if he were to die
where he is, his soul w*>uld be forgotten {que se olvi->
dard desta dnima si se aparta acd del cuerpo). ' ' Weep
for me," he adds, " ye that are charitable, true, or just."
And, doubtless, in the minds of the common people,
the advantage of this communion with the Church
stood at the highest. This will go a long way to ex-r
plain the wonderful inconsistency, as it seems to us,
of the most cruel men appealing to their good works
as promoters of the faith. And the maintenance of
such Church principles will altogether account for the
strange oversights which pure and high minds have
made in the means of carrying out those principles^
fascinated as they were by the brilliancy and magni
tude of the main object they had in view.
The Old World had now obtained a glimpse be
yond Cape Bojador. The fearful " outstretcher" had
no longer much interest for them, being a ,thing that
was overcome, and which was to descend from an im
possibility to a landmark, from which, by degrees, they
would almost silently steal down the coast, counting
their miles by thousands, until Vasco de Gama should
boldly carry them round to India.
After the passing of Cape Bojador there was a lull

42 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
in Portuguese discovery, the period from 1434 to 1441
being spent in enterprises of very little distinctness or
importance. Indeed, during the latter part of this pe
riod the prince was fully occupied with the affairs of
Portugal. In 1437 he accompanied the unfortunate
expedition to Tangier, in which his brother Ferdinand
was taken prisoner, who afterward ended his days in
slavery to the Moor. In 1438, King Duarte dying,
the troubles of the regency occupied Prince Henry's
attention. In 1441, however, there was a voyage *
which led to very important consequences. In that
year Antonio Goncalvez, master of the robes to Prince
Henry, was sent out with a vessel to load it with skins
of " sea-wolves," a number of them having been seen,
during a former voyage, in the mouth of a river about
fifty-four leagues beyond Cape Bojador. Goncalvez
resolved to signalize his voyage by a feat that should
gratify his master more than the capture of sea-wolves,
and he accordingly planned and executed successfully
an expedition for capturing some Azeneghi Moors, in
order, as he told his companions, to take home " some
of the language of that country." NuBo Tristam, an
other of Prince Henry's captains, afterward falling in
with Goncalvez, a farther capture of Moors was made,
and Goncalvez returned to Portugal with his spoil.
In the same year Prince Henry applied to Pope
Martin the Fifth, praying that his Holiness would grant
to the Portuguese crown all that it should conquer,
from Cape Bojador to the Indies, together with plenary
indulgence for those who should die while engaged in
such conquests. The Pope granted these requests.
" And now," says a Portuguese historian, " with this
apostolic grace, with the breath of royal favor, arid al
ready with the applause of the people, the prince pur-

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 43
sued his purpose with more courage and with greater
outlay."* In 1442, the Moors whom Antonio Goncalvez had
captured in the previous year promised to give black
slaves in ransom for themselves, if he would take
them back to their own country ; and the prince, ap
proving of this, ordered Goncalvez to set sail immedi
ately, " insisting as the foundation of the matter that
if Goncalvez should not be able to obtain so many
negroes (as had been mentioned) in exchange for the
three Moors, yet that he should take them ; for, what
ever number he should get, he would gain souls, be
cause they (the negroes) might be converted to the
faith, which could not be managed with the Moors, "f
Here again may be seen the religious motive predom
inating ; and, indeed, the same motive may be deduced
from numerous passages in which this prince's con
duct comes before us.
Goncalvez obtained ten black slaves, some gold
dust, a target of buffalo hide, and some ostriches' eggs,
in exchange for two of the Moors, and, returning with
his cargo, excited general wonderment on account of
the color of the slaves.}: These, then, we may pre
sume, were the first black slaves that made their ap
pearance in the Peninsula since the extinction of the
old slavery.
* Faria t Sottsa, torn, i., part i., cap. 1.
t " Ordenou o Infante de o despachar logo em hum navio, fazendo
fundamento, que quando Antao Goncalves nao pudesse haver tantos
negros a troco destes tres Mouros, ja de quantos quer que fossem gan-
hava almas, porque se converteriam a Fe, o que elle nao podia acabar
com os Mouros." — Baebos, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 7.
t " Entraron en el Reyno con admiracion comun, causada del color
'de Ios esclavos." — Faria y Sousa, torn, i., part i., cap. 1.

44 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
I am not ignorant that there are reasons for alleging
that negroes had before this era been seized and car
ried to Seville. The, Ecclesiastical and Secular An
nals of that city, under the date 1474, record that ne
gro slaves abounded there, and that the fifths levied on
them produced considerable gains to the royal reve
nue ; it is also mentioned that there had been traffic
of this kind in the days of Don Enrique the Third,
about 1399, but that it had since then fallen into the
hands of the Portuguese. The chronicler states that
the negroes of Seville were treated very kindly from
the time of King Enrique, being allowed to keep their
dances and festivals ; and that one of them was named
"mayoral" of the rest, who protected them against
their masters, and before the courts of law, and also
settled their own private quarrels. There is a letter
from Ferdinand and Isabella in the year 1474, to a
celebrated negro, Juan de Valladolid, commonly called
the "Negro Count" (el Conde Negro), nominating him
to this office of "mayoral of the negroes," which runs ¦
thus : "For the many good, loyal, and signal services
which you have done us, and do each day, and because
we know your sufficiency, ability, and good disposition,
we constitute you mayoral and judge of all the negroes
and mulattoes, free or slaves, which are in the very
loyal and noble city of Seville, and throughout the
whole archbishopric thereof, and that the said negroes
and mulattoes may not hold any festivals, nor plead
ings among themselves, except before you, Juan de
Valladolid, negro, our judge and mayoral of the said
negroes and mulattoes ; and we command that you,
and you only, should take cognizance of the disputes,
pleadings, marriages, and other things which may take
place among them, forasmuch as you are a person suf-

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 45
ficient for that office, and deserving of your power, and
you know the. laws and ordinances which ought to be
kept, and we are informed that you are of noble lineage
among the said negroes."*
But the above merely shows that in the year 1474
there were many negroes in Seville, and that laws and
ordinances had been made about them. These ne
groes might all, however, have been imported into Se
ville since the Portuguese discoveries. True it is,
that in the times of Don Enrique the Third, and dur
ing Bethencourt's occupation of the Canary Islands,
slaves from thence had been brought to France and
Spain ; but these islanders were not negroes, and it
certainly may be doubted whether any negroes were
imported into Seville previous to 1443.
Returning to the course of Portuguese affairs, an
historian of that nation informs us that the gold ob
tained by Goncalvez "awakened, as it always does,
covetousness ;"| and there is no doubt that it proved
an important stimulus to farther discovery. The next
year Nuno Tristam went farther down the African
coast ; and, off Adeget, one of the Arguim Islands,
captured eighty natives, whom he brought to Portugal.
These, however, were not negroes, but Azenegues.
The tide of popular opinion was now not merely
turned, but was rushing in full flow in favor of Prince
Henry and his discoveries. The discoverers were
found to come back rich in slaves and other commod
ities ; whereas it was remembered that in former wars
and undertakings, those who had been engaged in them
* Ortiz de ZoSiga, Annates Eclesidsticos y Seculares de Sevilla, p.
374. Madrid, 1677.
t Faria v Sousa.

46 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
had generally returned in great distress. Strangers,
too, now came from afar, scenting the prey. A new

L

jyagre sm^4l
Gibraltar
Canary I?
ji.iyor4
C.BlailC%
ridels. ""tags? c-*° rt31*el

CtfGooclffop

mode of life, as the Portuguese said, had been found
out ; and " the greater part of the kingdom was moved
with a sudden desire to follow this way to Guinea."*
* Barros, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 8.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 47
In 1444, a company was formed at Lagos, who re
ceived permission from the prince to undertake discov
ery along the coast of Africa, paying him a certain por
tion of any gains which they might make. This has
been considered as a company founded for carrying on
the slave-trade ; but the evidence is by no means suf
ficient to show that its founders meant such to be its
purpose. It might rather be compared to an expedi
tion sent out, as we should say in modern times, with
letters of marque, in which, however, the prizes chiefly
hoped for were, not ships, nor merchandise, but men.
The only thing of any moment, however, which the
expedition accomplished, was to attack successfully
the inhabitants of the islands Nar and Tider, and to
bring back about two hundred slaves.* I grieve to
say that there is no evidence of Prince Henry's put
ting a check to any of these proceedings ; but, on the
contrary, it appears that he awarded with large honors
Lancarote, one of the principal men of this expedition,
and received his own fifth of the slaves. Yet I have
scarcely a doubt that the words of the historian are
substantially true — that discovery, not gain, was still
the prince's leading idea.f We have an account from
an eye-witness of the partition of the slaves brought
back by Lancarote, which, as it is the first transaction
of the kind on record, is jrorthy of notice, more espe
cially as it may enable the reader to understand the
motives of the prince, and of other men of those times.
*¦ Barros does not say of what race these slaves were, but merely
calls them " almas." Faeia t Sousa gives them the name of "Moors,"
a very elastic word. I imagine that they were Azenegues.
t " Porque huma das cousas, que o Infante naquelle tempo trazia
ante os olhos, e em que o mais podiam comprazer, e servir, era em
aquelle descubrimento, por ser cousa, que ella plantara, e creara com
tanta industria, e despeza." — Babros, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 8.

48 Azurara's lament.
It is to be found in the Chronicle, before referred to,
of Azueaea. The merciful chronicler is smitten to
the heart at the sorrow he witnesses, but still believes
it to be for good, and that he must not let his mere
earthly commiseration get the better of his piety.
" O thou heavenly Father, " he exclaims, ' ' who, with
thy powerful hand, without movement of thy divine
essence, governest all the infinite company of thy holy
city, and who drawest together all the axles of the up
per worlds, divided into nine spheres, moving the times
of their long and short periods as it pleases thee ! I
implore thee that my tears may not condemn my con
science, for not its law, but our common humanity
constrains my humanity to lament piteously the suf
ferings of these people (slaves). And if the brute an
imals, with their mere bestial sentiments, by a natural
instinct, recognize the misfortunes of their like, what
must this my human nature do, seeing thus before my
eyes this wretched company, remembering that I my
self am of the generation of the sons of Adam ! The
other day, which was the eighth of August, very early
in the morning, by reason of the heat, the mariners
began to bring-to their vessels, and, as they had been
commanded, to draw forth those captives to take them
out of the vessel ; whom, placed together on that plain,
it was a marvelous sight to behold, for among them
there were some of a reasonable degree of whiteness,
handsome and well made ; others less white, resem
bling leopards in their color ; others as black as Ethi
opians, and so ill formed, as well in their faces as their
bodies, that it seemed to the beholders as if they saw
the forms of a lower hemisphere. *But what heart
* " Mas qual serya o coracom, por duro que seer podesse, que nom
fosse pungido de piedoso sentimento, veendo assy aquella companha ;

Azurard's lament. 49
was that, how hard soever, which was not pierced with
sorrow, seeing that company ; for some had sunken
cheeks, and their faces bathed in tears, looking at each
other ; others were groaning very dolorously, looking
at the heights of the heavens, fixing their eyes upon
them, crying out loudly, as if they were asking succor
from the Father of nature ; others struck their faces
with their hands, throwing themselves on the earth ;
others made their lamentations in songs, according to
the customs of their country, which, although we could
not understand their language, we saw corresponded
well to the height of their sorrow. But now, for the
increase of their grief, came those who had the charge
of the distribution, and they began to put them apart
one from the other, in order to equalize the portions ;
wherefore it was necessary to part children and par
ents, husbands and wives, and brethren from each oth
er. Neither in the partition of friends and relations
was any law kept, only each fell where the lot took
him. O powerful fortune ! who goest hither and thith
er with thy wheels, compassing the things of the world
as it pleaseth thee, if thou canst, place before the eyes
ca huus tiinham as caras baixas, e os rostros lavados com lagrimas,
olhando huus contra os outros ; outros estavam gemendo muy dooras-
amente, esguardando a altura dos ceeos, firmando os olhos em elles,
braadando altamente, como se pedissem acorro ao Padre da natureza ;
outros feryam seu rostro com suas palmas, lancandosse tendidos em
rneo do chaao ; outros faziam suas lamentacooes em maneira de canto,
segundo o costume de sua terra, nasquaaes postoque as pallavras da
linguajem aos nossos nom podesse seer entendida, bem correspondya
ao graao de sua tristeza. Mas pera seu doo seer mais acrecentado,
sobreveherom aquelles que tiinham carrego da partilha, e comecarom
de os apartarem huus dos outros ; afim de poerem spus quinhooes em
igualleza ; onde conviinha de necessydade de se apartarem os filhos
dos padres, e os molheres dos maridos, e os huus irmaaos dos outros.
A amigos nem a parentes nom se guardava nhua ley, somente cada
huu cay a onde o a sorte levava !"
Vol. I.— C

50 Azuvurds lament.
of this miserable nation some knowledge of the things
that are to come after them, that they may receive
some consolation in the midst of their great sadness !
and you others who have the business of this partition,
look with pity on such great misery, and consider how
can those be parted whom you can not disunite 1
Who will be able to make this partition without great
difficulty ? for while they were placing in one part the
children that saw their parents in another, the children
sprang up perseveringly and fled to them ; the moth
ers inclosed their children in their arms, and threw
themselves with them on the ground, receiving wounds
with little pity for their own flesh, so that their off
spring might not be torn from them \ And so, with
labor and difficulty, they concluded the partition, for,
besides the trouble they had with the captives, the
plain was full of people, as well of the place as of the
villages and neighborhood around, who in that day
gave rest to their hands, the mainstay of their liveli
hood, only to see this novelty. And as they looked
upon these things, some deploring, some reasoning
upon them, they made such a riotous noise as greatly
to disturb those who had the management of this dis
tribution. The Infante was there upon a powerful
horse, accompanied by his people, looking out his share,
but as a man Avho for his part did not care for gain,
for, of the forty-six souls which fell to his fifth, he.
speedily made his choice, as all his principal riches
were in his contentment, considering with great delight
the salvation of those souls which before were lost.
And certainly his thought was not vain, for as soon as
they had knowledge of our language, they readily be
came Christians ; and I, who have made this history
in this volume, have seen in the town of Lagos young

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 51
men and young women, the sons and grandsons of
those very captives, born in this land, as good and as
true Christians as if they had lineally descended, since
the commencement of the law of Christ, from those
who were first baptized. "*
The good Azueaea wished that these captives
might have some foresight of the things to happen
after their death. I do not think, however, that it
would have proved much consolation to them to have
foreseen that they were almost the first of many mill
ions to be dealt with as they had been ; for in this
year, 1444, Europe may be said to have made a dis
tinct beginning in the slave-trade, henceforth to spread
on all sides like the waves upon stirred water, and
not, like them, to become fainter and fainter as the
circles widen.
In 1445, an expedition was fitted out by Prince
Henry himself, and the command given to Gonsalvo
de Cintra, who was unsuccessful in an attack on the
natives near Cape Blanco. He and some other of the
principal men of the expedition lost their lives. These
were the first Portuguese who died in battle on that
coast. In the same year the prince sent out three
other vessels. The captains received orders from the
Infante, Don Pedro, who was then regent of Portugal,
to enter the River d'Oro, and make all endeavors to
* Azueaea, cap. 25. I have not scrupled to give Azueaea's de
scription of this remarkable scene without abridgment ; and, indeed,
throughout this narrative I shall be obliged to quote largely. Many
of the works referred to are in manuscript. Several even of the print
ed Ones are of the highest rarity. -In such a case, it seems to be a
service to literature to quote as copiously from the original documents
as can be done without embarrassing the narrative or encumbering the
page.

52 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
convert the natives to the faith, and even, if they
should not receive baptism, to make peace and alliance
with them. This did not succeed. It is probable

tSagre&LsA GibralfctzA
Canary I$^m0lC.Wa.m,
C.BlcncS% •Hodert.

that the captains found negotiation of any kind ex
ceedingly tame and apparently profitless in compari
son Avith the pleasant forays made by their predeces-

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 53
sors. The attempt, however, shows much intelligence
and humanity on the part of those in power in Portu
gal. That the instructions were sincere, is proved by
the fact of this expedition returning with only one
negro, gained in ransom, and a Moor who came of his
own accord to see the Christian country.
This same year 1445 is signalized by a great event
in the progress of discovery along the African coast.
Dinis Dyaz, called by Baeeos, and the historians who
followed him, Dinis Fernandez, sought employment
from the Infante, and being intrusted by him Avith the
command of a vessel, pushed boldly down the coast,
and passed the River Sanaga (Senegal), which divides
the Azenegues (whom the first discoverers always
called Moors) from the negroes of Jalof. The inhab
itants were much astonished at the presence of the
Portuguese vessel on their coasts, and at first took it
for a fish, or a bird, or a phantasm ; but when in their
rude boats (hollowed logs) they neared it, and saw
that there were men in it, judiciously concluding that
it was a more dangerous thing than fish, or bird, or
phantasm, they fled. Dinis Fernandez, however, cap
tured four of them off that coast ; but as his object was
discovery, not slave-hunting,* he went on till he dis
covered Cape Verde, and then returned to his country,
to be received with much honor and favor by Prince
Henry. These four negroes taken by Dinis Fernan
dez were the first taken in their own country by the
Portuguese.! That the prince was still engaged in
* " Como seu proposito mais era descubrir terra por servir o infante,
que trazer cativos pera seu^roprio proveito." — Baeros, dec. i., lib. i.,
cap. 9.
t " Os quaaes forom os primeiros que em sua propria terra forom
filhados per Xpaaos, nem ha hi cronica nem estorya em que se conte
o contrairo." — Azueara, cap. 31.

54 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
high thoughts of discovery and conversion, we may
conclude from observing that he rewarded and honor
ed Dinis Fernandez as much as if he had brought him
large booty; for the prince "thought Httle of what
ever he could do for those who came to him with these
signs and tokens of another greater hope which he en
tertained."* In this case, too, as in others, we should do great
injustice if we supposed that Prince Henry had any
of the pleasure of a slave-dealer in obtaining these
negroes : it is far more probable that he valued them
as persons capable of furnishing intelligence, and, per
haps, of becoming interpreters for his future expedi
tions ; not that, without these especial motives, he
would have thought it any thing but great gain for a
man to be made a slave, if it were the means of bring
ing him into communion with the Church.
After this, several expeditions, which did not lead
to much, occupied the prince's time till 1447. In
that year, a fleet, large for those times, of fourteen
vessels, was fitted out at Lagos by the people there,
and the command given by Prince Henry to Lanca-
rote. The object seems to have been, from a speech
that is recorded of Lancarote's, to make war upon the
Azeneghi Moors, and especially to take revenge for
the defeat before mentioned which Gonsalvo de Cintra
suffered in 1445, near Cape Blanco. That purpose
effected, Lancarote went southward, extending the
discovery of the coast to the River Gambia. In the
course of his proceedings on that coast, we find again
that Prince Henry's instructions insisted much upon
* " Que sempre lhe parecia pouco o que fazia aquelles, que lhe
vinham com estas mostras, e sinaes d'outra maior esperanca que elle
tinha." — Barros, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 9.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 55
the maintenance of peace with the natives.* An
other instance of the same disposition on his part de
serves to be especially recorded. The expedition had
been received in a friendly manner at Gomera, one of
the Canary Islands. Notwithstanding this kind re
ception, some of the natives were taken prisoners.
On their being brought to Portugal, Prince Henry
had them clothed and afterward set at liberty in the
place from which they had been taken, f
This expedition under Lancarote had no great re
sult. The Portuguese went a little farther down the
coast than they had ever been before, but they did
not succeed in making friends of the natives, who had
already been treated in a hostile manner by some Por
tuguese from Madeira. Neither did the expedition
make great spoil of any kind. They had got into
feuds Avith the natives, and were preparing to attack
them, when a storm dissipated their fleet and caused
them to return home.
It appears, I think, from the general course of pro
ceedings of the Portuguese in those times, that they
considered there was always war between them and
the Azeneghi Moors — that is, in the territory from
Ceuta as far as the Senegal River ; but that they had
no declared hostility against the negroes of Jalof, or
of any country farther south, though skirmishes
would be sure to happen from ill-understood attempts
* " Gomes Pires, a quem o Capitao Lancarote mandou em hum
batel, que fosse a elles, parecendo-lhe que os provocava mais a paz,
que lhe o infante muito encommendava em seu regimento, lancou-lhes
em terra hum bollo, hum espelho, e huma folha de papel, em que hia
debuxada huma cruz." — Baeeos, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 13.
t " Infidelidad que el infante castigo con mandarlos vesty, y poner-
los libres, y luzidos en su naturaleza."— Far:a y Souza, torn, i., part
i., cap. i.

56 Portuguese Discoveries .in Africa.
at friendship on the one side, and just or needless
fears on the other.
The last public enterprise of which Prince Henry
had the direction was worthy to close his administra
tion of the affairs relating to Portuguese discovery.
He caused two embassadors to be dispatched to the
King of the Cape Verde territory to treat of peace,
and to introduce the Christian faith. One of the em
bassadors, a Danish* gentleman, was treacherously
killed by the natives, and upon that the other re
turned, having accomplished nothing.
Don Alfonso the Fifth, the nephew of Prince Henry,
now took the reins of government, and the future ex
peditions along the coast of Africa proceeded in his
name. Still it does not appear that Prince Henry
ceased to have power and influence in the manage
ment of African affairs ; and the first thing that the
king did in them was to enact that no one should
pass Cape Bojador without a license from Prince
Henry. Some time between 1448 and 1454 a for
tress was built in one of the islands of Arguim, which
islands had akeady become a place of bargain for gold
and negro slaves, f This was the first Portuguese
establishment on the coast of Africa. It seems that
a system of trade was now established between the
Portuguese and the negroes. J
* This employment of a foreigner, which is not the only instance,
seems to show that the Portuguese prince cultivated good relations
with intelligent men of other countries.
t " Porque a las Islas de Arguim concurriarescate de oro, y negros,
mando el Rey levantar a una dellas el Castillo de aquel nombre (y file
el primero que se levanto en nuestras conquistas)." — Faria y Sousa,
torn, i., part, i., cap. 2.
t " A este tempo o negocio de Guine andava ja mui corrente entre
os nossos, e os moradores daquellas partes, e huns com es outros se
communicavam em as cousas do -commercio com paz, v amor, sem

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 57
Having come to an important point in the course
of Portuguese discovery, Ave may now make a pause,
not without some satisfaction at having got through a
tedious part of the narrative — a part chiefly marked
by names, dates, and bare events, which stand in the
undiversified story like solitary post-houses in the
" steppes" of Russia or the " landes" in France.
Admitting, however, to the full, any tediousness
that there may be in this account of early Portuguese
discovery, we ought not, I think, to consider it un
interesting. The beginnings of great things, even if
obscure, trivial, isolated, without the details which
bring reality into presence, and round which the hopes
and the fortunes of men have not yet gathered, still
can not be devoid of interest to any thoughtful, fore
casting mind. The traveler willingly dismounts to
see the streamlet which is the origin of a great river,
and the man of imagination (who is patient in research
because he is imaginative), as, in science, he labori
ously follows with delight the tracks now hardened in
the sandstone of obscure birds which paddled over
those buried plains ages ago, so, in history, he will
often find material to meditate upon, and to observe,
in slight notices, which, however, like the others, in
dicate much to him of by-gone times and wondrous
changes. aquellas entradas, e saltos de roubos de guerra, que no principio
houve." — Bakros, dec. i., lib. ii., cap. 2. See also Azurara, cap. 95.
C2

CHAPTER II.
CA DA MOSTO'S VOYAGE. — PRINCE HENKY'S DEATH. — HIS
CHARACTER.  FARTHER DISCOVERIES OF THE KINGS OF
PORTUGAL.
AT the close of the preceding chapter it was in
timated that the narrative of these Portuguese
voyages is rather uninviting. Could we recall, how
ever, the voyagers themselves, and listen to their
story, we should find it animating enough. Each
enterprise, as we have it now, with its few dry facts,
seems a meagre affair ; but it was far otherwise to the
men who were concerned in it. We have seen that
piety had a large part in these undertakings : doubt
less the love of adventure and the craving for novelty
had. their influences also.* And what adventure it
was ! new trees, new animals, riew stars, to be seen :
nothing bounded, nothing trite ; nothing which had
the bloom taken off it by much previous description !
These early voyagers, moreover, were like children
coming out to take their first gaze into the world,
with ready credulity and unlimited fancy, willing to
* " They err who regard the Conquistarbres as led only by a thirst
for gold, or even exclusively by religious fanaticism. Dangers always
exalt the poetry of life ; and, moreover, the powerful age which we
iere seek to depict in regard to its influence on the development of
cosmical ideas, gave to all enterprises, as well as to the impressions
of nature offered by distant voyages, the charm of novelty and sur
prise, whioh begins to be wanting to our present more learned age in
the many regions of the earth which are now open to us."  Hum
boldt's Kosmos, Sabine's translation, London, 1848, vol. ii., p 272.

Ca da Mostds Voyage. 59
believe in fairies and demons, Amazons and "forms
of a lower hemisphere," mystic islands, and fountains
of perpetual youth.
Then, too, besides the hopes and fears of each in
dividual of the crew, the conjoint enterprise had in it
a life to be lived and a career to be worked out. It
started to do something ; fulfilled its purpose, or at
least some purpose ; and then came back radiant with
success, from that time forward to be a great fact in
history. Or, on the other hand, there was some small
failure or mischance, perhaps, early in the voyage:
the sailors then began to reckon up ill omens, and
to say that little good would come of this business.
Farther on, some serious misadventure happened
which made them turn; or from the mere lapse of
time, they were obliged to bethink themselves of get
ting back. Safety, not renown nor profit, now be
came their object, and their hope was at best but the
negative of some fear. Thereupon, no doubt, ensued
a good deal of recrimination among themselves, for
very few people are magnanimous enough to share ill-
success kindly together. Then, in the long, dull even
ings of their voyage homeward, as they sat looking
on the waters, they thought what excuses and ex
planations they would make to their friends at home,
and how shame and vexation would mingle with their
joy at returning.
This transaction, teeming as it did with anxious
life, must make a poor show in some chronicle : they
sailed ; and did something, or failed in doing, and
then came back ; and this was in such a year : brief
records, like the entry in an almanac, or the few em
phatic words on a tombstone!
At the period, however, we are now entering upon,

60 Ca da Mostds Voyage.
the annals of maritime discovery are fortunately en
riched by the account of a voyager who could tell
more of the details of what he saw than we have hith
erto heard from other voyagers, and who was himself
his own chronicler.
In 1454, Ca da Mosto, a young Venetian, who had
already gained some experience in voyaging, happened
to be on board a Venetian galley that was detained
by contrary winds at Cape St. Vincent. Prince Henry
was then living close to the cape. He sent his sec
retary and the Venetian consul on board the galley.
They told of the great things the prince had done,
showed samples of the commodities that came from
the lands discovered by him (Madeira sugars, Drag
on's-blood, and other articles), and spoke of the gains
made by Portuguese voyagers being as great as 700
or 1000 per cent. Ca da Mosto expressed his wish
to be employed, was informed of the terms that would
be granted, and heard that a Venetian would be well
received by the prince, "because he was of opinion
that spices and other rich merchandise might be found
in these parts, and knew that the Venetians understood
these commodities better than any other nation."*
In fine, Ca da Mosto saw the prince, and was evi
dently much impressed by his noble bearing. He
obtained his Avishes, and, being furnished with a cara
vel, he embarked his merchandise in it, and set off on
a voyage of discovery. There was now for the first
time an intelligent man on board one of the^e vessels,
giving us his own account of the voyage.
From Ca da Mosto the reader at once learns the
state of things with regard to the slave-trade. The
* Astley's Voyages, vol. i., p. 574.

Ca da Mosto 's Voyage. 61
Portuguese factory at Arguim was the head-quarters
of the trade. Thither came all kinds of merchandise,
and gold and slaves were taken back in return. The
" Arabs" of that district (Moors the Portuguese would
have called them) were the middle men in this affair.
They took their Barbary horses to the negro country,
and " there bartered with the great men for slaves,"
getting from ten to eighteen slaves for each horse.
They also brought silks of Granada and Tunis, and
silver, in exchange for which they received slaves and
gold. These Arabs, or Moors, had a place of trade of
their own, called Hoden, behind Cape Blanco. There
the slaves were brought, "from whence, Ca da Mosto
says, they are sent to the mountains of Barka, and
from thence to Sicily ; part of them are also brought
to Tunis, and along the coast of Barbary, and the rest
to Argin, and sold to the licensed Portuguese. Every
year between seven and eight hundred slaves are sent
from Argin to Portugal."*
"Before this trade was settled," says Ca da Mosto,
"the Portuguese used to seize upon the Moors them
selves (as appears occasionally from the evidence that
has before been referred to), and also the Azenegues
who live farther toward the south ; but now peace is
restored to all, and the Infante suffers no farther dam
age to be done to these people. He is in hopes that,
by conversing with Christians, they may easily be
brought over to the Romish faith, as they are not, as
yet, well established in that of "Mohammed, of which
they know nothing but by hearsay."!
No doubt the prince's good intentions were greatly
furthered by the convenience of this mode of trading.
In short, gain made for itself its usual convenient
* Astley's Voyages, vol. I, p. 577. t Ibid., p. 578.

62 Ca da Mostd's Voyage.
channels to work in, and saved itself as much as it
could the trouble of discovery, or of marauding.
Ca da Mosto being, as was said before, the first
modern European visiting Africa who gives, himself,
an account of it, and being, moreover, apparently an
honest and intelligent man, all that he narrates is
most valuable. He notices the difference of the peo
ple and the country on the opposite sides of the Sen
egal River. On the northern side he finds the men
small, spare, and tawny ; the country arid and. bar
ren: on the southern side, the men "exceeding black,
tall, corpulent, and well made; the country green
and full of green trees." This latter is the country
of Jalof, the same that Prince Henry first heard of
in his intercourse with the Moors. Ca da Mosto
gives a minute description of the people, which is well
worth noting. Both men and women, he says, wash
themselves four or five times a day, being very clean
ly as to their persons, but not so in eating, in which
they observe no rule. Although Very ignorant and
awkward in going about any thing which they have
not been accustomed to, yet in their own business
which they are acquainted with, they are as expert
as any Europeans can be. They are full of words,
and never have done talking ; and are, for the most
part, liars and cheats. Yet, on the other hand, they
are very charitable, for they give a dinner, or a night's
lodging and a supper, to all strangers who come to
their houses, without expecting any return.
" These negro lords often make war among them
selves and with their neighbors. They have no cav
alry for want of horses : they wear no- arms save a
large target for their defense, made of the skin of a
beast called Danta, which is very difficult to be pierced,

Ca da Mostd's Voyage. 63
and Azagays, or light darts, in throwing of which
they are very dexterous. These darts are pointed
with iron, the length of a span, barbed in different
manners, so that they make dangerous wounds in
the body wherever they enter, tearing the flesh griev
ously when pulled out. They also have a Moorish
weapon, which is like a Turkish half-sword ; that is,
bent like a bow, and made of iron (without any steel)
brought from the kingdom of Gambia by the negroes,
who thereof make their arms ; and if they have any
iron in their own country, they know nothing of it,
or want industry to work it. They use also anoth
er weapon, like our javelin, besides which they have
no other arms.
" As they have but few arms, their wars are very
bloody, for their strokes do not fall in vain. They
are extremely bold and fierce, choosing rather to be
killed than to save their lives by flight. They are
not afraid to die, nor scared, as other people are, when
they see a companion slain. They have no ships, nei
ther did they ever see any before the Portuguese came
upon their coast. Those inhabiting near the river,
and some who live by the sea, have Zappolies or Al-
madias, made out of a single piece of wood, the largest
whereof carries three or four men. In these they fish
sometimes, and go up and down the river. These ne
groes are the greatest swimmers in the world, by the
experiments the author has seen of them in these
parts."* Ca da Mosto left the country of the Jalofs and pro
ceeded eight hundred miles farther, as he says, but he
must, I think, have over-estimated his reckoning, to
* Astley's Voyages, vol. i., p. 582.

64 Ca da Mostds Voyage.
the country of a negro potentate called King Budo
mel. Budomel received the voyager courteously, and
made purchases of him, which were paid for in slaves.
Ca da Mosto gives an account of the religion of Budo-
mel's country, which deserves notice : it seems to
show that the religion of the court, at least, was Mo
hammedan ; but it was not very strong in the affec
tions of the people, and must have been comparatively
a recent introduction.*
Perhaps there is hardly any thing which tells more
of the condition and the skill of a people than their
markets. According to Ca da Mosto, the markets in
Budomel's country indicated the poverty of the people,
and showed that they had not advanced beyond the
state of barter in their commercial transactions, f
* " Toward evening, Budomel ordered the Azanaghi or Arabs, whom
he always has about him, to say prayers. His manner was thus : Be
ing entered into the mosque (which was in one of the courts) with
some of the principal negroes, he first stood with his eyes lifted up,
then he advanced two steps and spoke a few words softly, after which
he stretched himself on the ground and kissed it. The Azanaghi and
all the rest did the same. Then rising, he repeated the same acts over
again ten or twelve times, which took up half an hour. ATVTien he had
done, he asked the author's opinion of their manner of worship, and
to give him some account of his own religion. Hereupon Ca da Mos
to told him, in presence of his doctors, that the religion of Mohammed
was false, and the Romish the true one. This made the Arabs mad,
and Budomel laugh ; who, on this occasion, said that he looked upon
the religion of the Europeans to be good, for that none but God could
have given them so much riches and understanding. He added, how
ever, that the Mohammedan Law must be also good ; and that he be
lieved the negroes were more sure of salvation than the Christians,
because God was a just Lord ; and therefore, as he had given the lat
ter a Paradise in this world, it ought to be possessed in the world to
come by the negroes, who had scarce any thing here in comparison of
the others." — Astley's Voyages, vol. i., p. 584.
t " He, Ca da Mosto, went three or four times to see one of their
markets or fairs, which was kept on Mondays and Fridays in a mead
ow not far from the place where he was lodged. Hither repaired,

Ca da Mostd's Voyage. 65
Ca da Mosto left Budomel's country, and, sailing
southward, came to the River Gambra (now called
Gambia), which the voyagers entered, but could not
succeed in conciliating the inhabitants. A contest en
sued, which deserves to be recorded as an instance of
signal valor, of almost unparalleled valor, considering
that the arms used by the Europeans were totally un
known to their opponents.
" The Almadias came under the prow of Ca da
Mosto's ship, which was foremost, and, dividing them
selves into two divisions, took him in their centre.
This gave him an opportunity to tell their number,
which was fifteen, and as large as barks. They ceased
to row, raised their oars, and looked upon the caravel
with wonder. There were between a hundred and
thirty and a hundred and fifty negroes, all well made,
of a good size, and very black. They wore white cot
ton shirts on their bodies, and white caps on their
heads, like the Germans, but with a wing on each
side, and a feather in the middle, by which they dis
tinguished themselves to be soldiers of war. At the
prow of each Almadia there stood a negro with a round
target, which seemed to be of leather, on his arm, yet
they neither attacked the caravel nor she them.
with their wares, both men and women, for four or five miles about,
and those who lived at a greater distance went to other markets near
them. The great poverty of this people appeared in the goods found
in these fairs, which were a few pieces of cotton cloth, cotton yarn,
pulse, oil, millet, wooden tubs, palm mats, and every thing else for the
use of life. Here also one meets with arms, and small quantities of
gold. As they have no money or coin of any kind, all trade is carried
on by way of barter, exchanging one thing for another, according to
the different values. These blacks, both men and women, came to
gaze on Ca da Mosto as if he had been a prodigy, and thought it a
great curiosity to behold a white man, for they had never seen any be
fore." — Astley's Voyages, vol. i., p. 587.

66 Ca da Mostds Voyage.
" Thus they continued peaceably till they saw the
other two ships bear down oil them. Then they pre
pared, dropped their oars, and, without any farther cer
emony, shot their arrows at them. The ships, seeing
the attack made upon them, discharged four pieces of
cannon at the enemy, the report whereof so stupefied
them that they threw down their bows, and, looking
some time one way and some time another, remained
surprised to see the stones shot by the cannon fall in
the water near them. They continued in this suspense
for a considerable while ; but, seeing the cannon fired
no more at them, plucked up courage, and, laying hold
of their bows, renewed the fight with great fury, ap
proaching within a stone's throw of the ships. Here
upon the sailors began to discharge their cross-bows
at them. The first shot was made by the bastard son
of the Genoese gentleman, which hitting a negro in the
breast, he immediately dropped down dead. Those in
the Almadia took up the dart and gazed at it with won
der, but did not give over the attack, which they car
ried on vigorously, and were as courageously opposed
by the caravels, insomuch that in a little time many
of them Avere killed, without the loss of one European.
The negroes observing the disadvantage- they labored
under, all the Almadias agreed to attack the little cara
vel in stern, which was both ill manned and ill armed.
They executed this design with great fury, which Ca
da Mosto observing, he moved forward to her assist
ance, and, getting her between the two large caravels,
they all discharged their cannon and cross-bows at the
Almadias, which made them retire."*
During their stay in the River Gambia, Ca da Mosto
and his companions saw the constellation of the South-
* Astley's Voyages, vol. i., p. 590.

Ca da Mostds Voyage.

67

ern Cross for the first time. Finding that the natives
would have nothing to do with them, for they believed
that the Christians were very bad people, and bought

negroes to eat them, Ca da Mosto and the other com
manders wished to proceed a hundred miles farther
up the river ; but the common sailors would not hear

68 Ca da Mostd's Voyage.
of it, and the expedition forthwith returned to Por
tugal. In 1456 Ca da Mosto made another voyage, in the
course of which he discovered the Cape de Verde Isl
ands. Leaving them, he went again to the Gambia
River, which he ascended much farther than he had
done during his previous expedition, and he also suc
ceeded on this occasion in conciliating the natives...
The voyagers entered what they called the " Lord Bat-
timansa's" territory, and sought to make a treaty with
him. It is curious to see the nature of the commod
ities dealt in. The fact of the commodities being col
ored would seem to indicate an advance in civilization,
but it is to be recollected that in all torrid countries
the desire for color is very great.*
Leaving the River Gambia, Ca da Mosto and his
company went down to the coast, discovered Cape
Roxo, and afterward sailed up the Rio Grande ; but,
for want of any knoAvledge of the language of the peo
ple, they were forced to return to Portugal.
* " As soon as the messengers had declared their commission, Bat-
timansa immediately ordered certain negroes to the caravel, with
whom they not only entered into a treaty of friendship, but also bar
tered several things for negro slaves and some gold. They value their
gold as a very precious thing, and at a greater rate than the Portu
guese did ; yet, for all that, the .latter had it very reasonably, since
they gave them for it things of very little value.
" They traded with cotton and cotton yarn. Some pieces were all
white ; others striped with blue' and white ; and a third sort with red,
blue, and white stripes, very well wrought. They likewise brought
civet, and civet-cat-skins, monkeys, large and small baboons of vari
ous sorts, which, being very plenty, they sold them cheap — that is,
for something not exceeding ten marquets a head ; and the ounce of
civet for what was not worth more than forty or fifty (marquets) ; not
that they sold the things by weight, but the author judged it to be about
that quantity." — Astley's Voyages, vol. i., p. 594.

Prince Menry's Character. 69
Some time between 1460 and 1464, an expedition
went out under Piedro de Cintra, one of the King of
Portugal's gentlemen, to make farther discoveries along
the African coast. These voyagers, whose story is
briefly told by Ca da Mosto, discovered Sierra Leone
(so called on account of the roaring thunder heard
there), and went a little beyond Cape Mesurado. The
historian Baeeos says that the African coast, from Cape
Bojador to Sierra Leone, was discovered in Prince Hen
ry's time, in which case it seems probable that this
voyage of Piedro de Cintra's was before the prince's
death ; but Ca da Mosto (whose authority is, I think,
of more weight) places it later. However that may
be, we may fairly consider Sierra Leone as being the
point of discovery attained at or about the death of
Prince Henry, of whose character, before parting with
him in this history, something deserves to be said.
" He had a grandeur of nature," says Faeia y Sou-
SA, " proportionate to the greatness of his doings ; he
was bulky and strong ; his complexion red and white ;
his hair coarse, and almost hirsute;- his aspect pro
duced fear in those who were not accustomed to him ;
not to those who were, for, even in the strongest cur
rent of his vexation at any thing, his courtesy always
prevailed over his anger ; he had a grave serenity in
his movements, a notable constancy and circumspec
tion in his words, modesty in all that related to his
state and personal observance within the limits of his
high fortune ; he was patient in labor, bold and valor
ous in war, versed in arts and letters ; a skillful fencer ;
in the mathematics superior to all men of his time ;
generous in the extreme; zealous in the extreme for
the increase of the faifh. No bad habit was known in
him. He did not marry, nor Avas it known that he

70 Prince Henry's Character.
ever violated the purity of continency. His memory
was equal to the authority he bore, and his prudence
equal to his memory. He died at Sagres in the year
one thousand four hundred and sixty-three, in the six
ty-seventh year of his age, and lies with his father in
the most illustrious church of Batalla."*
The above is of the class of characters, somewhat
unqualified and general, which historians are wont to
give, but I believe it is one of the truest of its kind.
It lacks, however, those slight touches and variations
in which so much of individual resemblance consists.
We may map down the main qualities of a man one
by one, but this alone will hardly suffice to convey to
us such a complex, perverse, varying, dubious thing
as any one human character. Fortunately, in this
case, we are enabled, from the chronicler Azueaea,
who evidently knew the prince well, and speaks with
perfect honesty about him, to supply two or three of
those little niceties of description, which give life and
reality to the picture. Azueaea says that the prince
was a man " of great counsel and authority, wise and
of good memory, but in some things slow, whether it
was through the prevalence of the phlegmatic temper
ament in his constitution, or from intentional delibera
tion, being moved to some end which men did not per
ceive, "f
His portrait confirms the latter hypothesis, giving
the idea of a man of great deliberation, but with.no
laxity of purpose : and we may notice how this would
* Faria y Sousa, torn, i., part i., cap. 1.
t " Foe homem de grande conselho e autoridade, avisado e de boa
memorya,- mais em alguas cousas vagaroso, ja seja que fosse polio
senhoryo que a freima avya em sua compreissom, ou por enlicom de
sua vootade, movida a algua certa fim, aos homces nom conhecida." —
Azurara, cap. 4.

Prince Henry's Character. 71
agree with the story of his apparently sudden resolve
in sending out his first expedition, a thing with him
probably long thought of, little talked of, and rapidly
put in execution. Again, in another place, the chron
icler hints at a defect in the prince, where he says,
"There was no hatred known in him, nor ill-will
against any person, however great the injury he had
received from him ; and such was his benignity in this
respect, that judicious men remarked against him that
he was deficient in distributive justice {justica dis
tributive!), for, in all other respects, he conducted him
self justly." There are instances in his conduct which
bear out this, and one especially, in which he is stated
to have overlooked the desertion of his banner, on an
occasion* of great peril to liimself, and afterward to
have unjustly favored the persons who had thus been
found wanting in courage. This, no doubt, was an
error on his part, but at least it was an heroic one,
such as belonged to the first Caesar ; and, in the esti
mation of the prince's followers, it probably added to
their liking for the man what little it may have taken
away from their confidence in the precision of his jus
tice as a commander.
We learn, from the same authority, that his house
was the resort of all the good men of the kingdom,
and of foreigners, and that he was a man of intense
labor and study. " Often the sun found him in that
same place where it had left him the day before, he
having watched throughout the whole arc of the night
without any rest."f
-Altogether, whether we consider this prince's mo
tives, his objects, his deeds, or his mode of life, we
must acknowledge him to be one of the most notable
* At the taking of Tangier. t Azurara, cap. 6.

72 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
men, not merely of his own country and period, but
of modern times and of all nations, and one upon
whose shoulders might worthily rest the arduous be
ginnings of continuous maritime discovery. Would
that such men remained to govern the lands they have
the courageous foresight to discover ! Then, indeed,
they might take to themselves the motto, talant de
bien f aire, which this prince, their great leader, caused
to be inscribed by his captains in many a land, which
as yet, at least, has not found much good from its in
troduction, under his auspices, to the civilization of
an older world.
In the year 1469, perhaps in consequence of Prince
Henry's superintendence of African discovery being
missed, King Alfonso adopted a new system, and farm
ed out the commerce with the coast of Africa to a cer
tain Fernando Gomez for five years, at one thousand
ducats a year, upon conditions, one of which was that
he should advance the discovery along the coast, be
ginning from Sierra Leone, three hundred miles in the
course of each of the five years.* Fernando Gomez,
by his captains Juan de Santarem and Pedro de Esco
bar, discovered the Gold Coast, which they called Oro
de la Mina, and gained great riches, which he expend
ed in aid of the king's expeditions against the Moors.
He was, in consequence, ennobled, and received the
name of El Mina. Fernando Po discovered an island
which was then called Formosa, but which is now
known by the name of its discoverer. The last dis
covery in the life of King Alfonso was that of Cape
Catharina. * Barros, dec. i., lib. ii. cap. 2.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 73
Don Juan the Second succeeded his father Don
Alfonso on the throne of Portugal. The new king
was very earnest in African discovery. He resolved
that a fort should be built at La Mina ; and for this
purpose sent an expedition under Diego de Azambuja,
with five hundred soldiers, one hundred artisans, and
the fort already constructed in separate pieces, as we
now send out palaces for native chiefs, or light-houses,
to distant parts.
The account of the proceedings of this expedition
is interesting. On the arrival of the ships at La Mina,
Azambuja sprang on shore to take possession, fixed
the Portuguese flag upon a tree, raised an altar at the
foot of the tree, and caused the first mass to be said
that was ever celebrated in those parts. The Portu
guese commander then prepared to receive the negro
king with due pomp. The king arrived, surrounded
by a large company of his subjects, well armed. Their
helmets, however, made of skins, were such as to pro
voke "more mirth than terror." Their king's arms
and legs were covered with ornaments of gold. On
his neck was a chain with bells suspended to it, like
that of the first mule in a set. Before him went the
band, with numerous and various instruments, pro
ducing " more noise than harmony." The instruments
were such as are well known — timbrels, horns, and
bells. At last the negro king himself arrived, " se
rene and severe," and the Portuguese captain came
forward to meet him, " magnificent in dress and grave
in aspect." The king took the hand of the other in
sign of peace, and the ceremonious part of- the matter
being ended, Azambuja made known the proposition
he had brought from his master (here we must use the
words of the historian), "which was to make the negro
Vol. L— D

74 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
king understand first the way of the Catholic rites,
and then to hide from him the way of our covetous-
ness, asking leave to make a house in which our peo
ple could live ; and force was to be used to compel
them, if it should be necessary." " I do not," adds
the candid historian, "imagine that I shall persuade
the world that our intent was only to be preachers;
but, on the other hand, the world must not fancy that
our intent was merely to be traders."*
The Portuguese captain was listened to with " mar
velous silence," and the proposition touching the Chris
tian faith well received ; the other, about building a
fort, was listened to very coldly. The negro king
was not so dull as to be without an unpleasant fore
sight of what evil consequences such an occupation
of his country might lead to. However, the Portu
guese captain pressed the point, and the negro king,
conceding it, quitted the place of conference. The
Portuguese artisans forthwith began their work, but,
unfortunately, commenced upon a rock that was held
sacred by the natives, who immediately rushed to the
defense of the holy ground. Azambuja diverted this
danger by an instant distribution of presents, which
soothed the negroes completely, thus verifying the
proverb, says the historian, that "gifts break through
rocks." The castle was built, and called the fort of
St. George. Azambuja, being made lieutenant, ruled
for three years, and came out of his employment with
applause, "a difficult thing to attain among the Por
tuguese." The writer might have added, and among
all people ; for delegated authority has always within
* " Yo no imagino persuadir al mundo que nuestro intento era solo
el de ser predicadores, a trueque de que el no imagine, que era solo el
de ser mercaderes." — Faria y Sousa, torn, i., part i., cap. 3.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 75
it the elements of decay and disapprobation — meeting
with that criticism and supervision, when in the full
force of its existence, which, in the case of other au
thority, is often postponed until after its decease.
The King of Portugal about this time took the title
of "Lord of Guinea," and desired his captains to leave
formal notice of their discoveries at the place of dis
covery; to set up stones, declaring " the king, the cap
tain, and the time ; by whose order, by whom, and
Avhen" the discovery was made. The first captain sent
out after this order was Diego Cam, whom Martin
Behaim (Martin of Bohemia), a celebrated astronomer
and geographer of those times, is said to have accom
panied. They discovered the kingdom of Congo ; and,
at the request of the king, took back some of the sons
of the principal men to be baptized, and to learn the
Christian faith. Diego Cam was also the bearer of a
request from this negro king, that priests should be
sent to his dominions. The King of Benin, a territory
between the Gold Coast and Congo, made at this time
a similar request, by an embassador sent to the King
of Portugal. This embassador,. while at Lisbon, hap-^
pened to speak about a greater power in Africa than
his master, to whom indeed his master was but the
vassal, which instantly set the Portuguese king think
ing about Prester John, the search after whom is in
the annals of maritime discovery what the alchemists'
pursuit after the great Arcanum was in chemistry.
The king concluded that this greater power must be
Prester John, and accordingly Bartholomew Diaz and
two other captains were sent out on farther discovery.
They did not find Prester John, but made their way
southward along a thousand and fifty miles of new
coast, as far as a cape which, from experience, they

76 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
called Cape Stormy, but which their master, seeing in
its discovery an omen of better things, renamed as the
Cape of Good Hope.

It is a fact of great historical interest, and a singular
link between African and American discovery, that
Bartholomew Columbus was engaged in this voyage.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 11
The authority for this important statement is Las
Casas, who says that he found, in a book belonging
to Christopher Columbus, being one of the works of
Cardinal D'Ailly, a note " in Bartolome Colon's hand-
Avriting," which he knew well, having several of his
letters and papers concerning this voyage in his own
possession,* which note gives a short account in bad
Latin of the voyage, mentions the degree of latitude
of the Cape, and concludes with the words "in quibus
omnibus interfui."
In fiction, too, this voyage of Bartholomew Diaz
Avas very notable, as it presented an occasion for the
•writing of one of the most celebrated passages in
modern poetry ; a passage not easily to be surpass
ed for its majesty and tenderness, and for a beauty
which even those tiresome allusions to the classics,
that give a faded air to so much of the poetry of the
sixteenth century, can not seriously disfigure nor ob
scure. It is to be found in the Lusiadas of Camo'ens ; and
indicates the culminating point of Portuguese discovery
in Africa, as celebrated by the national poet.
Just as the mariners approach the Cape, a cloud
rises, darkens the air, and then discloses a monstrous
giant, with deep-set, cavemed eyes, of rugged counte
nance, and pallid earthy color, vast as that statue of
Apollo, the colossal wonder of the world. In solemn
language, this awful shape pours forth disastrous proph
ecies, and threatens his highest vengeance on those
who have discovered him — maledictions which, alas !
may be securely uttered against those who accomplish
* "La cual muy bien conoci y agora tengo hartas cartas y letras
suyas tratando deste viaje." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib.
i., cap. 27.

78 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
aught that is bolder than has hitherto been attempted
by their fellow-men.
When vexed by the question, "Who art thou ?" the
"stupendous body" harshly and mournfully replies
that he is that great Stormy Cape, hitherto hidden
from mankind, whom their boldness in discovering
much offends.*
He then relates the touching story of his love ; how
he was Adamastor, of the race of Titans ; and how he
loved Thetis, the fairest being of the sea ; and how,
deceived by the (magic) arts of her, " who was the life
of this body," he found himself caressing a rough and
horrid crag instead of her sweet, soft countenance ; and
how, crazed by grief and by dishonor, he wandered
forth to seek another world, where no one should be
hold him and mock his misery ; how still the ven
geance of the gods pursued him ; and how he felt his
flesh gradually turning into rock, and his members ex
tending themselves among the long waves ; and how,
forever to increase his agony, the beautiful Thetis still
encircled him.
Having told his grief, he made himself into a dark
cloud {Desfes-se a nuvem negra), and the sea roared
far off with a sonorous sound. And then the Portu
guese mariner lifted up his hands in prayer to the sa
cred chorus of angels, who had guided the vessel so
long on its way, and prayed God to remove the ful-
* " Eu sou aquelle occulto, e grande Cabo,
A quem chamais vos outros Tormentorio,
Que nunca a Ptolomeo, Pomponio, Estrabo
Plinio, e quantos passaram, fui notorio :
Aqui toda a Africana costa acabo
Neste meu nunca vista promontorio,
Que para o polo Antarctico se estende,
A quem vossa ousadia tanto offende."
Camoes, Os Lusiadas, v. 50.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 79
fillment of the evil things which Adamastor had proph
esied against his nation.*
The Genius of the Stormy Cape might have taken
up a direr song of prophecy against the inhabitants
of the unfortunate land of which he formed, so con
spicuous and mournful a prominence.
Maritime discovery had noAV, by slow and painful
degrees, proceeded down the coast of Africa nearly to
the southernmost point, and from thence will soon be
curving round in due course to India. But expedi
tions by sea were not the only modes of discovery un
dertaken by the Portuguese in the reign of John the
Second of Portugal. Pedro de Covilham and Alfonso
de Paiva went on an enterprise of discoveiy mainly by
land. The latter died at Cairo ; the former made his
way to Cananor, Calecut, and Goa, and thence back to
Cairo, where he found that his companion had died.
* Vasco de Gama is made by Camoexs, using more than poetic li
cense in favor of his hero, to appropriate the episode of Adamastor to
himself. It seems hard, however, to take away any honor from Bar
tholomew Diaz, who, according to the learned Maffei, appears to have
had the greatest difficulty in contending with his own men as well as
with the fury of the elements, before he succeeded in discovering that
" insane headland" which was to make his voyage forever memorable.
The words of Maffei, who had ample access to Portuguese state-pa
pers, are as follows :
" At ex Lusitana parte, superiorum ducum laudem non adaiquasse
modo, verum etiam superasse visus, e Joannis familiaribus egregia for-
titudine et constantia vir, Barptolomsus Diazius. Huic, non modo
cum ventis et mari, sed etiam cum sociis navalibus diu luctandum fuit,
navigationis longissima tmdio fessis, et reversionem quotidiano convi-
tio efflagitantibus, quorum ille cum ferociam, et expostulationes pru-
dentia et lenitate sedasset, Cani columnas {some columns set up by Di
ego Cam in obedience to King John's orders, before referred to) longo
intervallo transgressus, insanum terras projectum denique patefecit." —
J. P. Maffei, Bergomatis, Historiarum Indicarum, Iibri xvi., Cologne,
1589, p. 15.

80 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
He then set out again, and eventually came into the
kingdom of Shoa,* to the court of " the King of Hab-
besh," who fulfilled sufficiently in Covilham's eyes the
idea of Prester John, and was accordingly called so.
It is a curious coincidence that an embassador from
the King of Habbesh, called Lucas Marcos, a priest of
that country, came about this time to Rome, and aft
erward to Lisbon, which circumstance gave a new im
petus to all the King of Portugal's " hopes, wishes,
and endeavors."
A more remarkable person, even, than an embassa
dor from Prester John, arrived nearly at the same time
at Lisbon. This was Bemoin, Prince of Jalof. Be
moin came to seek the protection of the King of Por
tugal, and the reason of his coming was as follows :
He was the brother, on the mother's side, of Brian,
King of Jalof. This king was inert and vicious. He
had, however, the wisdom to make Bemoin prime min
ister, and to throw all the cares and troubles of gov
erning upon him. Nothing was heard in the kingdom
but of Bemoin. But he, seeing perhaps the insecurity
of his position, diligently made friends with the Por
tuguese, keeping aloof, however, from becoming a con
vert, though he listened respectfully to those who ex
pounded the Christian faith to him. Cibitab, a broth
er of the inert Brian by the father's side, became jeal
ous of Bemoin, revolted, killed Brian, and vanquished
Bemoin, who thereupon threw himself upon the pro
tection of his Portuguese friends, and came to Lisbon.
Bemoin was received magnificently by King John
of Portugal. The negro prince had formerly alleged
* A country south of Abyssinia. Tegulet, the ancient capital of
Shoa, is in 38° 40' E. long., and 9° 45' N. lat.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 81
that one of his reasons for not becoming a Christian
was the fear of disgusting his followers ; but, being in
Portugal, that reason no longer held good, and he be
came a convert, being baptized as Don John Bemoin,
having King John for a godfather. Twenty-four of
Bemoin's gentlemen received baptism after him. This
is the account of his reception : "Bemoin, because he
was a man of large size and fine presence, about forty
years old, with a long and well-arranged beard, appear
ed indeed not like a barbarous pagan, but as one of
our own princes, to whom all honor and reverence were
due. With equal majesty and gravity of demeanor
he commenced and finished his oration, using such in
ducements to make men bewail his sad fortune in ex
ile, that only seeing these natural signs of sorrow, peo
ple comprehended Avhat the interpreter afterward said.
Having finished the statement of his case as a good
orator would, in declaring that his only remedy and
only hope was in the greatness and generosity of the
king, with whom he spoke aside for a short time, he
was answered by the king in few words, so much to
his satisfaction that immediately it made a change in
his whole look, spirits, and bearing, rendering him most
joyous. Taking leave of the king, he went to kiss
-the queen's hand, and then that of the prince, to whom
he said a few words, at the end of which he prayed
the prince that he would intercede in his favor with
the king. And thence he was conducted to his lodg
ings by all the nobility that accompanied him."*
After this, Bemoin had many conversations with the
king, and always acquitted himself well.f Among
* Barros, dec. i., lib. iii., cap. 6.
t " Mostrava ser dotado de mui claro entendimento. " — Barros, dec.
i., lib. iii, cap. 7.
D2

82 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
other things, he gave information respecting various
African nations, and especially of the king of a Jew
ish people who in many things resembled Christians.
Here again the Portuguese monarch was delighted at
finding himself upon the traces of Prester John.
It must not be forgotten to mention that the king
made great rejoicings in honor of Bemoin's conversion,
on which occasion the negro prince's attendants per
formed singular feats on horseback.*
Bemoin maintained his favor at the Portuguese
court, and succeeded in his object of obtaining mili
tary assistance. He was sent back to his own coun
try with a Portuguese squadron of twenty caravels,
which had for its instructions, besides his restitution,
to found a fort on the banks of the River Senegal.
The Portuguese arrived at the river, and began build
ing the fort, but are said to have chosen an unhealthy
spot to build on. Whether they could have chosen a
healthy one is doubtful. The commander, however,
Pedro Vaz, thought that there was treachery on Be
moin's part, and killed him with the blow of a dagger
on board his vessel. The building was discontinued,
and Pedro Vaz returned to Portugal, where he found
the king excessively vexed and displeased at the fate
of Bemoin. f
* "Elle D. Joao Bemoij, tambem a seu modo, quiz fazer as suas ;
porque como trazia alguns homens grandes cavalgadores, diante del
Rey corriam a carreira em pe, virandose, e assentando-se, e tornando-
se levantar, tudo em huma corrida : e com a mao no arciio da sella salta-
vam no chao, correndo a toda forca do cavallo ; e tornavam-se a sella tao
soltos, como o podiam fazer a pe quedo." — Barros, dec. i., lib. iii., cap. 7.
t Faeia y Sousa dismisses the matter with the following pithy re
mark : " The way to heaven by the Portuguese hand (baptism) came
dear to Bemoin ; and more so, if by chance it was hidden from him,
by his despair at finding so little faith iff one who sought to teach him
the true faith."

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 83
The story of this negro prince is interesting, not
that it carries forward the history much, but it and
other such narratives sIioav Avhat were the temper,
manners, and disposition of Europeans and Africans
toward each other at that period ; and go far to indi
cate what good results to the inhabitants of both con
tinents might haA*e proceeded from their peaceful in
tercourse.* King John the Second was more successful in con
verting the inhabitants of Congo than he had been
with those of Jalof. The embassador from Congo,
having spent two years at Lisbon, during which his
attendants learned the Portuguese language and were
instructed in Christian doctrine, was sent back to his
own country with three Portuguese vessels. The
Portuguese were well received: mass was performed
in the midst of thousands of negroes ; a church was
built ; and the King of Congo became Christian, and
took the name of John. He had occasion at that time
to make war against a neighboring people ; and sal
lying forth with a cross depicted on his banner, he
was victorious. After this, the Portuguese expedition,
which seems to have come out for no other purpose
than to introduce Christianity into Congo, returned,
leaving persons capable of continuing the work of con
version. The old negro king soon grew a little cold
* The kindly treatment which the first negroes who were brought
into Spain experienced from their masters, is mentioned in the Annals
of Seville before referred to. It appears that in the chronicler's time,
A.D. 1677, they had still a chapel of their own. " Dura su nombre
(el Conde Negro) en una calle, y corrales, fuera de la Puerta de Car-
mona, a las espaldas del sitio, en que tienen los Negros su Capilla in-
titulada de nuestra Senora de los 'Angeles."— Annates de Sevilla, A.D.
1474.

84 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
toward Christianity, disliking much its interference
with his doctrine and practice as regarded the plural
ity of wives. He had two sons ; the elder approving,
and the other disapproving, of the new faith. The
king himself inclined to the faction of his pagan
younger son, and the other was disinherited. On the
death of the old monarch, the younger son suddenly
attacked his brother, who had only about him thirty-
seven followers, Portuguese and negroes. However,
under the Christian banner, and probably with some
little aid of Christian discipline, the elder vanquished
his younger brother with all his host, became king,
and did his best to establish Christianity throughout
his dominions.
This King of Congo reigned fifty years : he was not
only a warm favorer of Christianity, but an active
preacher, having qualified himself by learning the Por
tuguese language and by studying the Scriptures. He
sent his children and grandchildren over to Portugal ;
had them well taught both in Latin and Portuguese ;
and of his own lineage there were two bishops in his
kingdom. Baeeos tells us that all these things were
done at the expense of the kings of Portugal.* A
very noble undertaking it was of theirs; and in the
present state of that kingdom, these are the works
which may console the Portuguese nation and their
rulers with a not unbecoming recollection of past great
ness, and, perhaps, animate them to great deeds again.
The historian may now stop in his task of tracing
Portuguese discovery along the coast of Africa. We
have seen it making its way with quiet perseverance
for seventy years, from Cape Nam to the Cape of Good
* Barros, dec. i, lib. iii, c. 10.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 85
Hope, a distance of some six thousand miles.* This
long course of discovery has been almost entirely
thrown into shade by the more daring and brilliant
discovery of America, which we have now to enter
upon. Yet these proceedings on the African coast
had in them all the energy, perseverance, and cour
age which distinguished American discovery. Prince
Henry himself was hardly a less personage than Co
lumbus. They had different elements to contend in.
But the man whom princely wealth and position, and
the temptation to intrigue which there must have been
in the then state of the Portuguese court, never in
duced to swerve from the one purpose which he main
tained for forty years, unshaken by popular clamor,
however sorely vexed he might be with inward doubts
and misgivings ; who passed laborious days and watch
ful nights in devotion to this one purpose — enduring
the occasional shortcomings of his agents with that
forbearance which springs from a care for the enter
prise in hand, so deep as to control private vexation
(the very same motive which made Columbus bear so
mildly with insult and contumely from his followers)
— such a man is worthy to be put in comparison with
the other great discoverer who worked out his enter
prise through poverty, neglect, sore travail, and the
vicissitudes of courts. Moreover, it must not be for
gotten that Prince Henry was undoubtedly the father
of modern geographical discovery, and that the result
of his exertions must have given much impulse to
Columbus, if it did not first move him to his great
undertaking. After the above eulogium on Prince
Henry, which is not the least more than he merited,
his kinsmen, the contemporary Portuguese monarchs,
* That is, taking the coast line.

86 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
should come in for their share of honorable mention,
as they seem to have done their part in African dis
covery with much vigor, without jealousy of Prince
Henry, and with high and noble aims. It would also
be but just to include in some part of this praise the
many brave captains who distinguished themselves in
these enterprises.
The rediscovery of America (I say "rediscovery,"
because there is no doubt that it was discovered by
the Northmen in the ninth and tenth centuries),* just
at the time when the whole of the western coast of
Africa had been made out by the Portuguese, appears
to us, humanly speaking, to have furnished a most
inopportune conjuncture for evil. Had America not
afforded a market for slaves, we hardly see where else
it could have grown up at that period, and if it had
not grown up then, legitimate commerce would have
come in its place, and prevented any such trade.
Black slaves might have been for some time a favor
ite part of the grandeur of a great household, but we
do not see how they could have occupied a country
already stocked with hardy laborers, fitted for the soil,
as was the case with Europe. Ca da Mosto, as be-»
fore mentioned, states that in 1455, the export of
slaves from Africa was between seven and eight hund
red yearly. Seeing how careless people are in the
use of numbers, so that shrewd men of the world
mostly divide by two or three the account in num
bers of every -thing they hear, except ruined men's
accounts of their own debts and engagements, it is
not improbable that Ca da Mosto gives an exaggera
ted statement of the number of slaves exported, which
* See Smith's Discovery of America by the Northmen. London, 1842.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 87
at the most is but a small affair, when compared with
the immense exportations of modern days. Moreover
from what is mentioned of the voyages undertaken from
that time to the one we are now speaking of, i. e., from
1455 to 1492, it may be concluded that the trade in
slaves had fallen off, so seldom are they mentioned,
while at the same time there are signs of other articles
of commerce engaging the attention of the Portuguese.*
Leaving now, for a Avhile, all mention of Portu
guese affairs, we commence the chapter of that man's
doings, who, when last heard of, was mentioned in
cidentally as the son-in-law of Perestrelo, and as liv
ing at Porto Santo, but whose name was now about
to become one of the few which carry on from period
to period the tidings of the world's great story, as
beacon fires upon the mountain tops. There is a sin
gular fascination in the account of such a deed as the
discovery of America, which can not be done any
more, nor any thing like it — which stands alone in
the doings of the world. We naturally expect to find
something quite peculiar in the man who did it, who
was indeed one of the great spirits of the earth, but
still of the same order of soul to Avhich great inventors
and discoverers have mostly belonged. Lower down,
too, in mankind there is much of the same nature
leading to various kinds of worthy deeds, though there
are no more continents for it to discover.
* " Precedieron otros a estos ; como la costa de donde vino la pri-
mera malagueta." — Faeia y Sousa, torn, i, part i., cap. 2.
"El Rey D. Juan II., que succedio a'su Padre D. Alonso, conside-
rando que en la tierra nuevamente conocida avia riquezas que aumen-
tavan sus rentas, y viendo disposicion en sus habitantes para admitir
nuestra ley, ordeno que se levantasse una fortaleza en aquella parte
adonde se hazia el rescate del oro que llamaron de la Mina." — Faria
v Sousa, torn, i., part, i., cap. 3.

88 Portuguese Discoveries in Africa.
But to return to the renowned personage of whom
we are speaking. There was great simplicity about
him, and much loyalty and veneration. The truly
great are apt to believe in the greatness of others,
and so to be loyal in their relations here ; while, for
what is beyond here, a large measure of veneration
belongs to them, as having a finer and more habitu
ally present consciousness than most men of some
thing infinitely above what even their imaginations
can compass. He was as magnanimous as it was pos
sible, perhaps, for so sensitive and impassioned a per
son to be. He was humane, self-denying, courteous.
He had an intellect of that largely-inquiring kind
which may remind us of our great English philoso
pher, Bacon.* He was singularly resolute and en
during. The Spaniards have a word, longanimidad,
which has been well applied in describing him, as it
signifies greatness and constancy of mind in adversity.
He was rapt in his designs, having a ringing forever
* One, who of all living men has perhaps the best right to pro
nounce upon an intellect of a " largely-inquiring kind," has thus de
scribed the intelligence of Columbus when applied to the observation
of nature : " Ce qui caracterise Colomb, c'est la penetration et la finesse
extreme avec lesquelles il saisit les phenomenes du monde exterieur.
11 est tout aussi remarquable comme observateur de la nature que
comme intrepide navigateur. Arrive sous un nouveau ciel et dans
un monde nouveau (commeti mage nuevo al nuevo cielo y mundo, ecrit-il
a nourrice de 1'infant Don Juan), la configuration des terres, 1'aspect de
la vegetation, les mceurs des animaux, la distribution de la chaleur,
selon 1'influence de la longitude, les courans pelagiques, les variations
du magnetisme terrestre, rien n'echappait a. sa sagacite. Recherchant
avec ardeur les epiceries de l'Inde et la rhubarbe, rendue celebre par
les medicins Arabes, par Rubriquis et les voyageurs Italiens, il examine
minutieusement les fruits et le feuillage des plantes. Dans les Coni-
feres, il distingue les vrais pins, semblables a ceux d'Espagne, et les
pins a fruit monocarpe : c'est reconnaitre avant L'Heritier le genre
Podocarpus." — Humboldt, Examen Critique, tome 3me, p. 20, Paris,
1837.

Portuguese Discoveries in Africa. 89
in his ears of great projects, making him deaf to much,
perhaps, that prudence might have heeded ; one to be
loved by those near him, and likely by his presence
to inspire favor and respect.
Such was the hero under whose guidance we are
' now called to enter upon a wider sphere of the history
of discovery and colonization ; and also, somewhat to
his shame, of the mournful annals of Slavery.

BOOK II.

COLUMBUS.

CHAPTER I. '
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
CHAPTER II.
ADMINISTRATION OF COLUMBUS IN THE INDIES.

CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
COLUMBUS was born in the Genoese territory in
the year 1447 or 1448.* His family was obscure,
but, like most others, when the light of a great man's
birth is thrown upon its records, real and possible, it
presents some other names not altogether unworthy to
be inscribed among the great man's ancestors. Co
lumbus was sent to Pavia for his education, and seems
to have profited by it ; for he wrote legibly, designed
well, was a good Latin scholar, and it is probable that
he then acquired the rudiments of the various sciences
in which he afterward became proficient. At the age
of fourteen he went to sea. Of his many voyages,
which of them took place before, and which after his
coming to Portugal, we have no distinct record, but
are sure that he traversed a large part of the known
world, that he visited England,! that he made his way
to Iceland, J that he had been at El Mina, on the coast
* I am aware that this date differs considerably from those given by
some biographers of Columbus ; I have, however, determined it for
myself upon the evidence of ancient authorities which seemed to me
the most to be relied upon.
t " Vi todo el Levante y Poniente, que dice por ir al camino de Sep-
tentrion, que es Inglaterra." — Navaerete, Coleccion, Madrid, 1825,
vol. i., p. 101.
t " Yo navegue el ano de cuatrocientos y setenta y siete en el mes
de Febrero ultra Tile ... es tan grande como Inglaterra, van los
Ingleses con mercaderia ; especialmente los de Bristol." — Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i, cap. 8.

94 Discovery of America.
of Africa,* and had seen the islands of the Grecian
Archipelago.f He also mentions having been em
ployed by King Rene of Provence to intercept a Ve
netian galliot. The next thing that we may say we
know for certain of him is that he went to Portugal,
where he married Donna Felipa Mufiiz Perestrelo ;
and he is said to have been shown by his mother-in-
law the papers of her deceased husband, the first gov
ernor of Porto Santo. Indeed, Columbus lived in this
little island^ for some time ; and it is a curious fact
that the great chief of American discoverers should
thus have inhabited a spot Avhich was the first ad
vanced outpost in African discovery. He also made
voyages to different parts of Africa in company with
Portuguese mariners.
At what precise period his great idea came into his
mind there are no records to shoAV. The continuous
current of Portuguese discoveries had excited the mind
of Europe, and must have greatly influenced Colum
bus, living in the midst of them. This may be said
without in the least detracting from the merits of Co
lumbus as a discoverer. In real life men do not spring
from something baseless to something substantial, as
people in sick dreams. A great invention or discovery
is often like a daring leap, but it is from land to land,
not from nothing to something ; and if we look at the
subject with this consideration fully before us, we shall
* '" Yo estuve en la Fortaleca de San Jorge de la Mina." — Hist, del
Almirante Christ. Colon., cap. 4. Barcia, Historiadores, Madrid, 1749.
t " En otra paTte hace mencion haber navegado a las Islas del Ar-
chipielago donde en una dellas que se llama Enxion (perhaps the Naxia
of the Cyclades) vido sacar almaciga de ciertos arboles." — Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 3.
t Las Casas affirms this fact upon the authority of Diego Colum
bus. — Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i, cap. 3.

Discovery of America. 95
probably admit that Columbus had as large a share in
the merit of his discovery as most inventors or dis
coverers can lay claim to. If the idea Avhich has ren
dered him famous was not in his mind at the outset
of his career of investigation, at any rate he had from
the first a desire for discovery, or, as he says himself,
the wish to know the secrets of this world.* It may
be a question whether this impulse soon brought him
to his utmost height of survey, and that he then only
applied to learning in order to confirm his first views ;
or whether the impulse merely carried him along, Avith
growing perception of the great truth he was to prove,
into deep thinking upon cosmographical studies, Por
tuguese discoveries, the dreams of learned men, the la
bors of former geographers, the dim prophetic notices
of great unknown lands, and vague reports among
mariners of drift-wood seen on the seas. But, at any
rate, we know that he arrived at a fixed conclusion
that there was a way by the west to the Indies, that
he could discover this way, and so come to Cipango, f
* " Muy altos Reges ; de muy pequeiia edad entre en la mar nave-
gando, e lo he continuado fasta hoy : la mesma arte inclina a quien le
prosigue a desear de saber los secretos deste mundo. Ya pasan de
cuarenta anos que yo voy en este uso : todo lo que fasta hoy se navega
todo lo he andado." — Navaerete, Coleceion Diplomdlica, Num. 140.
The Coleceion Diplomdlica forms the second volume of the general
work of Navarrete, entitled Coleceion de los Viages y Descubrimien-
tos, que hicieron por mar los Espanoles desde fines del siglo 15.
t Cipango, or Zipangu, is described as an island in Marco Polo's
.Travels (book iii., cap. 2). " The name which is here, as well as in the
British Museum aiid Berlin manuscripts, written Zipangft, in the Basle
edition Zipangri, in the older Latin Cyampagu, and in the early Italian
epitomes Cimpagu, is evidently intended for those islands which we in
a collective sense term Japan." — (See Travels of Marco Polo, by Wm.
Marsden, 1818.)
From the pleadings in the cause between the Fiscal (the Treasury)
of Spain and Don Diego Columbus, the son and heir of the great dis
coverer, we learn how this word Cipango, or Cipanso, was impressed

96 Discovery of America.
Cathay, the Grand Khan, and all he had met with in
the gorgeous descriptions of Marco Polo and other an
cient authorities. We may not pretend to lay down
the exact chronological order of the formation of the
idea in his mind — in fact, to know more about it than
he would probably have been able to tell us himself.
Of the works of learned men, that which, according
to Ferdinand Columbus, had most weight with his fa
ther, was the Cosmographia of Caedi-nal Aliaco.*
Columbus was also confirmed in his views of the ex
istence of a western passage to the Indies by Paulo
Toscanelli, the Florentine philosopher,! to whom much
upon the mind of Columbus. " Otra pregunta dice que si saben que
habia dado aviso Cristoval Colon al Martin Alonso destas Indias por
la dicha escriptura que dijo ser del tiempo de Salomon, que contenia
navegadas« por el mar Mediterraneo hasta el fin de Espana y alii al po-
niente del sol entre el norte y el Medijiidia por via temporada hasta no-
venta y cinco grados de camino e fallaras una tierra de Cipanso la cual
es tan fertil y abundosa e con su grandeza sojuzgara a Africa y Euro-
pa." — Las Casas, Hist de las Indias, lib. i., cap. 34.
* The following passage is particularly referred to by Ferdinand
Columbus : " Et dicit Aristoteles ut mare parvum est inter finem His
panic a parte occidentis et inter principium India? a parte orientis. Et
non loquitur de Hispania citeriori, qute nunc Hispania communiter
dicitur, sed de Hispania ulteriori, quai nunc Africa dicitur." — Aliaco,
Imago Mundi Capitulum octavum.
t See his letter to Columbus, from which I take the following ex
tract, as Cipango makes a great appearance in it :
" Este espacio es casi la tercera parte de la esphera, la cual Ciudad
(la Ciudad del Cielo) es en la provincia de Mango vecina de la Ciudad
de Catayo en la cual esta lo mas del tiempq el Rey de la Isla de An-
tilla que vosotros llamais de siete Ciudades, de la cual tenemos noticia :
fasta la nobilissima Isla de Cipango hay diez espacios que son dos mil
y quinientas millas, es a saber, doscientas veinte y cinco leguas ; la
cual Isla es fertilissima de oro y de perlas y de piedras preciosas : sa-
bed que con oro puro cobijan los templos y las casas reales : asi que
por no tener conocido el camino estan todas estas casas encubiertas ;
y a ella se puede ir muy seguramente." — Extract of a letter from Tos
canelli to Columbus, dated Florence, 25th June, 1474. — Las Casas, lib.
i., cap. 12.

Discovery of America. 97
credit is due for the encouragement he afforded to the
enterprise. That the notices, however, of western
lands were not such as to have much weight with
other men, is sufficiently proved by the difficulty which
Columbus had in contending with adverse geographers
and men of science in general, of whom he says he
never was able to convince any one.* After a new
world had been discovered, many scattered indications
were then found to have foreshown it.
One thing which can not be denied to Columbus is
that he worked out his own idea himself. How he
did so must now be told. He first applied himself to
his countrymen, the Genoese, who would have nothing
to say to his scheme. He then tried the Portuguese,
who listened to what he had to say, but with bad faith
sought to anticipate him by sending out a caravel with
instructions founded upon his plan. The caravel, how
ever, returned without having accomplished any thing,
the sailors not having had heart to venture far enough
westward. It was not an enterprise to be carried out
successfully by men who had only stolen the idea of it.
Columbus, disgusted at the treatment he had re
ceived from the Portuguese court, quitted Lisbon* and,
after visiting Genoa, as it appears, went to see what
favor he could. meet with in Spain, arriving at Palos
in the year 1485. He was fortunate enough to make
* " Ya saben Vuestras Altezas que anduve siete anos en su Corte
importunandoles por esto : nunca en_todo este tiempo se hallo piloto,
ni marinero, ni filosofo, ni de otra sciencia, que todos no dijesen que
mi empresa era falsa, que nunca yo halle ayuda de nadie, salvo de Fray
Antonio de Marchena (he must have been a relation, I think, of Juan
Perez de Marchena, the Guardian of La Rabida) despues de aquella de
Dios eterno." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 32.
There is a peculiar conservative ignorance belonging to the learned,
which has always stood firmly in the way of the advancement of the
world in true knowledge.
Vol. I.— E

98 Discovery of America.
a friend, ever afterward true to him, in the guardian
of La Rabida, a Franciscan monastery near Palos.
Having intrusted his young son to the care of the
good monk, Columbus made his way, in January, 1486,
to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, then at Cordo
va. There Columbus found at once a friend in the
Treasurer of the Household^ Alonso de Quintanilla, a
man who, like himself, took delight in great things
{que tenia gusto en cosas grandes), and who obtained
a hearing for him from the Spanish monarchs. They
were then engaged in war against the Moors — a relig
ious war, and could not give more than a slight and
superficial attention to a matter which must have
seemed remote and most uncertain. Indeed, when it
is considered that the most pressing internal affairs of
kingdoms are neglected* by the wisest rulers in times
of war, it is wonderful that Columbus succeeded in ob
taining any audience at all. Ferdinand and Isabella
did not, however, dismiss him abruptly. On the con
trary, it is said they listened kindly, and the confer
ence ended by their referring the business to the queen's
confessor, Fray Hernando de Talavera. This import
ant functionary summoned a junta of cosmographers
(not a promising assemblage!) to consult about the
affair. They thought that so many persons wise in
nautical matters as had preceded the Genoese mariner
never could have overlooked such an idea as that which
had presented itself to his mind ; moreover, they had
their own arguments against the scheme, among which
was the not unnatural one that Columbus, after he had
* " Las cuales (sus Altezas), oida y entendida superficialmente por
las ocupaciones grandes que tenian con la dicha guerra, porque esto
es regla general que cuando los Reyes tiene'n guerra poco entienden
ni quieren entender en otras cosas." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. i, cap. 29.

Discovery of America. 99
descended the hemisphere, would not be able to ascend
again, for it would be like getting up a mountain, as
they said. In fine, they decided that this scheme of
the Genoese mariner was "vain and impossible, and
that it did not belong to the majesty of such great
princes to determine any thing upon such weak grounds
of information."*
Ferdinand and Isabella seem not to have taken the
extremely unfavorable view of the matter entertained
by the junta of cosmographers, or, at least, to have been
Avilling to dismiss Columbus gently ; for they merely
said that, Avith the wars at present on their hands, and
especially that of Granada, they could not undertake
any new expenses, but when that war was ended they
would examine his plan more carefully, f
Thus ended a solicitation at the court of Ferdinand
and Isabella, which, according to some authorities, had
lasted five years ; for the facts above mentioned, though
short in narration, occupied no little time in transac
tion. One who, from an experience larger even than
that which fell to the lot of Columbus, knew what it
was to endure the cold and indolent neglect of superfi
cial men in small authority, and all the vast delay,
which can not be comprehended except by those who
have suffered under it, that belongs to the transaction
of any affair in which many persons have to co-oper
ate, compares the suit of Columbus to a battle — " a
terrible, continuous, painful, prolix battle. "J The tide
* Heeeeea, Historia General, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 8. Madrid, 1601.
t " Despues de mucho tiempo mandaron los Reyes Catolicos, que
se respodiesse a don Christoual, que por hallarse ocupados en muchas
guerras, y en particular en la conquista de Granada, no podian em-
prender nuevos gastos, que acabado aquello mandarian examinar mejor
su pretension, y le despidieron." — Heerera, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 9.
% " Llegado en la Corte comenzo a entrar en una terrible, continua,

100 Discovery of America.
of this long war (for war it was rather than a battle)
having turned against him, Columbus left the court, and
went to Seville with " much sadness and discomfiture"
{con mucha tristesa y desconsuelo. During this dreary
period of a suitor's life, which, however, has been en
dured by some of the greatest men the world has seen,
which was well known by close observation or bitter
experience to Spenser, Camb'ens, Cervantes, Shaks-
peare, Bacon — one joy, at least, was not untasted by
Columbus, namely, that of love. His beloved Bea
trice, whom he first met at Cordova, must have believed
in him, even if no one else had done so ; but love was
not' sufficient to retain* at her side a man goaded by a
great idea, or perhaps that love did but impel him to
still nobler efforts for her sake, as is the way with lov
ers of the greater sort.
After giving up his hopes at court, Columbus is
said to have applied to the Duke of Medina Sidonia,
and afterward to the Duke of Medina Celi. It is cer
tain that when Columbus succeeded in his enterprise,
the Duke of Medina Celi wrote to the Cardinal of
Spain, showing him that he (the dulse) had maintained
Columbus two years in his house, f and was ready to
penosa y prolija batalla que por ventura no le fuera tanto aspera ni tan
horrible la de materiales armas, cuanto la de informar a tantos que no
le entendian, aunque presumian de le entender, responder y sufrir a
muchos que no conocian ni hacian mucho caso de su persona ricibien-
do algunos baldones de palabrasque le afligian el anima." — Las Ca
sas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i, cap. 29.
* " Ni las honras que le hacian diversos senores, ni la liberalidad del
contador mayor Alonso de Quintanilla que le sustentaba, ni los amores
que le dieron un hijo en Cordoba, nada basto para hacerle tolerable la
dilacion." — Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, p. 60.
t " Suplico a vuestra Senoria me quiera ayudar en ello, e ge lo su-
plique de mi parte, pues a mi cabsa y por yo detenerle en mi casa dos
anos, y haberle enderezado a su servicio, se ha hallado tan grande cosa

Discovery of America. 101
have undertaken the enterprise, but that he saw it
was one for the queen herself, and even then he
wished to have had a part in it. I do not doubt that
any man in whose house Columbus resided for two
years would have caught some portion of his enthu
siasm, and have been ready to embark in his enter
prise. It may be conjectured, however, that none of
the nobles of the Spanish court would have been like
ly to undertake the matter without some sanction from
the king or queen.
Columbus now resolved to go into France, and with
this intent went to the monastery of La Rabida for
his son Diego, intending to leave him at Cordova.
At the monastery there was the faithful friend of Co
lumbus, Juan Perez de Marchena, the guardian, to
whom he doubtless confided all his griefs and strug
gles, and who could not bear to hear of his intention
to leave the country for France or England, and to
make these nations greater by allowing them to aid
him. Juan Perez took Garcia Hernandez into coun
cil upon the affairs of Columbus. _ This Hernandez is
conjectured to have been a physician, somewhat skilled
in physical science,* and therefore capable of appre
ciating the arguments of Columbus. It is worthy of
notice that a person who appears only once, as it were,
in a sentence in History, should have exercised so
much influence upon it as Garcia Hernandez, who
was probably a man of far superior attainments to
those around him, and in the habit of deploring, as
such men do, his hard lot in being placed where he
could be so little understood. Now, however, he was
como esta." — D. of Medina Celi to Cardinal Mendoza. — Nav., Col.
Dip., Num. 14.
* Las Casas speaks of him as "medico 6 fisico."

102 Discovery of America.
to do more at one stroke than many a man who has
been all his days before the world. These three —
the monk, the learned physician, and the skilled cos-
mographer — discussed together the propositions so un
happily familiar to the last-named member of their
little council. The affection of Juan Perez and the
learning of Hernandez Were not slow to follow in the
track which the enthusiasm of the great adventurer
made out before them ; and they were, no doubt, on
that day as convinced as Columbus himself of the
feasibility of his undertaking. The difficulty, how
ever, was not in becoming believers themselves, but
in persuading those to believe who would have power
to further the enterprise. Their discussions upon
this point ended in the conclusion that Juan Perez,
who was known to the queen, having on some occa
sions acted as her confessor, should write to her high
ness. He did so, and the result was favorable. The
queen sent for him, heard what he had to say, and, in
consequence, remitted money to Columbus to enable
him to come to court and renew his suit. He attend
ed the court again ; his negotiations were resumed ;
but were again broken off on the ground of the large
ness of the conditions which he asked for. His op
ponents said that these conditions were too large if he
succeeded, and if he should not succeed, and the con
ditions should come to nothing, they thought that
there was an air of trifling in granting such conditions
at all.* And, indeed, they were very large ; namely,
that he was to be made an admiral at once, to be ap
pointed viceroy of the countries he should discover,
* " Les parecia mucho lo que queria si la empressa sucedia bien, y
sino juzgavan por ligereza el concederlo." — Herrera, dec. i., lib. i.,
cap. 8.

Discovery of America. 103
and to have an eighth of the profits of the expedition.
The only way, as it appears to me, of accounting for the
extent of these demands and his perseverance in mak
ing them, even to the risk of total failure, is that the
discovery of the Indies was but a step in his mind to
greater undertakings, as they seemed to him, which
he had in view, of going to Jerusalem with an army,
and, in fact, of making another crusade; for Colum
bus carried the chivalrous ideas of the twelfth century
into the somewhat self-seeking fifteenth. The nego
tiation, however, failed a second time, and Columbus
resolved again to go to France, when Alonso de Quin-
tanilla and Juan Perez contrived to obtain a hearing
for the great adventurer from Cardinal Mendoza, who
was pleased with him. Columbus then offered, in
order to meet the objections of his opponents, to pay
an eighth part of the expense of the expedition. Still
nothing was done. And now finally Columbus de
termined to go to France, and indeed had actually set
off one day in January of the year 1492, when Luis
de Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical, revenues
of the crown of Aragon, a person much devoted to the
plans of Columbus, addressed the queen with all the
energy that a man throws into his words when he is
aware that it is his last time for speaking in favor of
a thing which he has much at heart. He told her
that he wondered that, having always had a lofty mind
for great things, it should be wanting to her on this
occasion.* He endeavored to pique her jealousy as a
monarch by suggesting that the enterprise might fall
into the hands of other princes. Then he said some
thing in behalf of Columbus himself; and the queen
* " Que aviendo tenido siempre doblado animo para grandes cosas,
le faltasse en esta ocasion." — Herrera, dec. i., cap. 8.

104 Discovery of America.
was not unlikely to know well the bearing of a great
man. He intimated to her highness that what was
an impossibility to the cosmographers might not be
so in nature. Nor, continued he, should any endeav
or in so great a matter be attributed to lightness, even
though the endeavor should fail, for it is the part of
great and generous princes to ascertain the secrets of
the world. Other princes (he did not mention those
of neighboring Portugal) had gained eternal fame this
way. He concluded by saying that all the aid Colum
bus wanted to set the expedition afloat was but a
million of maravedis,* and that so great an enterprise
ought not to be abandoned for the sake of such -a tri
fling sum of money. These well-addressed arguments,
falling in, as they did, with those of Quintanilla the
treasurer,! who had great influence with the queen,
prevailed. She thanked these lords for their counsel,
and said she would adopt it, but they must wait until
the finances had recovered a little from the drain upon
them occasioned by the conquest of Granada, or, if
they thought that the plan must be forthwith carried
out, she would pledge her jewels to raise the neces
sary funds. Santangel and Quintanilla kissed her
hands, highly delighted at succeeding ; and Santan
gel offered to lend the money from his own estate.
Upon this the queen sent an alguazil to overtake Co
lumbus and bring him back to the court. He was
* Equivalent to about £308.
t Navareete supposes that Luis de Santangel held a similar office
under the crown of Aragon to that which Alonso de Quintanilla held
under the crown of Castile. It is a curious fact, that two finance min
isters should have been the principal and the most effectual support
ers at court of the project of Columbus. In our times, persons holding
such offices are generally supposed to have a particular- aversion to all
inventors and projectors.

Discovery of America. 105
overtaken at the bridge of Pinos, two leagues from
Granada, returned to Santa Fe,* was well received by
Isabella, and finally the agreement between him and
their Catholic highnesses was settled with the secre
tary Coloma.f
Not much is seen of King Ferdinand in all these
proceedings ; and it is generally understood that he
looked rather coldly upon the propositions of Colum
bus. We can not say that he was at all unwise in
so doing. His great compeer, Henry the Seventh, did
not hasten to adopt the same project submitted to him
by Bartholomew Columbus, sent into England for that
purpose by his brother Christopher ;% and I do not
know that it has been thought to derogate from the
EngHsh king's sagacity. Those who govern are in all
ages surrounded by projectors, and have to clear the
way about them as well as they can, and to take care
* The camp before Granada, which afterward became a town.
t Heeeera, dec. i., lib. i.', cap. 9.
X It is difficult to say how the project brought before Henry the
Seventh's notice by Bartholomew Columbus was received. Some say
it was made a mockery of at the English court ; others speak of it as
actually accepted. The truth, perhaps, lies equally between these two
statements. Not that truth, as some think, is apt to be found in choos
ing the mean between two opposite statements ; but, in this particular
case, the known facts seem to warrant such a conclusion. It is prob
able that Henry listened with interest to Bartholomew Columbus, who
was a man of much intelligence and great maritime knowledge. More
over, the king probably expressed a wish to see Christopher Columbus,
and a readiness to entertain the proposition he had to make, if it were
feasible. But it seems unlikely that the negotiation went much far
ther, considering the rigid manner in which Columbus insisted upon
his exact conditions being accepted by the Spanish court. No such
bargain at a distance, with a reserved and parsimonious monarch, was
likely, therefore, to have been concluded.
For authorities on this subject, see Las Casas, Hist., MS., lib. i,
cap. 29 ; Barcia, Hist, del Almirante, cap. 10 ; Bacon's Henry VII. ;
Herrera, dec. i., lib. ii. ; Oviedo, lib. i., cap. 4 ; Gomara, Hist, de las
Indias, cap. 15.
E2

106 Discovery of America.
that they get time and room for managing their own
immediate affairs. It is not to be wondered at, there
fore, if good plans should sometimes share the fate
which ought to attend, and must attend, the great mass
of all projects submitted to men in power. Here, how
ever, the ultimate event would justify the monarch's
caution ; for it would be hard to prove that Spain has
derived aught but a golden weakness from her splendid
discoveries and possessions in the New World.
Moreover, the characters of the two men being es
sentially opposed, it is probable that Ferdinand felt
something like contempt for the uncontrolled enthu
siasm of Columbus ; and, upon the whole, it is rather
to be wondered that the king consented to give the
powers he did, than that he did not do more. Had it
been a matter which concerned his own kingdom of
Aragon, he might not have gone so far, but the ex
penses were to be charged on Castile, and perhaps he
looked upon the whole affair as another instance of
Isabella's good-natured sympathy with enthusiasts.
The agreement between Columbus and their Cath
olic highnesses was signed at Santa Fe on the 17th
of April, 1492 ; and Columbus went to Palos to make
preparation for his voyage, bearing with him an order
that the two vessels which that city furnished annual
ly to the crown for three months, should be placed at
his disposal.
There was no delay in furnishing the funds for this
expedition. From an entry in an account-book be
longing to the bishopric of Palencia,* it appears that
one million one hundred and forty thousand maravedis
were advanced by Santangel in May, 1492, "being
the sum he lent for paying the caravels which their
* Navarrete, Col. Dip., Num. 2.

Discovery of America. 107
highnesses ordered to go as the armada to the Indies,
and for paying Christopher Columbus, who goes in the
said armada."
Juan Perez, we are told, was active in persuading
men to embark. The Pinzons, rich men and skillful
mariners of Palos, joined in the undertaking, subscrib
ing an eighth of the expenses ; and thus, by these
united exertions, three vessels were manned with nine
ty mariners, and provisioned for a year. At length
all the preparations were complete, and on a Friday
(not inauspicious in this case), the 3d of August, 1492,
after they had all confessed and received the sacra
ment, they set sail from the bar of Saltes, making for
the Canary Islands.
Columbus was now fairly afloat; about to change
the long-continued, weary, dismal life of a suitor for
the sharp, intense anxiety of a struggle in which there
was no alternative to success but deplorable, ridicu
lous, fatal failure. Speaking afterward of the time he
spent as a suitor at court, he says, " Eight years I was
torn with disputes, and, in a word, my proposition was
a thing for mockery."* It was now to be seen what
mockery was in it. The account which I shall give
of the voyage is mainly taken from an abridgment of
Columbus's own diary, made by Las Casas, who in
some places gives the admiral's own words.
The little' squadron reached the Canary Islands in
a few days, with no event worth recording except that
the caravel "Pinta," commanded by Martin Alonso
Pinzon, unshipped her rudder. This was supposed
to be no accident, but to have been contrived by the
* " Los ocho fui traido en disputas, y en fin se did mi aviso por cosa
de burla." — Navarrete, Col. Dip., Num. 137.

108 Discovery of America.
OAvners of the vessel, who did not like the voyage.
The admiral (from henceforth Columbus is called the
admiral) was obliged to stay some time at the Canary
Islands to refit the " Pinta," and to make some change
in the cut of her sails. In the abridgment of the di
ary, under the date of the 9th of August, the admiral
remarks that many Spaniards of these islands, respect
able men {hombres honrados), swear that each year
they see land ; and he remembers how, in the year
1484, some one came from the island of Madeira to
the King of Portugal to beg a caravel in order to go
and discover that land which he declared he could see
each year, and in the same manner.* Had not the
admiral been conscious of the substantial originality
of his proceedings, he would hardly have been careful
to collect these scattered notices, which might after
ward be used, as many like them were used, to depre
ciate that originality. There is no farther entry in
the diary until the 6th of September, when they set
out from Gomera (one of the Canary Islands) on their
unknown way. For many days what we have of the
diary is little more than a log-book giving the rate of
sailing, or, rather, two rates, one for Columbus's own
private heed, and the other for the sailors. For in
stance, when they go sixty leagues in a day and night,
it is put down at forty-eight for the sailors. On the
13th of September, it is noted that the needle, declined
in the evening to the northwest, and on the ensuing
morning to the northeast — the first time that such a
variation had been observed, or, at least, recorded by
Europeans. On the 14th, the sailors of the caravel
" Nina" saw two tropical birds, which they said were
never wont to be seen at more than fifteen or twenty
* Navarrete, Co/., vol, i., p. 5

Discovery of America. 109
leagues from shore. On the 15th they all saw a me
teor fall from heaven, which made them very sad. On
the 16th they first came upon those immense plains
of sea-weed (the fucus natans), which constitute the
Mar de Sargasso, and which occupy a space in the
Atlantic almost equal to seven times the extent of
France.* The aspect of these plains greatly terrified
the sailors, who thought they might be coming upon
submerged lands and rocks ; but, finding that the ves
sels cut their way well through this sea-weed, the sail
ors thereupon took heart. On the 17th they see more
of these plains of sea-weed, and, thinking themselves
to be near land, they are almost in good spirits, when,
finding that the needle declines to the west a whole"
point of the compass and more, their hopes suddenly
sink again; they begin to "murmur between their
teeth," and to wonder whether they are not in anoth
er world. Columbus, however, orders an observation
to be taken at daybreak, when the needle is found to
point to the north again ; moreover, he is ready with
a theory, sufficiently ingenious for that time, to account
for the phenomenon of variation which had so disturb
ed the sailors, namely, that it was caused by the north
star moving round the pole.f The sailors are there
fore quieted upon this head. In the morning of the
same day they catch a crab, from which Columbus in
fers that they can not be more than eighty leagues dis
tant from land. The 18th they see many birds, and
a cloud in the distance, and that night they expect to
* Humboldt's Kosmos, vol. ii., p. 287.
t He thus accounted for a purely telluric phenomenon by an as
tronomical fact of which the pilots were ignorant. As M. Humboldt
well expresses it : " Les pilotes se reassurerent, ignorant a la fois la
variation de la boussole et la non-fixite de l'etoile polaire." — Examen
Critique, tome 3me, p. 57, note.

110 Discovery of America.
see land. On the 19th, in the morning, comes a pel
ican (a bird not usually seen twenty leagues from the
coast) ; in the evening, another ; also drizzling rain
without wind, a certain sign, as the diary says, of
proximity to land.
The admiral, however, will not beat about for land,
as he concludes that the land which these various nat
ural phenomena give token of can only be islands, as
indeed it proved to be. He will see them on his re
turn; but now he must press on to the Indies.* This
determination shows his strength of mind, and indi
cates the almost scientific basis on which his great re
solve reposed.
Accordingly, he was not to be diverted from the
main design by any partial success, though by this
time he knew well the fears of his men, some of whom
had already come to the conclusion "that it would be
their best plan to throw him quietly into the sea, and
say he unfortunately fell in, while he stood absorbed
in looking at the stars, "t Indeed, three days after he
had resolved to pass on to the Indies, we find him say
ing, for Las Casas gives his words, " Very needful
for me was this contrary wind, for the people were very
much tormented with the idea that there were no winds
on these seas that could take them back to Spain."
On they go, having signs occasionally in the pres
ence of birds, and grass, and fish that land must be
* " Mas de que tuvo por cierto que a la banda del Norte y del Sur
habia algunas islas, como en la verdad lo estaban y el iba por medio
deltas ; porque su voluntad era de seguir adelante hasta las Indias, y
el tiempo es bueno, porque placiendo a Dios a la vuelta se veria todo :
estas son sus palabras." — Navarrete, Col., vol. i., p. 11.
t " No falto quien dixo, que para quitar contiendas, era lo mejor
echalle a la mar con disimulacion, y dezir, que desgra ciadamente avia
caydo, mientras estava embevido en considerar las estrellas." — Her-
eera, dec. i, 1. i., c. 10.

Discovery of America. Ill
near ; but land does not come. Once, too, they are
all convinced that they see land: they sing the "Glo
ria in excelsis;" and even the admiral goes out of his
course toward this land, which turns out to be no land.
They are like men listening to a dreadful discourse or
oration that seems to have many endings which end
not ; so that the hearer listens at last in grim despair,
thinking that all things have lost their meaning, and
that ending is but another form of beginning.
These mariners were stout-hearted, too ; but what
a daring* thing it was to plunge down hill, as it were,
into a new world of waters, mocked day by day with
signs of land that neared not. And these men had
left at home all that is dearest to man, and did not
bring out any great idea to uphold them, and had al
ready done enough to make them important men in
their towns, and to furnish ample talk for the even
ings of their lives. Still we find Columbus, as late as
the 3d of October, saying " that he did not choose to
stop beating about last week during those days that
they had such signs of land, although* he had knowl
edge of there being certain islands in that neighbor
hood, because he would not suffer any detention, since
his object was to go to the Indies ; and if he should
stop on the way, it would show a want of mind.'.'t
Meanwhile he had a hard task to keep his men in
any order. Petee Martte,^ who knew Columbus
* The Greek dramatist rightly puts it as a proof that man is the
most dread of known creatures, since driven by the wintry wind he
goes beyond the gray sea, traversing the waves howling around him :
TJoUd. rit deiva, kov&cv avdpanov Seivorepov Txekei.
tovto nal ¦koXiov Ttepav ¦kovtov %eijiepiq> vbrqi
Xapel, nepi6pvxioi.ot, rrepuv trf old/iaoi. Antig., 332-337.
t " Que nofuera buen seso." — Nav., Col., vol i., p. 16.
X This Peter Martyr must not be confounded with the Peter Martyr

112 Discovery of America.
well, and had probably been favored with a special ac
count from him of these perilous days, describes his
who took a prominent part in the Reformation. Our historian is Pie-
tro Martire d'Anghiera, a Milanese, born in 1455, at Arona, on the
Lago Maggiore.
Having finished his education, he went to Rome, where he entered
into the service of Cardinal Visconti, and where he remained ten years.
From Rome, accompanying a Spanish embassador, Peter Martyr went
to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, by whom he was well received.
This was in the year 1487.
His career was thenceforward mixed up with the greatest affairs of
Spain, which he had good opportunities of observing, as he was one of
those persons, common in that age, unhappily uncommon in ours, who
in their time play many parts. He was a soldier, a schoolmaster, an
embassador, a statesman, a priest, a historian, and a gossiping man
of letters, who reminds the English reader occasionally of Horace Wal-
pole and of Mr. Pepys. He delighted in the society of the great, and
he was upon the frankest and most intimate terms with them. " Fe
licia hsc (blandimenta naturae) deliciosi praedicant, magnorum me vi-
rorum sola commercia beant." — Epist. 95.
Peter Martyr served two campaigns in Ferdinand and Isabella's ar
mies. To use an expression of his own, he fed with his learning the
studious youths of Spain. (" Suxerunt mea literalia ubera Castellte
principes fere omnes.") He was intrusted with an embassy to the
Sultan of Egypt, of which he has given an account (De Legal. Baby-
lonied, libri tres) ; and, during the troubles which ensued with Spain,
after Charles the Fifth came to the throne, he was in correspondence
with the Regent Adrian, afterward Pope, and was a privy councilor.
This appears from a letter in which Peter Martyr regrets not having
been sent for by the regent to a council. "_<Equo tuli animo solitudi-
nem hanc" (the beautiful Granada). "Nunc autem, quandoquidem
tua Reverendiss. Dom. (Dominatio. See Ducange) jussit ilium accer-
siri, quid me jam diutius hie patitur moraril" — Epist. 728.
The principal works which Peter Martyr has left in reference to
American affairs are, De Rebus Oceanicis et Orbe Novo Decades, and
De Insulis nuper Inventis et Incolarum Moribus. His letters (Opus
Epistolarum Petri Martyris Anglerii) are of the utmost service to
those who wisbfto study the nature of the home government of Spain
at that period.
A very learned and penetrating historian has thrown the gravest
doubts upon Peter Martyr's writings. "Whoever," he says, "will
take the trouble of comparing the two first letters in the decades of
Peter Martyr with any authentic history, will perceive that they are a

Discovery of America. 113
way of dealing- with the refractory mariners, and how
he contrived to win them onward from day to day ;
negligent and palpable imposture, every date being falsified, even that
of the year in which Columbus made his great discovery. It is a
strange instance of oversight in Robertson that he has uniformly quoted
them as written at the time, for the least attention must have shown
him the contrary." — Hallam's Int. to the Lit. of Europe, vol. i., cap. 4.
Mr. Hallam's suspicions, very reasonably entertained, have, in my
judgment, been entirely confuted by Mr. Prescott (see Hist, of Ferdi
nand and Isabella, fourth edition, vol. ii., p. 68), and, by anticipation, in
the prologue of the Spanish historian Munoz (Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo,
Madrid, 1793). I am enabled to strengthen the arguments of these
last-named historians by referring to the important evidence of a con
temporary. " De los cuales cerca destas primeras cosas a ninguno se
debe dar mas fee que a Pedro Martir (the italics are in the original) que
escribo en Latin sus decadas estando aquellos tiempos en Castilla:
porque lo que en ellas dijo tocante a los principios, fue con diligencia
del mismo Almirante descubridor primero, a quien hablo muchas veces,
y de los que fueron en su compaiua inquirido y de los demas que aquel
los viajes a los principios hicieron." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS. Prologo.
One thing seems to have escaped the attention of Peter Martyr's bi
ographers, or only to have been slightly alluded to by them, namely,
that he was a member of the first council of the Indies, appointed in
1518. " En estos dias negocio Pero Martyr que lo hiciesen del consejo
mismo de las Indias, y ansi lo alcanzo, y lo fue." — (Las Casas, Hist.,
lib. iii., cap. 102.) He was also Abbot of Jamaica. He died in 1526.
It is a great felicity for the historian to have so trustworthy and so
intelligent a man as Peter Martyr as a daily witness of the great affairs
which were transacted at the court of Spain at that period. Far from
his writings having anything factitious about them, their merit is that
they reflect his uncorrected thoughts and feelings on the very day in
which he recorded any transaction. He was a man of strong impulses,
and his bitterness against the Flemings who came over in the suite of
Charles the Fifth is expressed with the utmost latitude of imprudence.
They had deprived him of his salary.
He professed, and I believe felt, an indifference to fame, saying that
it was better to be unknown than to be carped at in the public ways of
men. " Satius namque est latere, quam in compitis populari dente cor-
rodi." His letters were written very carelessly and in haste. A learn
ed contemporary, Juan de Vergara, mentions having seen Peter Martyr
writing a couple of letters while his servants were laying the table for
dinner. — See Nicolas Antonio, Bibl. Hispan. Nova, ii., p. 372.

114 Discovery of America.
now soothing them with soft words, now carrying their
minds from thought of the present danger by' spread
ing out large hopes before them, not forgetting to let
them know what their prince would say to them if
they attempted aught against him, or would not obey
his orders.* With this untutored crowd of wild, fright
ened men around him, with mocking hopes, not know
ing what each day would bring to him, .on went Co
lumbus. At last came the 11th of October, and with
it indubitable signs of land. The diary mentions their
finding on that day a table-board and a carved stick,
the carving apparently wrought by some iron instru
ment. Moreover, the men in one of the vessels saw a
branch of a haw-tree with fruit on it. Now, indeed,
they must be close to land. The sun went down upon
the same weary round of waters which for so long a
time their eyes had ached to see beyond, when, at ten
o'clock, Columbus, standing on the poop of his vessel,
saw a light, and called to him, privately, Pedro Guti
errez, a groom of the king's chamber, who saw it also.
Then they called Rodrigo Sanchez, who had been sent
by their highnesses as overlooker. I imagine him to
have been a cold and cautious man, of the kind that
are sent by jealous states to accompany and curb
great generals, and who are not usually much loved
by them. Sanchez did not see the light at first, be-
His personal knowledge of Columbus, and of others among the first
voyagers to the Indies, must ever make Peter Martyr one of the great
authorities for any history of the New World.
* " Post trigesimum jam diem furore perciti, proclamabant, ut re-
ducerentur : ne ulterius procederet, stimulabant hominem : ipse verb,
blandis modo verbis, ampla spe modo, diem ex die protrahens, iratos
mulcebat, deposcebat : proditionis quoque taxandos esse a regibus, si
adversi quicquam in eum molirentur, et si parere recusarent, predica-
bat." — Peter Martyr, dec. i., lib. i.

Discovery of America. 115
cause, as Columbus says, he did not stand in the place
whence it could be seen, but at last even he sees it ;
and it may now be considered to have been seen offi
cially. " It appeared like a candle that went up and
down, and Don Christopher did not doubt that it was
true light, and that it was on land ; and so it proved,
as it came from people passing with lights from one
cottage to another."*
Their highnesses had promised a pension of ten
thousand maravedis to the fortunate man who should
see land first. The " Pinta" was the foremost vessel ;
and it was from her deck, at two o'clock in the morn
ing, that land was first seen by Rodrigo de Triana.
We can not but be sorry for this poor common sailor,
who got no reward, and of whom they tell a story,
that in sadness and despite he passed into Africa,
after his return to Spain, and became a Mohammedan.
The pension was adjudged to the admiral: it was
charged, somewhat ominously, on the shambles (car-
nicerias) of Seville, and was paid him to the day of
his death ; for, says the historian Heeeeea, " he saw
light in the midst of darkness, signifying the spiritual
light which was introduced among these barbarous
people, God permitting that, the war being finished
with the Moors, seven hundred and twenty years after
they had set foot in Spain, this work (the conversion of
the Indians) should commence, so that the Princes of
Castile and Leon might always be occupied in bringing
infidels to the knowledge of the holy Catholic faith."
These last words are notable. They are such as
Columbus himself would probably have made use of
in describing this, the crowning event of his life. In
the preface to his diary, which is an address to Ferdi-
* Herrera, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 12.

116 Discovery of America.
nand and Isabella, he speaks at large of the motives
of their highnesses. He begins by saying how, in
this present year of 1492, their highnesses had con
cluded their war with the Moors, having taken the
great city of Granada, at^ the siege of which he was
present, and saw the royal banners placed upon the
towers of the Alhambra. He then tells how he had
given information to their highnesses of the lands of
India, and of a prince called the Grand Khan, who
had sent embassadors to Rome, praying for doctors to
instruct him in the faith ; and how the Holy Father
had never provided him with these doctors ; and that
great towns {tantos pueblos) were perishing, from the
belief of their inhabitants in idolatry, and from receiv
ing among them " sects of perdition." After the above
statement, he adds, "Tour highnesses, as Catholic
Christians and princes, lovers and furtherers of the
Christian faith, and enemies of the sect of Mohammed,
and of all idolatries and heresies, thought to send me,
Christopher Columbus, to the aforesaid provinces of
India, to see the aforesaid princes, the cities and lands,
and the disposition of them and of every thing about
them, and the way that should be taken to convert
them to our holy faith."*
Columbus then speaks of the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain as occurring at the same time as that in
which he received orders to pursue a westerly course
to India, thus combining the two transactions together,
* " Vuestras Altezas, como catolicos cristianos y Principes amadores
de la santa fe cristiana y acrecentadores delta, y enemigos de la secta
de Mahoma y de todas idolatrias y heregias, pensaron de enviarme a
mi Cristobal Colon a las dichas partidas de India para ver los dichos
principes, y los pueblos y tierras, y la disposicion deltas y de todo, y
la manera que se pudiera tener para la conversion deltas a nuestra
santa fe." — Navaeeete, Col., torn i., p. 2.

Discovery of America. 117
no doubt as proofs of the devout intentions of their
highnesses: and, indeed, throughout the document,
he ascribes no motives to the monarchs but such as
were religious.
The diary to which this address was prefixed is
probably one of the books which their highnesses al
lude to in a letter to Columbus as being in their pos
session, and which they assured him they had not
shown to any body. I see no reason to doubt the
perfect good faith of Columbus in making such a state
ment as that just referred to ; -and it is well to remark
upon it, because we shall never come to a right under
standing of those times, and of the question of slavery
as connected with them, unless we fully appreciate the
good as well as the bad motives which guided the
most important persons of that era.
_ As for Queen Isabella, there can be no doubt about
her motives. Even in the lamentably unjust things
in which she was too often concerned, she had what
to her mind was compelling reason to act as she did.
Perhaps there is hardly any great personage whose
name and authority are found in connection with so
much that is strikingly evil, all of it done, or rather
assented to, upon the highest and purest motives.
Whether we refer to the expulsion of the Jews, the
treatment of the Moorish converts, or the establish
ment of the Inquisition, all her proceedings in these
matters were entirely sincere and noble-minded. Me-
thinks I can still see her beautiful, majestic face (with
broad brow, and clear, honest, loving eye), as it looks
down upon the beholder from one of the chapels in the
cathedral at Granada : a countenance too expressive
and individual to be what painters give as that of an
angel, and yet the next thing to it. Now I could al-

118 Discovery of America.
most fancy she looks down reproachfully, and yet
with conscious sadness. What she would say in her
defense, -could we interrogate her, is, that she obeyed
the voice of Heaven, taking the wise and good men
of her day as its interpreters. Oh ! that she had but
persisted in listening to it, as it spoke in her own
kindly heart, when with womanly pity she was wont
to intercede in favor of the poor cooped-up inmates of
some closely-beleaguered town or fortress! But at
least the poor Indian can utter nothing but blessings
on her. He might have needed no other "protector,"
had she lived; nor would slavery have found in his
fate one of the darkest and most fatal chapters in its
history. But now, from Granada, and our fancies there, the
narrative brings us back to the first land touched by
Columbus. The landing of Columbus in the New
World must ever be a conspicuous fact in the annals
of mankind ; and it was adorned by a ceremonial
worthy of the occasion. On the ensuing morning
after the light had been observed from the ships, be
ing a Friday, the 12th of October, 1492, Columbus,
clad in complete armor, and carrying in his hand the
royal banner of Spain, descended upon the level shores
of the small island which had first greeted him, and
which he found to be very fruitful — fresh and ver
dant, and "like a garden full of trees."* The other
captains accompanied him, each of them bearing a
banner with a green cross depicted upon it, and with
* " Es una isla de quince leguas de luengo poco mas 6 menos, toda
baja sin montana alguna como una huerta llena de arboles, verde y
fresquisima como son todas las de los Lucayos que hay por alii cerca
de esta Espanola y se estienden por luengo de Cuba." — Las Casas,
Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 40.

Discovery of America. 119
the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella surmounted by
their respective crowns* — a device that well expressed
the loyalty and devotion of Columbus, and had been
chosen by him. These chief officers were followed by
a large retinue from then: crews. In numerous lines
along the shore stood the simple islanders, looking on
with innocent amazement.
On touching land, Columbus and all the Spaniards
who were present fell upon their knees, and with
tears — tears of that deepest kind, which men do not
know the cause of — poured forth their " immense
thanksgivings to Almighty God."f
The man who, of all that embassage, if we may call
it so, from the Old to the New World, was certainly
the least surprised by all he saw, was at the same
time the most affected. For thus it is, that the bold
ness of a great design is never fully appreciated by
the designer himself until he has apparently accom
plished his work, when he is apt, if it be indeed a
great work, to look back with shuddering awe at his
OAvn audacity in having proposed it to mankind. The
vast resolve which sustains such a man through his
* " Y los dos Capitanes (sacaron) sendas banderas de la Cruz verde
que el Almirante llevaba en todos los navios por senal y divisa, con
una F., que significaba el Rey Don Fernando, y una Y por la reyna
Dona Ysabel, y encima de cada letra su corona una del un cabo de la
cruz y otra del otro." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i.,
cap. 40.
t Oviedo, whose account of the landing is not to be compared with
that of Las Casas, from which the above is taken, describes the ad
miral as reciting the " Te Deum laudamus" — Assi como el almirante
vido la tierra, hincado de rodillas e saltandosele las lagrimas de los ojos
del extremado placer que sentia, commence a decir com Ambrosio y
Augustino : Te Deum laudamus, Te Dominum confitemur, etc. ; y assi,
dando gracias a nuestro Senor con todos los que con el yban, fue in-
extimable el gozo que los unos y los otros hacian." — Oviedo, Hist.
Gen. y Nat. de Indias, lib. ii., cap. 5. Madrid, 1851.

120 Discovery of America.
long and difficult enterprise, having for the moment no
thing to struggle against, dies away, leaving a strange
sinking at the heart ; and thus the greatest successes
are often accompanied by a peculiar and bewildering
melancholy. New difficulties, however, bred from suc
cess (for nothing is complete in life), soon arise to sum
mon forth again the discoverer's energies, and to nerve
him for fresh disappointments and renewed endeavors.
Columbus will not fail to have his full share of such
difficulties. The followers of the great man, whose occasional
faintheartedness must often have driven all sleep from
his weary eyelids throughout the watches of the night,
now began to think with remorse how much suffering
they had needlessly inflicted upon their greatly-en
during leader. They sought his pardon with tears,
and, subdued for the moment by his greatness when
illustrated by success, expressed in loving terms their
admiration, their gratitude, and their assurances of
fidelity. The placable Columbus received their gra
cious sayings with all the warmth and tenderness that
belonged to his large and amiable character.
The great business of the day then commenced ;
and Columbus, with the due legal formalities, took
possession, on behalf of the Spanish monarchs, of the
island Guanahani, which he forthwith named San Sal
vador. The gravity of the proceedings must have as
tonished the beholding islanders. Their attention,
however, was soon turned to the Spaniards them
selves ; and they approached the strangers, wonder
ing at their whiteness and at their beards. Columbus,
as being the noblest-looking personage there present,
and also from wearing crimson over his armor {por
ir vestido de grand), attracted especial attention, and

Discovery of America. 121
justly seemed, as he was, the principal figure in this
great spectacle.
Columbus is for the present moment radiant with
success. Our interest passes now from him to the
new people he was among. And what were they like ?
Were they worthy of the efforts which the Old World
had made to find them? Was there mind and soul
enough in them for them to become good Christians ?
What says the greatest of the men who first saw
them ? What impression did they make on him ?
Let him answer for himself.
" Because they had much friendship for us, and
because I knew they were people that would deliver
themselves better to the Christian faith, and be con
verted more through love than by force, I gave to
some of them some colored caps, and some strings of
glass beads for their necks, and many other things
of little value, with which they were delighted, and
were so entirely ours that it was a marvel to see. The
same afterward came swimming to the ships' boats
where we were, and brought us parrots, cotton threads
in balls, darts, and many other things, and bartered
them with us for things which we gave them, such as
bells and small glass beads. In fine, they took and
gave all of whatever they had with good will. But
it appeared to me they were a people very poor in
every thing. They went totally naked, as naked as
their mothers brought them into the world."*
Then Columbus goes on to say, that these Indians
were well made, with very good faces, but hair like
horsehair, their color yellow ; and that they painted
themselves. They neither carried arms nor under
stood such things ; for when he showed them swords,
* Navarrete, Col., vol. i., p. 21.
Vnr.. T. — F

Discovery of America. 123
they took hold of them by the blade and hurt them
selves. Their darts are without iron, but some had
a fish's tooth at the end. In concluding his descrip
tion he says, " They ought to make faithful servants
and of good understanding, for I see that very quick
ly they repeat all that is said to them ; and I believe
they would easily be converted to Christianity, for it
appeared to me that they had no creed."
A little farther on, the admiral says of the people
of a neighboring island that they were more domestic
and tractable than those of San Salvador, and more
intelligent too, as he saw in their way of reckoning for
the payment of the cotton they brought to the ships.
At the mouth of the Rio de Mares* some of the ad
miral's men, whom he had sent to reconnoitre, brought
him word that the houses of the natives were the best
they had seen. They were made, he says, like " al-
faneques (pavilions), very large, and appeared as roy
al tents without an arrangement of streets, except one
here and there, and within they were very clean, and
well swept, and their furniture very well arranged.
All these houses were- made of palm branches, and
were very beautiful. Our men found in these houses
many statues of women, and several heads fashioned
like masks and very well wrought. I do not know,
he adds, whether they have these for the love of the
beautiful or for purposes of worship."! The Span-
* In Cuba, now Nuevitas del Principe.
t Eran hechas a manera de alfaneques, muy grandes, y parecian ti-
endas en real sin concierto de calles, sino una aca y otra aculla, y de
dentro muy barridas y limpias, y sus aderezos muy compuestos. To-
das son de ramas de palma muy hermosas. Hallaron muchas estatuas
en figura de mugeres, y muchas cabezas en manera de caratona muy
bien labradas. No se si esto tienen por hermosura 6 adoran en ellas."
— Navareete, Col., vol. i., p. 42.

124 Discovery of America.
iards found also excellent nets, fish-hooks, and fish
ing-tackle. There were tame birds about the houses,
and dogs which did not bark.
The admiral, speaking of the Indians of the coast
near the Rio de Sol,* says that they are " very gen
tle, without knowing what evil is, neither killing nor
stealing."! He describes the frank generosity of the
people of Marien,J and of the honor they thought it to
be asked to give, in terms which may remind his read
ers of the doctrines maintained by Christians in re
spect of giving. §
It is interesting to observe the way in which, at this
point of the narrative, a new product is introduced to
the notice of the Old World — a product that was here
after to become, not only an unfailing source of pleas
ure to a large section of the male part of mankind,
from the highest to the lowest, but was also to dis
tinguish itself as one of those commodities for reve
nue which are the delight of statesmen, the great
financial resource of modern nations, and which afford
a means of indirect taxation that has perhaps nour
ished many a war and prevented many a revolution.
Two discoverers whom the admiral had sent out from
the Puerto de Mares (one of them being a learned
Jew, who could speak Hebrew, Chaldee, and some
Arabic, and would have been able to discourse, as
Columbus probably thought, with any of the subjects
of the Grand Khan, if he had met them) found that
* A river at the northeastern part of Cuba.
t " Muy mansos, y sin saber que sea mal, ni matar a otros, ni pren-
der." — Navarrete, Col., vol. i, p. 53. X A province of Hispaniola.
§ " Y como sea esta gente de muy franco corazon que cuanto le pi-
den dan con le mejor voluntad del mundo, les parece que pidiendoles
algo les hacen grande merced : esto dice el Almirante." — Nav., Col,
torn, i, p. 105.

Discovery of America. 125
the men" of the country they came to investigate in
dulged in a " fumigation" of a peculiar kind. The
smoke in question was absorbed into the mouth
through a charred stick, and was caused by burning
certain herbs wrapped in a dry leaf, which outer cov
ering was called " tabaco." Las Casas, who carefully
describes this process of imbibing smoke, mentions
that the Indians, when questioned about it, said that
it took away fatigue, and that he has known Span
iards in the island of Hispaniola who adopted the
same habit, and who, being reproved for it as a vice,
replied that it was not in their power to leave it off.
" I do not know," he adds, " what savor or profit they
found in them" {tabacos).* I can not help thinking
that there were several periods in his own life when
these strange fumigations would have afforded him sin
gular soothing and comfort. However that may be,
there can be no doubt of the importance, financially
and commercially speaking, of this discovery of to
bacco — a discovery which in the end proved more
productive to the Spanish crown than that of the gold
mines of the Indies.
* " Hallaron estos dos cristianos por el camino mucha gente que
atravesaban a sus pueblos mugeres y hombres : siempre los hombres
con un tizon en las manos y ciertas yerbas para tomar sus sahumeri-
os, que son Unas yeTbas secas metidas en una cierta hoja seca tam-
bien a manera de mosquete, hecho de papel de los que hacen los mu-
chachos la pascua del Espiritu Santo ; y encendido por la una parte
de el, por la otra chupan 6 sorben, 6 reciben con el resuello para aden-
tro aquel humo ; con el cual se adormecen las carnes y cuasi embor-
racha, y asi diz que no sienten el cansancio. Estos mosquetes, como
los Hamaremos, llaman ellos tabacos. Espanoles cognosci yo en esta
Isla Espanola que los acostumbraron a tomar quesien do reprendidos
por ellos, diciendoseles que aquello era vicio, respondian que no era en
sus manos dejarlos de tomar : no se que sabor 6 provecho hallaban en
ellos." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 46. See also
Navareete, Col., vol. i, p. 51, note.

126 Discovery of America.
The excellent relations that existed between the
expedition of Columbus and the inhabitants of Cuba
may be seen from the fact that these two Christians,
who were the first witnesses of tobacco-smoking, and
who traveled with only two Indian attendants, were
every where well and reverently received.*
Resuming the thread of the history, it remains to
be seen. what more Columbus did and suffered in this
voyage. The first Indians he met with had some few
gold ornaments about them — poor wretches, if they
had possessed the slightest gift of prophecy, they would
have thrown these bawbles into the deepest sea ! — and
they were asked whence came this gold. From a
race, they said, living southward, where there was a
great king, who had much gold. On another occa
sion, other Indians, being asked the same question,
answered, "Cubanacan, Cubanacan." They meant
the middle of Cuba ; but their words at once suggest
ed to Columbus the idea that he was now upon the
the traces of his long-looked-for friend, Kublai Khan,
the Khan of Khans. Indeed, it is almost ludicrous
to see throughout hoAV Columbus is possessed with the
notions borrowed from his reading of Marco Polo and
other travelers. He asks for " his Cipango," as Hee-
eeea slyly puts it, and the natives at once point out
to him the direction where that is. They thought he
meant Cibao, where afterward the best- mines of gold
were found. The admiral, bent on discovery, and es
pecially on finding the terra firma which adjoined
"his" India, did not stay long any where. Proceed-
* " Todas las gentes que topaban estos dos cristianos en viendolos
se ponian en grande admiracion y los hacian el mismo acatamiento." —
Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i, cap. 46,

Discovery of America. 127
ing southward from San Salvador, he discovered an
island, or rather a group of islands, to which he gave
the general name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion ; he
then discovered Cuba, and coasted along the northeast
ern part of that island ; and afterward, in due course,
came to Hispaniola, called by the natives Hayti, in
which island he landed upon the territory of King
Guacanagari, where he was received most cordially.
Various conjectures have been made as to the dif
ferent results which would have followed, both for the
New and for the Old World, if Columbus had steer
ed a little to the northward or the southward of the
course which he actually took. One thing, however,
is obvious, that in arriving at Hispaniola he came to
a central point, not only of the West Indies, but of
the whole of the New World, and a point, therefore,
most felicitously situated for the spreading of future
discovery and conquest.
It may be mentioned here that Martin Alonso Pin-
zon had willfully parted company from the admiral
while on the coast of Cuba, covetousness being prob
ably the cause of this most undutiful proceeding. But,
indeed, there is another instance of the insubordination
of the mariners, which makes the wonder only still
greater how Columbus could have brought them across
the Atlantic at all. One evening the admiral, after
paying a visit to Guacanagari, seeing the sea quite
calm, betook himself to rest. As he had not slept for
two days and a night, it is probable his slumber was
deep. Meanwhile, the steersman, contrary to the dis
tinct orders of the admiral, gave the helm to a com-r
mon sailor, a youth. All of the sailors went to sleep.
The sea was as calm " as water in a dish." Little by

128 Discovery of America.
little the ship drifted on to a shoal. Directly they
touch, the sailor-boy at the helm starts from his dream,
haply about his mother, and cries out. The admiral
jumps up first (for the responsibility of command sel
dom goes quite to sleep) ; then the officer, whose watch
it ought to have been, hurries up, and the admiral or
ders him to lower the boat which they carried on the
poop, and to throw out an anchor astern. Instead of
obeying the admiral, this cowardly villain, with others
like him, sprang into the boat, and made off for the
other vessel, which was about half a league off. The
other vessel would not receive them, and they rowed
back again. But it Avas too late. The admiral did
what he could in the emergency ; he cut down the
mast, lightened the vessel as best he might, took out
his people, and went With them to the other caravel,
sending his boat to Guacanagari to inform him of the
misfortune. The good Guacanagari was moved to
tears by this sad affair. He gave not only sympathy,
however, but assistance. His people went out with
their canoes, and in a few moments cleared the vessel
of all the goods in it. Guacanagari was very careful
that nothing should be lost. He himself stood guard
over the things which had been taken out of the ship.
Then he sent comforting messages to the admiral, say
ing that he Avould give him what he had to make up
for the loss. He put all the effects under shelter, and
placed guards round them. The admiral was evident
ly touched to the heart, as well he might be, by the
kindness of these Indians. He thus expresses him
self: " They are a loving, uncovetous people, so docile
in all things, that I assure your highnesses I believe
in all the world there is not a better people or a bet
ter country : they love their neighbors as themselves,

Discovery of America. 129
and they have the sweetest and the gentlest way of
talking in the world, and always with a smile."*
The admiral resolved to found a colony in Guacan-
agari's land, " having found such good will and such
signs of gold."! In relating this, the Spanish histo
rian, Heeeeea, makes some curious reflections. He
looks upon the loss of the vessel as providential, in or
der that the true faith might be preached in that coun
try. Then he says how Providence causes its work
to be done, not on high motives only, but also on the
ordinary ones which influence mankind. He con
cludes by observing that Providence dealt with the In
dians as a prudent father who has an ugly daughter,
but makes up for her ugliness by the help of a large
dowry. By the ugliness in this case he means the
seas to be traversed, the hunger to be endured, and
the labors to be undertaken, which he considers no
other nation but the Spaniards would have encounter
ed, even with the hope of greater booty. . There we
may venture to differ from him.
Columbus built a fort, and called it La Navidad, be
cause he entered the port near there on Christmas
day. He remained on very friendly terms with the
good cacique Guacanagari, and might have establish
ed himself most advantageously in that part of the
* " Son gente de amor y sin cudicia, y convenibles para toda cosa,
que certifico a vuestras Altezas que en el mundo creo que no hay mejor
gente ni mejor tierra : ellos aman a sus projimos como a si mismos, y
tienen una habia la mas dulce del mundo, y mansa, y siempre con
risa." — Navaerete, Col., vol. i., p. 113.
t Herrera, dec. i., lib. i., u. 18. There is a good expression of
Oviedo's, when describing the friendship of these Indians, and the re
liance which the admiral placed in them : " Viendo el almirante que
aquesta gente era tan domestica, paresciole que seguramente podria
dexar alii algunos chripstianos." — Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. ii., cap. 6.
F2

130 Discovery of America.
country if he could have been content to be a settler ;
but, from the first moment of his discovery, he doubt
less had an anxious desire to get back to Spain and
tell what he knew, and at times, perhaps, was fearful
lest his grand secret, through some mischance to the
expedition, should still perish with him. The great
discoverer, therefore, now prepared to return home
ward. He left his fort in trust to a small body of his
followers,* whom he commended to the good offices of
Guacanagari, not forgetting to impress upon them the
excellent advice to do no violence to man or woman,
and, in short, to make their actions conformable to
the idea (which the Indians first entertained of them)
that they had come from heaven. Then, having re
ceived the necessary provisions for his vessel from the
friendly cacique, the admiral set sail for Spain on the
4th of January, 1493.
* They were forty in number ; and it would be strange to find, but
for the well-known fact that nothing brings men of different races to
gether more than maritime and commercial enterprise, that in this
small list there is an Irishman, " Guillermo Ires ( Qy. , William Herries,
or Rice), natural de Galney, en Irlanda ;" and an Englishman, " Tal-
larte de Lajes ( Qy., Arthur Lake), Ingles." See " lista de las personas
que Colon dejo en la IslaEspaSola." — Nav arrete, Col. Dip., Num. 13.

CHAPTER II.
admtnisteation of coltjmbus m the nrorjEs.
AS this history does not undertake to give a life of
Columbus, it is not requisite to relate the minor
discoveries which he made after leaving La Navidad,
or the troubles and difficulties he had on his voyage
homeward, or his reception at Lisbon, where he was
obliged to take refuge from a storm, and where dis
playing the signs of a new world at a court which had
refused to aid in the discovery must have been almost
too much of a triumph for a generous mind. Suffice
it to say that he arrived at Palos, the port he had set
out from, on the 15th of March, 1493, and forthwith
commenced his journey to Barcelona, where the court
then was. Hebbeea tells us that the admiral now
" entered into the greatest reputation ;" and the his
torian goes on to explain to his readers what the mean
ing of "reputation" is. It does not consist, he tells
us, in success, but in doing something which can not
be easily comprehended, which compels men to think
over and over again about it ;* and, certainly, this
definition makes the word particularly applicable to
the achievement of Columbus.
The court prepared a solemn reception for the ad
miral at Barcelona, where the people poured out in
such numbers to see him that the streets could not
contain them. A triumphal procession like his the
* Herrera, dec. i., lib. ii., cap. 3.

132 Reception of Columbus
world had not yet seen : it was a thing to make the
most incurious alert, and even the sad and solitary
student content to come out and mingle with the mob.
The captives that accompanied a Roman general's car
might be strange barbarians, of a tribe from which
Rome had not before had slaves ; but barbarians were
not unknown creatures. Here, with Columbus, were
beings of a new world. We may imagine the rumors
that must have gone before his coming ; and now he
was there. Ferdinand and Isabella had their thrones
placed in the presence of the assembled court. Co
lumbus approached the monarchs, and then, his coun
tenance beaming with modest satisfaction {modesta
risa), knelt at the king's feet, and begged leave to kiss
their highnesses' hands. They gave their hands ; then
they bade him rise, and be seated before them. He
recounted, briefly, the events of his voyage — a story
more interesting than the tale told by iEneas in the
court of Dido — and he concluded his unpretending nar
rative by showing what new things and creatures he
had brought with him.
Ferdinand and Isabella fell on their knees, giving
thanks to God with many tears, and then the choris
ters of the royal chapel closed the grand ceremonial by
singing the " Te Deum." Afterward men walked
home grave and yet happy, having seen the symbol of
a great work — something to be thought over for many
a generation. Other marks of approbation for Columbus were not
wanting. The agreement between him and Los Reyes
(Ferdinand and Isabella will henceforth be often called
Los Reyes, as they are in the histories of that time)
was confirmed. An appropriate coat of arms, then a
thing of much significance, was granted to him in aug-

on his Return to Spain. 133
mentation of his own. In the shield are conspicuous
ly emblazoned the royal' arms of Castile and Leon.*
Nothing can better serve to show the immense favor
which Columbus had obtained at court by his discov
ery than such a grant ; and it is but a trifling addi
tion to make, in recounting his new honors, that the
title of Don was given to him and his descendants,
and also to his brothers. He rode by the king's side,
was served at table as a grandee, " All hail" was said
to him on state occasions, and the men of his age,
happy in that, had found out another great man to
honor. The more prosaic part of the business had then to
be attended to. Los Reyes applied to the Pope, Alex
ander the Sixth, to confer on the crowns of Castile
and Leon the lands discovered and to be discovered
in the Indies. To this application they soon received
a favorable answer. The Pope granted to the Princes
of Castile and Leon, and to their successors, the sov
ereign empire and principality of the Indies, and of
the navigation there, with high and royal jurisdic
tion and imperial dignity and lordship over all that
hemisphere. To preserve the peace between Spain
and Portugal, the pontiff divided the Spanish and
Portuguese Indian sovereignties by an imaginary fine
drawn from pole to pole one hundred leagues to the
west of the Azores and the Cape de Verde Islands.!
* " Le dieron las mismas armas reales de Castilla y de Leon, mez-
cladas y repartidas con otras que assi mesmo le concedieron de nuevo."
— Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. ii., cap. 7.
t It is conjectured by Humboldt that this imaginary line had refer
ence to the line of no variation noticed by Columbus, or rather to be
inferred from his observations of the variation of the needle on those
occasions which had caused the sailors such terror in his first voyage.

134 Reception of Columbus
Meanwhile the preparations were being made for a
second voyage to be undertaken by the admiral. Aft
er the arrival of the apostolic bulls, and before the
departure of Columbus from Barcelona, the nine In
dians brought by him were baptized. Here, paren
thetically, we may take note of something which, if
the fact did correspond with what the Spaniards
thought about it, would indeed be notable. One of
the Indians, after being baptized, died, and was, we
are told, the first of that nation, according to pious be
lief, who entered heaven.*
We can not help thinking of the hospitable and
faithful Guacanagari, and imagining that, if his race
had been like him, some one might already have
reached the regions of the blessed. I do not, howev
er, refer to this passage of Heeeeea for its boldness
or its singularity, but because it brings before us
again the profound import attached to baptism in
those times, and may help to account for many seem
ing inconsistencies in the conduct of the Spaniards to
the Indians.
In the conduct, however, of Los Reyes toward the
Indians there was nothing equivocal, but all that- they
did showed the tenderness and religious care of these
monarchs for their new subjects. The instructions
which Columbus carried out in bis second voyage,
dated the 29th of May, 1493, are the first strokes
For several curious and interesting observations on this papal bull,
see Humboldt, Examen Critique de VHistoire du Nouveau Continent,
tome iii., p. 52, note.
* " Y porque ellos mismos pidieron el bautismo, quisieron los Reyes
ofrecer a nuestro Senor las primicias desta gentilidad, y fueron padri-
nos, el Rey y el Principe don Juan su hijo : el qual quiso, que uno de
los Indios quedasse en su casa en su servicio, que no mucho despues
murio, que segun piadosamente se deve creer, fue el primero que desta
nacion entrd en el cielo." — Herrera, dec. i., lib. ii., cap. 5.

on his Return to Spain. 135
upon that obdurate mass of colonial difficulty, which
at last, by incessant working of great princes, great
churchmen, and great statesmen, was eventually to be
hammered into some righteous form of wisdom and of
mercy. In the course of these instructions, the ad
miral is ordered to labor in all possible ways to bring
the dwellers in the Indies to a knowledge of the holy
Catholic faith. And that this may the easier be done,
all the armada is to be charged to deal "-lovingly"
with the Indians ; the admiral is to make them pres
ents, and to " honor them much ;" and if by chance
any person or persons should treat the Indians ill, in
any manner whatever, the admiral is to chastise such
ill-doers severely.* Their highnesses also, to insure
an authorized teaching of the faith, sent out a certain
Father Buil, with other ecclesiastics, to superintend
the religious education of the Indians.
With these instructions, Columbus set sail again on
the 25th of September, 1493, having with him seven
teen vessels and fifteen hundred men. After making
various discoveries, which we need not follow out, the
admiral arrived at Hispaniola, and had the misfortune
to find his little colony at La Navidad entirely de
stroyed. The account of this which Guacanagari gave
to Columbus, and which I see no reason for doubting,
is, that the Spaniards who had been left at La Navi
dad took to evil courses, quarreled among themselves,
* "Procure e haga el dicho Almirante que todos los que en ella (la
armada) van, e los que mas fueren de aqui adelante, traten muy bien e
amorosamente a los dichos indios, sin que les fagan enojo alguno, pro-
curando que tengan los unos con los otros mucha conversacion e fa-
miliaridad, haciendose las mejores obras que ser pueda ; e asimismo,
el dicho Almirante les de algunas dadivas gTaciosamente de las cosas
de mercaderias de sus Altezas que Ueva para el resgate, e los honre
mucho." — Navarrete, Col. Dip., Niim 45.

136 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
straggled about the country, and finally were set upon,
when weak and few in numbers, by a neighboring In
dian chief, named Caonabo, who burned the tower, and
killed or dispersed the garrison, none of whom were
ever discovered.* Columbus built another fort in a
different part of the island, and called his new colony
Isabella. Hearing of the mines of Cibao, he sent to
reconnoitre them, and the Indians, little foreseeing
what was to come of it, gave gold to the Spanish mes
sengers, who thereupon returned with good signs of
success. Columbus accordingly resolved to found a
colony at Cibao.
At this period (January, 1494), Columbus sent home
an account of the state of his colony. It is in the
form of instructions to a certain Antonio de Torres,
the receiver of the colony, who was to proceed to the
court of Spain, and inform the monarchs of such things
as were written in these instructions, and doubtless to
elucidate them by discourse, as in the present day
we send a dispatch to be read by an embassador to
the foreign minister of the power we are treating with.
There remains a copy, made at the time, of this docu
ment, and of the notes in the margin containing the
resolutions of Los Reyes. The original, thus noted,
was taken back to Columbus. It is a most valuable
document, very illustrative of the cautious and wise
dealing of the Catholic sovereigns.
The document begins with the usual strain of com
plimentary address to great personages. "Their high
nesses hold it for good service''' is the marginal remark.
* This is the more to be regretted, as we might possibly have had
from the Englishman or the Irishman an account of the first voyage
of Columbus in our own language.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 137
The next paragraph consists of a general statement
of the discoveries that have been made. "Their high
nesses give much thanks to Cod, and hold as very
honored service all that the admiral has done."
Then follow the admiral's reasons why he has not
been able to send home more gold. His people have
been ill ; it was necessary to keep guard," &c. "He
has done well" is in the margin.
He suggests the building a fortress near the place
where gold can be got. Their highnesses approve ;
and the note in the margin is, "This is well, and so it
must be done."
Then comes a paragraph about provisions, and a
marginal order from Los Reyes " that Juan de Fon-
seca is to provide for that matter."
Again, there comes another paragraph about provi
sions, complaining, among other things, that the casks
in which the wine for the armada had been put were
leaky. Their highnesses make an order in the mar
gin " that Juan de Fonseca is to find out the persons
who played this cheat with the wine-casks, and to
make good from their pockets the loss, and to see that
the canes" (sugar-canes for planting, I suppose) "are
good, and that all that is here asked for be provided
immediately." So far, nothing can run more pleasantly with the
main document than the notes in the margin. Co
lumbus now touches upon a matter which intimately
concerns our subject. He desires his agent to inform
their highnesses that he has sent home some Indians
from the Cannibal Islands as slaves, to be taught Cas-
tilian, and to serve afterward as interpreters, so that
the work of conversion may go on. His arguments
in support of this proceeding are weighty. He speaks

138 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
of the good that it will be to take these people away
from cannibalism and to have them baptized, for so
they will gain their souls, as he expresses it. Then,
too, with regard to the other Indians, he remarks, we
shall have great credit from them, seeing that we can
capture and make slaves of these Cannibals, of whom
they, the peaceable Indians, entertain so great a fear.
Such arguments must be allowed to have much force
in them ; and it may be questioned whether many of
those persons who, in these days, are the strongest op
ponents of slavery, would then have had that percep
tion of the impending danger of its introduction which
Los Reyes appear to have entertained from their an
swer to this part of the document. "This is very
well, and so it must be done ; but let the admiral see
whether it could not be managed there" {i. e., in the
Cannibal Islands), " that they should be brought to
our holy Catholic faith, and the same thing with the
Indians of those islands where he is."
The admiral's dispatch goes much farther. In the
next paragraph he boldly suggests that, for the advant
age of the souls of these Cannibal Indians, the more
of them that could be taken the better ; and that, con
sidering what quantities of live-stock and other things
are required for the maintenance of the colony, a cer
tain number of caravels should be sent each year with
these necessary things, and the cargoes be paid for in
slaves taken from among the Cannibals.* He touches
again on the good that will be done to the Cannibals
themselves ; alludes to the customs duties that their
highnesses may levy upon them, and concludes by de
siring Antonio de Torres to send or bring an answer,
* " Las cuales cosas se les podrian pagar en esclavos de estos cani-
bales." — Navarrete, Col.,. vol. i, p. 232.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 139
"because the preparations here" (for capturing these
Cannibals) " may be carried on with more confidence
if the scheme seem good.to their highnesses."
At the same time that we must do Columbus the
justice to believe that his motives were right in his
own eyes, it must be admitted that a more distinct
suggestion for the establishment of a slave-trade was
never proposed. To their honor, Ferdinand and Isa
bella replied, "As regards this matter, it is suspended
for the present, until there come some other- way of
doing it there, and let the admiral write what he
thinks of this."*
This is rather a confused answer, as often happens
when a proposition from a valued friend or servant is
disapproved of, but has to be rejected kindly. The
Catholic sovereigns would have been very glad to have
received some money from the Indies ; money was al
ways welcome to King Ferdinand ; the purchase of
wine, seeds, and cattle for the colonists had hitherto
proved any thing but a profitable outlay ; the prospect
of conversion was probably dear to the hearts of both
these princes, certainly to one of them ; but still this
proposition for the establishment of slavery was wise
ly and magnanimously set aside.
While Antonio de Torres was absent from Hispani
ola, laying these propositions before Los Reyes, Co
lumbus was busy about the affairs of the colony, which
were in a most distracted state The number of men
which the admiral had brought out with him was dis
proportionate to his means of sustaining them. Pro-
* " En este se ha suspendido por agora hasta que venga otro cami
no de alia, y escriba el Almirante lo que en esto le paresciere." — Na-
varrete, Cot, vol. i., p. 233.

140 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
visions and medicines began to fail ; sickness pervaded
the whole armament, and men of all ranks and stations
— hidalgoes, people of the court, and ecclesiastics —
were obliged to labor manually under regulations strict
ly enforced. The rage and vexation of these men,
many of whom had come out with the notion of find
ing gold ready for them on the sea-shore, may be im
agined ; and complaints of the admiral's harsh way of
dealing with those under him (probably no harsher
than was absolutely necessary to save them) now took
their rise, and pursued him ever after to his ruin. The
colonists, however, were somewhat cheered, after a time,
by hearing of gold mines and seeing specimens of ore
brought from thence ; and the admiral went himself
and founded the fort of St. Thomas in the mining dis
trict of Cibao. But the Spaniards gained very little
real advantage from these gold mines, which they be
gan to work before they had consolidated around them
the means of living ; in fact, dealing with the mines in
Hispaniola as if they had been discovered in an old
country where the means of transit and supplies of
provisions can with certainty be procured.
There was also another evil besides that of incon
siderate mining, and perhaps quite as mischievous a
one, which stood in the way of the steady improve
ment of these early Spanish colonies. The Catholic
sovereigns had unfortunately impressed upon Colum
bus their wish that he should devote himself to fur
ther discovery, a wish but too readily adopted and
furthered by his enterprising spirit. The hankering
of the Spanish monarchs for further discovery was fos
tered by their jealousy of the Portuguese. The Por
tuguese were making their way toward India, going
eastward. They, the Spaniards, thought they were

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 141
discovering India, going westward. The more rapid
ly, therefore, each nation could advance and plant its
standard, the more of much-coveted India it would
hereafter be able to claim. Acting upon such views,
Columbus now proceeded onward, bent upon further
discovery, notAvithstanding that his little colonies at
Isabella and St. Thomas must have needed all his
sagacity to proteot them, and all his authority to re
strain them. He nominated a council to manage the
government during his absence, Avith his brother Don
Diego as president of it : he appointed a certain Don
Pedro Margarite as captain-general ; and then put to
sea on the 24th of April, 1494.
In the course of the voyage that then ensued, the
admiral made many important discoveries, among
them Jamaica, and the cluster of little islands called
the " Garden of the Queen." The navigation among
these islands was so difficult that the admiral is said
to have been thirty-two days without sleeping. Cer
tain it is, that after he had left the island called La
Mona, and when he was approaching the island of San
Juan, a drowsiness, which Las Casas calls "pestilen
tial," but which might reasonably be attributed to the
privations, cares, and anxieties which the admiral had
now undergone for many months, seized upon him,
and entirely deprived him for a time of the use of his
senses.* His object in going to San Juan was to capture
Cannibals there ; and Las Casas looks upon this le
thargical attack as a judgment upon the admiral for
so unjust a manner of endeavoring to introduce Chris-
* " Le dio una modorra pestilencial, que totalmente le quito el uso
de los sentidos, y todas las fuerzas, y quedo muerto, y no pensaron que
un dia durara." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i, cap. 99.

142 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
tianity. The mariners turned the fleet homeward to
Isabella, where they arrived the 29th of September,
1494, bearing with them their helpless commander.
On Columbus's arrival at Isabella, where he re
mained ill for five months, he found his brother, Bar
tholomew Columbus, whose presence gladdened him
exceedingly. His brothers were very dear to the ad
miral, as may be gathered from a letter to his eldest
son Diego, in which he bids him make much of his
brother Ferdinand, the son of Beatrice ; for, says he,
"Ten brothers would not be too many for you.- I
have never found better friends, on my right hand and
on my left, than my brothers." Afterward came An
tonio de Torres with provisions and all things need
ful for the colony. But nothing, we are told, delight
ed the admiral so much as the dispatches from court;
for he was a faithful, loyal man, who loved to do his
duty to those who employed him, and to have his
faithfulness recognized. Peace or delight, however,
was not at any time to be long enjoyed by Columbus.
He found his colony in a sad state of disorganization ;
the Indians were in arms against the Spaniards ; and
Father Buil, Don Pedro Margarite, and other principal
persons had gone home to Spain in the ship which had
brought Bartholomew Columbus.
The admiral, before his departure, had given a most
injudicious command to Margarite, namely, to put him
self at the head of four hundred men and go through
the country, with the twofold object' of impressing
upon the natives a respect for the power of the Span
iards, and of freeing the colony from supporting these
four hundred men. The instructions to Margarite
were, to observe the people and the natural produc
tions of the country through which he should pass ;

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 143
to do rigorous justice, so that the Spaniards should
be prevented from injuring the Indians, or the Indians
the Spaniards ; to treat the Indians kindly ; to obtain
provisions by purchase if possible, if not by any other
means ; and to capture Caonabo and his brothers either
by force or artifice.*
The proceedings of the men under Margarite were
similar to those of the Spaniards formerly left at La
Navidad. They went straggling over the country;
they consumed the provisions of the poor Indians, as
tonishing them by their voracious appetites ; waste,
rapine, injury, and insult followed in their steps ; and
from henceforth there was but little hope of the two
races living peaceably together in those parts, at least
upon equal terms. The Indians were now swarming
about the Spaniards with hostile intent : as a modern
historian well describes the situation, "they had passed
from terror to despair;"! and, but for the opportune ar
rival of the admiral, the Spanish settlements in His
paniola might again have been entirely swept away.
Caonabo, the cacique who in former days had put
to death the garrison at La Navidad, was now threat
ening that of St. Thomas, the fort which the admiral
had caused to be built in the mining district of Cibao.
Guatiguana, the cacique of Macorix, who had killed
eight Spanish soldiers and set fire to a house where
there were forty ill, was now within two days' march
* Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. v., cap. 10.
t " Crecen las insolencias hasta el punto de hacerse intolerables a
los vecinos de la Vega. Los soldados, sin cabeza que los adune y con-
tenga, corren divididos por varias- partes, entregandose a quanto les
dicta la necesidad, la pasion, y el antojo. Cansados de sufrir los mis-
erables Indios pasan del terror a la desesperacion." — MuSoz, Hist, del
Nuevo-Mundo, lib. v., sec. 25.

144 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
of Isabella, besieging the fort Magdalena. Columbus
started up forthwith, went off to Magdalena, engaged
the Indians, and routed them utterly. He took a large
part of them for slaves, and reduced to obedience the
whple of the province of Macorix. Returning to Isa
bella, he sent back, on the 24th of February, 1495,
the four ships which Antonio de Torres had brought
out, chiefly laden with Indian slaves. It is rather re
markable that the very ships which brought that ad
mirable reply from Ferdinand and Isabella to Colum
bus, begging him to seek some other way to Christian
ity than through slavery, even for wild man-devour
ing Caribs, should come back full of slaves taken from
among the mild islanders of Hispaniola.
Caonabo, not daunted by the fate of Guatiguana,
still continued to molest St. Thomas. The admiral
accordingly sallied out with two hundred men against
this cacique. On the broad plains of the Vega Real
the Spaniards found an immense number of Indians
collected together, amounting, it is said, to one hund
red thousand men. The admiral divided his forces
into two bands, giving the command of one to his
brother Bartholomew, and leading the other himself;
and when the brothers made an attack upon the In
dians at the same time from different quarters, this
numerous host was at once and utterly put to flight.
In speaking of such a defeat, the modern reader must
not be lavish of the words "cowardly," "pusillani
mous," and the like, until, at least, he has well consid
ered Avhat it is to expose naked bodies to fire-arms, to
the charge of steel-clad men on horseback, and to the
clinging ferocity of bloodhounds. A " horrible car
nage" ensued upon the flight of the Indians. Many
of them, less fortunate, perhaps, than those who were

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 145
slain, being taken alive, were condemned to slavery.*
Caonabo, however, who was besieging the fortress of
St. Thomas at the time of the battle on the Vega Real,
remained untaken. The admiral resolved to secure
the person of this cacique by treachery, and sent Ojeda
(a man of whom we shall hear much hereafter in this
history) to cajole Caonabo into coming to a friendly
meeting. There are some curious instructions of Co
lumbus's to Margarite in 1494,! respecting a plot to
take this formidable Caonabo. They are as thoroughly
base and treacherous as can well be imagined. This
time the admiral's plan was completely successful.
The story! which was current in the colonies of the
manner in which Ojeda captured the resolute Indian
chief is this : Ojeda carried with him gyves and man
acles, the latter of the kind called by the Spaniards,
somewhat satirically, esposas (wives), and all made of
brass {laton) or steel, finely wrought, and highly pol
ished. The metals of Spain were prized by the In
dians in the same way that the gold of the Indies was
by the Spaniards. Moreover, among the Indians there
was a strange rumor of talking brass, that arose from
their listening to the church bell at Isabella, which,
summoning the Spaniards to mass, was thought by
the simple Indians to converse with them. Indeed,
the natives of Hispaniola held the Spanish metals in
such estimation, that they applied to them an Indian
word, Turey, which seems to have signified any thing
that descends from heaven.§ When, therefore, Ojeda
* Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. v., cap. 27.
t Navaeeete, Col. Dip., Num. 72.
X The learned Munoz considers this story as a legend. (See the
prologue to his History.) I do not know why it should be so consid
ered. <J " El ardid fue aqueste ; que como los Indios llamaban el laton nu-
TT^T T /"<

146 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
brought these ornaments to Caonabo, and told him
they were Biscayan Turey, and that they were a great
present from the admiral, and that he would show him
how to put them on, and that when they were put on,
Caonabo should set himself on Ojeda's horse, and be
shown to his admiring subjects as, Ojeda said, the
kings of Spain were wont to show themselves to theirs,
the incautious Indian is said to have fallen entirely
into the trap. Going with Ojeda, accompanied by
only a small escort, to A river a short distance from his
main encampment, Caonabo, after performing ablutions,
suffered the crafty young Spaniard to put the heaven-
descended fetters on him, and to set him upon the
horse. Ojeda himself got up behind the Indian prince,
and then whirling a few times round, like a pigeon be
fore it takes its determined flight, making the followers
of Caonabo imagine that this was but display, they all
the while keeping at a respectful distance from the
horse, an animal they much dreaded, Ojeda darted off
for Isabella ; and after great fatigues, now keeping to
the main track, noAv traversing the woods in order to
evade pursuit, brought Caonabo bound into the pres
ence of Columbus. The unfortunate cacique was sent
to Spain to be judged there, and his forces were after
ward put to flight by a troop of Spaniards under the
command of this same Ojeda. Some were killed; some
taken prisoners ; some fled to the forests and the mount-
estro Turey e a los otros metales que habiamos traido de Castilla por
la grande estima que de ello tenian como cosa venida del Cielo, y asi
hacian joyas de ellos en especial del laton, Uevo el dicho Alonso de
Ojeda unos grillos y unas esposas muy bien hechos sotiles y delgados
y muy brunidos y acicalados en lugar de presente que le enviaba el
Almirante, diciendole que era Turey de Vizcaya, como si digera era
cosa muy preciosa venida del Cielo que se Uamaba Turey de Vizcaya."
— Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i, cap. 102.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 147
ains ; some yielded, "offering themselves to the serv
ice of the Christians if they would allow them to live in
their own ways."*
Never, perhaps, were little skirmishes, for such they
were on the part of the Spaniards, of greater import
ance than those above narrated, which took place in
the early part of the year 1495. They must be look
ed upon as the origin in the Indies of slavery, vassal
age, and the system of reparttmientos. We have seen
that the admiral, after his first victory, sent off four
ships with slaves to Spain. He now took occasion to
impose a tribute upon the whole population of Hispan
iola. It was thus arranged : Every Indian above four
teen years old, who was in the provinces of the mines,
or near to these provinces, was to pay every three
months a little bell-full of gold ; all other persons in
the island were to pay at the same time an arroba of
cotton for each person. Certain brass or copper tokens
were made — different ones for each tribute time — and
were given to the Indians when they paid tribute;
and these 'tokens, being worn about their necks, were
to show who had paid tribute.! A remarkable pro
posal was made upon this occasion to the admiral by
Guarionex, cacique of the Vega Real, namely, that he
would institute a huge farm for the growth of corn and
manufacture of bread, stretching from Isabella to St.
Domingo {i. e., from sea to sea), which would suffice
to maintain all Castile with bread. The cacique
would do this on condition that his vassals were not
to pay tribute in gold, as they did not know how to
collect that. But this proposal was not accepted, be-
* " Ofreciendose al servicio do los Christianos si les permiten vivir
en su naturaleza." — Mrraoz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. v., cap. 29.
t Hereera, dec. i, lib. ii, cap. 17.

148 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
cause Columbus wished to have tribute in such things
as he could send over to Spain.*
This tribute is considered to have been a most un
reasonable one in point of amount ;! and Columbus
was obliged to modify his demands upon these poor
Indians, and in some instances to change the nature
of them. It appears that in 1496 service instead of
tribute was demanded of certain Indian villages ; and
as the villagers were ordered to make (and work) the
farms in the Spanish settlements,! this may be con
sidered as the beginning of the system of repartimi-
entos, or encomiendas, as they were afterward called.
We must not, however, suppose that Indian slavery
would not have taken place by means of Columbus
even if these uprisings and defeats of the Indians in
the course of the year 1495 had never occurred. Very ,
early indeed we see what the admiral's views were
with regard to the Indians. In the diary which he
kept of his first voyage, on the 14th of October, three
days after discovering the New World, he describes a
* " Ofrecio Guarionex, Rey de la gran Vega Real, al Almirante que
le haria una labranca de pan, que Hegasse desde la Ysabela hasta San
to Domingo, que es de mar a mar, y ay buenas cinquenta y cinco leguas
de camino, con lo qual bastaria a matener de pan a toda Castilla, con
que no le pidiesse oro, porque sus vassallos no lo sabian coger, pero
como el Almirante era forastero, solo y desfavorecido de los ministros
de los Reyes Catolicos, y como prudete conocia, que lo que le avia de
conservar, eran las riquezas que embiasse, davase priesa por el oro."
— Herrera, dec. i., lib. ii., cap. 17.
t " Contribucion durisima, y ordenada con suma ligereza." — Muiioz,
lib. v., cap. 30.
X "Antes que se fuesse a Castilla el Almirante, el ano de 1496, por
el mes de Marco 6 poco despues de partido, en lugar de los tributos se
impuso a algunos pueblos, que tuviessen cuydado de hazer las Iabrancas
de las poblaciones de los Castellanos, a imitacion de lo que usavan con
sus Caziques." — Heeeera, dec. i., lib. iii, cap. 13.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 149
position which he thinks would be a very good one
for a fort ; and he goes on to say, " I do not think
that it (the fort) will be necessary, for this people is
very simple in the use of arms (as your highnesses
will see from seven of them that I have taken in order
to bring them to you, to learn our language, and after
ward to take them back), so that when your highness
es command, you can have them all taken to Castile,
or kept in the island as captives."*
Columbus was not an avaricious nor a cruel man,
and certainly he was a very pious one ; but early in
life he had made voyages along the coast of Africa,
and he was accustomed to a slave-trade. Moreover,
he was anxious to reduce the expenses of these In
dian possessions to the Catholic sovereigns, to prove
himself in the right as to all he had said respecting
the advantages that would flow to Spain from the In
dies, and to confute his enemies at court.
Those who have read the instructions to Columbus
given by the Catholic monarchs will naturally be curi
ous to know how the news of the arrival of these ves
sels laden with slaves, the fruit of the admiral's first
victory over the Indians, was received by Los Reyes,
recollecting how tender they had been about slavery
before. This, however, was a very different case from
the former one. Here were people taken in what would
be called rebellion — prisoners of war. Still we find
that Ferdinand and Isabella were heedful in their pro
ceedings in this matter. There is a letter of theirs to
Bishop Fonseca, who managed Indian affairs, telling
him to withhold receiving money for the sale of these
Indians that Torres had brought with him until their
highnesses should be able to inform themselves, from
* Navarrete, Col., vol. i., p. 2.

150 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
men learned in the law, theologians, and canonists,
whether, with a good conscience, these Indians could
be ordered to be sold or not.* One who has been in
defatigable in his researches! among the documents re
lating to Spanish America declares that he can not find
that the point was decided ; and if he has failed, we are
not likely to discover any direct evidence about the de
cision. We shall hereafter, however, find something
which may enable us to conjecture what the decision
practically came to be.
Many of the so-called free Indians in Hispaniola
had, perhaps, even a worse fate than that which fell to
the lot of their brethren condemned to slavery. These
free men, seeing the Spaniards quietly settling dovni
in their island, building houses, and making forts, and
no vessels in the harbor of Isabella to take them away,
fell into the profoundest sadness, and bethought them
of the desperate remedy of attempting to starve the
Spaniards out by not sowing nor planting any thing.
But this is a shallow device when undertaken by the
greater number, in any country, against the smaller.
The scheme reacted upon themselves. They had in
tended to gain a secure though scanty sustenance in
the forests and upon the mountains ; but, though the
Spaniards suffered bitterly from famine, they were only
driven by it to farther pursuit and molestation of the
Indians, who died in great numbers of hunger, sick
ness, and misery.
About this period there arrived in the Indies from
* " Porque Nos queriamos informamos de letrados, Teologos e Ca-
nonistas, si con buena concicncia se pueden vender estos por solo vos
(qy. esclavos for solo vos) 6 no." — Nav., Col. Dip., Num. 92.
t The historian Mdnoz.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 151
the court of Spain a commissioner of inquiry {Juez
pesquisidor), his mission being doubtless occasioned
by the various complaints made against the admiral
by Father Buil, Margarite, and the Spaniards who had
returned from Hispaniola. The name of this commis
sioner was Juan Aguado, and his powers were vouch
ed for by the following letter from Los Reyes :
" The King and the Queen.
"Cavaliers, Esquires, and other persons, who by
our command are in the Indies, we send you thither
Juan Aguado, our Gentleman of the Chamber, who
will speak to you on our part : we command that you
give him faith and credence. "I the King : I the Queen.
"By command of the King and Queen, our Lords.
"Heenand Alvabez.
" Madrid, the ninth of April, one thousand }
four hundred and ninety-five." y
The royal commissioner arrived at Isabella in Oc
tober, 1495, and his proceedings in the colony, togeth
er with the fear of what he might report on his return,
quickened the admiral's desire to return to court, that
he might fight his own battles there himself. Leav
ing, therefore, his brother Bartholomew as lieutenant
governor {Adelantado), the admiral quitted Isabella
on the 10th of March, 1496, and anchored in the Bay
of Cadiz on the 11th of June in that year. He pro
ceeded to Burgos, where the court then was, and ap
pears to have been well received by Ferdinand and Is
abella, and to have made his case good against all ma-
ligners. It was long, however, before he was able to
return to Hispaniola with such an armament as he re
quired. Meanwhile, about ten months after his arri-

152 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
val, he managed to send out two ships under Peter Fer
nandez Coronel with such things as were necessary
for the colony. The admiral himself did not leave
Spain again until May, 1498.
During the two years that elapsed from the admi
ral's leaving Hispaniola in 1496 to his return there in
1498, many things happened on both sides of the At
lantic which need recording. In 1496, we find that
Don Bartholomew Columbus sent to Spain three hund
red slaves from Hispaniola. He had previously in
formed Los Reyes that certain caciques were killing
the Castilians, and their highnesses had given orders
in reply that all those who should be found guilty
should be sent to Spain. If this meant the common
Indians as well as the "caciques, then it seems proba
ble that the question about selling them with a safe
conscience was already decided.
In 1497, two yeiy injudicious edicts were publish
ed by the Catholic sovereigns, upon the advice, as we
are told, of Columbus : one authorizing the judges to
transport criminals to the Indies ; the other giving an
indulgence to all those who had committed any crime
(with certain exceptions, among which heresy, lese ma-
jeste, and treason find a place) to go out at their own
expense to Hispaniola, and to serve for a certain time
under the orders of the admiral.* The remembrance
of this advice on his part might well have shamed Co
lumbus from saying, as he did three years afterward in
his most emphatic manner, "I swear that numbers of
men have gone to the Indies who did not deserve water
* Navarrete, Col. Dip., Num. 116 and 120.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 153
from God or man."* It is but fair, however, to mention,
that Las Casas, speaking of the colonists who went out
under these conditions, says, " I have known some of
them in these islands, even of those who had lost their
ears, whom I always found sufficiently honest men." _
In 1497, letters patent were issued from Los Reyes
to the admiral, authorizing him to grant repartimientos
of the lands in the Indies to the Spaniards. It is no
ticeable that in this document there is no mention of
Indians, so that they had not come to form a portion
of a repartimiento at this period. The document in
question is of a formal character, expressed in the style
of legal documents of the present day, by virtue of
which the fortunate Spaniard who gets the land is "to
have, and to hold, and to possess," and so forth {hay a
etenga e posed) ; and is enabled "to sell, and to give,
and to present, and to traffic with, and to exchange,
and' to pledge, and to alienate, and to do with it and
in it all that he likes or may think good."!
While the acts of legislation above narrated, which
can not be said to have been favorable to good gov
ernment in the Indies, were being framed at the court
of Spain, Don Bartholomew Columbus was doing much
in his administration of Hispaniola that led to very
mischievous results.
Before the admiral left the island, he had discover
ed some mines to the southward, and had thought of
choosing a port in their vicinity where he might estab-
* " Fago juramento que cantitad de hombres han ido a las Indias
que no merescian el agua para con Dios y con el mundo." — Carta del
Almirante al Ama del Principe. — Nav., Col., vol. i., p. 271.
t Munoz mentions that, in order to encourage emigration to the In
dies, the perpetual possession of the houses which they should build
and the lands they should cultivate had been offered to the Spaniards
in 1495. — Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. v., cap. 33.
n 9

154 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
lish a colony. He had spoken about this in his let
ters to the government at home. As he entered the
Bay of Cadiz on his return, he met some vessels there
which were bound for Hispaniola, and which contain
ed letters from their highnesses approving of his sug
gestion. By these ships, therefore, he sent orders to
his brother to make this southern settlement ; and the
Adelantado accordingly proceeded southward, and fixed

Gzzlf of
X-arayu-a,.

HISPANIOLA.
it ^r°^

upon a port at the entrance of the River Ozama. He
sent for artisans from Isabella, and commenced build
ing a fortress which he called St. Domingo, and which
afterward became the chief port of the island.
There was one part of Hispaniola into which the
Spaniards had not yet penetrated : it was called Xa
ragua, and was reigned over by a cacique named Bo-
hechio, whose sister, Anacaona, the wife of Caonabo,
seems also to have had much authority in those parts.
The Adelantado, after seeing the works at St. Domingo
commenced, resolved to enter the kingdom of Xara
gua, whither he proceeded at the head of one hundred
men. Arriving at the River Neyba, he found an im-

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 155
mense army of Indians drawn up there to oppose his
progress. Don Bartholomew made signs to them that
his errand was peaceful ; and the good-natured Indians
accepting his proffers of amity, he was conducted some
thirty leagues farther to the city of Xaragua, where
he was received with processions of dancing and sing
ing women, and feasted magnificently. After having
been well entertained by these Indians, the Adelanta
do proceeded to business, and in plain terms demand
ed tribute of them. Bohechio pleaded that there was
no gold in his dominions, to which the Adelantado re
plied that he did not wish to impose tribute upon any
people except of the natural productions to be found
in their country. It was finally settled that Bohechio
should pay tribute in cotton and cazabi-bread. He
acceded to this agreement very willingly, and the Ade
lantado and this cacique parted on the most friendly
terms. Don Bartholomew then returned to Isabella, where
he found that about three hundred men had died from
disease, and that there was great dearth of provisions.
He distributed the sick men in his fortresses and in
the adjacent Indian villages, and afterward set out on
a journey to his new fort of St. Domingo, collecting
tribute by the way. In all these rapid and energetic
proceedings of the Adelantado, and still more from
causes over which he had no control, the Spaniards
must have suffered much, and, doubtless, those com
plaints on their part which were soon to break out very
menacingly were not unheard at the present time.
If the Spaniards, however, complained of the labors
which Don Bartholomew imposed upon them, the In
dians complained still more, and far more justly, of the
tribute imposed upon them. Several of the minor

156 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
chiefs, upon this occasion of collecting tribute, com
plained to the great Cacique Guarionex, and suggested
a rising of the Indians. This cacique seems to have
been a peaceful, prudent man, and well aware of the
power of the Spaniards. But he now consented to
place himself at the head of an insurrection, which,
however, the lieutenant governor, soon made aware of
it, quelled at once by a battle, in which he was victo
rious over Guarionex, taking him and other principal
persons captive. The chief movers of the revolt were
put to death, but Guarionex was delivered up to his
people, who flocked by thousands to his place of im
prisonment, clamoring for his restitution.
About this time messengers came from Bohechio
and Anacaona, informing the Adelantado that the trib
ute of that country was ready for him, and he accord
ingly went to fetch it. During his absence from the
seat of government, and under the less vigorous ad
ministration of Don Diego Columbus, who had been
left at the head of affairs at Isabella, those discontents
among the Spaniards, which had, no doubt, been rife
for a long time, broke out in a distinct manner. I al
lude to the well-known insurrection of Roldan, whom
the admiral, on his departure, had left as chief justice
in the island. The proceedings between the chief jus
tice and the governor were to form an original to many
similar ones to happen hereafter in many colonies even
to our own times. It may be imagined that the fam
ily of Columbus were a hard race to deal with ; and
any one observing that the admiral was very often
engaged in disputes, and almost always in the right,
might conjecture that he was one of those persons who
pass through life proving that every body about them
is wrong, and going a great Avay to make them so.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 157
This would have been an easy mode of explaining
many things, and therefore very welcome to a narra
tor ; but it would not be at all just toward Columbus
to saddle upon him any such character. The men
and the circumstances he had to deal with were of the
most difficult character. Here were men who had
come out with very grand expectations, and who found
themselves pinched with hunger, having dire storms
to encounter and vast labors to undergo; who were
contained in due bonds by no pressure of society ; who
were commanded by a foreigner, or by members of his
family, whom they knew to have many enemies at
court ; who thought that Los Reyes themselves could
scarcely reach them at this distance ; who imagined
that they had worked themselves out of all law and
order, and that they deserved an Alsatian immunity.
With such men (many of them, perhaps, " not worthy
of Avater") the admiral and his brothers had to get use
ful work of all kinds done, and did contrive to get ves
sels navigated, forts built, and some ideas of civiliza
tion maintained. But it was an arduous task at all
times, and this Roldan did not furnish the least of the
troubles which the admiral and his brothers had to
endure. Roldan, too, if we could hear him, would probably
have something to say. He wished, it appears, to re
turn to Spain, as Father Buil and Margarite had done ;
and urged that a certain caravel which the govern
or, Don Bartholomew Columbus, had built, might be
launched for that purpose. Such is the account of
Ferdinand Columbus, who maintains that the said car
avel could not be launched for want of tackle. He
also mentions that Roldan complained of the restless
life the Adelantado led his men, building forts and

158 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
towns ; and said that there was no hope of the ad
miral coming back to the colony with supplies. With
out going into these squabbles — and, indeed, it is very
difficult, when a quarrel of this kind breaks out, taking
it up at the point where it breaks out, to judge it upon
that only, seeing the stream of ill-will may have run
underground for a long time — suffice it to say that Rol
dan and his men grew more and more insubordinate,
were not at all quelled by the presence of the Adelan
tado on his return from Xaragua, and finally quitted
Isabella in a body. The Adelantado contrived to keep
some men faithful to him, promising them, among oth
er things, two slaves each. Negotiations then took
place between the Adelantado and Roldan, which must
be omitted for the present, to enter upon the farther
dealing of Don Bartholomew with the Indians.
These poor islanders were now harassed both by the
rebels and by the loyal Spaniards, whom the Adelan
tado could not venture to curb much for fear of their
going over to the other party. The Indians were also
tempted by Roldan to join him, he contending that
tribute had been unjustly imposed upon them. From
all these difficulties Guarionex made his -escape by fly
ing to the territories of Maiobanex, the cacique of a
hardy race who inhabited the hilly country toward
Cabron. This flight of Guarionex was a very serious
affair, as it threatened the extinction of tribute in that
cacique's territory, and Don Bartholomew accordingly
pursued the fugitive cacique. After some skirmishes
with the troops of Maiobanex, in which, as usual, the
Spaniards were victorious, the Adelantado sent a mes
senger to Maiobanex, telling him that the Spaniards
did not seek war with him, but that he must give up
the fugitive, otherwise his own territory would be de-

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 159
stroyed by fire and sword. Maiobanex replied " that
every one knew that Guarionex was a good man, en
dowed with all virtue," wherefore he judged him to be
worthy of assistance and defense, but that they, the
Spaniards, were violent and bad men, and that he
would have neither friendship nor commerce with them.
Upon receiving this answer, the Adelantado burned
several villages and approached nearer to the camp of
Maiobanex. Fresh negotiations were entered into:
Maiobanex convoked an assembly of his people ; and
they contended that Guarionex ought to be given up,

HISPANIOLA.

Gulf of
X.arajrU'a<.

and cursed the day when first he came among them.
Their noble chief, however, said " that Guarionex was
a good man, and deserved well at his hands, for he had
given him many royal gifts when he came to him, and
had taught him and his wife to join in choral songs
and to dance, of which he made no little account, and
for which he .was grateful ; wherefore he would be par
ty to no treaty to desert Guarionex, since he had fled
to him, and he had pledged himself to take care of the
fugitive ; and would rather suffer all extremities than

160 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
give detractors a cause for speaking ill, to say that he
had delivered up his guest."* The assemblage of the
people being dismissed, Maiobanex informed his guest
that he would stand by him to the last.
The fugitive cacique, however, finding that Maio-
banex's people were ill disposed toward him, quitted,
of his own accord, their territory ; but by so doing he
was not enabled to save his generous .host, who, with
his family, was surprised and taken ; and Guarionex
himself being shortly afterward captured and put in
chains at Fort Concepcion, the two caciques probably
shared the same prison. Thus concludes a story,
which, if it had been written by some Indian Plutarch,
and the names had been more easy to pronounce, might
have taken its just place among the familiar and house
hold stories which we tell our children, to make them
see the beauty of great actions.
The history now passes from the doings of the Ade
lantado to those of his brother the admiral. Colum
bus had at last obtained sufficient supplies for his ex
pedition, and had set forth from Spain with eight
ships, the 30th of May, 1498. In the course of this,
his third voyage, he discovered Paria,! on the conti
nent of America, where he made no stay, however,
being obliged to proceed to Hispaniola, which he
* " Maiobanexius autem Guarionexium virum esse bonum et de se
bene meritum, quod regia illi dona, cum ad eum veniret, multa prse-
buisset, uxoremque suam et ipsum chorizare tripudiareque docuisset,
quod non parvi faciebat, sibique curse esse respondit : propterea se
nullo pacto eum, quandoquidem ad se oonfugerat, et ipse tutandi fidem
dederat, deserturum : malleque se extrema omnia cum eo perpeti, quam
obloquendi causam, quod hospitem tradiderit, detractoribus praebere."
— Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceamcis, dec. i., lib. vii.
t It will be desirable, in a later part of the narrative, to give an ac
count of this third voyage of Columbus.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 161
reached on the 30th of August, 1498. He found the
state of his colony far from cheering, the defection of
Roldan and his followers having put every thing into
confusion. The admiral supposed at first that the
enmity of Roldan's party was chiefly directed against
the Adelantado, and the admiral hoped that now he
Jiad arrived, some agreement would speedily be con
cluded with Roldan, of which he might inform the
Catholic sovereigns by the vessels which he purposed
to send back immediately to Spain. This was very
far, however, from being the case. These vessels,
five in number, left the port of St. Domingo bearing
no good news of peace and amity among the Span
iards, but laden with many hundreds of Indian slaves,
which had been taken in the following manner. Some
cacique* failed to perform the personal services im
posed upon him and his people, and fled to the forests ;
upon which orders were given to pursue him, and a
large number of slaves were captured and put into
these ships. Columbus, in his letters to Los Reyes,
enters into an account of the pecuniary advantage that
will arise from these slave-dealing transactions, and
from the sale of logwood. He estimates that "in
the name of the sacred Trinity"! there may be sent as
many slaves as sale could be found for in Spain, and
that the value of the slaves, for whom there would be
a demand to the number of four thousand, as he calcu-
* Las Casas conjectures it to have been the cacique of the Vega
Real, and it might either be Guarionex or his successor.
t " De aca se pueden con el nombre de la Santa Trinidad enviar
todos los esclavos que se puediesen vender, y brasil, de los cuales si la
informacion que yo truje es cierta, me dicen que se podran vender
cuatro mil, y que a poco valer valoran veinte cuentos ; y cuatro mil
quintales de brasil que pueden valer otro tanto, y el gasto puede aqui
ser seis cuentos ; asi que a prima az buenos serian cuarenta cuentos si
esto saliese asi." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 150.

162 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
lated from certain information, and of the logwood,
would amount to forty cuentos {i. e., forty million ma-
ravedis).* The number of slaves who were sent in
these five ships was 600, of which 200 were given to
the masters of the vessels in payment of freight. In
the course of these letters, throughout which Colum
bus speaks after the fashion of a practiced slave-dealer,
he alludes to the intended adoption, on behalf of pri
vate individuals, of a system of exchange of slaves for
goods wanted from the mother country. The pro
posed arrangement was as follows: The masters. of
vessels were to receive slaves from the colonists, were
to carry them to Spain, and to pay for their mainte
nance during the voyage ; they were then to allow the
colonists so much money payable at Seville, in pro
portion to the number of slaves brought over. This
money they would expend according to the orders of
the colonists, who would thus be able to obtain such
goods as they might stand in need of.! It was upon
the same occasion of writing home to Spain that the
admiral strongly urged upon the Catholic sovereigns
that the Spanish colonists should be allowed to make
use of the services of the Indians for a year or two,
until the colony should be in a settled state,! a pro-
* Equivalent to about £12,345.
t " Y salieron agora dos o tres Maestres de navios, que pusieron a
la puerta cedulas para quien se quiera obligar a les dar mil y quinientos
maravedises en Sevilla, que les Uevaran alii tantos csclavos, y les faria
la costa, y la paga seria de los dineros que deltas se sacasen. Plugo
mucho a la gente toda, e yo lo acepte por todos, y les proteste de les
dar la carga ; y asi vernan y traeran bastimentos y cosas que son aca
necessarias." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 155
and 156.
X " Suplico a Vuestras Altezas tengan por bien que esta gente se
aproveche agora un ano 6 dos fasta que este negocio este empie, queya
se endereza." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 155
and 156.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 163
posal which he did not wait for their highnesses' au
thority to carry out, and which led to a new form of
the repartimiento. But this brings us back to Rol-
dan's story, being closely connected with it.
After great trouble and many attempts at agree
ment, in which mention is more than once made of
slaves,* the dispute between Roldan's party, rebels
they might almost be called, and Columbus, was at
last, after two years' negotiation, brought to a close.
Roldan kept his chief justiceship, and his friends re
ceived lands and slaves. It brings to mind the con
clusion of many a long war in the Old World, in which
two great powers have been contending against each
other, with several small powers on each side, the lat
ter being either ruined in the course of the war, or
sacrificed at the end. The admiral gave repartimien-
los to those followers of Roldan who chose to stay in
the island, which were constituted in the following
'manner. The admiral placed under such a cacique so
many thousand matas (shoots of the cazabi), or, which
came to the same thing, so many thousand montones
(small mounds a foot and a half high, and ten or
twelve feet round, on each of which a cazabi shoot
was planted) ; and Columbus then ordered that the
cacique or his people should till these lands for whom
soever they were assigned to.! The repartimiento
had now grown to its second state — not lands only,
but lands and the tillage of them. We shall yet find
that there is a farther step in this matter before the
* Hist, del Almirante, Barcia, cap. 80.
t " Y de aqui tomaron origen los repartimientos, 6 encomiendas de
todas las Indias, porque los dava el Almirante por sus cedulas, diziendo
que dava en tal cacique tantas mil matas, 6 montones, que todo es uno,
y que aquel cacique, 6 sus gentes, labrassen para quien las dava,
aquellas tierras." — Herrera, dec. i., lib. iii., cap. 16.

164 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
repartimiento assumes its utmost development. It
' seems, too, that in addition to these repartimientos,
Columbus gave slaves to those partisans of Roldan
who staid in the island. Others of Roldan's follow
ers, fifteen in number, chose to return to Spain : they
received a certain number of slaves, some one, some
two, some three ; and the admiral sent them home in
two vessels which left the port of St. Domingo at the
beginning of October, 1499.
On the arrival in Spain of these vessels, the queen
was in the highest degree angered by the above pro
ceedings, and said that the admiral had received no
authority from her to give her vassals to any one.
She accordingly commanded proclamation to be made
at Seville, Granada, and other places, that all persons
who were in possession of Indians given to them by
the admiral should send those Indians back to His
paniola, under pain of death, "and that particularly
they should send back those Indians, and not the
others who had been brought before, because she was
informed that they had been taken in just war."* The
former part of this proclamation has been frequently
alluded to, and no doubt it deserves much praise ; but
from the latter part it is clear that there were some
Indians who could justly, according to Queen Isabella,
be made slaves. By this time, therefore, at any rate,
the question had been solved, whether by the learned
in the law, theologians and canonists, I know not, but
* " La Reyna Catolica recibio grandissimo enojo, y dixo que el Al
mirante no tenia su poder para dar a nadie sus vasallos, y mando pre-
gonar en Sevilla, Granada, y otras partes, que todos los que tuviessen
Indios, que les huviesse dado el Almirante, los bolviessen a la Espanola
sopena de muerte, y que particularmente bolviessen estos Indios, y no
los otros que antes se avian traydo, porque estava informada, que eran
avidos de buena guerra." — Herrera, dec. i., lib. iv., cap. 7.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 165
certainly in practice, that the Indians taken in war
could be made slaves. The whole of this transaction
is very remarkable, and in some measure inexplicable
on the facts before us. There is nothing to show that
the slaves given to Roldan's followers were made slaves
in a different way from those who had been sent over
on former occasions, both by the admiral and his
brother, for the benefit of the crown. And yet the
queen, whom no one has ever accused of condescend
ing to state craft, seems to deal with this particular
case as if it were something quite new. It can not
be said that the crown was favored, for the question
is put upon the legitimacy of the original capture ; and
to confirm this, there is a letter from the sovereigns to
one of their household, from which it may be inferred,
though the wording is rather obscure, that they, too,
gave up the slaves Avhich had come over for them on
this occasion.*
Every body would be sorry to take away any honor
from Isabella ; and all who are conversant with that
period must wish that her proclamation could be proved
to have gone quite to the root of the matter ; but at
least it can not be characterized as a mere blowing of
trumpets for injured dignity, if it be not altogether a
blast of wrath against an outrage to humanity.
To return to the affairs of Hispaniola. Columbus
had now settled the Roldan revolt and other smaller
ones ; he had now, too, reduced the Indians into sub
jection ; the mines were prospering ; the Indians were
to be brought together in populous villages, that so
they might better be taught the Christian faith, and
serve as vassals to the crown of Castile ; the royal
* See Navarrete, Col. Dip., Ndrn, 134,

166 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
revenues (always a matter of much concern to Colum
bus) would, he thought, in three years amount to sixty
millions of reals ; and now there was time for him to
sit down and meditate upon the rebuilding of the tem
ple of Jerusalem, or the conversion of Cathay.* If
there had been any prolonged quiet for him, such great
adventures would probably have begun to form the
staple of his high thoughts. But he had hardly en
joyed more than a month of repose, when that evil
came down upon him, which "poured the juice of aloes
into the remaining portion of his life."!
The Catholic sovereigns had hitherto, upon the
whole, behaved well to Columbus. He had bitter en
emies at court. People were forever suggesting to the
monarchs that this foreigner was doing Avrong. The
admiral's son Ferdinand gives a vivid picture of some
of the complaints preferred against his father. He
says, "When I was at Granada, at the time the most
serene prince Don Miguel died, more than fifty of them
(Spaniards who had returned from the Indies), as men
* " David en su testamento dejo tres mil quintales de oro de las In
dias a Salomon para ayuda de edificar el tempio, y segun Josefo era el
destas mismas tierras. Hierusalem y el monte Sion ha de ser reedifi-
cado por mano de cristianos : quien ha de ser, Dios por boca del Pro-
feta en el decimo cuarto salmo lo dice. El Abad Joaquin dijo que este
habia de salir de Espana. San Geronfmo a la santa mujer le mostro
el camino para ello. El Emperador del Catayo ha dias que mando sa-
bios que le ensenen en la fe de Cristo. Quien sera que se ofrezca a
esto 1 Si nuestro Senor me lleva a Espana, yo me obligo de llevarle,
con el nombre de Dios, en salvo." — Columbus to Los Reyes ; Navae-
rete, Col., vol. i., p. 309.
t " Entonces vino el golpe fatal que acibaro todos los dias de su vi
da." — Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib.vi., cap. 57.
These are the last printed words of Muiioz's History ; and they are
somewhat ominous of the fate of the excellent historian himself. There
is more in manuscript of his History, which surely some lover of liter
ature among the Spaniards will yet cause to be given to the world.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 167
without shame, bought a great quantity of grapes, and
sat themselves down in the court of the Alhambra, ut
tering loud cries, saying that their highnesses and the
admiral made them live in this poor fashion on account
of the bad pay they received, with many other dishon
est and unseemly things, which they kept repeating.
Such was their effrontery, that when the Catholic king
came forth, they all surrounded him and got him into
the midst of them, saying, 'Pay! Pay!' and if by
chance I and my brother, who were pages to the most
serene queen, happened to pass where they were, they
shouted to the very heavens, saying, 'Look at the
sons of the admiral of Mosquito-land — of that man who
has discovered the lands of deceit and disappointment,-
a place of sepulchre and wretchedness to Spanish hi-
dalgoes :' adding many other insulting expressions, on
which account we excused ourselves from passing by
them."* Unjust clamor like the above would not, alone, have
turned the hearts of the Catholic sovereigns against
Columbus ; but this clamor was supported by serious
grounds for dissatisfaction in the state and prospects
of the colony; and where there is a constant stream of
enmity and prejudice against a man, his conduct or his
fortune will some day give good way for it to rush in
upon him. However this may be, soon after the re
turn of the five vessels from St. Domingo, mentioned
above, which first told the news of the revolt of Rol
dan, Ferdinand and Isabella appear to have taken into
serious consideration the question of suspending Co-.
lumbus. He had himself, in the letters transmitted
by these ships, requested that some one might be sent
* Hist, del Almirante, Baroia, cap. 85.

168 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
to conduct the affairs of justice in the colony ; but if
Ferdinand and Isabella began by merely looking out
for such an officer, they ended in resolving to send one
who should take the civil as well as judicial authority
into his hands. This determination was not, however,
acted upon hastily. On the 21st of March, 1499, they
authorized Francis de Bobadilla "to ascertain what
persons have raised themselves against justice in the
island of Hispaniola, and to proceed against them ac
cording to law."* On the 21st of May, 1499, they
conferred upon this-officer the government, and signed
an order that all arms and fortresses in the Indies
should be given up to him.! On the 26th of the same
month they gave him the following remarkable letter
to Columbus :
"Don Christopher Columbus, our admiral of t/ie
ocean : We have commanded the Comendador Fran
cis de Bobadilla, the bearer of this, that he speak to
you on our part some things which he will tell you :
we pray you give him faith and credence, and act
accordingly*
. "I the King, I the Queen.
"By their command,
"Miguel Peeez de Almazan."
Bobadilla, however, was not sent from Spain until
the beginning of July, 1500, and did not make his ap
pearance in Hispaniola till the 23d of August of the
same year. Their highnesses, therefore, must have
taken time before carrying their resolve into execu-
* Navarrete, Col. Dip., Num. 127.
t Riid., Num. 128-29.
X Ibid., Num. 130.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 169
tion, and what they meant by it is dubious. Certain
ly not that the matter should have been transacted in
the coarse way which Bobadilla adopted. It is a great
pity, and a sad instance of mistaken judgment, that
they fixed upon him for their agent. I imagine him
to have been such a man as may often be met with,
who, from his narrowness of mind and distinctness of
prejudice, is supposed to be high-principled and direct
in his dealings, and whose untried reputation has great
favor with many people, until, placed in power some
day, he shows that to rule well requires other things
than one-sidedness in the ruling person, and is fortu
nate if he does not acquire that part of renown which
consists in notoriety by committing some colossal blun
der, henceforth historical from its largeness.
The first thing that Bobadilla did on arriving at St.
Domingo was to take possession of the admiral's house
(he being at the fort La Concepcion), and then to sum
mon the admiral before him, sending him the royal
letter. Neither the admiral nor his brothers attempt
ed to make any resistance ; and Bobadilla, with a stu
pid brutality, which, I suppose, he took for vigor, put
them in chains, and sent them to Spain. There is no
doubt that the Castilian population of Hispaniola were
rejoiced at Bobadilla's coming, and that they abetted
him in all his violence. Accusations came thickly
against Columbus : "the stones rose up against him
and his brothers," says the historian Heeeeea, em
phatically. The people told how he had made them
work, even sick men, at his fortresses, at his house, at
the mills, and other buildings ; how he had starved
them ; how he had condemned men to be whipped for
the slightest causes — as, for instance, for stealing a
peck of wheat when they were dying of hunger. Con-

170 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
sidering the difficulties he had to deal with, and the
scarcity of provisions, many of these accusations, if
rightly examined, would probably have not merely
failed in producing any thing against Columbus, but
would have developed some proofs of his firmness and
sagacity as a governor. Then his accusers went on
to other grounds, such as his not having baptized In
dians, "because he desired slaves rather than Chris
tians ;" moreover, that he had entered into war un
justly with the Indians, and that he had made many
slaves in order to send them to Castile. It is highly
unlikely that these latter charges were preferred by a
single colonist, unless, perhaps, by some man in relig
ious orders. The probability is, that they came from
the other side of the water ; and this does give consid
erable strength to the report that the displeasure of
the court with respect to the admiral's proceedings
against the Indians had to do with his removal from
the government of the Indies. If so, it speaks largely
for the continued admirable intentions of the Spanish
court in this matter.
Poor Columbus ! his chains lay very heavily upon
him. He insisted, however, upon not having them
taken off, unless by royal command, and would ever
keep them by him (" I always saw them in his room,"
says his son Ferdinand), ordering that they should be
buried with him. He did not know how many wretch
ed beings would have to traverse those seas in bonds
much worse than his, with no room allowed to them
for writing, as was his case — not even for standing
upright ; nor did he foresee, I trust, that some of his
doings would further all this coming misery. In these
chains Columbus is of more interest to us than when
in full power as governor of the Indies ; for so it is,

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 171
that the most infelicitous times of a man's life are
those which posterity will look to most and love him
most for. This very thought may have comforted
him, but happily he had other sources of consolation
in the pious aspirations which never deserted him.*
We have come now to the end of Columbus's ad
ministration of the Indies. Whatever we may think
of his general policy, we can not but regret his removal
at the present time, when there appeared some chance
of solidity in his government, though we must honestly
admit that the Catholic sovereigns, with such evidence
as they had before them, were far from wrong in re
calling him, had it been done in a manner worthy of
his and of their greatness.
Little remains to be said about the government of
Bobadilla. Ferdinand Columbus makes many dire
complaints against this governor, of his favoritism,
covetousness, injustice, and mob service ; but these
accusations, coming from that quarter, must be re
ceived Avith caution ; and, indeed, whatever fault Bob
adilla might have had, there is good reason for think
ing that he was quite free from any thing like personal
corruption. One thing, however, -he seems to have done, or
permitted, which was most mischievous. Columbus
placed a cacique and his followers on certain lands, and
* " Hope in him who created all men sustains me ; his succor was
always very speedy. At another time, and not long ago, when I was
lower still, he raised me with his divine arm, saying, ' O man of little
faith, arise : it is I, be not afraid.' "
" La esperanza de aquel que crio a todos me sostiene : su socorro
file siempre muy presto. Otra vez, y no de lejos, estando yo mas bajo,
me levanto con su brazo divino, diciendo : ' 6 hombre de poca fe, le-
vantate : que yo soy, no hayas miedo.' " — Navarrete, Col, vol. i., p.
265.

172 Administration of Columbus in the Indies.
then named certain Spaniards who were to receive the
benefit from the tillage of these lands. We find also
that he allowed Indians to be taken to work in the
mines ; but then an especial license was necessary,
and it was given from such a month to such a month.*
This, however, was a considerable extension of the re
partimiento, and a very evil one for the poor Indians.
But Bobadilla seems, if we may trust Chaelevoix,
to have gone farther, and to have allowed the Span
iards to treat their Indians as a labor-gang, to be taken
to work any where and without any restriction.! He
also, according to the same authority, numbered the
inhabitants of the island, and made a distribution of
them. It is very difficult to lay down correct limits and
periods for the various extensions of the repartimien
to as defined by law, still more of what it was made
by custom, and we may therefore be wronging Boba
dilla in attributing this last extension to him ; but we
have accounts of the general course of his proceedings,
which represent him, like the unjust steward in the
Scriptures, though not upon the same motives, bid
ding the Spaniards under his dominion make as much
haste as they could to profit by their present advant
ages, and making friends for himself by easy treat
ment of his master's debtors.
* Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. i., cap. 161.
t " II contraignit les caciques de fournir a chaque Espagnol un cer
tain nombre de ses sujets, dont ceux-ci se servaient, comme ils aurai-
ent pu faire des betes de charge ; et pour empecher ces malheureux
de pouvoir se soustraire au joug qu'il venait de leur imposer, il com-
menca par faire un denombrement de tous les Insulaires, puis il les re-
digea par classes, ensuite il les distribua aux habitans, plus ou moins,
suivant qu'il voulait gratifier un chacun. De cette sorte toute l'isle se
trouva reduite sous le plus dur esclavage qui fut jamais." — Charle
voix, Hist, de S. Domingue, lib. iii., p. 205.

Administration of Columbus in the Indies. 173
His government did not last much more than a year
and a half. He was removed in consequence of the
just remonstrances of Columbus, and the government
was given, on the 3d of September, 1501, to Nicholas
de Ovando, a distinguished knight of the order of Al
cantara.

BOOK III.
OVANDO.

CHAPTER I.
WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS TO OVANDO. — SINGULAR INTERVIEW BE
TWEEN FERDINAND AND ISABELLA AND THE NEW GOVERNOR. 
STATE OT THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN.  OYANDo's ARRIVAL
AT SAINT DOMINGO.  REVOLT OF HIGUEY.  ULTIMATE FORM
OF REPARTIMIENTO. CHAPTER II.
OVANDO'S MODE OF MANAGING THE SPANIARDS.  HIS TYRANNY
IN XARAGUA. — BARBARITIES IN HIGUEY.  DEATH OF QUEEN
ISABELLA.  CAPTURE OF THE LUCAYANS.  DON DIEGO COLUM
BUS APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE INDIES.  CHARACTER OF
OVANDO'S GOVERNMENT.

CHAPTER I.
AVRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS TO OVANDO.  SINGULAR raTERVEEW
BETWEEN FERDINAND AND ISABELLA AND THE NEW GOV
ERNOR.  STATE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN.  OVAN-
DO'S ARRIVAL AT ST. DOMINGO.  REVOLT OF HIGUEY. 
ULTIMATE FORM OF REPARTTMIENTO.
IN considering history, nothing is more curious to
reflect upon than the fortuitous way, as it seems to
us, in which the particular actors present themselves
for notice. These Indians, for instance, who have
been mentioned in the course of this narrative, will al
ways have a certain place in history, and how strange
it is to find them there ! For centuries, many such as
Guacanagari, and many such as Caonabo, had shot off
their puny arrows, smoked their long pipes, and gone
down to the shades of their forefathers " unwept, un-
honored, and unsung," at least by Europeans ; when,
suddenly, among the listless threads of Indian affairs
is plied the busy shuttle of European enterprise, till
they come out woven into something like historical
tapestry, and the relationships and alliances of petty
caciques become part of a story which, if it be moder
ately well told, the world will always listen to.
Now, if we mortals had the making of historical
events, we should, I suppose, choose to have the game
played by the greatest personages of each successive
era ; but how much more interesting it is, after all, that
history should embrace almost every variety of human

178 Ovando's Government.
character as well as of worldly circumstance. There
is no class or kind of person, for example, to whom
supreme power has not been intrusted. The real king,
the good sort of man, the utter sensualist, the mere
soldier, the intriguer, the idiot, the madman, have all
been crowned ; nor, in our own times, have we been
without instances of most unlikely persons being sud
denly called to supreme power, to see what they could
make of it.
In the present narrative nothing can be more abrupt
than the change from Columbus to the two governors
¦who succeeded him ; both of them knights of a relig
ious order, with a certain narrow way of looking at
things, incident to their profession, and with no espe
cial culture that we know of; while he was of various
accomplishments, large-minded, enthusiastic, fluent,
affectionate, inventive.
In choosing Ovando, however, Ferdinand and Isa
bella seem to have taken great pains to provide a wor
thy governor for the Indies. He was well known to
them, having been chosen by the queen as one of the
companions for her eldest son, Prince John.* With
regard to Ovando's personal appearance, we are told
that he was of moderate stature, and had a vermilion-
colored beard, which fact hardly conveys much to our
minds, but it is added in general terms that his pres
ence expressed authority. With respect to his men
tal qualifications, we learn that he was a friend to jus
tice, an honorable person both in words and deeds, and
* " Era el comendador mayor su criado antiguo, e de la Catholica
Reyna ; la qual por caballero virtuoso y bien acostumbrado, le puso en
el niimero de aquellos primeros caballeros que los Reyes Catholicos
escogieron en todos sus reynos, para que sirviessen al principe don
Johan, su hijo primogenito y heredero." — Oviedo, Hist, de las Indias,
lib. iv., cap, 1.

Ovando's Government. 179
that he held all avarice and covetousness in much
aversion. He was humble, too, they say ; and when
he was appointed Comendador Mayor of the order of
Alcantara, he would never allow himself to be address
ed by the title of "lordship," which belonged to that
office. Previous to Ovando's departure from court, the
monarchs were particular in giving him instructions,
both verbal and written. Among these instructions
was one which Isabella especially insisted on, name
ly, " that all the Indians in Hispaniola should be free
from servitude, and be unmolested by any one, and
that they should live as free vassals, governed and
protected by justice, as were the vassals of Castile."*
Like the vassals in Spain, the Indians were to pay
tribute ; they were also to assist in getting gold, but
for this they were to be paid daily wages. Other
commands were given at the same time for the con
version of the Indians, and to insure their being treats
ed kindly.-
Respecting the general government of the country,
it was arranged that on Ovando's going out, all those
who received pay from the government in the In
dies, as well those who had accompanied Bobadilla as
those who had come out originally with Columbus,
should return to Spain, and a new set to replace them
should go out with Ovando. This was done because
the major part of these soldiers and officials had neces
sarily been connected with the late troubles in the
colony, and it would be a good plan to start afresh, as
it were. At the same time, it was provided that no
Jews, Moors, or new converts were to go to the Indies,
or be permitted to remain there; but negro slaves
* Herrera, dec. i., lib. iv., cap. 2.

180 Ovando's Government.
" born in the power of Christians were to be allowed
to pass to the Indies, and the officers of the royal rev
enue were to receive the money to be paid for their
permits."* This is the first notice about negroes go
ing to the Indies. These instructions were given in
the year 1501.
On Ovando's arrival in the colony, Bobadilla was
to undergo the ordeal of a " residencia"\ a kind of
examination well known and constantly practiced in
Spain, to which authorities were subject on going
out of office — a sort of general impeachment. It is
satisfactory to find that among the orders given to
Ovando there are some for the restitution of the ad
miral's property and the maintenance of his mercan
tile rights.
Just before Ovando took leave of the king, he re
ceived a formal lecture upon the duties of a governor.
The king, the queen, and a privy councilor, Antonio
de Fonseca, were the persons present, and, as I imag
ine, the latter addressed Ovando on the part of their
highnesses.! As it is not often that we have an op
portunity of hearing a didactic lecture on the modes
and duties of government given in the presence of a
* " Que se dexassen passar esclavos negros, nacidos en poder de
Christianos y que se recibiesse en cuenta a los oficiales de la Real ha-
zienda, lo que por sus firmas se pagasse." — Herrera, dec. i, lib. iv.,
cap.'l2. f " Residencia. La cuenta que toma un juez a otro 6 a otra per
sona de cargo publico de la administracion de su oficio por aquel tiem-
po que estuvo a su cuidado." — Diccionario de la Leng. Cast, por la
Acad. Espanola. Paris, 1824.
X " Aliende de las ordenes referidas en el precedente capitulo, des-
pidiendose el Comendador Nicolas de Obando del Rey, en presencia
de la Reyna Catolica, y estando con sus Altezas Antonio de Fonseca,
senor de Coca, que era de su Consejo, le dixo lo siguiente." — Herre
ra, dec. i, lib. iv., cap. 13.

Ovando's Government. 181
great master of that art, and probably looked over, if
not prepared by him, Ave must enter the royal cabinet,
and hear- some part of this discourse.
The first point which Fonseca impresses upon
Ovando is that, before all things, he is to look to what
concerns the reverence of God and his worship. Then
he is to examine into the life and capacity of the men
about him, and to put good men into office ; taking
care, however, not to leave all the authority in the
hands of subordinates {here, we may well imagine,
Ferdinand nodded approvingly), to the diminution of
his own power, " nor to make them so great that they
shall have occasion to contrive novelties" in order to
make themselves greater. Also, let there be change
of authorities, so that many may have a share of profit
and honor, and be made sMllful in affairs.
That he should use moderation in making repartim-
ientos and tributes, not overtaxing the people, which
moderation would be furthered by his taking care that
his personal and his household expenses were within
due bounds. {Here, I fancy, the monarchs looked at
each other, thought of their own frugal way of liv
ing, and Isabella smiled.)
That he should not make liimself judge in a cause,
but let culprits be tried in the ordinary way. Thus
he will avoid unpopularity, for "the remembrance of
the crime perishes ; not so that of the punishrnent."
{This aphorism must, I think, have been composed by
Ferdinand himself. His writing is always exceed
ingly concise and to the purpose.)
That he should not listen to tale-bearers {parleros),
either of his own household or to those out of it, nor
take vengeance upon any body who had spoken ill of
him, it being " an ugly thing to believe that any body

182 Ovando's Government.
could speak ill of one Avho did ill to no one, but good
to all." That it is one of the conditions of bad gov
ernors, "moved therein by their own consciences," to
take ill that which, if it had been said, they had better
not have heard. Bather let injurious sayings be over
come by magnanimity.
That it would be good for him to give free audience
to all, and to hear what they had to say ; and if their
counsel turned out ill, not to look coldly upon them
for that. The same in war or in any other undertak
ing ; his agents must not have to fear punishment for
failure, nor calumny for success; "for there were
many persons who, to avoid the envy of their superi
ors, sought rather to lose a victory than to gain it."
{Here Ferdinand ought to have looked a little
ashamed, being conscious that his own practice by no
means came up to xohat he perceives to be noble and
wise policy in the matter?)
That he (Ovando) should look to what example he
gives both in word and deed,* governors living, as in
a theatre, in the midst of the world. If he does ill,
even those who follow him in that will not the less
disesteem him.
That although it is necessary for him to know the
life of every one, yet he must not be over-inquisitive
about it, nor rout up offenses which are not brought
before him officially ; " since, if all offenses were
looked into, few men, or none, would be without pun
ishment." Besides, for secret faults men may correct
themselves : if those faults are made known, and es
pecially if they are punished in excess, shame is lost,
and men give way to their bad impulses.
That he is to encourage those who work, and to
discourage the idle, as the Universal Father does.

Ovando's Government. 183
That, as regards liberality, he should so conduct
himself that men should not dare to ask him for
things which they would know he must deny: this
would be a great restraint upon them, and a great
proof of good reputation in a governor.
That, in fine, all that had been said consisted in
this, that he was to govern as he would be governed ;
and that "it behooved him to be intent in business,
to show courage in difficulties and management in all
things, brevity in executing useful determinations, yet
not as if carried away by passion, but always upon
good counsel ; considering much what a charge was
upon him, for this thought would be useful to him at
all times ; and above all things he was to take heed
(in order that the same thing may not happen to him
which happened to the admiral)* that when any occa
sion for dealing briefly with an offense occurred, he
should have swift recourse to punishment, for in such
cases the remedy ought to be like a thunderbolt. "+
After reading the above, we can not say that the
Catholic monarchs were inattentive to the government
of their Indian possessions, nor can the sagacity which
directed that attention be for a moment questioned.
Indeed, that sagacity is so remarkable, that it may
naturally occur to the learned reader to inquire wheth
er Machiavelli's Prince had yet been published, and
* This passage is remarkable, as it shows the king supposed the
admiral to fail as a governor from indecisiveness, a very different thing
from severity, and yet not inconsistent with it. The position of Co
lumbus as a foreigner may account for this want of decision, if the
king was right in attributing it to him.
t " Y que sobre todo le encargava (porque no le aconteciesse lo del
Almirante) que quando algun caso se ofreciesse con brevedad, acu-
diesse al castigo, pues en tales negocios el remedio avia de ser como
rayo." — Herber dec. i, lib. iv., cap. 13.

184 Ovando's Government.
whether King Ferdinand could have read that much-
abused manual of crafty statesmen. It was, howev
er, about twelve years after this memorable audience
granted by Ferdinand and Isabella to Ovando that
The Prince is alluded to by Machiavelli, and de
scribed as a small unpublished work.*
But to return to the new Governor of Hispaniola :
it is recorded by Heeeeea and Las Casas that the
Catholic sovereigns assigned a duration of two years
to his government ; and Chaelevoix, in his History
of St. Domingo, says that it was their intention, at the
end of those two years, to reinstate the admiral. I
do not give credit to this ; and in the document ap
pointing Ovando, the words are, that he is to be gov
ernor as long as it is their highnesses' will and pleas
ure.! There is a restriction upon him, but it is one
that regards the extent of his government, and not
-the duration of it. It is declared that his authority
should not extend to the "islands" where Alonso de
Ojeda and Vicente Yafiez Pinzon were governing. I
have not hitherto made mention of these two discov
erers, nor, indeed, of any others besides the admiral,
being desirous to keep, if possible, to the main cur
rent of the history of the New World. If we suffer
ourselves to be diverted from that, we shall get into
some such perplexity as we should if we were navi
gating without chart in the midst of those West In-
* See Machiavelli's letter to Vittori. — " lo ho ragionato con Filip-
po di questo mio'opuscolo (II Principe), se gli era bene darlo o non lo
dare ; e se gli e ben darlo, se gli era bene che io lo portassi, o che io
ve lo mandassi."
t See the " Titulo de Gobernador de las Indias a Frey Nicolas de
Ovando, Comendador de Lares, en la Orden y Caballeria de Alcantara,
exceptuando las Gobernaciones de Alonso de Hojeda y Vicente Yanez
Pinzon. (Registrado en el Sello de Corte en Simancas.)" — Navar-
rete, Col. Dip., Num. 138.

Ovando's Government. 185
dian seas thick with shoals and islets. Where the
proceedings in respect of any one island will not give
an adequate view of the general policy, recourse must
be had to the history of other islands ; but, for the
present, we follow the fate of the island first settled,
and which may be considered as the seat of govern
ment in the Wes* Indies, Hispaniola.
At the same time, it must not be forgotten that
American discovery was at this time spreading out
in several directions. Their highnesses had already
made terms with many adventurers whom the won
drous products brought home from the Indies, and
the renown that men had gained there, tempted ir
resistibly to further daring.
On the 13th of February, 1502, Nicholas de Ovando
left the port of San Lucar to take possession of his
new government, having under him a gallant company
of two thousand five hundred persons, a large propor
tion of them being Hidalgoes. He met with a terri
ble storm on his way, and had some difficulty in reach
ing St. Domingo at all. Before entering upon the
affairs of his government, it will be desirable to con
sider the critical state and prospects of the royal family
of Spain, which materially affect this narrative, and
which, I have no doubt, were subjects often and ea
gerly discussed on the voyage by the Spaniards in
this expedition.
Death had made many a sad inroad into the home
of Ferdinand and Isabella. They had lost their only
son, Prince John, in 1497. Of their four daughters,
Isabel had married the heir of the Portuguese throne,
and, after his death without children, the next heir.
She died in giving birth to a son ; and the child died

186 Ovando's Government.
soon afterward. Juana, the second daughter, was mar
ried to the Archduke Philip, son of Maximilian the
Emperor, and had two sons, Charles, afterward Charles
the Fifth, and Ferdinand, afterward King of the Eo-
mans. Catharine of Aragon, another daughter, was
married, as is well known, into the royal family of
England. Then there was Maria, who married the
widower of her sister Isabel.
Juana was now the heiress, and she was Juana la
Loca — Juana the insane. Her husband, Philip, had
lately visited Spain ; but, wearied of the Spaniards,
and probably not less so of his doting and imbecile
wife, he had set off again for Flanders. Doubtless all
these domestic troubles had saddened the heart and
injured the health of Isabella ; and the affairs of the
New World were soon to lose the light of her loving
countenance upon them. As long, however, as there
was any spark of life in her, she was not wanting in
good thoughts and good endeavors for her new sub
jects. It must be remembered, while discussing the affairs
of the royal family of Spain, that the kingdom of Cas
tile was essentially separate from that of Aragon, and
that, on Isabella's death, Castile, and with it the In
dies, must go to the helpless Juana, and therefore to
her. husband ; not to the politic Ferdinand, into whose
capacity for government we have just had some insight
from the foregoing address to Ovando. On every ac
count, then, the state of the royal family was a matter
of moment to the Indies.
We may also mention at this time, though it is not
necessarily connected with our subject, that Columbus
was received very graciously by their highnesses ; was
promised to be reinstated in his rights ; and was about

Ovando's Government. 187
to commence his fourth and last voyage of discovery.
He was not, however, to be allowed to land at St. Do
mingo, for reasons which are obvious.
Nicholas de Ovando arrived at St. Domingo on the
15th of April, 1502. Las Casas, now in his 28th
year, came out in the same fleet; and he mentions,
that as the vessels neared the shore, the Spanish col
onists ran down to hear the news from home, and to
tell their good news exultingly in return, which was,
that an extraordinary lump of gold had been found,
and that certain Indians were in revolt. " I heard it
myself," the historian says ; and he is right to chron
icle the fact, showing, as it does, the views which pre
vailed among the settlers of the advantage of an Indian
revolt in furnishing slaves. This great piece of gold
which they talked about had been found accidentally
by an Indian woman at the mines, while listlessly
moving her rake to and fro in the water one day during
dinner-time. Its value was estimated at 1,350,000
maravedis,* and in the festivities that took place on
the occasion, was used as a dish for a roast pig, the
miners saying that no king of Castile had ever feasted
from a dish of such value. We do not find that the
poor Indian woman had any part in the good fortune.
Indeed, as Las Casas observes, she was fortunate if
she had any portion of the meat, not to speak of the
dish. Amid the clamor of such welcome, the new governor
landed, was duly received by the authorities, and com
menced the affairs of government. He announced the
residencia of Bobadilla, and placed Roldan under ar
rest. The people he had brought with him rushed
* Equivalent to about £416.

188 Ovando's Government.
off to the mines, knoAving nothing of the nature of the
work, nor of their capacity for enduring it. Their
provisions failed them ; fevers seized them ; and, in
a short time, more than a thousand of Ovando's two
thousand five hundred had perished in a wretched man
ner. The only persons who had food to traffic with
were the three hundred Castilians, old residents, as we
may call them, and as they had scarcely any clothes,
such of the new comers as had clothes or tools were
enabled to get food for a time. It could not be ex
pected, however, that the food provided by three hund
red improvident people would go far among two thour
sand five hundred.
Here it may be noticed that in general those col
onists who devoted themselves to mining remained
poor, while the farmers grew rich. When melting-
time came, which was at stated intervals of eight
months, it often happened that, after the king's dues
Avere paid, and those who had claims upon the produce
for advances already made to the miners were satis
fied, nothing remained for the miner himself. And so
all this blood and toil were not paid for even in money ;
and many still continued to eat their meals from the
same wooden platters they had been accustomed to in
the old country, only with discontented minds, and
souls beginning to be embruted by cruelty.
While Ovando was doing what he could' in the
troubles that met him at the outset of his adminis
tration, Columbus suddenly appeared again upon the
scene — a presence thoroughly unwelcome, no doubt,
to the new governor. One of Columbus's vessels
wanted refitting, and he wished to change her for an
other in the fleet ; moreover, as he informed Ovando,
he desired to enter the port of St. Domingo because

Ovando's Government. 189
he foresaw that a hurricane was coming on. The
landsman Ovando perceived nothing of the kind, and
was only anxious to get Columbus away as soon as
he could, and thus to obey the orders received from
their highnesses, which were, that Columbus should
not land at St. Domingo. Besides, Bobadilla had not
yet taken his departure, Roldan and his faction were
still in the island, so there was no knowing what tu
mult might arise if Columbus were permitted to dis
embark. In fine, Ovando stood upon the orders he
had received, and very wisely, as it appears to me,
with his disbelief in the admiral's scientific foresight,
refused to allow Columbus to enter the harbor. That
Ovando put no faith in the great navigator's prophecy
about the coming hurricane is manifest, because the
governor sent away at that moment the return fleet to
Spain. Columbus made as quickly as he could for
some safe anchorage. The hurricane did come on, and
raged furiously. The greater part of the return fleet
sank. Bobadilla perished, Roldan perished ; and with
them, doubtless, many of the less notorious enemies
of Columbus, who thus was signally avenged by the
disaster which his skill would have averted. Among
the few vessels that escaped was a lumbering one, the
worst in the fleet it is said, which was taking back the
goods of Columbus to Spain. The men of that day
saw in this the especial hand of Providence.
The same hurricane did great damage to the town
of St. Domingo, and the governor took occasion to
change the site of the town to the other side of the
river, where it now stands. About this time, too, he
bestirred himself in founding settlements. The first
that he resolved to found was on the north of the
island, at the Puerto de Plata, one of his reasons

190 Ovando's Government.
for founding a settlement there being the great mul
titude of Indians in that part ;* so that, at any rate,
at that time, Hispaniola was not depopulated. The
expedition, in its way to Puerto de Plata, had oc
casion to touch at or near the island of Saona, the
very spot which the colonists alluded to when, com
ing down to the shore to welcome the governor, they
had joyfully exclaimed that the Indians were in re
volt. The cause of this outbreak must now be told.
Between the inhabitants of the little island of Sao
na and the Spaniards there had originally been much

H ISPAN IOLA. rOW
Gzztf of
K.araya^cv%

friendship. These Indians had been in the habit
of supplying their new friends with bread ; and on
one occasion lately, a Spanish party had been sent
to the island to get bread there. The cacique of the
place, with a stick in his hand, was urging his men
and hastening the preparations. The Spaniards were
looking on; one of them had his dog with him, and
* " Por la mucha multitud de Indios que en ella avia." — Herrera,
dec. i., lib. v., cap. 4.
See also Columbus's letter to the Pope, anno 1502.

Ovando's Government. 191
the animal was wild to get at the cacique. The
Spaniard could hardly hold it in ; and, unfortunately,
happened to remark to a comrade standing by him,
"What a thing it would be if we were to set the dog
at him !" His friend in jest said, "At him!" (tomald),
thinking that the Spaniard could certainly restrain
the dog. But, with this encouragement, it burst from
its master, rushed on the cacique, and killed him in a
manner hideous to think of. The adjacent province
rose in arms ; and it was no wonder, therefore, that
when the mariners, whom Ovando sent to found his
new colony of Puerto de Plata, touched at a spot near
to that where the above transaction took place, the
natives should have considered them as invaders, and
have attacked them accordingly. In the conflict that
ensued nine Spaniards were killed, and the news of
their slaughter being brought to the governor, he or
dered war to be declared — war, according to the phrase
of the time, "of fire and blood." From all the Span
ish citadels forces were sent under various captains,
and a certain Juan de Esquivel was named captain
general of the force, which amounted to four hundred
men. On the arrival of this body in Higuey, the prov
ince of Hispaniola adjacent to the island of Saona, and
which had been concerned in the original revolt, the
Indians seem to have behaved with sufficient bravery ;
but finding that their naked bodies and childish weap
ons could in no way contend with well-clad, well-armed
men, they soon abandoned open fighting, and fled to
the forests. From a war it degenerated into a hunt.
Many of the Indians who were taken had both their
hands cut off, and were told by the Spaniards to car
ry those letters to their lords, meaning that they should
show what mutilation they had suffered, in order that

192 Ovando's Government.
it might inspire general terror. Nor was it only by
twos or threes that they suffered : on one occasion six
or seven hundred prisoners were put to the sword at
once. Harassed in every way, the poor Indians at
last sought to make terms ; and it was agreed that,
as a condition of peace, they should construct in their
territory a great manufactory of cazabi-bread for the
Spaniards. They were not, however, to be required
to come with the bread to St. Domingo, which service
they were very glad to avoid.
Among the chiefs who came to do reverence to the
captain general was Cotubano, the principal cacique
of those parts. He was a man of great bodily strength
and courage, and was in such esteem that the cap
tain general did not think it derogatory to exchange
names with him. The practice of exchanging names,
meant for a sign of perpetual love and amity, was an
Indian custom.* The persons so exchanging names
were called " Guatiaos ;" and I imagine the relation
ship was considered in somewhat of the same light as
that of foster brethren among the Irish. It shows a
degree of refinement which we might not have expect
ed; but it is not, perhaps, in the affections that civ
ilization finds the most to change and to develop.
The war with the inhabitants of Higuey was thus
successfully brought to a close ; welcome news for
Ovando, in whose favor it may be noted that he is
said to have given such instructions to the captain gen-
* " Este trueque de nombres en la lengua comun desta isla se llama
ser yo y fulano, que trocamos los nombres, Guatiaos, y asi se llamaba
el uno al otro. Teniase por gran parentesco y como liga de perpetua
amistad y confederacion. Y asi el Capitan General y aquel Seiior que-
daron guatiaos como perpetuos amigos y hermanos en armas, y asi los
indios Ilamaban al Capitan Cotubano y al Seiior Juan de Esquivel" —
Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. ii., cap. 8.

Ovando's Government. 193
eral as showed that he wished for peace, though peace
was only arrived at through such fearful cruelties.
The governor's greatest difficulty at this period of
his administration was to knoAV how to provide for the
wants of the Castilian population ; and this difficulty
would have been felt still more urgently but for the great
mortality above mentioned, and the return of many
men in those vessels which were sent back to Spain
in the fleet that perished!, The stores which Ovando
had brought with him from Spain were soon exhausted,
and the Spaniards began to suffer greatly from hunger.
They were compelled to eat all manner of uncleanly
things. The Indians also suffered from this famine,
for they had not put in the usual crops (their suicidal
mode, as we have seen before, of getting rid of their
Spanish visitors) ; and it is stated that, in consequence
of the famine, new diseases made their appearance both
among the native population and the Spaniards.
Another great difficulty for the governor was that
the Indians would have little or no communication
with the Christians. Ovando stated that this aver
sion of the Indians was the result of the declaration
of their freedom. But Las Casas, with more proba
bility, asserts that the Indians never knew any thing
about their freedom having been declared, and that
they shunned the Spaniards as naturally as "sparrows
the sparrow-hawk." It is easy to see that this con
duct of the Indians would appear to present a great
hinderance to their conversion, a circumstance which
Ovando did not omit to mention to Ferdinand and
Isabella when he laid the matter before them. He
probably took care also to point out the difficulty of
procuring gold, or making prosperous settlements
while the Indians thus stood apart.
Vol. I.— I

194 Ovando's Government.
The Catholic sovereigns, in a reply dated the 20th
of December, 1503, directed Ovando to compel the In
dians to have dealings with the Spaniards, and to
make them work for such wages as he should think
fit. The monarchs further ordered that the Indians
should work under the guidance of their caciques;
that they should go and hear mass, and be instructed
in the faith ; and further, that they should do all these
things " as free persons, for so they are." Ferdinand
and Isabella were great and very sagacious princes,
but it was beyond their power and their wisdom to
combine the execution of such orders with the main
tenance of freedom for their Indians. Ovando adopted
the following system : he distributed Indians among
the Cas+ilians, giving to one man fifty, to another a
-hundred, with a deed that ran thus: "To you, .such a
one, is given an encomienda of so many Indians with
such a cacique, and you are to teach them the things
of our holy Catholic faith."* The word encomienda,
which will now be more frequently used than repar
timiento, was a term belonging to the military orders,
corresponding to our word commandery or precept-
ory; and this term naturally enough came into use
with the appointment as governors in the Indies of
men who held authority in those orders, such as Bob
adilla and Ovando. With respect to the implied
condition of teaching the Indians the " holy Catholic
faith," it was no more attended to from the first than
any formal clause in a deed, which is supposed by the
parties concerned to be a mere formality, and, indeed,
to be put in chiefly to gratify the lawyers.
' " A vos fulano se os encomiendan tantos Indios, en tal Cacique, y
ensenaldes las cosas de nuestra santa Fe Catolica." — Herre,ha, Hist.
de las Indias, dec. i., lib. v., cap. 11.

Ovando's Government. 195
We have now arrived at the climax of the repar
timiento system. That which Bobadilla did illegally
was now done with proper formalities on parchment ;
and from henceforward many a dreary day will have
to pass in the world's history before the statesmen
most impressed with humane and wise counsels will
be able to reduce this gigantic evil in the least. We
may notice again that the first repartimientos made
by Columbus were very different in principle to the
encomiendas of Ovando, though in practice the tAvo
things might ultimately have come to much the same
result. Columbus apportioned to any Spaniard whom
he thought fit such and such lands, to be worked by
such a cacique and his people — a very different pro
cedure to giving men — a feudal system,* not a system
of slavery.
Let no one say that the Indians were to be blamed
for keeping away from the Spaniards, or that this aver
sion of theirs to join their invaders showed any inapt-
ness for civilization. Such arguments were of great
force in those days, but can not be accepted now.
These Indians were sufficiently provided with the
principal means of living, and even with some of the
luxuries of life, before Columbus set foot in their isl
and; and what did the so-called civilization of the
Spaniards offer them ? What peace, what love, what
beauty or holiness of life did they see among the Span
iards that should have tempted any sane Indian to
take up his abode among these new men, especially
* " De consiguiente los companeros de la empresa debian tener su
parte en lo ganado, y ser establecidos y heredados alii en calidad de
senores, reducidos los naturales a la condicion de villanos feudatarios."
— Muiioz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. vi, cap. 50.

196 Ovando's Government.
if his companionship was only to be some form of
servitude? The civilized man did not then possess
those "fire-waters" which are now so potent in attract
ing and clearing off the savages adjacent to the out
skirts of civilization. The Indians possessed already
what excitement or distraction can be obtained from
intoxicating liquors — the produce of certain roots or
fruits of their own — and were not obliged to go to the
Spaniards for those dangerous allurements. The im
plements, dress, and toys of the new-comers may have
had- some attraction for the Indians, but surely not
enough to conquer their reasonable distaste for Span
ish bloodhounds. And as for any inducements which
the Spanish religion held out to the Indians, we may
, judge how far these were understood or estimated by
the story of Hatuey, cacique of a part of Cuba, who
had spies at Hispaniola to keep him informed of the
proceedings of the Spaniards there. He was in appre
hension that they would come, as they afterward did,
to his territory ; so, calling his people together, and
recounting the cruelties of the Spaniards, he said that
they did all these things for a great lord whom they
loved much, which lord he would now show them.
Accordingly, he produced a small basket filled with
gold. " Here is the lord whom they serve, and after
whom they go ; and, as you have heard, already they
are longing to pass over to this place, not pretending
more than to seek this lord ; wherefore let us make
to him here a festival and dance.s, so that when they
come, he may tell them to do us no harm."* The
* " Veis aqui su senor a este sirven, y tras este andan, y como aueys
oydo, ya quieren passar aca, no pretendiendo mas de buscar este senor,
y por tanto hagamos le aqui fiesta, y bayles, porque quando vengan,
les diga que no nos hagan mal." — Herrera, Hist, de las Indias, dec.
i, lib, ix., cap. 3.

Ovando's Government. 197
Indians approved this counsel, and danced round the
gold until they Avere exhausted, when the cacique turn
ed to them and said that they should not keep the god
of the Christians any where, for were it even in their
entrails it would be torn out, but that they should
throw it in the river, that the Christians might not
know where it was. "And so," says the account,
" they threw it."
There is something so ironical in this story, that it
almost seems as if it had been invented by some good
Dominican in the Indies as a satire on his parishion
ers ; and it may have crept into history without good
warrant. We shall not be wrong, hoAvever, in con
cluding that the inducements held out, either by the
religion or the polity which the Spaniards exhibited in
the Indies, were not such as to lead any Indian to give
up his freedom willingly, and to come and live in fel
lowship with them and their dogs. An impartial ob
server would have thought much more slightly of the
mental powers of the Indians if they had shown this
willingness ; and he would have pronounced those In
dians the wisest who betook themselves-at once to the
remotest and most inaccessible parts of the island, or
who, by war or artifice, strove most unremittingly to
get rid of their invaders.
Before the Catholic sovereigns had authorized Ovan
do to give repartimientos of the peaceful Indians of
Hispaniola, these monarchs had issued an edict allow
ing the capture of Cannibals when rebels. In this
edict are recounted the steps which had previously
been taken on behalf of these Cannibals — how it had
been forbidden to capture them, how some that had
been captured had been sent back ; yet, as they still

198 Ovando's Government.
persevered in their idolatrous and cannibal ways {ido-
latrando y comiendo los dichos Indios), and also per
severed in attacking her peaceful Indian subjects, it
was now declared by Isabella that if the Cannibals
would not receive her captains, and listen to them in
order to be instructed in the faith, and to be taken into
her service and under her sway, they might be made
captives.* As was to be expected, this permission led
to great abuse.
* " Si todavia los dichos Canibales resistieren, e non quisieren res-
cibir e acoger en sus tierras a los Capitanes e gentes que por mi man-
dado fueren a facer los dichos viages, e oirlos para ser dotrinados en
las cosas de nuestra santa Fe Catolica, e estar en mi servicio e so mi
obediencia, los puedan cautivar & cautiven para los Ilevar a las tierras
e Islas donde fueren, e para que los puedan traer e traigan a estos mis
Reinos e Senorios, e a otras cualesquier partes e logares do quisieren
-e por bien tovieren, pagandonos la parte que dellos nos pertenesca, e
para que los puedan vender e aprovecharse dellos, sin que por ello ca-
yan nin incurran en pena alguna, porque trayendose a estas partes e
serviendose dellos los Cristianos, podran ser mas ligeramente convert-
idos e atraidos a nuestra santa Fe Catolica." — Apendice, Navarrete,
Col. Dip., Num. 17.

CHAPTER II.
OVANDO'S MODE OF MANAGING THE SPANIARDS.  HTS TYR
ANNY IN XARAGUA.  BARBARITLES IN HIGUEY.  DEATH
OF QUEEN ISABELLA.  CAPTURE OF THE LUCAYANS.  DON
DIEGO COLUMBUS APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE INDUES.
CHARACTER OF OVANDO'S GOVERNMENT.

BUT we must return to Hispaniola, where worse
things than capturing Cannibals were about to
take place. Before entering, however, upon that part
of Ovando's administration, which it is impossible not
to condemn, we must premise that in his government
of the Spaniards he seems to have been exceedingly
successful. He caused many towns to be built; he
founded" a hospital, dedicated to St. Nicholas, for the
poor ; he boldly resisted the king's ministers at home
when he thought they were acting prejudically to the
colony; he probably appointed, and certainly main
tained in office, one of the best judges that ever was
known in the Indies — one who sought, as a good citi
zen, to compose differences and abridge law proceed
ings, " avoiding the expense of paper and ink, which
with other judges is wont to be more costly than the
blood of those who have their heads broken" — doing
these good works in the streets and public places as
he went along.* The sterner duties of a governor
* " En las calles e cantones por do yba, avenia e concertaba las
partes y deshacia los agravios y excusaba las contiendas en quanto po
dia, sin dar lugar a gastos de papel y tinta ; la qual con otros jueces

200 Ovando's Government.
were well fulfilled by Ovando himself, who fully acted
up to King Ferdinand's advice, of coming down upon
malefactors like a thunderbolt. If there were a tur
bulent person, one who seemed likely to act the part
of Roldan in the colony, Ovando would send for him
on some fair pretext just when there happened to be
vessels returning to Spain. Then, inviting him to din
ner, he would talk with him about his neighbors, and
inquire on what terms they lived with each other.
The unsuspecting colonist exulted in thinking that he
was now in high favor with the governor, and likely
to have more Indians allotted to him ; when suddenly
Ovando would turn upon him with this question : "In
which of those ships (probably visible from where they
were sitting) would you like to go to Castile ?" The
contented look of a man who is expecting some bene
fit changes to the terrified appearance of one who is
about to be sent home ruined to his friends. He fal-
teringly asks, "Why, my lord?" The stern Comen-
dador Mayor anwers, " You have nothing else to do
but to go." "But, my lord, I have not the where
withal, not even for my passage." " It shall be my
care to provide for that," replies the governor ; and in
this summary manner he was wont to ship off a dan
gerous person at once, and thus to clear the colony of
a possible nuisance.*
Ovando's treatment of the Indians was equally swift
and immeasurably more severe. The greatest stain
uele doler e costar mas que la sangre de los descalabrados." — Oviedo,
(list. Gen. y Nat., lib. iv., cap. 1.
I am particular in noticing this good trait in Maldonado, as he was
afterward selected to fulfill one of the most difficult offices ever im
posed upon a civil servant, and will appear again at a most critical
point in the history.
* Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. ii., cap. 40.

Ovando's Government. 201
upon his administration is his conduct to Anacaona,
the Queen of Xaragua. The reader will recollect how
well this Indian queen and her brother received the
admiral's brother, Don Bartolome, on a former occa
sion. The Spaniards then affirmed her to be a wise
woman, of good manners and pleasant address ; and
she is said to have earnestly entreated her brother to
take warning by the fate of her husband, Caonabo,
and to love and obey the Christians. As she was now
to play the hostess again, we may refer to the account
of her former reception of a Spanish governor, the Ad
elantado, of which there are some details furnished by
Peter Maette.
After mentioning that the queen and her brother re
ceived the lieutenant with all courtesy and honor, he
says, "They brought our men to their common hall,
into which they come together as often as they make
any notable games or triumphs, as we have said be
fore. Here, after many dancings, singings, maskings,
runnings, wrestlings, and other trying of mastries, sud
denly there appeared in a large plain near unto the hall
two great armies of men of war, which the king, for
his pastime, had caused to be prepared, as the Span
iards use the play with reeds, which they call Juga
de Canias. As the armies drew near together, they
assailed the one the other as fiercely as if mortal ene
mies with their banners spread should fight for their
goods, their lands, their lives, their liberty, their coun
try, their wives, and their children, so that within the
moment of an hour four men were slain and many
wounded. The battle also should have continued
longer if the king had mot, at the request of our men,
caused them to cease."*
* Dec. i., lib. vi, Eden's translation.
12

202 Ovando's Government.
At this time, in the year 1503, some of Roldan's
former partisans were settled in the province of Xara
gua, and were a great trouble to the colony. Heere-
ea says, in a quiet, sarcastic way, " They lived in the
discipline they had learned from Roldan ;" and the gov
erning powers of Xaragua found them "intolerable."
He also adds that Anacaona's people were, in policy,
in language, and in other things, superior to all the
other inhabitants of the island.* As might be expect
ed, there were constant disturbances between these

HISPANIOLA.

Gulf of
X.ara.yii'a/.

Spaniards and the adjacent Indians ; and the Span
iards took care to inform the governor that their ad
versaries, the Indians of Xaragua, intended to rebel.
Perhaps they did so intend. Ovando resolved, after
much consultation, to take a journey to Xaragua. It
must be said, in justice to Ovando, that this does not
look as if he thought the matter were a light one.
* " Anacaona, muger de autoridad, i los Senores de la Provincia,
que eran muehos, i que en policia, lengua, i en otras muchas calidades,
excedian a todas las otras Tierras de la Isla." — Herrera, Hist, de las
Indias, dec. i., lib. vi., cap. 4. Madrid, 1730.

Ovando's Government. 203
Xaragua was seventy leagues from St. Domingo. The
governor set out well accompanied, with 70 horsemen
and 300 foot soldiers. Anacaona, who had probably
some suspicion of his_intentions, summoned all her
feudatories around her " to do honor" to him when she
heard of his coming. She went out to meet Ovando
with a concourse of her subjects, and with the same
festivities of singing and dancing as in former days
she had adopted when she went to receive the Adelan
tado. Various pleasures and amusements were pro
vided for the strangers, and probably Anacaona thought
that she had succeeded in soothing and pleasing this
severe-looking governor, as she had done the last.
But the former followers of Roldan were about the
governor, telling him that there certainly was an in
surrection at hand ; that if he did not look to it now,
and suppress it at once, the revolt would be far more
difficult to quell when it did break out. Thus they
argued, using all those seemingly wise arguments of
wickedness which from time immemorial have origin
ated and perpetuated treachery. Ovando listened to
these men ; indeed he must have been much inclined
to believe them, or he would hardly have come all this
way. He was now convinced that an insurrection was
intended. With these thoughts in his mind, he ordered that,
on a certain Sunday, after dinner, all the cavalry should
get to horse, on the pretext of a tournament. The in
fantry, too, he caused to be ready for action. He him
self, a Tiberius in dissembling, went to play at quoits,
and was disturbed by his men coming to him and beg
ging him to look on at their sports. The poor Indian
queen hurried with the utmost simplicity into the snare
prepared for her. She told the governor that her ca-

204 Ovando's Government.
ciques, too, would like to see this tournament, upon
which, with demonstrations of pleasure, he bade her
come with all her caciques to his quarters, for he wanted
to talk to them, intimating, as I conjecture, that he
would explain the festivity to them. Meanwhile, he
gave his cavalry orders to surround the building ; he
placed the infantry at certain commanding positions;
and told his men that when, in talking with the ca
ciques, he should place his hand upon the badge* of
knighthood which hung upon his breast, they should
rush in and bind the caciques and Anacaona. It fell
out as he had planned. All these deluded Indian
chiefs and their queen were secured. She alone was
led out of Ovando's quarters, which were then set fire
to, and all the chiefs burned alive. Anacaona was after
ward hanged, and the province was desolated.
Humanity does not gain much, after all, by this
man's not taking the title of "Lordship," which he had
a right to.
Finally, the governor collected the former followers
of Roldan in Xaragua, and formed a town of their set
tlement, which he named " the city of the true peace"
{La villa de la vera Pas), but which a modern chron
icler well says might more properly have been named
"Aceldama, the field of blood."! I observe that the
arms assigned to this new settlement were a dove with
the olive-branch, a rainbow, and a cross.
The next occasion Ovando had to chastise the In
dians was upon another outbreak in the province of
Higuey, that province which had before been reduced
* " Su insignia (orden de Alcantara) era un Dios Padre en Abito
bianco." — Marquez, Tcsoro Militar de Cavalleria, p. 24.
t Captain Southey, Hist, of the West Indies, vol. i, p. 93.

Ovando's Government. 205
to obedience by Juan de Esquivel. The Indians of this
district had agreed to make bread for the Spaniards,
but not to carry it to St. Domingo. This new condi
tion was now endeavored to be imposed upon them.
Las Casas expresses his conviction, founded on expe
rience, that the conduct of the Httle garrison which had
been left in Higuey was disorderly and licentious,"ac-
cording to the usual custom of the invaders. The re
sult was, that the Indians rose and attacked the fort,
burned it, and put to death the garrison, with the excep
tion of one Spaniard, who escaped to tell the news.
The governor instantly proclaimed war, and gave Juan
de Esquivel the command. The war was carried on
in the accustomed way, as regards the unavailing ef
forts of the Indians, and with more than the accustomed
ferocity on the part of the conquering Spaniards. There
were some signal instances of valor shown by the In
dians. On one occasion, when Las Casas was an eye
witness, a naked Indian, with only his bow and arrows,
maintained, unhurt, a close contest with a well-armed
Spaniard, to the admiration of both armies, standing
aloof to behold the engagement. The Indians, how
ever, found their chief safety in flight ; and it is recorded
that those whom the Spaniards compelled to act as
guides, and whom they kept attached to them by
ropes, often threw themselves off the precipices, and
thus balked their masters. Unfortunately, among the
Spaniards themselves were men who had become very
skillful in tracking Indians, so much so that from the
turn of a withered leaf they could detect which way
their prey had gone. The cruelty wreaked by the
Spaniards upon their captives was excessive. They
used the same mode of sending terror among the In
dians which had been adopted in the former war,

206 Ovando's Government.
namely, cutting off the hands of their captives. Las
Casas mentions that on one occasion they hanged up
thirteen Indians "in honor and reverence of Christ our
Lord and his twelve apostles." These men, hanging
at such a height that their feet could just touch the
ground, were used as dumb figures for the Spaniards
to try their swords upon. This hideous cruelty Las
Casas says he saw, but at the same time he adds, with
a shrinking which all will feel to be natural, that he
fears to relate these things now, hardly being able to
persuade himself but that he must have dreamed them.
On another occasion he saw some Indians being burned
alive in a sort of wooden cradle. Their cries disturbed
the Spanish captain taking his siesta in his tent, and
he bade the alguazil, who had the charge of the execu
tion, to dispatch the captives. This officer, however,
only gagged the poor wretches, who thus fulfilled their
martyrdom in the way he originally intended for them.
"All this I saw with my bodily mortal eyes,"* em
phatically exclaims the witness for the fact.
And here I must say for Las Casas that I have not
the slightest doubt of the truth of any statement which
he thus vouches for. He manifests throughout, in va
rious little things, his accuracy and truthfulness. For
instance, he is careful to point out the exact pronunci
ation of the Indian names. He shows a fair apprecia
tion of those persons he is most bitterly opposed to ;
as, for example, he says of Ovando that he was a man
fit to govern, but not Indians, which is much the
same conclusion that the modern reader will probably
come to in reviewing the conduct of this governor.
Notwithstanding all the efforts of the Spaniards,
* " Todo estp yo lo vide con mis ojos corporales mortales."— JLas
Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. ii, cap. 17.

Ovando's Government. 207
Cotubano, the chief cacique of Higuey, the same who
exchanged names with Juan de Esquivel, remained
untaken, and the subjection of the province was there
fore considered incomplete. This cacique had retired
to the Httle island of Saona, where he had his spies
who watched for the approach of the Spaniards. One
day these spies, two in number, were seized. One
was put to death, the other made to serve as a guide.
The Spaniards hurried off in different directions, each
anxious to distinguish himself in the capture ; at last
one of them, Juan Lopez Labrador, came suddenly
upon twelve Indians marching in a line one after an
other. The Spaniard asked for Cotubano; the In
dians said that he was the last of the Hne, and the
poor frightened wretches made way for the Spaniard,
who dealt a blow with his sword at the cacique, which
he received upon his hands, that were thus rendered
nearly useless. The other Indians fled, and the Span
iard, seizing Cotubano by the throat, with a sword
pointed to his body, was carrying him off captive, when
the cacique made a sudden spring on one side to avoid
the sword ; then, maimed as he was, rushed on Labra
dor, got him down, and was on the point of slaying
him, when a party of Spaniards came to the rescue.
They struck Cotubano down senseless, took up their
almost lifeless comrade, and afterward conveyed the
cacique to St. Domingo, where he was hanged by or
der of the governor.
Higuey was now considered to be at peace, and two
settlements were made in it, called Salvaleon and San
ta Cruz.
Meanwhile, the news of Anacaona's punishment had
reached Spain, and it may be imagined how Avrathful

208 Ovando's Government.
Queen IsabeUa was on hearing of such things ; for, with
aH her sweetness, she was capable of stern and fierce
thoughts. Ovando, we are told, strove much to justify
himself; but the queen was resolved to make "a great
demonstration" (these are the very words used), and
she is reported to have said to the president of the
council, "I will have you take such a residencia of
him as never was before."*
Nevertheless, Ovando maintained his place, probably
on account of the queen's illness, which began to be
severe in August, 1504 ; and this is the last occasion
on which Queen IsabeHa is heard of as taking part in
the affairs of the Indies.
It was about this time, late in the year 1504, that
Columbus returned to Spain after his fourth voyage,
which had proved very disastrous. Poor, old, infirm,
he had now to receive intelHgence which was to deep
en aU his evils. He remained at SeviUe, too unwell
to make a journey himself, but sent his son Diego to
court to manage his affairs for him. The complaints
of the admiral, that he had no news from court, are
quite touching. He says he desires to hear news each
hour. Couriers are arriving every day, but none for
him ; his very hair stands on end to hear things so
contrary to what his soul desires.! He aHudes, I
imagine, to the state of the queen's health ; for in a
memorandum of instructions to his son, written at this
period, the first thing, he says, to be done is "to com
mend affectionately, with much 'devotion," the soul of
* " Yo vos le hare tomar una Residencia, qual nunca fue tomafla."
— Herrera, Hist, de las Indias, dec. i, lib. vi., cap. 4. Madrid, 1730.
t " Muchos correos vienen cada dia, y las nuevas aca son tantas y
tales que se me encrespan los cabellos todos de las oir tan al reves de
lo que mi anima desea." — Letter of Columbus to his son Diego. — Na-
varrete, Coleceion, torn, i, p. 338.

Ovando's Government. 209
the queen to God. Could the poor Indians but have
known what a friend to them was dying, one contin
ued wail would have gone up to heaven from Hispani
ola and all the western islands. The dread decree,
, however, had gone forth, and on the 26th of Novem
ber, 1504, it was only a prayer for the departed that
could have been addressed, for the great queen was no
more. J£ it be permitted to departing spirits to see
those places on earth they yearn much after, we might
imagine that the soul of IsabeUa would give " one
longing, fingering look" to the far west.
And if so, what did she see there ? How different
was the aspect of things from what governors and of
ficers of all kinds had told her ; how different from
aught that she had thought of or commanded ! She
had maintained that the Indians were to be free : she
would have seen their condition to be that of slaves.
She had declared that they were to have spiritual in
struction : she would have seen them less instructed
than the dogs. She had insisted that they should re
ceive payment for their labor : she would have found
that aU they received was a mockery of wages, just
enough to purchase once, perhaps, in the course of the
year, some childish trifles from Castile. She had al
ways ordered that they should have kind treatment
and proper, maintenance : she would have seen them
HteraHy watching under the tables of their masters to
catch the crumbs which fell there. She would have
beheld the Indian laboring at the mine under cruel
bufferings, his family neglected, perishing, or enslaved;
she would have marked him on his return, after eight
months' of dire toil, enter a place which knew him not,

210 Ovando's Government.
or a household that could only sorrow over the gaunt
creature who had returned to them, and mingle their
sorrows with his ; or, still more sad, she would have
seen Indians who had been brought from far distant
homes linger at the mines, too hopeless or too care
less to return.
Turning from what might have been seen by Queen
IsabeUa had her departing gaze pierced to the outskirts
of her dominions, we may note what were her latest
provisions in their behalf. Her wiH, as regards Fer
dinand, was to the following effect : She bequeathed
the regency of Castile to him in case of certain speci
fied contingencies ; and she left him half the produce
of the Indies, and a definite sum charged upon the
three military orders, both of these legacies being lim
ited to his lifetime. The foUowing are her words
touching the conduct she wished to be pursued toward
the Indians. After declaring that the ground on which
they (the Catholic sovereigns) had received these king
doms from the Pope was to bring the people to Chris
tianity, " wherefore," she goes on to say, " I very af
fectionately suppHcate my lord the king, and charge
and command my said daughter (Juana) that they act
accordingly, and that this (the conversion of the In
dians) should be their principal end, and that in it they
should have much diligence, and that they should not
consent or give occasion that the Indians who dweU
in those islands, or on the terra firma gained or to be
gained, should receive any injury in their persons or
goods, but should command that they be well and
justly treated. And if the Indians have received any
injury, they (the king and her daughter Juana) should
remedy it, and look that they do not infringe»in any

Ovando's Government. 211
respect that which is enjoined and commanded in the
words of the said concession (of the Pope)."*
Having thus transcribed the injunctions of this pi
ous and admirable princess, we have to return, with
somewhat of a foreboding mind, to the history of those
poor Indians to whom she meant so kindly.
This bequest of IsabeUa's of half the revenues of
the Indies was not well-advised. It is said that Fer
dinand attended more to profit from the Indies than
to the preservation of them. This statement is prob
ably much exaggerated ; but certainly to leave a por
tion of the proceeds, for life only, of such an estate,
was not the way to insure its being weU administered.
StiU, it would be laying too much stress upon this be
quest to attribute any very remarkable consequences
to it. The truth is, that the troubles and confusions.
which ensued in Spain on IsabeUa's death made it
almost impossible for Ferdinand, or for any one else
in Spain, to give the requisite attention to the affairs
of the Indies.
The story of these troubles is weU known, but, for
the sake of clearness, it may as weU be briefly reca
pitulated here. The Castilian nobles did not wish
to have Ferdinand for their master. If it was only
on account of being tired of his rule (whether it were
good or bad), that was, perhaps, a sufficient motive
to sway them. Negotiations ensued between Ferdi
nand and his son-in-law Phflip which led to no ami
cable result. Ferdinand was nearly successful in pro
curing a paper signed by Juana constituting him Re-
* For a copy of the will, see Mariana; Hist. Gen. de Espana,Ya\en-
cia, 1796, torn, ix., apendices.

212 Ovando's Government.
gent, which being discovered by Phifip, he immedi
ately placed his wife in confinement. Ferdinand re
solved to marry again, and alfied himself to the French
king, Louis XII., taking to wife Germaine de Foix,
niece of that monarch. Upon this Philip came to
terms with Ferdinand, and an agreement was made by
which the regency of CastUe was shared between them.
In 1506, Philip cape over from Flanders with Ju
ana to Spain, and, notwithstanding the compact men
tioned above, demanded the sole authority over the
kingdom which had descended to his wife. A large
majority of the Spanish nobles siding with Philip, the
old king had to give way, and he went to visit his
newly-conquered kingdom of Naples. Philip lived but
a short time to enjoy the exercise of his authority;
for in three months after gaining possession of the
Castilian crown, he suddenly fell ill at Burgos, and
died in that city on the 25th of October, 1506.
A few months before, a much more important per
son in history had also departed this life. /Columbus,
since his return from his fourth voyage to the Indies,
had done little else than memorialize, and petition, and
negotiate about his rights and his claims. The prov
erb, "Fear old age, for it does not come alone,"* was
especiaUy applicable to him, while suffering sickness
without the elasticity to bear it, poverty with high
station and debt, and aU the delay of suitorship, not
at the beginning, but at the close of a career. A sim-
Uar decfine of fortune is to be seen in the lives of many
men ; of those, too, who have been most adventurous
and successful in their prime. Their fortunes grow
old and feeble with themselves ; and those clouds,
which were but white and scattered during the vigor
* " Time senectutem ; non enim sola venit."

Ovando's Government. 213
of the day, sink down together, stormful and massive,
in huge black lines across the setting sun.
Shortly after the arrival of PhUip and his queen in
Spain, Columbus had written to their highnesses de
ploring his inabiHty to come to them through iUness,
and saying that, notwithstanding his pitUess disease
(the gout), he could yet do them service the like of
which had not been seen.* Perhaps he meant service
in the way of good advice touching the administra
tion of the Indies ; perhaps, for he was of an indomi
table spirit, that he could yet make more voyages of
discovery. But there was then only left for him that
voyage in which the peasant who has seen but the
Httle district round his home, and the great travelers
in thought and deed, are alike to find themselves upon
the unknown waters of farther life. Looked at in this
way, what a great discoverer each of us is to be ! But
we must not linger too long, even at the death-bed of
a hero. Having received aU the sacraments of the
Church, and uttering as his last words, "In manus
tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum," Columbus
died, at VaUadoHd, on Ascension Day, the 20th of
May, 1506. His remains were carried to SeviUe and
buried in the monastery of Las Cuevas ; afterward
they were removed to the Cathedral at St. Domingo,
and in modern times were taken to the Cathedral at
Havana, where they now are.
King Ferdinand ordered an epitaph to be inscribed
for Columbus at Seville, which teUs in the fewest words
that he had given a new world to CastUe and Leon.
" A Castilla y a Leon
Nuevo Mundo dio Colon."
* " Bien que esta enfermedad me trabaja asi agora sin piedad, que
yo les puedo aun servir de servicio que no se haya visto su igual." —
Nav., Col., torn, iii, p. 530.

214 Ovando's Government.
The death of Columbus is the most memorable
event which occurred in Spain between the time of
PhUip's landing and his decease. That king being
dead, there could now be no reasonable opposition to
Ferdinand: Juana was quite incompetent; Charles
but a boy ; and so the affairs of Spain and the Indies
were once again administered by one of the wariest
and most experienced of monarchs.
During the interval between IsabeUa's death in
1504, and the restoration of King Ferdinand to the
regency of Castile in 1506, there are, as may be ex
pected, but few documents relating to the government
of the Indies. One letter, however, has been found,
of much importance. Not long after Ovando had come
to the government of Hispaniola, it appears that he
"solicited that no negro slaves should be sent to
Hispaniola, for they fled among the Indians and taught
them bad customs, and never could be captured."* It
is therefore not a little astonishing to find a letter
from- the king to Ovando, dated Segovia, the 15th of
September, 1505, of the following tenor. "I wiU
send more negro slaves, as you request ; I think there
may be a hundred. At each time" {I suppose at each
time of their going to the mines) " a trustworthy per
son wUl go with them, who may have some share in
the gold they may. coUect, and may promise them ease
if they work well."! There is some appearance in
this of Indians becoming scarce, or being found defi-
* Herrera, Hist, de las Indias, dec. i., lib. v., cap. 12.
t Puerto de la Plata.
" EI Rey a Obando. Segobia, 15 de Setiembre de 1505. — Embiare
mas esclavos negros como pedis, pieriso que sean ciento. En cada
vez hira una persona liable que tenga alguna parte en cl oro que co-
gieren y les prometa alibio si trabajan bien." — Coleceion de Munoz,
MS., torn. xc.

Ovando's Government. 215
cient in physical energy for the severest kind of labor.
It is important to notice that negroes, in scrme num
bers, were employed in the Indies much earHer than
has been supposed.
It has been seen that the troubled state of the
mother country was one of the causes of the injury to
the Indies which took place about this period. An
other cause doubtless was that the knowledge of the
queen's death (the queen having always been a vigor
ous defender of the natives) removed a wholesome re
straint from the Spanish colonists. Moreover, it must
be acknowledged that the tendency of the state of
things which existed then in the Spanish colonies,
even under favorable administration, must have been
downward ; so that even such a sovereign as IsabeUa
at the head of affairs, a true-hearted Columbus as gov
ernor, with a Las Casas ever at his side to plead the
cause of the Indians (had such a concurrence been
permitted), would have had difficulty enough to pre
vent the encomienda system from falling into great
abuse. A total change of" system, such as with the
experience of centuries we, if we were lookers-on,
might in this nineteenth century devise, would per
haps have averted the mischief, or even such a system
as that adopted by the Paraguay missionaries. But
that was not to be, and cbuld hardly be expected. In
Ferdinand's government of the Indies there are many
proofs of sagacity ; many, too, of anxiety for the wel
fare of the Indians ; and we must be careful not to
lay any undue share of blame upon this shrewd mon
arch for that deterioration of the Indies which now
took place.
One of the first things, however, which the king did
must have been mischievous, and, indeed, Heeeeea

216 Ovando's Government.
puts it down as the beginning of the perdition of His
paniola, though, as I have stated, there was much rea
son to apprehend that such perdition was manifestly
impending, and was indeed inevitable, unless a totally
new system were adopted.*
The troublous and perplexed condition of Spain
from IsabeUa's death to Ferdinand's return from Na
ples to take the regency, and for some time after,
must have made many suitors for royal favor whom it
rwas hard to deny. Ferdinand was not fond of giving,
and, with the great and costly affairs he was engaged
in, seldom had much to give. Indians, however,
were now a sort of money. The courtiers asked for
repartimientos of Indians, some proposing to go them
selves to Hispaniola and push their fortunes there, and
others intending merely to farm their Indians out, as
absentee proprietors. Ferdinand did not resist these
applications ; and though the governor, Ovando, prob
ably aware of the mischief and alive to the inconven
ience, remonstrated as much as he dared, especiaUy
against absentee proprietors, there were many cases in
* Oviedo, not only a historian, but a «ian versed in affairs, who, at
the time he wrote the following sentence, was acting as alcalde of the
fortress of St. Domingo, enumerates under four heads the causes of ill
government in Hispaniola : 1. The distance from Spain. 2. The want
of truth among men. 3. The want of time at court to investigate
things. 4. The lateness of any remedy, even when an evil was un
derstood and provided against. " Lo primero, de aqui a Espana hay
muchas leguas, e suelese decir que de luengas vias, etc. ; y aunque fu-
esse mas corto el camino, el dia de hoy, por nuestros pecados, anda
ofendida e olvidada la verdad en la mayor parte de las lenguas ; y aun
que se quieran escudrinar las verdades, no hay tiempo para saberse lo
cierto dellas ; y quando algo se sabe en Castilla, que requiera prove-
erse, quando aca llega lo proveydo es tarde, y el que queda lastimado,
nunca suelda su dolor."
I think, admitting the weight of all the causes named above, the
greatest cause was the want of consideration for the natives.

Ovando's Government. 217
which he must have been obliged to give way. The
mania for gold-finding was now probably at its
height,* andthe sacrifice of Indian life proportionately
great. At the same time, however, that the king is
chargeable with furthering this great mischief of giv
ing repartimiento^, it is to be observed that he was
not inattentive to those things which were, or were
supposed to be, for the true interests of the colony.
He promoted discovery ; he encouraged the growth of
the sugar-cane; he urged the building of churches
(not too costly) ; he aUoAved all his subjects to trade
to the Indies (hitherto it had only been permitted to
the favored inhabitants of Seville) ; he looked after the
pearl fisheries; he took Amerigo Vespucci into his
service ; and, in short, Hke a prudent man, sought to
make the most of his estate, furthering whatever was
humane when it came in his way to do so. As re
gards the repartimientos, he did not look upon them
as final and irrevocable, but only as subsisting during
his pleasure.!
As the Indians in Hispaniola were now beginning
to grow scarce, the next thing that was almost sure to
happen was, that importations would be made from
other islands to fiU up the vacuum produced by the
working at the mines and by other causes. The first
* 470,000 pesos of gold were found annually. — Herrera, Hist, de
las Indias, dec. i., lib. vi., cap. 18.
t " Valladolid, 12 de Noviembre de 1509 — Declaracion del poder
del Almirante para el repartimiento de Yndios.
"Don Ferdinando, &c — A vos el Almirante sabeis que os dirigi la
cedula siguiente (La va supra, folio 51-52) E por cuanto en ella no
fue seSalado el tiempo que se havian de tener los Yndios repartidos :
mando por esta sobre carta que los tengan cuanto nuestra merced e
voluntad fuere e no mas — Cumplase lo dispuesto en la cedula que va
incorporada." — Col. de MoSoz, MS., torn. xc.
Vol. L— K

218 Ovando's Government.
large transaction of this kind furnishes us with one of
the most affecting narratives in history. The king
was told that the Lucayan islands* were fuU of In
dians, and that it would be a very good action to bring
them to Hispaniola, " in order that they might enjoy
the preaching and political customs" which the In
dians in Hispaniola enjoyed. "Besides," it was add
ed, "they might assist in getting gold, and the king
be much served." The king accordingly gave a li
cense, and the evil work commenced.
It will be remembered that the first land seen by
Columbus, and called bv him St. Salvador, was one of

Ovando's Government. 219
the more simple among them, lone women, and those
who felt this fife to be somewhat dreaiy, crowded round
the ships which were to take them to the regions of
the blessed.*-
This hideous pretense of the Spaniards did its work;
but there were other devices, not mentioned to us,
which were afterward adopted ; and the end was, that
in five years, forty thousand of these deluded Lucay-
ans were carried to Hispaniola. Most men in the
course of their lives have rude awakenings which may
enable them to form some notion of what it was to
come down from the hope of an immediate paradise to
working as a slave in a mine. Some lived on in pa
tient despair; others, of fiercer nature, refusing suste
nance, and flying to dark caves and unfrequented pla
ces, poured forth their lives, and we may hope were
now, indeed, with the blessed. Others, of more force
and practical energy, " peradventure the wisest," as
Petee Maetve says, made escape to the northerly
parts of Hispaniola, and there, with " arms outstretch
ed" toward their country, Hved at least to drink in the
y en algnnas partes crehian, que primero padecian algunas penas por
los pecados que en esta vida avian hecho." — Herbera, Hist, de las In
dias, dec. i, lib. vii., cap. 3.
* I picture to myself some sad Indian, not without his doubts of
these Spanish inducements, but willing to take the chance of regaining
the loved past, and saying, like the King Arthur of a beautiful modern
poem to his friend, Sir Bedivere, upon the shore,
" I am going a long way
With these thou seest — if indeed I go —
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)
To the island-valley of Avilion ;
Where falls not hail, or rain or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies
Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard-lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sca,
AYhere I will heal me of my grievous wound."
Alfred Tennyson, Morte d? Arthur, vol. ii., p. 15,

220 Ovando's Government.
breezes from their native lands. Those lands were
now a paradise to them.
There is a tree in Hispaniola caUed the yauruma —
a large, light, pithy tree. A Lucayan more enterpris
ing than the rest, who had been a carpenter in his own
island, cut down one of these yaurumas, hollowed it
out, provisioned the hollow part with maize and some
calabashes of water ; then put the stems of smaller
trees across the main trunk ; then lashed those stems
together with bexucos, which are stringy roots like
cords, and fiUing in well with leaves the interstices be
tween the stems, thus made something of a raft.* He

Ovando's Government. 221
these slight incidents, as the astute man of the world
marks the smaU traits of character in those whom it
is his interest to understand thoroughly. Farther on,
there wfil be much controversy as to the capabiHty of
these Indians, which question an inteUigent reader may
be able to solve without Dr. Sepulveda, Las Casas, or
any theologist or statesman whatever.
This enormity in deafing with the wretched Lucay-
ans is one of the last acts mentioned of Ovando's gov
ernment. Diego Columbus had for some time been
urging the king to give him the rights which he
claimed as his father's heir. He was enabled to urge
.his claim with more effect, having married Maria de
Toledo, a grand-niece of Ferdinand's and niece of the
Duke of Alva. That duke had great claims upon the
king, being one of the nobles who had distinguished
himself by a steady adherence to Ferdinand when the
young King Philip's star was in the ascendant. Fer
dinand aUowed Don Diego's cause to be heard in the
courts. It was as if he had said, "Let right be
done," as the phrase is here, when the sovereign gives
permission that a cause against the crown shall be
heard in the courts of law. And right was so far done
as to appoint Don Diego admiral and governor of the
Indies, but "without prejudice" to the rights of either
party ; that is, I imagine, as to whether the governor
ship was to be hereditary in the famUy of Columbus
or not.
The arrival of Don Diego Columbus in Hispaniola
closes the administration of Ovando — an administra
tion which received much praise from the Spaniards,
even from those who lived under it, who in after years
stiU continued to regret this governor's departure.
Thinking, however, on what the Indians must have

222 Ovando's Government.
suffered during his time, we can not look on his ad
ministration, as a whole, otherwise than with profound
regret and dissatisfaction, though we must not lay the
entire blame upon him, and make him out to be a
monster in human form. The modern historian of
St. Domingo* says it is remarkable that the governors
of the Indies, even those who were noted as good men
before, aU turned out cruel tyrants. This uniformity
might have suggested to the good father the strength
of the current of evU into which these men were thrown,
and which, perhaps, none but a reaUy great man could

Ovando's Government. 223
ment upon aU the preceding ages, then the tribunal
of the present day might weU exclaim with indigna
tion, " Ovando, and the rest of you Spanish colonists
and authorities, what had become of aU these Indians ?"
I am afraid that, answering what they could for
themselves, making much of the deaths by famine and
disease, and which might fairly be put down as una
voidable, there would still remain a fearful number of
their brethren of whom they could not say that they
were not the keepers. And brethren they were, though
then — and this is some excuse for these Spaniards —
it was not thought so.
Arraigned before the bar of history, as I have just
imagined Ovando to be, we must hear what an advo
cate would say for him. He would teU us that this
governor did keep order among the Spaniards; that
he did not enrich himself, needing money even for his
passage home ;* thaffVhat property he chanced to have
in the island he left for charitable purposes ; and that
we hear of no private vice in him. Faultless to his
order, faithful to his king, complete in panoply of per
sonal virtue, with true Castifian dignity in his demean
or, so that to gain respect he needed not the title of
lordship, which in his humiHty he would not take, what
is there to justify your condemnation of him ?
And we on the other side should answer, that that
kind of character was not unknown to us, which, free
from the softer and the weaker vices and vanities, was
yet fit to preside over or countenance such treachery
as that of Xaragua, such cruelties as those in Higuey,
such tearings asunder as those in the Lucayan islands.
And we should add that he gave up the weak to
* " Quando se ovo de partir desta cibdad, le prestaron quinientos
castellanospara su camino."— OiiT.j)o,Hist.Gen.yNat., lib. iii, cap. 12

224 Ovando's Government.
the oppression of the strong ; that as these oppressed
ones died away, he coUected the survivors together
again, like a pack of cards, and dealt them out anew
to those whom he favored, thus mingling folly with
cruelty, till nature pronounced against his government
by its desolation.*
* " En tiempo de los dichos ocho aiios que aquel gobemo, perecie-
ron mas de las nueve de diez partes." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. ii., cap. 14.

BOOK IV.
THE DOMINICANS,

K2

CHAPTER I.
DON DIEGO COLUMBUS LANDS AT ST. DOMINGO.  NEW REPAR-
TIMIENTOS.  EARLIEST NOTICE OF LAS CASAS.  ARRIVAL OP
THE FIRST DOMINICAN FRIARS.  HISPANIOLA DISPEOPLED. 
MODES OP REPLENISHING THE COLONY WITH INDIANS. — NE
GROES IN THE INDIES. CHAPTER II.
THE DOMINICANS PROTEST AGAINST INDIAN SLAVERY.  FATHER
ANTONIO'S SERMON.  BOTH THE COLONISTS AND THE MONKS
APPEAL TO SPAIN.  FATHER ANTONIO SEES THE KING.  THE
LAWS OF BURGOS.

CHAPTER I.
DON DIEGO COLUMBUS LANDS AT ST. DOMINGO.  NEW KEPAR-
TUIUENTOS.  EARLIEST NOTICE OF LAS CASAS.  ARRIVAL
OP THE FIRST DOMINICAN FRIARS.  HTSPANIOLA DISPEO
PLED.  MODES OF REPLENISHING THE COLONY AVITH IN
DIANS.  NEGROES IN THE INDIES.
IN the midst of the crash of dynasties, the downfaU
of kingdoms, and the wUd havoc in great cities
which prevaUs in these unquiet times,* the study of
any transaction which occurred a long while ago, which
may not be dramatic, or, at least, not of the same live-
Hness as the present proceedings in the world, and
which derives most of its importance from the large
ness of the result, and not from the imposing presence
of the means, seems somewhat tame and profitless.
And, indeed, in aU stirring periods, those engaged in
the ordinary affairs of Hfe, especiaUy those who are
students, whether readers or writers, feel as if they had
been left behind, or as a man sitting in a gloomy
room, confined by Ul health or duU business, wHle at
intervals comes in the merry noise of boisterous children
playing in the sun.
But these feelings and fancies are faUacious. The
essential greatness of a thing often lies altogether -in
the principle upon which it is done. The mere physi
cal fate of empires, monarchies, and popedoms, much
less of mere swarms of thoughtless people, may not be
* Written A.D. 1848.

228 The Drift of History.
equal in depth and significance to one man's one sin ;
nor, on the other hand, is a great example, of duty per
formed, though of a simple character (as Are shall find
in this coming chapter of the doings -of some poor
monks), to be postponed in consideration to the most
loud-sounding battle-fields and ever so much frivolous
slaughter. There is a simUar thing in fiction : an old
Greek drama, which shall have but one mind brought
before you greatly tortured by conflicting passions and
duties, presents some picture of the universe, throws a
sudden light down into the abysses of human_misery
and madness, and rivets the attention immeasurably
more than an Ul-told, inconsequent tragedy, in which,
however, the deaths may be as numerous as the per
plexed spectator can desire.
StiU less is the benefit which may be derived from
the study of history to be measured by the noise and
pageantry of the things recorded, but rather by the
examples they afford arid the formation of character
they give rise to. Men have not outgrown the aid
which history might afford them : duty — pofitical duty
— still requires to be expounded and inculcated ; great
ness is not yet fully understood ; and to revert to the
image used above, the man who would come down from
his duU chamber and play well with those children in
the sun, had better have made up his mind in quiet of
what it is weU to play at, and what should be the rules
of the game.
So, too, the student of the records of Spanish Amer
ica may be content, in the midst of aU this present tu
mult, to go on quietly with his work, and make the
most he can of a story which wiU show what the vain
doctrines and desires of men, their cruelty, their piety,
and their charity, all mingling together, did with the

Diego Columbus. 229
materials which a so-caUed "New World" afforded
them. The new governor, Don Diego Columbus, and his
wife, Maria de Toledo, arrived at St. Domingo in July,
1509. The island had not before been graced by a
Spanish lady of her rank, and the arrival of the new
authorities was honored by a large assemblage of the
colonists, and by grand festivities of various kinds.
Behind aU this scenic representation of greatness there
was, as often happens, but little real power. The gov
ernor did not possess the king's confidence (it is a ques
tion whether any viceroy would have long enjoyed that),
which was chiefly bestowed upon the treasurer Passa-
monte. There was a correspondence carried on be
tween the king and this officer, in cipher, which did
not bode Don Diego much good, for Passamonte was
a steady enemy of his. And the treasurer was only
one out of many enemies whom the son of Columbus
had to encounter, both in Hispaniola and in Spain.
Before entering upon the transactions of the new
governor, it remains to be seen what became of Ovando.
A residencia was held, as usual, upon the late governor
and the two alcaldes mayores, which terminated favor
ably, and left no stain upon them. There was no res
idencia in this life, as Las Casas remarks, about the
treatment of the poor oppressed Indians ; and with re
gard to the Spaniards, if indeed their welfare could be
considered as a separate thing from that of the Indians,
it has always been acknowledged that Ovando man
aged his own countrymen with much vigor and discre
tion. Indeed, there must have been something good
about Ovando. Las Casas, a fair judge of character,
admiring greatness of every kind, was evidently at-

230 Ovando's Residencia.
tached to this governor. Would to God, he exclaims,
that the final judgment (not man's residencia) may
have been favorable to him ; for " in truth I loved him,
with the exception of those errors into which he feU
through moral blindness."
There is a story of Ovando from which we may per
haps infer that he was not deficient in good-nature to
those about him. Some official person had been extrav
agant and was ruined. Ovando liked the man, and, at
tending at the sale of his effects, contrived to raise the
prices so that aU the debts were satisfied, every one
striving by excessive biddings to please the governor.
This was not a very high-minded or correct proceed
ing, but stiU there is a good-nature in it we might not
have expected from so stern a man. He returned
home safely to Spain, and was weU received by Ferdi
nand, but did not exercise any influence upon Indian
affairs, dying a short time after his arrival. He is said
to have written some account of his government, which
has not yet reached posterity; but, among the treasures
which lie hid in Spanish libraries, it may stiU be found,
and wiU probably throw light upon those, times. It
would be curious to see what he says of some of the
doings at Xaragua and elsewhere. Peace be with him.
Happily, he was to be judged by One who understood
him infinitely better than he could his feUow-men, the
Indians. We turn now to the proceedings of Don Diego Co
lumbus. The king's instructions to this governor had
been given .partly in writing and partly by word of
mouth,* and, as regards the Indians, were to the fol
lowing effect : That they should be well treated, being
made Christians of, with much management, "Httle
* Herrera, dec. i., 1. vii, c. 8. Navarrete, Col. Dip., Num. 169.

Diego Columbus. 231
by little, without scandaHzing them ;" that they should
live together in settlements, each of them possessing
a cottage and land for himself, which he should not be
allowed to part with for less than its just value ; that
they should have their own magistrates, and be under
the government of their caciques ; that, with regard
to bringing Indians from other parts of the Indies to
Hispaniola, it might be done if the Indians in question
were Caribs or had made resistance ; that the Indians
who worked in the mines should labor with modera
tion ; and with that view, as the king heard that many
of the Indians had died who were brought to Hispan
iola, he would, for the first year, demand less tribute
for each Indian, that so their masters might demand
less work from them.
These laws of Ferdinand's were weU-intentioned,
and to a certain extent sagacious ; but, as they were
aU subject to the old system of repartimientos, much
could not be hoped from them. It would, perhaps,
have astonished the king if any one had accused him
of furthering a slavery which he put so many restraints
upon; but that one thing alone, the permission to
bring Indians from other parts of the Indies to Hispan
iola, however guarded, was sure to lead to the great
est abuse. Who was to define resistance ? Who was
to say whether resistance had or had not been made ?
Don Diego began by giving repartimientos of In
dians to himself, his wife, and to those who had royal
orders for these gifts ; and it is said that the Indians
were not treated better in this governor's time than in
Ovando's./ An arrival, from which the natives had
much more to hope than from the coming of any gov
ernor or other lay authority, was that of a vessel which
reached St. Domingo in the year following, A.D. 1510,

232 Arrival of Las Casas.
and which was honored in carrying the first Domini
can friars who appeared in those lands. In the rec
ords of this year, too, there appears the earHest notice
of Las Casas, who sang the first " new mass" in the
Indies.*/ As from this point in the narrative his phU*
anthropic efforts wiU perpetuaUy reappear before the
reader, it wiU be weU to give some description of this
remarkable man.
Baetholomew de Las Casas was the son of An
tonio de Las Casas, one of Columbus's shipmates in
his first voyage. Bartholomew was bom in 1474.
His father became rich, and sent him as a student to
Salamanca, where he took a licentiate's degree. He
came with Ovando to Hispaniola in 1502, was after
ward ordained priest, and now, at the age of thirty-six,
eight years after his arrival in the Indies, began to
make his appearance on the stage of history. /He was
a very notable person, of that force of character and
general ability that he would have exceUed in any ca
reer. Indeed, he did fulfiU three or four vocations,
being an eager man of business, a considerable annal
ist, a great reformer, a great phfianthropist, and a vig
orous ecclesiastic. The utmost that friends or ene
mies, I imagine, could, with the slightest truth, aUege
against him, was an over-fervent temperament. If we
had to arrange the faculties of great men, we should
generally, according to our easy-working fancies, com-
* " En este mismo ano avia cantado Missa el Licenciado Bartolome
de Las Casas, natural de Sevilla, que fue la primera Missa nueva que
se canto en las Indias, y file muy celebrada del Almirante, y de todos
los que se hallavan en la ciudad de la Vega. ***** Tuvo una
calidad notable esta primera Missa nueva, que los clerigos que a ella
se hallaron no bendezian." — Herrera, dec. i., lib. vii., cap. 12.
The first mass said by a newly-ordained priest is called the " new
mass." From this it appears that Las Casas was the first priest or
dained in the Indies.

Character of Las Casas. 233
bine two characters to make our men of; and, in this
case, we should not be sorry, if it might have been so,
to have had a Httle of the wary nature of King Ferdi
nand intermixed with the nobler elements of Las Ca
sas. Considering, however, what great things Las
Casas strove after, and how much he accomplished, it
is ungracious to dwell the least more than is needful
upon any defect or superfluity of his. If it can be
proved that he was on any occasion too impetuous in
word or deed, it was in a cause that might have driven
any man charged with it beyond aU bounds of pru
dence in the expression of his indignation. His ar
dent nature had the merit of being as constant as it
was ardent. He was eloquent, acute, truthful, bold,
self-sacrificing, pious. We need not do more in praise
of such a character than show it in action.
In the whole course of West Indian colonization, a
wise and humane forethought never could have been
more wanted than at this period. Hispaniola was
rapidly becoming depopulated of Indians ; and on the
mode of renewing the population, we may almost say,
depended the future destinies of slavery. Ojeda and
Nicuesa, whose career wiU afterward be minutely nar
rated, had started upon their voyages, and, though
with their own ruin, were to lay the foundations of a
colony at Darien. Velasquez was to go over to Cuba
in the course of this year, which island was in its turn
to be the starting-point of Cortez for stiU wider dis
covery and conquest. And what were the orders is
sued at this important and interesting period, upon
which so much depended? On the 6th of June in
this year the king wrote thus : "With respect to the
doubt about bringing Indians from the island of Trin
idad, look weU if there is gold there, for you know

234 Letter of Ferdinand.
what the Indians suffer in changing them from one
place to another. /Perhaps it wiU be better to make
use of them there, but do what may seem best to you ;
and that more Indians may be brought, proclaim a li
cense for doing so without paying us the fifth of them,
of which we make a present to the inhabitants of His
paniola and San Juan.
" The conversion of the Indians is the principal
foundation of the conquest, that which principaUy
ought to be attended to. So act that the Indians there
(in Trinidad) may increase, and not diminish, as in His
paniola."* This is a most unsatisfactory and vaciUating letter,
which it is not harsh to construe shortly in this way:
" Get gold, humanely if you can, but at all hazards
get gold, and here are facilities for you." The king
tries to wash his hands of the Ul" consequences of this
permission in a letter of the next month, in which he
says, "Take care that our conscience be not burdened,
and that the importation of Indians be without dam
age to them and to our people. I feel much the great
loss of people (Spanish people) that Nicuesa and Ojeda
have had."f
These are but useless words : how was it possible
to enter a country, take a number of its people, and
transport them to another place, in any velvet man
ner ? The only thing to be said for the king is that
* El Rey al Almirante. Sevilla, 6 de Junio de 1511. — Coleceion
de Munoz, MS., torn. xc.
t " Cerca de la necesidad de traer Yndios posque mueren muchos y
no so multiplican he concedido que no se paguen el quinto : pero cui-
dado en la forma de traellos que no se cargue nuestra conciencia y sea
sin dano dellos y de los nuestros. Siento la gran perdida de gente que
han tenido Nicuesa y Ojeda." — El Rey al Almirante etc. y Oficiales.
Tordesillas, 25 de Julio de 1511.— Coleceion de Munoz, MS., torn. xc.

Form of Proclamation to t/ie Indians. 235
he was deeply engaged in wars and negotiations at
home, and had to meet the expenses consequent there
on. These poor Indians could little have conceived
how much the troubles in the ItaHan states concerned
their welfare, and were eventuaUy to be paid for by
them. That the reader may better understand the process
by which Indians were now acquired, we may turn to
a proclamation issued by the Ojeda mentioned above,
and which was according to the general form used on
similar occasions. It begins thus : "I, Alonso de
Ojeda, servant of the very high and powerful kings of
Castile and Leon, notify and make known to you the
following things.",/
The proclamation then proceeds to teU the Indians
of the creation of man, and of aU men being of one
race, but of their having dispersed on account of their
large increase, and having formed various provinces
and nations. Then it declares how God gave charge
of aU these nations to one man called St. Peter, that
he should be the head of the human race, and have
rule over them aU, and fix his seat at Rome " as the
fittest place for governing the world." He was called
Father, as the father and governor of aU men. Then
the proclamation goes on to say how all the men of
St. Peter's time obeyed him and took him for lord, as
fikewise aU men have obeyed his successors, and wiU
continue to obey them to the end of time.
Having now established the papal power, the procla
mation proceeds to inform the Indians how a certain
pope gave to the Catholic sovereigns aU these western
islands and this western continent, as appears from
certain writings which the Indians are told they may
see if they like {quepodeis ver si quisieredes). Then

236 Form of Proclamation.
they are duly informed how weU the inhabitants of
other islands, who have had this notice, have received
his majesty and obeyed him, listening without any re
sistance or delay to religious men, and becoming Chris
tians, and how kind his majesty has been to them.
" Wherefore I entreat and require you," said Ojeda,,
or any other privateering discoverer, "that after tak
ing due time to consider this, you acknowledge the
Church as sovereign lady of the world, and the Pope
in her name, and his majesty, in his place as lord of
these isles and this continent, and that you receive
these religious men. If you do so, his majesty wiU
greet you with all love and affection, and leave you
your wives and children free, and will give you many
privileges and exemptions. But if you do not, by the
help of God I wUl enter with power into your land,
and wiU subdue you, and will take your wives and
children, and make slaves of them, and sell them as
such, and take aU your goods, and do you aU the mis
chief I can, as to vassals that do not obey, and wiU
not receive their lord. And I protest that aU the death
and destruction which may come from this is your
fault, and not his majesty's or mine, or that of my
men."* There is something' irresistibly grotesque in this
document. How remote and hazy must have been the
conceptions of the Indians as to the meaning of the
word " Church" (not an easy thing to explain at any
time or to any people), or of such general terms as
"privileges" and "exemptions!" Moreover, the dif
ficulties inherent in the substance of the proclamation
would not have been much smoothed over by transla
tion, /it Was altogether farcical in the extreme to ut-
* Herrera, dec. i., lib. i., cap. 14.

Negroes in the Indies. 237
ter any such words to men who could so little under
stand them. But we must come to the serious part
of the matter. Whenever this proclamation -had no
effect, and it was scarcely the interest of the proclaim-
ers that it should have, then hostilities commenced,
and those who were taken in war (" Indios de guerra"
they were caUed) were branded and made slaves, and
the fifth part of them given to the king. V
If the government of the Indians resident in Hispan
iola had been ever so good at this time, and if there
had been such communities as those pictured in the
king's instructions to Don Diego Columbus, stiU what
a great disturbance this perpetual introduction of slaves
would have been to the well-being of the community.
I do not believe, however, that any such communities
as the king speaks of were formed at this period ; and
that the state of the Indians at peace was most wretch
ed, we shaU soon have good reason for concluding.
f MeanwhUe, we must rum for a short time from the
Indians to their brethren in adversity, and the heirs of
their misfortunes, the negroes.
^ The royal historiographer, Heeeeea, speaks of the
king having informed the Admiral Don Diego Colum
bus, in 1510, that he had given orders to the officials
at SeviUe that they should send fifty negroes to work
in the mines of Hispaniola. We have already seen
what the king had said to the former governor, Ovando,
on the same point, and what number of slaves he had
sent over. In June, 1511, there is a sentence in one
of the king's letters, addressed to a man of the name
* " E quanto toca a esto de la Guerra, no ai mas que decir al pre-
sente, sino que todos los que en la Guerra se tomaron, se herraron, i
se hicieron Esclavos, de los quales se dio el quinto de su magestad a!
Tesorero Baltasar deMendoca." — Barcia, Historiadores, vol. i., p. 159.

238 The Dominicans.
of Sampier, who held some office in the colony, about
the negroes, and which sentence runs thus : " I do not
understand how so many negroes have died ; take
much care of them."* In October of the same year,
there is an order from the king to his officials at
Seville, authorizing them to pay Ledesma, one of the
royal pilots, what was due to him for the last voyage
he had made at the king's command to carry negroes
to Hispaniola. f I wish the reader to keep these facts
in mind. They are mentioned now, as they occurred
about this period.
Returning to the Indians, we find that concern for
them developing itself among the Dominican monks in
Hispaniola, which was hereafter to obtain such root in
that brotherhood as almost to become one of the tenets
of their faith. Grieved, astonished, and terrified must
these good fathers have been at all the barbarities they
heard of, and saw, on their arrival in the Indies. The
treatment of the Indians Avas, no doubt, the daUy talk
at the convent ; and at last the monks resolved to
speak out their minds, whatever danger to themselves
might come from it/ The noble way in which they
effected their purpose will be recorded in the ensuing
chapter. * " . . No entiendo como se han muerto tantos negros : Cuidadlos
mucho." — El Rey a Sampier. Sevilla, 21 de Junio de 1511. — Colec
eion de Munoz, MS., torn. xc.
t "Que a Pedro de Ledesma nuestro piloto paguen" lo que se le
deviere del ultimo viage que por nuestro mandado hizo a llebar negros
a la Espanola." — El Rey a los Oficiales de Sevilla. Burgos, 24 de
Octubre de 1511. — Coleceion de MuSoz, MS., torn. xc.

CHAPTER II.
THE DOMINICANS PROTEST AGAINST INDIAN SLAVERY. — FA
THER ANTONIO'S SERMON.  BOTH THE COLONISTS AND
MONKS APPEAL TO SPAM.  FATHER ANTONIO SEES THE
KING.  THE LAAVS OF BURGOS.
THE Dominican monks of Hispaniola were about
twelve or fifteen in number, Hving under the gov
ernment of their vicar, Pedro de Cordova. Coming
to a new country, they had deepened the severity of
their rules, so that it kept its due proportion with the
general hardness of Hving throughout the colony. One
of their new rules was that they would not ask for
bread, wine, or oU except in cases of sickness ; and
their habitual fare was most scanty, and of the poorest
description. Being fuUy intent upon the work they
had undertaken, they would soon have comprehended,
from their own observation, the extent of evU in the
state of things about them ; but their insight into the
treatment of the Indians was rapidly enlarged, and
their opinions confirmed, by the acquisition of a new
lay brother. This was a man who had murdered his
wife, an Indian woman, and then had fled to the
woods, where he remained two years ; but on the ar
rival of the Dominicans in the island, he sought what
refuge from his sin and his sorrow could be found
under the shadow of their order; This man recounted
to his brethren the cruelties he had been witness of;
and that narration may have brought them sooner to

240 The Dominicans.
the determination they now adopted, which was, to
make a solemn protest against the ways of their coun
trymen with the Indians.
'The good monks determined that their protest should
express the general opinion of their body ; accordingly,
they agreed among themselves upon a discourse to be
preached before the inhabitants of St. Domingo, and
signed their names to it. They farther resolved that
Brother Antonio Montesino should be the person to
preach ; a man, we are told, of great asperity in repre
hending vice. In order to insure a fit audience on the
occasion, the monks took care to let the principal per
sons of St. Domingo know that some address of a re
markable kind, which concerned them much, was to
be made to them, and their attendance was requested.
The Sunday came ; Father Antonio ascended the pul
pit, and took for his text a portion of the Gospel of the
day, " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness."
There is only a short account of the sermon, but
we may be certain that it was an energetic discourse ;
for, indeed,- when any body has any thing to say, he
can generally say it worthily. And here, instead of
nice points of doctrine (over which, and not unreason
ably, men can become eloquent, ingenious, wrathful,
intense), was an evil uplifting itself before the eyes of
all men, and respecting which neither preacher nor
hearers could intrench themselves behind generalities.
He told them that the sterile desert was an image of
the state of their consciences ; and then he declared,
with "very piercing and terrible words" {palabras
muy pungitivas y terribles), that " the voice" pro
nounced that they were living in "mortal sin" by
reason of their tyranny to these innocent people, the
Indians. What authority was there for the imposi-

The Dominicans. 241
tion of this servitude? what just ground for these
wars? How could the colonists rightly insist upon
such cruel labors as they did from the Indians, neg
lecting aU care of them, both in the things of heaven
and those of earth ? Such Spaniards he declared had
no more chance of salvation than so many Moors or
Turks. We shaU but make a Avorthy ending to Father An
tonio's sermon if we imagine it to have concluded with
words like those used by a very renowned Portuguese
preacher on the same subject and a like occasion :
" But you wiH say to me, This people, this republic,
this state can not be supported without Indians. Who
is to bring us a pitcher of water or a bundle of wood ?
Who is to plant our mandioc ? Must our wives do
it ? Must our children do it ? In the first place, as
you wiU presently see, these are not the straits in
which I would place you ; but if necessity and con
science require it, then I reply, yes ! and I repeat it,
yes ! you, and your wives, and your chUdren ought to
do it ! We ought to support ourselves with our own
hands ; for better is it to be supported by the sweat
of one's own brow than by another's blood. O ye rich
es of Maranham ! What if these mantles and cloaks*
were to be wrung? they would drop blood. "f
If we can throw ourselves back in imagination to
that period, and make ourselves present at such a dis
course, we might almost hear during it the occasional
clang of arms, as men turned angrily about to one an
other, and vowed that this must not go on any longer.
They heard the sermon out, however, and Avent to din-
* Probably of a scarlet color.
t Vieyra's first sermon at St. Luiz, A.D. 1653, quoted in Sor/TH-
ey's History of Brazil, vol. ii., p. 479.
Vol. I.— L

242 The Dominicans.
ner. After dinner, the principal persons conferred to
gether for a short time, and then set off for the mon
astery, to make a fierce remonstrance. When they
had come to the monastery, which, from its poor con
struction, might rather have beeu caUed a shed than a
monastery, the vicar, Pedro de Cordova, received them,
and listened to their complaint. They insisted upon
seeing the preacher himself, Father Antonio, declaring
that he had preached " delirious things," and that he
must make retractation next Sunday. A long parley
ensued, in the course of which Pedro de Cordova in
formed the remonstrants that the sermon did not con
sist of the words of any one brother, but of the whole
Dominican community. /The angry deputation ex
claimed that if Father Antonio did not unsay what he
had said, the monks had better get ready their goods
in order to embark for Spain. " Of a truth, my lords,"
repfied the vicar, " that wiU give us little trouble ;"
which was true enough, for (as Las Casas mentions)
aU that the monks possessed — their books, clothes,
and vestments for the mass — might have gone into
two trunks. At last the colonists went away, upon
the understanding that the matter would be touched
upon next Sunday, and, as the remonstrants supposed,
an ample apology would be offered to them./
The next Sunday came. There was no occasion,
this time, to invite any body to attend, for all the con
gregation were anxious to come, in the hope of being
about to hear an apology to themselves from the pul
pit. After mass, Father Antonio was again seen to
ascend the pulpit. He gave out the text from the
thirty-sixth chapter of Job, the third verse : "Repe-
tam scientiam meam aprincipio, et operatorem meum
probabo justum." Those of his audience who under-

T/ie Dominicans. 243
stood Latin, and were persons of any acuteness, per
ceived immediately what would be the drift of this ser
mon, and that it would be no less unwelcome to them
than the previous one ; and so it proved. /Father An
tonio only repeated his former statements, clinched
his former arguments, and insisted upon his former
conclusions. Moreover, he added that the Dominicans
would not confess any man who made incursions
among the Indians : this the colonists might publish,
and they might write to whom they pleased at Cas
tile. / The congregation heard Father Antonio out,
and this time they did not go to the monastery, but
they determined to send a complaint to the king, and
afterward to dispatch a Franciscan (monk against
monk) to argue their case at court./ Thither the col
onists had already sent two agents to plead for having
the Indians assigned to their encomenderos for two or
three fives, or even in perpetuity.
The Franciscan chosen for this embassage was Alon
so de Espinal, 'and he went out in great favor with the
inhabitants of St. Domingo, having all his wants am
ply provided for. The Dominicans resolved to send
their advocate, and found two or three pious persons
from whom they contrived to procure the wherewithal
for his voyage. -/Father Antonio, as might have been
expected, was the monk chosen by the Dominicans to
represent them. /
When the letters from the authorities of St. Domin
go, complaining of the contumacious conduct of the
Dominicans, reached the king, he sent for the head of
their order in Spain, and made much complaint to him
of the scandal which had been occasioned in the colo
ny by this preaching. Not long afterward came the
agents from the principal parties themselves : Father

244 The Dominicans.
Antonio on behalf of the Dominicans, and Father Alon
so on behalf of the colonists/ The latter was weU re
ceived by people in authority, had free access to the
king, and was much favored by him. Father Anto
nio, on the contrary, was little befriended, found the
doors of the presence-chamber generaUy closed against
him, and the ushers very peremptory. At last, one
day, after an ineffectual attempt to persuade some por
ter or door-keeper to admit him to the royal presence,
he watched an opportunity whUe the porter was speak
ing to some one else, made a bold rush at the door,
passed the obstacle, and found himself at once in the
royal presence, supplicating for an audience. The
king spoke kindly to him, and, in reply to his request
to be heard, answered thus : " Say, father, what you
wUl." Father Antonio accordingly produced his pa
pers, and began to make his statement. In the course
of it, as an Ulustration of the cruelty of the Spaniards
toward the Indians, he mentioned that, some Span
iards standing together joking near a river, one of
them took up a little Indian chUd of one or two years
old, and, merely for the amusement of the thing, threw
it over the heads of the others into the water. He
was heard to say, as he turned back and saw the little
creature rising once or twice to the surface, "You boil
up, Httle wretch, do you ?" {Bullis, cuerpo de tal,
bullis.) No one, I believe, has ever supposed King Ferdi
nand to be a cruel man, and I should think he would
have had an especial dislike to wanton cruelty — to any
waste of wickedness. On hearing this story, he ex
claimed, ' ' Is this possible ?" " Not only possible, but
necessary," replied the father, "for so the thing hap-

A Junta Formed. 245
pened, and can not (now) be left to be done."* He
meant, I suppose, that it had the necessity incident to
a past transaction of haA'ing been what it Avas. Then
the monk went on to say, "Did your highness com
mand such things ? I am sure you did not." " No,
by God, nor ever in my Hfe," repfied Ferdinand. Fa
ther Antonio then resumed the reading of his state
ment ; and the king, after having heard it aU, declared
that he would give orders for the matter to be looked
to immediately and with duigencev 'Upon , that the
monk rose, and, having kissed the king's hands, left
the royal presence with the consciousness that he had
amply justified his boldness.
/ The king was true to his word, and lost no time in
summoning a Junta to consider the matter which Fa
ther Antonio had urged upon him. The Junta was
formed partly of persons belonging to the king's coun-
cU, and partly of unofficial persons, chiefly theologians^
This mode of forming a Junta seems to afford a feasi
ble means of getting work weU done for a government ;
and the union of those who had official experience, and
Avho would have official responsibility, with those who
were supposed to be peculiarly cognizant of the prin
ciples upon which the legislation in the particular case
should proceed, appears to have been a very happy
device. I can not say, however, that this Junta show
ed any great sagacity in dealing Avith the matter in
hand, though I dare say their intelligence respecting
it was, at the least, not below that of the principal men
of their age and country.
The historian Heeeeea says that the Junta first
considered the question on the ground that the Indians
* "Antes es necessario, por que paso asi, y no puede dejar de ser
hecho." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., torn, i., cap. 6.

246 The Junta Pronounce.
were not free men, but that afterward Ferdinand re
submitted it to them, ordering them to take as their
basis the words of the late queen's will respecting the
Indians. It may have been so, but I find nothing to
support this statement, and am inclined to think that
the foUowing account, which is that of Las Casas, is
the true one.
He does not speak of any interference on the part
of the king with the powers of the Junta, but merely
says that, after having had many conferences and
heard evidence on both sides, they came to a decision
which may be summed up thus : That the Indians
were free men ; that they ought to be instructed in
the Christian faith; that they might be ordered to
work, but so that their working should not hinder
their conversion, and should be such as they could en
dure ; that they should have cottages and lands of
their own, and time to work for themselves ; that they
should be made to hold communication with the Chris
tians, and that they should receive wages, not paid in
money, but in clothes and in furniture for their cot
tages. These propositions, being put in due form, were given
to the king as the answer of the Junta. It Avas sign
ed by Bishop Fonseca, who had from the first been
the person principally charged with the management
of Indian affairs ; by Doctor Palacios Rubios, a learn
ed jurist and writer of those days ; by the licentiates
Santiago, De Sosa, and Gregorio, and by Thomas Du-
ran, Peter de Covarrabias, and Mathias de Paz, who
were monks. Several of these persons, at a future
period, when they came to understand the question
better, favored the Indians more ; and it appears that,
even at this time, one of them, Mathias de Paz, was

The Dominican persuades the Franciscan. 247
not satisfied with the decision of the Junta, for he
wrote a work, the substance of which was, that the
king could not give encomiendas without the Pope's
permission, declaring aU that had hitherto been done
in this matter iUegal.
-"*" We may be sure that Father Antonio was not idle
during this period. He was stiU much discounte
nanced by people in authority, while his opponent,
Father Alonso, the Franciscan, had free access to the
Junta, and was made aware of its views and proceed
ings. The agents for the colonists were very active,
and no doubt furnished much evidence to show that
the Indians were idle ; that they had no good pofity
among them ; that they shunned the Christians, and,
in fine, that if they were not to be savages, they must
be slaves. Meanwhile, Father Antonio, who felt he
could answer aU these statements, must have grieved
exceedingly at not being able to obtain a sufficient
hearing. At last he resolved upon what will appear
a very bold undertaking. He determined to convince
his especial adversary, the Franciscan ; so, waylaying
him as he came out of some monastery of his order in
Burgos, Father Antonio told Father Alonso thai he
wished to speak to him, and thus commenced his ad
dress : " Have you any thing to take out of this life
with you but that ragged robe, fuU of filthy insects,
which you carry on your shoulders ?" This does not
seem a winning mode of address to begin with, but
Father Antonio showed more skUl in the course of the
conversation than would appear probable from the out
set. He told the Franciscan that other men were but
using him as a tool ; that he was periling the reward
of a life of sanctity in a matter which could not posst-
bly benefit him ; that he was doing the Devil's work

248 The King's Preachers.
without being paid for it even in the Devil's wages. He
spoke to him touchingly upon the treatment of the In
dians, and appealed to his own experience as regarded
the inhumanity he had witnessed ; and, strange to say,
the conversation between the two monks ended in the
Franciscan being entirely gained over by the Domini
can, and putting himself under his guidance, so that
he afterward gave him information as to what occur
red in the Junta, which enabled Father Antonio to
shape the case for the Indians more skillfully. The
colonists, therefore, did not gain much by their spirit
ual embassador ; their lay representatiA'es, however,
equally implicated in the result with themselves, were
stanch and busy. ,
On receiving the answer from the Junta, the king's
ministers requested the Junta to draAv up a body of
laws in conformity with the principles which they had
affirmed in their decision ; but this the Junta Avere
unwilling to do, saying that they had laid down the
basis for legislation, and that, with respect to the par
ticular laws which would be requisite, they had only
to observe that the more closely such laws could be
adapted to this basis the better. Such, at least, was
the line taken by the unofficial members of the Junta.
Meanwhile, whether on account of the solicitations
of Father Antonio, or on account of the book of Father
Mathias, which I imagine was published at this time,
the king does not appear to have been satisfied with
the principles laid down by the Junta, or, at any rate,
he was willing that the question should be farther con
sidered ; for he asked an opinion in writing from the
Licentiate Gregorio, who was one of the Junta, and also
from Bernardo de Mesa, both of them king's preachers.
It must be noticed that the decision of the Junta,

The King's Preachers. 249
though not expressly mentioning the words repartim
iento or encomienda, is in substance built upon the
reasons which had led to the establishment of these
forms of servitude in Ovando's time.
Tfie opinion which Bernardo de Mesa laid before
the king was to the foUowing effect : That especial
heed should be taken to convert the Indians ; that they
were not slaves, but vassals; that, for "their own
good," they must be ruled in some manner of servi
tude ; that they had nothing but personal services to
give; that idleness is the mother of all evU; that,
finally, the Indian might be given in encomienda, but
not to every Spaniard, only to those who were of good
conscience and customs, and who, besides employing
the Indians who should be allotted to them, would in
struct them in matters of the faith. If the Indians,
he said, were to remain under their caciques, how could
they learn the faith ? But while he concluded that it
would be right to give the Indians in encomienda, he
was for their being weU treated, and for their having
regulated tasks allotted to them.
Bernardo de Mesa's opinion is in general weU ex
pressed and weU reasoned, that is, according to his er
roneous facts and limited experience ; but there is one
dictum of his which those of us who are islanders may
be inclined to question. He says that it would be
contradicting the goodness of God to assert that the
Indians were not fit to receive the Christian faith;
but that to maintain them in it, and to teach them
good customs, would be a matter of great labor, for,
as an insular people, they naturaUy have less constan
cy, by reason of the moon being the mistress of the
waters.* * " La naturaleza de ellos no consiente tener perseverancia en la
L2

250 The Laws of Burgos.
The above seems too gross a folly to do any thing
but laugh at ; yet opinions grounded on little better
reason, and empty phrases thrown prettily together,
and words far too big for the occasion (so that in the
vacant spaces there is ample room for combustibles),
are the things which, in aU times, have to be trans
lated into various kinds of misery and ruin. A mist
of foolish words comes down sometimes, now as then,
in a rain of blood.*
The other preacher was of the same mind as Ber
nardo de Mesa, but carried his conclusions farther ; for
he maintained that the king might justly inflict slavery
upon the Indians for their idolatry, especiaUy such a
qualified slavery as that proposed.
The opinion of the king's preachers coinciding with
that of the Junta, it was adopted by the king, and
nothing remained but to carry it into execution. A
set of laws was therefore drawn up by certain mem
bers of the king's council, appointed for that purpose,
taking as their basis that the system of encomiendas
was to be retained.
In their preamble these legislators pronounce upon
the indolence and depravity of the Indians, and de
clare that the best thing which can be done at present
is to break up the Indian settlements and to place the
Indians in the neighborhood of the Spaniards : that
thus both in body and mind the aborigines wiU be
well cared for.
The laws were to the foUowing effect :
The Indians were first to be brought among the
Spaniards, aU gentle means being used toward the ca-
virtud, por ser Insulares que naturalmente tienen menos constancia,
por ser la Luna Senora de las Aguas." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
lib. iii., cap. 9. * Written in 1848.

The Laws of Burgos. 251
ciques to persuade them to come wiUingly. Then,
for every fifty Indians, four bohios (large huts) should
be made by their masters. The bohios were to be
thirty feet in length by fifteen in breadth. Three
thousand montones (the hUlocks Avhich were used to
preserve the plants from too much moisture*) of yuca,
of which they made the cassava-bread, two thousand
montones of yamst with a certain space for growing
pimento, and a certain number of fowls, were to be
assigned for the Hving of these fifty Indians.
Every Spaniard who had an encomienda of Indians
was to make some sort of building, however rude, for
a chapel, and in it were to be placed an image of the
Virgin Mary and a beU. Prayers were to be read
morning and evening — the Ave Maria, the Pater Nos-
ter, the Credo, and the Salve Regina. Besides this
chapel for each encomienda, there was to be built a
church for the general neighborhood, in which mass was
to be said.
By these laws it was settled that the Indians ap
pointed to work at the mines were to stay there five
months ; then they were to have forty days for holi
days, in which time, however, they were to till their
own lands ; then they were to go to the mines for
another five months. Certain regulations foUow about
the food to be given to the Indians working at the
mines, or on the Spanish farms. Las Casas grows
furious in condemning the quantity and quality of this
food as being utterly inadequate. Among other ar-
* The Indians planted their potatoes also upon hillocks, a circum
stance which may be worth heeding in the present times. " Cada
monton tiene ocho 6 nueve pies en redondo, e las haldas del uno tocan,
con poco intervalo, cerca del otro : e lo alto del monton no es punti-
agudo, sino quassi llano, e lo mas alto del sera a la rodillao algo mas."
— Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. vii., cap. 2. See also cap. 4.

252 The Laws of Burgos.
rangements, certain little fishes caUed sardines were
ordered to be eaten on fast-days. Such an order, as
Las Casas says, AA^as ridiculous ; for men employed in
such labors as the Indians were would have no time
for fishing, and it would have been impossible to bring
a sufficient supply of fish from Spain and to convey it
into the interior of Hispaniola.
The employment of the Indians in the mines is not
only encouraged, but insisted upon ; for it is ordered
that a third part of each encomienda, or, if the owner
should wish it, more than a third part, should be so
employed. Those Spaniards who were very distant
from the mines (one hundred leagues, for instance) were
not to be bound by this law. They might, however,
be in partnership with those of their countrymen who
lived near the mines. And in practice it came to this :
that those who lived near the mines furnished provis
ions, and those Avho lived far off brought Indians ; so
that this exception to the law only added to the misery
of the natives.
With regard to the wages, it was ordered that one
peso of gold should be given annually to each Indian,
to provide clothes with.
Then there was a law in favor of women with child.
Then folloAved a law which might have led to im
portant results, but little good came of it. It was,
that visitors should be appointed, two for each Span
ish settlement ; but these visitors were permitted to
have encomiendas, and therefore it Avas hardly to be
expected that their proceedings should be considerate,
or even impartial.
The Indian dances were forbidden.
The regulations respecting the caciques were, that
they should have a certain number of their Indians set

The Laws of Burgos. 253
apart for their service (never to exceed six), and that
the cacique and his attendants were to go to whatev
er Spaniard had the greatest number of that Indian
prince's tribe aUotted to him. The cacique and his
servants were not, however, to be idle, but were to be
employed in easy and fight services. These poor ca
ciques ! What a faU in life for them ; to descend from
governing a people (which they had done after their
fashion, and not so badly) to some such occupation as
looking after fowls !
y The above laws were promulgated at Burgos on the
27th of December, 1512, and have ever since been caUed
the Laws of Burgos. Much can not be said in praise
of their justice^ wisdom, or humanity.
The reader may recollect that King Ferdinand, on
receiving the complaints from the official persons of
St. Domingo against the Dominican monks, sent for
the provincial of that order, and spoke to him about
the sermons of Father Antonio, blaming them exceed
ingly. The provincial, on his part, wrote to Pedro de
Cordova, the head of the Dominicans in Hispaniola ;
and in consequence of that communication from his
superior, or wishing to aid Father Antonio by his pres
ence, Pedro de Cordova came over to Spain and pre
sented himself at court. He was a person of great re
pute and authority ; and when he had read these laws
of Burgos, and had expressed to the king his dissatis
faction with them, Ferdinand said to him, " Take upon
yourself, then, father, the charge of remedying them ;
you wUl do me a great service therein ; and I wiU order
that what you decide upon shaU be adopted." "It is
not my profession to meddle in so arduous a matter,"
the vicar replied ; "I beseech your highness, do not

254 Additions to the
command me." And so passed away one of the great
est opportunities of doing good that any man ever had.
Those who have taken up a great cause must sacrifice
even their reserve and their humility to it — often, per
haps, the hardest thing for a good man to do. And,
with regard to responsibility, he who is not prepared
to take aU the responsibility that may come of his
moving in any matter, has some difficulty to justify
his moving in it at all. .- Any one, however, who is
cognizant of those times, will be desirous to say as little
as possible against Pedro de Cordova, who was a very
good man, and, on all other occasions, a devoted friend
to the Indians.
, -As Pedro de Cordova would not take the arrange
ment of the Indian laws upon himself, the king sum
moned another Junta with two new theologians in it, to
see if the laws could be amefiorated, ;' Pedro de Cor
dova assisted at this council, but did not succeed in
doing much, though all that Avas then determined
proved to be of very good tendency, and entirely in
accordance with his views.
/This Junta, in their report, suggested certain addi
tions to the laws of Burgos/namely, that married
women should not be compeUed to go and serve with
their husbands in the mines or on the farms ; that
boys and girls under fourteen years of age should not
be employed in hard Avork, but only in matters of
household service ; and that, until their coming of fuU
age, they should be intrusted to their parents or to
appointed guardians.
This Junta also recommended that the unmarried
Indian women should work in the company of their
parents, and that the laws which applied to the cloth
ing of men should apply to that of women also.

Laws of Burgos. 255
The above suggestions, all of which have for their
object the cultivation of family ties and of decorum,
are good as far as they go, and deserve to be com
mended. In the course of this report there is a sen
tence, added probably by the Dominican vicar, or on
his remonstrances, Avhich is important in principle, to
the effect that if the Indians were to become civilized,
they should be allowed to live by themselves.* How
ever, as Las Casas justly declares, if these people had
lived to the day of judgment, they never would have
got their liberty in this way.f
The Junta /concluded by informing his highness that,
these additions being made to the laws of Burgos,
"his royal conscience would be entirely discharged,"
and Las Casas observes, Avith some justice, "It is de-
Hghtful to see how free the king remained from the
sins which were committed in the perdition of those
people" (the Indians)./
The summoning ot these Juntas is the first occasion
of the grievances of the Indians being brought before
the court of Spain in a public manner, and the laws
of Burgos are the first attempt at legislation to remove
such grievances. We may naturally make a pause
here in the narrative, and pass in review the main
events and circumstances of the history up to this
time.

* " Que porque con el tiempo y la conversacion de los Cristianos
se podrian hacer capaces y politicos para vivir por si e por si regirse,
se les diese a los que tales se cognosciesen facultad para por si vivir."
— Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS"., lib. iii., cap. 18.
t These Juntas seem to have entirely failed in appreciating the gist
of the subject submitted to them. As Las Casas says, they did not
foresee that there must be a burrow near the spot where the hare al
ways takes refuge (no sintieron la madriguera donde se acogia la Lie-
bre), meaning that they did not perceive the consequences of things.

256 Results of Discovery.
At the time of passing these laws of Burgos, nearly
a century had elapsed since Prince Henry of Portugal,
suddenly resolving upon his first expedition of discov
ery, sent out two gentlemen of his household to get
beyond Cape Nam if they could, and to do what mis
chief to the Moors might come in their way. Since
then, how changed and how enlarged a world it had
become ! The whole coast-line of Africa had been fol
lowed out, and the way by sea to India ascertained ; the
Atlantic had been crossed ; the most important of the
West India islands, Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica,
had been discovered ; nor was the continent of America
unknown, though the margin only of a small part of it
was yet beginning to be colonized. Navigation, in
stead of being the childish, timid thing it was in the
first instance, had sprung up at once into full man
hood ; and mariners now lost sight of land altogether,
and yet went to sleep as fearless as if they were in
their own ports. Europe had become acquainted with
new plants, new animals, new trees, new .men ; and
these new things and creatures wiU not remain mere
curiosities for the Old World, but wiU henceforth be
mixed up with its policy, its wars, its daily and do
mestic habits, and become part of its nearest anxieties.
The finances of great nations and the sustenance of
numerous people wiU depend upon plants which the
Spanish discoverers of this century were just begin
ning to notice, and were speaking of with an indiffer
ence which seems almost Avonderful to us who know
what a large part these things are hereafter to play in
the commodities of European life.
As regards the civil history of these new climes of
Africa and America, much had already taken place in
the course of this first century of modern discovery,

Results of Discovery. 257
which determines, if we may say so, the fate of mill
ions of people to come. AHeady a slave-trade had
been established in Africa; already had the first in
stance taken place of colonists destroying aborigines
(an example hereafter to be so frequently followed) ;
already had the peculiar difficulties attendant upon
modern colonization begun to be felt, and the first be
ginnings been made of state papers, fearful to think of
from their number and extent, to regulate the relations
between the colony, the mother country, and the orig
inal inhabitants.
Nor in other departments besides those of conquest
and colonization bad the European men of this cen
tury been idle. /They had invented printing about
the same time that they introduced a negro slave-trade
— opponents which were destined to have a deadly
battle for many generations.-' Literature had main
tained its revival. Art may be said to have culmin
ated in a century which- possessed a Leonardo da Vin
ci, a Michael Angelo, a Raffaelle, and a Titian. The
science of international pofitics had begun, for it was
during this period that the policy of European nations
became something Hke what it is noAV, so that we feel
as if we were immediately related to the men of that
day, though if we step back a few years in history,
men then seem ancients to us. Taking it altogether,
this particular hundred j-ears wfil only yield as yet
to one other century in the annals of the world.
/There is never wanting, however, the slave to sit in
the triumphal chariot, and to remind the conqueror
that he is, after aU, but a poor mortal. And when,
with some knowledge of what has taken place since,
we look over the proceedings of this century (especial
ly as regards the discoveries and conquests with which

258 Results of Discovery.
we are at present concerned), we almost feel as if noth
ing had been gained for humanity, so large are the
drawbacks. ' Not that I can believe that the world
goes on toiling, and suffering, and aspiring, yet gaining
nothing, or that we are to conclude that the conquests
and discoveries of this century were not a furtherance
of the intelligence and the worth of mankind. But
Ignorance and Evil, even in fuU flight, deal terrible
back-handed strokes upon their pursuers.
/ In the very case before us, in this discovery of
the Indies, what do we find? From want of under
standing their feUow-men, from want of comprehend
ing what should be the first objects of colonization,
these early discoverers were doing what they could to
produce a displacement of human Hfe AA'hich wiU be
very mischievous to as remote a period in the history
of the world as we can at aU presume to foresee. It
is probable that no considerable changes take place
even in insect Hfe without affecting us — it may be
largely; and what must we expect from abrupt ex
tinctions and introductions of races of mankind in any
country, which are so many shocks, as it were, to so
cial nature ? What but troubles and disasters of the
direst kind ? And such they have proved to be, large
in themselves, prolific in their nature, and of vast ex
tent in their operation. ,
To bring the above remarks closely home to the
present subject, keeping within the bounds of what
has already been related, let us take the case of His
paniola, and we shall see that the circumstances under
which that island was occupied were as unfavorable
to human life as can well be imagined. The conquer
ed people were employed in a manner alien from aU

Results of Discovery. 259
their former pursuits, habits, and enjoyments. They
Avorked for the production of commodities which had
no interest in their eyes. They were hurried off to
the mines without any suitable provision being made
for a great movement of population. Nothing, in such
a mode of government, had time to grow. It was not,
as in older and settled countries, a surplus part of the
adventurous youth that was attracted to a severe but
gainful occupation, but the most stable and precious
part of the community, such as fathers of families, was
suddenly demanded for a kind of labor for Avhich it
had received no previous training, and in the profits
of which it had no concern. It would have been con
trary to aU the laws by which life is regulated if such
a mode of proceeding had been otherwise than most
fatal to the people among whom it was introduced.
They died, as they must have died, by thousands, and
the mode of supplying this vacuum was equally con
tradictory to the laAvs of nature.
In a Hmited space, like that of an island, we are
able to trace clearly the results of this outrageous and
barbarous statesmanship, and we must be prepared in
the course of the narrative to watch the gradual ex
tinction of the Indian inhabitants of the West India
islands, just as we might observe the extinction of so
many Hghts which there was not air enough to sup
port, and which die out from sheer inanition.* Such
is the unwelcome but manifest conclusion which fol
lows from our first general consideration of the vari
ous events that have already been recorded in the his
tory of Spanish America.
* Knowing the fate, of these Indian nations, I have been anxious to
put on record any Indian names that occur, that the ethnologist may
have before him the few words that are left of their languages, which
may furnish some slight clew to the genealogy of these destroyed races.

BOOK V.

OJEDA'AND NICUESA,

CHAPTER I.
NATURE AND CUSTOMS OP THE INDIANS.  MINOR VOYAGES. —
OJEDA AND NICUESA START ON THEIR VOYAGE.  OJEDA's MIS
FORTUNES. — HIS DEATH. CHAPTER II.
ENCISO'S RE-ENFORCEMENTS.- — ESTABLISHMENT AT DARIEN. —
NICUESA's MISFORTUNES WITH HIS OWN COLONY.  NICUESA
REJECTED BY THE MEN OF DARIEN.

CHAPTER I.
NATURE AND CUSTOMS OF THE INDIANS.  MINOR VOYAGES.
 OJEDA AND NICUESA STAET ON THEIR VOYAGE.  OJE-
DA'S MISFORTUNES.  HIS DEATH.
THE course of history is like that of a great river
wandering through various countries ; now, in the
infancy of its current, coUecting its waters from ob
scure smaU springs in plashy meadows,, and from un
considered rivulets which the neighboring rustics do
not know the names of ; now, in its boisterous youth,
forcing its way through mountains ; now, in middle
life, flowing with equable current busily by great towns,
its waters sulfied yet enriched with commerce ; and
now, in its burdened old age, making its slow and dif
ficult way with an ever-widening expanse of waters,
over which the declining sun looms grandly, to the
sea. The uninstructed or careless traveler generaUy
finds but one form of beauty or of meaning in the river
or upon its banks. The romantic gorge or wild cas
cade is perhaps the only kind of* scenery which de
lights him. And so it has often been in our estimate
of history. Well-fought battles, or the doings of gay
courts, or bloody revolutions, have been the chief
sources of attraction ; while less adorned events, but
not of less real interest or import, have often escaped
our notice altogether.
In order to gain some of that interest in the present

264 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
subject" which would arise from better knowledge of
the persons principaUy concerned, it is desirable to en
deavor to understand the nature of the Indian people,
on whose fate this narrative mainly turns — a fate
which has, perhaps, had as much effect upon the world
as that of any of the most distinguished races.
It is a very difficult thing for one people to under
stand another, even if they are of the same age as a
nation and equally advanced in civilization ; still more
difficult is it for a partially-civilized people to appre
ciate a people living comparatively in a state of nature.
And as this was the relation between the Spaniards
and many nations of the Indians, we must translate,
as it were, with much circumspection, the accounts
which the conquerors give of the conquered into our
own reading of the matter. We see in this day that
civilized people of the same race, religion, habits, man
ners, and language often misunderstand each other ut
terly. Imagine, then, how great must be the chance
of false interpretation when men of different races talk
together in language most imperfectly understood, eked
out by signs, about subjects upon which they have
scarcely any common ideas !
And then, too, there is that tyrannous desire for
uniformity which confounds the judgment of men when
they are commenting upon each other individuaUy;
so that you often find that a long criticism upon a
man or his work is but a demand that he should be
somebody else, and his work somebody else's work.
And nations make the same foolish comments upon
each other that individual men do. What a world it
would have been if a man had been listened to in the
making of it ! One or two kinds of trees, a few flow
ers of the form and colors which pleased him, and hap-

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 265
pened to suit the exact spot where he Avas standing,
and one species of mankind — his own — would have
filled up, handsomely, as he would think, his formal
vfilage world. But great rich Nature, apparently un-
reckoning, almost reckless in her affluence, though we
know aU the time how bound she is to weight and
number, smUes with every variety and inequality of
form and color, of Hfe and desire, of character and con
duct. Having thus put in some plea for diversity of nature
among men, I wUl endeavor to give the reader some
notion of the Indians, not supporting my views by ex
act and formal references, but simply giving such a
description of the Indians as a traveler might have
done who had just come from those parts of the world,
and was asked what were his general impressions of
the people he had been staying among.
In the first place, the outward appearance of the In
dians was prepossessing ; they had a mUd expression
of countenance, a gentle smUe, a beautiful form, with
good complexion and softness of body, and a general
gracefulness of movement.
In many parts of America, the manners, and per
haps the whole aspect of the people, would have given
a traveler the notion of persons of decayed fortune,
who had once been more prosperous and formidable
than they were now, or who had been the offshoot of
a more defined and forcible people. These nations
had probably traveled much, whether they had come
from Judsea or Phoenicia (as some have said), or, as
I should say was most probable — if called upon to
pronounce some opinion on the matter — from Eastern
Asia and the adjacent islands. The rumor of a deluge
Vol. L— M

266 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
was largely current in some parts of the Indies. Then
the singular correspondence, in point of length of the
Mexican year, 365£ days, with that of the Egyptians,
the five complementary days, corresponding to the ep-
agomena of the Memphian year, the resemblance of
the TeocaUi, or god-houses, to the temple of Jupiter
Belus, with many other strange resemblances in rites
and modes of thought and expression, almost compel
us to give a common origin to these nations of the New
World and to the eastern nations of the Old World.*
In some of the Indian tribes things were to be found
which reminded the traveler of the highest products
and the highest thoughts of civilization. Hieroglyph
ics, statues, carvings, pictures, works of metal, and
delicate fabrics of cotton, attest this. Various kinds
of bread were to be seen among them, and not unskill
ful modes of cultivation. In dances and in songs they
exceUed. Moreover, some of the most elevating and
some of the most subtle and far-fetched notions that
have ever entered into the minds of men were to be
found domesticated among the Indians. Thus prayer,
prophecy, monastic life, the confession of sin to ap
pointed confessors, the immortality of the soul, and
hopes of a future state of bliss, belief in witchcraft,
and the propitiation of idols by Hving sacrifices — the
deepest thoughts and the wildest superstitions — were
not unknown in the New World.
In order to bring home more clearly to the mind of
the reader what kind of mental civUization the Indians
had when they were civilized, I can not do better than
* Such, I imagine, would be the conclusion of Humboldt, from
whom I gain these particulars, but who is very careful of pronouncing
any judgment, as, indeed, large investigation in these doubtful matters
makes men careful of coming to any conclusion.

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 267
give an account of two prayers that remain to us, which
were in use among the Mexicans. The one Avas used
after a kind of auricular confession, which, however, it
appears occurred only once in a lifetime.
After the penitent had confessed his sins to the sa
trap, the satrap addressed the god Tezcatfipuk in this
fashion : " Our Lord most gracious, the defender and
favorer of aU, you have just heard the confession of
this poor sinner, in which he has made known in your
presence his rottenness and filthiness." The satrap
then went on to say, in words which I shall abridge,
that the sinner might have concealed some of his sins,
in which case dire wiU be his punishment ; but per
chance he has spoken the whole truth, and now feels
" dolor and discontent" for aU that is past, and firm
resolve never to sin more. Then the satrap* said, " I
speak in presence of your majesty, who knowest all
tilings, and knowest that this poor wretch did not sin
with entire Hberty of free wiU, but was helped and in
clined to it by the natural condition of the sign under
which he was born. And since it is so, O most gra
cious Lord, defender and favorer of aU men, even if this
poor man has grievously offended against you, perad-
venture wiU you not cause your anger and your indig
nation to depart from him ?" Continuing in this strain,
the satrap besought pardon and remission of sins, " a
thing which descends from heaven as clearest and
* I keep the word " satrap," as it is used in the original, and may
give a clew to the Mexican word which it represents. " Satrap," in
the Middle Ages, had » signification it has since lost. " Chartam
^Ethelredi Regis Angl. post Duces subscribunt aliquot viri nobiles,
cum hoc titulo, Satrapa Regis. Que appellatio eadem est forte qua?
Ministri. Vide in hac voce. (S. Bernardus de Consid., lib. iv. Quid
illud sit dicam, et non proderit. Curl quia non placebit Satrapis, plus
majestati quam veritati faventibus.") — Ducange, Gloss. "Satrapa."

268 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
purest water," with which "your majesty," he said,
"washes away and purifies aU the stains and filthi-
ness which sins cause in the soul" (todas las mantil
las, y suciedades, que lospecados causan en el animd).
Then the satrap addressed the penitent, and told
him that he had come to a place of much danger, and
labor, and dread, where there is a ravine from which
no one who had once fallen in could make his escape ;
also, he had come to a place where snares and nets
are set one Avith another, and one over against anoth
er. AU this is said metaphorically of the world and
of sin. The satrap proceeded to speak of the judg
ment to come in another world, and of the lake of mis
eries and intolerable torments. "But now, here you
are," he said to the penitent, "and the time is arrived
in which you have had pity on yourself to speak with
our Lord, who sees the secrets of hearts." And then
the satrap told the penitent there was a new birth for
him, but he must look to his ways well, and see that
he sinned no more. FinaUy, he must cleanse his house*
and himself, and seek a slave to sacrifice before God
(there is the blot on the whole proceeding), and he must
work a year or more in the house of God, and under
go penitential exercises, piercing his tongue for the in
jurious words it had uttered ; and he must give in
charity even to the depriving of himself of sustenance;
" for look," said the satrap, speaking of the poor, "their
* In reference to this cleansing of the house, the exhortation is as
follows : " Carefully cleanse and preserve thy house, and thou wilt
often meet that most gracious youth who ever goes through our houses,
and through our districts, comforting and recreating, and works, seek
ing his friends to console them, and be consoled with them." This is
said entirely in a spiritual sense, for the prayer has just declared that
God is " invisible and impalpable." — Aglio, Antiquities of Mexico.
Kingsborough's Collection, vol. v., p. 370.

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 269
flesh is as thy flesh, and they are men as thou art, es
peciaUy the sick, for they are the image of God. There
is no more to say to thee ; go in peace, and I pray God
that he may help thee to perform that which thou art
bound to do, for he is gracious to aU men."*
The next prayer is that of a king, or governor, upon
his election, in which, after celebrating the greatness
of God (this also is addressed to Tezcatlipuk), and de
basing himself before Him, saying that he deserves
blindness of his eyes and crushing of his body (a con
fession which many rulers might make after they have
had the government), he goes on to say that he it is
who requires to be governed, and that the Lord must
know many to whom he could confide this charge of
government; but since " you are determined," he says,
" to put me forward as an object of scandal and laugh
ter for the world, let your wiU be done. Peradven-
ture," he exclaims, " you do not know who I am.
After that you know what person I am, you wiH seek
another, depriving me of the government, being weary
of enduring me. Perchance," he adds, " it is a dream,
or as when one rises from his bed in his sleep, this
thing which has happened to me." The prayer then
proceeds, as the prayer of a ruler naturaUy would do,
against war and against pestilence, and speaks of for
mer rulers, and, if I understand it rightly, of their joys
and privUeges in heaven ; and then he comes to speak
of his own inferiority — how he has no possibility of
ruling himself — how he is in darkness — how he is a
* " Mira que su carne es como la tuya, y que son hombres como
tu ; mayormente a los enfermos porque son imagen de Dios. No hay
mas que te decir ; vete en paz, y ruego a Dios que te ayude a cumplir
Io que eres obligado a hacer, pues que el favorece a todos." — Kings-
borough's Collection, vol. v., p. 371.

270 Nature and 'Customs of 'the Indians.
heap of refuse in a corner. " Be gracious, therefore,
O Lord," he exclaims, "and give me a little light, if
it be no more than so much as a glow-worm which
moves by night throws out from itself, that I may find
my way in this dream and this sleep of life, which lasts
as a day, where there are many occasions for stum
bling, and many things to give occasion for laughter,
and other things that are as a rugged road, which have
to be passed by leaping."*
He concludes by saying, " Our Lord most gracious,
you have made me sit in your seat and be your in
strument of voice {vuestra flauta)\ without any desert
of my own;" and afterward he adds, " Although I am
a poor creature, I wish to say that unworthUy I am
your image, and represent your person, and the words
which I shall speak have to be held as your words,
and my countenance to be esteemed as your counte
nance, and my hearing as your hearing, and the pun
ishments that I shaU ordain have to be considered as
if you ordained them ; wherefore, I pray' you, put with
in me your spirit and your words, that aU may obey,
and that none may be able to contradict. "J
* " Tened por bien, Senor, de me dar un psquito de lumbre, aunque
ho sea mas de quanto echa de si una lucerna que anda de noche, para
ir en este sueiio y en esta vida dormida que dura como espacio de un
dia, donde hay muchas cosas en que tropezar, y muchas cosas en que
dar ocasion de reir ; y otras cosas que son como camino fragoso, que
se han de pasar saltando." — Kingsborough's Collection, vol. v., p.
379. t The force of this expression will be understood when an account
is given of Tezcatlipuk's festival, in which a flute was sounded at cer
tain intervals.
X A doubt will occur to many minds as to how these long prayers
were retained in the memory-of the Mexicans, whose means of writing
with exactitude were, comparatively speaking, limited. The same
doubt occurred to the celebrated Acosta three hundred years ago, and
he expressed it to one who was able to satisfy him. In the original

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 271
After reading such prayers as the above, which at
any rate have some grandeur in them, it is impossible
to help smuing when some Spanish narrator, who has
been commenting upon the foUy and idolatry of the
Indians, shows himself to be any thing but free from
superstition, relating a story, perhaps, how an evU
spirit, who was kept in durance by an EngHsh monk,
promised, if released, to give him figs at Christmas,
and accordingly brought figs from the Indies at that
time, for which the evil spirit received his Hberty.*
With respect to the moral quafities of the Indians,
I think it may be said that they were less treacherous
than most other uncultivated people. Of their valor,
or the want of it, it is difficult to speak, because it is
almost impossible to estimate duly the advantages
which their conquerors, the Spaniards, possessed in '
having firearms, horses, and discipfine. Individual in
stances of the most determined bravery on the part of
the Indians are frequent in the early histories of their
conquerors. The Spaniards are wont to speak of the
idleness of the Indians; but what alacrity could be
manuscript of Juan de Tovar, possessed by Sir Thomas Phillips, Bart.,
of Middle Hill, the letter of Acosta and the answer of Tovar are given.
" Pero, para conservarlos por las mismas palabfas, que los dixeron sus
oradores y poetas, avya cada dia exercicio dello, en los colegios de los
mozos prihcipales, que avyan de ser sucesores a estos, y con la conti-
nua repeticion, se les quedava en la memoria, sin discrepar palabra,
tomando las oraciones mas famosas, que en cada tiempo se hazian por
metodo, para imponer a los mozos, que avyan de ser retdricos, y de
esta suerte se conservaron muchos parlamentos, sin discrepar palabra,
de gente en gente, hasta que vinieron los Espanoles, que en nostra
letra escrivieron muchas oraciones, y cantares, que yo vi, y assi se han
conservado. Y con esto queda respondido a la ultima pregunta, de
' Como era possible tener estos memoria de las palabras,' etc." — Juan
de Tovar, Historia de los Indios Mexicanos, MS.
* See Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., 1. iv., c. ii. Madrid, 1851.

272 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
expected from any man who, under a tropical sun, is
employed in gathering gold for other people ?*
Another complaint often urged against the Indians
for the first sixty or seventy years after the discovery
of America was that it was impossible to make them
five in polity. This was an ill-founded complaint.
The Indians hated the pofity of the Spaniards, and
very justly so, considering the expounders of this poli
ty whom they encountered. But succeeding events,
and indeed contemporaneous ones, showed that the
Indians were a docile people, and could adopt with all
reasonable readiness the religion and polity which the
Spaniards were desirous of impressing upon them.
I do not pretend that aU the traces of cultivation I
have mentioned were to be found in any one tribe or
nation of Indians ; but looking at them for a moment
as one race of men under different circumstances, it is
not unfair to bring together the different developments
of this race, for the purpose at least of showing the
possibilities which, were in it. It is also worthy of
remark that those Indians who had, perhaps, the least
of what we ordinarily caU cultivation, give the idea of
having been the most cultivable, while the Mexicans,
rich in arts and knowledge of various kinds, were cruel
idolaters. In the case of the Indians who lived more
simply, such as the aborigines of Cuba, Hispaniola,
* The Indians, on the other hand, might well complain of the idle
ness of the Spaniards. An old Indian of Nicaragua thus addresses
Benzoni, who commenced his travels in the Indies in 1541 : " Chris
tian! operari nolunt, ludificatores sunt, aleatores, pravi et blasphemi.
Quum ad Missam audiendam templum ineunt, de absentibus detrahunt :
et alii aliis plagas et vulnera imponunt. Ad extremum eo evasit ut
concluderet Christianos minime esse bonos. Quumque excepissem,
malos, non autem bonos, ea facere : turn ille, Ubinam sunt illi boni 1
inquit. Quippe ipse quidem nondum ullos, nisi malos, cognovi." —
Benzoni, Hist. Novi Orbis, lib. ii., cap. 16.

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 273
and the Terra-firma (near the Isthmus of Darien), the
very simpficity of life went far to prevent covefous-
ness ; and even where religious rites and ceremonies
were least developed, natural religion, in its best form,
seems to have prevaUed. " They had no form of wor
ship," says Heeeera, speaking of the people of the
Terra-firma, "but they held it sinful to kill, to steal,
and to commit adultery ; and they abhorred lying."*
This difference which I have just noticed between
the Mexicans and the inhabitants of Cuba seems to
me to pervade great part of the continent,, and to make
it appear as if there had been two centres from which
the development of the various nations in America
proceeded, generating two kinds of cultivation. The
one was adroit, unimaginative, cruel, and tending to a
worship of the outer world. This cultivation culmin
ated in the Mexicans.
Then there was the other, which received its high
est development among the Peruvians, in whose relig
ion and religious worship a grand simplicity prevailed.
It has been noticed, I think, that the favorable view
which the first inca gave of death, by what he said at
the approach of his own death, was probably the means
of preventing human sacrifices in Peru. Calling his
principal people around him, he told them that he in
tended to return immediately to the heavens, to rest
himself with his father, the sun, who was calling him ;
and this form of speech was used by aU succeeding
incas when they felt themselves to be dying. The
worship of the Peruvians was not a mere worship of
the sun alone, as of the most beautiful and powerful
* " No tenian adoracion alguna, sino tener por pecado, el matar,
hurtar, y tomar agena muger, y aborrecian el mentir." — Hereera,
Hist, de las Indias, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. 5.
M2

274 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
thing which they beheld, but they had also a wor
ship of a far more refined and elevated nature address
ed to Pachacamac, the soul of the universe, whom they
hardly dared to name ; and when they were obliged to
name this being, they did so inclining the head and
the whole body, now lifting up the eyes to heaven,
now lowering them to the ground, and giving kisses
in the air. To Pachacamac they made no temple and
offered no sacrifice, but they adored him in their hearts.
Their sacrifices to the sun were rams and sheep, and
the produce of the earth, and, as the Romans poured
out Hbations to their gods, so the Peruvians, in sign
of adoration to the sun, were wont to throw a drop
into the air, and kisses with it.
How different from the formal, elaborate, and bloody
sacrifices of the Mexicans !
This difference, which I seem to see throughout the
Indian nations, may point to two different races, or
may be merely a development in different directions
of the same race ; and, indeed, if the opinion is sound
that men are aU to be traced up to one family, the dif
ference of aU races has been produced in this way,
namely, by a development of one part of the human
character and form, the rest remaining comparatively
latent. One peculiar circumstance, as Humboldt remarks,
is very much to be noted in the ancient records and
traditions of the Indian nations. In no less than
three remarkable instances has superior civilization
been attributed to the sudden presence among them of
persons differing from themselves in appearance and
descent.

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 275
Bochica, a white man with a beard, appeared to the
Mozca Indians in the plains of Bogota, taught them
how to build and to sow, formed them into communi
ties, gave an outlet to the waters of the great lake, and,
having settled the government civil and ecclesiastical,
retired into a monastic state of penitence for two thou
sand years.
In like manner, Manco Capac, accompanied by his
sister, Mama OeUo, descended among the Peruvians,
gave them a code of admirable laws, reduced them into
communities, and then ascended to his father, the sun.
Among the Mexicans there suddenly appeared Quet-
zalcohuatl (green-feathered snake),* a white and beard
ed man, of broad brow {ancha la f rente), dressed in
strange dress, a legislator, who recommended severe
penances, lacerating his own body with the prickles of
the agave and the thorns of the cactus, but who dis
suaded his foUowers from human sacrifice. WhUe he
remained in Anahuac, it was a Saturnian reign ; but
this great legislator, after moving on to the plains of
Cholula, and governing the Cholulans with wisdom,
passed away to a distant country, and was never heard
of more. It is said briefly of himf that " he ordained -
sacrifices of flowers and fruit, and stopped his ears
when he was spoken to of war. "J Such a saint is
* Green-feathered means eloquent. " Plumage rico y de perfecto
color. Dicese por la oracion elegante d muy bien compuesta." —
Kingsborough's Collection, vol. vii., p. 181.
t Humboldt's Researches in America.
X " Dicen que quando quiera que nombraban delante de el, muertes,
6 guerras, d otros males, tocantes a danos de los hombres, bolvia la
cara a otra parte, y se tapaba los oidos, por no verlos, ni oirlos." —
Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi., cap. 24.
See also Las Casas, Historia Apologetica, where the same words
with a slight variation are used : " Volvia la cara y tapaba los oidos
por no los ver ni oir." — Cap. 122. ,

276 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
needed in aU times, even in the present advanced state
of civfiization in the Old World.
I can not help imagining that somewhat of the same
difference which has been pointed out between the two
great branches of the Indians might perhaps be traced
in then- numerous languages also. The language that
first sounded on the ears of Columbus was exquisitely
sweet, and so the Indian tongues were found to be in
other parts, but the language of the Mexicans is to our
apprehension harsh in the extreme. Indeed, a lan
guage in which the word for a kiss is tetennamiquil-
iztli, can hardly be an inviting one for the " gay sci
ence" of troubadours, or for aught that is gentle.
I can not conclude this brief account of the Indians
without adverting to their ancient monuments and ru
ined cities. Those who wish to study this people
must turn to the ruins of the temples, or the tombs,
at Mitla, Palenque, and Copan ; must investigate the
primaeval remains of buildings to be found on the bor
ders of the vast lake of Titicaca and the adjacent plain
of Tiahuaco ; must consider weU the pyramids of Pa-
pantla and Cholula ; and stiU farther ponder over the
clear signs of an early and considerable civilization
which seems to have existed in a somewhat similar
form in places so widely asunder as Canada and the
banks of the Orinoco. It has been said that little will
be learned to advance art, or increase our knowledge
of beauty, from a study of any American monuments
— an assertion which I think is completely contradict
ed by the Grecques on the temple or palace at Mitla,
and stiU more by the recently-discovered ruins of Co-
pan. There is a monument among the many remark-

Nature and Customs of the Indians. 211
able ones brought to light there which I think is one
of the grandest that remains to us, as far as I know,
of all antiquity precedent to the Grecian .era.* This
monument is a colossal figure, the head of which great
ly resembles that of Napoleon, only that it has that
grand mUdness and that sedate intelligence which fas
cinate our attention in the monuments of that myste
rious country that is created, if we may say so, by the
NUe. Putting aside, however, aU questions of beauty, I
have no doubt that it is of the utmost importance that
the learned should deeply investigate and consider the
ancient monuments of America. I think I foresee a
time (if the wiser nations of the earth are not obliged
to be too much employed in warring, and so have Httle
energy left for other .exertions) when these and simfiar
researches, which are being undertaken in various parts
of the world, wiU be made to converge to a far larger
knowledge of the early records of this earth than has
hitherto been obtained, and wiU thus assist in solving
some of the most important questions which exist with
respect to the early peopfing of the world, the migra-"
tions of races, and the capabifities of different races in
enduring different cfimates.
In the narrative we are- about to resume, questions
of race occupy the foremost place, not only in the
cells of the studious, but in the courts of kings and on
battle-plains. I have not the slightest doubt, for in
stance, that the account in the Bible of the origin of
our first parents and the unity of the human race
(which will be found constantly referred to) was the
cause of mUlions of people, whole nations, being main
tained upon the earth.
* Stephens's Central America, vol. i., p. 140.

278 Nature and Customs of the Indians.
Those Indians whom the Spanish priests and states
men were able to preserve from the cruelty and reck
lessness of, their countrymen owed their preservation
to this basis of thought, that, whatever appearances
might say to the contrary, the conquerors and con
quered were originaUy of one race.
Again, the interest of these ancient stone-written or
parchment-painted records of America is redoubled by
the wonderful resemblance, and occasionally the abso
lute identity, of the Indian traditions with the history
in the Bible, of which resemblance the account of the
Deluge and of the tower of Babel are most striking ex
amples.* And, in fine, to determine what we must
hold to and what we must dismiss in early chronology
is a branch of research that must not be abandoned.
Indeed, increased knowledge of the arts of Hfe, of sci
ence, and of the nature of man, far from rendering such
research of less interest, wiU only give a deeper mean
ing to it.
Having said thus much of the nature, customs, re
ligion, and antiquities of the Indians, I resume the
general story of the Spanish Conquest, which left off
at the publication of the laws of Burgos in favor of the
Indians. Hitherto the narrative has been confined to Hispani
ola and the mother country, and has gone chronologi-
* " He," Xelhua, " ordered bricks to be made in the province of Tla-
manalco, at the foot of the Sierra of Cocotl, and to convey them to Cho-
hila he placed a file of men, who passed them from hand to hand. The
gods beheld with wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach the
clouds. Irritated by the daring attempt of Xelhua, they hurled fire on
the pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished ; the works were
discontinued, and the monument was afterward dedicated to Quetzal-
coatl, the god of the air." — Humboldt's Researches in America, vol. i.,
p. 96.

Minor Voyages. 279
caUy in one direction ; but it wiU be necessary now to
turn back to those enterprises which led to the coloni
zation of the continent of South America — of the Terra-
firma, as it was always called at that time.
The voyages which for this purpose must be exam
ined and recounted, were for the most part disjointed
undertakings, often fruitless and discreditable to those
engaged in them, and very unsatisfactory and difficult
to relate. But they led to great changes in the world.
They give a picture of Spanish enterprise during that
period, and show it spreading over the New World like
water finding its level ; unhappUy, however, not in
force or quantity enough to form great navigable rivers
or deep seas, but merely wide, stagnant, unhealthy
marshes. So many of these smaUer enterprises were
eminently unsuccessful as regards the fortunes of the
persons engaged in them, that we may wonder at first
at the steady continuance of such undertakings. But
who at that time could resist embarking in them? The
truth is, life is tedious ; we mock at gamesters, and
rightly, because the chances are often manifestly against
them ; but who, except a few cold-blooded phUosophers,
does not wish to try his fortunes in some adventurous
way? Every body knows weU the inconveniences of
the state in which he fives, and where he has probably
missed the respect or the love which he hoped for;
and he thinks that at least it wiU be something gained
to have a change of evils.
Then the notions of the earth which were held at
that period were so wild, so vague, so tempting. Co
pernicus* had not as yet made known those beginnings
of astronomical science which were to reduce, even in
* Copernicus was born in 1473, and died in 1543.

280

Minor Voyages.

the popular imagination, the bounds of the world to
their just insignificance. The earth was indefinitely
large ; there was then an India for every body to dis
cover ; the stars were concerned in the destinies of men ;
and even wise and prudent persons partook somewhat
of the mood of chfidren when deep in the study of fairy
tales, where courage and adventure always come to a
good end.
The first discovery of the main land of America was
gjnade by Columbus in the course of his third voyage,

r^£

/"

OJEDA'S
FIRST VOYAGE.

in the year 1498.* It was at Paria. In the next year,
Alonso de Ojeda — having on board that personage Avho
* This voyage will have, hereafter, to be carefully recounted. I am
so convinced, however, that the best chance for the reader to remember
any of the entangled history of the discovery and settlement of Spanish
America is to have it told to him according to place, and not to date,
that I entirely postpone all farther allusion to Columbus until that part
of the coast which he discovered becomes important in the general
narrative.

Minor Voyages. 281
makes a dubious figure in the history of the New
World, Amerigo Vespucci — accomplished a somewhat
simUar voyage to that of Columbus, having been aided
by a knowledge of the admiral's route. Ojeda, how
ever, touched on a more southerly point than Colum
bus, somewhere, it is conjectured, on the coast of Suri
nam, and from thence went northward to the Gulf of
Paria ; after that, to Venezuela,* which he so named
from some similarity of the position and the buildings
to those of Venice. | The farthest point westward of
this voyage was the Cape de la Vela. Vespucci's ac
count of the natives is curious and interesting ;% and
his narrative spreading over Europe was the caus,e of
his name being given to the third part of the habitable
globe. It would be a curious question to investigate
whether Hes and false rumors have had more practical
effect in the affairs of the world than absolute facts.
There was also a voyage made to these parts by
Rodrigo de Bastidas, with Juan de la Cosa for pilot,
which was successful ; and we have Las Casas's au
thority for saying that Bastidas was a humane man
* Venezuela is sometimes placed, but wrongly, to the S.W. of the
Lake of Maracaibo. Its position in the opposite map has been determ
ined with great care.
t " Vieron una gran poblacion y las casas que la formaban fundadas
artificiosamente en el agua sobre estacas hincadas en el fondo ye com-
unicandose de unas a otras con canoas." — Nav., Col., torn, iii., p. 8.
X His account of their medical proceedings deserves to be recorded.
" Observamos frecuentemente que cuando alguno de ellos tenia calen-
tura, en el punto y hora en que la fiebre lo atormentaba con mas rigor,
lo metian en un bano de agua muy fria, y despues por espacio de dos
horas le obligaban a correr y dar muchas vueltas al rededor de una gran
lumbre hasta que Uegaba a calentarse estraordinariamente, y entdnces le
llevaban al lecho para que durmiese ; con cuya medicina vimos s'anar a
muchos. Usan tambien muy frecuentemente de la dieta, tan rigorosa
que estan sin comer ni beber cosa alguna por espacio de tres y cuatro
dias." — Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 215.

282 Minor Voyages.
toward the Indians. Indeed, he afterward lost his life
by this humanity ; for, when governor of Santa Mar
tha, not consenting to harass the Indians, he so afien-
ated his men, that a conspiracy was formed against
him, and he was murdered in his bed. The renown
ed Vasco Nunez was in this expedition, and the knowl
edge he gained there had the greatest influence on the
fortunes of his varied and eventful life.
Passing over the other voyages which were made to
the Terra-firma as not immediately relevant to our pur
pose, we come now to the complicated but important
events which belong to the contemporaneous expedi
tions of Ojeda and Nicuesa, from which there ensued
a consistent course of discovery and colonization, lead
ing to the greatest results.
The expeditions of Nicuesa and Ojeda were inter
woven together in a curious manner. It is probable
that during the short regency of the Archduke PhUip,*
and while Ferdinand was at Naples, the course of en
terprise toward the New World languished ; and thus,
on the death of PhUip and the return of the old king
to the government of Castile, those undertakings, which
had their origin at the court of Spain, were naturally
brought forward at the same time.
The characters of the two commanders were entire
ly dissimilar. Ojeda was a strong, daring, devout
common soldier, of great personal endurance and res
olution, but with no power of managing other men. A
remarkable feat of his in early life, performed in the
presence of Queen IsabeUa — walking swiftly out upon
a plank from the top of the Giralda at Seville and
* The son of the Emperor Maximilian, and the father of Charles the
Fifth. He had married Juana, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
See p. 185, where the state of the Spanish royal family is discussed.

Minor Voyages. 283
back again — was typical of what he could do.* His
personal strength was immense. Placing himself at
the bottom of the Gixalda, he could throw an orange
to the top, a height of two hundred and fifty feet. His
connections in Spain were powerful. He had a first
cousin of the same name, one of the inquisitors, and a
favorite of Ferdinand and IsabeUa ; and he himself
had been brought up in the famUy of the Duke of Me
dina Cefi, where it is probable Columbus first met with
him, and induced him to accompany him in his second
voyage. Under such a commander as Columbus, Oje
da was most serviceable, as may be inferred, for in
stance, from the romantic capture of Caonabo, whether
that story be true or mythical ; but when in command
himself, Ojeda seems to have been but a poor creature,
for thews and sinews are not the things by which men
are long governed, even the rudest.
Nicuesa, on the other hand, was a courtly person of
good birth, f a good speaker, a good musician. He
came to Hispaniola with Ovando, acquired wealth
there, and was deputed by the colonists to go to the
court of Spain to soficit that their Indians should be
given to them for one life, and that thus they might
be so far independent of the caprices of the governor
for the time being. This important concession he ob
tained for them, and it is a step in the history of en-
* " Se subid en el madero que sale veinte pies fuera de la torre, y Io
midid por sus pies apriesa como si fuera por un ladrillado, y despues
al cabo del madero saco el un pie en vago dando la vuelta, y con la
misma priesa se tornd a la torre." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. i., c. 82.
t He had been bred up in the family of the king's uncle. " Hom-
bre de limpia sangre de hijosdalgo ; e cridle el muy ilustre Senor Don
Enrique Enriquez, inayordomo mayor e tio del Rey Cathdlico, hermano
de su madre." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxviii., cap. 4.

284 Minor Voyages.
comiendas. At the same time, he procured for him
self the government of Veragua. As this province
had been discovered by Columbus,* such a grant of
its government must have been very offensive to his
son, the present governor of the Indies.
Ojeda, who was favored by Bishop Fonseca, ob
tained at the same time the appointment to the gov
ernment of the province of Uraba, adjacent to Vera
gua. Ojeda was poor, his previous voyages having
been of little or no profit to him ; but he was aided in
furnishing his present expedition by the celebrated pi
lot, Juan de la Cosa, and by a lawyer named Martin
Fernandez d'Enciso,t whom Ojeda at once appointed
alcalde in his province, which received _the name of
Nueva Andalucia.
Nicuesa, as the richer personage, had the larger fleet
and more men ; but he, too, went far beyond his means
in fitting out his fleet, and came thereby into great
embarrassments. Both these commanders arrived at St. Domingo,
which was to be their starting-point, at the same time,
and, as was natural, began to quarrel about the limits of
their respective governments. FinaUy, however, Juan
de la Cosa persuaded the two governors to accept the
Biver Darien as the boundary line between their two
provinces. The province of Uraba was to extend from
the Biver Darien eastward to Cape de la Vela ; the
province of Veragua from the Biver Darien westward
to Cape Gracias a Dios. The former province was
called CastiUa del Oro, which name it gained from the
flattering accounts that Columbus had given of it.
* In his fourth and last voyage.
t Enciso was the author of the valuable work Suma de Geographia,
which is now very rare. There is a copy in the British Museum.

Minor Voyages.

285

Bodrigo de Colmenares, a soldier who acted as Ni-
cuesa's Heutenant, says that the agreement made with
both these governors by the authorities in Spain was
not fulfilled in St. Domingo by the admiral and his
officers. Nicuesa and Ojeda were to have been al
lowed to be accompanied by four hundred of the in
habitants of Hispaniola, with Indians assigned to them,
of whom they were not to be deprived for four years.

IGraet'as HDies

PROVINCES ASSIGNED
TO
OJEDA and NICUESA.

These would have been the rich men of the colony,
and would have brought provisions ; but, this privilege
being denied to Ojeda and Nicuesa by the admiral,
they were obliged to take poor people. Also they
were to have had the government of Jamaica ceded to
them, as in that island there was an abundance of the
provisions that would be needful for them ; but this
also was denied by the admiral.* How these slight
* " Ansimismo habia quedado capitulado con el Rey que les daba

286 Minor Voyages.
drawbacks, often the proximate causes of failure in
great adventures, show the evU of divided and con
flicting authority ! The governor of the Indies ought
to have been the chief, if not the sole responsible agent
for farther discovery. How strange it is, too, to see
an island like Jamaica, from which so much wealth
has since been extracted, treated as a mere adjunct to
greater gifts, and as a sort of store-house for provisions.
Either of these governors would have done weU to have
taken this store-house in lieu of his province, if he could
have been content to cultivate it. But such smaU and
practical forms of ambition were not congenial to the
men, nor to the age in which they lived.
Ojeda was the first to saU for his province. He
left the port of St. Domingo on the 10th or 12th of
November, 1509, with two ships, two brigantines,
three hundred men, and twelve mares. As horses
and dogs played such an important part in the wars
of the Spaniards against the Indians, these animals
weU deserve to be named in the enumeration of any
forces. -Nicuesa's departure was delayed by the difficulty
he had in providing for his debts. It is probable that
the admiral's weU-known enmity toward him, as to
one who was unjustly about to reap the fruits of his
father's discovery, increased the difficulty. Even
when Nicuesa's vessels had started, and he himself
was just going to embark, or indeed had embarked
(for, to the best of Las Casas's recollection, who was
an eye-witness, Nicuesa was taken out of his boat),
la gobernacion de una isla que se llama Jamaica, que hay en ella mu-
chos mantenimientos de lo que ellos tenian harta necesidad, y ansi-
mismo se la quitaron." — See Memorial de Colmenares ; Nav., Col,
torn, iii., p. 387.

Minor Voyages. 287
he was arrested for five hundred casteUanos. If Ni
cuesa could but have known from what evUs this hard
creditor was unconsciously endeavoring to save him,
he would have gone to prison with a merry heart.
But, indeed, even a very little of the knowledge pos
sessed by the seer would often make us resign our
selves to misfortunes without much struggfing, ac
counting them as blessings in disguise, or as, at least,
the smallest evUs in a long series. Some friendly no
tary came forward and paid this debt for Nicuesa,
who was thus enabled to start at last, about ten days
after Ojeda. Nicuesa's fleet consisted of two good
ships, a caravel, and two brigantines, and he was ac
companied by six hundred and fifty men.
MeanwhUe Ojeda, who no doubt was delighted at
having got the start of Nicuesa, had not profited much
by this precedence. In four or five days he reached
the port of Carthagena. Having received, permission
from those who had the management of Indian affairs
in Spain to make war upon the Indians, he began at
once to avaU himself of it. The grounds of this per
mission were very sfight and^questionable. The In
dians had, on some occasions, resisted the violence of
the Spaniards, or shown an unwiUingness to let them
land, and therefore they were to be accounted enemies.
Ojeda, it is said, disregarded the advice of Juan de la
Cosa, the second in command, who wished him not to
enter the country at Carthagena, where the Indians
were not friendly, and where they used poisoned ar
rows, but to pass on at once to the Gulf of Uraba, and
found his settlement there. But to this Ojeda would
not listen, and, taking Juan de la Cosa with him, he
made an attack upon a town caUed Calamar, where he

288

Minor Voyages.

captured seventy Indians, and sent them to his ships.
He then marched upon a large Indian town caUed Tur-
baco, which he found deserted. He pursued the fugi
tive Indians, and, while doing so, his men spread them
selves over the country in a disorderly manner. The

CASTI LLA
DEL ORO.

S J? -4 ,

Indians, seeing this disorder, coUected together, and
came down suddenly upon the Spaniards, who in their
turn had to become the fugitives, and to take refuge
in a fort constructed hastUy of palisades. The In-

Minor Voyages. 289
dians gave the Spaniards no rest, and pressed the ad
vantage they had gained with so much vigor, that they
succeeded in putting aU the Spaniards to death, with
the exception of Ojeda and one other. It was by an
impetuous saUy that Ojeda saved himself; and his
smaUness of stature was of good service to him on this
day, for he was thus enabled to shelter liimself weU
behind his shield. AU the rest of the Spaniards, to
the number of seventy or a hundred, perished.
The luckless commander fled to the woods ; mean-
whUe the fleet, ignorant of what had /befaUen their
chief, was quietly coasting along. At last, however,
gaining intelfigence of what had happened, his men
went to seek him, and they found him almost speech
less with hunger, his sword in his hand, and the marks,
it is said, of three hundred arrows in his shield. They
made a fire, warmed and fed him. As he recovered,
and whUe he was narrating his adventures to the men,
Nicuesa's fleet hove in sight. The contest between
these two governors, whUe they were at St. Domingo,
having been carried on in the most offensive and per
sonal manner, Ojeda might weU expect Ul treatment
from Nicuesa, or at least contempt ; and so Ojeda
begged his men to return to the ships, to leave him
where he was, alone, and to say nothing about him
whUe Nicuesa was on that coast.
Ojeda's men did not act exactly in accordance with
their instructions. They told Nicuesa how Ojeda and
his party, having destroyed Calamar, had then enter
ed the country, but had not been heard of since : that
they, however — the remainder of the force — were de
termined to do their duty by their commander ; that
they would go and seek for him, and would bring him,
if Nicuesa would assure them that he would overlook
Vol. I.— N

290 Minor Voyages
what had occurred between Ojeda and himself in times
past. Nicuesa was angry at their even imagining that he
could take advantage of his present superiority to pun
ish former affronts, and he assured them that he would
be a brother to Ojeda ; on which assurance they pro
duced their commander, whom Nicuesa received most
kindly. The friendship of the Spaniards boded no good to
the Indians. The two governors joined company, and
went with four hundred men to seek for Juan de la
Cosa, and to chastise the Indians. By public proc
lamation, the Spanish commanders forbade that any
quarter should be given to the Indians ; and, faUing
upon Turbaco, they committed incredible slaughter,
burning the Indians in their cottages, and slaying men,
women, and children. To show the terror the horses
inspired, it is mentioned that the Indian women, when
about to fly from the burning huts, rushed back into
the flames at the sight of those terrible quadrupeds.
The Spaniards succeeded in finding the body of
Juan de la Cosa, but it was in a horrible condition, on
account of the poison in the arrows which had been
the cause of his death. This sight appears to have
daunted his countrymen, who lost no time in return
ing to their ships.
Ojeda now took leave of Nicuesa, and made his way
to the Gulf of Uraba, capturing Indians in the course
of his voyage. Entering the gulf, he endeavored to
find the Biver Darien, which the two governors had
agreed to accept as the boundary of their respective
territories. This river he could not discover, but he
disembarked on the eastern side of the gulf, and found
ed a town on a height there, calling it San Sebastian.

Minor Voyages. 291
This was the third town founded upon the Terra-firma,
the first haA'ing been the one which the old admiral,
Columbus, began to found in Veragua, and the second
that of Vera Cruz, which Ojeda himself had founded,
during a former voyage, in Bahiahonda. Neither of
these towns was now in existence.
Ojeda sent his stolen gold and Indians home to Saint
Domingo, in order that more men and suppfies might
in return be dispatched to him ; and he inaugurated
the budding of his new town by a foray into the ter
ritories of a neighboring Indian chief, who was report
ed to possess much gold. This foray, however, pro
duced nothing for Ojeda, and his men were soon driven
back by clouds of poisonous arrows.
How their people should be fed seems always to
have been a secondary consideration with these ma
rauding governors ; and, indeed, on like occasions in
all periods of the world, it appears as if gold were sup
posed to be meat, drink, and clothing, the knowledge
of what it is in civilized and settled communities cre
ating a fixed idea of its universal power, of which peo
ple are not able to divest themselves. Famine now
began to make itself felt at San Sebastian. Just at
this point of time, however, a supply from a most ap
propriate quarter came suddenly to the aid of the hun
gry inhabitants of the new town. There came in sight
a vessel, which had been stolen from some Genoese
by its commander Bernardino de Talavera, who was
bringing it to the new settlement, as being a place
where the title to any possessions would not be too
curiously looked into. The suppfies which this ves
sel brought were purchased by Ojeda, and served to
refieve, for the moment, his famishing colony. But
their necessities soon recommenced, and, with their ne-

292 Minor Voyages.
cessities, their murmurings. The Indians also har
assed them by perpetual attacks, for the fame of Oje-
da's deeds was rife in the land, and the natives were
naturaUy very unwilling to have such a neighbor near
them. The Spanish commander did what he could
to soothe his people by teUing them that Enciso, the
partner in his expedition and his alcalde, was coming ;
and as for the Indians, Ojeda repeUed their attacks
with his usual intrepidity. His Indian enemies, how
ever, began to understand the character of the man
they had to deal with, and, resolving to play upon his
personal bravery, which amounted to foolhardiness,
they laid an ambuscade for him. The Indians then
feigning an attack, Ojeda rushed out with his wonted
impetuosity until he came within reach of their am
buscade, Avhich concealed four bowmen. These dis
charging their poisoned arrows, one of them passed
through his thigh, and this was the first time, strange
to say, in his adventurous and riskful Hfe, that he had
been wounded. No veteran, however, could have
shown more indifference to pain in the remedy which
he insisted upon adopting. He ordered two plates of
iron brought to a white heat to be tied on to the thigh,
threatening the reluctant surgeon to hang him if he
did not apply this remedy. It was so severe that it
not only burned up the leg and the thigh, but the heat
penetrated his whole body, so that it became neces
sary to expend a pipe of vinegar in moistening the
bandages which were afterward appfied. AU this tor
ture Ojeda endured without being bound. Would
that this terrible energy and power of endurance had
been given to a career more worthy of them !
The supplies brought by Talavera being now entire
ly consumed, Ojeda's company began to feel again the

Minor Voyages. 293
pressure of famine, and to murmur accordingly. . They
also took counsel among themselves about seizing fur
tively the brigantines and returning to Hispaniola, for
they disbelieved, or affected to disbefieve, that Enciso
was coming at aU. Ojeda resolved to anticipate their
designs, and, in these straits, to return himself to His
paniola, leaving Francisco Pizarro, a name now first
appearing in history, in command as his lieutenant.
Before parting from his people, Ojeda made this
agreement with them, that if within fifty days he did
not return, they might then dispeople the settlement,
and go wherever they pleased in the two brigantines.
This being agreed upon, the wounded commander, with
a few attendants, embarked in Talavera's vessel.
Whether Bernardino de Talavera and his crew were
not able to manage the stolen craft, or that they met
with very bad weather, the result was that they could
not make the island of Hispaniola, but were ship
wrecked on the coast of Cuba, near the port of Xagua.
During the voyage the most violent feud had broken
out between Ojeda and his fellow-passengers. Their
interests were not likely to have coincided ; for these
marauders, who had stolen their vessel from some port
in Hispaniola, would hardly be anxious to come with
in sight of that island, to which Ojeda's course was
anxiously bent. Whatever may have been the cause
of the quarrel, it went to such lengths that Talavera
and his ruffians, who were much the stronger party,
put Ojeda in chains. In this way they traveled to
gether, after they were wrecked, toward the eastern
part of Cuba, the brave Ojeda being freed from his
chains whenever his companions feared an attack from
the Indians. He, though outnumbered, did not lose
his accustomed daring, heaping reproaches upon his

294 Minor Voyages.
companions, and saying he would kiU them aU if he
only had them to fight with two by two. The great
est danger, however, which these Spaniards had to en
counter as they made their way along the coast, was,
not from the Indians, but from a horrible swamp, in
which they floundered on day after day ; the swamp
extending as they marched along, and they, poor ship
wrecked men, with wet clothes and damaged provi
sions, now sinking up to the armpits, now disappear
ing altogether in the mud.
Ojeda's courage had never faUed him : his devotion
was now to be made manifest. In his waUet he al
ways carried an image of the Virgin Mary, a present
from his patron, Bishop Fonseca, which he reverenced
much, "for he was always a very devout servant of
the Mother of God" {porque siempre fue muy devoto
servidor de la Madre de Dios). When they rested
on any spot where the mangrove trees, which love
such swamps, were above the waters, Ojeda was wont
to hang up his image on a bough, paying adoration to
it himself, and exhorting the rest to do the like. So
they journeyed through this dreadful swamp for a whole
month, and not till they had left half their company
buried in it did they arrive at an Indian town on the
firm ground, caUed Cueyba. They were a wretched
band, almost dead with fatigue, but the good Indians
of Cueyba fed the Spaniards, washed them, and suc
cored them in every way. There Ojeda left his im
age, having vowed to do so at the first Indian town
he should arrive at. He also persuaded the cacique
to build an oratory for the image, and endeavored to
explain to him Avhat it meant.
The friendly Indians furnished the Spaniards with
guides into the province of Macaca ; from thence the

Minor Voyages. 295
shipwrecked men, remembering that there were Span
iards in Jamaica, sent one of their company, Diego
Ordaz, in a canoe to inform their fellow-countrymen of
their fate. Ordaz reached Jamaica safely ; and, upon
hearing his story, Juan de Esquivel, the governor of
Jamaica, sent a vessel for Ojeda and his companions.
The captain deputed to receive Ojeda was Pamphilo
de Narvaez, who, when Ojeda's canoe reached the ves
sel, thus courteously addressed him : " Senor Ojeda,
will your worship please to come hither ; we have to
take you on board ;" but the shipwrecked governor of
Uraba, as if conscious that honors scarcely belong to
the unfortunate, replied with a proverb expressive of
his Ul fortune, "Mi remo no rema" — my oar rows not.
Narvaez, however, received the unfortunate man with
aU honor, and conducted him to Juan de Esquivel at
Jamaica. This was the governor upon whose appoint
ment Ojeda, much enraged that Jamaica had not been
assigned to Nicuesa and himself for their provision
grounds, had said that if he went to Jamaica, he would
cut off the governor's head; but Juan de Esquivel,
putting aside aU remembrance of these threats, re
ceived Ojeda very kindly, and furnished him with the
means of transport to St. Domingo. As for Bernardi
no de Talavera and his confederates, they fell into the
clutches of the law on account of their act of piracy ;
but no notice was taken of any thing that they did to
Ojeda, and he made no stir about it himself, for, as
Las Casas says, Ojeda was not the man to accuse
them (no era hombre Hojeda que los acusaria).
The fifty days agreed upon by Ojeda and his men
as the term of their stay at San Sebastian had doubt
less passed before he reached Hispaniola, and even
if the time had not expired, the penniless Ojeda would

296 Minor Voyages.
not the less have been unable to fulfiU his part of the
contract. It appears that he lived for some time aft
erward at St. Domingo, and the only thing we hear of
him is the characteristic one of his narrowly escaping
assassination by his activity. He never regained pow
er or influence ; and this man, who had been engaged
from the first discovery of the New World in so many
great enterprises, and Avho was governor of Uraba, died
in the extreme of poverty. It appears that he became
a Franciscan monk for a few hours before his death,
and was clad in the habit of that order when he died,
"making," as Oviedo assures us, "a more laudable
end than other captains in these parts have done."*-
He Avas buried just beyond the threshold of the church
in the monastery of St. Francisco, perhaps from a wish
of his own that the multitude of passers-by might walk
upon his tomb. He was a type of many men of that
time, Avho, like himself, were reckless, valiant, devout,
adventurous. So much does one love bravery, even
of the coarsest kind, that many wiU echo the pious
wish of Las Casas, that it may have pleased God to
bless Ojeda before his death with a knowledge of his
sins, and with repentance for his deafings with the
Indians, t i
* " 'E quando se vido al cabo de la vida, pidid el habito de la 'Orden,
en que no perseverd el conde Guido, por el qual dixo : ' Yo fuy hom
bre de armas y despues fuy cordelero,' significando la drden de Sanct
Francisco, porque los religiosos se cinen la cuerda. T3 assi Hojeda, de
capitan e hombre guerrero, se convirtid en devoto frayle de la obser-
vancia ; pero hizolo mejor que aquel conde Guido, puesto que perse
verd en la 'Orden y se hizo frayle para pocas horas, y fue enterrado en
el monasterio de Sanct Francisco de aquesta cibdad, en el qual habito >
murid e acabd como cathdlico, haciendo mas loable fin que no han he-
cho otros capitanes en estas partes." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib.
xxvii., cap. 4.
t " Plega d haya placido a Dios de haberle dado conoscimiento. an
tes de la muerte de haber sido pecador los males que hizo a Indios." —
Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. ii., cap. 61.

CHAPTEB II.
ENCISO'S RE-ENFORCEMENTS. — ESTABLISHMENT AT DARIEN.
 NICUESA' S MISFORTUNES AVITH HIS OAVN COLONT.  NI
CUESA REJECTED BY THE MEN OP DARTEN.
THE narrative now returns to Ojeda's men, who
had been left at San Sebastian, in the Gulf of
Uraba. When the fifty days had expired, and there
were no signs of their commander, who, indeed, at that
moment was plunging through the dismal swamp upon
the coast of Cuba, they resolved to dispeople the set
tlement and to saU away. But as the two brigantines
would not hold them all, they were obliged to wait
untU hunger and the assaults of the Indians had re
duced them to the proper number. Then they kuled
and salted the horses that were left ; and, having thus
provided themselves with some food for the voyage,
they embarked, Pizarro commanding one of the brig
antines, and a man named Valenzuela the other. Their
sojourn at San Sebastian had lasted six months.
When they were twenty leagues from the shore,
Valenzuela's brigantine, struck, as it was imagined, by
some large fish, went down suddenly. Pizarro made
for the port of Carthagena, and, as he entered, saw a
ship and a brigantine coming in at the same time.
These proved to contain the men and the supplies
brought at last by the BachiUer Enciso, Ojeda's al
calde mayor. He had with him one hundred and fifty
men, several horses, arms, powder, and provisions. A
curious incident, fraught with great results, had occur-
N2

298 Minor Voyages.
red early in Enciso's voyage. /In the midst of his
cargo, unknown to its owner, was a barrel* containing
no provisions, but a Hying man, of whom much wiU
hereafter have to be said. His name was Vasco Nu
nez de Balboa, a native of Xerez de Badajoz, an ad
venturer, a skillful master of the art of fencing, \ who,
as he was in debt, and as indebted people might not
leave the island of Hispaniola without the permission
of the authorities, had secretly, by the aid of a friend
named Bartolome Hurtado, contrived to get into this
barrel, and to form part of Enciso's stores. When the
vessel had got out to sea, Vasco Nuiiez made his ap
pearance, much to the dissatisfaction of Enciso, a pre
cise lawyer, who must thoroughly have objected to
aid in any breach of the law. He threatened to put
Vasco Nunez on a desert island, but suffered himself
to be pacified at last. To those who know the part
that Vasco Nunez was about to play, it almost seems
as if the Arabian story of the unfortunate man who
freed a malignant spirit from durance, and found that
it had sworn to destroy the person who should defiver
it, was so far about to be acted over again. / /^^,M/,"
On the meeting of the remnant of Ojeda's company,
under Pizarro's command, with the re-enforcements
brought by the BachUler Enciso, the latter command
er at once concluded that these people had fled away
from their duty, and had deserted Ojeda. Indeed,
Enciso was so convinced of this that he was incfined
to put them into confinement, and at first would give
* Oviedo says that Vasco Nunez was concealed in the folds of a
sail : " Escondido envuelto en la vela cogida en la entena de la nao."
— Hist., lib. xxix. Prohemio.
t This, at least, is the meaning that has been given to Petek Mar
tyr's word " digladiator."

Minor Voyages. 299
no credit to the story they told him. Their famished
appearance, however, was an undeniable witness in
their favor, and at last they succeeded in convincing
the BachiUer of the truth of what they were saying ;
and then, naturaUy enough, they did aU they could to
dissuade him from proceeding to San Sebastian ; but
he, full of his lawyer-like notions that he must do what
he had contracted to do (and he is to be honored for
this), resolved to go on to Uraba ; and partly persuad
ing them Avith a hope of plunder, partly insisting upon
their obedience, he contrived to carry them along with
him. Enciso, with his vessels in good trim, saUed out
from Carthagena to pursue his way to Uraba; but,
unfortunately, just as he was making for land near
San Sebastian, from some oversight on the part of the
man at the helm, his vessel was thrown upon a rock,
and in a very short time beaten to pieces. The men
with difficulty saved themselves in the boat and the
brigantine, but aU the cattle and almost all the provi
sions were lost ; and when Enciso and his men made
their way to San Sebastian, they found the fortress
entirely destroyed. Their situation was manifestly
most perQous. For some time they managed to sub
sist upon wild animals caught in the mountains, and
upon the buds of the palm-tree ; but this precarious
supply soon came to an end, and then it was necessa
ry to obtain food by force.
The Indians here, however, as Ojeda had found be
fore, were most formidable opponents. It is men
tioned that three naked Indians with poisoned arrows
pierced as many Spaniards as they had arrows for,
and then fled like the wind.

300 Minor Voyages.
We may easily imagine how the desire to return
now grew upon the men, and how Pizarro and the
remnant of Ojeda's people clamored at their advice
and entreaties not having been listened to. WhUe
the hearts of all men in this little colony were thus
down-stricken, and their purposes confused, each man
giving or listening to advice {oyendo cada uno d cada
cual su sentencia), Vasco Nunez spoke out. He said
that he recollected, when he was Avith Bodrigo de
Bastidas, entering this Gulf of Uraba, and that they
disembarked in the western part of it, where they
found an Indian town near a great rircr, in the midst
of a fertile country. He also said, which was most to
the present purpose, that the Indians in those parts
did not use poisoned arrows. How deeply it is to be
regretted that this knowledge of poisoned arrows did
not overspread the continent, for, as every reader of
the Iliad is always on the Trojan side, so it is impos
sible, in reading this conquest of the New World, not
to wish for the success of the weaker party, or, at least,
not to regret that their weapons Avere for the most
part so lamentably unequal to those of their invaders.
This river, that Vasco Nunez spoke of, proved to be
the Biver Darien. Plis advice was instantly listened
to ; and the BachUler Enciso, taking with him Vasco
Nunez and a hundred men, set out to find the Indian
town. They succeeded in finding it ; but the Indians,
who had heard of their doings in other parts, were not
inclined to receive them amicably. Five hundred men
(the women and children haA'ing been sent away) had
taken up a position on a hill, aAvaiting the orders of
Cemaco, their cacique, for battle.
This being a critical period in the fortunes of the
new colony, the Spaniards then present knelt doAvn

Minor Voyages. 301
devoutly, and made a vow, that if victorious, they
would dedicate their first church and settlement to
Santa Maria de la Antigua, aUuding to an image so
caUed in Seville, which was much reverenced by aU
the citizens there; and they also vowed that they
would send a company of pUgrims with jewels to her
shrine at Seville. The Bachiller, moreover, in a pe
dantic way, as it seems to me, made all his men take
an oath that they would not turn their backs on the
enemy. When the fight commenced, Vasco Nunez
proved to be right in his report of there being no
poison in the arrows of these Indians, who according
ly, with their puny weapons, made no resistance wor
thy of the name to the Hoavs Avith sword and lance
dealt by the Spaniards. Those Indians who were
not killed fled at once, leaving an easy victory to the
Spaniards, who might, I imagine, have saved them
selves the jewels which they had promised to send to
the shrine of Santa Maria de la Antigua.
There is a different version of this story mentioned
by Las Casas. It is said that the Indians received
Enciso and his party weU, and gave them gold; but
that, upon a demand being made to be informed where
this gold came from, the cacique, counseled by his
elders, would not teU the Spaniards, for fear they
should settle in those parts ; that they then applied
the torture to him, when he confessed where the gold
was to be found, but afterward, coUecting his forces,
resolved to attack them.
Whichever story is right, it is certain that Enciso
had this skirmish with the natives of Darien, in which
his forces were victorious. He afterward entered the
Indian town, where he found a store of provisions;
and, pursuing his researches, he discovered in a cane-

302 Minor Voyages.
brake the household gods of the Indians, among which
were also found golden breastplates and golden chains.
Sending for the rest of his people from San Sebastian,
Enciso founded the town of Santa Maria de la Antigua
del Darien.
But a far more difficult task than buUding a town
had to be attempted by the BachiUer Enciso : he had
to rule a number of discontented, disappointed men,
and it does not seem that he possessed any peculiar
talents for that difficult undertaking. They had now,
too, a good pretext for refusing obedience to his au
thority; they said that he had no power over them,
as they were not in Ojeda's territory, but in that of
Nicuesa, which was true. Such a pretext would never
have distressed a real commander, but it was of suffi
cient force against the BachiUer Enciso. It appears
he had given great offense by issuing a peremptory
mandate that no one, on pain of death, should traffic
with the Indians for gold. Vasco Nuriez was, no
doubt, at the head of the malcontents, and he is said
to have complained bitterly of the injustice of the
BachiUer, declaring that he had nothing but the name
of an educated man, but was, in reality, a most cunning
fox.* The men, resolving to depose Enciso, proceeded
to an election of their officers, and, in straits like
these, a good choice is nearly sure to be macfe. They
chose Vasco Nunez and a man named Zamudio for
their alcaldes, and a person of the name of Valdivia
for regidor ; but even this election was not decisive in
the minds of these unfortunate colonists. There stiU
* " Nee se Baccalaureo pariturum, qui in jure dicendo privato magis
qnsestui quam communi omnium utilitati consuleret, nihilque praeter
litterati nomen haberet, reapse vulpem astutissimam referens." — Ben
zoni, Hist. Novi Orbis, lib. i., cap. 20.

Minor Voyages. 303
remained three factions ; one in favor of Vasco Nunez,
another devoted to Enciso, and -a third to Nicuesa.
An accident determined the matter in favor of
Nicuesa. He had left behind him in Hispaniola his
Heutenant, Bodrigo de Colmenares, who was to foUow
with stores and provisions. Colmenares met with
great hinderance from the authorities in Hispaniola;
and if; was not untU ten months after his chief had
saUed that he was able to follow him. The first
point he had touched upon in the Terra-firma was near
the Sierra Nevada, in the province of Santa Martha.
From thence he had proceeded westward along the
coast in search of Nicuesa, making smoke-signals on
the shore and firing off guns, which were at last heard
by Enciso's men, who, returning the signals, brought
Colmenares to them. He arrived at Darien in Novem
ber, 1510.
The provisions which Colmenares brought in his
ships were powerful arguments in favor of Nicuesa;
the recoUection of his pleasant manners and of his
kindness to their late commander, Ojeda, must have
told in his favor; and, in fine, the greater part of En
ciso's company joined in sending Colmenares to Nicu
esa to ask him to come and take the command of them.
It is necessary now to turn back "to Nicuesa, and to
ascertain what had become of him while Enciso was
being deposed. The narrative is exceedingly tangled,
but unavoidably so. The events, however, if not im
portant in themselves, were so important in their con
sequences, and are such needful links in the great chain
of the New World's history, that they must be patient
ly recounted.
Nicuesa left the port of Carthagena soon after Ojeda

304 Minor Voyages.
had quitted it, and bent his course at once to his prov
ince of Veragua. Lope de Olano, of whose previous
life we only know that he was concerned in the revolt
of Boldan against Columbus, was Nicuesa's captain
general. The mode of sailing was this : Nicuesa went
in a caravel, attended by the two brigantines, in one of
Avhich was Lope de Olano. Nicuesa's caravel and the
brigantines kept close to the shore ; the two large ships
stood out more to sea, as was requisite. They were
all to sail westward, making their way to Veragua ;
but soon after quitting Carthagena the weather became
very contrary, and one stormy night, Nicuesa, to avoid
danger near the coast, put out to sea, and in the course
of that night parted company with aU the other vessels.
On the morning neither the brigantines nor the other
two vessels were to be seen. Nicuesa was in great
tribulation, thinking that his fleet had been lost. He
returned toward the coast, and went up a river, of
which the name is not given. There the tide, flowing
out with a great rapidity unperceived by the ship's
crew, left him on a sand-bank. The caravel instantly
feU on its side, and began to go to pieces. Nicuesa
and his ship's company were only saved by the bold
ness of one of them, who contrived to fasten a rope to
a tree, by which, as on a bridge, the men made their
way to land ; but all the stores, provisions, and clothes
were lost.
One thing, however, of value remained to them —
the boat. In that Nicuesa put four seamen, and or
dered them to coast along to the west, keeping near
him, while he and the rest pursued their course by
land. The journey was a terrible one ; half naked
and without shoes, they had to make their way across
swamps, and amid an unknown and untraversed coun-

Minor Voyages. 305
try. Neither were they free from fear of hostile In
dians, for one morning a page of Nicuesa's, Avho Avas
conspicuous from wearing a white sombrero, and whom
probably the Indians took for the chieftain of the Span
iards, was shot dead by an arrow, to the great sorrow
of his master. Thus they proceeded for some days,
when, on one occasion, imagining that they could save
much distance by going all of them in a boat from one
promontory to another, where the land made a great
curve inward,* they did so, using the boat by turns,
and aU of them got safely to this headland, which
proved, hoAvever, not to be part of the coast, but a des
ert island, where there was not even fresh water. The
only thing like it was a pool here and there of muddy
swamp. The four seamen who managed the boat
went off 'with it one night, very likely the night after
they had made the discovery that this was an island,
and Nicuesa and his men were left to endure the ex
treme of suffering. Some of the men went mad Avith
misery. Like the beasts of the field, they went on all
fours, and fed on whatever herbage they could find,
but were ignorant, as the beasts are not, of what herb
age was good and what was noxious.
Leaving Nicuesa and his men in this deplorable
state, we have to return to his second in command,
Lope de Olano, and to his proceedings on the morning
after the storm in which Nicuesa parted company from
his fleet. I can not perceive that Lope de Olano was
much to blame in what he did on this occasion, though,
perhaps a very zealous officer in his master's behalf
might have done more. Meeting with the other brig
antine, which a certain Pedro de Umbria commanded,
* I conjecture this to have been the Boca de Chiriqui, beyond the
island Escudo de Veragua.

306

Minor Voyages.

the two captains took counsel together, and, conclud
ing that Nicuesa would be sure to make his way to
Veragua, they resolved to hold on their course in that
direction. They found the other vessels in the Biver
Chagre, which was then caUed the Biver of Lizards, a
name it had received from Columbus. It was then, I
imagine, that Lope de Olano, finding that the great
vessels had no tidings of the caravel, said that their

Establishment of Darien. 307
commander was lost (which perhaps Olano really
thought), and, by general consent, he took command
of the expedition.* But it was no longer in a hopeful
state. The ships had suffered greatly from a worm
which was very destructive to ship-timber on that
coast, and aU the provisions had been spoiled or lost.
After several unimportant movements from the Biver
Chagre to the Biver Belem, and then to the Biver
Veragua, where it appears that Olano endeavored to
* An account, varying from the above in several important particu
lars, is given by Oviedo in the twenty-eighth book of his history, re
cently published (1852) from MS. by the Royal Academy at Madrid.
According to that, it would appear that Nicuesa and his fleet anchored
safely at a port in the province of Cueva, which he called Puerto de
Misas (probably on account of mass being said there) ; that he left
his two large vessels and one brigantine in that port ; that he went on
in the caravel to find Veragua, being accompanied by Lope de Olano
in the other brigantine ; and that he had a quarrel with the pilot of
Olano's vessel, which was the cause of his being deserted. The pilot
maintained, and rightly, that they had arrived at Veragua, and thus ex
pressed himself: " This is Veragua, and I came here with the Admiral
Don Christoval Colon when he discovered this land." But Nicuesa,
relying upon some papers which the Adelantado Bartolome Colon had
given him, persisted in saying that they had not come to Veragua, and
spoke abusively to the pilot from on board the caravel. The pilot said
to Olano that they might cut off his head if they did not find that he
was right.
Then, according to Oviedo's account, on the following night, "it
appearing to this bad captain that the governor was a lost man" (par-
esciendole a este mal capitan quel gobernador yba perdido), he command
ed the pilot and the mariners to turn back, and not to follow the lan
tern of the caravel.
The remaining part of the story is not essentially different, except
that it makes Lope de Olano, who was a Biscayan, secure his power
by means of the other Biscayans, who were in some numbers in the
fleet. The writing of history, like all other human affairs, is, for the
most part, but a choice among difficulties. In this case, however, it is
not important to make a choice, and I shall, therefore, merely leave the
two accounts to stand^side by side. It must be noticed, in justice to
Nicuesa, that Oviedo's account throws much more blame on the lieu
tenant, Lope de Olano.

308 Establishment of Darien.
found a colony, which endeavor failed, we find him on
the shore near the Biver Belem, with the great ships
knocked to pieces, and a caravel formed out of them,
Avith his two brigantines, with no stores, no provisions,
and many of his men dead.*
The treachery of the four mariners who left Nicuesa
on the desert island proved eventuaUy a fortunate
treachery for him. Coasting along to the eastward,
they came to the spot where Lope de Olano was, and
told him of the iU fortune of Nicuesa, saying that they
had left Avithout teUing their commander, in order to
save the whole party. The news of the existence of
Nicuesa was probably very unwelcome to Olano ; but
he sent a brigantine to fetch off Nicuesa, and in it what
provisions he could spare, being palm-tree buds and
such like wretched stuff, which was all that they had
to eat there.
The brigantine succeeded in reaching the desert isl
and where Nicuesa Avas, and in bringing him off to re
join his company at the Biver Belem. The first thing
he did, on meeting his people, was to command the
arrest of Lope de Olano, \ and bitterly to reproach his
* It was noticed that the men always died when the tide was ebbing :
" Notaban en estas angustias, que nunca moria alguno sino cuando la
mar menguaba." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. ii., c. 65.
t According to Oviedo, the punishment which Nicuesa inflicted upon
Lope de Olano was condemning him to grind maize in the public street,
with two stones, as the Indian women grind it, his feet being chained
together as the Moorish slaves are chained, who, at the gate of Triana,
in Seville, pound sedge. " Pero haciale en pago de su traycion, moler
publicamente mahiz en la calle cada dia a fuerca de bracos, sobre una
piedra algo cdncava con otra redonda e rollica, como lo acostumbran
moler las indias ; e de tantas tortillas que molia, dabanle una que co-
miesse por su trabaxo, estando presso con una cadena a les pies, al
modo de aquellos moros esclavos que a la puerta de Triana en Sevilla
maxan esparto." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat, lib. xxviii., cap. 3.

Establishment of Darien. 309
other principal officers for not having made efforts to
discover him. They humbly implored forgiveness.
Had they not suffered enough, they said ? four hund
red were already lost, and they, the rest, were in a fair
way to perish. But Nicuesa, whose good qualities
were such as flourish only in sunny seasons, was no
longer gracious, but, on the contrary, very Ul-condition-
ed (mal condicionado)./ Here we may see the differ
ence between a commander by nature and an accidental
one. In aU the chief enterprises which distinguish the
early colonization of the New World, the most striking
thing to notice is the way in which the great commandr
ers endure, not merely hunger and want, but revilings
and upbraidings. Columbus, Cortez, Pizarro, Vasco
Nunez, shine out in. adversity, and in those times when
the ordinary bonds of discipline are loosed. And no
one, Avho has not shared adversity with a number of
his feUows, can estimate the meanness of mankind in
such cases. It is Only the great souls who are great
throughout. Certainly Nicuesa did not possess one of
these souls, and even what he did rightly bore the air
of caprice and petulance. ^
MeanwhUe, the state of things around him grew
worse and worse, but the severity of his temper did
not abate, and his men believed that he absolutely took
delight in imposing upon them dreadful burdens, when
he sent them into the country to see what they could
get by force from the Indian vUlages. To such an
extremity were the Spaniards reduced, that on one
occasion they are said to have been driven by hunger.
to cannibalism.
Nicuesa resolved to leave a spot which had been so
fatal to him; but even in doing this he contrived to
show his newly-born harshness. Each of his men,

310 Establishment of Darien.
made wise by adversity, had sown a little bit of maize ;
and as, in that glowing country, harvests ripen soon,
they were expecting in a few days to reap the benefit
of their sowing. They implored him, therefore, to stop
for these few days, but he would not listen to their en
treaties. Taking with him in the caravel and the two brigan
tines their complement of men, he left the others be
hind, and set sail, directing his course toward the east.
When they had gone four leagues, one of the seamen
happened to recollect that a port was thereabout. He
had been with the "Old Admiral," for so Columbus was
caUed, when he discovered the province of Veragua ;
and this mariner said that, if he were not mistaken,
there would be found half buried in the sand an anchor,
and near it a tree, under which there would be a spring
of fresh water. They went, and found the mariner to
be right ; and the harbor proved to be PortobeUo, so
named by Columbus. Here they endeavored to make
an entrance into the country, in order to get some sup
plies of any kind ; but they were so weak that they
could hardly hold their weapons in their hands. The
Indians succeeded in resisting them, and in killing
twenty. From PortobeUo they went sailing toward
the east until they came to another harbor. " In the
name of God {en nombre de Dios), let us stay here,"
they exclaimed ; and " Nombre de Dios" is the name
the port has ever since retained.* What poetry and
* It afterward became the great port for the reception and transmis
sion to Spain of the riches of Peru. " Nombre de Dios, ques por donde
han salido en estos postreros tiempos en que estamos a esta parte tan-
tos millones de pessos de oro, e innumerables quintales de plata, y se
han Uevado a Espana y traydo mucho dello a estas nuestras Islas, en
tanta manera que no se sabria estimar su cantidad y valor cierto." —
Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxviii., cap. 3.

Establishment of Darien.

311

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history there are in names ! Here they contrived to
buUd a Httle wooden fort, and Nicuesa sent for the rest
of the men from the Biver Belem. Since his departure
from Belem he had lost two hundred more men ; and
now, of the seven hundred and eighty-five men who
came out with him from Hispaniola, there remained,
when he built this little fort in December, 1510, only
about a hundred. Having finished the fort, he com-
monnorl Iiia nffar-lrs nnnn r.hfi Tndians : but the prOvi-
312 Establishment of Darien.
sions gained by these attacks seldom lasted long.
Hunger, which had dogged the steps of this expedi
tion from the night of that fatal tempest and dispersion,
stiU relentlessly pursued it. At last, all the ordinary
rules of discipline were at an end, and there could not
even be found one man in the company strong enough
to do the duty of a sentinel.
It can not be said, however, that these men were
utterly neglected by fortune. They were just at this
moment in a state of extreme and apparently hopeless
peril, when Colmenares, pursuing steadily his course
eastward, came upon their track, and found them.
Great was the delight of the seventy* men who re
mained — for their number had now dwindled to sev
enty ; and Nicuesa's delight Avas not the least, when,
shedding tears, he threw himself at the feet of one who
brought him present safety and such good hopes for
the future. Indeed, it was a change of fortune such
as seldom occurs except in fiction. According to Pe
ter Martyr's account, Colmenares found Nicuesa " of
all living men the most unfortunate, in a manner dried
up with extreme hunger, filthy and horrible to be
hold ;" and now he was summoned to become govern
or to those who remained of his rival Ojeda's force,
and who, unfortunate as they had been, had, at any
rate, made a less wretched settlement than Nicuesa
and his men could boast of having done.
But Nicuesa's good temper and good sense were not
now to be recovered by any gleam of good fortune.
Indeed, he seems to have acted on this occasion, or
* It may show the difficulty of making any thing like a clear ac
count of these events to find that Colmenares, the man of all others
who should have known, makes the numbers left two hundred ; all the
best historical authorities say seventy or thereabouts.

Establishment of Darien. 313
rather to have talked, which is often more dangerous,
like a man bereft of common sense. Hearing that
Ojeda's company had coUected gold, upon which, as,
strictly speaking, they were settled in the country as
signed to him, he had some claim, he gave out that he
should take it away. . The disgust which the deputies
from Darien began at once to conceive for him may be
easUy imagined ; nor was this disgust Hkely to be di
minished by any good words that would be said of
him by his own men at Nombre de Dios. Lope de
Olano, though in chains, contrived to put in his word,
privately telling the new-comers that Nicuesa would
do with them as he had done with his own people,
when they sent for him from the desert island. Lope
de Olano's words had the more effect, as he was able
to communicate with some relations and men from his
own province, Biscayans, who were at Darien. The
bond of community which existed between men be
longing to the same province is one of the most re
markable things in this history, and forms an under
current which influences the narrative in very unex
pected ways. It is a circumstance which shows how
badly welded together were the various provinces of
Spain, and what different interests arose from this di
versity of race, habits, and language. StiU, had Ni
cuesa been swift in acting upon his good news, he
might have anticipated the consequences of his foofish
and tyrannical sayings, and have defeated his Biscay
an enemies ; but, while he sent on to Darien a caravel
in which there were many of the people who murmur
ed against him, he himself, in the brigantine, stopped
on the way for about a week to reconnoitre some Httle
islands and to capture Indians, for which iniquity
there came a terrible retribution. No sooner had the
Vol. I.— O

314 Establishment of Darien.
people in the caravel reached Darien than they began
to influence the colonists there against him, and with
such success that the Darienites became quite mad
with themselves at their foUy in having invited Nicu
esa. It was as if the frogs in the fable had already
foreseen the conduct of King Stork before he came
among them. It may easily be imagined, and was
generally reported, that Vasco Nunez did what he
could to incite the people against the coming govern
or, and it is said that he canvassed with great secresy
the principal persons, man by man, convincing them
of their error in having chosen Nicuesa, and showing
them the remedy for it.
When Nicuesa neared the place of disembarkation,
expecting, no doubt, to be received with whatever
pomp and honor men so tattered and buffeted would
stiU endeavor to show their new chief, he found an ar
ray of armed men drawn up on the shore, looking as
if they meant to repel an invasion rather than to re
ceive a governor. Among them were Vasco Nunez
and the procurador of the settlement ; and this latter
officer, in a formal manner, proclaimed aloud that Ni
cuesa should not be permitted to land, but should re
turn to his own settlement at Nombre de Dios. At
this astounding reception, Nicuesa, for a short time,
could hardly speak ; then he said, " Gentlemen, you
yourselves sent for me. Let me land, and we wiU
talk the matter over ; you have to hear me, and I have
to hear you, and we have to understand one another.
Afterward do with me what you will." This speech
seems to contain some of his former graciousness of
manner ; but the men of Darien knew him too weU
now, and sternly refused to have any thing to do with
him.

Fate of Nicuesa. 315
It was evening, and he drew off for that night, in
tending to return the next day, and to see whether
they would change then- minds.
The next day, when he appeared, they called him
to come to them, meaning to take him prisoner ; for,
when he landed, they rushed upon him, but, as he was
remarkably swift of foot, he escaped from them. Vas"-
co Nunez, who had some grandeur of soul, felt ashamed
of this sorry scene, rebuking his company for their ill
manners ; and Nicuesa, "now much faUen, asked them
to take him for a companion if not for a governor, and,
if not as a companion, as a prisoner, saying that they
might put him in chains ; but they only mocked him.
Vasco Nunez did his best to make them change their
behavior, and he even inflicted the punishment of a
hundred stripes on one of those who took most part
against Nicuesa ; but, seeing that he could not resist
the whole settlement, he sent privately to Nicuesa,
teUing him not to trust himself among them unless he
should see him, Vasco Nunez, with them. Nicuesa,
however, gave no heed to this; for afterward, when
there came a deputation to him, saying that they would
give him welcome, but that he must pardon the rude
ness of their former reception, he listened to them, and
placed himself in their hands. But no sooner had
they got him into their power than, it is said, they
made him swear that he would go away, and not stop
until he should appear before the King of Spain and
his councU. This, I imagine, was meant for mockery.
In vain the wretched Nicuesa reminded them that they
were in his territory, and protested before God, as he
could not before the king, against their cruelty in send
ing him away so HI provisioned as he was for any voy
age. They paid no attention to his entreaties, but

3j6 Fate of Nicuesa.
turned him adrift in the most wretched brigantine that
was there.* Hopeless of moving his enemies, or in
dignant at their mockery, Nicuesa set sail from Dari
en and was never heard of more. The last words
that he was heard to utter as he left the shore were,
" Show thy face, O Lord, and we shaU be saved, "f
Some suppose that he perished at sea, others that he
either went to, or was driven upon, some island on the
coast of Veragua, and was destroyed by hunger or by
the natives, as it was reported that these words were
found cut out in the bark of a tree, "Aqui anduvo
perdido el desdichado Diego de Nicuesa (Here went
lost the unfortunate Diego de Nicuesa). But, even if
such an inscription were ever found, it might have
been made at the time of his former calamity, when he
was left on the desert island. It was on the 1st of
March, 1511, that he set saU in his crazy vessel, and
he was accompanied by seventeen companions who
still remained faithful to him.
It is sad, notwithstanding their lamentable errors,
to see how these adventurous commanders one after
another drop from the scene. I say their lamentable
errors, because, with our modern notions at least, it is
impossible to regard their conduct toward the Indians
as otherwise than infamous ; but we must not let this
bfind us to any merits they might have had. And
certainly their sad fate, and the fate of those under
* Indeed, Pascual de Antugoya says that the brigantine was
calked with iron, as the wretch who did it told him. " Y aiin decian .
que calafateado con ferro groso : esto al mismo calafate que le aderezd
se lo 01 yo." — Pascual de Andagoya, Relacion ; Nav., Col, torn, iii.,
p. 395.
t " De personas que se hallaron pressentes supe que le oyeron de-
•px en su partida, con lagrimas, Ilamando a Dios : Ostende faciem tuam,
et salvi erimus."— Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix. Prohemio.

Fate of Ojeda and Nicuesa. 317
them, seem to afford some retribution for their sins to
ward the Indians.*
Ojeda, as we have already seen, died in the utmost
poverty ; Nicuesa perished either from hunger or ship
wreck. Of the companions whom they brought out
with them, full of hope and proud designs, only forty-
three remained of Nicuesa's men, and thirty or forty
of Ojeda's. The men who were now at Darien were
those who had come in the re-enforcements brought by
Enciso to Ojeda, and by Colmenares to Nicuesa. ,
* Vasco Nunez, in one of his letters to Charles the Fifth, discusses
the fate of Nicuesa, and attributes it to his tyranny toward his own
men, which was evidently the proximate cause of his destruction. —
Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 360.

BOOK VI.
VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA.

CHAPTER I.
vasco nunez's dealings with the neighboring caciques.
— first notice of the pacific.  factions at darien. 
vasco nunez resolves to discover the south sea. — suc
ceeds in his enterprise, and takes possession of the
pacific for the kings of castile.  his return to da
RIEN. CHAPTER II.
THE GOVERNMENT UNDER PEDRARIAS, WITH THE VARIOUS EX
PEDITIONS UNDERTAKEN BY HIS CAPTAINS.
CHAPTER III.
THE FATE OF VASCO NUNEZ.

CHAPTER I.
VASCO NUNEZ'S DEALINGS WITH THE NEIGHBORING CA
CIQUES.  FIRST NOTICE OP THE PACIFIC.  FACTIONS AT
DARIEN.  VASCO NUNEZ RESOLVES TO DISCOVER THE
SOUTH SEA.  SUCCEEDS IN HIS ENTERPRISE, AND TAKES
POSSESSION OF THE PACIFIC FOR THE KINGS OP CASTILE.
 HIS RETURN TO DARIEN.
THE facts in history often form themselves into
groups so much resembfing one another as to give
the impression of the same play being acted over and
over again, only with a change of names and with new
scenery. This is especiaUy the case in the events I
am now recounting ; and, knowing beforehand the fate
that generaUy awaits the principal actors, it appears to
me as if I were but presenting new versions of the
same story.
'The principal interest of the narrative is now con
centered in Vasco Nunez. The valorous Ojeda, the
polished Nicuesa, and the flourishing lawyer Enciso,
Httle dreamed that the conduct of their enterprise was
to devolve upon a man who should furtively come out
in a cask to evade his creditors. He had, however,
most of the quafities necessary for a great commander
in those times. He was clever, crafty, courageous,
forward in enterprise, good-humored, and handsome.
I think, too, he had considerable nobUity of nature^/
and I am not disposed to lay the whole blame of the
02

322 Vasco Nunez discovers
rejection of Nicuesa upon Vasco Nunez. His conduct
to Enciso is far more questionable, and has justly laid
him open to the accusation of having kept in mind the
threats and reproaches which Enciso addressed to him
when he made his unwelcome and undignified appear
ance from amid the cargo of Enciso's vessel.
After Nicuesa's departure, Vasco Nunez instituted
a process against the BachiUer, saying that he had
usurped a jurisdiction to which he had no claim, as he
had receivedno authority from the king, but only from
Ojeda, who was already dead. Upon this poor pre
text Vasco Nunez sequestered Enciso's goods and put
him in prison, but afterward freed him, upon the un
derstanding that he should sail for CastUe or for His
paniola. It seems a very weak proceeding of Vasco
Nunez to have sent ,home a man who, he must have
known, would be a powerful enemy ; but he took care
to send in the same ship his own comrades in office,
Zamudio and Valdivia: Valdivia, to make the proper
representations to Don Diego Columbus and the treas
urer Passamonte at St. Domingo ; Zamudio, to go on
to Spain, and there to represent to the king the serv
ices which the colonists at Darien had rendered to his
highness. Valdivia did not go empty-handed.
After the departure of the deputies, some Indians
came to Darien as spies, under the pretext of bring
ing provisions ; and they told the Spaniards, probably
with a view to getting rid of them as neighbors, that
there was much gold at Cueva, a province at thirty
leagues distance. Vasco Nunez sent Pizarro, with six
companions, to discover this province. The Indians,
under their cacique Cemaco, who had been dispos
sessed by the Spaniards, set upon these seven men ;

the South Sea.

323

but, as the Indians of Darien did not use poisoned ar
rows, they were not able to overpower this small de
tachment, though they wounded them severely, while,
on the contrary, even this handful of Spaniards con
trived to kiU a great many of the natives before re-

PANAMA, DARIEN,
AND THE
SOUTH SEA.

turning to Vasco Nunez. He then, accompanied by a
hundred men, made an incursion into these regions ;
but, in the mean time, the Indians had sought refuge
in flight, a measure which, had there been a Fabius to
advise them, would always have been adopted as their
surest mode of warfare. Vasco Nunez, finding none

324 Vasco Nunez discovers
to subdue or to treat with, returned to his town of
Darien. This, therefore, proved a thoroughly fruitless
enterprise. There are signs of Vasco Nunez having
been discouraged at this time, and his career might
have ended as deplorably as that of Nicuesa or Ojeda;
he might have been contented with making petty in
cursions, have thus deprived himself of the neighbor
hood of the Indians, and eventually have perished
from starvation, had it not been for the curious and
lamentable circumstance about to be related.
Nicuesa not returning to Darien, of which event it
appears Vasco Nunez had for some little time an ex
pectation, he sent for the remnant of Nicuesa's men
who were left at Nombre de Dios. As these people
were on their way to Darien, and Were in a port of the
province of Cueva, there came to meet them two Span
iards, without clothes, and with painted bodies, like
the Indians.
These were men who, on some occasion about a year
and a half before, had fled from Nicuesa's ships to
escape punishment, probably well deserved, and who,
entering the country, had been received kindly by Ca-
reta, the cacique of Cueva ; indeed, he had made one
of them, named Juan Alonso, his principal captain.
This wretch bade the Spaniards tell Vasco Nunez that
if he would come to Careta's town, he, Juan Alonso,
would deliver his master, the cacique, bound into the
hands of Vasco Nunez ; and he also gave the aUuring
intelligence that there were great riches in that prov
ince. Vasco Nunez was delighted at this news, and he
prepared at once to act upon it, entering Careta's ter
ritory at the head of a hundred and thirty men. Hav
ing arrived with his "apostles," as Las Casas caUs

the South Sea. 325
them, at the Indian town where Careta dwelt, he found
the cacique awaiting his coming. Vasco Nunez, con
scious of the treachery he was about to commit, and
perhaps not liking to gUd it over with fair words, rude
ly demanded provisions from the cacique. The In
dian chief repfied that whenever Christians had passed
by his home, he had ordered provisions to be given
them HberaUy, and he would do so now ; at the same
time he remarked that he was straitened himself, as
he was at war with a neighboring chief, Poncha, and
his own people had not been able to sow as usual.
Juan Alonso, probably speaking in Spanish in pres
ence of the cacique, then suggested to Vasco Nunez
to pretend to take leave of the chief, and afterward
to come back at night in order to make an attack on
the town : he, for his part, would do his best to se
cure the person of the cacique. Vasco Nunez adopt
ed the suggestion. He went away, but, returning
at night, made his attack in three divisions, awaken
ing the sleeping Indians with the war-cry of " Santi
ago." Juan Alonso, true to his promises of treachery, se
cured the person of the cacique ; and Vasco Nunez
thus succeeded in carrying him and his famUy to Da
rien, and in devastating his town.
The good Bishop of Chiapa,* who is the principal
authority for these transactions, does not faU to intro
duce a few words of moral discourse, in which he nafc-
uraUy likens Juan Alonso to Judas Iscariot ; but such
proceedings need Httle comment. Careta, however,
was not upon this occasion Ul treated by the Span
iards, but, on the contrary, was conciliated and con
verted into a most useful aUy. He gave his daugh-
* Las Casas.

326 Vasco Nunez discovers
ter to Vasco Nunez, who loved her much ; and the
cacique entered into an agreement (here we may trace
the wisdom of the Spanish commander) to aid in grow
ing supplies for the Spaniards, if they would assist
him in carrying on war against his enemy Poncha.
This is the way in which an invading force gener
aUy makes its footing good in a country, by convert
ing the foolish enmities of the natives into stepping-
stones of conquest. The above conditions were agreed
upon and were fulfiUed. Careta's Indians prepared
their maize crops, and the Spaniards, on their part,
united with Careta's men in making an incursion into
Poncha's territory. That cacique, however, being weU-
informed of what was going on, fled, and left his ter
ritory to be devastated by the united forces of Nunez
and,, Careta.
Forty leagues from Darien, and adjoining to Care
ta's territory, was a country called Comogra, situated
on the sea-coast, the cacique of which country was
named Comogre. This chief being brought into friend
ship with the Spaniards,! by one of Careta's relations,
who had taken refuge from his own lord at Comogre's
court, Vasco Nunez went with his men to visit his new
aUy. The Spaniards were much surprised by the signs
of comfort and civUization which they found in this
Indian chief's dweUing. Indeed, it was the most Hke
a palace of any thing that had been seen since the dis
covery of the Indies.* Its dimensions were a hund
red and fifty feet in length, eighty in breadth, and
eighty in height ; the floors and ceiling were exquis-
* "Estaba fundada sobre unos muy gruesos posteles cercada de
muro hecho de piedra, entretegida madera por lo alto, como zaquizami,
por tan hermosa arte labrada que los Espanoles quedaron espantados
de verla, y no sabian dar a entender su artificio y hermosura." — Las
Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 41.

the South Sea. 327
itely wrought,* and it contained many apartments, a
granary, ceUars, and, what perhaps was most curious,
a room where the bodies of the king's ancestors were
preserved as mummies.
Comogre gave his Spanish visitors a splendid wel
come, and presented them with four thousand pesos
of gold and seventy slaves. A fifth part of whatever
gold was discovered belonged by right to the King of
Spain, and it was to watch over his rights that a vee-
dor was appointed to attend each expedition. WhUe
the Spaniards were weighing out this fifth part of the
gold which Comogre had given them, or dividing the
residue among themselves, there arose, to use the ex
pressive words of an old translation of Peter Martyr,
a " brabbling among the Spaniards about the dividing
of the gold."
Now Comogre had seven sons, of noble appearance
and large stature, and the eldest was a young man of
great spirit and ability. It would have been weU,
perhaps, for the whole of South America if he had not
been a man of this kind.
The youth, seeing this miserable contention among
the Spaniards, which must have appeared singularly
contemptible in the eyes of an Indian who would value
Httle the substance these strangers were quarreling
about, and who, even for a great thing, would have
thought such contention unseemly and undignified (for
a noble indifference about most earthly things is to be
seen at the bottom of the Indian character throughout
both continents), was disgusted at this clamor. So,
after the fashion of Brennus, dashing with his hand
the scales in which the gold was, and scattering it
* "Laquearibus et pavimentis arte eximialaboratis." — Peter Mar
tyr, dec. ii., cap. 3.

328 Vasco Nunez discovers
about, he made the foUowing speech : " What is this,
Christians ? is it for such a little thing that you quar
rel?* If you have such a love of gold that, to obtain
it, you disquiet and harass the peaceful nations of
these lands, and, suffering such labors, banish your
selves from your own lands, I will show you a coun
try where you may fulfill your desires. But it is nec
essary for this that you should be more in number
than you are now, for you would have to fight your
way with great kings, and among them, in the first
place, with King Tubanama, who abounds with this
gold, and whose country is distant from our country
six suns."
Then he signified to them that this rich territory lay
toward a sea, and southward ; at which sea they would
arrive, he said, after passing over certain sierras. It
was navigated, he added, by ships with saUs and oars,
a little less in size than those of the Spaniards. Trav
ersing that sea, they would find a land of great rich
es, where the people had large vessels of gold out of
which they ate and drank ; where, indeed, there was
more gold than there was iron in Biscay — (it appears
that the shrewd Indian had been making inquiry with
respect to the manufacture of the Spanish swords).
The above is not to be taken as a speech set down in a
classical history, but it appears that the substance of it
reaUy was uttered by the young Indian prince. Juan
Alonso and the other Spaniard who had lived with
King Careta, served as interpreters ; and these men
seem to have been fated to be the conduits, as it were,
* Peter Martyr adds, "  and that you make so much turmoil
about a little gold, which nevertheless you melt down from beautifully-
wrought work into rude bars (for they carried their melting instru
ments with them)." — Dec. ii , cap. 3.

the South Sea. 329
of great evU, and their inteUigence the cause of great
adventures. It appears, moreover, that the young prince inform
ed his attentive audience that a thousand men would
be requisite for this undertaking ; and that, when ask
ed for the grounds of his information and for his ad
vice, he made another speech, in which he told the
Spaniards that his countrymen too had wars, and that
he had learned these facts from one of his own men
("Behold him! "he exclaimed) who had been a cap
tive in those countries he spoke of. He also offered
to accompany the Spaniards ; and he said that they
might hang him on the next tree if his words should
not prove true. The substance of his speeches, and,
probably, some of the exact words, were conveyed to
the Spanish court. This was the first notice of the
Pacific, and also of Peru. It is likely that Pizarro
was a by-stander. " Our captains," says Peter Mar
tyr, " marvefing at the oration of the naked young
man, pondered in their minds and earnestly consider
ed his sayings."
It seems that, for injuries done in former times to
his nation, this youth wished to stir up the Spaniards
against his neighbors, and that he suggested a joint
invasion whenever the Christians should be re-enforced,
offering to join them with his father's forces. "A
prudent youth" this prince is caUed by both histori
ans, Peter Martyr and Las Casas ; but it is not the
description, I think, that would now be given of him ;
and one would say that it needed not the lights of
history or the thoughtfulness of refined civUization to
make aU prudent people well aware of the latent dan
ger of an .over-powerful aUy.
The Spaniards, having baptized Comogre and his

330 Vasco Nunez discovers
famUy, giving him the name of Don Carlos, T;ook their
leave and returned to Darien, joyful and thoughtful, in
the feverish state of mind of persons seeing before them
great enterprises for which they are not quite prepared.
When they arrived, they found that Valdivia had come
with a ship and some provisions, also with a gracious
message from the authorities of Hispaniola ; but, as
Las Casas weU says, "In the house of a gambler joy
lasts but a short time."* Their provisions were con
sumed in a few days, and Famine, always dogging
their steps, soon began to attack them again. It was
not altogether their own fault on this occasion, for a
great storm had destroyed what they had sown. They
lived now, as some of the feudal barons in the Middle
Ages, by predatory forays, robbing and devastating
wherever they could. y: />
It was about this time that Vasco Nunez sent Val
divia to Hispaniola with the king's fifth of the gold.
It amounted to fifteen thousand pesos / but neither he
nor his gold ever reached their destination, for his ves
sel was wrecked in a perilous part of the sea near Ja
maica, caUed the Vivoras^or Pedro Shoals, and he him
self perished by the hands of the Indians.
Vasco Nunez has been held to be a man who dealt
very wisely, and, upon the whole, very mercifuUy with
the Indians ; but we are told that he was accustomed
to put them to the torturef in order to make them dis
cover those towns which had most gold and provisions,
and then to attack these towns by night. He wrote
to the admiral saying that he had hanged thirty ca-
* " En casa del tahur poco dura la alegria."
t This is, confirmed incidentally by Vasco Nunez himself, in his let
ter of the 20th of January, 1513 : " Lo he sabido en muchas maneras
y formas, dando a unos tormento y a otros por amor y dando a otros
cosas de Castilla."- -Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 365.

the South Sea.

331

ciques, and must hang as many as he should take, for
the Spaniards, being few, had no other way untU he
should be suppfied with more men.* He meant that
terror was his only means of supplying the defect of
force.

PANAMA, DARIEN,
AND THE
SOUTH SEA.

Hearing of a temple fuU of gold in the country of a
cacique caUed Dabaybe, toward the south of the Gulf
* " Escribio Vasco Nunez al Almirante, que habia ahorcado treinta
caciques, y habia de ahorcar cuantos prendiese, alegando que, porque
eran pocos, no tenian otro remedio hasta que les enviase mucho socor-
ro de gente." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 42.

332 Vasco Nunez discovers
of Uraba, the Spaniards made an incursion into his
caciquedom, and, the Indians offering little or no re
sistance, Vasco Nunez's men devastated the country.
MeanwhUe Colmenares had been sent to the east of
the gulf, whither Vasco Nuiiez, after his return from
Dabaybe, went to join him, and, uniting their com
panies, they entered the territory of a cacique caUed
Abenamache. This chief and his men made as stout
a resistance as they could with their two-handed wood
en swords, caUed macanas, rushing fiercely on the
Spaniards, but to little purpose. After the battle, a
common soldier, whom Abenamache had wounded,
came up to him, and, with one blow of his sword,
struck the cacique's- arm off. From thence Vasco
Nunez, leaving Colmenares behind him, went up a riv
er, and entered the territory of a cacique named Abi
beyba, where the houses were in trees (as the ground
was marshy) of such bigness that seven or eight men
hand in hand were scarcely able to surround one of
them ; but these Indians, though living in this strange
manner, do not seem to have been particularly barbar
ous or neglectful of the comforts of life, for it is men
tioned that they had their ceUars under ground for fear
of the wine being spoiled by the motion of the trees
when shaken by the wind. Abibeyba was summoned
to descend from his tree fortress, and, when he refused,
the Spaniards began to cut the tree, upon which he
was obliged to come down.
They asked him for gold, in reply to which he said
he had none of it himself, and did not care for it any
more than for stones, but he promised to endeavor to
get some, and was aUowed to depart for that purpose.
As he did not return, however, at the stated time, the
Spaniards destroyed his settlement. This Abibeyba,

t/ie South Sea. 333
in his wanderings among the mountains, came upon
Abenamache, the cacique who had lost his arm : be-
waUing their hard fate, they betook themselves to
Abraibe, a neighboring chief, into whose country a for
aging expedition, headed by a Spaniard named Kaya,
of the force left with Colmenares, had lately penetrated.
The caciques compared their fears and their griefs.
" How long," they said, " shaU we bear with the cru
elty of these strangers ; is it not better to die than to
endure what they inflict upon us ?" Encouraging each
other in this way, they resolved to make an attack
with five or six hundred men upon the station of Col
menares ; but, unfortunately, on the very evening pre
ceding their attack, Colmenares had received a -re-en
forcement, and the Spaniards were able not only to re
pel their assaUants, but to capture many of them.
These were sent to Darien, to labor there.
Colmenares and Vasco Nunez now returned to Da
rien, leaving in Abenamache's country a man named
Hurtado in command of thirty Spaniards. These
Spaniards making a foray and capturing some of the
neighboring Indians, Hurtado sent a boat with the pris
oners and with many of his men, who were ill, down
the Bio Negro to Darien. On their way the boat was
attacked by four large canoes, and aU the Spaniards
but two were drowned. These two, clinging to logs
and conceafing themselves in the bundles of drift-wood
that were floating down the river, made their way to
the shore, and thence back to Hurtado. He and the
few who were with him, abandoning their post in terror,
set out for Darien ; and, being greatly alarmed by this
attack on their boats, they made inquiry of their pris
oners, and found that five caciques — Cemaco, the dis
possessed of Darien, Abenamache, Abibeyba, Dabaybe,

334 Vasco Nunez discovers
and Abraibe — had formed a conspiracy, if by such a
name it can be called, and had sworn to collect their
forces and make a joint attack on Darien, in order to
destroy the Spaniards utterly. This plan might have
been successful had not a foofish Indian betrayed it to
his sister, a favorite of Vasco Nunez, named Fulvia.
Addressing his sister tenderly,* the Indian told her
that their chiefs could no longer bear the insolence of
these new-comers ; that they had prepared a hundred
canoes ; that their army would amount to five thousand
men ; that provisions were being stored up at Tirichi ;
that their designs had gone so far that the caciques had
agreed upon the division of the goods of the Spaniards;
and he warned her to look after her own safety when
the day for the attack should come. She, more mind
ful of her lover than her country, betrayed the secret
to him.
To be forewarned, in the case of men fighting with
iron swords and lances against others with wooden
ones, was not merely to be forearmed, but to 'be victo
rious. Indeed, Vasco Nunez turned this conspiracy to
great advantage. He caused Fulvia to induce her
brother to come to him, and the foolish, confiding In
dian, when put to the torture, confessed that this con
spiracy was the work of the indefatigable Cemaco ; that
he planned the attack in the canoes ; and that certain
men, whom he had sent as a pledge of friendship to
Vasco Nunez, and who tilled his grounds at Darien,
had instructions to kill him, which they had never been
able to do, as he always overlooked his laborers on
horseback with a lance in his hand.
* " Dilecta mihi soror, dilecta, ausculta meis dictis, et celato qua? re-
feram, si tibi, mihique, universo etiam generi nostro bene consultum iri
desideras." — Peter Martyr, dec. ii., cap. 5.

the South Sea. 335
Vasco Nunez compeUed the young Indian to conduct
Colmenares, at the head of seventy men, to Tirichi, the
spot where the forces of the caciques were assembfing
for their enterprise. He himself went with another
seventy to hunt for Cemaco, but was unsuccessful.
Colmenares, however, faUing suddenly on Tirichi, cap
tured the confederates, seized their provisions, put the
chiefs to death, and terrified the whole country into
submission. Vasco Nunez and the colonists at Darien now re
solved that a messenger should be sent to the king in
Spain, to inform his highness of what had happened,
to teU him of the speech of Comogre's son, and to seek
for countenance and succor. Vasco Nunez wished to
go himself, thinking probably that he should plead
his own case best at court ; but his companions would
not hear of this. They chose Quicedo and Colmenares
as their deputies, who were weU furnished with funds
for their important mission ; but their means of trans
port were of the most miserable description. One of
the old brigantines, which had been set aside for six
months as unfit for use, was now repaired, and all the
tackle for it manufactured out of the bark of trees.
With a very scanty stock of provisions, and with not
a soul on board who knew any thing of navigation, in
this crazy vessel, the deputies from Darien left that
colony in October, 1512. As was to be expected, they
made a very bad passage, and being driven to Cuba,
and afterward going to Hispaniola, which was in ac
cordance with their instructions, they did not arrive in
Spain until May, 1513. Peter Martyr, who says
he frequently entertained these deputies from Darien,
gives an account of their appearance, in which he men
tions that " they are as yeUow as people in the jaun-

336 Vasco Nunez discovers
dice, and are swoUen." This he attributed to the bad
air of Darien, which was situated in a most unhealthy
spot ; but they accounted for their appearance by the
starvation they had undergone.
One part of their intelligence seems particularly to
have caught the fancy of their countrymen at home.
An Indian had mentioned that there was a river where
the natives fished for gold with nets ; the deputies re
peated this story ; and as all persons, from the weak
est to the strongest, thought that this was a kind of
fishing at which they would be singularly expert and
fortunate, all Spain became anxious to fish in those
waters. Unfortunately for Vasco Nunez, the deputies from
Darien were not the only persons of that colony at this
time present at the court of Spain. The BachiUer
Enciso was there too, and no doubt loud and bitter in
making his complaints of Vasco Nunez. Besides,
there was the intelligence of what had happened to
Nicuesa ; and as it appeared that Vasco Nunez had
been the greatest gainer from Nicuesa's repulse, he had
also to bear the greatest part of the blame for that
transaction. The king ordered him to be proceeded
against criminally ; and in the civil courts he was cast
in aU the expenses which Enciso had by his means
been put to.
Meanwhile, Vasco Nunez had no easy time at Da
rien, where factiousness reigned supreme. It seems
as if this spirit of faction exists in a new colony in
amount almost equal to that in which it is found in a
village, or a smaU town, at home, and that this spirit
is stiU farther developed by the general activity which
is necessary, and the sharper way in which men come

the South Sea. 337
against each other, in such a colony. It appears that
there was a man named Bartholomew Hurtado, whom
Vasco Nunez favored much, and to whom, as we have
seen, he intrusted authority. This man, for some rea
son or other, became particularly obnoxious to several
of his comrades. Their faction, uniting under a person
of the name of Alonso Perez, and another caUed the
BachUler Corral, sought to take prisoners both Hurtado
and his chief; but Vasco Nunez, who was always alert,
made the first move, seizing Alonso Perez and putting
him in prison. The BachiUer's party at once drew out
in battle array in the centre square of the town ; Vasco
Nunez and his faction did the same ; and the contend
ing parties would have come to blows but for the pru
dence of some of them, who saw that, whichever gain
ed the day, the Indians would probably destroy the
victors. The dispute, therefore, was suppressed for
the moment on Vasco Nunez agreeing to release
Alonso Perez, the ringleader on the other side. The
Ul feefing, however, was not in the least subdued, and
a second time the opposite party resolved to seize upon
Vasco Nunez. The cause of this outbreak was as fol
lows : The division of gold naturaUy formed a preg
nant source of dispute among those rude men who
composed the remnant of the forces of Ojeda and Nicu
esa, and who were now under the unauthorized com
mand of Vasco Nunez. They accused their com
mander of unfairness in this division, and, as there was
a sum of ten thousand castellanos just about to be di
vided, this was the cause, or they made it the pretext,
of their intention to seize upon him. The way in
which he surmounted this difficulty may serve to show
the abUities of the man for command. Far from seek
ing to be the great personage in this important busi-
Vol. L— P

338 Vasco Nunez discovers
ness, on the very evening of the day of the partition,
or the day before, the politic Vasco Nunez went out to
hunt, and left his enemies to seize upon the gold and
divide it. They, as was to be expected, made ene
mies in doing so, and loosened the bands of their own
faction, while those who were injured, or who thought
they were, made a great tumult, recalled Vasco Nunez
to fuU power, and put his enemies, Alonso Perez and
the BachiUer Corral,* in prison. There they probably
consoled themselves by drawing up papers of accusa
tion against their enemies.
^4 About this time there arrived at Darien two vessels,
with a hundred and fifty men in them, laden with pro
visions which had been sent from Hispaniola by the
Spanish authorities in that island. These ships also
brought something which was very welcome to Vasco
Nunez, namely, his appointment as captain general.
This was done by Passamonte the treasurer, whose
power, it was said, stretched to this extent ; and cer
tain it is that he was always in favor with King Fer
dinand, and was regarded as one of the king's especial
servants, in contradistinction to those of the admiral.
Any show of authority must have been very welcome
to Vasco Nunez ; and in his joy, as if it had been a
birth-day, he wUlingly consented to let loose all the
prisoners, as an act of grace upon the receipt of good
news. * Bachelors of law were always odious to Vasco Nunez. In a letter
to the king, in which he was very sparing indeed in making any claim
for himself, he says, " One thing I supplicate your highness, for it is
much to your service, and that is, that you would give orders, under a
great penalty, that no bachelor of law, or of any thing else, except
medicine, should be allowed to come to these parts of the Terra-firma,
for no bachelor comes here who is not a devil, and who does not lead
the life of a devil ; and not only are they bad themselves, but they also
make and contrive a thousand lawsuits and iniquities. This regula-

the South Sea. 339
However, amid aU these flowers of rejoicing, there
came (it is conjectured in the same ships, certainly
soon afterward) some adder-like news, which must
have filled the heart of Vasco Nunez with apprehen
sion, and that was the report of his own disfavor at
court, caused by the complaints of the BachiUer En
ciso,* and by the inteUigence of Nicuesa's fate. I
should think that the rumor of the king's intention to
appoint a governor of Darien was very fikely to have
accompanied this news, which came in a letter from
Zamudio, a former coUeague of Vasco Nunez.
His position was now most perilous. The maxim,
confugiendum est ad imperium, must have occurred
to him, not exactly in the words of the original, for
Vasco Nunez had Httle learning, but only by that in
tuitive knowledge which great perU, coming upon great
resources of mind, easUy strikes out. In truth, it is
melancholy to observe, as wise men have done, how
much of private misery is at the bottom of great ac
tions, and what sleepless furies have driven many an
Orestes to enterprises that were transcendently diffi
cult, but not so difficult as staying stiU, or so painful
as looking backward.
/Vasco Nunez resolved, therefore, to be the discov
erer of that sea and of those rich lands to which
Comogre's son had pointed, when, after rebuking the
Spaniards for their " brabbfing" about the division of
the gold, he turned his face toward the south. In the
tion would be greatly for your highness's service, for the land is new."
Carta al Rey, Jan. 20, 1513. Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 374.
* The error of Vasco Nunez in his treatment of Enciso followed him
throughout his career. But, indeed, this is a common case in ordinary
life, as a large part of the best time in many men's lives is spent in
extricating themselves from the consequences (or in enduring them) of
one or two thoughtless blunders.

340 Vasco Nunez discovers
perU which so closely impended over Vasco Nunez,
there was no use in waiting for re-enforcements from
Spain; when those re-enforcements should come, his
dismissal would come too.i^ Accordingly, early in Sep
tember, 1513, he set out on his renowned expedition
for finding " the other sea," accompanied by a hundred
and ninety men weU armed, and by dogs, which were
of more avail than men, and by Indian slaves to carry
the burdens. He went by sea to the territory of his
father-in-law, King Careta, by whom he was weU re
ceived, and accompanied by whose Indians he moved
on into Poncha's territory. This cacique took flight,
as he had done before, seeking refuge among his
mountains ; but Vasco Nunez, whose first thought in
his present undertaking was discovery, not conquest,
sent messengers to Poncha, promising not to injure
him. The Indian chief listened to these overtures,
and came to Vasco Nunez with gold in his hands. It
was the policy of the Spanish commander on this oc
casion to keep his word. We have seen how treach
erous he could be when it was not his policy to be
true ; but now he did no harm to Poncha, and, on the
contrary, secured his friendship by presenting him
with looking-glasses, hatchets, and hawks'-beUs, in
return for which he obtained guides and porters from
among this cacique's people, and was enabled to prose
cute his journey.
FoUowing Poncha's guides, Vasco Nunez and his
men commenced the ascent of the mountains, until he
entered the country of an Indian chief caUed Quarequa,
whom they found fuUy prepared to resist them. The
brave Indian advanced at the head of his troops, in
tending to make a vigorous attack; but they could
not withstand the discharge of the fire-arms. Indeed,

the South Sea.

341

they befieved the Spaniards to have thunder and
fightning in their hands— not an unreasonable fancy
— and, flying in the utmost terror from the place of
battle, a total rout ensued. The rout was a bloody
one, and is described by an author, who gained his

PANAMA, DARIEN,
AND THE
SOUTH SEA.

information from those who were present at it, as a
scene to remind one of the shambles.* The king and
his principal men were slain, to the number of six
* "Veluti per macella lanii bovinas arietinasque secant in frusta
ames, ita huic nates, illi femur, alteri humeros uno ictu nostri scinde-
cant." — Peter Martyr, dec. iii., cap. 1,

342 Vasco Nunez discovers
hundred. Speaking of these people, Peter Martyr
makes mention of the sweetness of their language,
saying that aU the words in it might be written in
Latin letters, as was also to be remarked in that of
the inhabitants of Hispaniola. The writer also men
tions, and there is reason for thinking that he was
correctly informed, that there was a region, not two
days' journey from Quarequa's territory, in which
Vasco Nunez found a race of black men, who were
conjectured to have come from Africa, and to have
been shipwrecked on this coast.
Leaving several of his men, who were Ul or over
weary, in Quarequa's chief town, and taking with him
guides from this country, the Spanish commander pur
sued his way up the most lofty sierras there, until, on
the 25th of September, 1513, he came near to the top
of a mountain from whence the South Sea was visible.
The distance from Poncha's chief town to this point
was forty leagues, reckoned then six days' journey ;
but Vasco Nunez and his men took twenty-five days
to accomplish it, as they suffered much from the rough
ness of the ways and from the want of provisions.
A little before Vasco Nunez reached the height,
Quarequa's Indians informed him of his near approach
to the sea. It was a sight in beholding which, for the
first time, any man would wish to be alone. Vasco
Nunez bade his men sit down whUe he ascended, and
then, in solitude, looked down upon the vast Pacific —
the first man of the Old World, so far as we know,
who had done so. Falling on his knees, he gave
thanks to God for the favor shown to him in his being
permitted to discover the Sea of the South. Then with
his hand he beckoned to his men to come up. When
they had come, both he and they knelt down and pour-

the South Sea. 343
ed forth their thanks to God. He then addressed them
in these words: "You see here, gentlemen and chU-
dren mine, how our desires are being accomplished,
and the end of our labors. Of that we ought to be
certain; for, as it has turned out true what King Co-
mogre's son told of this sea to us, who never thought
to see it, so I hold for certain that what he told us of
there being incomparable treasures in it wiU be fulfill
ed. God and his blessed Mother, who have assisted
us, so that we should arrive here and behold this sea,
wiU favor us that we may enjoy aU that there is in it."
Afterward they aU devoutly sang the " Te Deum
Laudamus," and a Hst was drawn up by a notary of
those who were present at this discovery, which was
made upon St. Martin's Day.*
Every great and original action has a prospective
greatness, not alone from the thoughts of the man who
achieves it, but from the various aspects and high
thoughts which the same action wiU continue to pre
sent and caU up in the minds of others, to the end, it
may be, of aU time. And so a remarkable event may
go on acquiring more and more significance. In this
case, our knowledge that the Pacific, which Vasco
Nunez then beheld, occupies more than one half of the
earth's surface, is an element of thought which in our
minds Hghtens up and gives an awe to this first gaze
of his upon those mighty waters. To him the scene
might not at that moment have suggested much more
than it would have done to a mere conqueror ; indeed,
* " Andres de Valderrabano, escribano de Sus Altecas en la su corte
y en todos sus reynos e seiiiorios, estuve pressente e doy fee dello, e
digo que son por todos sessenta y siete hombres estos primeros chrips-
tianos que vieron la mar del Sur, con los quales yo me halle e cuento
por uno dellos : y este era de Sanct Martin de Valdeiglesias." — Ovie
do, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 3.

344 Vasco Nunez discovers
Peter Martyr likens Vasco Nunez to Hannibal show
ing Italy to his soldiers.*
Having thus addressed his men, Vasco Nunez pro
ceeded to take formal possession, on behalf of the kings
of Castile, of the sea and of all that was in it ; and,
in order to make memorials of the event, he cut down
trees, formed crosses, and heaped up stones. He also
inscribed the names of the monarchs of CastUe upon
great trees in the vicinity.
Descending the sierras, he entered the territory of
an Indian chief caUed Chiapes. ^The Indians here,
trusting to their numbers, were disposed to make a
valorous resistance, but were very soon put to flight.
Vasco Nunez sent messengers to Chiapes with over
tures of peace, which being accepted by the Indian
chief, he came to the camp, bringing four hundred pe
sos of gold, and was graciously received by the Span
ish commander, who in return presented him with the
usual showy trifles which were given to the Indians.
With such presents Vasco Nunez, having gratified the
Indians he had brought from Quarequa's country, sent
them back. This conduct was very pofitic ; it concil
iated and reassured the Indians thus sent back ; it
gave confidence to the fresh ones who accompanied
him, and it prevented him from being overburdened
with Indians, who might rather impede than advance
the march. In truth, throughout this expedition Vas
co Nunez seems to have acted with great sagacity.
WhUe he was in the town belonging to Chiapes, he
sent on Francisco Pizarro, Alonso Martin, and others,
to find the shortest way to the sea-shore. Alonso
Martin was the first to discover it. He then descend-
* " Hannibale, Italiam et Alpina promontoria militibus ostendente,
ferocior, ingentes opes sociis pollicetur." — Dec. iii., cap. 1.

the South Sea. 345
ed to the shore, and found two canoes lying high and
dry in a place where he could perceive no sea. At
this he was astonished ; but, the sea making its ap
pearance and graduaUy advancing to the canoes, he
entered one of them, begging his companions to bear
witness that he was the first to float upon that sea.
Pizarro and Alonso Martin returning with their intel
ligence^ Vasco Nunez himself went down to the shore,
accompanied by eighty of his men. He entered the
sea up to his thighs, having his sword on, and with
his shield in his hand ; then he caUed the by-standers
to witness how he touched with his person and took
possession of this sea for the kings of CastUe, and de
clared that he would defend the possession of it against
all comers, s
After this, Vasco Nunez made friends in the usual
manner, first conquering and then negotiating with the
next Indian chief, named Coquera, who brought him a
present of gold.
But, among all the Indian chiefs into whose good
graces Vasco Nunez fought or negotiated himself, there
was no one who seems to have felt so much friendship
for him as Chiapes. Vasco Nunez, whose energy was
inexhaustible, who " could not be quiet even while his
bread was being baked,"* resolved to navigate a cer
tain gulf in those parts, to which he gave the name of
San Miguel, a name it stUl retains. The friendly ca
cique, Chiapes, endeavored to dissuade Vasco Nunez
from this enterprise, on account of the danger at that
time of the year ; but not succeeding, the cacique re
solved to go with his friend and to share the peril.
Vasco Nunez declared that God would assist them in
* A proverb, I imagine, of that time, which Las Casas uses in ref
erence to Vasco Nunez.
P2

346

Vasco Nunez discovers

their attempt, for that much service to God and in
crease of the faith would arise from this voyage by
means of the great treasures which, he said, had to be
discovered to enable the kings of Castile to make war
against the infidels. Vasco Nunez found the naviga-

PANAMA, DARIEN,
AND THE
SOUTH SEA.

tion of the gulf very hazardous, and nearly lost his Hfe
there. With great difficulty he made his way to the
country of a chief caUed Tumaco, in a corner of the
gulf. This chief sought to resist the invaders, but
the Spaniards easily vanquished him, as usual ; and
Chiapes sent messengers to Tumaco, teUing him how

the South Sea. 347
fearful the Spaniards were to their enemies, how gra
cious to their friends. Chiapes lived to teU another
story. But Tumaco was incredulous ; he had received
a wound in his battle with the Spaniards, and he sent
his son to them instead of going himself. The son,
however, being weU treated, Tumaco found courage to
come in person, and, being kindly received by Vasco
Nunez, this Indian chief sent for ornaments of gold,
and two hundred and forty large pearls, which he pre
sented to the Spaniards. He also desired his people
to fish for more. The Spaniards could hardly contain
their joy. One thing alone occurred to damp it. The
Indians, not knowing better, were accustomed to open
oysters by means of fire. This injured the color of
the pearl ; and, accordingly, the Spaniards taught the
Indians the art of opening oysters without fire, with
far more diligence, indeed, than they expended in teach
ing their new friends any point of Christian doctrine.
It was said that this cacique spoke of the riches of
Peru to Vasco Nufiez ; and there is something to coun
tenance this in the report of the Spanish commander's
letter to the king, for he says that he had learned from
Tumaco wonderful secrets of the riches of that land,
which for the present he wished to keep to himself.
Both caciques, the friendly Chiapes and Tumaco, spoke
to Vasco Nufiez of an island in the Gulf of San Miguel,
ruled over by a powerful king, who made incursions
into' their territories, and who possessed great pearls.
Vasco Nunez threatened fearful things against this
king, and was anxious to go to the island, but his con
federate caciques persuaded him not to do so, on ac-.
count of the dangers of the navigation at this season.
The Spanish commander, after having given some
attention to pearl-fishing, resolved to return home to

348 Vasco Nu ez discovers
Darien, but by a different route from that which he
had taken in coming. He now bade farewell to these
friendly caciques ; and the simple Chiapes absolutely
shed tears at the parting. Every where, in the course
of his way homeward, the Spaniard found obedient and
hospitable caciques. A fierce and brutal tyrant of the
name of Pacra, who, according to the account of Vas
co Nunez, had committed various injuries against his
neighbors, was solemnly judged by the Spanish com
mander, and, being condemned, was, with three of his
lords, torn in pieces by the Spanish dogs. After stay
ing some Httle time in Pacra's country, Vasco Nunez
moved on to Buchebuea's, where he was weU received,
and thence into the territory of Pocorosa. This part
of the Terra-firma was divided into small caciquedoms,
of which the government was truly a paternal one.
To use the words of a soldier who was afterward sta
tioned here, and who was witness of the ceremonies
at Pocorosa's death, "they lived in much justice, in
the law of nature, without any ceremony or adoration"
(en mucha justicia, en ley de naturaleza, sin ninguna
ceremonia ni adoraeion). Their caciques in person,
like our kings of yore, judged causes, and their way
of judging was to summon before them the parties in
the cause, who had to give their own account of the
case. Then the caciques, without hearing witnesses,
"holding it for certain that the parties would speak
the truth (for he who lied to his lord immediately died
for it), gave judgment, and there was an end of the
matter."* The caciques had no tribute, but only per-
* " Teniendo por cierto que las partes le habian de decir verdad
(porque el que mentia al senor luego moria por ello), determinaba el
pleito, y no habia de haber mas altercacion sobre ello." — Pascual de
Andagoya; Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 399

the South Sea. 349
sonal service : for instance, when they were sowing,
or building, or fishing, or carrying on war, all their
vassals had to assist them, and they, in return, gave
their vassals food and drink to make merry with {por
fiesta). Death was the punishment for murder and
for theft. They believed in witchcraft, and there were
witches and wizards among them. Of their origin and
history these Indians could give but Httle account ; but
they had some knowledge of a deluge, and of a man
who had escaped in a canoe with his wife and chUdren,
and had peopled the earth ; and that in heaven there
was a Lord who caused rain and aU the other things
which descend from above.
This is the description, the best, as far as I know
(given by a soldier, too, and not by a priest), that we
have of the ways and thoughts of the Indians in that
part of the Terra-firma. It is easy to perceive that
they were a people who might, without much difficulty,
have been converted and civilized.
Pocorosa, at Vasco Nunez's approach, took to flight,
but afterward returned, and was won over by Vasco
Nunez in the usual way. The Spanish commander
learned that to get to Darien he must pass through
Tubanama's country. This was the much-dreaded
chieftain whom Comogre's son made mention of in his
speech. Vasco Nunez, by no means daunted at the
rumors of Tubanama's greatness, made a forced march
with the best of his men, came upon Tubanama's town
suddenly by night, and captured him and his family.
Adjoining to Tubanama's abode was a haU of a hund
red and twenty feet long and fifty broad, which served
as a barrack for this Indian chieftain's levies when he
was about to make war. The town was a very scat
tered one, built so on purpose, to avoid the danger of

350 Vasco Nunez discovers
hurricanes ; and thus the Indians, before the Spaniards
had time to secure them, were able to fly. The people
from Pocorosa's country who had accompanied Vasco
Nunez, and others who were enemies to Tubanama,
began to seek his destruction. He was represented to
be another Pacra, and his neighbors mocked and re
joiced at his faU.
The Spanish commander made a show of great se
verity toward Tubanama, and ordered him to be brought
out as if for death, saying that he would have him
thrown into the river, into which he heard that in
former days Tubanama had threatened that he would
throw the Spaniards if they should come that way.
The cacique, with tears, begged for his life, declaring
that aU that had been aUeged against him was said by
the envy of enemies who were not able to subdue him,
and that, as regarded the Spaniards, he had certainly
never done them any harm ; as for the threats attrib
uted to him, such things might have been said by his
chiefs when drunk, for which he blamed them. Coming
up to Vasco Nunez, and putting his hand upon his
sword, he exclaimed, "Who that had any brains would
contend against this macana, which at one blow can
cleave a man in two ?" He also promised to get much
gold if he were but released.
Vasco Nunez, who had never intended to put the
cacique to death, but who doubtless thought this a
good opportunity of showing his own power, now soft
ened his countenance and released Tubanama, who
caused about six thousand pesos worth of gold to be
brought, aU worked up into trinkets for women. Upon
being questioned closely about the gold, he denied that
it came from his territory ; but Vasco Nunez, trying
the ground, discovered that it was auriferous, and ac-

the South Sea. 351
cordingly he resolved to found two settlements, one in
Pocorosa's country, and another in Tubanama's.
Ordering Tubanama to coUect gold and send it to
him, Vasco Nunez quitted that chieftain's territory, and,
pursuing his course to Darien, came next to Comogra.
The labors and the changes of climate he had endured
began to teU even upon the hardy Nunez ; for we hear
that he suffered now from fever, and was carried in a
litter borne by Indians. In Comogra, where he had
first received that intelligence which had been aU-im-
portant to him, he must have felt as if almost at home.
The old chief was dead, but the eldest son, who had
made that eloquent but unwise speech, the cause of so
much mischief, was reigning in his stead. By him
Vasco Nunez was hospitably entertained, and doubt
less they had many things to hear from and to teU
each other. In a few days, Vasco Nunez, having re
covered from the fever, pursued his way to Darien.
As if to crown his good fortune, when he entered Pon
cha's territory he found messengers from Darien to
teU him that two ships, weU laden with provisions,
had arrived from Hispaniola. Taking a chosen body
of his men as an escert, he hastened onward, and on
the 29th of January, 1514, reached Darien, which he
had quitted on the 1st of September, 1513, this most
important expedition having occupied not quite four
months. His men at Darien received him with exultation,
and he lost no time in sending his news, " such signal
and new news" {tan senaladas y nuevas nuevas) to the
King of Spain, accompanying it with rich presents.
His letter, which gave a detaUed account of his jour
ney, and which, for its length, was compared by Peter
Martyr to the celebrated letter that came to the sen-

352 Vasco Nunez discovers the South Sea.
ate from Tiberius, contained in every page thanks to
God that he had escaped from such great dangers and
labors. Both the letter and the presents were in
trusted to a man named Arbolanche, who departed
from Darien about the beginning of March, 15l4.
In his letter to the king, Vasco Nunez mentioned
that he had not lost a man in these battles with the
Indians. But indeed why should he have done so;
for what was there in their simple weapons and inno
cent mode of warfare that could, unless by accident,
destroy a weU-armed man ? 

CHAPTEB H.
THE GOVERNMENT UNDER PEDRARIAS, WITH THE VARIOUS
EXPEDITIONS UNDERTAKEN BT HIS CAPTAINS.
VASCO NUNEZ'S messenger, Arbolanche, reach
ed the court of Spain too late for his master's
interests. It is probable that previously even to the
arrival of Quicedo and Colmenares, who had brought
such wonderful news about the discoveries in the
Terra-firma, the Spanish government had resolved to
appoint a new governor.* And the news brought by
the deputies from Darien served to heighten the im
portance of the appointment, and greatly to augment
the numbers of the expedition. As all Spain was in
a state of excitement at the idea of fishing up gold
with nets, the appointment of governor of Darien was
much sought after, but ultimately was conferred upon
the man whom the Bishop of Burgos favored, namely,
Pedrarias de AvUa.
He was an elderly man, of rank and high connec
tions, of much repute in war, having served with hon
or in Africa, but in wisdom he does not seem to have
been much superior to BobadUla. From his feats in
the tournament, he had acquired the name of "Justa-
dor," the jouster.
* Quicedo and Colmenares reached Spain in May, 1513 : the date
of Pedrarias's appointment is July 27, 1513, so that it is very proba
ble, especially as Enciso and his complaints reached the court of Spain
before these deputies, that the appointment of a governor was quite
settled before they arrived.

354 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
There is one thing to be said for the appointment
of men of that age and station, which, if it had oc
curred to King Ferdinand, would have been very like
ly to have had great weight with him. It is, that
they are nearly sure to be faithful to their sovereign.
It is too late to form great independent schemes of
their own ; but then they lack the lissomness of mind,
as weU as body, which is necessary in dealing with
such entirely new circumstances as those which the
Spanish captains in the New World had to encounter.
I conjecture Pedrarias to have been a suspicious, fiery,
arbitrary old man. "Furor Domini" was a name
given him by the monks in after days, just as AttUa
enjoyed and merited the awful title of the " Scourge
of God."
Comogre's son had said that a thousand men would
be necessary to make their way to the sea, and to ob
tain the riches which were there to be obtained. For
greater safety, twelve hundred was the number as
signed to Pedrarias, and fifteen hundred was the num
ber which went; for it happened that there was a
great disbanding of troops at that time, and the men
thus set free were anxious to enter the service of Pe
drarias. /The victory of Bavenna, gained by the French
over the Spaniards and their allies, had alarmed King
Ferdinand for his Neapofitan possessions : he had
hastUy raised levies which he intended to place under
the command of the great captain, Gonsalvo de Cor
dova ; but, not finding it necessary to send succor to
Naples, or being jealous of the great captain (which
jealousy a perilous emergency had suppressed for a
time), this expedition was abandoned.
When Pedrarias arrived at SevUle, he found no
fewer than two thousand young men eager to be en-

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 355
rolled in his forces, and " not a smaU number of ava
ricious old men," many of whom offered to go at their
own expense. It was necessary, however, not to
overload the ships, and therefore many of these can
didates were rejected. - Among those chosen were sev
eral nobles. A bishop also was appointed to the new
colony, whose name was Juan de Quevedo. Four
principal officers accompanied the governor, namely, a
treasurer, a factor, a contador, and a veedor.
Gonsalvo Hernandez de Oviedo, the celebrated his
torian, went out as veedor in this expedition, Gaspar
de Espinosa as alcalde mayor, and as alguazU mayor
the BachUler Enciso, whose appointment boded no
good to Vasco Nunez.
The instructions given to Pedrarias on this occa
sion stUl exist ; and the introduction to them is so
curious, and bears so closely on the present subject,
that it wiU be desirable to give an account of it. After
reciting in few words the discovery of Terra-firma,
the document goes on to declare the motives for the
expedition. "And, in order that our Lord may be served in the
said lands, and His holy name made known, and the
inhabitants of the aforesaid country converted to our
sacred CathoHc faith, that they may be instructed in
it and put in the way of salvation, and that there may
not be lost such a number of souls as hitherto have
perished, and in order that this design may have the
effect which we desire, we have sent to beg our very
holy father that he would provide prelates who may
be ecclesiastical persons, learned and of good example,
to go and teach and preach to these nations ; and, for
the security of these persons, it has been necessary to
provide a certain number of people who should go and

356 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
settle in the said lands, in order that, by the doctrine
of these ecclesiastics, and by the means of conversion
of the other Christians" (that is, by the communica
tion between the Christians and the Indians), "the
natives may more quietly, when converted to our holy
faith, remain in it, until they shaU be more capable of
receiving Christian doctrine than it appears they now
are." Considering what we know of the proceedings of
this and other armaments, the foregoing extract may
seem to be a mere pretense ; but I do not think that
it was so, and it entirely embodies the views of the
men of that period. The Indians were to be convert
ed to Christianity and formed in Christian polity, but
these great ends could not be accomplished, at least
as these Spanish statesmen and jurists thought, by
doctrine alone, but they needed also, they maintained,
the dafly intercourse of the Indians with a civilized
people. The Indians were therefore to have the ben
efit of the example and conversation of the Christians.
The particular means by which this conversion was to
be effected are given in another document of a later
date, called the " Instruction by the King to Pedrari
as de AvUa," in which the utmost tenderness toward
the Indians is insisted upon. They are to be attached
by good works to Christianity. They are to see that
the Spaniards tell the truth, that so they may have
confidence in them. They are by no means to be
made war against, unless they are the aggressors;
and, as it will be the interest of the men under Pe-
drarias's command that he should make war, to ena
ble them to get slaves, " it appears to me," says the
king, " that the soundest opinion in reference to mak-

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 357
ing war wiU be that of the bishop and the clerigo, as
being freer from passion and motives of self-inter
est."* The important question of encomiendas^ is then
touched upon. Three modes of deafing with this sub
ject are suggested. First, the Indians may be given
as personal servants, in which case the ordinances in
their favor are to be carefully observed, and, far from
being diminished in their humane tendency, are to be
made more considerate. The shrewd king throws in
a worldly reason for this. " If," he says, " in the isl
and of Hispaniola the Indians have fled to the mount
ains to escape the labors they were accustomed to,
they wiU be more able to do so in the Terra-firma."
The next plan would be (which is the one the king
rather leans to), that the Spaniards should make use
of the Indians by an agreement with them {par via
depaz y de concierto) ; in which case the caciques, if
there are such lords in those parts, wUl supply a part
of the men under them to serve the Spaniards, a third,
or a fourth, or a fifth of the people, to be changed
every few months. H neither of these plans should
be carried into effect, the Indians might be left to live
as they were then Hving, but in that case they were
to pay tribute.
* " Y paresce a mi que el mas sano parescer para esto sera el del R.
P. Fr. Juan de Quevedo, obispo del Darien, e de los clerigos que estan
mas sin pasion e con menos esperanza de haber dellos intereses." —
Instruccion dada por el Rey a Pedrarias Da villa ; Nav., Col, torn.
iii., p. 348.
t The words repartimiento and encomienda are often used indiscrim
inately by Spanish authors ; but, speaking accurately, repartimiento
means the first apportionment of Indians — encomienda the apportion
ment of any Spaniard's share which might become " vacant" by his
death or banishment. — See Antonio de Leon, Confirmaciones Reales,
cap. i.

358 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
So much for the system of encomiendas laid down
by the king in this very wise and humane document.
With respect to making war upon the Indians, they
were to be carefully informed and to have thorough
notice (entera noticia) of the danger they would run
from war being once commenced, namely, of those
taken alive being made slaves. For this purpose a
document had been framed by Dr. Palacios Bubios,
a very learned jurist of that day, and a member of
the councU — a document before quoted, but which it
is desirable to present again to the reader.* It went
by the name of El Requerimiento (the Bequisition),
and it ran thus :
" On the part of the king, Don Fernando, and of
Dona Juana, his daughter, queen of Castile and Leon,
subduers of the barbarous nations, we their servants
notify and make known to you, as best we can, that
the Lord our God, living and eternal, created the
heaven and the earth, and one man and one woman,
of whom you and we, and all the men of the world,
were and are descendants, and aU those who come
after us. But, on account of the multitude which has
sprung from this man and woman in the five thousand
years since the world was created, it was necessary
that some men should go one way and some another,
and that they should be divided into many kingdoms
and provinces, for in one alone they could not be sus
tained. " Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to
one man, caUed St. Peter, lhat he should be lord and
superior of aU the men in the world, that all should
* In the present affluence of books, few readers will take the trou
ble of making a reference : it is necessary, therefore, to repeat some
times an important statement.

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 359
obey him, and that he should be the head of the whole
human race, wherever men should live, and- under
whatever law, sect, or belief they should be ; and he
gave him the world for his kingdom and jurisdiction.
"And he commanded him to place his seat in
Bome, as the spot most fitting to rule the world from ;
but also he permitted him to have his seat in any
other part of the world, and to judge and govern aU
Christians, Moors, Jews, GentUes, and aU other sects.
This man was caUed Pope, as if to say Admirable
Great Father and Governor of men. The men who
lived in that time obeyed that St. Peter, and took him
for lord, king, and superior of the universe" (imagine
what Tiberius or Nero would have said to this asser
tion!); "so also they have regarded the others who
after him have been elected to the pontificate, and so
has it been continued even tUl now, and wUl continue
tUl the end of the world.
" One of these pontiffs, who succeeded that St.
Peter as lord of the world in the dignity and seat
which I have before mentioned, made donation of
these isles and Terra-firma to the aforesaid king and
queen and to their successors, our lords, with aU that
there are in these territories, as is contained in cer
tain writings which passed upon the subject as afore
said, which you can see if you wish.
" So their highnesses are kings and lords of these
islands and land of Terra-firma by virtue of this do
nation ; and some islands, and indeed almost aU those
to whom this has been notified, have received and
served their highnesses, as lords and kings, in the way
that subjects ought to do, with good wiU, without any
resistance, immediately, without delay, when they were
informed of the aforesaid facts. And also they re-

360 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
ceived and obeyed the priests whom their highnesses
sent to preach to them and to teach them our Holy
faith ; and all these, of their own free will, without
any reward or condition, have become Christians, and
are so, and their highnesses have joyfuUy and benig-
nantly received them, and also have commanded them
to be treated as their subjects and vassals ; and you
too are held and obliged to do the same. Wherefore,
as best we can, we ask and require you that you con
sider what we have said to you, and that you take
the time that shall be necessary to understand and
deliberate upon it, and that you acknowledge the
Church as the ruler and superior of the whole world
(por Senora y Superiora del universo mundo), and
the high priest called Pope, and in his name the king
and queen Dona Juana our lords, in his place, as su
periors, and lords, and kings of these islands and this
Terra-firma by virtue of the said donation, and that
you consent and give place that these religious fathers
should declare and preach to you the aforesaid.
" If you do so you will do well, and that which you
are obliged to do to their highnesses, and we in their
name shaU receive you in all love and charity, and
shaU leave you your wives, and your chUdren, and
your lands free without servitude, that you may do
with them and with yourselves freely that which you
like and think best, and they shall not compel you to
turn Christians, unless you yourselves, when informed
of the truth, should wish to be converted to our holy
Catholic faith, as almost aU the inhabitants of the rest
of the islands have done ; and, besides this, their high
nesses award you many privileges and exemptions"
(hard words in a new world!), "and will grant you
many benefits.

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 361
"But, if you do not do this, and maliciously make
delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God,
we shaU powerfuUy enter into your country, and shaU
make war against you in aU ways and manners that
we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedi
ence of the Church and of their highnesses ; we shall
take you, and your wives, and your chUdren, and shall
make slaves of them, and as such shaU sell and dis
pose of them as their highnesses may command ; and
we shaU take away your goods, and shaU do you aU
the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals
who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and
resist and contradict him ; and we protest that ¦ the
deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are
your fault, and not that of their highnesses, or ours,
nor of these cavaliers who come with us. And that
we have said this to you, and made this Bequisition,
we request the notary here present to give us his tes
timony in writing, and we ask the rest who are pres
ent that they should be witnesses of this Bequisition."
/if ever there was a document which it was worth
whUe to give in fuU in such a narrative as the present,
it is this Bequisition, drawn up by the learned Doctor
Palacios Bubios. The foUy that spreads through it,
when contrasted with the sagacity which pervades the
instructions and the private letters of the king and the
councU, is an illustration of how long foolish conceits
linger in the haUs of learning and among professions,
even when they are beginning to be banished from the
world at large. I must confess that the comicality of
the document has often cheered me in the midst of te
dious research or endless detaUs of small battles. The
logic, the history, even the grammatical construction,
are aU, as it seems to me, afike in error. Stupendous
Vol. I.— Q

362 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
assumptions are the staple of the document, and the
very terms "Church," "privileges," "vassalage," "ex
emptions," are such as require a knowledge of Chris
tianity and of the peculiar civilization of Europe for
any one to understand. Then, when it is imagined
how little these difficulties would be smoothed by
translation, we may fancy what ideas the reading of
the document, even when it was read, conveyed to a
number of Indians sitting in a circle, and listening to
European voices for the first timey-
The above Bequisition, however, which at least was
meant to be very gracious to the Indians, was not nec
essarily to be used on all occasions. There were In
dians who might be taken without even the reading of
the Bequisition. These were the Caribs, or Cannibals.
There is an especial paragraph in the instructions to
Pedrarias devoted to these Cannibals, in which that
governor is ordered to touch, if he can do so without
delay or inconvenience, at the islands of the Cannibals,
which are named Isla Fuerte, Isla de San Bernaldo,
Santa Cruz, Guira, Carthagena, and Camarico de Go.
The inhabitants of these "islands" (Carthagena is not
an island) are given as slaves because they were said
to eat human flesh, and because of the injuries they
were said to have done to the Spaniards and to the
other Indians.
This is the weakest part, according to my judgment,
of the whole of the policy of those who ruled over In
dian affairs at the court of Spain. Who was to de
fine cannibalism ? And would not the modes of deal
ing with the Cannibals necessarily spread to others?
And would not any injuries inflicted on the innocent
read, in an official document, as if they were all justi
fiable, by the easy introduction of the word cannibal ?

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 363
I had come to the conclusion that cannibals and those
who used poisoned arrows were sure to be set down
as one and the same people, and I am confirmed by a
stanza in the works of a poet and soldier of that age,
Juan de Castellanos, where, speaking of some Ca
ribs in the neighborhood of Santa Martha, he says that
they were caUed Caribs, not because they ate human
flesh, but because they defended their houses well.*
It is true that in these instructions it is ordered
that, for the sake of being more entirely in the right,
the Bequisition should be read even before proceeding
to capture cannibals, if the way of doing so can be
found ; but, if not, they might be captured without
any of these formafities.
Furnished, however, with aU these aids, with wise
instructions, with this grotesque Bequisition, probably
with the thoughtful suggestions given in conversation
by the king. or by the Bishop of Burgos, with an able
staff of official men, among whom was one who had
gained such experience of the country as the BachiUer
Enciso — above all, with a gaUant company of fifteen
hundred men, armed weU and weU accoutred,! Pedra
rias set saU with his men from the port of San Lucar,
in twelve or fifteen vessels, % on the 12th of April,
1514. This was one of the greatest expeditions sent
out to the Indies in those times, and it cost the King
" Mas al fin fueron a provincia liana
Que Uamaron Caribes, tierra rasa,
No porque alii comiesen carne humana,
Mas porque defendian bien su casa."
Elegias, parte ii., canto iii.
f " La mas lucida gente que de Espana ha salido," says one of them,
Pascual de Andagoya.
X Pascual de Andagoya says nineteen vessels ; every other account
that I have seen makes the number of the vessels smaller.

364 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
of Spain a very large outlay. Had it been under the
command of a wise and great man Hke Columbus, or
even of a great commander like Cortez or Vasco Nu^
fiez, it might have been the beginning of a wise colo
nization of South America. But great means seldom
come into great hands, or, perhaps, the world would
advance too fast ; whUe, on the contrary, the most im
portant and successful experiments are often made,
like those of renowned inventors in mechanics or chem
istry, with few, shabby, and ill-fitting materials. ,
The armament under Pedrarias was, at its first out
set, driven back by a great storm, and obliged to refit,
but afterward met with little disaster, and not with
much adventure, in the course of its voyage. The
governor had an early opportunity of manifesting the
severity of his character, as, for a comparatively slight
act of disobedience, he caused one of his own attend
ants to be hanged, and thus created terror throughout
the fleet, for it was justly argued that if he was so se
vere upon one of his own men, without even going
through the ordinary forms of law, what would he not
do with the others, each of whom it behoaved to look
carefuUy how "he planted his foot."*^Before reach
ing Darien, they entered the harbor of Santa Martha
on the main land, where Colmenares (who knew some
thing of the Caribbean language), together with an In
dian interpreter, undertook to confer with the Indians
of that coast. But, in truth, these Indians " did not
understand them better than a Biscayan talking Basque
could make himself intelligible to a person speaking
* " Que convenia cada uno mirar como assentaba el pie, pues que
en sus criados comencaba a mostrar como avia de castigar a otros." —
Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix, cap. 6.

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 365
German, or Arabic, or any other strange language."*
The Indians, who were now well aware of the nature
of their visitors, entering into the sea as far as they
could wade, discharged their poisoned arrows at the
ships. The next day Pedrarias ordered an incursion
to be made for the purpose of discovery and to secure
some interpreters. He gave the command of the foray
to his nephew. As this was the first occasion in
which the new governor made use of his formidable
Bequisition, and as the historian Oviedo himself was
employed in the foray, it is quite worth whUe to record
the circumstance.
" The governor," says Oviedo, " desired me to take
the Bequisition, and gave it to me from his own hand,
as if I understood the Indians, or as if we should find
any one there who would make them understand it,
even if they were willing to Hsten."f
MeanwhUe three hundred men-at-arms disembarked
to form the escort of the Bequisition ; the preachers,
about whom that document speaks so much, remained
in the ships "to see what would happen."
The Spaniards commenced their " entry" in a disor
derly manner, and the Indians from time to time
made head against their pursuers. The historian him
self, with a smaU party, found himself much pressed,
and lost one of his men by a poisoned arrow. At last
the Spaniards succeeded in gaining the heights and
* " Pero en la verdad no los entendian mas que se entendiera un
vizcayno en su vascuence con un tudesco 6 arabigo, 6 otro mas ex-
tremado lenguage." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix, cap. 6.
t " E mando el gobernador que yo llevasse el requirimiento in scrip-
tis que se avia de hacer a los indios, e me Io dio de su mano, como si
yo entendiera a los indios, para se Io leer, o tuvieramos alii quien se lo
diera a entender, queriendolo ellos oyr." — Oviedo, Hist Gen. y Nat.,
lib. xxix., cap. 7.

366 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
capturing some Indian women. The contest, howev
er, must have been more stoutly maintained than was
expected, for on the ensuing morning the governor
joined his nephew with a thousand men-at-arms. A
singular scene then ensued. They came to a deserted
pueblo, in one of the houses of which the principal
Spanish officers took up for the moment their quarters
— namely, the governor, his lieutenant Juan de Ayora,
the contador, the factor, and the alcalde mayor.
Oviedo, who probably felt that this foray had been
made in a very questionable manner, and that he, as
the man intrusted with the Bequisition, might be com
promised by such modes of proceeding, took occasion to
say, in the presence of all of them, " My lord, it ap
pears to me that these Indians will not listen to the
theology of this Bequisition, and that you have no one
who can make them understand it : would your honor
be pleased to keep it until we have some one of these
Indians in a cage, in order that he may learn it at his
leisure, and my lord bishop may explain it to him ?"
"I gave him the Bequisition," the historian adds,
" and he took it with much laughter, both on his part
and from all those who heard me."*
Shortly afterward a skirmish ensued between the
Spaniards and the Indians ; a cannon was fired, the
dogs were let loose, the Indians fled, and the Span
iards returned to their ships.
Oviedo took occasion afterward to give an account
* " En pressencia de todos yo le dixe : ' Seiior, paresceme que estos
indios no quieren escuchar la teologia deste requirimiento, ni vos teneis
quien se la de a entender : manda vuestra merced guardalle, hasta
que tengamos algun indio destos en una jaula, para que despacio lo
aprenda e el senor obispo se lo de a entender.' 'E dile el requirimiento,
y el lo tomo con mucha risa del e de todos los que me oyeron." — Ovi
edo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 7.

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 367
of this day's adventure to Dr. Palacios Bubios, the
author of the Bequisition, who, however, did not do
otherwise than the rest of the world, nor omit to laugh
at these procceedings on the coast of Santa Martha.
' If our own age did not abound in things as remote from
aU common sense as this Bequisition, we should won
der how such a foUy could ever have been put forward,
or even acquiesced in, by persons of such intelligence
as those who surrounded the Spanish court.
^Before the expedition re-embarked, it appears that
Pedrarias let some of the captives go free. As yet,
perhaps, the king's orders to be kind to the Indians
were not forgotten. Pursuing its course westward,
the expedition" touched at the Isla Fuerte, and after
ward, entering the Gulf of Uraba, made its way to the
new settlement of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Da
rien. y Immediately on the arrival of the fleet in the Gulf
of Uraba, Pedrarias sent a messenger to Vasco Nunez
to inform him of his arrival. The messenger did not
find Vasco Nunez surrounded by any of the usual
signs of power and splendor, but clothed in a cotton
shirt, loose drawers, and sandals, overlooking and help
ing some Indians to put a straw thatch on a house.
On hearing the message, Vasco Nufiez, who had, no
doubt, weU considered his part, sent a respectful wel
come to the new governor, and said that the colonists
were ready to receive hfm. The Httle colony now con
sisted of four hundred and fifty soldiers, men inured
to danger, and, to use the expressive words of the
original, "tanned with labors." It is said that there
was much discussion among them as to how they
should receive Pedrarias ; and the historian Hereera
thinks, but not justly, as it seems to me, that these

368 The Expedition under Pedrarias.
four hundred and fifty men could have mastered the
fifteen hundred whom Pedrarias brought with him. In
a month's time this might have been so, but at pres
ent these fifteen hundred men, being chosen persons,
fuU of hope and confidence, admirably equipped, and
with the terror of the king's name, would have scatter
ed Vasco Nufiez's men like chaff before the wind.
Vasco Nufiez's counsels of peace prevaUed, and it was
agreed that they should go out unarmed, and in the
peaceful dress of magistrates, not of soldiers. The
new colonists therefore — one of them certainly with a
heavy heart, but all with apparent joyfulness — came
out to meet their countrymen, singing the "Te Deum."
Pedrarias landed and billeted his men.- This was on
the 30th of June, 1514. /
It is a custom, I believe, even in our own times,
that in some departments the minister coming in should
have a long conference with the minister going out ;
and if this is requisite in settled countries, it was far
more so in those new-found states, where the inhabit
ants, the cfimate, the provisions, the geography, and
the mode of warfare were aU unknown to the new
comers. On the day after his arrival, Pedrarias sum
moned Vasco Nufiez to his presence,* and, with gra
cious words respecting the appreciation of Vasco's
services which was now entertained at court, request
ed him to give an exact account of this new land, and
of the men who inhabited it." Vasco Nufiez repfied
fittingly to this courtesy, and promised to give an ac
count in writing, which he did in the course of two
days, and which contained the whole narrative of his
administration that had now continued for three years.
* Oviedo was present at this interview. — See Hist. Gen. y Nat.,
lib. xxix., cap. 7.

The Expedition under Pedrarias. 369
He also described the rivers, fissures {quebradas), and
mountains where he had found gold, the caciques he
had made aUies of (these were more than twenty), and
his journey of discovery to the South Sea and to the
" Bich Isle," as it was caUed, of pearls. It is proba
ble that Vasco Nunez may, on this occasion, have given
some account of what he supposed to be the popula
tion of Darien, which is stated to have been above two
millions.* /The first thing after this to be done was to take the
residencia of Vasco Nufiez, the result of which was,
that for the injuries done to Enciso and others, he was
condemned to pay several thousand castellanos, and
was put into confinement, but afterward, in consider
ation of his services, was set free.
The next thing was to prepare to make settlements
in the territories of Comogre, Poncha, and Pocorosa,
as Vasco Nufiez had written to advise the king, when
he was suggesting the expedition to discover the South
Sea. While preparation was being made for these
expeditions, Pedrarias's people began to fall ill. The
situation of Darien was very unhealthy, and the new
comers not only suffered from the effects of the cli
mate, but from those of sheer hunger. On disembark
ing, the provisions brought by the fleet had been di
vided among the men, but the flour and the greatest
part of the provisions were found to have been spoiled
by the sea. The old colonists were not in any way
prepared for such an accession to their numbers, and
there were no neighboring Indians who might assist
in such an emergency. The expedition had thus sail-
* " 'E es verdad que los indios que en aquella sacon avia en aquella
gobernacion, passaban de dos milliones, 6 cran incontables." — Oviedo,
Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 9.
Q2

370 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
ed into the very jaws of famine.* Men clad in silks
and brocades absolutely perished of hunger, and might
be seen feeding like cattle upon herbage. One of the
principal hidalgos went through the street saying that
he was perishing of hunger, and in sight of the whole
town dropped down dead. In less than a month seven
hundred men perished. Pedrarias himself was taken
iU, and by the advice of physicians went to a station
at a little distance from the town. AU these misfor
tunes delayed the sending out of the expeditions, and
probably indisposed the minds of men for the adven
ture they had come upon.f They must have felt dis
appointed and desperate, and therefore were ready for
any cruelty. /
One of the first of his captains whom Pedrarias sent
out was Juan de Ayora, with four hundred men, in a
ship and three caravels, to get gold, and to make set
tlements by building fortresses in Comogre's country,
and in that of Pocorosa and Tubanama. Juan de
Ayora proved to be a terrible tyrant. | / The friendly
* Oviedo gives another account of the cause of this famine, and one
which is very discreditable to the king's officers. He says that there
were plenty of provisions, but that the official persons, who suffered
no deficiency of food themselves, showed very little pity to the rest.
(" Pero como los officiates querian poner recabdo en la hacienda real,
y a ellos no les faltaba de comer, tuvieron poca missericordia con los
demas." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 9.) They took out
all the provisions and put them in a large hut, which they called the
"toldo" (pavilion), and he intimates that the mayordomos of this " tol-
'do," very conveniently for their own purposes, set fire to it ; but Ovi
edo, though a pious and strict man, was inclined to put the worst in
terpretation upon all that happened.
t Some of the principal men were allowed to return to Spain, and
they went to Cuba, as will afterward be seen.
X Oviedo sums up Ayora's proceedings in the following fearful
words : " En este camino Johan de Ayora, no solamente dexo de hacer
los requirimientos e amonestaciones, que se debian hacer a los indios,
antes de les mover la guerra ; pero salteabanlos de noche, e a los

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 371
caciques, Comogre, Poncha, and Pocorosa, who had
been very dutiful to Vasco Nunez, came with their
gold to this new Spanish chief ; but their people were
harassed and made slaves, and their wives were car
ried off. The same thing happened to Tubanama,
who, being more valorous and powerful, took to arms,
but without avail. Juan de Ayora sought to deal
with a cacique called Sacativa as he had done with
the rest ; but this Indian chief, whose territories were
on the sea-shore," having put the women and children
in safety, deserted his town, and lay hid in ambus
cade. When the Spaniards landed, he made an at
tack upon them, and wounded Juan de Ayora, who
resolved to revenge himself on Pocorosa's territory —
where he had buUt a town caUed Santa Cruz — and
would have done so on Pocorosa himself, had not a
friendly Spaniard, named Eslava, warned the cacique,
who sought safety in flight. For this timely notice
given by Eslava, when it was discovered, he narrowly
escaped hanging at the hands of Juan de Ayora.
The Licentiate Zuazo, a distinguished lawyer, who
was sent by Cardinal Ximenes, a few years afterward,
to the West Indies, describes graphicaUy the dealings
of this Spanish captain, Juan de Ayora, with one of
the friendly caciques. On the approach of the Span
iards, the Indians, supposing it was their old friend
Vasco Nufiez, made great preparations with roast meat,
game, bread, and wine, to entertain hjm. When Juan
caciques e indios principales atormentabanlos, pidiendoles oro ; e unos
assaban, e otros hacian comer vivos de perros, e otros colgaban, e en
otros se hicieron nuevas formas de tormentos, demas de les tomar las
mugeres e las hijas, e hacerlos esclavos e prissioneros, e repartirlos
entre si, segund e de la manera que a Johan de Ayora le parescio e a
cada uno de los otros capitanes, por donde auduvieron." — Hist. Gen
y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 9.

372 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
de Ayora arrived, he and his men sat down to this re
past. "But where is the tiba?" said the cacique {tiba
was their name for chief), upon which Juan de Ayora
was pointed out to him ; but he repfied, this was not
the "tiba," for he knew Vasco Nunez weU. The poor
cacique was soon to understand the difference more
clearly ; for after dinner Juan de Ayora sent for him,
and ordered him to give gold unless he wished to be
burned or thrown to the dogs. The cacique sent for
a little gold that he had, and presented it. This did
not satisfy the Spanish captain. Then the wretched
cacique, who was bound, desired his vassals to bring
all the gold that they had, but, when it was brought,
Juan de Ayora w#s stUl dissatisfied with the quanti
ty, and demanded more. The cacique begged that
the Spaniard would be content, as he had given all the
gold he had ;¦ but Juan de Ayora, with aU the relent
less rage of a robber who finds smaller booty than he
expected, caused the unhappy Indian to be burned.*
/By such doings, or at least by the most wanton rapine,
he succeeded in obtaining a large quantity of gold ;
but neither the king, nor Pedrarias, nor the expedition,
was any the better for this gold, as Juan de Ayora
took ship, and, furtively making off with all his ill-
gotten plunder, was never heard of more in Darien.
"In aU the turmoUs that have taken place beyond
sea, nothing has displeased me so much as this man's
avarice, which has thus disturbed the mihds of the
chiefs, who before were at peace with us." Thus does
the honest and outspeaking Peter Martyr express
himself, who, although he was a friend to Pedrarias,
did not hesitate to throw some suspicion in the matter
* Navarrete, v Salva, Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de
EspaTm, torn, ii., p. 3C0.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 373
upon that governor, for which, however, there does not
appear to be the sfightest foundation.
As for Juan de Ayora's colony at Santa Cruz, it
met with the fate which its founder and his doings de
served. The Spaniards there gave the greatest offense
to the surrounding Indians. Pocorosa and his people
came down upon the settlement in the dead of the
night ; the Indians and Spaniards had a desperate en
counter, and, when morning broke, there were only
five left of the Spaniards, who, flying, bore the news
of their defeat to Darien. The town of Santa Cruz
was not in existence more than six months. There
is an episode in this story of Juan de Ayora's expedi
tion which is very significant, and furnishes in itseH
almost a summary of the proceedings at Darien.
WhUe Juan de Ayora was robbing and murdering
in the manner above mentioned, his absence seemed
somewhat protracted to those at Darien who were not
so profitably employed. Accordingly,^ the bishop sug
gested to the governor that they should send to see
" what God had done with the lieutenant, Juan de
Ayora, of whom they had had no inteUigence what
ever." The person whom the bishop suggested should
be sent to see after Ayora was no other than Bartolo-
me* Hurtado, the great friend and aUy of Vasco Nufiez,
which circumstance tends to show that some friend
ship had already sprung up between the bishop and
Vasco Nunez.
Hurtado set out upon his mission. He succeeded
in finding Ayora, and returned before him, but he did
not return empty-handed, for he brought back more
than a hundred peaceable Indians {Indios de paz)
whom he had stolen, and among them several whom
he had merely borrowed f.-oin the friendly cacique of

374 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
Careta as porters to carry burdens. WeU aware how
little his proceedings would bear inquiry, he sought at
once to make powerful friends. He gave to the gov
ernor six Indians ; to the bishop six Indians ; to the'
treasurer four ; to the contador four ; the factor four,
and four to the alcalde mayor. This was the first in
stance of these high officers at Darien receiving such
gratifications. Then the king's fifths were paid, and
the slaves who formed this portion, and who happened
to be the men lent by Careta, were immediately dis
posed of by public sale, and branded. Most of them
were afterward carried across sea.* At last, after these
gifts had been received, and dues had been paid, so
that many persons were interested in declaring the
original capture legal, out came the true story of how
these Indians had been acquired, and it appeared — a
thing almost too ludicrous to mention — that this fa
mous Bequisition had never been read to these wretch
ed Indians until they were actually led along as pris
oners in chains, and beaten if they did not step along
sufficiently fast.j Certainly the element of comedy,
which is never far from the most tragical of human
events, was seldom closer to them than in this terri
ble Conquest of the Indies.
* " Los quales luego fueron vendidos en almoneda e herrados, e los
mas dellos se sacaron de la tierra por mar, e los llevaron a otras partes."
— Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 9.
t " Parescio que avian seydo salteados, e que primero fueron atados
que les dixessen ni supiessen que avia Papa, ni Iglesia, ni cosa de
quantas el requirimiento decia : e despues de estar metidos en cadena,
uno les leia aquel requirimiento, sin lengua 6 interprete, e sin entender
el letor ni los indios ; e ya que se lo dixeran con quien entendiera su
lengua, estaban sin libertad para responder a lo que se les leia, y al
momenta tiraban con ellos aprisionados adelante, e no dexando de dar
de palos a quien poco andaba." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix.,
cap. 9.

i Minor Expeditions imder Pedrarias. 375
¦Oviedo has been supposed to be a hard and severe
man, and one who was any thing but friendly to the
Indians, but we must do him the justice to befieve that
he was thoroughly shocked at the proceedings in Da
rien, and that it was from the best motives that he re
solved to return to Spain, for the purpose of giving in
formation to the king, and, as he expresses it, "to
five in a country more secure for my conscience and
my life." His pretexts for going were the state of his
health and a wish to see his wife. After being obliged
to submit to a residencia, in the course of which no
charge was preferred against him, he was aUowed to
depart. The account of the colony which he had to
carry back to the king was fearful, and did not depend
upon his own testimony alone. The governor sent
word home by Oviedo what a hinderance the bishop
was to good government, and how covetous and inso
lent of tongue he was, and how unruly and dishonest
were his clerigos* The bishop, on his side, charged
Oviedo to inform the king of the governor's " avarice
and inconstancy," and of the peculations of the alcalde
mayor. It wUl hereafter be seen that the governor
and the bishop appreciated each other's faults with
nice discrimination.
The bishop very urgently begged the historian to
inform the king what a good and skillful servant his
highness had in Vasco Nufiez.
There was one slight circumstance which Oviedo
could have mentioned (and probably did so) against
both the governor and the bishop, and which alone was
* " E diome sus cartas e memoriales, en que decia del obispo quan
to estorbo era para la buena gobernacion, e quan cobdicioso e roto de
su lengua, e sus clerigos quan exentos edeshonestos." — Oviedo, Hist.
Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 9.

376 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
fatal to any thing like good government in the colony :
it was that they were in the habit of letting their young
men, their negroes, and their dogs* accompany the ex
peditions that were sent out, and receive the due ap
portionment of the spoUf for their masters.
^The next enterprise worth mentioning is that which
Pedrarias intrusted to the BachUler Enciso, sending
him into the territory of Cemi. The BachUler, as a
man learned in the law, could not comport himself
after the fashion of rude captains, but, before making
any attack upon the Indians, he duly read to them
that long Bequisition which is now well known to the
reader. It may be noticed, I think, in the course of
this narrative, that the men of education always be
have a little better than the rest. Enciso's account
of the effect of reading this Bequisition (which he gives
in a simple, innocent way) is very interesting. Mak
ing his appeal to two of the caciques of Cemi, he teUs
* The reader must not be surprised at the dogs receiving their share.
Vasco Nunez had a dog called Leoncico, who always received his share
of gold and slaves ; and his instinct was said to be such that he could
distinguish between an " Indio de guerra" and an " Indio de paz" —
a distinction which was often overlooked by his Spanish friends. "As-
simesmo quiero hacer memoria de un perro que tenia Vasco Nunez
que se llamaba Leoncico, y que era hijo del perro Becerrico de la isla
de Sanct Johan, y no fue menos famoso quel padre. Este perro gano
a Vasco NuBiez en esta y otras entradas mas de mill pessos de oro,
porque se le daba tanta parte como a un compaSero en el oro y en los
csclavos, quando se repartian." * * * "Era aqueste perro de un
distinto maravilloso, y assi conoscia el indio bravo y el manso como le
conosciera yo ii otro que en esta guerra anduviera, e tuviera racon."—
Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 3.
t " E desta causa, e por el interesse destas partes, que se daban a
los gobernadores e obispo e officiales en los indios, y al gobcrnador en
los indios y en el oro de cada entrada, y en llevarles sus mocos y ne
gros y perros, y darles las mejores partes en los repartimientos de los
indios que se tomaban contimiaron d enviar capitanes a Unas partes e
a otras de la tierra." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., t. 9.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 377
them the whole story of the world as written in the
Bequisition : How there was one God, Three and One,
who governed the heavens and the earth; and how
He had come into the world, and had left in his place
Saint Peter; and how Saint Peter had left, as suc-

CASTI LLA
DEL ORO.

S J? -*,

cessor, the Pope, as lord of the universe ; and how, as
such lord, the Pope had given this land of the Indies
and Cemi to the King of Castile. AU this being pre
mised, it was easy to show that obedience was to be

378 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
instantly rendered to him, the BachiUer Enciso, as one
of the captains of the King of CastUe. But the ca
ciques took an objection, to use a lawyer's phrase, to
Enciso's history. " They replied to him," he teUs us,
" that, with respect to what I said about there be
ing but one God, and that He governed the heaven
and the earth, and was Lord of aU things, it seemed
good to them, and so it must be ; but that in what I
said about the Pope being the lord of aU the universe
in the place of God, and that he had given the land
of the Indies to the King of CastUe, the Pope must
have been drunk when he did it, for he gave what was
not his;* also, that the king, who asked for or re
ceived this gift, must be some madman (algun loco),
for that he asked to have that given him which be
longed to others ; and they added, that, should he come
there to take it, they would put his head on a stake.
They were lords of this country, and there was no need
of any other."
Upon this bold answer Enciso proceeded in his
formal way to expound to them the threatenings of
the Bequisition ; to which they only replied that they
would put his head on a stake, a threat which, he says,
they tried to carry into effect, but he was too strong
for them, and put them to flight, though they made a
vigorous resistance. Afterward he captured one of
these caciques ; and Enciso mentions that the cacique
was a man of much truth, who kept his word, and that
evil seemed to him evU, and good, good ; by which the
BachiUer means that they thought alike on many points
of law and morality. To us, who are by-standers as it
were, it seems a sad pity to have destroyed by force
* " Dijeron que el Papa debia estar borracho cuando lo hizo, pues
daba Io que no era suyo." — Enciso, Suma de Geographia.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. "379
the polity which had brought such a man as this ca
cique to the head of affairs in his tribe ; and we can
not help thinking that the speech of the two caciques
of Cenu, stripped of its rudeness, was somewhat of an
answer to the demands of both pope and king.
No farther information is given by Enciso of this
expedition to Centi ; and it needed not his silence to
convince us of the unprofitable nature of the under
taking.^. /¦Among other expeditions fitted out by* Pedrarias,
4here is one which deserves mention, and at\the head
of which was a certain Gaspar de Morales. This cap
tain was sent to the South Sea, to find pearls in the
islands caUed Tezaregui, situated in the Gulf of San
MigueL/the chief island being that one renowned for
pearls, which Vasco Nufiez, after discovering the South
Sea, was anxious to visit, but had been dissuaded from
doing so by his friend Chiapes. -The force which Gas-
par de Morales had at his command consisted of eighty
men, that is, eighty Spaniards, for in all these expedi
tions there was generaUy a numerous retinue of In
dians. /
On his way to the Gulf of San Miguel, Morales met
with another of the captains of Pedrarias, named Be-
cerra, who was laden with gold, and accompanied by
slaves taken from the territories of those caciques who
had been friendly to Vasco Nufiez, and who had re
ceived Becerra as if he too were a friend. The names
given by the Spaniards to the caciques whose terri
tories this Becerra had ravaged, are sufficient indication
of the nature of his ravages. One was caUed "el Su-
egro," the father-in-law, and another "el Quemado,"
the burned one. The explanation of these names is as

380 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
foUows : the Suegro had three or four daughters who
were carried off, and the Quemado was burned because
he did not give as much gold as the Spaniards de
manded of him.* Morales pursued a Hke system of
devastation with that of Becerra, gleaning what spoil
he could after the devastation made by his brother of
ficer. On one particular occasion — which may serve
to Ulustrate the proceedings of Morales — he and his
men came upon an Indian town in the midst of some
festivity.' It was the custom in these festivals for the
men and the women to sit apart. The foUowers of
Morales thought this a good opportunity for capturing
female prisoners ; they therefore seized the Indian
women present, and carried them off, the men making
the most desperate efforts to rescue their wives and
daughters, but without avail. This mode of converting
the Indians to Christianity— for we must recollect that,
according to the tenor of King Ferdinand's instruc
tions, it was to protect missionaries that these bands
of armed men were employed — naturaUy aroused the
most deadly hatred in the Indians. They formed a
great conspiracy to destroy Morales, in which no fewer
than twenty caciques were engaged. Unfortunately,
among the conspirators there was a cacique accompa
nying the principal body of Spaniards, for at that time
they happened to be divided into two or three parties.
This cacique was informed of the partial success of the
conspiracy, that is, of the Indians having destroyed ten
* " EI Suegro se llamo aquel cacique, porque llegados alii los chrip-
stianos le tomaron (6 les dio de temor), tres 6 quatro hijas que tenia a
los capitanes : e por este hospedage e adulterios de los yernos, quel no
quisiera, le llamaron el Suegro ; mas su propio nombre era Mahe. Al
otro cacique que llamaron Quemado, fuo porque de hecho e sin causa
le quemaron, porque no daba tanto oro como le pedian." — Oviedo, Hist.
Gen. y Nat., lib., xxix , cap. 10.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 381
Spaniards who were separated from the main body,
upon which he instantly fled during the night. Mo
rales, with his suspicions awakened by this sudden
flight, ordered pursuit to be made after the fugitive ca
cique, who, being taken, and the torture being applied
to him, confessed what he knew. By means of the in
telligence thus obtained, the Spanish commander was
enabled to defeat the plans of the conspirators. FaU-
ing at daybreak upon the united forces of the Indians,
when they were quite unprepared for such an attack,
he put them to flight, and afterward capturing twenty
caciques, he destroyed them by giving them to his
dogs to tear to pieces. AU this took place on the re
turn of Morales from the islands to which he had been
sent, where he had been received in the most friendly
manner, and had obtained a great number of most val
uable pearls.
/By the faUure of this conspiracy and the slaughter
of the caciques Morales probably felt more at his ease,
and, instead of returning at once to Darien, he direct
ed his course to the territories of a cacique caUed Birti,
at the eastern end of the Gulf of San Miguel. This
cacique was said to be very warfike and very rich. It
is conjectured to have been from a corruption of his
name that the great kingdom of Peru was so caUed.
In such a case as this, where a warlike chief was to
be attacked, it is not probable that the reading of the
Bequisition was a very public and formal one. In
deed, Las Casas says that, in general, the Spaniards
approached the' Indian towns, marching sUently, and
halting about midnight, when those primeval forests
must have been witnesses to strange scenes. For then
they read to themselves and to the trees* that Bequi-
* "Entre si leian el requirimiento a los arboles."

382 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
sition, no doubt muttering very fast the weU-known
words, " Caciques and Indians of the town of so and
so, we give you to know how there is one God, etc.,
etc. ; and how he left our holy Pope as universal Lord,
etc., etc. ; and how the holy Pope gave to the kings of
CastUe," etc., etc. ; and thus, having gabbled through
the document, they resumed silence, untU they burst
upon the Indian town with the cry of " Santiago," a
word which I do not find in the Bequisition, though it
is the word which must often have been the first and
the only Spanish one the Indians lived to hear. ?
/The warlike cacique Birti, though he was attacked
by night and his town was set fire to, did not give him
self up as conquered. He fled at first, but then turned
upon the Spaniards, and fought with them for a whole
day, the result appearing doubtful. The Spaniards
were at last victorious, but it was too hardly earned a
victory to profit much by, and they did not stay in
Biru's country. \ Meanwhile, the people of the twenty
slaughtered caciq&es united together, and pressed Mo
rales hard as he was making his way back to Darien^-
To free himself, the Spanish commander had recourse
to a most cruel expedient. He stabbed his Indian cap
tives at intervals as he went along, hoping thus to occu
py the pursuing Indians. This incident is alluded to in
becoming terms of indignation by Vasco Nufiez, now a
critical observer of other men's doings, in a letter to the
king, where he says that a more cruel deed was never
heard of among Moors, Christians, or any other peo
ple.* Oviedo speaks of this transaction as a "Herodi-
an cruelty," and states that ninety or a hundred persons
* " Una crueldad la mayor que nunca se ha hecho entre alarabes y
cristianos, ni otra ninguna generacion." — Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 378.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 383
perished through it.* However atrocious, it seems to
me to be surpassed by many of the transactions in the
Terra-firma, and it had at least the justification ,of be
ing done in self-defense. At last Morales and his men,
having fought their way with immense valor, if such
a word can be justly applied to the proceedings of such
men, and having had the most frightful difficulties and
sufferings to contend with from the nature of the coun
try they passed through, reached Darien. Pizarro was
in this expedition, and seems to have been employed
as second in command. It was a terrible school which
the future conqueror of Peru was brought up in.
-,/ The Governor of Darien continued to send out ex-
peditions such as those of Morales, which are painful
to read of and tiresome to relate, and which, when they
brought back much gold and many slaves, were stUl,
even in the views of statesmen of that time, unfortu
nate, as they founded nothing, and led to nothing ex
cept to a profound hatred in those parts of the name
and nation of the Spaniards. '
AShe next expedition of note that Pedrarias sent out
was led by Becerra//the same man whom Morales met
when commencing his expedition to the Pearl islands,
and who had already distinguished himself by the rav
ages he had made in the territories of the caciques for
merly in strict aUiance with Vasco Nufiez. /Becerra
was not only weU furnished with men, but carried with
him aU the apparatus of war, among which were pieces
* " Acordaron de degollar en cuerda todos los indios que estaban
pressos e atados, no perdonando muger ni niiio chico ni grande de to
dos ellos, imitando la crueldad herodiana, para que los indios que ve-
nian de guerra contra ellos se detuviessen alii, viendo e contemplando
aquel crudo espectaculo ; e assi se puso por la obra, e degollaron desta
manera sobre noventa 6 cient personas." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat.,
lib. xxix., cap. 10.

'384 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
of artiUery capable of throwing large baUs — large for
that time at least — "as big, "we are told, "as an egg.^/
Becerra's destination was Cenu, a territory famUiar to
the reader as the scene of the BachiUer Enciso's singu
lar conversation with the two caciques. The reason
why aU this apparatus which Becerra carried with him
was considered particularly requisite was, that he had
to carry on war with the Caribs.* We know, howev
er, that it effected no good result. /After hearing so
often of the destruction and dispersion of the Indians,
that, in general, each story seems but a counterpart of
the one that came before it, it is a comfort to find oc-
casionaUy that they have a great success. It was so
in this case. Not one of Becerra's men returned to tell
the tale of the total destruction which this expedition
met with./ One Indian youth alone made his way
,back to Darien, half dead with hunger, and he told
the governor of the fate of Becerra and his company.
The Indian's story was, that Becerra had entered
by unknown ways into this province of Centi, which
Enciso with aU legal forms had duly ravaged, and
where, therefore, the Indians were fully prepared to
receive such theological instruction as was commonly
sent to them by the Bishop and the Governor of Da
rien. Accordingly, they wounded Becerra's men with
poisoned arrows, they embarrassed the ways with feU-
ed timber, and finally, using the arts of dissimulation
as weU as of war, they contrived, when assisting
Becerra's men to cross a great river, to destroy them
aU. It was one of the few chances stiU remaining for
the Indians in their warfare that it should be in or near
water, in which element they were far more at home
* " Ad bellum Caribibus in ipsa Caribana gerendum versus vicum
Turufy." — Pet. Martyr, dec. iii., cap. 10.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 385
than the Spaniards were ; and this exemplifies that
complete saying of Napoleon upon the art of war, that
it is " the art of being strongest on a given point at a
given time."
The late expeditions had been so manifestly unsuc
cessful that the Governor of Darien began to take the
state of affairs much to heart. He ordered the melt
ing-house, " Casa de la Fundicion," to be closed — a
most clear signal of distress ;. he also, in conjunction
with the bishop, ordered public prayers to be offered
up that God might remove his anger from them. I
do not find, however, that any change of policy took
place in accordance with those prayers, unless it was
that the next expedition, commanded by Gonzalo de
Badajoz, seems to have been sent out in a different
direction from the other ones, namely, to Nombre de
Dios, and thence to the South Sea. Badajoz behaved
Hke the rest of the captains, and succeeded in obtain
ing an immense quantity of money (eighty thousand
castellanos, it is said), but lost it aU by the cunning
device of an Indian cacique named Paris, who con
trived by false intelligence to direct the attention of
Badajoz to another quarter, whUe he attacked and pil
laged the station where Badajoz had left his gold.
This expedition also must have returned to Darien in
very disconsolate mood, and could not have brought
much comfort to the governor's mind.
'The last that I shaU mention, and one of the most
memorable of Pedrarias's expeditions, was that sent
out under his alcalde mayor, Espinosa. In this ex
pedition there went a Franciscan monk, named Fran
cisco de San Boman. He wrote a letter to Father
Vol. L— R

386 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
Pedro de Cordova, the head of the Dominicans, which
letter the father gave to Las Casas, and in which San
Boman begged that Pedro de Cordova, for the love
of God, would speak to the authorities at St. Domin
go, and put it as a matter of conscience to them to
provide a remedy for the Terra-firma which those ty
rants were destroying. Afterward the Franciscan re
turned to Spain, and, when he was at SeviUe in the
College of San Tomas, of the order of the Domini
cans, he stated that he had seen with his own eyes,
killed by the sword, or thrown to savage dogs, in this
expedition of Espinosa's, above forty thousand souls.*
This seems almost incredible ; but let no one doubt
it, or imagine that he can realize to his mind what
such an expedition would be capable of, until he has
fully pictured to himself what his own nature might
become, if he formed one of such a band, toifing in a
new fierce clime, enduring miseries unimagined by him
before, graduaUy giving up all civilized ways, grow
ing more and more indifferent to the destruction of
life— the Hfe of animals, of his adversaries, of his com
panions, even his own — retaining the adroitness and
sagacity of man, and becoming feU, reckless, and ra
pacious as the fiercest brute of the forest. Not more
different the sea, when, some midsummer morning, it
comes, with its crisp, delicate little waves fondling up
to your feet like your own dog, and the same sea
when, storm-ridden, it thunders in against you with
foam and fury like a wild beast, than is the smUing,
prosperous, civilized man, restrained by a thousand
invisible fetters, who has not known real hunger for
* " Que habia visto por sus ojos matar a espada y echar a Perros
bravos en este viaje de Espinosa sobre cuarenta mil animas." — Las
Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 71.

Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias. 387
years, from the same man when he has starved, and
fought, and bled, been alternately frozen and burned
up, and when his life, in fact, has become one mad,
blinding contest with aU around him.
Espinosa's expedition, however murderous, being
composed of such men as have been just described,
was not unsuccessful in the way in which success was
then reckoned, for he recovered the gold which Bada-.
joz had lost, and brought back eighty thousand pesos
and two thousand slaves. xWe are assured of this on
the authority of an earHer historian than LAS Casas,*
whose words are as foUows : " He, Espinosa, brought
with him full two thousand captives, which, for car
rying to Hispaniola, were then worth much money.
Thence came that rapid as weU as miserable diminu
tion which these wretched nations suffered, since, from
desire for the gold which the merchants gave for these
slaves in Darien, aU the time that they were outside
the walls of that city, both those acquired in peace,
as weU as those taken in war, were put in irons, "f
Speaking probably of this expedition of Espinosa's,
one of the captains in it, Pascual de Andagoya,
says that they returned with such a number of slaves
that they were obfiged to make two days' journey of
such a short distance as three or four leagues ; and
he adds, that " aU his company of slaves perished at
* Diego de la Tovilla, Historia Barbarica. This writer is alluded
to both by Las Casas and Herrera, but in modern times his work
has not been seen. It would be a service to history to discover it.
t " Traia largos dos mil captivos, que para llevarlos los mercadantes
a la Espanola valian entonces muchos dineros. De donde nacid la
tan presta como miserable caida que estas infelices Gentes dieron,
pues con la cudicia del mucho oro que por ellos en el Darien los tra-
tantes les daban todo el tiempo que fuera de sus muros se veian asi al
de paz como al de guerra ponian en hierros." — Las Casas, Hist, de
las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 72.

388 Minor Expeditions under Pedrarias.
Darien, as did all the rest who were brought there."*
This statement is inconsistent with that of TovUla,
just referred to ; but I have no doubt that the con
tradiction between these two witnesses is but one of
place, and that the truth is, that aU the slaves in
question perished rapidly, some at Darien and some
at Hispaniola.
Throughout these expeditions in the Terra-firma,
which would else, perhaps, be as interesting as they
are important, the reader is vexed and distracted by
new and uncouth names of people and of places. The
very words Borne, Constantinople, London, Genoa,
Venice, stir the blood and arrest the attention : any
smaU incident in their fortunes enjoys some of the ac
cumulated interest which is bound up with these time-
honored names, while it requires an effort of imagina
tion to care about what may happen to Comogra, Da-
baybe, Poncha, or Pocorosa. It is only on perceiving
the immense importance of those events which happen
in the early days of new-found countries that we can
sufficiently arouse our attention to consider such events
at aU.
Then, however, we may see that the fate of future
empires, and the distribution of races over the face of
the earth, depend upon the painful deeds of a few ad
venturers and unrenowned native chieftains, they them
selves being like players, whose names and private
fortunes we do not care much about, but who are act
ing in some great drama, the story of which concerns
the whole world. /
* " La cual con toda la demas que al Darien fue, acabo alii sus
dias."— Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 413.

CHAPTEB III.
THE FATE OF VASCO NUNEZ.
WHILE narrating the melancholy results of these
various expeditions, nothing has been said of
Vasco Nufiez, and of the dealings of Pedrarias with
one whom he was naturaUy inclined to look upon as a
rival and to treat as an enemy. Many and severe
must have been the comparisons made by the men
who had served under Vasco Nunez between the suc
cessful mode in which he had alternately soothed and
terrified the Indian caciques, and the unsuccessful man
ner in which the captains of Pedrarias had prosecuted
their disastrous adventures. /'For some time it appears
that Vasco Nunez remained an unemployed man, and,
as may be seen from his letters to the king, a very dis
contented and critical observer. He resolved to un
dertake an expedition of his own,xand sent secretly to
Cuba for men to accompany him in peopling the coasts
of the Southern Sea.
It was, perhaps, at the solicitation of the Bishop of
Darien, or it might have been from motives of policy,
that the governor resolved at this period to employ
Vasco Nufiez in making an entrance (a favorite phrase
of the Spaniards) into the country of Dabaybe, of which
Vasco had written great accounts to the court of Spain.
K he succeeded in this enterprise, the governor would
share in his success ; if he failed, the governor would
gain, at least in credit, by any faUure of an undertak
ing conducted by Vasco Nufiez. And fail he did, for

390 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
the very same reason aUuded to in the notice of a re
cent expedition, namely, that he encountered the In
dians on an element in which they were naturaUy the
masters. Attacking him on the water, they were com
pletely successful, and Vasco Nufiez himself was
wounded and escaped with difficulty. The scarcity,
also, of provisions prevented him from making any stay
in Dabaybe's country, which had recently been strip
ped by locusts.* Vasco Nunez could not induce Da-
baybe, whose principal town he had seized upon, to
come near him, and he had nothing to do but to return
to Darien with confirmed intelligence of the mineral
wealth of the country he had traversed, but with no
visible signs of treasure. It may be imagined what
joy this iU success must have given to the captains
of Pedrarias, and probably to the governor himself.
It was mentioned sometime back that Vasco Nufiez,
soon after his discovery of the South Sea, had sent a
man named Arbolanche to the court of Spain with the
good news and with rich presents. This messenger
did not come in time to stop the appointment of Pe
drarias, but the tidings which Arbolanche brought were
well received ; and the king not only pardoned Vasco
Nunez, but conferred upon him the title of Adelantado.
Hitherto it had been the fashion at the court of Spain
to speak very sfightingly of Vasco Nufiez, but this in
telligence of the discovery of the South Sea, the great
est that had reached the mother country since Colum
bus had brought back the tidings and the signs of a
new world, must have changed in great measure thev
opinions of the king and of the court respecting Vasco
Nufiez. And the good opinion they now entertained
of him would be likely to increase rather than to di-
* See his letter to the king. — Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 38L

The Fate of Vasco Nufiez. 391
rainish, when men came to reflect upon the nature of
his discoveries, and the mode in which he had foUow-
ed them out.
It was probably about the time that Pedrarias had
sent the BachiUer Enciso to Cenu that the title of Ad
elantado came out for Vasco Nufiez. Joined with this
title, the government of Coyva and Panama was also
granted to him. Coyva is a smaU island where Vas
co Nufiez thought that there were pearls. The king
did not omit to endeavor to make Pedrarias and Vas
co Nunez act harmoniously together, recommending
the governor to show aU kindness to so useful a serv
ant of the crown as Vasco Nunez, and Vasco Nufiez
to endeavor to please Pedrarias as much as possible.
But, as one of Vasco Nunez's biographers observes,
" that which was easy at court was impossible at Da
rien, where factions prevented it."
Not long after this time, Andres Garavito, the man
whom Vasco Nunez had sent to Cuba to negotiate for
him there, returning to Darien with seventy men and
aU the necessary provisions for an expedition, came to
place himself under the orders of Vasco Nunez. Gar
avito, when at six leagues from the port, sent secretly
to advise Vasco Nufiez of his arrival ; but the intelli
gence also reaching the ears of Pedrarias, caused the
utmost offense to that jealous governor, who gave or
ders that Vasco Nufiez should be arrested and put in
prison. At the entreaty, however, of the Bishop of
Darien, the governor did not send Vasco Nufiez to
prison, but set him free on certain conditions which
were arranged between them.
It seems that Vasco Nufiez was now left for some
time in neglect, and might have remained so but for
the interposition of the Bishop of Darien, between

392 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
whom and Vasco Nufiez a strong friendship or alliance
had sprung up. I imagine that the bishop, himself a
man of ability, recognized the abilities of Vasco Nu
nez. However that may be, the bishop succeeded in
making Vasco Nufiez and the governor friends ; and
he proposed to cement this friendship by the strongest
family bonds, suggesting that Pedrarias should give
his daughter in marriage to Vasco Nufiez. This was,
no doubt, a wise step to take ; the governor assented,
and the espousals were formally made, the young lady
herself being in Spain./ It does not appear, however,
that either Pedrarias or his intended son-in-law was
in a great hurry for the marriage to be solemnized ;
and it is probable that the attachment of Vasco Nufiez
to one of his Indian captives rendered him very indif
ferent about the marriage, except as a matter of policy.
The rivals being now reconciled, or appearing to
be so, were at liberty to push their united fortunes
forward with vigor. Pedrarias sent Vasco Nufiez to
occupy a town in the port of Acla* (founded by Ga
briel Bojas, one of Pedrarias's captains, and afterward
abandoned for fear of the neighboring Indians), whence
he was to prepare to embark upon the South Sea.
Acla> however, as may be seen in the map, is on this
side of South America. It was therefore the bold,
and, considering the number of lives that were con
sumed by it, we must say, the cruel scheme, of Vasco
Nufiez to prepare for the construction of his vessels
at Acla, and to carry the materials over land to the
South Sea. When arrived at Acla, Vasco Nufiez,
* Acla signifies "the bones of men." "Acla en la lengua de
aquella tierra quierc decir huesos de hombres 6 canillas de hombres."
— :Relacion de Pascual de Andagoya. (Orig. en el Arch, de Ind. en
Sevilla, Relac. y Descripc, leg. ii.) — Nav., Col, torn iii., p. 397.

The Fate of Vasco Nunez

393

who always showed himself a trae commander, took
care to order each of his men, with the assistance of
his slaves, to tUl the ground, that they might be sure
of subsistence. He himself set the example of work-

PANAMA, DARIEN,
AND THE
SOUTH SEA.

ing with his own hands at this prudent employment,
as "in aU labors he took the foremost part."*
Just at this period it happened that Espinosa and
* " En esto el era el primero, por que era hombre de muchas fuer-
zas, y seria entonces de cuarenta anos ; y siempre en todos los traba-
jos llevaba la delantera." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii.,
cap. 73.
B 2

394 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
his men, with aU their riches and their slaves, came
to Acla on their return to Darien. The shrewd Vas
co Nufiez foresaw that when these men, accustomed
to an adventurous life, had reached Darien, and had
divided the spoU, they would soon begin to tire of
inactivity. He accordingly followed them to Darien,
and contrived to bring back with him to Acla two
hundred of them, the governor favoring the efforts
of his intended son-in-law.
Vasco Nufiez and his men now began the terrible
labor of their undertaking, which was to cut wood
and fashion it at Acla, thence to convey it across the
sierras to the Biver Valsa, there to construct four brig
antines, and thence to launch them on the South Sea,
to pursue a grand career abounding in riches and dis
covery. One of the first things to be done was to make a
station on the top of the sierras, where those might
rest who had to bring up the burden of the buUding
materials — wood, iron, and cordage. For this pur
pose Vasco Nufiez sent a man called Companon with
some Spaniards and thirty negroes. How these thir
ty negroes came to be under the orders of Vasco Nu
nez is rather surprising. I suppose they must have
been imported from Hispaniola. If so, it shows that
there was a greater number of negroes there at that
time than has ever been imagined. But it is just
possible that these negroes were taken from that tribe
which was found so unaccountably in this very region
of South America, close to Quarequa's country.
When the station had been made on the top of the
sierra, Vasco Nunez caused the wood to be carried up
there immediately. From Acla to this station it was
twelve leagues of terrible road, over mountains and

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 395
rivers, which latter, being of the nature of mountain
torrents, were at one time shaUows, at another floods.
In encountering this stupendous labor, five hundred
Indians perished. This fact appears in a statement
which Vasco Nunez's friend, the Bishop of Darien,
made afterward at the court of Spain.*
As the Indians died, Vasco Nunez sent companies
to impress other Indians for the terrible labor. It
may be noticed that no single Spaniard or negro is
said to have perished of this work, in which the In
dians died by hundreds.
After aU the wood had been transported in this
painful manner to the Biver Valsa, Vasco Nunez divid
ed his company into three parties : one to cut wood ;
the second, to bring from Acla the iron-work and cord
age for the ships ; the third, to get provisions in the
neighboring country, and to capture Indians. The
enterprise was now interrupted by a most unexpected
misfortune, which, if discovered earlier, might have
saved the fives of many of those wretched Indians
who had perished in bringing the wood over the
mountains. This wood, when it was already formed
and fashioned, and some of it probably on the stocks,
turned out to be eaten through and through with
worms. Another time also, when the Spaniards were
far advanced in their work, and were in the midst of
it, there came suddenly upon them a very high tide,
which swept away part of the wood, buried the rest
in the mud and slime, and drove the terrified work-
* " Yo vi firmado de su nombre, del mismo Obispo, en una relacion
que hizo al Emperador en Barcelona el ano de quinientos y diez y
nueve, cuando el de la Tierra firma vino, como mas largo adelante
placiendo a Dios sera referido, que habia muerto el Vasco Nunez por
hacer los Vergantines quinientos Indios." — Las Casas, Hist, de las
Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 73.

396 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
men up into the trees for safety. Vasco Nunez was
not a little discouraged by these mishaps. To add to
his troubles, the third division of his men had been
unsuccessful in obtaining food, so that the whole com
munity suffered extremely from hunger, and Vasco
Nunez himself was obliged to live upon such roots of
the earth as he could get. " It may be imagined,"
says Las Casas, " what the five or six hundred In
dians in attendance had to eat."
The Adelantado, however, did not give up the un
dertaking, but returned to Acla, whence he sent to
the governor, who furnished him with fresh men and
supplies of provisions. With these he returned. to the
river, and, after incredible labor, contrived to buUd
two brigantines. No sooner were these vessels finish
ed than he put to sea at once in them, and made for
the Island of Pearls, leaving a part of his company
to complete the other two brigantines which he need
ed. Thence he proceeded down the coast as far as
the Puerto de Pifias. The natives of those parts,
who had suffered from the cruelties of Morales, came
out to battle with Vasco Nunez ; but he soon put
them to rout, and despoUed them. From thence he
returned to the Island of Pearls, to cut wood for the
two other brigantines./ He was also in want of iron
and pitch, for which commodities he resolved to send
to Acla. /
/"It hajrpened that about this time a report had
reached that town that Pedrarias was to be supersed
ed, and Lope de Sosa appointed governor of the Ter
ra-firma. This, which, some time ago, would have
been most joyous news for Vasco Nufiez, was now
most unwelcome, his fortunes and those of his future
father-in-law being bound up together. Talking one

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 397
evening with two friends, one named Valderrabano,*
and the other a clerigo, by name Bodrigo Perez, about
the news of Lope de Sosa's coming, Vasco Nunez ob
served, " It seems probable that he is either come, or
that there is news of his approaching arrival ; and,
if he is come, Pedrarias, my lord, is no longer gov
ernor, and we are defrauded of our hopes, and such
labors as we have undergone are lost. It seems to
me, therefore, that to get some information about that
which we desire to know, Francis Garavito had better
go to Acla to ask for the iron and pitch which we
want, and to learn if the new governor is come ; and
if he is, to return, and we wiU finish our ships as best
we can, and pursue our enterprise ; and, whatever
may happen to us, it is probable that, whoever may
be governor, wUl receive us well, in order that we may
assist and serve him. But if Pedrarias, my lord,
should still be in power, then Garavito should let him
know in what state we are, and he wUl provide what
we want, and then we shaU set off on our voyage, of
which I hope in God the success for us wiU be such
as we so much desire."
This counsel was adopted ; and we learn from a
soldier in the expedition in what way the plan was
to be carried out. It was arranged that when the
party under Francis Garavito came near to Acla, they
were to halt, and one of them, named Luis Botello,
was to enter the town by night, and learn, at the
house of Vasco Nufiez, if there were any news of the
appointment of another governor. If there were, he
would be able to communicate the inteUigence to his
* The notary who drew up the account of the discovery of the
South Sea, before quoted.

398 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
friends, and they might return without entering the
town.*. The conversation which preceded this resolve, and
which has been reported above, was very innocent,
that is, if it had been reported fuUy. At the worst,
it did not contain any thing which Pedrarias could
have complained of. It happened, however, that, as
Vasco Nufiez was talking, it began to rain, and that
the sentinel whose duty it was to keep guard at his
quarters (la guarda persona) took shelter under the
eaves of the hut where Vasco and his friends were
sitting ; and this sentinel heard just so much of the
conversation as would convey to him the idea that
Vasco Nufiez proposed to his companions to go away
with the ships, and make the expedition on their own
account. This way of concluding, from a smaU por
tion of what is heard or understood, forms, no doubt,
a daily cause of the largest misrepresentations and
mistakes. The sentinel keeps to himself, for the pres
ent, what he has heard, and what he thinks he under
stands. /Meanwhile, Pedrarias had heard from Andres Gara
vito that Vasco Nufiez intended to free himself from
allegiance to his superior in command. It wUl aston
ish the reader that such intelligence should come from
this quarter, as Andres Garavito has hitherto appear
ed as the chosen friend of Vasco Nufiez. But it
* " Mandaba que enviase un hombre, de que llegase cerca de Acla,
y que de noche entrase, y que supiese su casa del Vasco Nunez si
habia novedad de gobernador, y que si le hubiese se volviese con toda
la gente que llevaba, porque el nuevo gobernador no le deshiciese en
armada, y que iriamos a poblar a Chepabar, que es seis leguas mas
hacia Acla de Panama." — Relacion de Pascual de Andagoya (Oris.
en el Arch, de Ind. en Sevilla, Relac. y Descripc, leg. ii.) ; Nav., Col,
torn, iii., p. 405.

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 399
seems probable that Andres courted the Indian woman,
daughter of Careta, who was much beloved by Vasco
Nufiez ; and, at any rate, that high words had passed
between the friends with respect to this beautiful In-
dian.^/It is stated that, upon the governor's receiving
this traitorous information from Andres Garavito (or
perhaps upon the capture of Luis BoteUo, who, com
ing into Acla by night, was seized as a spy and sent
to Darien), the suspicious and irritable old man went
to Acla, and found there Francis Garavito, who, in
accordance with the intentions of Vasco Nufiez (ex
pressed that wet evening to his friends), had been
sent to Acla to get what was wanted for the ships,
and to make out the news from Spain. He succeeded
in soothing the governor's suspicions, but, unluckily
for Vasco Nufiez, an enemy of his, Alonso de la Pu-
ente, obtained intelligence, either from the sentinel,
or perhaps from some one who had accompanied Fran
cis Garavito, of what the sentinel thought he had
heard, f Alonso de la Puente carried this news to
Pedrarias, and the rage and suspicions of the govern
or, which had often been soothed or suppressed, now
burst out with uncontroUable vehemence.
/ It must be aUowed that Pedrarias had good reasons,
< or rather reasonable motives, for disliking and sus
pecting Vasco Nufiez. The incompetent, when in pow-
* " Digeron que esta falsedad 6 Testimonia falso, 6 quiza. verdad,
escribio Garavito a Pedrarias por que Vasco Nunez, por una India que
tenia por amiga, le habia de palabra maltratado." — Las Casas, Hist.
de las Indias, MS., 1. iii., c. 75.
t Oviedo does not mention this story ; and his account of the ,
causes of Vasco Nunez's ruin is throughout slightly different from the
above, but without substantially altering the relation between the par
ties, or affecting the justice of the case. — See Hist. Gen. y Nat, lib.
xxix., cap. 12.

400 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
er, dislike the competent who are looking on, hating
them for all the comments they imagine them to be
making. And in this case there was no imagination
in the question, for, in a letter from Vasco Nufiez to
the king, which bears date the 16th of October, 1515,
there are the strongest expressions of blame respect
ing the conduct of the government and the character
of the governor. Vasco Nufiez, with aU the bitterness
of a man who sees the results of his best labors sul
lied and despoiled, tells the king of the atrocities com
mitted by the captains of Pedrarias ; of their turning
friendly Indians into watchful enemies, ravaging the
country, branding slaves in the most reckless manner,
and desolating the land to such an extent, that, as he
justly prophesies, hereafter it wiU not be possible to
find a remedy for it. He speaks of the confusion in
the government, of the want of concert and unity of
purpose, of the neglect of the king's hacienda. He
then proceeds to give his opinion of the governor's
character : " He is a man in whom reign aU the envy
and covetousness in the world ; he is wretched when
he sees that there is friendship between any persons
of worth; it delights him to hear fables and chatter
from one and the other ; he is a man who very lightly
gives credit to evil counsels rather than to those of
good ; he is a person without any discretion, and with
out dexterity or talent for the affairs of government."*
And in this strain Vasco Nunez goes on, summing up
the governor's character in a manner which, though
probably very consistent with truth, \ would not fail
to keep up in full force the deadly enmity between
* Nav., Col, torn, iii., p. 384.
t The reader will recollect the character of the governor given by
the bishop, in which he speaks of his inconstancy.

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 401
them, when it was reconveyed, as it very likely was,
from some person at the court of Spain to the govern
or of Darien.
Pedrarias, now fuUy bent upon revenge for all his
real and fancied wrongs, stiU masters his fury suffi
ciently to write a crafty letter to Vasco Nufiez, beg
ging him to come to him at Acla, that they may con
fer together upon business. MeanwhUe, Vasco Nunez
was quietly and serenely awaiting the return of his
messenger, Francis Garavito. Whatever that answer
might be, Vasco Nufiez might feel weU assured of for
tune. Hhis father-in-law was stUl in power, he might
be joined by new adventurers, and be sure of fresh sup
pfies ; if Lope de Sosa had come, he would saU away
with his trustful company, free from any superior, and
confident in his future fortunes, the light of his unique
renown throwing forward a brilliant track in the fu
ture, along which he would sail to stiU bolder adven
tures and stiU greater discoveries. And such, indeed,
would have been the probable result, had he once
more spread his sails upon the waters which owned
him for their great discoverer. In that case the con
quest of Peru would not have troubled us much with
the name or the deeds of the ignorant Pizarro, but
would-have been made by one fitted to govern and to
reconstruct as weU as to conquer. It was a career
which, in the opinions of the men of that age, the
stars were certain to have much concern with; and,
accordingly, we learn that a Venetian astrologer and
natural phUosopher, caUed Micer Codro, who had come
to those parts to see the world, had told Vasco Nunez
that the year in which he should see a certain " star,"
which the astrologer pointed out in such a place of
the heavens, he would run great risk of his life, but

402 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
if he escaped that danger, he would be the greatest
and richest lord in all the Indies.
Walking one evening — an evening m the tropics
where Nature is so large and so gracious — probably
along the sea-shore, from whence he could see his
brigantines lying idly in the harbor, Vasco Nufiez look
ed up and beheld his fateful star in that quarter of the
heavens which the astrologer had pointed out to him.
In the merry mood of a man who is near his doom,
what the Scotch caU " fey," he turned to his attend
ants, and began to mock at the prophecy. " A sensi
ble man, indeed, would he be, who should believe in
diviners, especiaUy in Micer Codro, who told me this
and this (here he related the Italian's words of omen),
and behold I see the star he spoke of, when I find my
self with four ships and three hundred men on the Sea
of the South, just about to navigate it." Though
Vasco Nufiez did thus despise the prophecy, it was a
very judicious one (there is no little wisdom sometimes
in the words of charlatans, a wisdom buUt upon great
knowledge of life), for men's fortunes come to a focus,
or rather to a point in the intersection of many curves
of other lives and circumstances ; and what is done
by them then has life and warmth in it, and can be
done then only. It was easy to perceive, even for a
person less versed in the foibles and wUd wishes of
mankind than an astrologer would be, that Vasco Nu
nez was rapidly nearing some such crisis in his stormy
life. When Vasco Nunez was uttering these confident
words, and continuing, it is said, in the same boastful
strain, he was little aware that the sleepless furies were
even then close behind him. DramaticaUy, at that
moment, really a few days afterward, a messenger from

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 403
Pedrarias brought his treacherous letter to Vasco Nu
fiez, who was then in the little island called the Island
of Tortoises. It has been remarked by Las Casas as
singular that no one sent a warning word to Vasco
Nufiez, no, not even his own messenger at Acla ; but
this may be accounted for by the dissimulation of the
governor, who, perhaps, confided to no one his real in
tent. Vasco Nufiez went with the utmost readiness
to meet his father-in-law at Acla. On the road he feU
in with Pizarro, who had come with soldiers to arrest
him. " What is this, Francisco Pizarro ?" he exclaim
ed; "you were not wont to come out in this fashion
to receive me." But he attempted neither flight nor
resistance, and being thus taken, he was put into con
finement in the house of a man called Casteneda, whUe
the Hcentiate Espinosa was ordered to proceed against
him with aU possible rigors/At first Pedrarias pre
tended that he did this only to give Vasco Nufiez an
opportunity for justifying himself, but afterward he
showed his true wishes, and broke out into violent
reproaches against his son-in-law, who protested that
he was innocent of the meditated offense laid to his
charge, asking why should he have come to Acla to
meet Pedrarias if he had not been conscious of his
innocence. /It was not difficult to frame a good indict
ment against Vasco Nufiez, introducing the imprison
ment of Enciso, the death of Nicuesa, and the report
ed conversation of Vasco Nunez with his friends, par-
tiaUy overheard by the sentinel, which must have been
the main ground of the charge. There was also a let
ter from a friend in Darien which counseled flight ;*
* This friend's name was Argiiello, and the subject of his letter in
dicates another cause of ill feeling between the governor and Vasco
Nunez. It appears that a certain time had been appointed for Vasco

404 The Fate of Vasco Nunez.
and I conjecture that imprudent sayings by Vasco Nu
fiez in former times were now remembered, if not for-
maUy brought up against him. The governor was not
the only enemy of Vasco Nunez ; but the treasurer,
Alonso de la Puente, for some dispute about money,
and Andres Garavito, for the love affair before men
tioned (the two great moving mischiefs of the world
being thus arrayed against Vasco Nunez), were his
enemies.* The soft hand of some fair woman not sel
dom interweaves the fatal thread of that coil in their
affairs which strangles out the lives of the greatest
men. It is but just, however, to mention, that there is an
account of the last days of Vasco Nufiez, entitled to
considerable credit, which takes away a great deal of
the baseness laid to the charge of Andres Garavito ;
and as the minor characters in history require to be
considerately dealt with, as weU as those of the more
notable men, I think it right to give this friend of Vas
co Nufiez the benefit of Oviedo's testimony. That
writer, who afterward came into possession of some of
Vasco Nunez's papers, says that Andres Garavito was

Nunez to commence his undertaking — a year and a half — that he had
exceeded that time, and sought for the enlargement of the period ; that
his enemies at the governor's court prevented a favorable answer be
ing at once given to this reasonable request ; and that Argiiello, being
at Darien, and cognizant of all these circumstances, wrote to Vasco
Nunez, advising him to take his departure. " De esto todo le aviso
aquel Hernando de Argiiello por una carta, que le costo la cabeca, en
la qual le escrivio que no le querian dar mas termino, ni prorogacion,
e que le aconsejaba que no curasse dello, ni dexasse de hacer su viage.
— Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat., lib. xxix., cap. 12.
* There is a confusion in this story as given by Heeeeea, which
is to be accounted for, as I conjecture, by there being two brothers of
the name of Garavito ; one Francis who was true to Nunez, the other
Andres who was not so.

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 405
placed in arrest, and turned king's evidence in order to
save his own life.*
Whatever may be the exact truth, which would
reconcUe or displace these somewhat conflicting state
ments, the main facts remain tolerably clear, and pre
sent much of the same appearance in modern times as
they did at that time in the court of Spain, where
Peter Martyr thus summed up, in his rapid fashion,
what he had heard of the matter : " Pedrarias sum
mons Vasco Nunez from the south : Vasco obeys the
command, and is put in chains. Vasco denies the trea
son imputed to him. Witnesses are sought for to prove
the crimes which he has committed : his words from
the beginning are coUected" (this is the point at which
a friend's hostUity would be so fatal), " his offense is
judged to be worthy of death, he is destroyed."!
/'It seems hard that Vasco Nunez should be condemn
ed for an offense of which he was, comparatively speak
ing, innocent. But this is the way in which, both in
smaU and great matters, we are aU punished, namely,
for those things which we did not commit ; and this
is quite reasonable, considering how many of our worst
actions do not find their fitting retribution just yet.
The Licentiate Espinosa, in giving a report to Pedra
rias of the result of the process, said that Vasco Nufiez
* "Estando assi pressos, fue aconsejado el Garavito que descubriesse
lo que sabia deste negocio, e pidiesse misericordia e merced de la vida :
e assi Io hico, e dixo al gobernador e juro lo que es dicho ; e por esta
su confession 6 declaracion le fue remitida 6 perdonada la culpa 6 parte
que le cabia en el concierto que es dicho." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat,
lib. xxix., cap. 12.
t " Vaschum ab Austro accersit Petrus Arias r paret dicto Vaschus,
in catenas conjicitur. Negat Vaschus tale consilium cogitasse. Testes
quairuntur malefactorum, quae patraverat : ab initio dicta colliguntur,
morte dignus censetur, perimitur." — Petee Martyk, De Orbe Novo,
dec. iv., cap. 9.

406 The Fate of. Vasco Nufiez.
had incurred the penalty of death, but, taking into con
sideration the eminent services which he had rendered
to the state, the ficentiate recommended that his life
should be spared. Pedrarias, however, was implacable.
" Since he has sinned, let him die for it" (Pues se
peed, muerapor ello), was the exclamation of the fiery
old man, and he ordered the sentence to be instantly
carried into effect, which was that they should cut off
Vasco Nunez's head, the crier going before him and
saying with a loud voice, " This is the justice which
our lord the king, and Pedrarias, his lieutenant, in his
name, command to be done upon this man as a traitor
and usurper of the lands subject to the royal crown."
It was in vain that Vasco Nufiez protested against the
sentence. /He was beheaded, and after him four of
his friends,*/who were implicated in the so-called con
spiracy, among' whom was the lay friend, Valderra-
bano, to whom he confided his intentions on that wet
evening which proved so fatal to him. The clerigo,
probably on account of his profession, escaped a like
fate. / Thus perished Vasco Nufiez de Balboa, in the forty-
second year of his age, the man who, since the time
of Columbus, had shown the most statesmanlike and
warriorfike powersf in that part of the world,/but
* Argiiello, the friend who had written from Darien to Vasco Nunez,
was the last who came to the place of execution ; and daylight was
beginning to fade. The whole of the Spanish pbpulation of Acla be
gan to implore the governor to spare Argiiello, as it seemed that God,
by sending the night, was preventing that death. But Pedrarias fu
riously replied that, rather than that man should live, he would prefer
that upon himself the sentence should be executed. And so light
enough was found for Argviello's execution.
t In addition to his other qualities for a commander, Vasco Nunez
was celebrated for humanity toward his men, being personally atten
tive to any who were ill when engaged in active service. Oviedo says,

The Fate of Vasco Nunez. 407
whose career only too much resembles that of Ojeda,
Nicuesa, and the other unfortunate commanders who
devastated those beautiful regions of the earth. Like
the career of most even of the greatest men, it puts one
in mind of the half-hewn stones which are still found
in quarries — stones that were just about to be taken to
some signal place in some great old temple, when from
a convulsion on the face of the earth, or in the king-.
doms of it, the work seems to have been broken off,
and the workmen came to that quarry no more.
With his death, we may, for the present, take leave
of the proceedings in the Terra-firma : I wish I could
have dealt with them in the way that Peter Martyr
does, in his work " on the islands lately discovered,"
where he says, speaking of the doings of Pedrarias,
"I wiU give them in few words, because they were
aU horrid transactions, nothing pleasant in any of
them."* The foregoing account, however, is eminently in
structive as regards the dealings of the Spaniards with
and he was no friend to Vasco Nunez, that of all the commanders he
had seen in the Indies, Vasco Nunez was the best in this respect.
" Tenia otra cosa, especialmente en el campo, que si un hombre se le
cansaba y adolescia en qualquier Jornada quel se hallasse, no lo desatn-
paraba : antes si era nescessario, yba con una ballesta a le buscar un
paxaro o ave, y a.e la mataba y se la traia ; y le curaba, como a hijo 6
hermano suyo, y lo esforcaba y animaba. Lo qual ningun capitan de
quantos hasta hoy, que estamos en el ano de mill e quinientos e qua-
renta y ocho aiios, han venido a Indias, en las entradas y conquistas
que se hallaron no lo ha hecho mejor, ni aun tan bien como Vasco Nu
nez." — Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat, lib. xxix., cap 2.
* " Brevibus absolvam, quia horrida omnia, suavia nulla. Ex quo
nostra? decades desierunt, nil aliud actum est, nisi perimere ac perimi,
trucidare ac trucidari." — Peter Maktye, De Insulis nuper inventis,
p. 360

408 Reflections upon the Events
the Indians, though it is with difficulty that any
readable narrative can be made of such a thicket of
facts, and names, and dates, so perplexed and yet dis
jointed. The utmost I can hope is, that the persons
who were involved in this story might, perhaps, were
they to read it now, recognize themselves in it. This
is not putting the truth of the narrative very high.
It is probable, however, that there are many accounts
of things in which the persons engaged, except for the
similarity of the names to their own, would not rec
ognize themselves, and would imagine they were read
ing fiction. The dialogues of the dead upon history
would, I suspect, often make the ears of the living nar
rator tingle.
In considering the long tissue of misdirected efforts
narrated in this and the preceding chapters, it is nat
ural to employ our minds in conjecturing what would
have been the best course to have been pursued by
men in power at that period. That many of them
earnestly desired to do right is manifest, and it seems
hard perpetuaUy to criticise their doings without sug
gesting what they ought to have done. Had they
been contented with a reasonable gain in trade, there
is but little doubt in my mind that they would have
prospered greatly. We see, I think, that the expe
ditions which were thus conducted were almost the
only successful ones. This would not have prevent
ed the gradual settlement of the Spaniards in America,
but would only have made it proceed in the most nat
ural, and, therefore, successful manner. MercantUe
forts would have been erected : these would have de
pended for their supply not whoUy on the surround
ing country, but on their fellow-countrymen ; and by

in the Terra-firma. 409
degrees that knowledge of the ways, customs, and es
peciaUy of the language of the Indians, would have
been learned, which would have proved most service
able in farther communication with them, and in form
ing more extended settlements of the Spaniards. If,
on the other hand, settlements were to be made with
out reference to trade, it is clear that agriculture should
have been the first and the principal object of each
new settlement. Trade and agriculture — these are
the two chief sources of well-being for an infant col
ony. No colony is supported for any long time upon
conquest, unless, indeed, the conquerors at once adopt
the ways and means of procuring livefihood in use
among the subject people.
It would also have been possible, perhaps, for a
more extended colonization to have taken place with
good effect under a strict and limited government,
such as might have been provided if, for instance, one
of the young princes of the house of Spain, Ferdinand,
Charles the Fifth's brother, had been sent out to ad
minister the Indies, and afterward to possess what he
should there acquire ; for the want of unity in gov
ernment, the distance from the centre of power, and
the consequent strength and temerity of faction, were
some of the main causes of the deplorable faUures
which have just been described.
This, however, is aU ex post facto wisdom. The
recklessness of the conquerors, their love of wUd ad
venture, the attractive power of gold, which uses men
for its divining-rods, drawing them hither and thither
through the utmost dangers to the most wretched parts
of the earth, as it lists — aU these together prevented,
and must have prevented, any thing like patient,
steady, forbearing, concentrated colonization.
Vni. T  S

410 Reflections upon the Events
Throughout the history of the peopfing of the Terra-
firma by the Spaniards, it is impossible not to feel the
greatest pity for the Indians, who seem, from the first,
like a devoted people given over to destruction, who
learn no new thing but despair from the presence of
their invaders, who might, however, have brought to
them and taught them so much that was good. For
the Spaniards, too, seeing their undaunted energy and
immense endurance,* it is impossible not to have some
pity. They may be conquerors, but they seem, after
all, more like demon-driven captives. Little, appa
rently, is gained for humanity by aU they do ; and the
majority of them, after fiUing up their measure of de
struction, die miserably and contemptibly, with the
hard eyes upon them of suffering companions, suffer
ing too much themselves to have any pity left for
others. Of the eminent men among the conquerors who
came to a miserable end, long lists have been formed,
in which the names of Nicuesa, Ojeda, and Vasco Nu
fiez are sure to be found. But stiU the ranks closed
up again, and there were always men ready to take
the places of those commanders who had vanished from
the scene. Indeed, there is nothing in the fate of
these men very different from that of other adventu
rous people. Most men are hastening to meet some
great disaster. With most men, the object they pur
sue, which is ever present to their imagination as some
thing radiant, in white robes and most beautiful, is at
tended by a companion clad in very different guise,
wholly invisible to the pursuer, and but too often,
* It is curious to observe that they make little or no mention, for the
most part, of those minor miseries which we know they must have suf
fered so much from.

in the Terra-firma. 411
when he comes close to that which he has so long de
sired and so long pursued, and is just at the summit
of his wishes, the other — the dark thing — steps for
ward to receive him. And it is this that he has all
along been struggling up to. What, however, is pe
culiar about these Spanish conquerors is not so much
their own fate as the miserable nature of their objects,
the deplorable idea they had of success, and the vU-
lainous path over which they hurried to their doom —
each Spaniard leaving a long track of desolation be
hind him, and being attended to the shades by hosts
of slaughtered Indians.
The reader of these things feels, as the Indians some
times felt themselves, that great prophecies of old were
being unrelentingly fulfiUed against them.
I am reminded of an old proverb of awful import
which, in these wars and devastations, applies to the
conquerors as to the conquered, and which says, "God
may consent, but not forever" {Dios consiente, pero no
para siempre), indicating that there is an end, how
ever remote, to aU that is not buUt up in consonance
with His laws.

BOOK VII.
CUBA.

CHAPTER I.
CUBA DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS.  COLONIZED UNDER VELASQUEZ.
 FATE OF THE CACIQUE HATUEY.  EXPEDITION OF NARVAEZ
AND LAS CASAS.  MASSACRE AT CAONAO AND ITS CONSE
QUENCES. — TOWNS FOUNDED IN CUBA BY VELASQUEZ.

CHAPTEB I.
CUBA DISCOVERED BT COLUMBUS.  COLONIZED UNDER VE
LASQUEZ.  FATE OF THE CACIQUE HATUEY.  EXPEDITION
OF NARVAEZ AND LAS. CASAS.  MASSACRE OF CAONAO
AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.  TOWNS FOUNDED IN CUBA BT
VELASQUEZ.
THE next difficulty, after discovering and adopting
a general rule, is to know when to break through
it. It is from not mastering this difficulty that three
of the principal historians who have written on the
subject of the Spanish conquests have, as I venture
to think, faUen into considerable error, and made books
which none but those who have a love for history wUl
read. Peter Martyr, Las Casas, and Herrera en
deavored in their histories to maintain chronological
order : a very desirable thing, no doubt, as a general
rule, but absolutely incompatible with a clear under
standing of the various compficated and place-shifting
events which these historians had to chronicle.
If a single drama may be bound down by the Uni
ties, the course of history certainly wUl not aUow itself
to be restricted by any such nice rules, and the attempt
to make it exact and undeviating in one respect often
lets in a flood of confusion in others. The historian,
it is true, may be unimpeachable as regards the un
broken sequence of his dates, but this is no gain if the
reader's apprehension is to be entirely -confused by a
narrative which requires his imagination to fly from

416 The Occupation of Cuba, i
place to place, or to be nearly ubiquitous, and his mem
ory to retain before it at the same moment several in
dependent trains of fact and reasoning.
I make the foregoing remarks to explain why, though
in general striving to maintain the order of time, I
have nevertheless related, without any break, the prin
cipal circumstances connected with the first occupation
of the Terra-firma.
The reader may now, to a certain extent, dismiss
that course of events from his mind, remembering the
main outlines of the story, namely, that the northern
coast of South America has been investigated and trav
ersed; the great South Sea discovered; the neigh
boring Indians subjugated, enslaved, or driven away
from the coast ; two or three cities founded ; and a very
large proportion of the Spaniards destroyed by disease,
famine, hardship, and the assaults of the natives.
/The occupation of Cuba by the Spaniards is the
next great stepping-stone in this history. It was from
Cuba that two or three of the most important expe
ditions, such as that of Francisco de Cordova to Yu
catan, of Juan Grijalva to Panuco, and of Cortez to
Mexico, were directed. It was at Cuba that Las Ca
sas commenced his career of humanity ; and the settle
ment of the Spaniards in that island affords a memo
rable example of their general policy and conduct to
ward the Indians.
Cuba was discovered by Columbus in the course of
his first voyage, but it seems not to have been much
regarded by the Spaniards for some years. /They were
doubtful, indeed, whether it was an island untU King
Ferdinand directed Ovando to investigate the fact,
when he dispatched a certain commander, named

The Occupation of Cuba. 411
Ocampo, to coast about Cuba, who ascertained that it
was an island.
The disposition of the inhabitants was similar to
that of the Indians in Hispaniola, and hitherto those
Spaniards who had been thrown upon the coast of
Cuba had for the most part experienced nothing but
kind treatment from the natives. One of the caciques
was caUed Comendador, having been baptized by some
Spaniards, and having chosen this name from the title
of Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, who was a
Comendador of the order of Alcantara.

CUBA,

*  • -?

i-*** €&/

.... . \ it;s'- ! v •
Cia.rcte*'

It chanced that a Spanish vessel, passing by that
part of the coast which is near to the Cape de la Cruz,
left there a young mariner who was ill, but who after
ward recovered. This mariner placed an image of the
Virgin Mary in one of the houses of the Cacique Co
mendador, and taught the people to come there every
evening, and on their knees to say the Ave Maria
and the Salve Regina. The neighboring caciques
were very angry because this cacique and his people
S 2

418 The Occupation of Cuba.
had deserted the idol they had aU been accustomed to
worship, and which was caUed, in the language of that
country, their Cemi. Many battles took place about
the matter in dispute, but the victory was ever with
the Christian cacique. The others said that neither
Comendador nor his men gained the battles, but a
beautiful woman clad in white, with a wand in her
hand. Both parties at last came to an agreement to
try the relative merits of the Cemi and of the Virgin
Mary in this fashion, namely, that the infidel caciques
should take an Indian of Comendador's party, and
should bind him as they pleased, and that Comenda
dor should take an Indian from their party and bind
him as he pleased, and that the two should be left
alone, by night, in a field ; then, if the Cemi was more
powerful than the Virgin Mary, he would come and set
free his worshiper ; but if the Virgin Mary was more
powerful than the Cemi, she would come and unbind
her worshiper. Guards were appomted to see what
should happen. The men being bound and left, as
agreed upon, at midnight came the Cemi to unbind his
man, and whUe he was unbinding him, the Virgin
Mary, clothed entirely in white, and very beautiful,
with a wand in her hand, appeared, upon which the
Cemi fled. But she touched her worshiper with the
wand, and as she touched him he was loosed, and all
his bonds went upon the other Indian, in addition to
those which he had before. The caciques said that it
was some deceit, and they resolved to try the thing
again, and see whether it were true or not. Again the
witnesses told the same story. The caciques them
selves resolved to watch ; and as they too saw the
miracle, they said that the Virgin Mary was a good
cacique, and that Comendador might take the Virgin

The Occupation of Cuba. 41!)
Mary for his lord, and that the others might choose
which they pleased, the Virgin Mary or the Cemi. Af
terward there came a clerigo that way and baptized
many of these Indians ; he also endeavored to teach
them, at the risk of his Hfe, not to put food for the Vir
gin Mary as they were accustomed to do for their Cemi.
Every Christian that came in their way they made sit
down, and gave him to eat, and insisted upon his say
ing his Ave Maria, whether he liked it or not, for they
were very zealous, as converts are apt to be ; "and they
took me too,"' says Enciso,* "and I said it many
times, and I remained with them three days." I give
this account, not as vouching for its historical fidelity,
but to show how little wedded to their own supersti
tions were these Indians of Cuba, and how willing to
adopt any thing that came recommended to them by
those whom they deemed to be of superior inteUigence.

A

It was in the year 1511 that the Admiral Don Di
ego Columbus, Governor of Hispaniola, undertook the^
subjection of Cuba. He chose for his captain Diego
Velasquez, one of the original conquerors, a man of
wealth, whose possessions in Hispaniola were in that
part of the island nearest to Cuba. Velasquez was a
person of imposing presence and demeanor, who, as
Herrera intimates, required to have aU the honor
paid to him that was due to his station, but was of a
kindly nature and very forgiving. This wiU seem an
astonishing description when we come to read of his
* "Tambien vi que a qualquiera Christiano que salia a tierra le
tomavan los indios, y le fazian sentar, y le davan de comer, porque les
rezasse el Ave Maria : y sino que decia de grado, hazian se la dezir
aun que no queria. Y a mi mismo me tomaron, y yo se la dixe mu
chas vezes, y estuve con ellos tres dias." — Enciso, Suma de Geogra-
phia, Indias Oeidentales.

420 The Occupation of Cuba.
/
deeds, but it requires almost the genius of goodness
for a man to go far beyond the goodness of his feUows
— in fact, to be so good as to lose aU chance of popular
esteem, which, naturaUy, is reserved for the people's
idea of goodness, not for such as may transcend it.
' The principal man in Cuba was Hatuey, the cacique
mentioned before, who kept spies at Hispaniola to tell
him of the transactions of the Spaniards, and who had
assembled his people to inform them of the God wor
shiped by the Spaniards, on which occasion he pro
duced a basket of gold, and made his Indians dance
round it and honor it.*
Diego Velasquez saUed for Cuba at the end of the
year 1511, and disembarked at Puerto de Palmas, in
the territory of the Cacique Hatuey./ The cacique en
deavored to defend his country against the inroad of
the Spaniards, but could offer only a feeble resistance,
as the naked bodies and barbarous weapons of his men
were no match whatever for the well-armed, well-ac
coutred Spaniards. Indeed, the only safety for the
Indians was in flight ; and the nature of the country
(for that part of Cuba is very mountainous) afforded
them some present means of escape from their enemies.
The Spaniards then commenced their Indian hunts, in
the course of which they put to death as many men,
women, and children as they pleased. The rest they
tied together and drove before them like cattle, giving
them the same name {piezas) as cattle. The Indians
thus acquired were not called slaves, though they were
so in reality ; and Velasquez distributed them, now to
one foUower, now to another, as it seemed best to him.
* See ante, book iii., chap. i.

The Occupation of Cuba. 421
The only restriction was, that these Indians were not
to be bartered — a restriction which was easily eluded.
/Great efforts were made by the Spaniards to secure
the person of Hatuey. The captive Indians were in
some instances tortured, in order to elicit from them
where their chief was hidden, and at last Hatuey feU
into the hands of the Spaniards. His fate was a ter
rible one. He was sentenced to be burned alive, and
this sentence was fiteraUy carried into effect. At the
stake the attendant priest exhorted him to be baptized
and to become a Christian, as he would then go to
heaven. The cacique asked in reply if the Christians
went to heaven, and finding that some of them were
expected to do so, he said that he had no wish to go
to that place. /-More sarcasm has been supposed to
belong to this answer than it really contains : it was
probably no more than the simple expression of a wish
not to meet his enemies and persecutors in a future
life, whatever regions of bliss they might be enjoy
ing. /It was shortly after the burning of Hatuey that Las
Casas was sent for by Diego Velasquez from the isl
and of Hispaniola. -He arrived at Cuba at the same
time as PamphUo de Narvaez (a name which has al
ready been mentioned in this history, and which wiU
often occur in it), who was sent from Jamaica with
thirty archers to assist in the population and pacifica
tion — for such were the terms in vogue — of the island
of Cuba. Velasquez appointed Pamphilo de Narvaez
his lieutenant, and Las Casas was joined with Narvaez
in the office of bringing under submission aU the rest
of the island, y One of the first expeditions of Narvaez
was unsuccessful : it was in the province of Bayamo ;

422

The Occupation of Cuba.

and he himself was nearly killed, and would never have
escaped but for the terror which his horse, an animal
not hitherto seen by these Indians, inspired. Both
these Indians, however, and those of Hatuey's coun
try, who had fled at the approach of the Spaniards, re
turned to beg pardon, and to be received into subjec
tion. This appears astonishing, but may be easily ex
plained. The territories into which they fled were oc
cupied by other Indians who had food enough for
themselves only ; and, therefore, after a brief sojourn,
the unhappy fugitives, becoming most unwelcome
guests, were tempted to return to their own country ;
for the Spaniards, though terrible visitors in other re
spects, did not at once create a famine in those parts
which they occupied, by reason of the comparative
smallness of their numbers.

CUBA

\P-o

By these means, the province where the Spaniards
first landed, called Maici, and the adjacent one of Ba-
yamo, were brought into complete subjection ; and the
inhabitants were then divided into repartimientos, and

The Occupation of Cuba. 423
apportioned by Velasquez among his foUowers. After
this, Velasquez, who was about to be married, went to
receive his bride, leaving his nephew, Juan de Grijal-
va, as his lieutenant (for Narvaez had not yet return
ed), and Las Casas as an adviser to the lieutenant.
On the return of Narvaez, orders from Velasquez
reached the place where Narvaez and Las Casas were
stationed, directing them to make an expedition into
the country of Camaguey for the purpose of "as
suring" it, to use their phrase. The narrative of this
expedition, which is given in full detaU by Las Casas,
an eye-witness and a principal actor in the scene he
relates, is very instructive.
Before they reached the province of Camaguey they
came to a place caUed Cueyba. This was the very
spot where Ojeda, when shipwrecked, had left an im
age of the Virgin. Ojeda, as may be remembered, had
been received with great kindness by the Indians in
that vicinity, and the image which he left was now
held in the highest reverence by the natives, who had
buUt a church, adorning it inside with ornamental work
made of cotton, and had set up an altar for the image.
Moreover, they had composed couplets in honor of the
Virgin, which "they sang to sweet melodies, and ac
companied with dancing. This image was also held
in especial reverence by the Spaniards, and Las Casas,
being anxious on that account to obtain it in exchange
for another image which he had brought with him, en
tered into treaty with the cacique for that purpose.
The Indian chief, however, was so alarmed at these
overtures, that he fled by night, taking the beloved
image with him. Las Casas, when he heard of this,
was greatly disconcerted, fearing lest the neighboring
population should take up arms on behalf of their im-

424 The Occupation of Cuba.
age. He managed, however, to quiet them, assuring
them that he would not only let them keep their own
image, but that he would bestow upon them the one
which he had brought with him.
Such gentle means as these were invariably pursued
by Las Casas with the greatest effect ; and it is ev
ident from this story how very easy the conversion of
the Indians would have been by mUd means, which
conversion was made the pretext with some, and the
real justification with others, for the greatest inhu
manities. The commands of Las Casas met with such rev
erence from these simple people, that when he sent
by a messenger any bit of paper inserted at the end
of a stick, the messenger declaring that the paper bore
such and such orders, they were implicitly obeyed.
The Indians had in general the greatest respect and
wonder for the communication among the Spaniards
by letter, for it appeared to the Indians quite a mira
cle how the information of what had been done in one
place was made known in another by means of these
mysterious pieces of paper.
One of the chief cares of the clerigo (the title by
which Las Casas describes himself) was, whenever
they halted in any Indian town or viUage, to assign
separate quarters to the Indians and the Spaniards.
By this means he prevented many disorders and much
cruelty. But his principal business was to assemble
the children in order to baptize them ;* and, as he ob-
* " El Clerigo Casas luego en llegando al Pueblo hacia juntar todos
los Ninos chiquitos y tomaba dos 6 tres Espauoles que le ayudasen con
algunos Yndios de esta Ysla Espanola ladinos que consigo Uevaba, y
alguno que habia el criado bautizaba los Ninos que en el Pueblo se hal-
laban. "Asi hizo en toda la Ysla de alii adelante, y fueron muchos a los

The Occupation of Cuba

425

serves^ there were many that God bestowed his sacred
baptism upon in good time ; for none, or nearly none,
of aU those chUdren remained alive a few months af
terward. In the course of this journey of pacification, the
Spaniards approached a large town of the Indians
caUed Caonao, where an immense number of the na
tives had congregated together, chiefly to see the horses
which the Spaniards brought with them. In the morn
ing of the day on which the Spaniards under Narvaez

^

•SSei

CUBA.

and Las Casas, amounting to about a hundred men,
arrived at Caonao, they stopped to breakfast in the
dry bed of a stream where there were many stones
suitable for grindstones, and they aU took the oppor
tunity of sharpening their swords. From thence a
wide and arid plain led them to Caonao. They would
que Dios proveyo de su Santo Bautismo, por que los tenia para su glo
ria predestinados, y proveyolo al tiempo que convenia, por que ningu-
no 6 casi ninguno de aquellos Ninos quedo vivo desde pocos meses,
como abajo sera, Dios queriendo, declarado." — Las Casas, Hist, de las
Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 29.

426 The Occupation of Cuba.
have suffered terribly from thirst, but that some kind
ly Indians brought them water on the road. At last
they reached Caonao at the time of vespers. Here
they halted. The chief population of this Indian town
and the vicinity was assembled together in one spot,
sitting on the ground, and gazing, no doubt with won
derment, at the horses which they had come to see.
Apart, in a large hut, were five hundred of the natives,
who, being more timid than the others, were content
to prepare victuals for the Spaniards, but declined any
nearer approaches. The Spaniards had with them
about a thousand of their own Indian attendants.
The clerigo was preparing for the division of the ra
tions among the men, when aU of a sudden a Span
iard, prompted, as was thought, by the devil, drew his
sword ; the rest drew theirs ; and immediately they
all began to hack and hew the poor Indians, who were
sitting quietly near them, and offering no more resist
ance than so many sheep. At the precise moment
when the massacre began, the clerigo was in the apart
ment where the Spaniards were to sleep for the night.
He had five Spaniards with him. Some Indians who
had brought the baggage were lying on the ground,
sunk in fatigue. The five Spaniards, hearing the
blows of the swords of their comrades without, imme
diately fell upon the Indians who had brought the bag
gage. Las Casas, however, was enabled to prevent
that slaughter, and the five Spaniards rushed out to
join their comrades. The clerigo went also, and, to
his grief and horror, saw heaps of dead bodies already
strewed about, "like sheaves of corn," waiting to be
gathered up. "What think you these Spaniards have
been doing ?" exclaimed Narvaez to Las Casas ; and
Las Casas replied, " I commend both you and them

The Occupation of Cuba. 427
to the Devil."* The clerigo did not stop, however, to
bandy words with the commander, but rushed hither
and thither, endeavoring to prevent the indiscriminate
slaughter which was going on, of men, women, and
chUdren. Then he entered the great hut, where he
found that many Indians had already been slaughter
ed, but some had escaped by the pillars and the wood
work, and were up aloft. To them he exclaimed,
"Fear not; there shaU be no more slaughter, no
more;" upon which, one of them, a young man of
five-and-twenty, trusting to these words, came down.
But, as Las Casas justly says, the clerigo could not
be in aU places at once, and, as it happened, he left
this hut directly — indeed, before the poor young man
got down, upon which a Spaniard drew a short sword,
and ran the Indian through the body. Las Casas was
back in time to afford the last rites of the Church to
the dying youth. To see the fearful wounds that
were made, it seemed, the historian says, as if the devU
that day had guided the men to those stones in the
dry bed of the river.
When inquiry was made as to who had been the
author of this massacre, no one replied. This shows
how causeless the massacre was, for if there had been
any good reason for it, the Spaniard who first drew his
sword would have justified himself, and perhaps claim
ed merit for his proceeding. It. may have been panic
in this one man ; it may have been momentary mad
ness, for such things are taken much less into account
than is requisite ; but, whatever the cause, the whole
transaction shows the conduct of the Spaniards to
ward the Indians in a most unfavorable fight.
* " Que os ofresco a vos y a ellos al Diablo." — Las Casas, Hist.
de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 29.

428 The Occupation of Cuba.
Indeed, the maxim which has elsewhere been laid
down in this history seems to me to continue applica
ble throughout, namely, that the evU consequences of
war depend, not so much upon the nature of the vic
tory, or the rage of the combatants, or the cause of the
quarrel, as upon the contempt, justifiable or not, which
the victorious side has for the vanquished. The wars
between nations that respect one another may have
most sanguinary and cruel results, but not so injurious
to humanity as when Spartan conquers Helot, Mo
hammedan conquers Christian, Spaniard conquers Moor
or Indian; or as, in general, when one nation with
much civilization or much bigotry conquers another
nation of little civUization or of another creed. The
Bomans may in some instances have offered a splen
did exception to this rule, but in the history of the
world it holds good.
On the news of this massacre at Caonao,* aU the
inhabitants of the province deserted their pueblos, fly
ing for refuge to the innumerable islets on that coast,
caUed the " Garden of the Queen." The Spaniards,
leaving the Indian town of Caonao, which they had
desolated in the manner related above, formed a camp
in the vicinity, or rather ordered the Indians to form
it for them, for each Spaniard had at least eight or ten
native attendants. Among those of Las Casas was
an old Indian of much repute in the island, caUed Ca-
macho, who had accompanied the clerigo voluntarily,
to be under his protection. One day, while the Span
iards were at this camp, a young Indian, sent as a spy
from the former inhabitants of Caonao, came into the
* " No quedo piante ni mamante." — Las Casas. A proverbial ex
pression : " There remained neither the child that sucks nor the one
that chirrups."

The Occupation of Cuba. 429
camp, and making his way directly to the clerigo's
tent, addressed Camacho, begging to be taken into the
clerigo's service, and requesting that he might be al
lowed to bring his younger brother also. Camacho
informed Las Casas of this, who was defighted with
the news, as it gave an opportunity of communicating
with those Indians who had fled. Accordingly, he re
ceived the Indian very kindly, made him some trifling
presents, and besought him to bring back his country
men to their homes, and to assure them that they should
not be farther molested. The young man, to whom
Camacho gave the name of Adrianico, took his leave,
promising to bring his brother and the rest of the In
dians. Some days passed away, and Las Casas be
gan to think that Adrianico would not be able to per
form his promise, when one evening he made his ap
pearance with his brother and a hundred and eighty
Indian men and women. ChUdren are not mentioned,
and I conjecture these Indians would not run the risk
of bringing them within the power of the Spaniards.
It was a melancholy sight to see the little band of
fugitives, with their smaU bundles of household things
on their shoulders, and their strings of beads as pres
ents for the clerigo and the Spaniards, returning, per
force, for want of food — and perhaps, too, with some
of that inextinguishable fondness for home which
makes so large a part of the world habitable to men
— to the spot where they had but lately seen such
cruelties perpetrated on their friends and relations.
The clerigo was delighted to see them, but very sad
too, when he considered their gentleness, their humil
ity, their poverty, and their sufferings.* Pamphilo de
* " Considerando su mansedumbre, humildad, su pobreza, su tra-
bajo,' &c.: — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 30.

430

The Occupation of Cuba.

Narvaez united with Las Casas in doing aU he could
to assure these poor people of their safety, and they
were dismissed to their empty homes. This example
of good treatment reassured the Indians of that vicin
ity, who, in consequence, returned to their houses.
The Spaniards pursued their purpose of pacificating
Cuba, now taking to their vessels and coasting along
the northern shore, and now traversing the interior of
the country. When they came to the province of
Havana, they found that the Indians, having heard of
the massacre at Caonao and other such proceedings,

CUBA.

{Jardcn.

c^/

p

*&-*

had aU fled, upon which Las Casas sent messengers
to the different caciques, the messengers bearing mys
terious pieces of paper inserted at the end of sticks,
which had before been found so efficacious, and assur
ing these caciques of safety and protection. The re
sult was, that eighteen or nineteen of these caciques
came and placed themselves in the power of the Span
iards ; and it is an astonishing instance of the barbari
ty and folly of the Spanish captain Narvaez, that he

The Occupation of Cuba. 431
put them in chains, and expressed an intention of
burning them alive. Probably he thought that the
province by this means, losing aU its chiefs at one
blow, would become hopeless and obedient. The cler
igo in the strongest manner protested against this
monstrous treachery, to which he would have been so
unwilling a party, and partly by entreaties, partly by
threats, succeeded in procuring the release of aU these
caciques except one, the most powerful, who was car
ried to Velasquez, but was afterward set at fiberty.
This seems a strange method of assuring and pa-
cificating the Indians ; but their want of resources, and
the absence of any experience of such war as they had
now to encounter, if they made any resistance, caused
them easily to succumb. The island of Cuba was
now considered to be pacificated.* Pamphilo de Nar
vaez and Las Casas were ordered to join Velasquez at
Xagua ; and the attention of the governor was direct
ed to the peaceful arts of founding cities? discovering
mines, and giving Indians in repartimiento.
The names of the towns which Diego Velasquez
founded were La ViUa de Trinidad, La ViUa de Sancti
Spiritus, San Salvador, Santiago, and Havana, most
of them majestic and holy names, but much abused,
as such names have often been, both before and after
these transactions.
* There was an expedition sent to the province farthest westward,
called Haniguanica, but no details are preserved of its doings. " De
alii envid Diego Velasquez a Narvaez a pacificar, como ellos dicen, la
Provincia ultima que esta al Cabo mas occidental de aquella Isla que
los Indios Uamaban de Haniguanica ; no me acuerdo con cuanto der-
ranamiento de sangre humana hizo aquel camino, aunque estuve pre-
sente a su ida y su venida, por ser el negocio tan antiguo." — Las Ca
sas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 32.

BOOK VIII.
LAS CASAS AS A COLONIST AND A REFOBMEE.

Vol. L— T

CHAPTER I.
THE CONVERSION OF LAS CASAS. — HIS VOYAGE TO SPAIN. — THE
DEATH OF KING FERDINAND.
CHAPTER II.
LAS CASAS SEES THE CARDINAL XIMENES.  THE ADMINISTRATION
OF INDIAN AFFAIRS BY THE CARDINAL.  APPOINTMENT OF THE
JERONIMITES. — COMING OF CHARLES TO SPAIN.  DEATH OF
XIMENES.

CHAPTER I.
THE CONVERSION OF LAS CASAS. — HIS VOYAGE TO SPAIN.
 THE DEATH OF KING FERDINAND.
'r I^HE course of this narrative now becomes closely
JL connected with the life of Las Casas — so much
so, that his private affairs and solitary thoughts are
matters of history, as they had a most important bear
ing on the welfare of no inconsiderable portion of the
New World.
Las Casas, as the reader wUl hereafter see, had many
troubles and sorrows to bear; but at this particular
period he was blessed with that which is always one
of the greatest blessings, but which, I sometimes fancy,
like hospitality in a partiaUy civUized country, seems
to have flourished more, as being more needed, in rude,
hard times. In a word, he had a real friend. This
friend's name was Pedro de la Benteria. Their friend
ship was most intimate, and had subsisted for many
years. De Benteria, as often happens in friendship,
presented a curious contrast to Las Casas. He was
a man who might well have been a monk — a devout,
contemplative person, given much to solitude and pray
er; and Las Casas mentions a trait in his character
which exactly coincides with the rest of it, namely,
that he was a most liberal man, but his liberality seem
ed rather to flow from habit and a carelessness about
worldly goods than from a deliberate judgment exer
cised in matters of benevolence. This good man's oc-

436 Conversion of Las Casas.
cupations, however, were entirely secular, and he was
employed by Diego Valasquez as alcalde.
When the island was considered to be settled, and
the governor began to give repartimientos, knowing
the friendship that existed between Las Casas and
Benteria, he gave them a large pueblo in common, and
Indians in repartimiento* This land of theirs was
about a league from Xagua, on the Biver Arimao ;f
and there they lived, the padre having the greater part
of the management of the joint affairs, as being much
the more lively and the busier man. Indeed, he con
fesses that he was as much engaged as others in send
ing his Indians to the mines and making as large a
profit of their labor as possible. At the same time,
however, he was kind to them personally, and provided
carefully for their sustenance ; but, to use his own
words, " he took no more heed than the other Span
iards to bethink himself that his Indians were unbe
lievers, and of the duty that there was on his part to
give them instruction, and to bring them to the bosom
of the Church of Christ. "%
As there was but one other clerigo in the whole isl
and, and no friar, it was necessary for Las Casas oc-
* " Diole (a Pedro de Renteria) Indios de repartimiento juntamente
con el Padre, dando a ambos un buen Pueblo y grande con los cuales
el Padre comenzo a entender en hacer grangerias y en echar parte de
ellos en las minas, teniendo harto mas cuidado de ellas que de dar doc-
trina a los Indios, habiendo de ser como lo era principalmente aquel
su oficio ; pero en aquella materia tan ciego estaba por aquel tiempo
el buen Padre como los Seglares todos que tenia porhijos," — Las Ca
sas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 32.
t " Llegamos a un pueblo de Indios, que se dezia Yaguarama, el
qual era en aquella sazon del Padre Fray Bartolome de las Casas, que
era Clerigo Presbitero, y despues le conoci Fraile Dominico, y Uego a
ser Obispo de Echiapa : y los Indios de aquel pueblo nos dieron de
comer." — Bernal Diaz, cap. 7. See also Las Casas, lib. iii., cap. 78.
X Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 78.

Conversion of Las Casas. 437
casionally to say mass and to preach. It happened
that he had to do so on "the Feast of Pentecost," in
the year 1514 ; and studying either the sermons that
he preached himself or that he heard the other clerigo
preach at this time, he came to thinking with himself
on certain passages (" authorities" he calls them) of '
Scripture. The 34th chapter of Ecclesiasticus, the
18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22d verses, first arrested,
and then enchained his attention :
" He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten,
his offering is ridiculous ; and the gifts of unjust men
are not accepted.
" The Most High is not pleased with the offerings
of the wicked ; neither is he pacified for sin by the
multitude of sacrifices.
" Whoso bringeth an offering of the goods of the
poor doeth as one that kUleth the son before his father's
eyes. " The bread of the needy is their life ; he that de-
fraudeth him thereof is a man of blood.
" He that taketh away his neighbor's living slayeth
him ; and he that defraudeth the laborer of his hire is
a bloodshedder." I think that the clerigo might have dwelt upon one
of the remaining verses of the chapter with great profit :
" When one prayeth, and another curseth, whose
voice wiU the Lord hear ?"
In recounting the steps which led to his conversion,
Las Casas takes care to say that what he had former
ly heard the Dominicans preach in Hispaniola was, at
this critical period of his Hfe, of great service to him.
Then he had only slighted their words ; but he now
particularly remembers a contest he had with a certain

438 Conversion of Las Casas.
Religioso, who refused to give him absolution because
he possessed Indians. This is an instance of the great
mistake it may be to hold your tongue about the truth,
for fear it should provoke contest and harden an ad
versary in his opinion. The truths which he has
heard sink into a man at some time or other, and, even
when he retires from a contest apparently fixed in his
own conceits, it would often be found that if he had to
renew the contest the next day he would not take up
quite the same position that he had maintained before.
The good seed sown by the Dominicans had now, after
having been buried for some years, found a most fruit
ful soil ; and it shot up in the ardent soul of the cler
igo like grain in that warm land of the tropics upon
which he stood. Las Casas studied the principles of
the matter ; from the principles he turned to consider
ing the facts about him, and, with his candid mind thus
fuUy aroused, he soon came to the conclusion that the
system of repartimientos was iniquitous,* and that he
must preach against it.
What then must he do with his own Indians ? Alas,
it was necessary to give them up ! Not that he grudged
giving them up for any worldly motive, but he felt that
no one in Cuba would be as considerate toward them
as he, even in the days of his darkness, had been ; and
that they would be worked to death, as indeed they
were. But stUl, the answer to all the sermons he might
preach would be his own repartimiento of Indians.
He resolved to give them up.
* " Pasados pues algunos dias en aquesta consideracion, y cada dia
mas y mas certificandola por lo que leia cuanto al derecho, y via del
hecho, aplicandolo uno al otro, determino en si mismo convencido de la
misma verdad, ser injusto y tiranico todo cuanto cerca de los Indios en
estas Indias se cometia." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii.,
cap. 78.

Conversion of Las Casas. 439
Now, as Las Casas was not only the friend, but the
partner of Pedro de Benteria, this determination on
the part of the clerigo was a matter which would af
fect the interests of his friend ; and, unluclrily, Ben
teria happened to be absent from home at this time,
having gone to Jamaica upon their joint affairs. Las
Casas, however, went to the governor, and laid open
his mind to him upon the subject of the repartimien
tos, putting the matter boldly to Velasquez, as it con
cerned his lordship's own salvation, as weU as that of
Las Casas and the rest of the Spaniards. The clerigo
added that he must give up his own slaves, but wish
ed that this determination might be kept secret tUl
Pedro de Benteria should return.
The governor was greatly astonished ; for Las Ca
sas, who, no doubt, took warmly in hand any thing he
did take up at all, passed for a man fond of gain, and
very busy in the things of this world. Velasquez, in
replying, besought the clerigo to consider the matter
weU; to take fifteen days, indeed, to think of it, and to
do nothing that he would repent of afterward. Las
Casas thanked his lordship for his kindness, but bade
him count the fifteen days as already past, and added,
that if he, Las Casas, were to repent and were to ask
for the Indians again, even with tears of blood, God
would punish the governor severely if he were to lis
ten to such a request. Thus ended the interview ;
and it is to the governor's credit that he ever after
ward held the clerigo in greater esteem than before.
Las Casas, however, did not long confine his efforts
at conversion to the governor alone, nor did he conceal
his intention untU his partner had returned home ; for,
when preaching on the day of " The Assumption of
Our Lady," he took occasion to mention publicly the

440 Conversion of Las Casas.
conclusion he had come to as regards his own affairs*
and also to urge upon his congregation in the strong
est manner his conviction of the danger to their souls
if they retained their repartimientos of Indians. AU
were amazed ; some were struck with compunction ;.
others were as much surprised to hear it caUed a sin
to make use of the Indians as if they had been told it
were sinful to make use of the beasts of the field.
After Las Casas had uttered many exhortations both
in public and in private, and had found that they were
of little avaU, he meditated how to go to the fountain-
head of authority, the King of Spain. His resources
were exhausted ; he had not a maravedi, or the means
of getting one, except by selling a mare which was
worth a hundred pesos. Besolving, however, to go, he
wrote to Benteria, telling him that business of import
ance was taking him to CastUe, and that unless Ben
teria could return immediately, he, Las Casas, could
not wait to see him, a thing, as he adds, not imagina
ble by the good Benteria, io firm was then: friendship.
It was a singular coincidence that, not long before
this time, the services of the Church had also brought
into active existence very serious thoughts in the
breast of Pedro de Benteria. There may be a com
munity of thought not expressed in language ; and
perhaps these two good men, while apparently engaged
in their ordinary secular business, had, unknown to
themselves, been communicating to each other gener
ous thoughts about their poor Indians, which had not
hitherto been embodied in words. WhUe Benteria
was waiting in Jamaica for the dispatch of his busi
ness, he went into a Franciscan monastery to spend
his Lent in " retreat" (these pauses from the world

Conversion of Las Casas. 441
are not to be despised !) ; he, too, had been thinking
over the miseries of the Indians, and the shape his
thoughts had taken was, whether something for the
chUdren, at least, might not be done. FinaUy, he had
come to the conclusion to ask the king's leave to found
colleges where he might collect the young Indians,
and have them instructed and brought up. For this
purpose Benteria resolved to go to Spain himself, in
order to obtain the king's sanction ; and, immediately
after receiving the letter of the clerigo, he hurried back
to Cuba.
As the meeting of the friends took place in the
presence of others, and as Benteria was welcomed
back by the governor in person, they had no opportu
nity for any explanation untU they were alone to
gether at night ; then, in their dignified Spanish way,
they agreed who should speak first, and, after a friend
ly contention, the humble Benteria spoke first, which
was the mark of the inferior. "I have thought some
times," he said, "upon the miseries, sufferings, and
evil life which these native people are leading ; and
how from day to day they are all being consumed, as
the people were in Hispaniola. It has appeared to
me that it would be an act of piety to go and inform
the king of this, for he can not know any thing of it,
and to ask him that at the least he should give us his
royal license to found some coUeges, where the chUdren
might be brought up and taught, and where we may
shelter them from such violent and vehement destruc
tion."* Las Casas heard Benteria's words with as
tonishment and reverential joy, thinking it a sign of
divine favor that so good a man as Benteria should
thus unexpectedly confirm his own resolve.
* Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 79.
T 2

442 Conversion of Las Casas.
When it was the clerigo's turn to speak, he thus
began: "You must know, sir and brother" (for these
people did not omit the courtesy which, however varied
in its form, affection should not presume to dispense
with), "that my purpose is no other than to go and
seek a remedy for these unhappy men" (the Indians).
The clerigo then gave a fuU account of what he had
already thought and done in this matter during Ben
teria's absence. His friend replied in all humility
that it was not for him to go, but for Las Casas, who,
as a lettered man {letrado), would know better how to
establish what he should urge. Benteria begged,
therefore, that the stock and merchandise which he
had just brought with him from Jamaica, and the
farm, their joint property, might be turned into money
to equip Las Casas for his journey and his stay at
court ; and he added, "May God our Lord be He who
may ever keep you in the way and defend you."
The farm was sold, and in this manner Las Casas
was provided for his journey. Bad as the world is
said to be, there is always money forthcoming for any
good purpose, when people really believe in the pro
poser. At this time Pedro de Cordova, the prelate of the
Dominicans in the New World, sent over four brethren
of his order from Hispaniola to Cuba. They were very
welcome to Las Casas, as he was to them. They lis
tened with interest to his account of the state of the
Indians in Cuba; and Brother Bernardo, the most
eloquent and learned among them, preached to the
same purpose, and with fully as much animation,* as
* The following is a portion of a sermon preached by Father Ber
nardo : " Ya os habemos predicado despues que vinimos el estado malo

Conversion of Las Casas. 443
the clerigo himself had done. Their sermons terrified
the hearers, but did not seem to change their way of
proceeding. The Dominicans accordingly resolved to
send back one of their brotherhood, Gutierrez de Am-
pudia, to Pedro de Cordova, to inform him of the state
of things at Cuba. It was arranged that Gutierrez
should accompany Las Casas, who, by giving out that
he was going to Paris to study there and take a de
gree, contrived to leave Cuba without attracting the
notice of the governor, who might, perhaps, have de
tained him, had his true purpose and destination been
known. So Las Casas quitted the island of Cuba in com
pany with Gutierrez de Ampudia and another Domin
ican, without being much observed by any one, or
meeting with any hinderance.
After their departure from the island, the cruelties
of the Spaniards toward the Indians increased ; and,
as the Indians naturally enough sought for some
refuge in flight, the Spaniards trained dogs to pursue
them. The Indians then had recourse to suicide as a
means of escape, for they believed in a future state of
being where ease and felicity, they thought, awaited
them. Accordingly, they put themselves to death,
whole families doing so together, and villages inviting
other vUlages to join them in their departure from a
en que estais por oprimir e fatigar y matar estas Gentes-: no solo no
os habeis querido enmendar, pero segun tenemos entendido cada dia
lo haceis peor derramando la sangre de tantas Gentes sin haberos he-
cho mal ; yo pido a Dios que la sangre que por ellos derramo sea Juez
y testigo contra vuestra crueldad el dia del Juicio donde no tendreis
cscusa alguno pretendiendo ignorancia de que no se os dijo y requirio,
declarandoseos la injusticia que haceis a estas Gentes ; y vosotros mis
mos sois testigos de vuestras obras, y sereis de las penas que por el-
las os estan por venir." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii.,
cap. 80.

444 Conversion of Las Casas.
world that was no longer tolerable to them. Some
hanged themselves ; others drank the poisonous juice
of the yuca.
One pathetic and yet ludicrous occurrence is men
tioned in connection with this practice of suicide among
the Indians. A number of them belonging to one
master had resolved to hang themselves, and so to es
cape from then- labors and their sufferings. The mas
ter, being made aware of their intention, came upon
them just as they were about to carry it into effect.
" Go seek me a rope too," he exclaimed, " for I must
hang myself with you." He then gave them to un
derstand that he could not live without them, as they
were so useful to him ; and that he must go where
they were going. They, believing that they would
not get rid of him even in a future state of existence,
agreed to remain where they were, and with sorrow
laid aside their ropes to resume their labors.
It was an additional evil for the Indians that some
of that swarm of unfortunate men who had come with
Pedrarias to Darien betook themselves with their hun
gry ferocity to Cuba; and, as Las Casas notices,*
proved afterward most cruel toward the Indians./
MeanwhUe, Las Casas and his companions were
pursuing their journey, having arrived at the port of
Hanaguana in Hispaniola. Father Gutierrez, unhap
pily, fell ill of a fever and died on the road, but Las
Casas reached St. Domingo in safety. On arriving
there, he found that the prelate of the Dominicans was
* " En este tiempo vinieron a aportar muchos Caballeros a aquella
Isla y donde Diego Velasquez estaba del Darien de los que habia lle-
vado Pedrarias hambrientos y perdidos, y alii se les dio de comer : al-
gunos de los cuales fueron despues crudelisimos para los Indios." —
Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 79.

Conversion of Las Casas. 445
absent, having just commenced a voyage for the pur
pose of founding monasteries in the Terra-firma, being
accompanied not only by monks of his own order, but
also by Franciscans, and by some monks from Picardy,
who had lately come to the Indies.
This voyage of Pedro de Cordova was undertaken
in accordance with a plan which, when in Spain, he
had communicated to King Ferdinand. After the laws
of Burgos had been passed, and when Pedro de Cor
dova saw that the business for which he had come to
court was settled, he prayed the king that he and other
Dominican brethren might be aUowed to go from His
paniola to that part of the Terra-firma nearest to the
island, to preach the Faith there. This good man
thought that in the Terra-firma his efforts for the con
version of the Indians would be secure from hinder-
ance on the part of his lay countrymen. The king
assented readUy to this plan, and furnished Pedro de
Cordova with the necessary orders to the authorities
at Hispaniola for ships and provisions. Moreover, at
SeviUe the prelate of the Dominicans was supplied
with beUs, vestments, and all things requisite for the
performance of the services of his church. As for the
men necessary to carry out this important mission,
Pedro de Cordova had no difficulty in finding them ;
and he had only occasion to go to one monastery, that
of St. Stephen at Salamanca, from whence he was able
to choose fourteen brethren to take with him to the
Indies. On his return from Spain to St. Domingo, Pedro de
Cordova dispatched a vessel to the Terra-firma with
three monks of his order — Antonio Montesino, already
weU known to the readers of this history as the preach
er of a memorable sermon, Francis de Cordova, a near

446 Conversion of Las Casas.
relative of the prelate, and a lay brother named Juan
Garces. These brethren were to gain experience of
the new country and the new people, and to prepare
the way for the entrance of a more numerous band of
missionaries. Whether intentionaUy or not, the part
of the Terra-firma which the monks came to was not
the Terra-firma proper, the nearest part to Hispaniola,
but the Pearl Coast. Montesino, fortunately for him
self, fell Ul at the island of San Juan, at which the
vessel touched first. The other two Dominicans pro
ceeded to the Pearl Coast, and, being set on shore, es
tablished themselves at a place some twenty leagues
from Cumana, caUed Piritii de Maracapana. The In
dians received the Dominican monks with joy and hos
pitality, and the vessel which had brought them re
turned. In a short time one of the Spanish vessels
connected with the pearl fisheries touched at this part
of the coast. Pedro de Cordova did not prove happy
in his conjecture that the coast would be free from
molestation on the part of his lay countrymen ; but
at the time that he made his request to the king, little
was known of the Terra-firma. In general, when the
Indians perceived a Spanish vessel approaching the
coast, they fled ; but now, relying upon the presence
of the Dominicans, the natives welcomed the new
comers, and gave them provisions. After a few days
spent amicably, the cacique of that region, with his
family and servants, amounting in number to seven
teen persons, accepted an invitation on board the
Spanish vessel. If the cacique thought at all about
any danger from this visit, he must have thought that
the Dominican brethren who were left in the hands
of his subjects constituted a sufficient guarantee for
his safety ; but no sooner were the Indians on board,

Conversion of Las Casas.

447

than the vessel weighed anchor and saUed away. As
might be imagined, the Indians on shore instantly re
solved to kiU the Dominican brethren, who with great
difficulty appeased them, and contrived to obtain a res
pite, promising that the cacique and his famUy should

THE
PEARL COAST.
CJLX.XJB 33 E ^ c*~ ^
"^Laf ^Margarita.

wr~weeit.a(Za

4? ~

be brought back in four months. In a few days
another Spanish vessel made its appearance ; the Do
minicans communicated with the crew of this vessel,
told them of the straits they were in, and gave them
letters to Pedro de Cordova at St. Domingo.
MeanwhUe, the pearl-fishing, man-steaHng viUains

448 Conversion of Las Casas.
of the first Spanish vessel arrived at St. Domingo.
They had sold, or were selling, the poor cacique and
his family, when the Judges of Appeal came down
upon the prize, said that these captives had not been
made with the proper license, and forthwith divided
the Indians among themselves (the judges !). In a
few days after this transaction, the vessel whose crew
had taken charge of the letters from Francis de Cordo
va and Juan Garces entered the port of St. Domingo.
The captain of the pearl-fishers, seeing his villainy on
the point of being discovered, fled at once to a monas
tery of the order of La Merced, which was just then
being established, and took the habit of a lay brother.
He hardly fancied, I imagine, that his foul trick upon
the poor Dominicans would in a few weeks make a
monk of him! No sooner were the letters from the
captive monks delivered at the monastery, than a great
ferment, no doubt, arose among the brotherhood, eager
to rescue their unhappy brethren on the Pearl Coast.
Antonio Montesino had by this time recovered from
his illness, and had returned from San Juan to St.
Domingo. He went to the Judges of Appeal, and
prayed to have the cacique and his family liberated
and sent back to the Terra-firma. If Montesino could
preach with such force as he did when he excited the
rage of the colonists about their dealings with the In
dians, what must he not have said now ? But all was
in vain. The Judges of Appeal did not give up their
slaves ; and the Indians of the Terra-firma, after wait
ing the time agreed upon of four months, put to death
their two prisoners, Francis de Cordova and Juan
Garces. This transaction is important, as it will have other
consequences than the death of these two poor monks.

Voyage of Las Casas to Spain. 449
But in itself it claims our notice, as showing the dis
position of those with whom then rested the supreme
power in the Indies.
Not daunted, however, by this calamity which had
befallen his first mission to the Terra-firma, Pedro de
Cordova had himself just set out upon another like
expedition when Las Casas arrived. It happened that
a great storm compeUed the prelate and his company
to return to port; and thus Las Casas was fortunate
enough to obtain an interview with one of whom he
ever speaks with great veneration, the prelate of the
Dominicans, Pedro de Cordova.
This exceUent monk received Las Casas very kind
ly, and applauded his purpose greatly, but at the same
time gave but little hope of its being brought to a suc
cessful termination in King Ferdinand's time, on ac
count of the credit which, he said, the Bishop of Bur
gos and the secretary, Lope ConchiUos, had with the
king, and their being entirely in favor of the system
of repartimientos, and, moreover, possessing Indians
themselves. The clerigo, grieved but not dismayed at these
words, declared his intention to persevere, to the de
light of Pedro de Cordova, who, as the Dominican
monastery was very poor, and only partly built, re
solved to send Antonio Montesino in company with
Las Casas to the king, to ask alms for completing the
buUding. Moreover, if any opportunity should offer,
he was to aid the clerigo in his mission. And so, in
September, 1515, Las Casas, Montesino, and another
brother embarked at St. Domingo for Spain.
Before giving an account of the proceedings of Las
Casas at the court of Spain, it is necessary to mention

450 Appointment of Albuquerque.
briefly what had been done in the course of the pre
ceding year with respect to the Indians, both in His-
vpaniola and in the mother-country. Bodrigo de Al
buquerque, a near relative of a member of the Council
in whom the king put great trust, had been sent to
make a new division of the Indians, and he was called
Repartidor. What occasion there was for this new
repartition is not told, and it is difficult to imagine
any good reason for such a proceeding. It did no
good to the Indians ; in fact, it seems to have riveted
their fetters, as it gave the Indians for two lives — for
the life of the person to whom Albuquerque made the
repartimiento, and for the life of his next heir, whether
a son or a daughter. It created the most vehement
rage and opposition among the old colonists, some of
whom found themselves deprived altogether of the
services of the Indians ; and it was an affront to the
governor, Don Diego Columbus, as this power of giving
away Indians was one of his chief privUeges, and one
most likely to render the Spanish colonists obedient
to him.
Albuquerque was much blamed for the manner in
which he exercised his office, and he was accused of
bribery. It was an office in which it must have been
impossible to give content. The rapid diminution of
the Indians is shown by this repartition, if we can
trust the figures of Las Casas, as I think we can in
this case, for they were probably taken from official
documents. When the Treasurer Pasamonte came
to Hispaniola in 1508, there were seventy thousand
Indians ; when Don Diego Columbus obtained the
government of that island, there were forty thousand
Indians ; but when Albuquerque came to divide, there
were only thirteen thousand or fourteen thousand In-

Diego Columbus recalled. 451
dians left. When Hispaniola was first discovered,
there were, according to Las Casas, three mUlions of
Indians ; according to the Licentiate Zuazo, one mill
ion one hundred and thirty thousand.
The governor, Don Diego Columbus, returned to
Spain, or was recaUed, at the end of the year 1514, in
which Albuquerque came to make the repartition.
Whether Don Diego's representations had any weight
at court, or whether the intense disgust which Albu
querque's repartition had produced among the colonists
had any effect there, does not appear ; but the Licen
tiate Ibarra was selected to go to Hispaniola to take a
residencia of Marcos de Aguilar, the principal alcalde
in St. Domingo, to see how the ordinances in favor of
the Indians were executed, and also to make a new
repartition. I am not aware whether the same pro
cess was to be gone through in Cuba, and other of the
Spanish possessions, but it may have been so ; and
certainly the king at this time sent an account to the
governor of Cuba of the motives upon which his coun
cil had come to the conclusion that Indians were to'
be given in repartimiento. These motives were the
ones that we are famUiar with, namely, that converse
with the Spaniards would Christianize the Indians,
and that this converse was to be obtained by the sys
tem of repartimientos.
Before Ibarra could enter upon his duties to any
purpose, he died, having, according to rumor, been
" assisted" to quit the world ; for he was said to be
a just man, and was feared. Another licentiate, named
Lebron, was appointed in Ibarra's place ; he was not
to have the same general powers as Ibarra, but was
to proceed with the repartition of the Indians. This
frequent repartition was one of the greatest grievances

452 Las Casas at the Court of Spain.
that can be imagined, both to the Indians and the
Spanish colonists ; and, by a very competent authority
(Zuazo), is put forward as one of the chief causes of
the diminution in numbers of the natives. Change
of climate, change of water* (which is particularly
noticed as one of the causes), change of masters, and
the indifference consequent on that, in the minds of
the masters, to the welfare of their Indians, aU so
wrought together in this matter, that the most rapid
rate of increase known in population shows small when
compared with the rate of decrease of these Indian
nations. , The affairs of the Indies were in the state above
/described when Las Casas and his companion, Anto
nio Montesino, arrived at Seville. Montesino pre
sented Las Casas to the Archbishop of SeviUe, Don
Fray Diego de Deza, a prelate in great favor with
King Ferdinand, who had been persuading the king
to come to his diocese, as being an excellent climate
for the aged. This advice Ferdinand had listened to,
and was now making his way from Burgos to the
south of Spain. The archbishop received Las Casas
graciously, and furnished him with letters to the king
and to some of the courtiers. Armed with these let
ters, the clerigo continued his journey, and found the
king at Plasencia, arriving there a few days before
* " De manera que Como muchos destos indios estaban acostumbra-
dos a los aires de su tierra e a beber aguas de jagueyes, que Hainan las
balsas de agua llovediza, e otras aguas gruesas, mudabanlos a donde
habia aguas delgadas e de fuentes e rios frios, e lugares destemplados,
e como andan desnudos hanse muerto casi infenito mimero de indios,
dejados aparte los que han fallecido del muy immenso trabajo e fatiga
que les han dado tratandolos mal." — Documentos Ineditos, torn, ii.,
p. 353.

Las Casas at the Court of Spain. 453
Christmas in the year 1515. Las Casas shunned the
ministers Lope de Conchillos and the Bishop of Bur
gos, knowing how prejudiced they were likely to be ;
but he sought an interview with the king, and, obtain
ing it, spoke at large to the monarch of the motives
which had brought him to Spain. He had come, he
said, to inform his highness of the wrongs and suffer
ings of the Indians, and of how they died without a
knowledge of the faith and without the sacraments,
of the ruin of the country, of the diminution of the
revenue ; and he concluded by saying that, as these
things concerned both the king's conscience and the
welfare of his realm, and as to be understood they
must be stated in detaU, he begged for another and a
long audience./ Ferdinand, now an old and ailing man,
whose death was near at hand, did not deny Las Ca
sas the second audience he asked for, but said he
would wiUingly hear him some day during the Christ
mas festival.
A.w the mean time, Las Casas poured his complaints
against the king's ministers, and his narrative of the
wrongs of the Indians, into the ears of the king's con
fessor, Tomas de Matienzo, who, repeating them to the
king, received orders to tell Las Casas to go to SeviUe
and wait there for the king's coming (Ferdinand was
about to set off immediately), when he would give him
a long audience, and provide a remedy for the evUs he
complained of. , The confessor advised Las Casas to
see the Bishop of Burgos, who had the chief manage
ment of Indian affairs, and also ConchUlos, for, as he
observed, the matter would ultimately have to come
into their hands ; and, perhaps, when they had heard
aU the miseries and evUs which the clerigo could teU
them, they would soften. Las Casas, to show that he

454 Las Casas at the Court of Spain.
was not obstinate, sought out these ministers, and sub
mitted his views and his information to them. Con
chillos received the clerigo with the utmost courtesy
and kindness, and seems to have listened a little to
what Las Casas had to tell him; the bishop, on the
contrary, was very rough. Las Casas finished his
audience with the bishop by informing him how seven
thousand chUdren had perished in three months ;* and,
as the clerigo went on detafiing the account of the
death of these children, the ungodly bishop broke in
with these words, " Look you, what a droll fool ; what
is this to me, and what is it to the king?" (Mirad,
que donoso necid, que se me da d mi, y que se le da
al Rey ?) ; to which Las Casas replied, " Is it nothing
to your lordship, or to the king, that all these souls
should perish ? Oh great and eternal God ! And to
whom, then, is it of any concern ?" And, having said
these words, he took his leave.
Considering the number of excellent churchmen
whose conduct comes out nobly in this history, it is
not surprising that we should meet with one bad
bishop ; but it is almost heart-breaking to consider
that it is the one who could have done more than all
the rest to redress the wrongs of the Indians, and to
recover affairs in the New World. Let men in power
see what one bad appointment may do \\
* I do not know to what transaction he alludes.
t The Bishop of Burgos must have been one of those ready, bold,
and dexterous men, with a great reputation for fidelity, who are such
favorites with princes. He went through so many stages of prefer
ment, that it is sometimes difficult to trace him ; and the student of
early American history will have a bad opinion of many Spanish bishops
if he does not discover that it is Bishop Fonseca who reappears under
various designations. Since his first introduction to the reader, he had
held successively the Archdiaconate of Seville, the Bishoprics of Ba-
dajos, Cordova, Palencia, and Conde, the Archbishopric of Rosano (in

Death of Ferdinand. 455
Las Casas soon after left the court for Seville,
where almost the first thing he heard of on his arrival
was the death of the king, which took place at Mad-
rigalejos, a Httle viUage on the road to SeviUe, on the
23d of January, 1516.
Before entering upon a new reign, some words re
main to be said about King Ferdinand. This is not
the place for discussing his general character and gov
ernment ; but, as regards his administration of the In
dies, it has now been minutely brought forward, and
we may fairly have some opinion upon it. His grant-
Italy), with the Bishopric of Burgos, besides the office of Capellan
mayor to Isabella, and afterward to Ferdinand.
The Indies had a narrow escape of having him for their Patriarch.
In the year 1513, Ferdinand instructed his embassador at Rome to ap
ply for the institution of a universal patriarchate of the Indies to be
given to Archbishop Fonseca. The following words, in which the
king recommends him, are remarkable : " Y porque las tales personas,
unas han de ser paTa lo ir a hacer en persona, y otras para lo favorecer
y encaminar desde aca, y el muy Reverendo en Cristo Padre D. Juan
de Fonseca, Arzobispo de Rosano, nuestro Capellan mayor y de nues
tro Consejo, de claro linage y de los principales Nobles destos Reinos,
como sabeis desde el principio que las Indias se descubrieron hasta
agora, y al presente por nuestro mandado se ha ocupado y ocupa en
la provision y gobernacion dellas, y por su industria y vigilancia, dil
igencia y cuidado con muy probada fidelidad sin otro interes alguno,
salvo por servir a nuestro Senor y cumplir nuestros mandamientos, ha
sido y es causa muy principal de muchos bienes que en las dichas In
dias han sucedido y suceden, y siempre continua sus trabajos para en
lo porvenir con mucho zelo que las animas de todas aquellas gentes se
conviertan a nuestro Seiior" * * * " Suplicareis de nuestra parte a
nuestro muy Sancto Padre por virtud de la nuestra Carta de creencia
que va con esta, que habiendo consideracion." * * " Instituya al dicho
Arzobispo D. Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, universal Patriarca de toda
ella, conforme a los otros Patriarcados que hay en la Iglesia." — Nav-
arrete, Col. Dip., num. 174.
What answer the Pope gave to this application does not appear ; but
it is at any rate satisfactory to find that Bishop Fonseca was not ap
pointed Patriarch of the Indies.

456 Ferdinand's Administration
ing repartimientos to the courtiers was doubtless
wrong ; his sanctioning the removal of Indians from
one island to another was wrong ; we, with our lights
upon the subject, may also say that the whole sys
tem of repartimientos was injudicious and oppressive.
But this is no reason for concluding that Ferdinand,
in adopting the views of his council in this matter,
was not really influenced by the reasoning prevalent
in his day, which made these repartimientos prominent
and necessary means toward the conversion of the In
dians. It is but fair, too, to notice, on Ferdinand's
behalf, that when the Junta (summoned in 1512) came
to him with a conclusion unfavorable to the liberty of
the Indians, he returned the Indian question again
upon their hands, saying that it must be placed upon
the basis arranged in Isabella's wUl, which pronounced
the Indians to be free men.
Again, in the instructions, before aUuded to, which
were given in 1514 to Pedrarias, the governor of Da
rien, the king makes a suggestion which may thus be
paraphrased. "You will have to consult your prin
cipal men about making war ; but remember that it is
their interest to obtain Indians by war, therefore al
low for that in any credit you may give to their ad
vice. Listen rather to the Bishop of Darien and the
priests who accompany him, who are less likely to be
guided by passion and self-interest than the rest."
This is humane and considerate, especiaUy when we
recollect that the king himself was one of those who
profited by wars with the Indians, as he received a
share of the prisoners taken in war. If it is said that,
at this period of his life, his affairs were mainly man
aged by his ministers (though I think this can not be
maintained), and that these instructions to Pedrarias,

of Indian Affairs. 457
for example, were not his, then, in that case, he must
be relieved from much of the responsibifity of the in
judicious measures passed at that time.
With regard to the personal treatment of the In
dians, the reader wiU have seen that in some of the
king's letters there are minute orders for the good
treatment of his new subjects. It were certainly to be
wished that he had repressed the general ardor for get
ting gold instead of encouraging it. But we must
remember the necessities which his wars brought upon
him. In one of his short letters to Don Diego Co
lumbus, he says, "No gold rests" with us; and his
last letter to his successor, Charles the Fifth, in which
Ferdinand commends, in the most touching manner,
Germane his queen to Charles's protection, shows the
destitute state, as regards money, in which the king
died. Again, whatever may be charged against Fer
dinand, it can not be said that he knowingly sent in
ferior men to take authority in the Indies. Bobadilla's
appointment was a pure mistake ; Ferdinand and Is
abella supposed that they had chosen a high-minded,
just man, while in reafity he was a narrow-minded,
hard, short-seeing man — a sort of mistake that has
frequently occurred. But I am not aware that there
is any other instance of a manifestly bad appointment
having been made by Ferdinand, or of any appoint
ment having been made from corrupt motives.
It is probable that in later life Ferdinand trusted
too much to his ministers ; and it must always be the
case in a pure monarchy, that it partakes of the fail
ings of one man, and that its action is apt to grow fee
ble as his powers decay.* The affairs, however, of

* Peter Martvr, speaking of the king in the year 1513, says,
Vol. I.— U

158 Ferdinand's Administration.
Spain and of the Indies would have gone well enough
f aU the powers of the state had been as well repre
sented as the head of it was by the general abifity and
vorth of King Ferdinand.
The last notice that I have been able to find of
vhat were the king's views with regard to the importa-
ion of negroes into the Indies is to be seen in a let-
;er of his, very briefly expressed, in which, replying to
i request of the Bishop of La Concepcion in Hispan-
ola that more negroes should be imported, the king
:ays that there are already many negroes, and that it
nay occasion " inconvenience" (a thoroughly official
mrase) if more male negroes should be introduced into
;he island.*
' Non idem est vultus, non eadem facilitas in audiendo, non eadem
enitas." — Epist. 529.
* " Para mas presto acabar la Iglesia podreis pasar diez esclavos.
Decis que ai aprueban los esclavos negros i combendra pasen mas.
Siendo varones no, pues parece que hay muchos i podra traer incom-
leniente." — Rey a Don Pedro Suarez de Deza, Obispo de la Con-
epcion. Valladolid, 27 de Setiembre de 1514. Coleceion de Monoz,
US., torn. 90.

CHAPTEB II.
I.AS CASAS SEES THE CARDINAL XTMENES.  THE ADMINIS
TRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS BY THE CARDINAL.  AP-
POrNTMENT OF THE JEEONEVUTES.
AT the time of Ferdinand's death, his daughter
Juana, the occupant of the throne of Castile (for
the late king had been but regent), and the immediate
heiress of that of Aragon, was insane ; and her eldest
son, Charles the Fifth, was but in his sixteenth year.
Ferdinand, therefore, nominated by will a regent to
the kingdom, choosing the celebrated Cardinal'Ximenes
for that office. The king, when discussing on his
death-bed the question of the regency, is said to have
expressed himself thus : " If we could make a man
for the occasion, I should wish for a more tractable
one than Ximenes ; for to deal with the ways of men
every day degenerating, after the rigorous old fashion
which Ximenes holds by, is wont to create difficulties
in the state." But the king added that the integrity
and justness of Ximenes were qualities of the first
order; and then, again, that he had no connections
among the great nobles, and no private friendships
which he would give way to : moreover, mindful of the
benefits he had received from Ferdinand and Isabella,
he had been very intent upon their affairs; and the
king concluded by saying, " Ximenes has shown con-

460 Administration of Himenes.
stant and clear examples that he is of our mint, if I
may so express myself"*
As there is good reason to think that Ferdinand had
no especial liking for the cardinal, the king's choice
does both of them the more credit. And, indeed, of
all the public men of those times in that kingdom,
there was not one to be compared with Ximenes, espe
cially in the faculty for government. There was now,
then, some hope that, should he turn his attention to
Indian affairs, something distinct and forcible would
be done in them.
Adrian of Utrecht, the Dean of Louvain, who had
been Charles the Fifth's tutor, and who, in the latter
days of Ferdinand, had been sent to Spain to watch
over the prince's interests, produced powers from the
young prince nominating him (Adrian) to the govern
ment. Ximenes would not admit the validity of these
powers, it being contended on his side that the regen
cy of CastUe had been left by IsabeUa's wiU to Ferdi
nand until Charles should be twenty years of age, and
consequently that any act done by Charles during Fer
dinand's life was invalid. On the other side, it was
argued that a regent could not create by will a regen
cy. FinaUy, it was agreed that the question should
be referred to Charles himself for decision, and that,
meanwhile, Ximenes and Adrian should govern joint
ly. Afterward there came a letter from Charles, con
firming the nomination made by Ferdinand's will of
Ximenes, or, rather, the recommendation given, for it
appears not to have amounted to more than that, and
* " Porro beneficia, qua? ego et Isabella regina in ilium contulimus,
nostrarum rerum studiosissimum fecerunt, atque in nostro (ut sic di-
cara) are est, quod quotidianis exemplis haud obscure declaravit." —
Gomecius, de rebus gestis Ximenii, p. 126, folio, Francofurti.

Administration of Ximenes. 461
putting Adrian into communication with Ximenes,
still caUing the former embassador.
Adrian was a quiet, scholastic, just man with good
purposes, very averse to much business. He could
not have any preponderating influence in affairs, and
is said to have sent a complaint to Flanders of the
way in which Ximenes took aU the government upon
himself. Afterward the Flemish ministers of Charles
sent over Monsieur de Laxao, a great wit and one of
Charles's household, and also, at a subsequent period,
another Fleming, to act in concert with the cardinal,
who received them courteously, but did not admit them
to much authority. One day, when they must have
been in a daring mood, they resolved to exercise some
power independently of the Cardinal Governor, and
affix their names first to some document, leaving Xi
menes to add his. The cardinal sent for the clerk who
drew up the document, tore it up, bade him write out
another, and it is said that thenceforward the cardinal
did not trouble his so-called colleagues for their signa
tures. I have little doubt that this was not mere ar
rogance, but that he acted strictly within the limits of
his power ; and, indeed, a regency is sufficiently weak
of itself, without being cumbered with unwelcome col
leagues of dubious powers and unfriendly intentions.
Moreover, the cardinal had quite enough to contend
against from his own countrymen. Of the high-hand
ed way in which he managed them, there is the well-
known story ofnis reply to certain Spanish grandees
who wished to be informed of the grounds of his au
thority, whereupon he showed them the documents
upon which it rested, namely, the wiU of Ferdinand
and the written approbation of Charles ; then, leading
them to a window, he requested them to look out on

462 Administration of Ximenes.
a large body of troops with a park of artillery, which
he suggested to them were the ultimate reasoning of
princes. There is another story of him not so often mention
ed, but which is very significant. The Duke de In-
fantado, being highly incensed against Ximenes, sent
a priest of his ducal household with a most insulting
message to the cardinal, reproaching him, among other
things, with his low origin. The priest, after kneeling
down and begging the cardinal's pardon for what he
was about to say, said it. His eminence asked the
priest if he had any thing more to observe. He re
plied, " No ;" on which the cardinal made this answer:
" Beturn to your master, whom you will find already
regretting his insolent and foolish message." And so
it proved to be.
Having now obtained some little insight into the
Cardinal Governor's general character and mode of
proceeding, we come to those transactions of his which
more immediately concern the purpose of this his
tory. Ximenes had not been an uninterested spectator of
the policy of the Catholic monarchs with regard to their
American possessions, and he had urged them to send,
which they did, ecclesiastics to the Indies, for the pur
pose of converting the natives. With an important dio
cese to manage, and with many other matters requiring
his attention, the cardinal had not particularly devoted
his care to Indian affairs, and, as far as we know, had
not been invited to do so. Now, however, as pertain
ing to the kingdom of CastUe, and thus coming under
his charge, the West Indies were sure to meet with due
care from this great statesman, and it was not long

Administration of Ximenes. 463
before their affairs were brought under his immediate
notice. Las Casas, as may be recoUected, was at SeviUe,
awaiting King Ferdinand's arrival, when the news
came of his death, upon which the clerigo prepared to
go to Flanders, to produce what impression he could
upon the new king ; but, previously to taking this step,
he went to Madrid to lay his statement of the wrongs
of the Indians before the Cardinal Governor and tlie
embassador. He resolved to let them know of his in
tended journey, and to teU them that if they could
remedy the evils he complained of, he would stay with
them ; if not, he would go on to Flanders.
He drew up his statement in Latin, and began by
laying it before Adrian. That good man was horri
fied at what he read ; and without delay he went into
the apartment of the cardinal (for the two great men
were lodged in the same buUding), to ask him if such
things could be. The result of the conference was,
that Las Casas was informed by Ximenes that he need
not proceed to Flanders, but that a remedy for the
evUs he spoke of should be found there, at Madrid./
The associates whom the cardinal took into council,
to hear what Las Casas had to teU of Indian affairs,
were the Embassador Adrian, the Licentiate Zapata,
Dr. Caravajal, Dr. Palacios Bubios, and the Bishop of
Avila. These important personages summoned the
clerigo many times before them, and heard what he had
to say. In the course of these hearings a curious cir
cumstance took place, which is weU worth recording.
During one of these juntas the cardinal ordered that
the laws of Burgos (the last laws made touching the
Indians) should be read. It is a sfight circumstance,

464 Administration of Ximenes.
but serves to give some indication of the excellence of
the cardinal as a man of business and a member of a
council, that he should wish to know exactly where
the matter was, and what they were to start from.
The clerk of the junta, an old retainer of Conchillos,
when he came to the law about giving a pound of meat
to the Indians on Sundays and feast-days, probably
thinking that this in some way touched himself or his
friends, read it wrongly. Las Casas, who knew the
laws almost by heart, at once exclaimed, " The law
does not say that." The cardinal bade the clerk read
it again. He gave the same reading. Las Casas said
again, " That law says no such thing." The cardinal,
annoyed at these interruptions, exclaimed, "Be silent,
or look to what you say." But Las Casas was not to
be silenced by fear, when he knew himself to be in the
right. " Your lordship may order my head to be cut
off," he exclaimed, "if what the clerk reads is what
the law says." Some members of the councU took
the papers from the clerk's hands, and found that Las
Casas was right. "You may imagine," he adds,
"that that clerk (whose name, for his honor's sake, I
will not mention) wished that he had not been born,
so that he might not have met with the confusion of
face he then met with." Las Casas concludes by re
marking "that the clerigo lost nothing of the regard
which the cardinal had for him, and the credit which
he gave to him."
The result of these meetings was, that the cardinal
appointed Las Casas and Dr. Palacios Bubios, who had
all along shown great interest in favor of the Indians,
to draw up a plan for securing their liberty and ar
ranging their government. / At the request of Las Ca
sas, Antonio Montesino was afterward added to this

Administration of Ximenes. 465
committee. Their way of proceeding was as foUows :
Las Casas, as the more experienced in the matter,
made the rough draft of any proposition, which he then
showed to Antonio Montesino, who generaUy approved
it, then to the doctor, who did the same, except that
he perhaps added to it, and put it in official language.
It was then taken to the cardinal and the embassador,
and council held upon it.
/' The thing to be done and the mode of doing it were
thus, after much labor, arrived at: the legislation was
accordingly complete. And now the persons who were
to have the great charge of administering the law had
to be sought out./ The cardinal bade Las Casas find
these persons ; but the clerigo, from his absence for so
long a time from CastUe, did not know fit persons, and
begged to give the commission back into the cardinal's
hands, presenting at the same time a memorial in which
he stated what in his opinion were the qualifications
for the office in question. The cardinal, smiling, ob
served to Las Casas, "WeU, father, we have some
good persons."
^The cardinal resolved to look for his men among the
Jeronimite monks, on account of their not being mixed
up with the contention that had already taken place
between the Franciscans and Dominicans touching the
fitness of the Indians for freedom. .^Ximenes accord
ingly wrote to that effect to the general of the Order,
who called a chapter, when twelve of the brethren were
named, and a deputation of four priors was sent to the
cardinal to inform him of the nomination.
Las Casas, who was naturaUy anxious about the an
swer of the Jeronimites, went one Sunday morning to
hear mass at their convent near to Madrid. There he
found a venerable man praying in the cloister. Upon
U2

466 Administration of Ximenes.
asking him whether there was any reply to the car
dinal's missive, the old man told him that he was one
of the priors who had brought an answer ; that they
arrived last night ; and that the cardinal, having been
made aware of their arrival, was to come to the convent
that day.
Accordingly, in the course of the day, the cardinal
and Adrian came with a cavalcade of courtiers to the
convent. The monks received the Junta in the sac
risty, the main body of the courtiers remaining out
side in the choir ; among them, doubtless, to his no
small chagrin, the Bishop of Burgos, long accustomed
to direct Indian affairs, but now of no authority in
them. ,
The cardinal, after thanking the Order for the tenor
of their reply, and magnifying the work in hand, de
sired Las Casas to be called for, who, with great delight,
walked through the assembled courtiers, much regard
ed by them, but most of aU, as he conjectures, by the
Bishop of Burgos.
Entering the sacristy, Las Casas knelt down before
the cardinal, who told him to thank God that the de
sires which God had giv" en him were in the way of be
ing accomplished.^The cardinal then informed him
that the priors had brought twelve names of persons
who might be chosen for the work, but that three would
suffice. His eminence added that this night Las Casas
should have letters of credit to the general of the Je-
ronimites and money for his journey, and that he was
to go and confer with that prelate about the choice of
the three, informing the general of the requisite quali
ties for the office in question. Las Casas was then to
bring to court the first Jeronimite of the chosen three
whom he should find ready to accompany him. The

Administration of Ximenes. 467
dispatches should thereupon be prepared, after which
he .might at once set off with them* for Seville.
/yfWe may observe throughout that nothing lingers in
the cardinal's hands. Commonplace statesmen live by
delay, believe in it, hope in it, pray to it ; but his em
inence worked as a man who knew that the night was
coming "in which no man can work." /
Las Casas, almost in tears with joy, poured out his
thanks and blessings on the cardinal, and concluded
by saying that the money was not necessary, for that
he had enough to sustain him in this business. The
cardinal smUed and said, " Go to, father, I am richer
than you are." {Anda, Padre, que yo soy mas rico
que vos.) And then Las Casas went out, " The car
dinal saying many favorable things of some one who
shaU be nameless, "f
The clerigo received his letters, conferred with the
general of the Order of St. Jerome, and three brethren
were chosen. Their names were Luis de Figueroa,
Prior of La Mejorada, Alonso de Santo Domingo, Prior
of the Convent of Ortega, and Bernardino Manzanedo.
Las Casas brought with him Bernardino Manzanedo
to Madrid ; the other two joined him there ; and they
all lived with him at his inn. Afterward, however,
they went to a hospital of their own Order in that city.
WhUe staying there, they were waylaid, so to speak,
by the agents for the Spanish colonists, who told them
all manner of things against the Indians, and spoke ill
of Las Casas ; and, in the end, succeeded, as he thinks,
* " Y habido el primero que de los tres mas presto hallaredes, venios
con el a esta Corte, y hacerse han los Despachos, y de camino para
Sevilla los podeis despues llevar." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias,
MS., lib. iii., cap. 85.
t "Diciendo multa favorabilia de Johanne." — Las Casas, Hist, dr
las Indias,MS., lib. iii., cap. 85.

468 Administration of Ximenes.
in prejudicing the minds of the fathers to that extent
that, even before they set out, Las Casas and Dr. Pala-
cios Bubios began to think that no good would come
of this mission, which promised at the first so weU.
The preparations, however, for their departure went
on, and their orders and instructions were made ready.
The first order was a cedula to the effect that on their
arrival at St. Domingo they should take away all the
Indians belonging to members of the council, or to any
other absentees. The second was, that they should
also deprive the judges and officers in the Indies of
their Indians. The third was, that they should hold
a court of impeachment upon aU the judges and other
officers in the colony, "who had lived, as the saying
is, ' as Moors without a king.' "
Then came the main body of the instructions, which
commences with a preamble to the foUowing effect :
The first thing the Jeronimite fathers are to do, on ar
riving in the Indies, is to caU the principal colonists
together, and to tell them that the cause of their com
ing is the report of the iU treatment of the Indians ;
that as their highnesses, the cardinal and the embas
sador, wish to know the truth of these matters, they
have sent these fathers, to whom the colonists are to
teU what they know of the past and present state of
things. They are to be made to understand that all
this is done for their good and preservation, and that
if by voluntary consent any good remedy can be sug
gested, by which God and their highnesses may be
served, it should be taken ; wherefore, let them talk
the matter over, and tell the fathers what conclusion
they have agreed upon by common consent.
Then the fathers are to go to the principal caciques,
and to teU them that their highnesses, the cardinal and

Administration of Ximenes. 469
the embassador, have heard of the oppressions and in
juries which they and their people have suffered in
times past ; and, as their highnesses wish so to reme
dy these evUs that thenceforward the caciques and
their Indians may be weU treated, since they are Chris
tians, free and capable of governing themselves {sitb-
ditos de sus almas), their highnesses have sent the
said fathers to search out the truth, to chastise the
past wrong-doing, and to provide security for the fu
ture. Then the caciques, as weU as the colonists, are
to talk the matter over, and to see whether they can
suggest any good way in which both they and the
colonists may be benefited. The address to the In
dians is to conclude with an assurance " that the wUl
of their highnesses, the cardinal and the embassador,
is, that the Indians should be treated as Christians
and freemen, and that such is the principal cause of
their ordering the fathers to go to those parts."
And here it is weU to put on record, as Las Casas
does at this juncture, an account of the part which
Ximenes himself took in this great matter of the free
dom of the Indians. The clerigo mentions that as he
saw the tyranny of the Spaniards so deeply rooted, he
did not dare to go about speaking of the Indians as-
free men, until one day, talking to the cardinal of the
evils which the Indians endured, the clerigo remarked,
"With what justice can these things be done, whether
the Indians are free or not?" to which Ximenes re
plied with vehemence, "With no justice! what, are
they not free ? who doubts about their being free ?"
From that time forward the clerigo went about saying
openly in every place that the Indians were free men.
On this ground Ximenes may fairly be put forward as

470 Administration of Ximenes.
one of the earliest champions of freedom, though at the
same time it must in truth be said that the credit which
has been given him* for protesting against negro slav
ery is quite gratuitous. The greedy courtiers of
Charles the Fifth persuaded that young monarch, while
he was in Flanders, to grant licenses for the importa
tion of negroes to the West Indies, to the number of
four hundred or more.f When Ximenes heard of this,
l * Robertson's America, vol. i., p. 253 : " Cardinal Ximenes, how
ever, when solicited to encourage this commerce, peremptorily rejected
the proposition, because he perceived the iniquity of reducing one race
of men to slavery, while he was consulting about the means of restor
ing liberty to another."
The authority quoted by Robertson for this fact gives quite a dif
ferent reason for the objection of Ximenes, viz., that the licenses above
mentioned were a loss to the revenue.
t Such are the Spanish accounts. But in a life, or rather, perhaps,
a eulogy, which has been written of Chievres, it appears as if he him
self had bought six hundred negroes and caused them to be sent to
America ; and that when Ximenes opposed this on the ground of dan
ger from the warlike character of the negroes, Chievres imagined that
this opposition arose from national jealousy, persevered in his resolu
tion, and caused the king to uphold him. " Chievres en fit acheter six
cens, et on les mena par son ordre dans PAmerique ou Ton representa
aux Espagnols habituez dans cette nouvelle partie du Monde, l'avan-
tage qu'ils auroient de se servir des Esclaves Negres, puis qu'ils les
auroient a si bon maTche. Mais le Cardinal Ximenez ~y trouva fort ii
redire ; et pretendit que si les Espagnols en ne se servant pas des Es
claves de Guinee avoient le deplaisir de voir souvent leurs travaux im-
parfaits, ils avoient en recompense la satisfaction d'etre assurez que les
Indiens occidentaux qu'ils introduisoient dans lours maisons, n'en abu-
seroient jamais en conjurant et se soulevant contre eux. Au lieu que
les Negres qui n'avoient pas moins de malice que de force, ne se ver-
roient pas pliitot dans le nouveau Monde en plus grand nombre que les
Espagnols, qu'ils prendroient des mesures entr'eux pour leur donner
les chaines qu'ils leurs faisoient porter. Ayala fut renvoye a la Cour
de Bruxelles pour exaggerer cet inconvenient, mais Chievres n'en fut
pas satisfait. II criit que ce n'etoit pas la ce qui faisoit agir Ximenez,
et il luy attribua une consideration plus raffinee. II la tira de ce que la
jalousie des Espagnols pour les Indes alloit jusqu'a ne pas souffrir
qu'aucune autre nation que la leur y mit le pied, de peur qu'il ne luy

Instructions to the Jeronimites. 471
he protested against it, on the ground that the negroes
were a warlike race, and that they would excite a ser
vile war,* a prediction which was soon verified by the
result. Leaving the question of what Ximenes might have
thought or done for the freedom of another race, it re
mains to be seen what plan he and his Junta for In
dian affairs did resolve upon for placing the Indians in
a way to live like free men. The instructions which
were given to the Jeronimite fathers may thus be
summed up.
They were ordered to visit every island, to ascer
tain the number of Indians, and to find out how they
had been used, putting down in writing their informa
tion on this head.
They were to take note of the nature of the land,
for the purpose of forming settlements near to mines,
where, if possible, there should be rivers and good soU
for farms.
These settlements were to consist of about three
hundred persons, with the requisite number of houses,
a church, a public square, where the cacique's house
prit envie d'en partager les richesses avec elle  Le Roy Catho-
lique ne laissa done pas nonobstant la remontrance de Ximenez, d'en-
voyer a l'lsle Espagnole les Negres que Chievres avoit fait acheter :
mais il eut occasion cinq ans apres de s'en repentir." — La pratique de
V Education des Princes, ou Histoire de Guillaume de Croy, surnomme le
Sage, Seigneur de Chievres, Gouverneur de Charles D'Autriche qui fut
Empereur Cinquieme du Nom. Par Monk. Varillas. Lib. iv., p. 242,
243. Amsterdam, 1684.
* "Esse enim Aethiopes illos bellicis studiis aptos, neque omnino
animis destitui ad egregie plerunque dimicandum. Sciret itaque sce-
lerum ministros trans Oceanum misisse, a quibus rudes populi gladia-
toriam audaciam condiscerent, et qui adversus Hispanorum imperium
servile bellum aliquando concitarent." — Gomecius, de rebus gestis Xi-
menii, lib. vi., p. 185,

472 Instructions to the Jeronimites.
should be placed, and a hospital for the purposes which
wiU hereafter be named.
The settlements were to be formed, as much as
possible, in those places which the Indians preferred :
lands were to be apportioned to each settlement, every
individual Indian receiving a certain plot of land, and
the cacique four times as much as any other, there be
ing also common land left for pasture.
These settlements were to be peopled by the neigh
boring Indians, who, it was to be expected, would
come with better wUl than others. If there were not
a sufficient number of Indians in the vicinity living
under one cacique, then two or three caciques and their
people were to be united to form the settlement, each
cacique ruling over his own people, and their being
one superior cacique, who, together with the ecclesias
tic (religioso 6 clerigo) who might be stationed there,
and with a civil officer, caUed an administrator, should
take charge of the government of the settlement.
The cacique was, with the consent of the ecclesias
tic, to have the power of stripes over his people, but
no more. Any crime demanding higher punishment
was to be dealt with in the ordinary course of justice.
The subordinate officers of the settlement were to be
appointed conjointly by the cacique, the clerigo, and
the administrator. A Spaniard might marry a ca
cique's daughter, and so succeed to a caciquedom,
which was rather to be encouraged.
One administrator was to be appointed to two or
three settlements ; but he was not to live within the
precincts of any one of them, for fear his attendants,
who might be Spaniards, and who were allowed to bear
arms, should oppress the Indians, who were not to be
allowed to bear arms. He was to be a married man

Instructions to the Jeronimites. 473
and a colonist. His salary was to be paid partly by
the treasury and partly by the settlement he adminis
tered. His business was to confer with the cacique
and the clerigo, and to see that the Indians lived in
policy, and that they worked — but not excessively.
He was to administer justice ; he was to see that the
Indians did not gamble away, or part foolishly with,
their mining tools and means of subsistence ; he was
to prevent polygamy ; and, in fine, he was to civilize
and to judge the Indians committed to his charge.
Then came instructions for the religious observances
in these settlements.
Education was to be provided for in the foUowing
manner. A sacristan was to be appointed — an Indian,
if one competent to fiU the place could be found : he
was to serve in the church, and to teach the children
up to nine years of age to read and write, especially
the chUdren of the caciques and principal Indians ;
and he was to show them how to speak Spanish, and
also to endeavor to make the grown-up people speak
Spanish as much as possible.
Mention has before been made of a hospital: this
hospital was to be in the middle of the village, and
was to be rather what we should caU a poor-house
than a hospital ; for not only the sick, but the old who
could not work, and the orphans, were to be placed in
it. Lands were to be set apart for the hospital.
The instructions then entered upon the difficult
question of labor. There would be some settlements
which, from their locality, would have nothing to do
with mining operations : these were to tend herds and
cultivate cotton, and to pay a tribute to the king, bear
ing a just proportion to what the others, which worked

474 Instructions to the Jeronimites.
mines, would have to pay. With regard to the settle
ments near mines, the following regulations were to be
adopted. The third part of the men between twenty
and fifty years of age were to work at the mines, set
ting off at sunrise and working tUl dinner-time ; then
they were to have three hours' recreation, and after
ward to resume their work, continuing until sunset.
This company (gang they worfld now be called) was
to work in the above manner for two months consecu
tively, and then to be relieved by another company.
The period of two months might be varied according
to the pleasure of the cacique. The women were not
to work at the mines unless they desired to do so.
The overseers of the workmen were to be Indians.
After having served in the mines their appointed time,
the Indians were to work at their own allotments, un
der the inspection of the cacique and the clerigo, or of
the administrator. The cacique was to have fifteen
days' work gratis every year from . each Indian upon
his farm; and the women and chUdren were to look
after his plantations.
Then came the arrangements about the pasturage
of the land. Each settlement was, if possible, to be
provided with ten or twelve mares, fifty cows, and six
or seven hundred pigs. These cattle and pigs were
to be in the hands of the cacique, to be looked after by
tfie community, in order to sustain them in common,
until they should be able and accustomed to take care
of these animals for themselves individually. This
last provision is a very important one, as it left room
for the development of the individuals composing the
community. The wives of those men who were working at the
mines were to make bread for them from the produce

Instructions to the Jeronimites. 4/5
of their own aUotments, and this was to be sent to
them on the mares, with maize and red pepper, and
whatever was necessary. Cattle also were to be taken
to the mines, to feed the workmen there ; and a dis
pensation was to be procured to aUow them to eat
meat some days in Lent, as fish was difficult to be
got. Lastly came the regulations about the gold obtained
at the mines. AU the gold obtained each day was to
be given to the Nitayno (a native word signifying an
officer inferior to the cacique), and when melting-time
came, say every two months, the Nitayno, the cacique,
and the administrator should take the gold to be melt
ed. The proceeds were to be divided into three parts,
one for the king, and the remaining two for the cacique
and the Indians.
Out of these two remaining parts the stock that had
been furnished to the settlement and aU the common
expenses of the settlement should be paid for. What
then remained was to be divided equally among the
heads of families, except that the cacique was to have
six shares, and the Nitayno two shares. Out of each
Indian's share tools were to be bought, which should
be his own, and for which he should be accountable.
With what gold might stiU remain to any Indian,
the cacique, in conjunction with the ecclesiastic or the
administrator, should buy fowls for him to keep, linen,
and any furniture that might be necessary for his cot
tage. If any remained after this, it was to be intrusted to
an upright person, who was to be accountable to the
Indian for it — to be, in short, a sort of banker to him.
Every thing was to be certified by writing, and a reg-

476 Administration of Ximenes.
ister kept of the tools and other things bought for the
Indians. A hundred Spaniards were to be appointed as pio
neers to discover mines ; they were to be paid partly
by the king and partly by these communities of In
dians. It wiU naturally occur to any one reading the above
instructions to ask what was to become of the Spanish
colonists when their Indians were mostly taken from
them and formed into these communities. But reme
dies were provided for the Spaniards as well as for the
Indians. The Spaniards were to be paid for the land
which would be required for the settlements ; then they
would have the offices of administrator and of the mine-
discoverers, and also, if the Indians were taught trades,
the Spaniards were to teach them. Moreover, they
were to have a license to get gold for themselves, mar
ried men paying only a tenth to the crown, and single
men a seventh. Then each Spaniard might have four
or five slaves,being permitted to take slaves from among
the Caribs. Many of the Spaniards were indebted to
the crown : they were not to be imprisoned on account
of these debts, and might pass to the continent of
America ; and, if they did go there, they were to re
ceive certain gratifications, I suppose in stores or
money. /
•'" In reading the foregoing instructions for these little
Indian commonwealths, we can not but be impressed
with the thoughtfulness and kindness which pervade
the general body of them. Perhaps there is an at
tempt at too much management ; but, under wise and
prudent administrators, this, if an error, would have

Administration of Ximenes. 477
been easily remedied. In considering the compensa
tions for the Spanish colonists, there are two things
which seem to me very injudicious.'' The first is, the
encouragement given to the peopling of the Terra-fir
ma, as they were wont to caU it, which all the princes
and statesmen of that time were in sad haste to accom
plish before any one colony in the West Indies had
been well constituted ; whereas they might have been
quite sure that the love of novelty, the exaggeration
of rumor, and the wUd hopes and fancies about un
known lands, would effect that purpose rapidly enough ;
and the aim of the home government ought, I think,
to have been to concentrate, and not to scatter their
colonists. Then the permission to capture Caribs was sure to
lead to the greatest abuse, as it had akeady done.
Las Casas objects to the compulsory* working at
the mines, and to the payment to be demanded from
the Indians for whatever cattle and implements were
to be furnished them. He is also averse to the pro
vision for the capture of the Caribs, and declares that
all these things were inserted contrary to his wishes.
I hardly see how, without prophetic vision, any body
of statesmen of that time, who had not themselves
been in the Indies, could have been wise and foresee
ing enough to leave the Indians alone in their settle-
* The words of Las Casas on this subject, though somewhat un
practical, are very remarkable for the noble spirit they indicate. " Y
solo el pensamiento de que habian por fuerza de andar en las Minas la
tercera parte bastaba para del todo acaballos. Manifiesto es que se les
habia de dar las Haciendas y los Ganados y lo demas de valde para que
comenzaran a respirar y saber que cosa era Libertad (sic in MS.), 6 a
costa del Rey, 6 de los Espanoles que de ellos con tanto riesgo de sus
vidas se habian aprovechado." — Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS.,
lib. iii., cap. 88.

478 Administration of Ximenes.
ments, not compeUing them to go to the mines, but
looking forward to the time when they would become
civilized and taxable communities.
What was wrong, however, in these provisions,
might have been modified ; and Las Casas would have
had less reason to be dissatisfied if the above had been
the only instructions which the Jeronimite fathers were
to carry out with them. But, as there were some per
sons in the Junta upon Indian affairs who held that
the Indians would not live in polity, another so-called
remedy was provided in case the fathers should con
clude that the Indians were still to remain in repar
timiento. This remedy consisted in some modification
of the laws of Burgos. In addition to these modifica
tions, the cardinal himself suggested two things : first,
that there should be a person to represent the Indians
at court ; and, secondly, that laborers should be sent
out to the Indies from Castile. But these two propo
sitions remained unacted upon at that time. It is
very remarkable — and an exceUent trait in Las Casas,
his mentioning the circumstance — that the cardinal
was ready to provide more remedies than those already
named for the evils endured by the Indians ; but that
he himself, Las Casas, went about the matter with some
timidity (paso dpaso, y como acobardado), both from
not having thought more on the subject, and also from
knowing the tyranny of the Spaniards to be so deeply
rooted. The dispatches for the Jeronimite fathers being now
concluded, other matters connected with this great pro
posed reform were brought to a close. / Las Casas was
by a cedula formaUy appointed to advise and inform
the Jeronimite fathers, to be in correspondence with
the government, and generally to take such steps in

Administration of Ximenes. 479
the matter as might be for the service of God and their
highnesses. AU authorities were to abet him in the
same. He was also named " Protecto&of the Indians,"
with a salary of a hundred pe^s of gold, which he him
self observes " was then not little, as that hell of Peru"
{inferno del Peru) " had not been discovered, which,
with its multitude of quintals of gold, has impoverish
ed and destroyed Spain." These are remarkable words
for that time.'
It now only remained that the legal part of the re
form contemplated by Ximenes should be provided
for. To insure this, the cardinal chose a lawyer of re
pute named Zuazo, giving him very large powers. He
was to take a residencia of aU the judges in the In
dies, and, what was of more importance, his decisions
were not to be appealed against. The Licentiate Za
pata and Dr. Caravajal caUed these powers exorbitant
(the reader wiU recoUect that Albuquerque, the first
repartidor, was a cousin of Zapata's), and they refused
to give their signature, which was necessary, to the in
structions.* This led to much delay. Zuazo threat-
* This has given occasion to Robertson to write the following pas
sage, which has no foundation. " To vest such extraordinary powers,
as might at once overturn the system of government established in the
New World, in four persons, who, from their humble condition in life,
were little entitled to possess this high authority, appeared to Zapata,
and other ministers of the late king, a measure so wild and dangerous
that they refused to issue the dispatches necessary for carrying it into
execution." The authority he refers to expressly contradicts him. Zapata there
says, " No se avia de nar tanto de un hombre solo." But, indeed, the
whole error is based on a misapprehension of the age the historian was
writing about. These Jeronimites were not necessarily persons of
'-humble condition" or of small authority in those days. Oviedo
speaks of them in these terms : " Tres religiosos de la Orden de Sanct
Hieronimo, personas de grand auctoridad e letras e de aprobada vida.''
— Hist Gen. y Nat, lib. iv., cap. 2.

480 Administration of Ximenes.
ened to return to VaUadolid, saying, if he once return
ed to his coUege, no one should get him out of it
again. Upon this Las Casas hurried off to the cardi
nal, who supposed that Zuazo had already gone upon
his mission, when the clerigo informed his eminence
of the delay and the cause of it. The cardinal, who,
as Las Casas then observes, was not a man to be
played with {ninguno con el se burlaba), sent for the
Licentiate Zapata and Dr. Caravajal, and bade them in
his presence sign all the provisions of the powers for
Zuazo ; which they did, putting, however, a private
mark to their signatures, which was to denote what
they intended afterward to say, namely, that the car
dinal had forced them to sign.
/ At last, all was ready for these seeds of weU-de-
vised legislation to be taken out and sown in the In
dies. Las Casas went to take leave of Ximenes and
to kiss hands. He could not, on this occasion, refrain
from uttering his mind to the cardinal, telling him that
the Jeronomite fathers would do no good thing, and
informing him of their interviews with the agents from
the colonies. It moves our pity to think that the sick
old man, wearied enough with rapacious Flemish cour
tiers and untamable Spanish grandees, should now be
told, after he had given so much time and attention to
this business of the Indies, that the mission would do
no good. Well may Las Casas add that the cardinal
seemed struck with alarm, and that, after a short time,
he said, "Whom then can we trust ? You are going
there ; be watchful for all."* Upon this, after receiv
ing the cardinal's benediction, Las Casas left for Se
ville. * " Pues de quien lo habemos de fiar 1 Alia vais, mirad por todos."
— Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 89.

Administration of Ximenes. 481
The Jeronimite fathers and the clerigo then com
menced their voyage, in different vessels, however, for
probably being somewhat tired of his discourses, and
perhaps not wishing to alarm the colonists more than
could be helped by being seen in such close contact
with one so odious to them as Las Casas, the fathers
had contrived, on some pretext, to prevent Ms going
with them, though he much wished it. And when
they arrived at St. Domingo, they seemed incfined
there, too, to take a separate course from what he
thought right. He speaks of them as gained over by
the shrewd official men they feU among, such as the
Treasurer Passamonte. In discourse with Las Casas,
the fathers began, he says, to gUd over and excuse the
inhumanity of the colonists ; and what was a shame
ful defect in their mode of proceeding, according to his
view of the case, they did not put in execution the
charge they had received, to take away the Indians
from the Spanish judges and men in officB, though
they deprived the absentees of their Indians.
The fathers asked the opinion of the official persons,
and also of the Franciscans and Dominicans, touching
the liberty of the Indians. It was very clear before
hand what the answers would be. The official per
sons and the Franciscans pronounced against the In
dians, and the Dominicans in their favor.
In three months' time Zuazo arrived. Las Casas
now resolved on a bold, perhaps we may say a violent
step, though if we had been eyewitnesses of the cruel
ties that he had seen, our indignation, fike his, might
not always have been amenable to prudence. He re
solved, himself, to impeach the judges.* To use his
own phrase, he brought against them a tremendous ac-
* The " Jueces de apelacion."
Vol. I.— X

482 Administration of Ximenes.
cusation (pusoles una terrible acusacion), both in re
spect to their conduct in bringing Indians from the
Lucayan Islands, and also in reference to the infamous
proceedings connected with that incident in Cumana,
before mentioned, whereby the two poor Dominicans,
Francisco de Cordova and Juan Garces were left to be
murderetl by the natives. Certainly, if any charges
were to be made against these judges, it must be ad
mitted that the subjects of accusation were weU chosen.
The Jeronimite fathers were much grieved at this
bold step taken by Las Casas. They evidently wish
ed to manage things quietly, and were proceeding
mainly with the second class of remedies for the In
dians, giving them in repartimiento to such of the col
onists as they thought well of, and publishing the or
ders for ameliorating the condition of the subject peo
ple.* / The fathers seem, on the whole, to have made
great efforts to do good, which must not pass without
due recognition. I think, with Las Casas, that if they
had ventured to adopt the scheme which he, Dr. Pala-
cios Bubios, and Antonio Montesino had planned, it
would have been better ; and there is no doubt that,
while Ximenes lived, they would have had a sufficient
ly powerful protector to enable them to carry out such
a measure. But, not resolving upon such a bold un
dertaking, which few men indeed would have had cour
age for, and leaving many of the colonists (I suppose
most of them) in possession of their Indians, they, still
made great efforts to carry out the second class of
measures for the relief of the Indians and the benefit
of the colony. They looked well after the king's
farms, they paid great attention to the cultivation of
sugar, and they impressed the Indians with such an
* Herrera, dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. 15.

Administration of Ximenes. 483
opinion of their power and wiUingness to protect them,
that the Indians were emboldened to come to the fa
thers and to make complaints of any injuries suffered
by them.
Acting in the same spirit (and it shows the large
ness of the powers with which the Jeronimite fathers
were invested), they wrote to Pedrarias, of whose pro
ceedings they seem to have been made weU aware,*
ordering him to make no more expeditions, and to send
an account of the gold and slaves whijch^aU been the
fruit of his past enterprises. They even went much
farther, and desired that Pedrarias, taking into coun
cil the Bishop of Darien and some learned Sen, the
ologians and jurists, should examine whether feose In
dians whom his captains had brought back ware just
ly made slaves, and if not, that they should be restored.
These same learned men were also to make it a sub
ject of inquiry whether these entries into the country
were lawful. Las Casas may complain of the Jeron
imites, but I have no doubt that they were more vig
orous, and aimed at better purposes than almost any
mere officials would have done ; and their conduct il
lustrates to my mind, what I have long thought about
government, that there are occasions when those do
best in it who are not strictly bred up for it, and who
are not, therefore, likely to have the vigor and force
of their natures incrusted with routine and deadened
by a slavish belief in the incomplete traditions of the
past. FinaUy, and probably after Las Casas had returned
to Spain, the Jeronimite fathers formed some of the
Indians into settlements consisting of four or five hund
red, which might have thriven very well, for aught
* Probably by Francisco de San Roman. See ante, book vi., chap. ii.

484 Administration of Ximenes.
that is told us to the contrary, but at that period, or a
little before, the small-pox broke out with much viru
lence, and carried off many of the natives. The de
struction caused by this malady has been much exag
gerated, and it has been put down as one of the great
causes of the depopulation of the West Indies ; but,
in reality, the utmost number of persons who were
coUected together in these settlements were not more
than between eleven and twelve hundred, while hund
reds of thousands had long ere this been destroyed by
other causes.
Such measured proceedings as the Jeronimite fa
thers at first adopted did not accord with the tempera
ment of Las Casas, neither were they such remedies
as the fearful nature of the disease demanded. / More
over, in addition to his. disapproval of their measures,
he distrusted the men themselves. He states that they
had relations whom they wished to benefit in the isl
and of Hispaniola ; but as they feared him too much
to do so there, they recommended these relations to
Diego Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba ; and Las
Casas observed that in a letter which he happened to
see when they were about to close it, they signed them
selves "Chaplains to Your Honor" (Capellanes de
Vuestra Merced), a mode of describing themselves
which seemed to him conclusive of the position the
fathers were going to take up with regard to this gov
ernor./'' The Protector of the. Indians, therefore, re
solved to return to Castile and to appeal against the
.fathers ; /and in this resolve he was strengthened by
the opinion of Zuazo and of Pedro de Cordova, who
stiU continued to be the head of the Dominican Order
in those parts.
The fathers were much disconcerted when they heard

Administration of Ximenes. 485
of the intention of Las Casas to return to court, say
ing that he was a torch that would set every thing in
a flame, and they had thoughts of stopping him ; but
this was not within the scope of their powers. What
they could do, and what they afterward did, was to
send one of their own body to court, to make repre
sentations on their behalf.
, MeanwhUe the clerigo left St. Domingo in May,
1517, and in July reached Aranda on the Douro, where
he found Cardinal Ximenes at the point of death. Las
Casas seems to have been fated to appear to great per
sonages a few days before their death/* This time,
though, whatever complaints he might. have been. able
to make of the administration of Indian affairs, he had
nothing to say which could wound the conscience of
the dying statesman. The clerigo's letters to Ximenes
had, he says, been intercepted, and, in the little that
passed between them then, the Protector of the Indians
found the cardinal Ul informed of what had occurred in
Hispaniola. It wiU be weU to quit for a moment the bed of the
dying cardinal, to see what was the political state of
the court and kingdom of Spain at this period. Xi
menes had throughout his regency urged upon Charles
the Fifth the necessity of coming forthwith to take pos
session of his Spanish dominions. This had been de
layed from time to time. At last Charles had set sail
from Flanders, and being driven by a great storm, he
landed unexpectedly at ViUa Viciosa, in the province
of Asturias. The common people of that remote dis
trict, imagining they beheld a French fleet, retired into
the mountains ; but when from the royal ship were
proclaimed the words " Spain, Spain, our Catholic king,

486 Administration of Ximenes.
our king," casting down their arms, as some evil things
which they had taken up unawares, they threw them
selves on their knees^ and raised their voices to the
stars. Such is Peter Martyr's picturesque account
in one of his letters of the landing of the young Span
ish monarch.
MeanwhUe the cardinal had moved from Aranda to
Boa, a distance of about twenty miles. The state of
his health may be seen from his mode of traveling.
" His shoes, gloves, and sleeves were covered with
precious skins which they call zebellines ; he was also
well wrapped in woolen garments when he entered his
fitter. There was at his feet a silver chafing-dish with
juniper ashes, and in his hands he carried a silver
globe with hot iron inside."*
Many of the courtiers and official persons set off at
once to see the new king, without asking the leave of
Ximenes, who complained of this conduct on their
part. Charles rebuked them severely by letter, and
commanded them to return. This does not appear
like disrespect on Charles's part. But he has been
accused, not merely of disrespect, but of the grossest
ingratitude toward the cardinal. That the Flemish
courtiers were unwilling to let their royal master con
fer with Ximenes was the general report at that time,
and it may have been true. Charles himself, how
ever, was but a boy of sixteen, and like a weU-condi-
tioned youth of that age, was greatly, if not entirely,
under the guidance of those who had brought him up,
especially of the governor, the Lord of Chievres. If,
* Gomecius, de rebus geslis Ximenii, lib. vii., p. 230.
See also Peter Martyr's account of the cardinal's health. "Car-
dinalis gubernator Matriti febribus aegrotaverat. convaluerat. nunc re-
cidivavit. — Breves fore dies illius, Medici autumant. est octogenario
major." — Epist. 598.

Administration of Ximenes. 487
therefore, the prince had at this time said or done any
thing arguing thoughtlessness of the services of Xi
menes, it would have been but a trifling matter of re
proach to him. What he did do was this. Befpre
seeing Ximenes, he determined to go to Tordesillas to
see his mother. Whether this was suggested by de
signing courtiers or by his own heart, it certainly was
not an Ul-advised measure, or one that was likely to
do him disservice with the Spanish people, who were
always extremely jealous of the rights and claims of
Juana. Charles then wrote a letter* to the cardinal.
In this letter the king begins by teUing his eminence
that he is going to Tordesillas (to see his mother) ;
that he and the cardinal should meet at Mojador, where,
after they had transacted together some matters of
state, and he (Charles) had taken counsel of the cardi
nal for arranging his private affairs and settling his
whole household, the cardinal should then consult his
repose by returning home; "that he had undergone
enough labor for the state, the reward for which, since
no mortal could worthUy repay it, he must expect from
God ; that he (Charles) would, as long as he lived, be
grateful to him, and would go on in that observance
toward him which sons weU brought up are wont to
* This letter and the effect of it on Ximenes has been thus described.
" He lamented the fate of his country, and foretold the calamities which
it would suffer from the insolence, the rapaciousness, and ignorance of
strangers. While his mind was agitated by these passions, he re
ceived a letter from the king, in which, after a few cold and formal ex
pressions of regard, he was allowed to retire to his diocese, that, after
a life of such continued labor, he might end his days in tranquillity.
This message proved fatal to Ximenes. His haughty mind, it is prob
able, could not survive disgrace ; perhaps his generous heart could not
bear the prospect of the misfortunes ready to fall on his country.
Whichsoever of these opinions we embrace, certain it is that he expired
a few hours after reading the letter." — Robertson's Charles the Fifth.

488 Administration of Ximenes.
pay the best of fathers." What effect this letter might
have produced upon the cardinal we do not know.
His honest biographer, Gomez, notwithstanding the
temptation of a biographer to make a scenic ending
for his hero, thus speaks out : " These letters being
received from Charles, Ximenes, plainly perceiving
himself to be rejected and repeUed, was seized, as they
say, with a fatal fever. But Abulensis, who writes of
this thing to Lupus" (Lupus was of the cardinal's-
household, then Hving, a friend of the author, who
furnished him with a great part of the materials for
the cardinal's life), "says that Ximenes was attacked
by the fever the evening preceding the receipt of these
letters, and therefore they were not shown him, but
were sent to the councU."* There is, therefore, good
reason for affirming that he never saw the letter in
question; nor need we look far to account for the
death of a man of eighty, who had undergone a most
laborious fife, and whose ¦ state of health had for some
time been most critical. As weU as we can judge, the
cardinal's feelings toward Charles were those of confi
dence in his gratitude ; for, a few hours before he died,
he began to dictate a letter to Charles, in which he
commended to the king his university, his monasteries,
and his household. This letter he was unable to sign, j
* " His Uteris a Carolo acceptis, Ximenius se plane rejici repellique
sentiens, febri lethali (ut ferunt) correptus fuit. Abulensis vero, qui
de hac re ad Lupum scribit, pridie quam hae liters Ximenio redditae es-
sent, sub vesperam ea febri laborasse ait : atque idcirco Caroli literas
graviter jam ajgrotanti datas non esse, sed ad senatum regium missas.
Adriano vero qui eas literas miserat, vn. idus Novembris rescrip'sisse,
quo in statu Ximenius esset : nam eo ipso die quo literas receperat,
decimam octavam horam a febris incremento numerari, et medicos affir-
mare vigesima quarta e vita migraturum." — Gomecius, de rebus gestis
Ximenii, lib. vii., p. 241.
t " Paulo antequam moreretur, epistolam dictare ad Carolum ccepe-

Administration of Ximenes. 489
After he had received the last offices of his Church,
and had been anointed, repeating to himself the psalm
In te Domine speravi, " In thee, O Lord, have I trust
ed," he breathed forth his last.
I have not thought it an unworthy digression (if
any thing affecting the character of those we have
largely to do with in any history can be caUed a di
gression from it) to give, on the authority of his earli
est biographer, the above account of the death of Xi
menes. For Ximenes to have died of this letter would
have been as unworthy a thing as for Charles to have
written a letter which could wound so deeply a faith
ful public servant, and such an attached foUower of
the royal house.
/'
/To any of those who have been deeply interested
in thehistoryof the New World, and have been hoping
that at last some great mind would look into the per
plexed affairs there and set them to rights, the loss of
Ximenes seems irreparable. We feel that he was a
man who might have remedied the evUs in thai; new
found country. Throughout the whole of the arrange
ments for the Jeronimite. mission, his conduct realizes
for the moment what the student of history, unversed
in the difficulty of managing men, fancies might be
done, and what he himself, poor student, would do, if
he had the power. There are even kindly traits in it,
which, according to the common notion entertained of
Ximenes, we should not have expected to meet. And,
indeed, I doubt whether any transaction of his life
rat, qua illi suam Academiam, et ccenobia a se constructa et dotata, fa-
miliamque suam suppliciter commendabat, sed digitorum rigido st\ipore
subscribere non valuit." — Gomecics, lib. vii., p. 242.
X2

490 Administration of Ximenes.
eficits more of his character than this mission, which
has now, for the first time, I believe, been made known
in fuU detaU from the manuscript history of Las Ca
sas. Like a certain great man, too, of our own times,
the cardinal seemed to appreciate the difficulty of gov
ernment, and the necessity for it. Then he was " so
clear in his great office." Peculation, unjust heed of
relationship, and mean doings of aU kinds, must have
withered up in his presence. He was like a city on
the margin of deep waters, such as Genoa, where no
receding tide reveals any thing that is mean, squalid,
or unbecoming. Of a spirit as great as our own
Chatham, but with more simplicity, he was the man
to make a whole nation think after him. His sub
ordinates could have relied on his unwavering sup
port, and the pulsations of his constant mind would
have been felt in the most distant regions of his action.
The force and influence of the Jeronimite mission
perished with him ; and we shall have to take up the
next portion of this history under new auspice's,- and
to find the very policy which he had wisely condemn
ed adopted by those who succeeded to his power, but
not to his wisdom or his complete integrity.'-''
If Ximenes had lived but a year or two longer, and
Charles the Fifth had happily not listened to the
prayers of his Spanish subjects, but staid in Flan
ders, it is not improbable that a widely different fate
would have attended the Indian and the1 negro race^.
On such comparitively smaU events, humanly speak
ing, does the fate, not only of nations, but of races,
turn ; as if they were nests of insects, which are de
stroyed or saved as the husbandman happens to turn
his attention to the right hand or the left, and thus
unheedingly avoids or crushes whole communities.
END OF VOL. I.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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