Santo Domingo | Page 6

miracle of the Santo Cerro, or Holy Hill, is
said to have occurred, when, according to the Spanish chroniclers, the
Indians captured an eminence on which the Spaniards had erected a
wooden cross, but were unable to destroy the cross with fire or hatchet,
and were finally frightened away by the apparition of the Virgin Mary.
This one crushing defeat definitely broke the Indians' power, for though
there were subsequent outbreaks they were only sporadic and, with one
exception, of comparatively little importance. Caonabo still remained at
large and the Spaniards secured possession of his person by one of
those feats of individual prowess which mark the history of the
conquest. The Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda went out in search of the
cacique, and having found him with his warriors, suggested that they
repair to Isabela together to arrange terms of peace with Columbus. The
suggestion being accepted, they set out and on crossing the Yaque river
Ojeda pressed the Indian to put on a pair of handcuffs, asserting that
these bracelets were a distinction of the king of Castile. Caonabo
acceded, whereupon the Spaniard sprang upon his horse and swinging
the chief upon the croup, fled from the midst of the astonished warriors
and bore him a prisoner to Isabela. Caonabo was later embarked for
Spain but died on the voyage.

A beginning was now made of the harsh oppression which was soon to
cause the entire disappearance of the native race. A quarterly tribute
was imposed on every Indian above the age of fourteen. Those who
lived in the auriferous region of the Cibao were obliged to deliver as
much gold dust as could be held in a small bell, others were to give
twenty-five pounds of cotton. Many natives fled to the mountains to
escape the onerous tax and new settlements were established by the
Spaniards.
The enemies of Columbus had in the meantime been sufficiently
successful in Spain to cause one de Aguado to be sent out with the
object of investigating conditions in the colony. His conduct from the
very first was so arrogant that the admiral determined to return at once
to justify himself before the court. On March 10, 1496, he embarked for
Spain, leaving his brother Bartholomew as governor of the colony.
Before his departure the news arrived of the discovery of several rich
gold mines in the southern part of the island. They were found by a
soldier named Miguel Diaz, who having fled to the wilderness to
escape punishment for wounding a comrade, had established conjugal
relations with an Indian woman near the present site of Santo Domingo
City. Noticing that her consort was tiring of her, the lady tried to retain
him by revealing the existence of gold deposits in the region; and Diaz
promptly secured his pardon and promotion by reporting the find to
Isabela. The romance had a sad ending, for the Indian, shocked at the
cruel treatment accorded her countrymen by the Spaniards who came to
the place, abandoned her husband and children and disappeared in the
forest.
On arriving in Spain, Columbus wrote his brother to found a town on
the south coast at the mouth of the Ozama. Bartholomew Columbus
immediately set out to select a site and on August 4, 1496, laid the first
stone of the new city on the left bank of the Ozama, calling it Nueva
Isabela, in honor of the queen. The name was afterwards changed to
Santo Domingo in honor, so tradition has it, of the saint to whom the
day of its foundation was dedicated. As the location of this city was
much healthier than that of fever-ridden Isabela on the north coast, the

settlers in an ever increasing stream removed to the new town which
flourished as the other decayed, until after a few years Isabela was
entirely abandoned. The only vestiges now remaining of it are a few
ruined foundation walls and shapeless heaps of stone overgrown with
rank tropical vegetation.
Bartholomew Columbus busied himself with further explorations of the
interior, founding a number of strongholds, among them Santiago de
los Caballeros, which commanded the Royal Plain. While at
Concepcion de la Vega he was informed that several Indians had
burned an altar erected by friars in the interior, and had buried the
sacred images. The bigoted governor had the Indians apprehended and
burnt alive in the public square. This cruel act induced fourteen
caciques to conspire for an uprising; but their designs being betrayed,
they were captured by a bold stroke and two of them executed.
Determined to crush the spirit of the natives, Bartholomew Columbus
invaded and devastated the district of Monte Cristi, driving the Indians
into the remote forests and capturing and imprisoning their chiefs.
His severity was not confined to the Indians, but