The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, vol 2 | Page 5

promised cheerful compliance,
and instantly sent orders to all his subordinate caciques to sow

abundance of cotton for the first payment of the stipulated tribute.
Having made all the requisite arrangements, the Adelantado took a
most friendly leave of Behechio and his sister, and set out for Isabella.
Thus, by amicable and sagacious management, one of the most
extensive provinces of the island was brought into cheerful subjection,
and had not the wise policy of the Adelantado been defeated by the
excesses of worthless and turbulent men, a large revenue might have
been collected, without any recourse to violence or oppression. In all
instances, these simple people appear to have been extremely tractable,
and meekly and even cheerfully to have resigned their rights to the
white men, when treated with gentleness and humanity.
Chapter II.
Establishment of a Chain of Military Posts.--Insurrection of Guarionex,
the Cacique of the Vega.
[1496.]

On arriving at Isabella, Don Bartholomew found it, as usual, a scene of
misery and repining. Many had died during his absence; most were ill.
Those who were healthy complained of the scarcity of food, and those
who were ill, of the want of medicines. The provisions distributed
among them, from the supply brought out a few months before by
Pedro Alonzo Niño, had been consumed. Partly from sickness, and
partly from a repugnance to labor, they had neglected to cultivate the
surrounding country, and the Indians, on whom they chiefly depended,
outraged by their oppressions, had abandoned the vicinity, and fled to
the mountains; choosing rather to subsist on roots and herbs, in their
rugged retreats, than remain in the luxuriant plains, subject to the
wrongs and cruelties of the white men. The history of this island
presents continual pictures of the miseries, the actual want and poverty,
produced by the grasping avidity of gold. It had rendered the Spaniards
heedless of all the less obvious, but more certain and salubrious,
sources of wealth. All labor seemed lost that was to produce profit by a

circuitous process. Instead of cultivating the luxuriant soil around them,
and deriving real treasures from its surface, they wasted their time in
seeking for mines and golden streams, and were starving in the midst of
fertility.
No sooner were the provisions exhausted which had been brought out
by Niño, than the colonists began to break forth in their accustomed
murmurs. They represented themselves as neglected by Columbus, who,
amidst the blandishments and delights of a court, thought little of their
sufferings. They considered themselves equally forgotten by
government; while, having no vessel in the harbor, they were destitute
of all means of sending home intelligence of their disastrous situation,
and imploring relief.
To remove this last cause of discontent, and furnish some object for
their hopes and thoughts to rally round, the Adelantado ordered that
two caravels should be built at Isabella, for the use of the island. To
relieve the settlement, also, from all useless and repining individuals,
during this time of scarcity, he distributed such as were too ill to labor,
or to bear arms, into the interior, where they would have the benefit of
a better climate, and more abundant supply of Indian provisions. He at
the same time completed and garrisoned the chain of military posts
established by his brother in the preceding year, consisting of five
fortified houses, each surrounded by its dependent hamlet. The first of
these was about nine leagues from Isabella, and was called la
Esperanza. Six leagues beyond was Santa Catalina. Four leagues and a
half further was Magdalena, where the first town of Santiago was
afterwards founded; and five leagues further Fort Conception--which
was fortified with great care, being in the vast and populous Vega, and
within half a league from the residence of its cacique, Guarionex. [9]
Having thus relieved Isabella of all its useless population, and left none
but such as were too ill to be removed, or were required for the service
and protection of the place, and the construction of the caravels, the
Adelantado returned, with a large body of the most effective men, to
the fortress of San Domingo.
The military posts, thus established, succeeded for a time in overawing

the natives; but fresh hostilities were soon manifested, excited by a
different cause from the preceding. Among the missionaries who had
accompanied Friar Boyle to the island, were two of far greater zeal than
their superior. When he returned to Spain, they remained, earnestly
bent upon the fulfillment of their mission. One was called Roman Pane,
a poor hermit, as he styled himself, of the order of St. Geronimo; the
other was Juan Borgoñon, a Franciscan. They resided for some time
among the Indians of the Vega, strenuously endeavoring to make
converts, and had succeeded with one family, of sixteen persons,