sent them on several expeditions into the interior part of the country. One detachment he sent under the command of Alonzo de Ojeda, an enterprising officer, to visit the district of Cibao, which was said to yield the greatest quantity of gold; and he followed with the main body of the troops. He displayed in this expedition, all the pomp of military parade, in order to strike the imagination of the natives: he marched with colors flying, martial music and a small body of cavalry, that sometimes appeared in front, and sometimes in the rear. The horses were objects of terror, no less than admiration, to the Indians, who were unacquainted with that vast accession of power, which man had acquired by subjecting them to his dominion. They considered them as one animal with their riders: they were astonished at their speed, and deemed their strength and impetuosity irresistible. 129. Notwithstanding this display of power, wisely intended to inspire the natives with a high idea of the strength of the Spaniards, Columbus did not neglect the art of gaining their love and confidence. He adhered strictly to the principles of integrity and justice, in all his transactions with them, and treated them, on every occasion, with humanity and indulgence. 130. The district of Cibao was mountainous and uncultivated in every brook and river gold was gathered, either in dust or grains; some of which were of considerable size. The Indians had never penetrated into the bowels of the earth, in search of gold; they had neither capacity nor inclination to refine the rude ore; these were operations too complicated for their talents or industry: neither did they wish to put their ingenuity and invention upon the stretch in order to obtain it. : 131. The Spaniards, however, no longer doubted that the country contained rich treasures in its bosom, of which they soon expected to be masters. The account of these promising appearances of wealth, in the country of Cibao, comforted the desponding colony, which was afflicted with distresses of various kinds. Food became scarce, and what remained was corrupted by the heat and humidity of the climate, so as to render it unfit for use. The ground the natives cultivated was insufficient for their own subsistence, and the Spaniards had neither time nor leisure, to reap any considerable fruits from their own industry. 132. They now became afraid of perishing with hunger, and were reduced to live on a short allowance. Diseases, prevalent in the torrid zone, began to spread amongst them; alarmed at their violence and unusual symptoms, they exclaimed against Columbus and the companions of his former voyage, who, by their exaggerated descriptions of Hispaniola, had allured them from their native country, to settle in a barbarous uncultivated land, to die either by famine, or of unknown distempers. These complaints came not only from the common people, but several officers and persons of note joined in these seditious complaints Father Boyl, the apostolic vicar, was one of the most turbulent and outrageous. It required all the authority and address of Columbus, to re-establish order and tranquillity in the colony. But the prospect of wealth, from the mines of Cibao, contributed to soothe the malcontents, which they hoped would be a recompense for all their sufferings, and efface the memory of past disappointments. When concord and order were in a good degree established, Columbus resolved to pursue his discoveries, that he might be able to ascertain whether those new countries with which he had opened a communication, were connected with any region of the earth already known, or whether they were to be considered as a separate part of the globe, hitherto unvisited. 133. He appointed his brother, Don Diego Columbus, and a council of officers, to assist in governing the island in his absence. To Don Pedro Margarita, he gave the command of a body of troops, with whom he was to visit the different parts of the island, and endeavor to establish the authority of the Spaniards. Having left them instructions with respect to their conduct, he weighed anchor the twenty-fourth of April, 1494, taking with him one ship and two small vessels. 134. During this voyage, he experienced all the hardships to which persons of his profession are commonly exposed, and notwithstanding he was out five months, made no additional discovery, except the island of Jamaica, which appeared beautiful in the extreme. As he sailed, on this unknown course, he was entangled among rocks and shelves, retarded by contrary winds, assaulted by furious storms, and alarmed with the thunder and lightning, which is prevalent at certain periods between the tropics. To add to his distress, his provisions fell short. His crew, exhausted with fatigue and hunger,.murmured and threatened; and were ready to proceed to the most desperate ex tremities against him. 135. Danger appearing, in various forms, kept him on con. tinual watch, to issue every order, and superintend the execution of it, At no time his skill and experience were more severely tried; to these the squadron owed its safety. Though naturally of a vigorous and robust constitution, such unremitted fatigue of body, and intense application of mind, brought on a high fever, terminating in a lethargy, which considerably impaired his reason and his memory, and nearly deprived him of his life. In this dilemma, the crew determined to return with all possible haste to Isabella, which they effected in five days: Columbus recovered his senses, on the abating of the fever, but he remained a considerable time in a feeble state. Here, to his inexpressible joy, he found his brother Bartholomew, which greatly contributed to his recovery. It was now thirteen years, since the two brothers had separated, and during that space they had no intercourse with each other. 136. Bartholomew, after concluding his negotiation at the court of England, had set out for Spain by the way of France. At Paris he first received the account of the discoveries his brother had made, in his first voyage, and that he was preparing to embark on a second expedition. This intelligence made him pursue his journey with the utmost dispatch: but Columbus had sailed before he reached Spain. 137. Ferdinand and Isabella received him, with the respect due to the brother of a man, whose services and merit had rendered him so conspicuous: and as they knew what consolation it would afford Columbus, they persuaded him to take the command of three ships, which they had appointed to carry provisions to the new colony. 138. Columbus never stood more in need of such a friend to assist him with his counsel, or of dividing with him the cares of government. For although the provisions, now brought from Europe, proved a temporary relief, from the calamities of famine, the quantity was too small to last them long, and the produce of the island was insufficient to support them. They were also threatened with a danger more formidable than the return of scarcity; and which demanded more immediate attention. 139. When Columbus was absent from the island, on this last expedition, the soldiers under the command of Margarita, contemned all subordination, dispersed in straggling parties over the island, lived at discretion on the natives, wasted their provisions, seized their women, and treated those inoffensive people, with all the insolence of military oppression. While the Indians retained any hopes of their sufferings coming to an end, by the voluntary departure of their invaders, they submitted in silence and dissembled their indignation: but, now that they discovered the yoke would be as permanent as it was intolerable; self-preservation prompted them to assume cour. age, and attack their oppressors with united force, and drive them from the settlements, of which they had violently taken possession. Such were the sentiments, which universally prevailed amongst the Indians, when Columbus returned to Isabella, from his last expedition. 140. Inflamed, and justly irritated, by the outrages of the Spaniards, with a degree of rage, of which their gentle natures seemed hardly susceptible, they waited only for a signal from their leaders, to fall upon the colony. Some of the caziques had already surprised, and cut off several stragglers. The dread of impending danger united the Spaniards, and re-established the authority of Columbus, as they saw no prospect of safety, but in committing themselves to his guidance. 141. It was now become necessary, to have recourse to arms; an event, Columbus had anxiously wished to avoid. The vast superiority of the natives in number, compensated in a great measure their want of fire-arms; one unforeseen event, might have proved fatal to the Spaniards. Conscious that success depended on the rapidity and vigor of his operations, Columbus instantly assembled his forces, which were reduced to a very small number; two hundred infantry, twenty cavalry, and as many large dogs, were all the force he could muster, against, agreeably to the Spanish accounts, one hundred thousand Indians. Although it may seem strange, to mention dogs as composing part of a military force, they were perhaps as formidable and destructive as so many men in arms, when employed against naked and timid Indians. 142. All the caziques of the island, Guacanahari excepted, who still retained an inviolable attachment to the Spaniards, were in arms to oppose Columbus. Instead of attempting to draw the Spaniards into the woods and mountains, they were so imprudent, as to take their station in the most open plain in the country. Columbus did not allow them time to perceive their mistake, or to alter their position. He attacked them during the night, and obtained an easy and bloodless victory. 143. The noise and havoc made by their fire-arms; the im petuous force of the cavalry, and the fierce onset of the dogs, were so great, that the Indians were filled with consternation: they threw down their arms, and fled without making any resistance: many of them were slain, more were taken prisoners, and reduced to slavery. From that moment they abandoned themselves to despair, and relinquished all thoughts of contending with aggressors, whom they deemed invincible. Humanity must lament the sad reverse of that unhappy race, who had enjoyed the free and unmolested enjoyment of their native woods; their wants were supplied by the spontaneous productions of the earth; but now an unknown race had invaded their country, and forced them to submit to exactions with which they were by no means enabled to comply, consistently with their ideas of perfect liberty. 144. Columbus employed several months of this year in marching through the island, and in subjecting it to the Spanish government, without meeting with any opposition. He imposed a tax upon all the inhabitants above the age of fourteen: each person who resided in the district where gold was to be found, was obliged to pay, quarterly, as much gold dust as would fill a hawk's bill; from others, twenty-five pounds of cotton were demanded. This served as a precedent for exactions still more oppressive. Contrary as these exactions were to the maxims which Columbus had hitherto inculcated, yet the intrigues carried on at the court of Spain at this juncture, with the manifest design to undermine his power, and discredit his operations, constrained him to depart from his own system of administration. 145. Several unfavorable accounts of his conduct, as well as the countries, discovered by him, had been transmitted to Spain. Margarita and father Boyl were at court; and, in order to gratify their resentment, watched with malevolent attention for opportunities to spread insinuations to his disadvantage. Several others about the court viewed his growing reputation with envious eyes. Fonseca, the archdeacon of Seville, who was intrusted with the chief direction of Indian affairs, for some reasons not made public, listened with partiality to every invective. 146. It was not easy for an unfriended stranger, unpractised in courtly arts, to counteract the machinations of such powerful enemies. There remained but one method to support his credit, and silence his enemies: he must produce such a quantity of gold, as would justify his reports, with respect to the richness of the country; the necessity of obtaining it, forced him not only to impose this heavy tax upon the Indians, but to exact payment of it with extreme rigor; and furnished him with a plausible excuse for departing from that mildness and humanity with which he had uniformly treated the unhappy people. this 147. This imposition appeared the most intolerable of all evils; accustomed to pass their days in a careless manner, restraint upon their liberty was so grievous, that they had re |