departure, had given orders to make a military tour of the island, set forth on his expedition with the greater part of the forces, leaving Alonzo de Ojeda in command of Fort St. Thomas. Instead, however, of proceeding on his tour, Margarite lingered among the populous and hospitable villages of the vega, where he and his soldiery, by their licentious and oppressive conduct, soon roused the indignation and hatred of the natives. Tidings of their excesses reached Don Diego Columbus, who, with the concurrence of the council, wrote to Margarite, reprehending his conduct, and ordering him to depart on his tour. Margarite replied in a haughty and arrogant tone, pretending to consider himself independent in his command, and above all responsibility to Don Diego, or his council. He was supported in his tone of defiance by a kind of aristocratical party composed of the idle cavaliers of the colony, who had been deeply wounded in the pundonor, the proud punctilio so jealously guarded by a Spaniard, and affected to look down with contempt upon the newly coined nobility of Don Diego, and to consider Columbus and his brothers mere mercenary and upstart foreigners. In addition to these partisans, Margarite had a powerful ally in his fellow-countryman, Friar Boyle, the apostolical vicar for the new world; an intriguing man, who had conceived a violent hostility against the admiral, and had become disgusted with his mission to the wilderness. A cabal was soon formed of most of those who were disaffected to the admiral, and discontented with their abode in the colony. Margarite and Friar Boyle acted as if possessed of paramount authority; and, without consulting Don Diego or the council, took

possession of certain ships in the harbour, and set sail for Spain, with their adherents. They were both favourites of the king, and deemed it would be an easy matter to justify their abandonment of their military and religious commands, by a pretended zeal for the public good, and a desire to represent to the sovereigns the disastrous state of the colony, and the tyranny and oppression of Columbus and his brothers. Thus the first general and apostle of the new world set the flagrant example of unauthorized abandonment of their posts.

The departure of Margarite left the army without a head; the soldiers now roved about in bands, or singly, according to their caprice, indulging in all kinds of excesses. The natives, indignant at having their hospitality thus requited, refused any longer to furnish them with food; the Spaniards, therefore, seized upon provisions wherever they could be found, committing, at the same time, many acts of wanton violence. At length the Indians were roused to resentment, and, from confiding and hospitable hosts, were converted into vindictive enemies. They slew the Spaniards wherever they could surprise them singly or in small parties; and Guatiguana, cacique of a large town on the Grand River, put to death ten soldiers who were quartered in his town, set fire to a house in which forty sick Spaniards were lodged, and even held a small fortress called Magdalena, recently built in the vega, in a state of siege, insomuch, that the commander had to shut himself up within his walls, until relief should arrive from the settlement.

The most formidable enemy of the Spaniards was Caonabo, the Carib cacique of the mountains. He

had natural talents for war, great sagacity, a proud and daring spirit to urge him on, three valiant brothers to assist him, and a numerous tribe at his command. He had been enraged at seeing the fortress of St. Thomas erected in the very centre of his dominions; and finding by his spies that the garrison was reduced to but fifty men, and the army of Margarite dismembered, he thought the time had arrived to strike a signal blow, and to repeat the horrors which he had wreaked upon La Navidad.

The wily cacique, however, had a different kind of enemy to deal with in the commander of St. Thomas. Alonzo de Ojeda deserves particular notice as a specimen of the singular characters which arose among the Spanish discoverers. He had been schooled in Moorish warfare, and of course versed in all kinds of military stratagems. Naturally of a rash and fiery spirit, his courage was heightened by superstition. Having never received a wound in his numerous quarrels and encounters, he considered himself under the special protection of the holy Virgin, and that no weapon had power to harm him. He had a small Flemish painting of the Virgin, which he carried constantly with him; in his marches he bore it in his knapsack, and would often take it out, fix it against a tree, and address his prayers to his military patroness. In a word, he swore by the Virgin; he invoked the Virgin either in brawl or battle; and under favour of the Virgin he was ready for any enterprise or adventure. Such was Alonzo de Ojeda, bigoted in devotion, reckless in life, fearless in spirit, like many of the roving Spanish cavaliers of those days.

Having reconnoitred the fortress of St. Thomas,

Caonabo assembled ten thousand warriors, armed with war clubs, bows and arrows, and lances hardened in the fire, and led them secretly through the forests, thinking to surprise Ojeda; but he found him. warily drawn up within his fortress, which was built upon a hill, and nearly surrounded by a river. Caonabo then held the fortress in siege for thirty days, and reduced it to great distress. He lost many of his bravest warriors, however, by the impetuous sallies of Ojeda; others grew weary of the siege, and returned home. He at length relinquished the attempt, and retired, filled with admiration of the prowess of Ojeda.

The restless chieftain now endeavoured to form a league of the principal caciques of the island to unite their forces, surprise the settlement of Isabella, and massacre the Spaniards wherever they could be found. To explain this combination, it is necessary to state the internal distribution of the island. It was divided into five domains, each governed by a sovereign cacique of absolute and hereditary powers, having many inferior caciques tributary to him. The most important domain comprised the middle part of the royal vega, and was governed by Guarionex. The second was Marion, under the sway of Guacanagari, on whose coast Columbus had been wrecked. The third was Maguana, which included the gold mines of Cibao, and was under the sway of Caonabo. The fourth was Xaragua, at the western end of the island, the most populous and extensive of all. The sovereign was named Behechio. The fifth domain was Higuey, and occupied the whole eastern part of the island, but had not as yet been visited by the Spaniards. The name of the cacique was Cotabanama.

Three of these sovereign caciques readily entered into the league with Caonabo, for the profligate conduct of the Spaniards had inspired hostility even in remote parts of the island, which had never been visited by them. The league, however, met with unexpected opposition from the fifth cacique, Guacanagari. He not merely refused to join the conspiracy, but entertained a hundred Spaniards in his territory, supplying all their wants with his accustomed generosity. This drew upon him the odium and hostility of his fellow-caciques, who inflicted on him various injuries and indignities. Behechio killed one of his wives, and Caonabo carried another away captive. Nothing, however, could shake the devotion of Guacanagari to the Spaniards; and as his dominions lay immediately adjacent to the settlement, his refusal to join in the conspiracy prevented it from being immediately carried into effect.

Such was the critical state to which the affairs of the island had been reduced, and such the bitter hostility engendered among its kind and gentle inhabitants, during the absence of Columbus. Immediately on his return, and while he was yet confined to his bed, Guacanagari visited him, and revealed to him all the designs of the confederate caciques, offering to lead his subjects to the field, and to fight by the side of the Spaniards. Columbus had always retained a deep sense of the ancient kindness of Guacanagari, and was rejoiced to have all suspicion of his good faith thus effectually dispelled. Their former amicable intercourse was renewed, and the chieftain ever continued to evince an affectionate reverence for the admiral.

Columbus considered the confederacy of the caciques as but imperfectly formed, and trusted that,