quired of the Spaniards when they intended to return to Turey, or the heavens. All such hope was now at an end; and, finding how vain was every attempt to deliver themselves from their invaders by warlike means, they now resorted to a forlorn and desperate alternative. Knowing that the Spaniards depended, in a great measure, for subsistence on the supplies which they furnished them, they endeavoured to produce a famine. For this purpose, they destroyed their fields of maize, stripped the trees of their fruit, pulled up the yuca and other roots, and then fled to the mountains.

The Spaniards were indeed reduced to much distress, but were partially relieved by supplies from Spain. They pursued the natives to their mountain retreats, hunting them from one dreary fastness to another, until thousands perished in dens and caverns of famine and sickness, and the survivors, yielding themselves up in despair, submitted humbly to the yoke. So deep an awe did they conceive of their conquerors, that it is said a Spaniard might go singly and securely all over the island, and the natives would even transport him from place to place on their shoulders.

Before passing on to other events, it may be proper here to notice the fate of Guacanagari, as he makes no further appearance in the course of this history. His friendship for the Spaniards severed him from his countrymen, but it did not exonerate him from the general woes of the island. At a time when Columbus was absent, the Spaniards exacted a tribute from him, which his people, with the common repugnance to labour, found it difficult and distressing to pay. Unable

to bear the murmurs of his subjects, the hostilities of his fellow caciques, the extortions of his ungrateful allies, and the sight of the various miseries which he felt as if he had invoked upon his race, he retired to the mountains, where it is said he died obscurely and in misery.

An attempt has been made by a Spanish historian to defame the character of this Indian prince; but it is not for Spaniards to excuse their own ingratitude by casting a stigma upon his name. He appears to have always manifested towards them that true friendship which shines brightest in the dark days of adversity. He might have played a nobler part, in making a stand, with his brother caciques, to drive those intruders from his native soil; but he appears to have been blinded by his admiration of them, and his personal attachment to Columbus. He was bountiful, hospitable, affectionate, and kind-hearted; competent to rule a gentle and unwarlike people in the happier days of the island, but unfitted, through the mildness of his nature, for the stern turmoil which followed the arrival of the white men.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Arrival of the Commissioner Aguado-Discovery of the Gold Mines of Hayna. [1495.]

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WHILE Columbus was endeavouring to remedy the evils produced by the misconduct of Margarite and his followers, that recreant commander, and his litic coadjutor Friar Boyle, were busily undermining his reputation in the court of Spain. They accused him of deceiving the sovereigns and the public by extravagant descriptions of the countries he had discovered; and of tyranny and oppression towards the colonists, compelling excessive labour during a time of sickness and debility; inflicting severe punishments for the most trifling offence, and heaping indignities on Spanish gentlemen of rank. They said nothing, however, of the exigencies which had called for unusual labour; nor of the idleness and profligacy of the commonalty, which called for coercion and chastisement; nor of the contumacy and cabals of the cavaliers, who had been treated with indulgence rather than severity. These representations, being supported by many factious and discontented idlers who had returned from the colony, and enforced by people of rank connected with the cavaliers, had a baneful effect upon the popularity of Columbus, and his favour with the sovereigns.

About this time a measure was adopted, which shows the declining influence of the admiral. A proclamation was made on the 10th of April, giving general permission to native-born subjects to settle in the island of Hispaniola, and to go on private voyages of discovery and traffic to the new world. They were to pay certain proportions of their profits to the crown, and to be subject to certain regulations. The privilege of an eighth of the tonnage was likewise secured to Columbus, as admiral; but he felt himself exceedingly aggrieved at this permission being granted without his knowledge or consent, considering it an infringement of his rights, and a measure likely to disturb the course of regular discovery by the licentious and predatory enterprises of reckless adventurers.

The arrival of the ships commanded by Torres, bringing accounts of the voyage along the southern coasts of Cuba, supposed to be the continent of Asia, and specimens of the gold, and the vegetable and animal productions of the country, counterbalanced in some degree these unfavourable representations of Margarite and Boyle. Still it was determined to send out a commissioner to inquire into the alleged distresses of the colony, and the conduct of Columbus, and one Juan Aguado was appointed for the purpose. He had already been to Hispaniola, and on returning had been strongly recommended to royal favour by Columbus. In appointing a person, therefore, for whom the admiral appeared to have a regard, and who was under obligations to him, the sovereigns thought, perhaps, to soften the harshness of the measure.

As to the five hundred slaves sent home in the

ships of Torres, Isabella ordered a consultation of pious theologians to determine whether, having been taken in warfare, their sale as slaves would be justifiable in the sight of God. Much difference of opinion arose among the divines on this important question; whereupon the queen decided it according to the dictates of her conscience and her heart, and ordered that the Indians should be taken back to their native country.

Juan de Aguado set sail from Spain towards the end of August with four caravals freighted with supplies, and Don Diego Columbus returned in this squadron to Hispaniola. Aguado was one of those weak men whose heads are turned by the least elevation. Though under obligations to Columbus, he forgot them all, and forgot even the nature and extent of his own commission. Finding Columbus

absent in the interior of the island, on his arrival, he acted as if the reins of government had been transferred into his hands. He paid no respect to Don Bartholomew, who had been placed in command by his brother during his absence, but, proclaiming his letter of credence by sound of trumpet, he proceeded to arrest various public officers, to call others to rigorous account, and to invite every one, who had wrongs or grievances to complain of, to come forward boldly and make them known. He already regarded Columbus as a criminal, and intimated, and perhaps thought, that he was keeping at a distance through fear of his investigations. He even talked of setting off at the head of a body of horse to arrest him. The whole community was in confusion; the downfall of the family of Columbus was considered as arrived, and some thought the admiral would lose his head.