Tales from American history [second series] chiefly relating to the conquest of Mexico and Peru, by Hernando Cortez & Francisco Pizarro; to which are added some facts illustrative of the present state of those countries

Front matter

FiU/e 187

TALES

AMERICAN HISTORY,

CHAPTER I. Page

Bartholomew Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope — Gama prosecutes further discoveries, and proceeds to India by the Cape of Good Hope — Camoens celebrates de Gama — Columbus and de Gama true benefactors of mankind — ■ Cabral discovers Brazil — Useful industry commences in Hispaniola — Fate of the Indians, and commencement of negro slavery in the West Indies — Cuba ascertained to be an Island, and Yucatan discovered — Diego Columbus obtains the viceroyaliy in America — Ojeda andNicuessa commence settlements on the Continent — Succeeded by Balboa — Balboa discovers the Southern Ocean — Is supplanted in his government, and afterwards executed - - - _ 9

CHAPTER n.

Indians diminish in numbers — Diego Velasquez ' governor of Cuba — Hatuey — Cruel treatment of Hatuey — Florida discovered — Reception of Cordova at Yucatan — Expedition of Grijalva — New Spain — Progress of the Spanish discoveries in twenty- six years — Habits of mind with which young persons should read history—Cortez — His early history — Engages with Velasquez — Follows the course of Grijalva — Reaches New Spain — Montezuma, King of Mexico, receives intelligence of the landing of the Spaniards— Is disturbed at the news — Sends messengers and presents toCortez — Marina — Her excellent character -------- 21

IV CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Pago Cortez receives the governors of two of the Mexican provinces, and their presents — The Spaniards learn that liuman sacrifices are permitted by the Mexicans — Envoys sent from the Totonacas — Quarrels in states offer them a prey to ambitious arbiters of their differences — Cortez invited to Chempoalla — Makes regulations for the government of his followers — Proceeds to Chempoalla — Is respectfully received — The Chempoallese complain of the tyranny of Montezuma — Cortez encourages their discontents — Counsels them to refuse to pay tribute to Montezuma — They imprison the Mexican collectors of tribute — Cortez sets them free 34

Chapter IV

Cortez lays the foundation of Vera Cruz — The Totonacas offer an army to Cortez which should assist the Spaniards in their projects — Cortez endeavours to make the Chempoallese '-eceive Christianity — They permit the image of the Virgin to be placed in one of their temples —Cortez writes to the Emperor Charles — Breaks up his ships — Cortez proceeds in the interior — Demands gold of Olintet, lord of Xocotla — Tlascala, an independent republic — Interesting account of the Tlascalans — Tlascalans and Spaniards proceed to hostilities — The latter conquer — Peace made — The Spaniards enter Tlascala - - - - 47

Chapter V

Cortez endeavours to instruct the Tlascalans in the Christian doctrines — Proceeds to Cholula — Cholula — Treacherous designs of the Cholulans

CONTENTS.

Page

discovered to the Spaniards — -Vengeance of Cortez — Advances to Tezcuco — The King of Tezcuco comes forth to meet Cortez — City of Cuitlahuac - - - - - 60

Chapter VI

The kingdom of Mexico — Its 'extent — Capital and principal lakes — Ancestors of the Mexicans — Foundation of the city of Mexico — Disaffection in Mexico to the government of Montezuma — Montezuma — His mode of Ufe, his court, &c. — Religion — Arts — Political institutions — ■ Education — Public amusements — Trade — Money — Accommodations for travellers in Mexico — Introduction of Catholic doctrines - - 70

Chapter VII

Cortez enters Mexico — Montezuma and Cortez treat each otherwith mutual respect — Spaniards hospitably treated in Mexico — Cortez seeks a quarrel with Montezuma — Montezuma imprisoned — Mexicans throv/n into great distr-^ss iDy the imprisonment of their monarch — Velasquez despatches from Cuba a military force to intercept the plans of Cortez — Cortez defeats the detachment sent against him by Velasquez, 95

Chapter VIII

Mexico and the neighbouring cities — Tributaries of the King of Mexico yield to Cortez — Quetlavaca succeeds Montezuma — Cortez commences and carries on the siege of Mexico — The Indians defend themselves vigorously — They yield at length — Guatamozin surrenders hirnself— The Mexican empire is gradually subdued — The siege of Mexico compared with the siege of Jerusalem — The Spanish conquerors not y\ CONTENTS.

Page governed by Christian principles — Modern ideas of true glory more rational and just than those of antiquity - - - - -117

Chapter IX

Cortez interrupted in his projects by Fonseca — He proceeds to establish the Spanish dominion m New Spain — Use of exhibiting bad examples — Indians suffer from the tyranny of the Spaniards — The Spaniards also suffer many hardships — Cortez repairs to Spain — A viceroy of New Spain is appointed — Cortez dies — Comparison between Cortez and Columbus - 181

Chapter X

Form of government similar, all over Spanish America — Tenure of property in the Spanish Colonies — Impolitic restrictions laid upon trade — Bad consequence of the restrictions — Ecclesiastical establishment in New Spain— Classes in society — Labourers — Provisions for the sujjport of government - - - - 140

CHAPTER XL

Government of viceroys — Their number — Character, and the public feeling concerning them — Meaning of political liberty — Ignorance and poverty prevalent in New Spain — The Colonists become disaffected to the Spanish government — Great estates, and opulence of proprietors — Unhappy moral state of New Spain — Political discords in Old Spain, offer an opportunity for the discontented in the colonies to emancipate themselves — Buonaparte's aggressions in Spain — Iturrigaray — Royalists and Patriots — Hidalgo — His enterprises and death

CONTENTS. VU

Page — Constitution framed by the Patriots — Morelos and Metamoros — Their projects and end — General Mina— Spanish Cortes— Ferdinand VIT. — Mina's exploits in Spain — He is made prisoner in France, but afterwards set at hberty — He goes to England — Proceeds to the United States — Lands in Mexico — Attaches to himself followers — Advances to the interior — Torres — His character — Horrors of the siege of Sombrero — Mina's defeat — Don Mariano Herrara — Mina taken prisoner by royalists — He is shot — Misuse of Mina's talents — Iturbide — His plan of government — Its administration — Iturbide sent to Europe — Returns to Mexico and is executed - - - - - 147

Chapter XII

Physical features of countries as well as political history, desirable to be known — Creoles and Spaniards hate each other — Spaniards banished by the Mexican Congress — Catholic religion universal in Mexico — Principal cities of Mexico — Vera Cruz — Puebla andXalapa — Creoles in Mexico — Their ignorance, superstition, and public amusements — Cathedral of Puebla — Pyramid of Cholula — Volcanoes — City of Mexico — Houses — Churches — Public buildings — Public walks — Indians — Their villages — Manufactures — Manners and habitations — Curiosities in Mexico — Monks — Tezcuco — Oturuba — Destruction of Mexican monuments — Customs of the Provinces — Village of St. Miguel - 176

CHAPTER Xm.

Vaquis and Opates — Banderas — His exploits and character — Spanish settlers — A Spanish neat-herd - - - _ _ 205

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER XIV. Page

Retrospective view of Spanish discoveries — Balboa, and the Indian Comagre — Pizarro - 21 S

Chapter XV

Settlement of Panama — Projects of Pizarro, Almagro, and de Luque — Peru — Ohstacles to the progress of Pizarro's plans — Pizarro, not disheartened, proceeds to Spain — The Ernperor offers conditions to Pizarro — Pizarro goes to Peru — Peruvian history — The Incas — The sovereigns of Peru engaged in civil war- Pizarro avails himself of the civil war to make the conquest of Peru - - - - 221

Chapter XVI

Pizarro reaches Coxamalca — The Inca visits Pizarro — Is taken prisoner, and afterwards murdered — Pizarro acquires immense wealth — Almagro executed — Pizarro is murdered — Great confusion prevails in Peru — The emperor sends out a viceroy — He is killed — Gasca is sent out from Spain — Defeats Gonzalo Pizarro— Composes all discords, and returns to Spain — Untimely death of the Pizarros — The end 231

TALES

AMERICAN HISTORY.

Chapter I

In the history of Columbus it was related that the Portuguese nation, for several years previous to the discovery of America, had been much interested in seeking a passage to India, and that the king of Portugal, when he learned what Columbus had accomphshed, was vexed that he had not the honour of being the patron of that great man. John II. of Portugal, however, had entrusted a small fleet to one Bartholomew Diaz, and that navigator had discovered the southern extremity of Africa.

When Diaz arrived at the last limit of South Africa, and beheld the ocean beyond it, he was convinced that by proceeding he should make some more important discovery ; but he had been absent from Lisbon sixteen months, his ships were in a shattered condition, and his men entreated that they might return to Portugal. For these reasons, Diaz, being the first navigator who is known to have explored the whole western coast of Africa, sailed for

10 CAPE OP GOOD HOPE

Portugal, where he arrived safely, and gave the king information that he had reached a promontory which formed the extreme southern point of the eastern continent. This promontory is the Cape of Good Hope.

Emanuel, the successor of king John on the throne of Portugal, determined that his people should pass beyond the Cape ; and in order to prosecute further discoveries, he fitted out vessels under Vasco de Gama, a man of much hardihood and prudence. Gama departed from Lisbon on the ninth of July, A. D. 1497, and having proceeded south four months, he passed the Cape, and advanced in a north easterly direction. Gama thus entered the Indian ocean, having coasted all along Africa, from the river Senegal to the country of Zanquebar ; and in all these countries, wherever he went ashore, he saw men very different from Europeans. Those on the coast of Guinea, and of southern Africa, were savages, but the ports north of Mozambique exhibited civilized men — persons who knew how to read and write, who were instructed in the Mahommedan religion, and who owned ships, and carried on trade with the neighbouring countries of Asia. At one of the African ports, Gama procured a Mahommedan pilot, and proceeded to Calecut, on the coast of Malabar, where he landed May 22d, 1498.

The Portuguese celebrate this achievement of Gama as the greatest maritime exploit of their nation. It opened a new road from Europe to India; and from that day to this, innumerable ships from European countries have traversed the path which the Portuguese navigator first ascertained, and have conveyed with facility the productions of India to the people of Europe.

Caraoens, an eminent Portuguese poet, composed

DISCOVERED BY DE GAMA. 11

a poem upon this discovery ; it is called the Lusiad, and has been translated into English. De Gama's fleet, anchoring in the harbour of Mozambique, is thus described in the Lusiad :

" The moon, full-orbed, forsakes her watery cave,

And lifts her lovely head above the wave ;

The snowy splendours of her modest ray

Stream o'er the dashing waves, and glistening play:

Around her, shining on the heaven's arched brow,

Thick as the dewdrops on the April dawn,

Or May-flowers crowding on the dewy lawn.

The canvass whitens in the silver beam,

And with a mild pale red the pendants gleam ;

The peaceful lines a holy silence keep ;

Alone, at times, awakes the still repose."

MickWs translation.

De Gama, after his return voyage, landed at Lisbon, September 14th, 1499, and related his adventures to his countrymen.

The fifteenth century is the most brilliant period of modern history. The achievements of military conquerors are nothing in comparison with those of Columbus or De Gama. Armies may find knowledge in the countries they conquer, as the Romans found arts and literature in Greece, and began to improve themselves after they had taken possession of Greece ; or a conquering prince may carry learning into barbarous nations which he" subdues, as Alexander's successors cherished literature in the countries in which they established themselves ; but useful arts, various productions, and the knowledge of different nations, are peacefully and happily interchanged only by means of free trade and universal good-will among men.

12 DISCOVERY OF BRAZIL.

Though the discovery of De Gama was made on the section of the earth opposite to the western continent, yet this discovery led to further knowledge of America. The king of Portugal, after Gama's return, fitted out another fleet, which he gave in charge to Pedro Alvarez Cabral, and despatched him on the course which Gama had taken, commanding him to estabhsh a settlement on the coast of Malabar, and never once considering that the owners of that territory might be averse to strangers, and unwilling to admit them.

Cabral knew that very variable winds blew along the coast of Africa, and he presumed that far out into the Atlantic favourable breezes would be more constant, and that he should proceed more rapidly than De Gama had done if he should steer further west. In pursuance of this plan, Cabral kept so far to the west, that he soon found himself upon an unknown coast. He landed, discovered the soil to be fertile, and the climate agreeable, and took possession of the country in the name of the king of Portugal. This country proved to be Brazil, which is the easternmost country of South America ; and ever since, till within a few years,* it has been a Portuguese possession.

Ovando, Mdio was governor of Hispaniola when Columbus died, and who must be remembered by those who have read the life of Columbus, as the murderer of Anacaona, and a most cruel oppressor of the poor Indians, was in many respects a wise governor, for he turned the attention of the Spanish colonists from the search for gold to more useful occupations. Some slips of sugar-cane had been brought from the Canary Islands, and they were

♦ In 1825 Brazil was declared to be independent of Portugal.

CRUELTY OF THE SPANIARDS. 13

soon made to thrive in the fertile soil of Hispaniola. Extensive plantations of sugar were begun, and in time, such quantities of that article were manufactured and exported to Europe, that the sales of sugar afforded a large revenue to the king' of Spain.

Ferdinand, the patron of Columbus, was succeeded in the sovereignty of Spain by his grandson, who was emperor of Germany, as well as king of Spain, and is known in history as the Emperor Charles V. Many splendid buildings were erected in Spain under this monarch, and it used to be said, " the palaces of Charles were built of the sugar of the West Indies."

The most useful labourers in the different undertakings of the Spaniards, were the poor Indians ; but these unhappy creatures, being deprived of all which they had once possessed, and being assigned in companies, called Repartimienlos^ to the different proprietors of their own former territory, languished and died under these hardships, till the number of them was diminished nearly nine-tenths. The rapacious Spaniards did not acquire wealth so fast as they desired in Hispaniola, so many of them resolved upon following any adventurer who should attempt new discoveries.

Columbus discovered Porto Rico in his second voyage, and this island was settled by a Spanish colony, under Juan Ponce de Leon, an officer who had commanded under Ovando. The natives of Porto Rico, like those of Hispaniola, soon sunk under the cruel treatment of the Spaniards, and at length the latter had so few labourers, that they were obliged to purchase negro slaves.

In Africa the nativie tribes fight much, and the parties victorious in these skirmishes, when the Portuguese began to trade with the Africans, used to 2

14 DON DIEGO COLUMBUS.

sell their prisoners to Europeans. After the Spaniards had exterminated the poor Indians, they gave great prices for negroes, whom they employed to work in their colonies, and those unhappy people have been purchased in Africa, and carried out to the American colonies for slaves ever since.

Ovando not only encouraged industry in the colony under his government, but he assisted those who wished to prosecute further discoveries. By command of Ovando, Sebastian de Ocampo sailed round Cuba, and ascertained it to be an island ; and about the same time, Juan Diaz de Solis, and Yincent Yanez Pinzon, discovered the peninsula of Yacatan. The last project of Ovando, was the voyage of Ocampo, for he was recalled to Spain, and Don Diego Columbus was invested with the government of Hispaniola.

It must be remembered, that when Columbus was appointed viceroy of all the countries he should disr cover, that the same dignity was to be hereditary in his family. On the death of Columbus in 1506, his son Don Diego claimed the right of succession, but the king of Spain continued Ovando in the government of Hispaniola, and neglected the claim of Don Diego, till the latter commenced a suit against the king ; and the Council of the Indies^ a court before which the atlair was laid, decreed that according to the promise made to his father, Don Diego was the legitimate governor. Don Diego Columbus commenced his administration in 1509.

For several years after Columbus had discovered the mainland, no settlement was attempted upon it ; but in 1510, the king of Spain granted the tract which extends from Cape Gracias a Dios to Cape de Yela, to two adventurers, Ojeda and Nienessa, and upon it they proposed to establish colonies.

Balboa's government. 15

The attempt to do this failed. The natives were more warlike than those of the islands ; they used poisoned arrows, and in a rencontre seventy of Ojeda's men were slain by the Indians. At length this colony, from sickness, famine, and the incessant hostility of the natives, was reduced to a few men under the command of Vasco Nugnez de Balboa.

Balboa was a man of more sense and virtue than the generality of the Spanish adventurers, and his history is, on that account, more interesting and affecting. Balboa was anxious to preserve his little colony, and to make it respectable, and he hoped to deserve the favour of the king of Spain. The men who were left in the charge of Balboa, elected him their governor, and he wished the king to approve their choice. In order to obtain this favour, he endeavoured to perform every service in his power. He subdued the neighbouring chiefs, and collected a considerable quantity of gold, intending to send it to Spain, and resolved upon extending the possessions of Spain upon the continent.

In one of Balboa's excursions in quest of gold, the Spaniards quarrelled violently about dividing it, and some of the natives who were standing by expected that they would kill each other. On this occasion one of the caciques, who was weighing the gold about which they were disputing, addressing himself to the Spaniards, exclaimed, " Why do you quarrel about such a trifle 1 If you love gold so much as to forsake your own country, and to vex and disturb other nations in order to obtain it, I will show you the way to a land in which it abounds."

Balboa and his companions were delighted with this information, and eagerly inquired where the happy land lay. The cacique replied, that at the distance of six suns, which meant, at the distance of

16 BALBOA UNDERTAKES THE

six days' journey, they would find another ocean, and that along its borders lay the territory of a powerful nation rich in gold. This was Peru. Balboa recollected Columbus had presumed that the ocean lay to the west, and he resolved to go immediately in search of it.

Balboa could not undertake his enterprise alone, so he sent to the governor of Hispaniola for men to join him, and he engaged some friendly caciques to attend them. The isthmus of Darien, which Balboa was about to explore, is in some places not more than thirty miles in width, but it was then crossed by lofty mountains and tangled forests, and infested with reptiles unknown in Europe. Balboa did not know all the difficulties of his journey before he undertook it ; but he was a man of great hardihood, and so kind and encouraging to others, that he entered upon laborious undertakings with all the hope, and all the helps which are necessary to encounter dangers successfully.

Balboa set out on the 1st of September, 1513. One hundred and ninety Spaniards, and one thousand Indians accompanied him ; and besides these was a troop of ferocious dogs. On his way a powerful body of natives stopped the followers of Balboa, but the latter easily scattered the Indians, and they proceeded slowly, and with infinite toil, over rocks and bogs, and found the distance of^six suns extended to twenty- five.

At length, being in sight of a high mountain, an Indian told Balboa, that beyond its summit lay the ocean. On receiving this information, Balboa commanded his men to halt, that he might proceed alone, and be the first to enjoy the spectacle which he had so long desired. Nor was he disappointed in his anticipations, — " As soon as he beheld the South

DISCOVERY OF PERU. 17

Sea, stretching in endless prospect before him, he fell on his knees, and lifting up his hands to heaven, returned thanks to God, who had conducted him to a discovery so beneficial to his country, and so honourable to himself. His followers, observing his transports of joy, rushed forward to join in his wonder, exultation, and gratitude. They held on their course to the shore with alacrity, when Balboa, advancing up to the middle in the waves with his buckler and sword, took possession of that ocean in the name of the king his master, and vowed to defend it against all his enemies."*

Balboa soon made demands upon the neighbouring chiefs, and they sent him considerable quantities of gold and pearls. He learned that the sea w^hich he had discovered, abounded in pearl oysters, and that to the south-east lay a mighty and opulent kingxiom, where the natives employed tame animals to carry their burdens. A drawing of these tame animals was made upon the sand, and it proved to be the lama, or Peruvian camel.

Balboa would have proceeded to Peru, but the intention to conquer every country they discovered was always uppermost in the minds of the Spaniards ; therefore, Balboa thought his forces insufficient, and after an absence of four months, he returned to his settlement, called Santa Maria, having made a discovery only second in glory to that of Columbus himself. Balboa, trusting that he had performed a service highly acceptable, sent information of his discovery to the king of Spain, and requested a thousand men to prosecute further conquests.

The people of Spain were so much pleased with this intelligence, that multitudes were eager to engage in the service which Balboa proposed ; expect-

* This memorable event took place September 26, 1513, 2*

18 BALBOA SUPERSEDED.

ing, as was said at the time, to cast their nets into the sea, and to draw out gold. Ferdinand, as the history of Columbus abundantly proves, was a prince eminently ungrateful to those who rendered the best services to their country, and he ungenerously forgot the merit of Balboa, and named Pedrarias Davila governor of Darien, with the command of fifteen vessels, and twelve hundred soldiers.

Pedrarias reached the gulf of Darien in safety, and immediately sent on shore an officer, with the king's commission, announcing him the governor of the colony. The Spaniards had heard of Balboa as a gallant warrior, and rich in the spoils taken from the Indians, but when Pedrarias arrived, he found Balboa clad in a canvass jacket and hempen sandals, and engaged in thatching with his own hands the little hut which was his habitation. But in this mean garb, Balboa lost none of his dignity, and received his guests with becoming courtesy.

Many adventurers from the islands had joined Balboa, and the number of his adherents was about four hundred and fifty. These men, who knew the excellent qualities of their leader, murmured loudly against the injustice of the king in displacing him ; but Balboa submitted with a good grace, and treated Pedrarias with proper respect. Pedrarias, however, had no good feeling towards Balboa, and perceiving how much the latter was honoured by the colonists, determined to disgrace him.

While Nicuessa governed in the district allotted to him by the king of Spain, Balboa was an officer under him, and was at that time accused of some misdemeanors. Pedrarias revived these accusations, and imposed a fine on Balboa, as a punishment for forgotten offences. To be disgraced and punished among those by whom he had been re-

BY PEDRARIAS. 19 garded with the highest respect, and where he had been imphcitly obeyed, was a severe affliction to Balboa, and rendered Pedrarias detestable to the friends of the former.

In consequence of the ill treatment offered to Balboa, incessant quarrels were kept up between his friends and the advocates of Pedrarias ; and, to add to the miseries of contention and mutual ill-will, the want of provisions, and a fatal disease, in the space of a month carried off above six hundred of the colonists. The Spaniards who had followed Pedrarias, in the hope of growing suddenly rich, finding themselves among the sick and dying, and w^ithout the comforts to which they had been accustomed, became heartily tired of the new world, and anxious to return to Spain.

Pedrarias, in order to reconcile these disaffected persons to their condition, sent them into the interior of the country to obtain gold. Balboa, in his transactions with the natives had gained their friendship, and they readily formed alliances with him, but under Pedrarias, the Spaniards treated the Indians with excessive violence and cruelty, and the whole country from the gulf of Darien to lake Nicaragua, was depopulated by their exactions, so that they were deprived of the advantage of all amicable traffic with the Indians.

Balboa could not see the inhuman and unwise conduct of Pedrarias without indignation ; and he sent to Spain a true account of the proceedings by which that wicked governor had ruined his once flourishing colony. The king of Spain was thus made sensible of his own injustice, and immediately appointed Balboa, adelantado of the country upon the South Sea, at the same time commanding Pedrarias to aid him in all his projects. But it is

20 EXECUTION OF BALBOA.

not possible for the commands of a king to reconcile implacable enemies. Because he bad injured him, Pedrarias hated Balboa ; and Balboa detested Pedrarias, because he acted unjustly and unwisely.

The king, when he gave Balboa the appointment of adelantado, sent him no money, and that unfortunate man had nothing with which to fit out any expedition ; but notwithstanding his want of means, he contrived to build four small vessels, and engage three hundred men in his service. After Balboa had received the appointment from the king of Spain, Pedrarias pretended to befriend him, and Balboa married his daughter, but as soon as Pedrarias learned the friendly dispositions of the colonists towards Balboa, his envy was excited. No man takes pleasure in seeing one whom he unjustly hates, regarded with affection and honour by others.

To gratify his malignity, Pedrarias determined to cut short the days of his rival. Just as Balboa was about to set sail upon his intended expedition, Pedrarias sent him a request that he would for a short time postpone his voyage, and repair to the place of his residence, as Pedrarias, so he pretended, wished to have an interview with him previous to his departure. Balboa, who was conscious of no crime, and incapable of a dishonourable action himself, suspected no injurious intention on the part of Pedrarias, and readily attended his summons.

As soon as Pedrarias had Balboa in his power, he ordered him to prison. Here Balboa was not long confined, — Pedrarias appointed judges to try him. He was accused of a design to revolt from the authority of the governor whom the king had appointed ; sentence of death was then pronounced, and Balboa was immediately executed. The Spaniards beheld with indiornation and sorrow the execu-

SETTLEMENT OF CUBA. 21

tion of a man more capable of accomplishing useful and honourable objects, than any who had borne command on the continent of America. Upon the death of Balboa, the design of his expedition was for a time abandoned, and the colony under Pedrarias languished, and was removed to Panama, on the other side of the isthmus.

Chapter II

During the government of Don Diego Columbus, the most memorable, occurrence was the colonization of Cuba. Hispaniola, though once capable of affording subsistence to a million of Indians with their simple habits, when only fourteen thousand remained of the original population, did not afford means to satisfy the rapacity of a few thousand Spaniards.

Among the companions of Columbus in his second voyage, was one Diego Velasquez. This man established himself in Hispaniola, and there acquired a large fortune. When Diego Columbus found it expedient to effect a settlement in Cuba, he entrusted the conquest of that island to Velasquez. Three hundred men were deemed a sufficient force to subdue an island, seven hundred miles in extent, and filled with inhabitants.

The natives of Cuba were as unwarlike as those of Hispaniola, and as little prepared to defend themselves, though it happened that an Indian, who had taken refuge on the island, exhorted them to resist the invaders. This man's name was Hatuey: he