This Brought Us Into Great Distress, As
If It Had Been Necessary To Take These By Force, The Greatest Part
Of us
must have gone on shore armed, leaving the admiral on board in great
danger, as he was still
Very ill of the gout; and if we waited till the
Indians brought provisions of their own accord, we must live in great
misery, or have paid them ten times the price we did at first, as they
were sensible of the advantages our necessities gave them. But God, who
never forsakes those who put their trust in him, inspired the admiral with
a device by which we became amply provided. Knowing that in three days
there was to be an eclipse of the moon in the early part of the night, he
sent an Indian of Hispaniola who was on board, to call the principal
Indians of that province to talk with him upon a matter which he said was
of great importance to them. These Indians came accordingly to wait upon
him on the day before the eclipse was to happen, and he desired the
interpreter to tell them, That we were Christians who believed in the God
of Heaven, who took care of the good and punished the wicked. That God
seeing the rebellion of the Spaniards against his faithful servant, would
not permit them to go over to Hispaniola, as had been done by Mendez and
Fiesco, but had visited them with all those sufferings and dangers which
were manifest to the whole island: And that God was angry with the Indians
for being negligent in bringing provisions for our commodities, and had
determined to punish them with pestilence and famine; and lest they might
not believe his words, had appointed to give them a manifest token of his
wrath that very night, that they might plainly know whence their
punishment was derived. Wherefore the admiral desired them carefully to
observe the moon that night when she arose, and they would see her angry
and of a bloody hue, as a sign of the punishments which were to fall on
them from God. Upon this the Indians were dismissed and sent away, some of
them rather afraid and others looking upon it as an idle threat. But on
observing the moon to rise in part obscured, and the obscurity increasing
as she rose higher, the Indians were so terrified that they hastened from
all parts loaded with provisions, crying and lamenting and imploring the
admiral to intercede for them with God not to make them undergo the weight
of his wrath, and promising to bring him every thing he wanted for the
future. The admiral pretended to be softened by their repentance, and said
that he would speak to God in their favour. He accordingly shut himself up
for some time, till he knew that the eclipse was about to go off, and then
coming out of his cabin, he told the Indians that he had prayed to God for
them, and had promised in their names that they would be good in future,
would use the Christians well, and bring them plenty of provisions and
other necessaries; that God therefore forgave them, of which they would he
convinced when they saw the anger and bloody colour of the moon go off.
And this beginning to take place while he was yet speaking, they gave the
admiral many thanks for his intercession, and praised the mercy of the God
of the Christians.
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