Wherefore, To Fulfil The Orders Which His
Brother Had Left For Him At The Beginning Of 1494, He Went To The Court Of
Their Catholic Majesties At Valadolid, Carrying My Brother Don James
Columbus And Me Along With Him, As We Had Been Appointed To Serve As Pages
To Prince John.
Immediately upon our arrival, their majesties sent for Don
Bartholomew, and dispatched him with three ships to Hispaniola, where he
served several years, as appears from the following memorandum which I
found among his papers:
"I served as captain from the 14th April 1494,
till the 12th of March 1498, when the admiral set out for Spain, and then
I began to act as governor till the 24th of August 1498, when the admiral
returned from the discovery of Paria; after which, I again served as
captain till the 11th of December 1500, when I returned to Spain." On his
return from Cuba, the admiral appointed his brother governor of the
Indies; though controversies afterwards arose on this subject, as their
majesties alleged that they had not given authority to the admiral to
make any such appointment. But to end this difference, their highnesses
granted it a-new, under the title of adelantado, or lieutenant of the
Indies, to my uncle Don Bartholomew.
Having now the assistance and advice of his brother, the admiral took some
rest, and lived in quiet, although he met with sufficient troubles, both
on account of his sickness, and because he found that almost all the
Indians had revolted through the fault of Don Pedro Marguerite. He, though
obliged to respect and honour the admiral, who had left him the command of
360 foot and 14 horse, with orders to travel all over the island, and to
reduce it to the obedience of their Catholic Majesties and the Christians,
particularly the province of Cibao, whence the chief profit was expected;
yet acted in every thing contrary to his orders and instructions, insomuch,
that when the admiral was gone, he went with all his men to the great
plain called Vega Real, or the Royal Plain, ten leagues from Isabella,
where he remained without ever endeavouring to traverse and reduce the
island. Hence there ensued discords and factions at Isabella, as Don Pedro
endeavoured to make the council which the admiral had instituted in that
place, subservient to his own authority, sending them very insolent
letters; and perceiving that he could not succeed in getting the whole
power and authority into his hands, he was afraid to wait the return of
the admiral who would have called him to a severe account for his conduct,
and went therefore on board the first ships that returned to Spain,
without giving any account of himself or any way disposing of the men who
had been left under his command.
Upon this desertion of Don Pedro, every one went among the Indians as they
thought fit, taking away their women and goods, and committing everywhere
such outrages, that the Indians resolved to revenge themselves on all whom
they should find straggling about the country. The cacique of the Magdalen,
Guatiguana, had killed ten, and had privately caused a house to be fired
in which there were eleven sick Spaniards. But he was severely punished by
the admiral after his return; for though the cacique himself could not
then be taken, yet some of his subjects were sent prisoners into Spain in
four ships that sailed in February 1495 under Antonio de Torres. Six or
seven other Indians who had injured the Christians in other parts of the
island suffered for their conduct. The cacique had killed many, and would
certainly have destroyed many more, if the admiral had not fortunately
come in time to restore order among the Christians, and to curb the
refractory spirit of the Indians. On his arrival from his late voyage to
Cuba and Jamaica, he found that most of the Christians had committed a
thousand insolencies, for which they were mortally hated by the Indians,
who refused to submit to their authority. It was no difficult matter for
them all to agree in casting off the Spanish yoke, as the whole island was
subject to the authority of four principal caciques. These were Caunabo,
Guacanagari, Behechico, and Gaurionex; each of whom commanded over seventy
or eighty inferior lords or caciques. These paid no tribute to the
superior caciques, but were obliged to till the ground when called upon,
and to assist them in their wars; but of these four, Guacanagari, who was
superior lord of that part of the island in which the town of Navidad had
been built, continued always friendly to the Christians. As soon therefore
as he heard of the admirals return to Isabella, he went to wait upon him,
and represented that he had not been any way aiding or advising with the
others, as might appear from the great civility the Christians had always
received in his country, where 100 men had always been well used and
furnished with every thing of which they stood in need. For which reason
the other caciques had become his enemies, as Behechico had killed one of
his women, and Caunabo had taken away another; wherefore he entreated the
admiral to cause her to be restored, and to assist him in revenging his
wrongs. The admiral was disposed to believe that Guacanagari spoke truth,
as he always wept whenever the discourse turned upon the slaughter of the
Christians at the Nativity; and the admiral was the more inclined to take
part with this cacique, as he considered that the discord among the Indian
chiefs, would make it the more easy for him to reduce the country to
subjection, and to punish the other Indians for their revolt, and for
having killed so many of the Christians.
Having resolved to make war upon the refractory natives, he set out from
Isabella on the 24th of March 1495, taking Guacanagari along with him; yet
the enterprize seemed difficult, as the malcontent Indians had collected
a force of above 100,000 men, whereas the admiral had only about 200
infantry, 20 horsemen, and about the same number of dogs [22]. Being well
acquainted with the nature and qualities of the Indians, when he was two
days march from Isabella, the admiral divided his small force, giving
half to his brother the lieutenant, that he might attack the multitude
which was scattered over the plain in two places at once, believing that
the terror of the noise in two places would throw them into disorder, and
put them to flight the sooner, as it actually proved in the event.
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