But Having No Other Way Of Counting Time Or Ordering Any Thing Else Which Requires Counting, Except By Means Of Their Fingers, They Resolved That Every One Should Be Ready To Destroy The Christians At The Next Full Moon.

Guarionex having thus concerted with his caciques, one of the chiefest among them being desirous to acquire reputation, and looking upon the enterprise as a very easy matter, fell on before the time appointed, not being astronomer sufficient to know the exact time of full moon.

After a severe conflict, he was forced to fly for assistance and protection to Guarionex, who put him to death as he deserved, for having thus laid open the conspiracy and put the Christians on their guard.

The rebels were not a little mortified at this miscarriage of the Indian plot, for it was reported that it had been concerted with their privacy and consent, and they had therefore waited to see whether Guarionex might bring affairs to such a pass, that by joining with him they might be able to destroy the lieutenant. But perceiving that it failed of success, they considered themselves insecure in the province where they then were, and therefore went away to Xaragua, still proclaiming themselves the protectors of the Indians, whereas they were thieves in their actions and inclinations, having no regard to God or the opinion of the world, but following their own inordinate appetites. Every one stole or took away what he could, and their leader Roldan more than any of the rest, commanding every cacique to entertain him that could; and though he forbade the Indians from paying any tribute to the lieutenant, he exacted much more from them under pretence of acting as their defender, insomuch that from one cacique only, named Monicaotex, he received every three months a calabash full of pure gold, containing three marks or a pound and a half, and to make sure of him he detained his son and nephew as hostages. He who reads this must not wonder that we reduce the marks of gold to the measure of a calabash, which is here done to shew that the Indians dealt in all these cases by measure, as they never had any weights.

The Christians being thus divided, and no supplies coming from Spain, the lieutenant and his brother were unable to keep the people in quiet who still remained with them; for most of them were mean persons, and desirous of leading that life of ease and licentiousness which Roldan offered for their acceptance, by which they became so insolent that it was impossible to keep them in order, or to punish the guilty lest they might be utterly forsaken; neither dared they in these circumstances to attempt reducing the rebels to order, and were necessitated, to bear patiently with their audacious contempt of government. But it being the will of God to afford them some comfort, it pleased him to order that the two ships should arrive which had been dispatched about a year after the departure of the admiral from the Indies. He, considering the nature of the country and the dispositions of the people whom he had left in the colony, and the great danger which might arise from his long absence, had pressed for and obtained, not without great solicitation and difficulty that two of the ships, out of the eight[16] which he had been ordered to fit out, might be sent on before with supplies. The arrival of these, the supplies which they brought of men and provisions, and the assurance that the admiral had safely arrived in Spain, encouraged those who were with the lieutenant to serve him more faithfully and made those who adhered to Roldan apprehensive of being punished.

The rebels being desirous to hear news from home, and to furnish themselves with many things of which they were in want, resolved to repair to the harbour of St Domingo where the ships had put in, not without hopes of being able to draw over some of the men to their party. But as the lieutenant received notice of their design and was nearer that harbour, he moved thither with all the force he could muster to hinder their design, and leaving guards in the passes, he went to the port to visit the ships and to regulate the affairs of that place. And being anxious that the admiral might find the island in a peaceable condition and all troubles at an end upon his return, he again made new overtures to Roldan, who was then six leagues off with his men. For this purpose he sent Peter Fernandez Coronel, the commander of the two newly arrived ships, whom he chose for this employment because he was a man of worth and in authority, and because he could certify to Roldan and the mutineers of the arival of the admiral in Spain, the good reception he had found there, and the willingness their majesties had expressed to support his authority in the Indies. But the chief men among the rebels would not permit him to speak in public, being fearful of the impression he might make upon their deluded followers; they therefore received him on the road in a warlike posture, and he could only speak some words in private to those who were appointed to hear him. Thus unable to do any thing, Coronel returned to the town, and the rebels to their quarters at Xaragua, not without apprehensions lest Roldan and some of the ringleaders might write to their friends at Isabella to intercede for them with the admiral on his arrival to be restored to favour, as all their complaints were against the lieutenant and not against the admiral himself.

The three ships which the admiral had dispatched from the Canary islands with succours to Hispaniola, proceeded on their voyage with fair winds till they came to those Caribbee islands which sailors first meet with on their way to the port of St Domingo.

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