CHAPTER XXVII.

REVOLT OF THE CAKCHIQUELS.

1524-1525.

RETURN OF THE ALLIES TO MEXICO—FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF SANTIAGO—THE CAKCHIQUELS OPPRESSED BEYOND ENDURANCE—THEY FLEE FROM THE CITY—DIFFICULTY IN AGAIN REDUCING THEM TO SUBJECTION—REINFORCEMENTS FROM MEXICO—CAMPAIGN AGAINST MIXCO—CAPTURE OF THAT STRONGHOLD—FIGHT WITH THE CHIGNAUTECS—SUPERHUMAN VALOR OF A CAVALRYMAN—CONQUEST OF THE ZACATEPEC VALLEY—EXPEDITION AGAINST THE MAMES—DEFEAT OF CAN ILOCAB—ENTRY INTO HUEHUETENANGO—SIEGE OF ZAKULÉU—SURRENDER OF CAIBIL BALAM.

Pedro de Alvarado with his army arrived at Patinamit from his southern campaign some days previous to the 28th of July, 1524.[XXVII-1] The Mexican allies were soon dismissed and returned to their homes, bearing despatches to Cortés. The general was greatly pleased with the tidings from his lieutenant, and sent him two hundred more Spanish soldiers, to aid in the colonization of those parts.

[Sidenote: FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF SANTIAGO.]

Almost immediately after their return to the capital of the Cakchiquels the Spaniards proceeded to appropriate the territory and make preparations for its government. A Spanish city was founded at Patinamit under the name of Ciudad del Señor de Santiago.[XXVII-2]

The ceremonies were conducted with great pomp. According to Remesal, on the 25th of July, St James' day, the army was drawn up in battle-array to the sound of fife and drum. The morning was unusually fine, and the sun flashing its rays upon burnished armor added splendor to the scene. The cavalry were specially conspicuous for the brilliancy of their dress and ornaments. After repeated volleys by the arquebusiers mass was celebrated by Juan Godinez, the chaplain, and all joined devoutly in the service. With due ceremony the new town was dedicated to their patron Santiago.

The municipal officers were then appointed by Alvarado. The first alcaldes were Diego de Rojas and Baltasar de Mendoza. Four regidores were nominated, whose names were Pedro Puertocarrero, Hernan Carrillo, Juan Perez Dardon, and Domingo de Zubiarreta,[XXVII-3] while Gonzalo de Alvarado was elected alguacil mayor.[XXVII-4]

The municipality having thus been formed,[XXVII-5] the Spaniards for the next three days devoted themselves to festivities and rejoicing. On the 12th of August[XXVII-6] there was an enrolment of colonists, of whom a list of one hundred has been preserved.[XXVII-7] To the sacred patron was also built and dedicated a church, of which Juan Godinez was left in charge, and one Reynosa sacristan with a salary of sixty dollars a year. The surrounding lands were then distributed in encomiendas. In making these grants Alvarado must have entertained some misgivings as to their validity and as to his future position and authority in the conquered provinces, for in a despatch to Cortés he complains that according to reports meeting him on his return from the southern campaign the king had appointed a governor other than himself of the new territory, and upbraids Cortés for not having duly reported his services to his Majesty, at the same time begging him to do so.[XXVII-8]

[Sidenote: OUTRAGE UPON OUTRAGE.]

That the Cakchiquel nobles should regard with indignation this arbitrary disposal of their lands and vassals was but natural. They had already observed that friend and foe were much the same in the hands of the voracious Spaniards, whose aggressive and outrageous action now convinced them that the friendly bearing of their king had gained for their nation no more, nay less, consideration than that vouchsafed the conquered Quichés, who had fought manfully for independence. So it was, in truth, with regard to all the conquerors in America, though not so expressed in words: those who fought for their rights must die or suffer enslavement because they offered opposition to the spoilers; those who did not fight were contemptible things, unworthy a white man's consideration. Believing in their promises, the Cakchiquels had received the Spaniards and had accepted their sovereign; but they were not prepared to go so far as to surrender themselves, their wives and little ones, their lands and their religion. Death might be the result of revolt; judging from what they had seen it probably would be; nevertheless they would revolt and die. How high the high hand of the taskmasters had been raised we know not; but we know that within a few short months after Alvarado's return and the founding of his unstable city[XXVII-9] the Cakchiquels rose to a man against the tyrants. The crowning grievance also is known. Exaction after exaction had been made. The temples and palaces of Patinamit had been forced to contribute their gold and silver ornaments until there was nothing left. Then a large amount of gold[XXVII-10] was demanded of the king and nobles within a stated time, which it was out of their power to supply. In their efforts to obtain the so much desired yellow substance from auriferous streams they brought in glittering pyrites, mistaking them for gold.[XXVII-11] Alvarado, furious with rage, summoned the king and his courtiers before him. "Why," he passionately exclaimed, "have you not brought the gold and silver that I demanded of you? If I receive not soon all the gold and all the silver of your towns, you shall have the choice of being hanged or burned alive!" Then with a brutality that Caligula might have gloried in he tore with his own hand from the nostrils of Sinacam and two princes at his side the golden ornaments they wore as badges of their high rank.[XXVII-12] This indignity cut the unhappy natives to the heart, and bending their disgraced heads, bitter tears mingled with the blood which fell at the feet of the Christian. "It is my will," added Alvarado, "that the gold and silver be here within five days. Woe betide you if you bring it not!" and with a coarseness that equalled his heartlessness he dismissed them from his presence.

[Sidenote: ABANDONMENT OF THE CITY.]

Nobles, priesthood, and people were already of one mind. The priests in particular, seeing the desecration of their temples and the threatened suppression of their religion, put forth all their efforts to rouse the Cakchiquels from the vile thraldom. And while the nobles and people proceeded as best they were able to collect treasures to meet the last demand from the neighboring towns, the priesthood succeeded in completing plans and preparations for revolt. They spread the report that their deity, offended at the sacrilegious actions of the Spaniards, had appeared to his ministers, announcing the speedy destruction of the strangers. A priest of Chamalcan now presented himself before Sinacam and his court. "I am the lightning!" he cried, with subdued vehemence, "and I will strike the Castilians. With fire will I destroy them! When I shall cause the sound of the sacred drum to be heard in the city, let the king leave it and withdraw to the other side of the river, for on the seventh day, Ahmak, will I strike the Spaniards!" These bold and confident words had their effect. In their deep affliction the Cakchiquels believed their god would help them, else of what value were gods? and they secretly made all ready for the time the signal should be given. The Spaniards do not seem to have had any suspicion of the intentions of the Cakchiquels. On the very evening of the uprising Alvarado, pacified with the gold that had been brought him, entertained Sinacam and a large number of princes and nobles at a banquet, a splendid banquet, whereat the guests feasted on their own of which they had been despoiled. That night, while the Spaniards were asleep, heavy after their revelry, the signal drum was sounded. The whole population, men, women, and children, arose and silently withdrew with their king and nobles from the city. It is not the only time in the world's history that a people have abandoned home and fled from persecution, trusting in religious faith. Now may the god in whom they trust help them, for all other hope they have left behind! Crossing the ravine they turned and awaited the expected miracle; all through the remainder of the night they watched for the lightning and the fire, straining their eyes afar, to the remotest corners of the heavens, to catch the first faint gleam of that sacred flame which should bring them deliverance. But alas! there was no light save that of the morning sun, which came to dispel all hope. God and priest alike had deceived them; or rather they themselves were deceived, had not understood aright, or were not worthy of aid, or their desire would come in some other way—so their teacher might have said. Now it remained only for them to perish, for they would return, never![XXVII-13]

Alvarado well knew the meaning of this action when he heard of it. And as he walked through the city, the empty houses and deserted streets told him plainly enough that his atrocious system of oppression had driven to despair a nation that had welcomed him with all kindness and hospitality. The immediate cause and incentive to revolt, the action of the priest, being explained to him, he hoped when the Cakchiquels had discovered how vain was the hope in their god that they would return to their homes again, and for ten days he remained inactive. But all attempts at reconciliation were repelled; they would rather die at war with the Christians than live at peace with them. Ah well! then they must be slain; and as a religious and patriotic duty Alvarado took the field against them. It was a long and bloody war that followed. If the Quichés and Zutugils had confederated with the Cakchiquels, it is safe to surmise the Spaniards would have been repelled. With a scarcity of provisions,[XXVII-14] and a reduced number of Mexican auxiliaries, hemmed in and harassed, it is hardly possible that they could have fought their way out of the country. But the rejection by Sinacam of the earlier proposals of the Quichés, and his alliance with the invaders, still rankled in their breasts, and they now cared little which of their detested foes ate the other. As it was, the war proved not the one-sided affair of late so common. The Cakchiquels displayed a skill and bravery in battle such as the Spaniards had not experienced in these parts. In front of their lines they dug deep holes in which they planted pointed stakes, and concealing them with coverings of grass and light earth, received behind them the charging cavalry. Many a Spaniard and many a horse found death or frightful wounds, impaled in these pitfalls.[XXVII-15]

[Sidenote: HATRED OF THE CAKCHIQUELS.]

On the battle-field the natives displayed a desperate courage. With their deep hatred they would if possible envenom their arrows and darts, and as they hurled them on the foe they shouted, "Take gold, Tonatiuh, take gold!" Thus the contest was carried on with great animosity on both sides, and the Cakchiquels, now more united among themselves, and joined by many neighboring tribes, long maintained the struggle. Though their own land suffered from the ravages of the Spaniards, they had their revenge in devastating the territories of the Quichés and Zutugils; for these nations had been so weakened in their contests with the Spaniards that they could no longer meet the Cakchiquels in the field. And, indeed, under this widely extended process of devastation the Spaniards began to suffer hunger. Alvarado was obliged to abandon his new city at Patinamit during the latter part of this year, 1524, and to make his head-quarters for a time at Xepau,[XXVII-16] round which the country was less desolate.

The Spaniards were indeed sorely pressed, and many Christians were killed and wounded. But about the beginning of 1525 he received reinforcements from Mexico which enabled him to proceed rapidly with the reduction of the revolted provinces. Returning to Patinamit, he subjected the several districts one after another to fire and sword, till the land was one wide scene of desolation.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: CAMPAIGN AGAINST MIXCO.]

It was during, or immediately after, the suppression of this revolt that the Spaniards accomplished perhaps their greatest achievement during the whole Guatemalan conquest. This was the storming of the city of Mixco, deemed impregnable.[XXVII-17] Mixco was one of the most important strongholds in the Cakchiquel kingdom, being so fortified by nature as to require little from art. Situated on an eminence surrounded on all sides by precipices, it was accessible only by a steep path, wide enough for but a single person, and interrupted here and there by places which could only with difficulty be climbed.[XXVII-18] On the top of this eminence was a great plain, capable of supporting a population of eight or nine thousand.

Learning that the Mixcans had determined to resist Spanish rule, and were encouraging other tribes to fortify themselves in similar impregnable positions, Alvarado regarded the reduction of the place as an absolute necessity. He therefore sent an advance force of two companies of foot-soldiers and one of cavalry, under the command of his brother Gonzalo, to invest Mixco until he should be able to assume command in person. The captains commanding under Gonzalo, Alonso de Ojeda, Luis de Vivar, and Hernando de Chaves, were men of high courage and experience; yet they not only accomplished nothing, but suffered so much from the stones and arrows of the enemy,[XXVII-19] provisions likewise beginning to fail, that Gonzalo was about to raise the siege when the lieutenant-general arrived with reinforcements.[XXVII-20] Although fully recognizing the difficulty and danger of the undertaking there were two incentives which urged Alvarado forward to its achievement: he loved what was difficult and dangerous, and he well knew that there could be no permanent subjugation of the country with this stronghold in the hands of the enemy. A council of war was held and the capture of Mixco resolved on. The first attempt was unsuccessful, as were indeed the second and third, until days and weeks went by without any seeming progress. Then the Spaniards tried stratagem, and while feigning an assault by means of scaling-ladders at a place where the precipice was lower than elsewhere, they suddenly made a rush up the pathway, which they hoped to find undefended. The Mixcans were prepared, however, and received the Spaniards with such heavy discharges of missiles that they were forced to retire in confusion. While the officers were in consultation shortly after, a strong body of native warriors was reported near at hand, which proved to be Chignautecs, allies of the Mixcans.[XXVII-21] Their intentions were evident, and soon the two armies were engaged in hot contest. Notwithstanding that great havoc was made by the arquebuses and cross-bows, and still more by the cavalry, the Chignautecs maintained the fight with such stubbornness that after the loss of a large number of Tlascaltecs and the wounding of many Spaniards a retrograde movement was decided on.

[Sidenote: FIGHT WITH THE CHIGNAUTECS.]

Upon an occasion like the present, where the object to be gained, the taking of a stronghold, partook more of the nature of single combat than of general battle, here and elsewhere upon a campaign of this kind, it was not uncommon to see feats of individual prowess cropping out on both sides. It was the field of glory to the soldier, limited usually to the field, as the world was the general's field of glory. I will mention one such exhibition in connection with this fight against the Chignautecs. In the hazardous retreat one of the cavalrymen, García de Aguilar, is in the extreme rear, subject to the fiercest assaults of the pursuing warriors. In truth, his body is interposed between the two contending armies. Obviously, if the enemy cannot put him out of the way they are unable to harm the others; every effort is therefore made to maim his horse, or otherwise to capture him; and he is at length cut off from his comrades and quickly surrounded by over four hundred of the dusky foe, each eager to inflict the _coup de grace_. But Aguilar is by no means vanquished yet. Though presently unseated, he maintains for some time a desperate struggle, striking with deadly effect upon the enemy. Then he loses his sword, and nothing remains to him but a dagger. It is not in this instance the bravery of the man that astonishes so much as his extraordinary muscular power. The horse, by kicking and plunging, prevents capture, while Aguilar, circumscribed by threatening death, exhibits almost superhuman strength. No blow dealt to kill or stun, no attempt to seize him, can stop the quick stroke of that strong right arm as it drives the keen steel straight into the assailants' vitals. With wounds and ever increasing exertion, however, he grows weaker; but capture signifies immolation. To be gazed at, helpless on a heathen altar, an offering to odious gods—the thought is horrible—and the fatal dagger is still, by swift movements, driven to the hilt. And now the battle cry of Santiago to the rescue! rings in his ears and tells of succor; he hears a leaden sound, as of crushed bone and flesh, and the whistle of descending blades, and knows that help is at hand. Six horsemen have plunged into the unequal contest, and they scatter the swarthy foe like sheep. They gather round their countryman, support his exhausted frame, and carry him wounded and faint to a place of safety. The courage, strength, and skill of this single man, and the valor displayed in his rescue, so impressed the Chignautecs that they retired disheartened, regarding their efforts of no avail against such beings,[XXVII-22] and they returned to their homes.

The siege had now lasted a month. On the third day after the retrograde movement, which resulted in victory, the Spaniards determined to make another attempt upon the place, and were on the point of assault when an ambassador arrived from the Chignautecs tendering their submission, and bringing the customary presents of gold, green plumes, and costly mantles. It was, however, stipulated on their part that this act of allegiance should be kept secret until the fall of Mixco; at the same time the envoy intimated that their caciques would communicate privately to Alvarado a secret that would be of service to him. Alvarado received this message favorably, and sent back the emissary with every mark of consideration, expressing his willingness to hear what the chiefs had to say.

The distance from Mixco to Chignauta was nine leagues; and in three days, during which Alvarado had refrained from active operations, the principal caciques arrived at his camp. They were attended by a large retinue and a number of natives bearing presents of great aboriginal value and a large quantity of provisions. The disclosure made by the caciques was to the effect that there existed a subterranean passage from the stronghold, having an outlet in the woods near the river bank. By this the Mixcans could escape, they said, even if the Spaniards succeeded in storming the height. The outlet they were willing to disclose, as they owed no allegiance to the Mixcans, who had incited them to take up arms against the Spaniards. They moreover suggested that an ambuscade should be placed near the mouth.[XXVII-23]

[Sidenote: THE FALL OF MIXCO.]

A force of forty men, cross-bowmen and cavalry, commanded by Alonso Lopez de Loarca, was accordingly despatched to the exit of the passage,[XXVII-24] and thereupon Alvarado determined once more to attempt to storm the place. The front man of the storming line bore a shield, and behind him followed a cross-bowman; then succeeded another shield-bearer, supported by an arquebusier. This alternate order afforded protection and at the same time admitted of assault.[XXVII-25] The file thus formed was led by Bernardino de Arteaga, who had asked for the dangerous post as a favor, and succeeded in covering his name with honor. Calling on God and Santiago, they began the ascent of the narrow ridge, which widened as it joined the cliff. While moving as rapidly as possible, so that the showering stones and arrows might have less effect, they nevertheless plied cross-bow and arquebuse with deadly effect. They had almost reached a wider place in the ridge, where four men might walk abreast, when the gallant Arteaga was felled with a heavy stone, breaking his leg, but with indomitable will he struggled on, supported by his comrade Diego Lopez de Villanueva.[XXVII-26] Despite the terrible resistance they reached the broader space near the cliff, which was packed with defenders so eager for a blow at the assailants that many were crowded off the precipice by those behind. But the stormers were by this time enabled to fall partially into line and ply their blades. A hand-to-hand contest followed, and the ground soon became thickly strewn with the bodies of slain Mixcans, among which were heaps of lopped-off heads and limbs. More Spaniards and auxiliaries came rapidly forward to aid in the slaughter as ground could be cleared for them to stand on. The natives fought with desperation, but height after height was lost to them, until their victorious foe gained at last the plain above. There the Spaniards found fresh forces to oppose them. But the Mixcans were by this time overawed by the extraordinary achievement of the Spaniards; and as they marked these merciless white foemen, the first who had ever planted foot within the precincts of their famed and formidable stronghold, as they saw them moving onward and upward, invincible as fate, it is no wonder that their hearts sank with despair. Their opposition was wholly spiritless; they broke and fled at the first charge. What followed was frightful, surpassing even the terrible scenes to which these man-killers on both sides were accustomed. To escape the fierce onslaught of the Spaniards some of the Mixcans plunged headlong down the cliffs, the dull thud of their bodies, as they struck upon the rocks, sounding ghostly echoes in the ravine below. Some attempted escape by the now deserted path by which the assailants had come, but these were captured by the camp guard. Some fled by the subterranean caverns, but were pursued and many taken prisoners before they reached the outlet, while those who had previously withdrawn thither with the women and children, under the care of several caciques, on emerging at the outlet were assailed by Loarca, and most of them captured.[XXVII-27]

Thus terminated this remarkable exploit of the conquerors. The city was burned, the stronghold destroyed, and the population removed to the site of the present town of the same name, situated in the Valle de las Vacas.[XXVII-28]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: THE ZACATEPEC WAR.]

It was not long after the fall of Mixco that the conquest of the Zacatepec Valley was accomplished. The towns of this district were subject to the king of the Cakchiquels, but many of them, especially Zacatepec, had thrown off their allegiance and declared themselves independent, indignant at Sinacam's alliance with the Spaniards.[XXVII-29] They had, moreover, repeatedly shown their hostility to those towns which had submitted to Spanish rule, by making incursions into their lands, and carrying off their women and children to the sacrifice.[XXVII-30]

After the suppression of the revolt and the re-establishment of Spanish power in the Patinamit district,[XXVII-31] the caciques of Xinaco and Zumpango remonstrated with the Zacatepecs, saying that they were now under the protection of the children of the sun, and should appeal to them if the depredations on their lands did not cease. The unfortunate men who carried this message were summarily sacrificed on the altar stone, all save one, whose life was spared that he might carry back the reply of the Zacatepecs: "Let the children of the sun bring to life again the dead envoys. As for ourselves, we will not submit to an unknown people, but will destroy all the villages of the caciques before their allies can render assistance." Nor were they slow to carry out their threat.

A large force invaded the territory of Xinaco and Zumpango, and began to slay and lay waste. The natives sent to Guatemala to implore assistance. Alvarado was at this time absent on his second campaign to Salvador,[XXVII-32] carrying out his former intention to return and bring the stubborn natives to a recognition of Spaniards' rights. Nevertheless, one thousand Cakchiquels and ten arquebusiers, under the command of Antonio de Salazar, a most competent captain, were at once despatched to the scene of action, while Alvarado was advised of what had occurred. Hostilities had already begun before these troops arrived. For three days the Zacatepecs maintained the conflict with great bravery, though with considerable loss. But now the Spaniards received a reinforcement of ten arquebusiers, twenty horsemen, and two hundred Tlascaltecs and Mexicans, commanded by Pedro Gonzalez Nájera. The contest thereafter was not so evenly balanced, and the Zacatepecs sustained several defeats. On the fifth day, however, they adopted the plan of attacking in columns one thousand strong, successively relieving each other, so that fresh men continually kept up the battle, each column when relieved retiring to the rear.[XXVII-33] These tactics enabled them to maintain the fight during the whole of that day, and they inflicted no little loss on the Spanish forces. Early in the morning the Spaniards took the field, apparently in disorder and much reduced in numbers. Encouraged by the success of their new manœuvres, the Zacatepecs attacked with contemptuous confidence. The Spaniards gave way and retreated toward a thickly wooded ravine. The Zacatepecs now felt sure of victory, and in their impetuous pursuit allowed themselves to be drawn into the defile, where a large body of their enemies were lying in ambush. Suddenly assailed on both sides, their disorderly ranks were routed with great slaughter. Numbers were also taken prisoners, among whom were many caciques. This battle terminated the war. The whole Zacatepec valley submitted to the authority of the Spaniards; and in order to insure future obedience a garrison of ten Spaniards and one hundred and forty Tlascaltecs was stationed at Zacatepec, under the command of Diego de Alvarado, the caciques being detained as hostages.[XXVII-34]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF THE MAMES.]

About the middle of the year 1525 Sequechul, king of Utatlan, represented to Alvarado that his father Oxib Quieh had not been so guilty as he had supposed of the treacherous plot to destroy the Spaniards the year previous, but that Caibil Balam,[XXVII-35] king of the Mames,[XXVII-36] was more to blame, as the instigator of the attempt. At the same time he offered to provide the invading forces with guides if Alvarado would undertake the conquest of that kingdom and punish Caibil Balam. Whether Sequechul's object was revenge for his father's cruel death or favor with Alvarado is of little consequence; the mention he made of the broad lands and great wealth of the province fell pleasantly on the lieutenant-general's ear, and he willingly acceded to the king's proposal.

The expedition was placed under the command of Gonzalo de Alvarado, and consisted of eighty Spanish infantry, the captains being Antonio de Salazar and Francisco de Arévalo, together with forty cavalrymen and two thousand native auxiliaries, drawn from various districts, whose commanders were Jorge de Acuña, Pedro de Aragon, Bernardino de Oviedo, and Juan de Verastigui. These forces were, moreover, accompanied by three hundred pioneers, with axes and picks, while a large number of Indian carriers bore with them an ample supply of provisions besides the baggage. Early in July the army marched to Totonicapan, a town on the confines of the Mame territory, which was made the base of operations. The usual difficulties of such undertakings here began. It took the invaders no less than eight days to cross the mountain range between that place and the Rio Hondo. The season rendered their labors the greater, for the rain, day after day, poured down in torrents. Up steep ascents, down dangerous gullies, they toiled, now winding in single file along the edge of a precipice, now plunging over soft treacherous ground up to the knee in mud. On reaching the Hondo[XXVII-37] they bivouacked for two days in the dripping sunless woods on the bank of the river, which, swollen by the ceaseless rains, for a time defied their passage. At length they succeeded in crossing, and presently emerged from the forests upon an open plain, and descried on an eminence the Mame town of Mazatenango. It was a well fortified place, surrounded by a barricade of heavy timber, behind which, on a terre-plein of mud and straw, a great multitude of warriors were drawn up. A wide stretch of swampy ground, not differing in appearance from the rest of the plain, debarred approach to this side of the town. As the invading army drew near, the Mames with hisses and shouts of defiance challenged attack, in the hope of inducing them to charge into the swamp. Gonzalo de Alvarado was, however, timely advised of the danger by his guides, and making a detour he assaulted the barricade on the other side, where the ground was firm. The assailants were received with a blinding storm of missiles, which for a long time kept them in check. Their repeated efforts to burst through the defences were baffled, and the auxiliaries were becoming discouraged, when Gomez de Loarca with the cavalry plunged through the palisade. The besiegers, pouring in through the breach, could now fight after their own fashion; and though the Mames offered a brave resistance, they were routed with great slaughter, and their town taken possession of by the conquerors, who placed in it a sufficient garrison as a protection in their rear.

[Sidenote: PRINCE CAN ILOCAB.]

Continuing their march, they encounter at no great distance from Mazatenango an army of five thousand warriors from Malacatan, whereupon Gonzalo takes up a favorable position on the plain.[XXVII-38] The vanguard of the enemy is composed of slingers and archers, and the main body of spearmen, commanded by the renowned prince Can Ilocab. In perfect order, and with deafening sound of drums and conchs, they approach the Spanish army. As soon as the vanguard has reached a suitable point Gonzalo charges upon them with the cavalry. The arrows strike thick as hail on the mailed breasts of the horsemen, drawing fire therefrom; but the chargers dash through the ranks of the archers, who with stubborn courage disdain to fly, while to avoid the fatal lance thrusts they throw themselves under the horses, only to be crushed and mangled by the iron-shod hoofs. And now the main body of the Mames come up, and the Spanish cavalry have more difficult work. The charge against those solid columns bristling with long spears is only partially successful. The shock is sustained by the Mames with a firmness the Spaniards are little accustomed to. The discomfited vanguard has time to rally, and again the swift stone bruises, and arrows hiss and shiver on helmet and coat of mail. All the forces on both sides are now in action, and the slaughter of the Mames is dreadful, yet not one inch will they yield. Rushing to close quarters, within their opponents' breastwork of sword-points, and gliding along their lances, they so hamper the Spaniards that they can hardly wield their arms. Bruised and stunned, embarrassed in their movements, the blows of the Spaniards fall more feebly, and they already begin to relax their efforts when Salazar, one of the captains of infantry, seeing the imminent danger, strives to rouse his men with spirit-stirring words. "Where is your valor, Castilians?" he cries. "Does that courage sink which won the blood-stained fields of Mexico and Utatlan? There you achieved renown; lose it not here, nor suffer yourselves to be carried off to die on the altars of these idolaters!" The appeal has its effect. With renewed efforts the infantry mow their way through and through the Mame columns, causing frightful carnage, but the warriors recede not one foot in flight. For still waves in air their prince's banner; his plume nods high above them all, and his voice still cheers them on. As long as he remains they will fight, knowing no defeat. The Spanish captain is not blind to this, for under the great Cortés he has learned that in their leader lies the strength of the warriors, and he recognizes only too clearly that Can Ilocab's death is their one chance of victory. For some time the execution of Gonzalo's purpose has been delayed, but at length by the surging ranks he is thrown near to the magic banner, and then with desperate charge he urges his steed through the resisting guard up to the Mame chieftain, and plunges the lance through his body. This ends the battle, and the Mames, unconquered by sword and lance, on the fall of their prince flee from the field and are pursued as far as their town. The chiefs of the place at once send an embassy to sue for peace, bringing with them a present of gold ornaments, and offering allegiance, which is accepted. Leaving a garrison in the town, the Spaniards continue their march in the direction of Huehuetenango.[XXVII-39]

[Sidenote: ZAKULÉU INVESTED.]

This was an important city of the Mames, where Gonzalo de Alvarado expected warm work, judging from the late formidable resistance. On arrival, however, he found the place abandoned, and such of the houses as had not been destroyed stripped of furniture and utensils, without a handful of provisions. Cavalry troops were sent out in different directions, and one under the command of Gaspar Aleman fell in with three hundred Indian archers, who without hesitation attacked the horsemen, among others wounding Aleman in the face. But they were soon routed, and in the pursuit three prisoners were taken, one of whom was a chief named Sahquiab, a captain in Caibil Balam's army. When brought into the presence of Gonzalo de Alvarado, he informed him that his sovereign had retired to the almost impregnable city of Zakuléu,[XXVII-40] where, provided with provisions and stores, he deemed himself secure. The captive was thereupon sent by Gonzalo to Caibil Balam with offers of peace and a charitable proposal to teach him the doctrines of the Christian religion. But Sahquiab did not return, nor came any answer to Gonzalo. A second embassy, composed of Indians from Utatlan, was rudely refused audience with a shower of arrows. This exhausted the patience of Gonzalo and he marched on Zakuléu. As soon as his approach was observed by the Mames an army six thousand strong sallied forth to give him battle. The engagement which followed was maintained by the Mames with the same stubborn valor exhibited in previous fights, and marked by similar carnage. A reserve of two thousand, which sallied during the battle from Zakuléu to the support of their countrymen, made an ineffectual attempt to turn the tide of victory, only adding to the victims; and routed in all directions the Mames fled to their stronghold in the mountains.[XXVII-41]

[Sidenote: PREPARING TO STORM ZAKULÉU.]

Owing to the impossibility of storming so impregnable a place as Zakuléu, Gonzalo closely invested it by stationing troops at the few points where egress seemed possible. On the third day of the siege Diego Lopez de Villanueva, while reconnoitring with a body of cavalry, observed smoke issuing from the woods on the other side of the river.[XXVII-42] Having crossed with much difficulty, he fell in with three hundred Indians in charge of a large supply of provisions, which they intended to introduce into the beleaguered city, and which Villanueva promptly appropriated.

The inactive warfare soon wore out the patience of the Spaniards, and Gonzalo began to cut a road suitable for cavalry up the most practicable part of the steep. Day by day, from morning to night, the sound of the pick was heard, and the work continued uninterrupted with but little loss to the besiegers, though the heights were thronged with Mames, who used every effort to impede its progress. The cross-bow and arquebuse were far more deadly than the sling and arm-drawn bow, and the Mames suffered heavily.

In the midst of these operations an army of eight thousand mountaineers appeared on the plain, presenting a most unusual spectacle—naked, and hideous with war-paint, unrelieved by plume or ornament of any kind, only by the glitter of their weapons. The Spanish captain immediately made preparation for battle. Leaving a sufficient number to protect the work and guard the camp,[XXVII-43] he advanced against them with the remainder of his forces, and was soon engaged in a desperate struggle. Three several times the ranks of the mountaineers were broken, and as often did they rally and attack with ever increasing fury. Only the steel and cotton armor of the Spanish forces saved them from destruction. As it was, lance and sword, bullet and bolt, reaped the usual harvest, and on the plain, saturated with blood and bespotted with mangled bodies, the Spaniards at last stood triumphant.[XXVII-44]

Thenceforth the siege continued uninterrupted. The work of cutting the road dragged slowly on, and by the middle of October both besiegers and besieged were undergoing intense suffering. Within the city famine was daily gathering its victims; every eatable substance, to the leather of their shields, had been consumed, and the survivors were feeding on the bodies of the dead. Scarcity of provisions, too, was felt in the Spanish camp. But this was not the worst. The weather was unusually severe; icy hailstorms and keen frosts caused much suffering to the invaders, unaccustomed to the cold of that altitude. Fever and ague also attacked them. From the rain and hail that fell the plain had become a swamp, and day by day Gonzalo saw the number of his haggard troops' grow smaller. A more speedy method of reducing the place must be adopted or the attempt abandoned. Accordingly he sent off his sick to Huehuetenango, and stopping work on the road, prepared to make the desperate attempt to storm the place with scaling ladders.[XXVII-45] He had already constructed a number of these ladders, huge in size and wide enough to allow three men to ascend abreast, and was on the point of making the attack when there appeared an envoy from Caibil Balam suing for peace. This unfortunate ruler had previously attempted to escape by night with his family and an escort of the principal chiefs; but having fallen in with a patrolling party, he was wounded in the arm with a cross-bow bolt and compelled to return. And now he had taken counsel with his chiefs on the subject of surrender. He had represented to them that all hope of relief was gone, while his famished subjects were dying around him. Submission alone could save the few survivors. The chiefs had eagerly approved his words, and the tender of submission was made. Gonzalo's satisfaction at this unexpected termination of the siege was indeed great. A spot midway between the gate of Zakuléu and the quarters of the cavalry was appointed as the place of meeting for the settlement of terms, and Gonzalo, accompanied by Loarca, Salazar, Arévalo, and twelve others, there met the humbled Caibil Balam. The Spaniard's reception of the native ruler was friendly in the extreme, and with an embrace, Gonzalo assured him of his love and friendship. Under such kindly treatment, so little expected, the stoical self-command of the weakened warrior gave way, and he wept as he returned the victor's greeting.

[Sidenote: THE COUNTRY PACIFIED.]

The Spaniards then took formal possession of the city in the name of the king of Spain.[XXVII-46] They destroyed the fortification at the entrance,[XXVII-47] and made more practicable the road across the ravine. The surrounding country was afterward explored and the towns subjected to Spanish rule. In Huehuetenango Gonzalo de Alvarado stationed a strong garrison, with Gonzalo de Solis as captain, and having taken all the necessary measures for the permanent tranquillity of his newly conquered territory, he returned to Guatemala City toward the end of the year.

Henceforth conquest, oppression, and destruction marched hand-in-hand over the country, and the result was a national and social eclipse of the fallen races. Their arts and sciences were soon forgotten; their architectural skill was lost; and from a state of happy development their life as a nation was blotted out. To what extent the progress of the world would have been benefited or retarded, had the aboriginal inhabitants of the American table-lands survived as integral nations, it is impossible to say; but we may question how much the occupation of the country by the Spaniards contributed toward general advancement. It is thought by some that the great Indian nations had reached the limit of their present line of progress when the Spaniards arrived. In Guatemala the individual kings had by long lines of succession arrived at that stage of monarchy when power begets luxury and decay. Without European interference there might have been a relapse and a dark age; and a later view, had discovery been delayed to our own time for instance, might have found Mexico and Central America overrun by savage hordes from the north and ruined cities scattered over the land. To this fancy I am not prepared wholly to subscribe.[XXVII-48]

FOOTNOTES

[III-1] The island known to-day as Hayti was named by Columbus _Insula Hispaniæ_, Island of Spain. On one of his maps it is called _Insula Hyspaniæ_, and on another _Hyspana_. By the early navigators and chroniclers the name was turned into Spanish and spoken and written _La Isla Española_, the Spanish Isle, or _La Española_. _Hispaniola_, as it is called at a later period by English authors, is neither Latin nor Spanish; it may be a syncope of the words _Insula Hyspaniæ_, or more likely it is a corruption of _La Española_ by foreigners to whom the Spanish _ñ_ was not familiar. The choice lies between the mutilation, _Hispaniola_, of English authors, and the correct but unfamiliar _Española_, and I adopt the latter.

[III-2] Usually two royal officers went out by each departure; a treasurer to take charge of the gold, and a notary to watch the treasurer and write down what was seen and done. The government was exceedingly strict in its regulations of discoveries by sea, as well as in all matters relative to commerce and colonization. Notice was given by Ferdinand and Isabella September 3, 1501, by Charles V. November 17, 1526, and by Philip II. in 1563, that no one should go to the Indies except under express license from the king. In 1526 Charles V. ordered that the captain of any discovering or trading vessel should not go ashore within the limits mentioned in his patent without the permission of the royal officers and priests on board, under penalty of confiscation of half the goods. The law of 1556 stipulates that ships must be properly equipped, provisioned for one year, always sail in pairs, and carry in each two pilots and two priests. In his _ordenanzas de poblaciones_ of 1563 Philip II. directs that vessels making discoveries shall carry scissors, combs, knives, looking-glasses, rifles, axes, fishhooks, colored caps, glass beads, and the like, as means of introduction and traffic. _Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias_, ii. 6-7. In regard to the share of the crown in the gold gathered our popular writers seem to have found original authorities somewhat vague. It is clearly enough stated that settlers are to pay two thirds; the question is whether in relation to discoverers gold is included in products of which one tenth was to go to the crown, or whether the exception to a rule was unintentionally omitted. Mr Irving glides gracefully over the difficulty with the same degree of indefiniteness that he finds in the authorities. Mr Prescott states positively, _History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, ii. 488, that 'the ships fitted out under the general license were required to reserve ... two thirds of all the gold' for the crown, quoting Muñoz and Navarrete as vouchers, the words of neither justifying the statement. Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. 240, says, 'se concedió á todos generalmente, sin mas gravamen que pagar la décima de lo que se rescatase,' while Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, ii. 167, printing the _real provision_ itself, states simply 'es nuestra merced que de lo que las dichas personas hallaren en las dichas islas é tierra-firme hayan para sí las nueve partes, é la otra diezma parte sea para Nos.' The misstatement of the talented author of _Ferdinand and Isabella_ is rendered all the more conspicuous when on the very next page quoted by him Muñoz settles the whole matter exactly contrary to Prescott's account. 'todos se permitió llevar víveres y mercancías, rescatar oro de los naturales contribuyendo al rey con la décima.' And after thus stating distinctly that all might trade with the natives for gold on paying one tenth to the crown, he gives the reason why miners must pay two thirds to the crown; or if the recipient of pecuniary aid from the crown, then four fifths; it was because of the supposed exceeding richness of the mines, the ease with which gold could be obtained; and, further, the dependence of the crown on its mines, more than on anything else for a colonial revenue. Prior to 1504 the regulation of the royal share was not fixed, some of the traders paying one tenth gross, some one fifth gross, and some one fourth net. Bobadilla, in 1500, granted twenty years' licenses to settlers in Española to work gold mines by paying only one eleventh to the crown. Summarizing the subsequent laws upon the subject, we find ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella, February 5, 1504, reiterated by Philip, 1572, that all dwellers in the Indies must pay to the crown one fifth of all gold, silver, lead, tin, quicksilver, iron, or other metal obtained by them; likewise traders were to pay one fifth of all gold, silver, or other metals, pearls, precious stones, or amber obtained by them. September 14, 1519, Charles V. declared that of all gold received in trade from the natives one fifth must be paid to him; and March 8, 1530, he said that where a reward has been promised to a prospector of mines the royal treasury would pay two thirds of that reward, and the private persons interested one third. It was ordered September 4, 1536, and reiterated June 19, 1540, that all persons must pay the king's fifth on the before-mentioned articles, whether obtained in battle or by plundering-expeditions, or by trade. Of all gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones received as ransom of a cacique or other principal personage the king was to have one third; the remainder, after deducting the king's fifth, was to be divided among the members of the expedition. Of the spoils secured from a cacique slain in battle, or executed, one half was the crown's, and one half, except the king's fifth, the property of the conquerors. June 5, 1551, it was ordered, and reiterated August 24, 1619, that beside the king's share, there be levied a duty of 1½ per cent. to pay for smelting, assaying, and stamping. By the _ordenanzas de poblaciones_ of Philip II., 1563, the adelantado of a discovery by land, and his successor, and the settlers were to pay the crown but one tenth on metals and precious stones for the term of ten years. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 10, 68, 75-7, 79, and 480-1.

[III-3] The document may be seen to-day in the archives of the Indies. Beginning: 'EL REY É LA REINA. El asiento que se tomó por nuestro mandado con vos Rodrigo de Bastidas, vecino de la cibdad de Sevilla, para ir á descobrir por el mar Océano, con dos navios, es lo siguiente:'—it goes on to state, 'First, that we give license to you, the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that with two vessels of your own, and at your own cost and risk, you may go by the said Ocean Sea to discover, and you may discover islands and firm land; in the parts of the Indies and in any other parts, provided it be not the islands and firm land already discovered by the Admiral Don Cristóbal Colon, our admiral of the Ocean Sea, or by Cristóbal Guerra; nor those which have been or may be discovered by other person or persons by our order and with our license before you; nor the islands and firm land which belong to the most serene prince, the king of Portugal, our very dear and beloved son; for from them nor from any of them you shall not take anything, save only such things as for your maintenance, and for the provision of your ships and crew you may need. Furthermore, that all the gold, and silver, and copper, and lead, and tin, and quicksilver, and any other metal whatever; and _aljofar_, and pearls, and precious stones and jewels, and slaves and negroes, and mixed breeds, which in these our kingdoms may be held and reputed as slaves; and monsters and serpents, and whatever other animals and fishes and birds, and spices and drugs, and every other thing of whatsoever name or quality or value it may be; deducting therefrom the freight expenses, and cost of vessels, which in said voyage and fleet may be made; of the remainder to us will belong the fourth part of the whole, and the other three fourths may be freely for you the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that you may do therewith as you choose and may be pleased to do, as a thing of your own, free and unincumbered. _Item_, that we will place in each one of the said ships one or two persons, who in our name or by our order shall be witnesses to all which may be obtained and trafficked in said vessels of the aforesaid things; and that they may put the same in writing and keep a book and account thereof, so that no fraud or mistake happen.' After stating further under whose direction the ships should be fitted out, and what should be done on the return of the expedition, the document is dated at Seville, June 5, 1500, and the signatures follow: 'YO EL REY. YO LA REINA. Por mandado del Rey é de la Reina, GASPAR DE GRIZIO.' All this under penalty of the forfeiture of the property and life of the captain of the expedition, Rodrigo de Bastidas. _Archivo de Indias_, printed in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, ii. 362-6.

[III-4]

It is often remarked with wonder in what small and apparently insecure vessels the early navigators traversed perilous seas and explored unknown coasts. That shipwreck so often attended their ventures is less surprising than that so many escaped destruction. Two of the three vessels employed by Columbus were open boats, according to _March y Labores_, _Historia de la Marina Real Española_, i. 98, of forty tons each, and the decked _Santa María_, only sixty tons. The term caravel was originally given to ships navigated wholly by sails as distinguished from the galley propelled by oars. It has been applied to a great variety of vessels of different size and construction. The caravels of the New World discoverers may be generally described as long, narrow boats of from twenty to one hundred tons burden, with three or four masts of about equal height carrying sometimes square and sometimes lateen sails, the fourth mast set at the heel of the bowsprit carrying square sails. They were usually half-decked, and adorned with the lofty forecastle and loftier poop of the day. The latter constituted over that part of the vessel a double or treble deck, which was pierced for cannon. A class of vessels like the _Santa María_, beside a double stern deck, had a forward deck armed with small pieces for throwing stones and grape. In the archives of Mallorca is a picture of a caravel drawn in 1397, and a very fair representation of those in use a century later may be found on Juan de la Cosa's map. The large decked ships of from 100 to 1200 tons had two, three, or four masts, and square sails, with high poop and sometimes high prow. In naval engagements and in discovery the smaller vessels seemed to be preferred, being more easily handled. Columbus, at Paria, complained of his vessel of 100 tons as being too large. In his _ordenanzas de poblaciones_ of 1563 Philip II. required every discoverer to take at least two vessels of not over sixty tons each, in order to enter inlets, cross the bars of rivers, and pass over shoals. The larger ships, if any were of the expedition, must remain in a safe port until another safe port was found by the small craft. Thirty men and no more were to go in every ship, and the pilots must write down what they encountered for the benefit of other pilots. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 5-6. The _galera_ was a vessel of low bulwarks, navigated by sails and oars, usually twenty or thirty oars on either side, four or five oarsmen to a bench. It frequently carried a large cannon, called _cruxia_, two of medium size, and two small guns. The _galeaza_ was the largest class of galera, or craft propelled wholly or in part by oars. It had three masts; it commonly carried twenty cannon, and the poop accommodated a small army of fusileers and sharpshooters. A _galeota_ was a small galera, having only sixteen or twenty oarsmen on a side, and two masts. The _galeon_ was a large armed merchant vessel with high bulwarks, three or four decks, with two or three masts, square-rigged spreading courses and top-sails, and sometimes top-gallant sails. One fleet of twelve galleons, from 1000 to 1200 tons burden, was named after the twelve apostles. Those which plied between Acapulco and Manila were from 1200 to 2000 tons burden. A _galeoncillo_ was a small galeon. The _carac_ was a large carrying vessel, the one intended for Columbus' second voyage being 1250 _toneles_, or 1500 tons. A _nao_, or _navío_, was a large ship with high bulwarks and three masts. A _nave_ was a vessel with deck and sails; the former distinguishing it from the _barca_, and the absence of oars from a galera. The _bergantin_, or brig, had low bulwarks; the _bergantin-goleta_ was a hermaphrodite brig, or brigantine, built for fast sailing. The name brigantine was applied in America also to an open flat-bottomed boat which usually carried one sail and from eight to sixteen men, with a capacity for about 100 persons.

[III-5] The Spanish league varies with time and place. It was not until 1801 that the diverse measurements of the several original kingdoms were by royal order made uniform, the legal league then becoming throughout all Spain 20,000 Spanish feet. Of these leagues there are twenty to the degree, making each three geographical miles, being, as specified by the law, the distance travelled on foot at a steady gait in one hour. The land league was, by law of Alfonso the Wise, 3000 paces, as specified by the _Siete Partidas_. The discoverers roughly estimated a league at from two and a half to three and a half English miles. A marine or geographical league at that time was about 7500 varas, or little less than four English miles, there being nearly 17½ to a degree of latitude. In different parts of Spanish America the league is different, being sometimes quite short. In Cuba a league consists of 5078 varas, and in Mexico of 5000 varas. The vara is the Spanish yard, comprising three Spanish feet of eleven English inches each. Since the decline of Roman influence, the Spaniards have had no equivalent for the English mile.

[III-6] See next chapter, note 18.

[III-7] Called by the Venetians _bissas_, and by the Spaniards _broma_; a terrible pest to tropical navigators before the days of copper-bottoming. This, and another tropical marine worm, the _Simnoria terebrans_, brought hither by ships, play havoc with the wharf-piling of San Francisco and other west-coast harbors.

[III-8] The early chroniclers make their reckonings of values under different names at different times. Thus during the discoveries of Columbus we hear of little else but _maravedís_; then the _peso de oro_ takes the lead, together with the _castellano_; all along _marco_ and _ducado_ being occasionally used. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, and before and after, Spanish values were reckoned from a mark of silver, which was the standard. A mark was half a pound either of gold or silver. The gold mark was divided into fifty castellanos; the silver mark into eight ounces. In the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the mark was divided by law into 65 _reales de vellon_ of 34 maravedís each, making 2210 maravedís in a mark. To show how changeable were the values of subsidiary Spanish coins, and how utterly impossible it is accurately and at all times to determine by their names the amount of metal they represent, it is only necessary to state that in the reign of Alfonso XI., 1312-1350, there were 125 maravedís to the mark, while in the reign of Ferdinand VII., 1808-1833, a mark was divided into 5440 maravedís. In Spanish America a _real_ is one eighth of a _peso_, and equal to 2½ reales de vellon. The peso contains one ounce of silver; it was formerly called _peso de ocho reales de plata_, whence came the term _pieces of eight_, a vulgarism at one time in vogue among the merchants and buccaneers in the West Indies. This coin is designated more particularly as _peso fuerte_, or _peso duro_, to distinguish it from _peso sencillo_, equivalent in value to four fifths of the former. The mutilator of Herrera translates _pesos de oro_ as pieces of eight, in which as in other things he is about as far as possible wrong. The castellano, the one fiftieth of the golden mark, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, was equivalent to 490 maravedís of that day. The _peso de oro_, according to Oviedo, was exactly equivalent to the castellano, and either was one third greater than the ducado, or ducat. The _doblon_, the popular name for the _excelente_, was first struck by Ferdinand and Isabella as a gold coin of the weight of two castellanos. The modern doubloon is an ounce of coined gold, and is worth 16 pesos fuertes. Reduced to United States currency the peso fuerte, as slightly alloyed bullion, is in weight nearly enough equivalent to one dollar. Therefore a mark of silver is equal to eight dollars; a piece of eight, equal to one peso, which equals one dollar; a real de vellon, five cents; a Spanish-American real, 12½ cents; a maravedí, 100/276 of a cent; a castellano, or peso de oro, $2.56; a doubloon, $5.14; a ducat, $1.92; a mark of gold, $128, assuming the United States alloy. The fact that a castellano was equivalent to only 490 maravedís shows the exceedingly high value of silver as compared with gold at the period in question. The modern ounce, or doubloon, is valued at about $16. As to the relative purchasing power of the precious metals at different times during the past four centuries economists differ. The returns brought by the first discoverers began the depreciation, which was rapidly accelerated by the successive conquests, notably of Mexico and Peru. Any one may estimate; no one can determine with exactness. Robertson, Prescott, and other writers make but guess-work of it (see _Hist. America_, and _Conq. Mexico_, passim) when they attempt to measure the uncertain and widely diversified denominations of centuries ago by the current coin of to-day.

[III-9] Las Casas, who was at Santo Domingo when the shipwrecked mariners arrived, saw Bastidas, and part of his gold, and the natives of Darien whom he had brought, and who in place of the Adamic fig-leaf wore a funnel-shaped covering of gold. There were great riches, it was said; three chests full of gold and pearls, which on reaching Spain were ordered to be publicly displayed in all the towns through which the notary passed on his way to court. This, as an advertisement of the Indies, was done to kindle the fires of avarice and discontent in sluggish breasts, that therefrom others might be induced to go and gather gold and pay the king his fifth. Afterward Bastidas returned with his wife and children to Santo Domingo, and became rich in horned cattle, having at one time 8000 head; and that when a cow in Española was worth 50 pesos de oro. In 1504 he again visited Urabá, in two ships, and brought thence 600 natives, whom he enslaved in Española. In 1520 the emperor gave him the pacification of Trinidad with the title of adelantado; which grant being opposed by Diego Colon, on the ground that the island was of his father's discovering, Bastidas waived his claim, and accepted the governorship of Santa Marta, where he went with 450 men, and was assassinated by his lieutenant, Villafuerte, who thought to succeed him, and to silence the governor's interposed objections to the maltreatment of the natives. Thus if the humane Bastidas, in accordance with the custom of the day, did inhumanly enslave his fellow-creatures, he gave his life at last to save them from other cruelties; which act, standing as it does luminous and alone in a century of continuous outrage, entitles him to the honorable distinction of Spain's best and noblest _conquistador_. As the eloquent Quintana says: 'Bastidas no se hizo célebre ni como descubridor ni como conquistador; pero su memoria debe ser grata á todos los amantes de la justicia y de la humanidad, por haber sido uno de los pocos que trataron á los indios con equidad y mansedumbre, considerando aquel pais mas bien como un objeto de especulaciones mercantiles con iguales, que como campo de gloria y de conquistas.'

Among the standard authorities mention is made of Bastidas and his voyage by Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 10-12, who refutes certain of Oviedo's unimportant statements in _Historia General y Natural de las Indias_, i. 76-7; ii. 334-5; by Herrera, i. 148-9; Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 67; and in _Galvano's Discov._, 99-100, and 102-3. But before these I should place original documents found in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 25-28, 545-6, and 591-3, and in the _Coleccion_ of Pacheco and Cárdenas, of both of which works I shall presently speak more fully. In tom. ii. pp. 362-6 of this latter collection is given the _Asiento que hizo con sus Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de Bastidas_, before mentioned; and on pp. 366-467, same volume, is _Informacion de los servicios del adelantado Rodrigo de Bastidas, conquistador y pacificador de Santa Marta_. Next in importance to the chroniclers are, _Historia de la Marina Real Española_, i. 284; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 11; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i. 159; _Help's Spanish Conquest_, i. 294; _Acosta_, _Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 21; _Irving's Columbus_, iii. 53-6, and _Quintana_, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_, 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa,' 1. _Robinson's Acct. Discov. in West_, 105; _Lardner's Maritime Discovery_, ii. 32; _Holmes' Annals of America_, i. 20; _Lerdo de Tejada_, _Apuntes Hist._, 89; _Harris' Voy._, i. 270; _Major's Prince Henry_, 369, and like allusions are worthless. In _Kerr's Col. Voy._, ii. 58-63, is given a translation of Galvano. In Aa's collection the narrative is substantially the same as in Gottfried's.

[IV-1] His nephew, Fernando, in his _Hist. Almirante_, in _Barcia_, passim, and those who follow this author closely, as Napione and De Conti, call him El Prefecto; Herrera, Diego Mendez, Diego de Porras, Robertson, Navarrete, and others, employ the title adelantado. Herrera says he was captain of one of the ships.

[IV-2] Ferdinand Columbus, or as he is more commonly called Fernando Colon, was an illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus, by a lady of respectable family. He was born at Córdova, and in 1494, after his father became famous, was brought with his elder brother to court, where he was placed as page to Prince Juan. Upon the death of the heir apparent young Fernando served Queen Isabella in the same capacity, thereby securing an excellent education. During this perilous voyage he was an object no less of comfort than of anxiety to his father, now infirm and troubled in spirit, and his conduct throughout merited and received paternal commendation. 'El ha salido y sale de muy buen saber,' writes the fond father, 'bien que él sea niño en dias, no es assi en el entendimiento.' _Cartas de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 341 and 344. See also _Zúñiga_, _Anales de Sevilla_. His manhood fulfilled the promise of his youth. He cultivated literature with considerable success, and became, as Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. viii., expresses it, 'doctísimo para su siglo, y de grandes pensamientos en materias literarias, segun demostraré á su tiempo.' He travelled extensively in Europe, in the train of Charles V., probably visited Africa and Asia, and is said to have made two voyages to America after his father's death. He formed a collection of over 20,000 printed books and manuscripts, which went to the cathedral of Seville. He neither married, nor left any recognized progeny. He was the author of several works which have not been preserved, the inscription on his tomb mentioning one in four divisions relating partly to the New World and his father's voyages. Antonio de Leon Pinelo, _Epitome_, 565, 633 and 711, speaks of a work, _Apuntamientos sobre la Demarcacion del Maluco_, preserved in manuscript at Simancas. The only printed book of Fernando Colon is a history of the admiral, his father. The original title is not known, the manuscript disappearing before its publication in Spanish. Luis Colon, duke of Veraguas, and grandson of the admiral, brought the manuscript to Genoa about 1568, and delivered it to one Fornari, an old man who, according to Barcia, began to print it in Spanish, Italian, and Latin. Others assert that it passed into the hands of Marini, who caused it to be translated into Italian by Alfonso de Ulloa. _Spotorno_, _Codice Diplomatico_, 1823, lxiii. Ulloa's translation, badly made from a bad copy—'sans doute d'après un texte assez fautif,' _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, i. 13,—was printed in Venice, in 1571, under the title, _Historie del Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell' Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre_, etc. It was reprinted in Italian some six or eight times. A French translation was published in 1680-1, and an English translation has gone the rounds, appearing in _Churchill's Col. Voy._, ii. 480-604; _Kerr's Col. Voy._, iii. 1-242; and _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._, xii. 1-155. It was carelessly retranslated from the Italian into Spanish by Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia, and printed in his _Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales_, 3 vols., Madrid, 1749, comprising pp. 1-128, tom. i., of that series, and entitled, _La Historia de D. Fernando Colon, en la qual se da Particular, y verdadera relacion de la vida, y hechos de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon, su Padre_, etc. This is the edition most commonly used, and to this I refer, although I have before me an Italian copy of the edition of 1709. Fernando Colon had peculiar advantages for writing his father's history. Himself an actor in the events described, he was moreover personally acquainted with his father's friends, and held possession of his father's papers. All agree that he made good use of his opportunity, and that he has given a clear statement of events which even in his own time began to be distorted. If he was silent touching his father's family, country, and birth, we must remember that poverty and obscurity were a disgrace in those days, and that the son Fernando was a Spaniard. Those who should best know the merits of this author pay him the highest tribute. Of his work says Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. viii., 'Confieso deberle mucho;' and the author Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, i. lxx., remarks, 'habló siempre con verdad y exactitud, salvo alguna equivocacion fácil de discernir en buena crítica ... y por tanto pueden aun estas leves faltas ser efecto de la incuria ó poca inteligencia de ambos traductores.' Attempts have been made to deny to Fernando the authorship, but this, if correct, does not materially affect its value, since it is allowed to have been written from his documents and under his supervision. The vicissitudes to which the work has been subjected and the mutilation it has suffered afford grounds for caution not to be disregarded by the historian. Still, the general tenor and details of the narrative, and the literary bent of the reputed author, present in themselves sufficient evidence of its authenticity.

With regard to the use of certain proper names encountered thus far in this history I would say a word. The question presents difficulties in whatsoever aspect viewed. There are Spanish names of places and persons which custom has so anglicized as to give to their use in the original the appearance of affectation—instance Castilla, for Castile; Sevilla, Seville; Fernando and Isabel, Ferdinand and Isabella; Cárlos V., Charles V.; Felipe II., Philip II. On the other hand, in writing in English of Spanish affairs, the attempt to continue indefinitely the anglicizing of Spanish names would be as impossible as absurd. The two chief objects with me have been to adopt the best forms, and to preserve consistency; I do not claim eminent success in either attempt. The result, however, has been the adoption of the following method, if it may be called a method: The prominent places and persons of Spain, whose names are invariably given in their anglicized form in current English literature, I write in the same way; but those same names, as well as all others, appearing in the New World, where no prominent English writers have made them familiar in an English form, I present in the original as written by the best Spanish scholars. Thus the name of the great Genoese I give in its common latinized form, Christopher Columbus, while in the use of those of his less eminent brothers and sons, who soon became almost or altogether Spaniards, I adopt the forms employed by Spaniards.

[IV-3] Instance the title-page of the first work published on the New World, in 1493:—_Epistola Christofori Colom: cui etas nostra multũ a debet: de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper inuentis. Ad quas perquirendas octauo antea mense auspiciis et ere inuictissimi Fernandi Hispaniarum Regis missus fuerat: ad Magnificum dum Raphaelem Sanxis: eiusdem serenissimi Regis Tesaurariũ missa: quam nobilis ac litteratus vir Aliander de Cosco ab Hispano ideomate in latinum conuertit: tertio kal's Maij. M.cccc.xciij. Pontificatus Alexandri Sexti Anno Primo._ Letter of Christopher Colom, to whom our age is greatly indebted, respecting the Islands of India beyond the Ganges, lately discovered. In search of which he was sent eight months since, under the auspices and at the expense of the most invincible Ferdinand, king of the Spains. Sent to the magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis, treasurer of the same most serene king, and which the noble and learned man, Aliander de Cosco, translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin. The third day of the Calends of May, 1493. Pontificate of Alexander VI., Year One.

[IV-4] Guanaja is the most easterly of a group called the Bay Islands. To the west of Guanaja, in the order here named, lie Barbaretta, Helena, Morat, Ruatan, the largest, and Utila. On Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, Guanaja is written _guanasa_. On map iv., _Munich Atlas_, supposed to have been drawn by Salvat Pilestrina in 1515, Guanaja is called _sam fir.co_, San Francisco; Ruatan, _todo samto_; and Utila, _I:lhana_. Fernando Colon locates on his map, 1527, _y:llana_, _s:francisco_, and _todos sanctos_, and between the last two, _sancta ffe._ On the map of Diego de Ribera, 1529, are _s:franco_, _to stõs_, _la llana_, and _s∴ fe._ Vaz Dourado, 1571, map x., _Munich Atlas_, calls Guanaja, _lla ganaxa_; Ruatan, _aguba_; and Utila, _dotila_. _Mercator's Atlas_, 1574, gives _Guanaxos_; _Ogilby's Map_, 1671, _Guanaja_, _Guajama_, _Roatan_, and _Vtila_; _Laet_, _Novvs Orbis_, 1633, the same; _Jefferys' Voyages_, 1776, _Guanaja_ or _Bonaka_, _Guajama_ or _Rattan_, and _Utila_. Of Guanaja, Diego de Porras in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 283, remarks:—'es pequeña, bojará veinte leguas, no tiene cosa de provecho.' Utila is low and level; hence the name, La Llana. In his remarks on the two oldest maps of America, Kohl says of Guanaja:—'Das Columbus sie schon gesehen hat, ist zu bezweifeln, da er wohl nicht so weit westwärts segelte oder blickte. Vielleicht sahen sie jedoch Pinzon und Solis 1508. Gewiss ist es, dass sie schon 1516 von einer spanischen Expedition, die zum Menschenraub von Cuba nach Süden ausgelaufen war, besucht wurde.' Fernando Colon complains that Solis and Pinzon, visiting these regions in 1508, re-named many localities, claiming to be the first discoverers, and thus causing much confusion in the charts of the times.

And here as well as elsewhere I may speak of a work from which I have derived no inconsiderable advantage in tracing the metamorphoses of names from those originally given to those finally established. Believing that much curious and valuable historical information might be obtained by instituting a close comparison of the nomenclature employed by the earlier makers of charts at their respective dates, in 1873 I directed Mr Goldschmidt to bring out and arrange for convenient reference all such relevant maps as my library contained. Beginning then with the earliest, we entered on paper prepared for the purpose the names of all the principal places contained within our territory. And so with the next, and the next, through the successive periods of discovery, following the coast on one side from Darien to Texas, and on the other from Panamá to Alaska, and along the Arctic seaboard to the Mackenzie River. Inland names were included, but their number was small as compared with those along the ocean. Some 200 maps, each original authority for its time and place, were thus examined, and the names which had been applied at various times and by various persons to the several important geographical points along this vast shore line, and throughout the inland area, were brought together so that comparisons might be made, and the nomenclatural history of the several places be quickly and correctly traced. All of the authorities I cannot mention here, but they will severally be referred to in their proper places during the course of this history. The result of this labor at the end of six months, Mr Goldschmidt working alone after the first fortnight, was three folio manuscript volumes, entitled _Cartography of the Pacific Coast of North America, and of the Eastern Coasts of Mexico and Central America_. The maps more particularly examined in writing this volume are as follows. Passing the sea charts of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made about 1390, and used by Frobisher; the ocean and islands between western Europe and eastern Asia from the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492; the chart of Juan de la Cosa, 1500, showing the West India Islands, but omitting the coast of Central America; and the map of Johann Ruysch, 1508,—we have, in part most important, the following: Map of _India beyond the Ganges_, drawn by Peter Martyr in 1511, and showing a coast line from Brazil to the middle of Yucatan. Along this line, in the order here given, from east to west, are _vraba_, _tariene_, _el mamol_, _beragua_, _c gra de dios_, _guanasa_, _b de lagartos_. North of Cuba is a section of the continental shore line lettered _isla de beimini, parte_. In Ptolemy's Cosmography, 1513, the coast between Brazil and Florida is given, but without names. The Atlantic is called _Oceanus Occidentalis_; and South America, _Terra Incognita_. By Reisch, in _Margaritha Philosophica_, 1515, the map is called _Typvs Vniversalis Terre Ivxta_. Two only of the islands are given and both called _Isabella_. South of _Oceanus Occidentalis_ is a large continent called _Paria sev Prisilia_, Paria or Brazil. There are no names on the line of Central America, and the only lettering on the small portion of the northern continent are the mysterious words _Zoana Mela_, which have given rise to much discussion. In 1859 was published at Munich, by the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, from manuscripts in the university library and army archives, under the auspices of Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl von Spruner, and Georg M. Thomas, and as supplementary to the text of Kunstmann's _Die Entdeckung Amerikas_, a collection of fac-similes of thirteen early maps of America, entitled _Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas_. This work I shall cite briefly as the _Munich Atlas_. Parts of the Pacific States are shown on maps numbers iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xii. and xiii., which will be further mentioned in their several places. Map iv. was drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina probably in 1515. It shows none of the main-land above Yucatan, which is a peninsula. The northern coast of Central America is given, and the southern seaboard only of the Isthmus. No names are written on the southern coast. The South Sea is called _Mar Visto pelos castelhanos_, Sea seen by the Spaniards. Map v. is supposed to be by Visconte de Maiollo, 1519. It shows the northern coast of the continent only from Cape Camaron to about 30° south latitude. In a book entitled _Apiano, Cosmographia_, 1575, a copy of a map supposed to have been drawn by Peter Apianus in 1520, and the first upon which I have seen the name 'America.' The northern part is long and narrow, of a horseshoe shape, and lettered _Baccalearum_. A large continent is placed north of a strait running round the northern end of North America. Evidently Master Apianus was determined no one during his time should out-north him in map-delineation of a region of which absolutely nothing was known, either then or for a long time after. On a map of North America from the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the name 'America' likewise appears, the lettering on the globe being placed in Brazil, and being in these words:—_America Vel Brasilia Sive Papagalli Terra_. The northern and southern continents are separated by a strait at the Isthmus. It is to be regretted that Master Schöner had not the making of the world, so that it should agree with his map, and save canal-cutting. The western line of the northern continent runs north and south; the western line of the southern continent north-west and south-east. The extreme northern end of the northern continent is called _Terra de Cuba_. Along the western shore are the words _Ultra mondv lustratum_. West of the northern continent lie the large island of _Zipangri_ and a multitude of islets. The north Pacific is called _Orientalis Oceanus_. Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, is a rough draft of oval shape with several names along the coast, many of which are obsolete. Yucatan is represented as an island. In 1860 J. G. Kohl published at Weimar a dissertation on two of the oldest general maps of America, with the origin of the names on each. The maps were those of Fernando Colon, 1527, and Diego Ribero, 1529, then in the grand-ducal library at Weimar. The text accompanying these fac-similes is entitled _Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika_. _Ausgeführt in den Jahren 1527 und 1529, auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V._ The maps being full of names, concerning many of which there has been much discussion, 185 royal folio pages are devoted to their explanation. Beside a critical review of nomenclature is given much information, both geographical and historical. Colon's map shows the eastern coasts of North and South America, and the southern shores of the Isthmus and Central America to about Nicaragua. Ribero's map contains more names than Colon's, and a section of the Peruvian coast; otherwise they are not unlike. Continuing the present list we have all of South America, and part of North America, given in 1527 by Robert Thorne; and the western side of the New World in 1528 by Bordone. Ptolemy, in _Munster_, _Cosmography_, 1530, gives the two Americas entirely surrounded by water, with Yucatan an island; in the interior of Mexico _Chamaho_, and _Temistitan_; and near Zipangu _Archipelagus 7448 insularum_, counted in all probability specially for this map. Orontius Fine's globe, 1531, unites the southern continent, which it calls America, by the isthmus _dariena_ to the northern, which extends toward the north-west across the ocean and forms part of Asia, with a continuous coast line to Japan. The Atlantic is _Alanticum_, and the Pacific _Mar del Sur_. Yucatan is an island. It is difficult to tell where Mexico ends and Asia begins. _Temistitan_ is just south of _Catay_, and Mexican and Asiatic names promiscuously occur. Grynæus, in 1532, gives America in two parts, divided by a strait at the Isthmus; the western end of the northern continent is called _Terra de Cuba_. Map vi., _Munich Atlas_, 1532-40, shows the Pacific coast from Peru to California, which is represented as a peninsula. The gulf of California is called the Red Sea. Yucatan is an island. Baptista Agnese, 1536, gives North America in the shape of a horseshoe, with Yucatan an island. Map vii., _Munich Atlas_, is supposed to be by Baptista Agnese, 1540-50. It shows the whole of the Atlantic coast, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. Ramusio, _Viaggi_, iii. fol. 455-56, 1565, lays down about half the Pacific coast. Maps ix. x. and xii., _Munich Atlas_, are supposed to have been drawn by Vaz Dourado in 1571. The first delineates South America, and a small part of the Isthmus; the second both shores of Central America, and the Gulf of Mexico; the third the Pacific coast only from Mexico to Anian Strait. On map x. is a large lake north of Mexico, in latitude 40° to 43°, and under it in large letters, _Bimenii Regio_. Gerard Mercator, _Atlas sive cosmographicæ_, 1569, and another edition 1574, represents the world on two globes, and surrounds the two Americas with water, beside capping either pole with a huge continent. In the north-eastern corner of Asia, map iv., is _Americæ pars_. There are also _Anian reg_, _Quiuira reg_, _Tuchano_, a city, and _El freto de Anian_. On map v. the strait of Magellan separates the southern continent from another large continent to the south of it, on which is placed _Terra del fuego_. Luckily this antarctic polar continent is labeled _Terra Avstralis nondvm cognita_, lest the author be embarrassed by questions about it. After well passing the strait of Magellan, _El Mar Pacifico_ is entered, though as the tropics are reached it becomes _Mar del Zur_. The northern part of this map v., the two Americas, is quite interesting, and will be explained elsewhere. This cartographical monstrosity Michael Lock, _Hakluyt's Divers Voy._, 1582, endeavored, and with very fair success, to exceed. Map xiii., _Munich Atlas_, by Thomas Hood, 1592, gives the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the eastern coast of North America. In _Drake's World Encompassed_, 1595, another source of information not remarkable for reliability, Hondius traces the western coast to Bering Strait. Hondius' map, 1625, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 857, gives North America to the mythical strait of Anian. Ioanne de Laet, _Novvs Orbis_, 1633, has at p. 220 a map of _Nveva España_, _Nveva Galicia_, and _Gvatimala_, and at p. 346 a map of _Tierra Firma_. A map of the world in the atlas of Jacob Colom, 1663, will require mention hereafter. _Ogilby's America_, 1671, gives the northern continent to Anian Strait with _Nova Albion_ in the northern part, and California as an island; and a map at p. 222 shows parts of Mexico and Central America. There is a map of the middle part of America in _Dampier's Voyages_, i. 44, 1699. Beside these, I shall have occasion to mention others, such as the maps in the _Buccaniers of America_, 1704; _Funnell's Voyage_, 1707; the Dutch collection of voyages by Pieter Van der Aa; the German collection of Gottfried; _Voyages de François Coreal_, 1722; _Anson's Voyage_, 1756; _Morden's Geography Rectified_, 1693; Harris, Harleian, Oxford, Rogers, Shelvocke, Jefferys, and other collections of voyages. I may also mention incidentally in this volume maps and charts relating more especially to another part of the Pacific States and described more fully in a succeeding volume.

[IV-5] Cacique, lord of vassals, was the name by which the natives of Cuba designated their chiefs. Learning this, the conquerors applied the name generally to the rulers of wild tribes, although in none of the dialects of the continent is the word found. Peter Martyr says that 'in some places they call a king Cacicus, in other places they call him Quebi, and somewhere Tiba.'

[IV-6] 'Porque,' says Herrera, 'auia muchos arboles, cuya fruta es vnas mançanillas buenas de comer.' Navarrete calls the place _Punta Castilla y Puerto de Trujillo_, and the coast _La Costa de Trujillo_. The name Honduras was applied first to the cape and afterward to a long stretch of shore. Fernando Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 103, _Barcia_, i., gives 'Cabo de Onduras.' In _Oviedo_, lib. iii. cap. ix., is written 'el cabo de Higueras;' this chronicler also employs the word Honduras; _Galvano's Discov._, 100, 'the Cape of Higueras, and vnto the Islands Gamares, and to the Cape of Honduras, that is to say, the Cape of the Depthes;' _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 28, 'Prouincia grande, che da' paesani è nominata Iguera, è da' Spagnuoli Capo di Fonduri;' _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 31, 'cabo de Higueras.'

[IV-7] Named by Columbus Rio de la Posesion, now known as Rio Tinto.

[IV-8] For full descriptions of the several peoples inhabiting this region at the coming of the Europeans, their physique, character, customs, myths, and languages, I must refer the reader to my _Native Races of the Pacific States_, 5 vols., passim.

[IV-9] This name has never changed. On Peter Martyr's _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, it is put down as _c. gr̃a de dios_; Maiollo, 1519, writes _C de gratia dios_; Fernando Colon, 1527, _C. de gracias, á dios_; Ribero, 1529, _C∴ de grãc a dios_; Maps vi. and vii., _Munich Atlas_, 1532-50, _C. de gracia dios_; Vaz Dourado, _C∴ de grasias adios_; Mercator, _C. de Gracias á Dios_; Dampier, _C. Gratia Dios_, etc.

[IV-10] Rio Escondido, or Bluefields, sometimes spelt Blewfields, but erroneously. The name originated from the Dutch pirate Bleeveldt. On map iv., _Munich Atlas_, in this vicinity are found the words _R∴ del su._

[IV-11] Mercator places half-way between Cape Gracias á Dios and Laguna de Chiriqui, _Quicuri_, designating a town. Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. iv., says: 'He came to a region which the inhabitants call Quicuris, in which is the hauen called Cariari, named Mirobalanus by the Admirall, because the Mirobalane trees are natiue in the regions thereabout.'

[IV-12] The name of the province also. Diego de Porras calls it _Cariay_; Herrera and those who follow him write _Cariari_. On the maps of Colon and Ribero, and also in Mercator's atlas, the word is _Cariay_. On the map of Vaz Dourado in this locality is written _masnoro_. 'Einige Geographen haben geglaubt, dass unsere heutige "Blewfields-Lagune" dieser Ankerplatz des Columbus sei. Andere haben dafür die Mündung des grossen Flusses von Nicaragua den Rio San Juan genommen.' _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 114-15.

[IV-13] 'En _Cariay_, y en esas tierras de su comarca, son grandes fechiceros y muy medrosos.' _Carta de Colon_, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 307. 'Nos parecian à nosotros grandes hechiceros, i no sin alguna raçon, pues quando se acercaban à los Christianos, esparcian, por el aire cierto polvo à su buelta, i con perfumes, que hechaban del polvo, hacian, que el humo fuese acía los Christianos.' _Colon_, _Hist. Almirante_, 107, in _Barcia_, i.

[IV-14] Says Fernando Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 108, in _Barcia_, i., of this place:—'arribò al Canal de Zerabora, que son 6 leguas de largo, i mas de tres de ancho, en el qual, ai muchas Isletas, i tres, ò quatro Bocas mui à proposito para entrar.' And Mr Kohl remarks, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 115, 'Diese Schilderung passt auf kein anderes Gewässer südlich vom San Juan 'Cariay,' als auf unsere 'Laguna de Chiriqui,' die auch wohl noch heutiges Tages besonders in ihrer westlichen Abtheilung 'Baia del Almirante' ... genannt wird.' Ribero places _ysa de cerebaro_ in the laguna. Vaz Dourado writes _Carabare_; Maiollo puts here somewhere _la casera bruxada_, and near by _oro boro_. Mercator makes _Cerebaro_ a town. Hondius, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, places in this vicinity the town, _Quicari_. _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624, gives _Carabaro_, and a little to the north a town, _Quicura_.

[IV-15] Aboriginally the name of a town, province, and river famous for gold. Later the name became historically celebrated, being applied by the Spaniards to that whole region, and given as a title to the descendants of Columbus, who were called dukes of Veraguas. Peter Martyr, Colon, and Ribero, all write _beragua_; Vaz Dourado, _baraga_; Ptolemy, _Beragua_, as a province; Laet and Jefferys, _Veragua_. Porras calls the province Cobraba.

[IV-16] Off Nombre de Dios on Vaz Dourado's map, is a group called _I∴ de bastimẽtos_; in the _Novvs Orbis_ of Laet they are _Yas de Bastimentos_; Jefferys calls them _los Bastimentos_; Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, i. 285, gives _Puerto del Retrete_ in the text, and _Puerto Escribanos_ in a note.

[IV-17] The locality of this little harbor was soon lost. Herrera affirms that in his time its situation was uncertain, some believing Nombre de Dios to be the place mentioned. Peschel locates it near the town of Colon; Humboldt at Puerto de Escribanos. Ribero places fifteen leagues west of Nombre de Dios, _po retre_. Kohl says, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 116: 'Er findet sich nicht auf N. Vallard (1547), nicht auf Dourado (1580) und nicht auf den Karten vom Isthmus von Darien in Herrera.' But it would seem from the description of Fernando Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 110, in _Barcia_, i., that the place should be easily enough found. He says:—'entramos en vn Puertecillo, que se llamò el _Retrete_, porque no cabian en èl mas de 5 ò 6 Navios; su entrada era por vna boca de quince, ò veinte pasos de ancho, i ambos lados eran Rocas, que salian del Agua, como punta de Diamante, i era tan profundo de Canal, por enmedio, que acercandose à la orilla, vn poco, se podia saltar desde el Navio en Tierra.'

[IV-18] Although the authorities are somewhat vague and conflicting as to the terminal point of the main-land coastings of Bastidas, there is no doubt that the two discoveries here united. Oviedo, ii. 334-36, and those copying his errors, take Bastidas direct from Urabá to Jamaica; but Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 11, states:—'Salieron del golfo de Urabá, y fueron la costa del Poniente abajo, y llegaron al puerto que llamaron del Retrete, donde agora está la ciudad y puerto que nombramos del Nombre de Dios.' Later, in chapter xxiii. 123, he corrects himself in regard to El Retrete and Nombre de Dios being the same place:—'Por esto parece que el puerto del Retrete no es el que agora llamamos del Nombre de Dios, como arriba dijimos por relacion de otros, sino más adelante, hácia el Oriente.' Speaking of El Retrete, Diego de Porras, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 285, remarks:—'En algunas cartas de navegar de algunos de los marineros juntaba esta tierra con la que habian descubierto Hojeda y Bastidas.' Navarrete himself, _Col. de Viages_, iii. 26, says of Bastidas, 'terminó su descubrimiento por los diez grados de altura en el puerto del Retrete ó de Escribanos y del nombre de Dios;' and again in a note concerning Nombre de Dios:—'En este puerto entró posteriormente el Almirante Colon el dia 26 de Noviembre de 1502 con noticia que ya tenia de los descubrimientos de Bastidas.' Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, 67, accredits Bastidas with the new discovery of 170 leagues of coast, 'que ay del cabo de la Vela al golfo de Vraua, y Farallones del Darien,' resting with Oviedo at that point. From the evidence Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i. 360, infers that Bastidas continued 'vers l'ouest jusqu'au Puerto de Retrete.' Loose statements are quite the habit now as of old; instance that of Lerdo de Tejada, who says, _Apuntes Hist._, 89, referring to Bastidas, 'Y siguió hasta el puerto llamado despues el _Retiro_, donde se fundó posteriormente el del _Nombre de Dios_.'

[IV-19] That is to say, Bethlehem. Porras enters it _Y. n. ebra_; Herrera, _Yebra_; and Fernando Colon, _Kiebra_. On Ribero's map the name _bele_ is given to a lagoon; Vaz Dourado writes _belen_; and Jacob Colom, _Belem_.

[IV-20] Although used by most Spanish and English writers as a proper name, the word _quibian_ is an appellative, and signifies the chief of a nation, or the ruler of a dynasty, as the _cacique_ of the Cubans, the _inca_ of the Peruvians, the _ahau_ of the Quichés, etc. Columbus, writing from Jamaica, employs the term _el Quibian de Veragua_; and again, _Carta de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 302, 'Asenté pueblo, y dí muchas dádivas al _Quibian_, que así llaman al Señor de la tierra.' Napione and De Conti write _il Quibio o cacico di Beragua_. See their _Biog. di Colombo_, 388:—"Il Prefetto andò colle barche al mare per entrare nel fiume e portarsi alla popolazione del Quibio, cosi chiamato da quei popoli il loro Re.'

[IV-21] Rio de la Concepcion.

[IV-22] Irving, _Columbus_, ii. 402, carelessly calls him 'the chief notary,' confounding him with Diego de Porras, who was notary of the expedition. The notary was not a fighting man, but rather must withhold himself from action that he might write down what was done by others.

[IV-23] 'Y como luego mandó prender al Cacique do se le fizo mucho daño que le quemaron su poblacion, que era la mejor que habia en la costa é de mejores casas, de muy buena madera, todas cubiertas de fojas de palmas, é prendieron á sus fijos, é aquí traen algunos dellos de que quedó toda aquella tierra escandalizada, desto no sé dar cuenta sino que lo mandó facer é aun apregonar escala franca.' _Diego de Porras_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 286-7.

[IV-24] There are two accounts of this affair; one by Fernando Colon, and one by Diego Mendez. Both are biased; the former in favor of Bartolomé, the latter in favor of the writer. Fernando tells how, when the settlement was taken by surprise, his uncle seized a lance, and supported by seven men fought with desperate valor until the main body of the Spaniards came to his relief, when the enemy was routed. The other states, _Relacion hecha por Diego Mendez_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 317, that the admiral had just left the harbor, accompanied by the larger part of the Spaniards, who had gone to say farewell. Mendez, newly appointed contador, held the town of Belen with twenty men. Suddenly four hundred Indians appeared on the hill above, and sent upon the Spaniards a shower of darts and arrows. Fortunately the yells were in advance of the weapons, and thus time was given Mendez to arm. The fight was desperate, and lasted three hours. Ten natives who ventured to close with their war clubs were slain by the sword. Seven of the twenty Christians were killed; but a miracle at last gave victory to the remainder. During the next four days, by the ingenuity of Mendez, and under his direction, the effects of the colony were placed on shipboard, and in return for his invaluable services he was made captain of Tristan's ship.

[IV-25] The final burial-place, not only of Columbus, but of his son Diego, and of his grandson Luis, was the cathedral of Santo Domingo. For seven years after his death the remains of Columbus lay in the convent of San Francisco at Valladolid. Then they were removed to Seville and placed in the monastery of Las Cuevas; and in 1536 were transferred to Santo Domingo. When Española was ceded to France in 1795, the Spanish naval commander asked permission to remove the remains to Cuba, which was granted; and what were supposed to be the remains were so removed midst pomp and ceremony in December-January following. But later investigations, the result of long-standing suspicions, satisfied many that a blunder had been committed; and that the bones of Columbus still rest at Santo Domingo. This has been proved beyond a doubt by the recent researches of the distinguished French savant and Americaniste A. Pinart.

[IV-26] I have remarked at some length on Fernando Colon's life of his father, and on the letters of the admiral, and other documents in Navarrete, Salvá and Baranda, Pacheco and Cárdenas, and Mendoza, and elsewhere. The standard historians, Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera, I will pass for the present, only remarking that each in his own way tells the story of the admiral, and all must be carefully considered in a study of his life and achievements. Other early or important authorities are _Zorzi_, _Paesi Nouamente retrouati_, Vicentia, 1507; _Ruchamer_, _Newe unbekanthe landte_, Nuremberg, 1508; _Stamler_, _Dyalogvs_, Augsburg, 1508; _Marineo_, _Obra Compuesta de las Cosas Memorables e Claros Varones de España_, Alcala, 1530; _Geraldini_, _Itinerarivm ad Regiones svb Æqvinoctiali_, Rome, 1631; _Grynævs_, _Novvs Orbis Regionvm ac Insularvm veteribvs incognitarvm_, Basle, 1532; _Maffei_, _Historiarum indicarum_, Florence, 1588; _Gambaræ_, _De navigatione Christophori Columbi_, Rome, 1585; _Charlevoix_, _Histoire de l'Isle-Espagnole_, Paris, 1730; _Cladera_, _Investigaciones historicas_, Madrid, 1794; _Bossi_, _Vita di Colombo_, Milan, 1818. _Die vierdte Reise so vollenbracht hat Christoffel Columb_, at page 6 of _Löw_, _Meer oder Seehanen Buch_, Cologne, 1598, should be read in reference with the maps, to be appreciated. See also _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 16-18 and 98-9; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 27-30; _Galvano's Discov._, 100-1; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, passim; _Major's Select Letters of Columbus_, _Hakluyt Soc._, London, 1847; _Castellanos_, _Elegías de Varones ilustres de Indias_, 42-3; _Acosta_, _Compend. Hist Nueva Granada_, 1-17; _Repertorio Americano_, iii. 186-225; _Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, 3-6 and 101-6; _Lerdo de Tejada_, _Apuntes Hist._, 77-80; _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 162-3; _Gordon's Hist. Am._, i. 247-64; _Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 16; _Payno_, _Cronología Mex._, in _Soc. Mex. Geog._; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i. 59-175; _Corradi_, _Descub. de la Am._, i. 6-312; _Simon_, _Conq. tierra firme_, 44-50; _Mesa y Leompart_, _Hist. Am._, i. 1-64; _Torquemada_, i. 20-1, and iii. 283-94; _Vega_, _Comentarios Reales_, ii. 7; _Acosta_, _Hist. Ind._, passim; _Villagvtierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 5-19; _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, 13-39; _Cavanilles_, _Hist. España_, v. 27-55 and 104-9; _Nueva España, Breve Resumen_, MS., i. 1-14; _Maglianos_, _St Francis and Franciscans_, 521-32; _Aa_, _Naaukeurige Versameling_, ii. and iii. passim; _Holmes' Annals Am._, i. 1-16; _Puga_, _Cedulario_, 4-5; _Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, i. 255-6; _Burke's Europ. Set._, i. 1-45; _Major's Prince Henry_, 347-67; _Help's Span. Conq._, passim; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1083; _Ogilby's Am._, 55-6; _Ens_, _West- und Ost-Indischer Lustgart_, 178-84 and 408-9; _Campe_, _Hist. Descub. Am._, 1-133; _Poussin_, _De la Puissance Américaine_, passim; _Hist. Mag._, Aug. and Sept. 1864, and Feb. 1868; _Mariana_, _Hist. España_, vi. 307 etc. and vii. 80; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. 27-312; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 11-12; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, v. 801-4; _Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo_, 1-53; _Montanus_, _De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld_, 1-43; and _Laet_, _Nov. Orb._, 345-6. The first work to throw a clear light on the question of birthplace was the _Della patria di Cristoforo Colombo_, by Conte Napione di Coconato, Florence, 1808, a dissertation published by the Academy of Sciences, of Turin. In this and supplementary works the ability and zeal of the author are manifest. In 1853, at Rome, was issued a new edition of Napione and de Conti, entitled _Patria e Biografia Del Grande Ammíraglio D. Cristóforo Colombo ... rischiarita e comprovata dai celebri scrittori Gio. Francesco Conte Napione di Coconato e Vincenzo de Conti_, the latter author of _Storia del Monferrato_, in which appears a wealth of new information second only to the original narratives and documents themselves. The _Dissertazioni epistolari bibliografiche_, Rome, 1809, of Francesco Cancellieri, which Leclerc calls 'savante et fort curieuse,' should not be overlooked. John S. C. Abbott throws together a _Life of Christopher Columbus_, New York, 1875, in popular form, in which extracts are conspicuous, the author having made quite free with the writings of his predecessors.

[V-1] Chief judge, or highest judicial officer in the colony, to take the place of Roldan, who was to be returned to Spain. Irving, _Columbus_, ii. 331, writes erroneously _alguazil mayor_, evidently confounding the two offices. For Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 18, says plainly enough:—'Trujo consigo por Alcalde mayor un caballero de Salamanca y licenciado, llamado Alonso Maldonado.' An alguacil mayor was a chief constable, or high sheriff, a very different person from a chief judge. These terms, and the offices represented by them, will be fully explained in another place.

[V-2] As this word will often occur in these pages, and as neither the term nor the institution it symbolizes has any equivalent in English, I will enter here a full explanation. _Residencia_ was the examination or account taken of the official acts of an executive or judicial officer during the term of his _residence_ within the province of his jurisdiction, and while in the exercise of the functions of his office. This was done at the expiration of the term of office, or at stated periods, or in case of malefeasance at any time. The person making the examination was appointed by the king, or in New World affairs by the _Consejo de Indias_, or by a viceroy, and was called a _juez de residencia_. Before this judge, within a given time, any one might appear and make complaint, and offer evidence against the retiring or suspended official, who might refute and rebut as in an ordinary tribunal. The residencia of any officer appointed by the crown must be taken by a judge appointed by the crown; the residencia of officers appointed in the Indies by viceroys, audiencias, or president-governors, was taken by a judge appointed by the same authority. Following are some of the changes rung upon the subject by royal decrees, the better to make it fit the government of the Indies. The 10th of June, 1523, and again the 17th of November, 1526, Charles V. decreed that appeal might be made from the judge of residencia to the Council of the Indies, except in private demands not exceeding 600 pesos de oro, when appeal was to the audiencia. In 1530 viceroys and president-governors were directed to take the residencia of _visitadores de Indios_ that wrong-doing to the natives might not escape punishment; and by a later law proclamations of residencias must be made in such manner that the Indians might know thereof. The _Ordenanzas de Audiencias_ of Philip II. of 1563 and 1567, state that in some cities of the Indies it was customary to appoint at certain seasons two regidores, who, with an alcalde, acted as _fieles ejecutores_. At the beginning of every year the viceroy, or the president, in a city which was the residence of an audiencia, had to appoint an _oidor_ to take the residencia of the fieles ejecutores of the previous year. The same was to be done if those offices had been sold to the city, _villa_, or _lugar_; but in such cases it was left to the discretion of the viceroy or president to cause them to be taken when necessary, not allowing them to become too commonplace. Philip II. in 1573, and his successors as late as 1680, directed that in residencias of governors and their subordinates, when the fine did not exceed 20,000 maravedís, execution should issue immediately; in damages granted from private demands to the amount of 200 ducats, the condemned was to give bonds to respond. While an official was undergoing his residencia it was equivalent to his being under arrest, as he could neither exercise office nor, except in certain cases specified, leave the place. Thus the law of 1530, reiterated in 1581, stated that from the time of the proclamation of a residencia till its conclusion _alguaciles mayores_ and their _tenientes_ should be suspended from carrying the _varas_, or from exercising any of the functions of office. In 1583, in 1620, and in 1680, it was ordered that such judges of residencia as were appointed in the Indies should be selected by a viceroy and audiencia, or by a president and audiencia, acting in accord. Salaries of jueces de residencia were ordered by Felipe III. in 1618 to be paid by the official tried if found guilty, if not by the audiencia appointing. Before this, in 1610, the same sovereign had ordered notaries employed in residencias taken by _corregidores_ to be paid in like manner. The next monarch directed that ships' officers should be subject to residencia in the form of a _visita_; and in visitas to _galeones_ and _flotas_ none but common sailors, artillerymen, and soldiers should be exempt. Cárlos II. in 1667 decreed that the residencia of a viceroy must be terminated within six months from the publication of the notice of the judge taking it. Felipe III. in 1619, and Cárlos II. in 1680, ordered that viceroys and presidents should send annually to the crown lists of persons suitable for conducting residencias, so that no one might be chosen to act upon the official under whose jurisdiction he resided. See _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 176-89. Of the report of the residencia the original was sent to the Council of the Indies, and a copy deposited in the archives of the audiencia. So burdensome were these trials, so corrupt became the judges, that later, in America, the residencia seemed rather to defeat than to promote justice, and in 1799 it was abolished so far as the subordinate officers were concerned.

[V-3] Originally written _fijodalgo_, son of something. Later applied to gentlemen, country gentlemen perhaps more particularly. Oviedo, ii. 466, calls Diego de Nicuesa 'hombre de limpia sangre de hijosdalgo,' a man of pure gentle blood. Concerning the origin of the word _hidalgo_, Juan de la Puente states that during the Moorish wars, whenever a large town was captured the king kept it; the villages he gave to captains who had distinguished themselves, and who were called at first _ricos homes_, and afterward _grandes_. To minor meritorious persons something less was given, a portion of the spoils or a grant of land, but always something; hence their descendants were called _fijosdalgos_, _hijosdalgos_, or _hidalgos_, sons of something. In the _Dic. Univ._ authorities are quoted showing that the word _hidalgo_ originated with the Roman colonists of Spain, called _Itálicos_, who were exempt from imposts. Hence those enjoying similar benefits were called _Itálicos_, which word in lapse of time became _hidalgo_.

[V-4] 'Por justas causas, y consideraciones conviene, que en todas las capitulaciones que se hicieron para nuevos descubrimientos, se excuse esta palabra conquista, y en su lugar se use de las de pacificacion y poblacion, pues habiéndose de hacer con toda paz y caridad, es nuestra voluntad, que aun este nombre interpretado contra nuestra intencion, no ocasione, ni dé color á lo capitulado, para que se pueda hacer fuerza ni agravio á los Indios.' _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 2.

[V-5] The best proof of the policy of Spain in regard to the natives of the New World is found in her laws upon the subject. Writers may possibly color their assertions, but by following the royal decrees through successive reigns we have what cannot be controverted. The subject of the treatment of the Indians occupies no inconsiderable space in the _Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias_. At the beginning of tit. x. lib. vi. is placed a clause of Isabella's will, solemnly enjoining her successors to see that the Indians were always equitably and kindly treated; and this was the text for future legislation. And now let us glance at the laws; I cannot give them all; but I can assure the reader they are of one tenor. First of all the natives were to be protected by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. They might marry freely, but always in accordance with Christian usage; must not be taken to Spain; must be civilized, Christianized, taught to speak Spanish, and to love labor, if possible; they might sow seed, breed stock, keep their ancient market-days, buy and sell at pleasure, and even dispose of their lands, only the Spaniards were not allowed to sell them arms or alcoholic liquors. The Inquisition could not touch them, for in religious matters they were subject to the bishop's jurisdiction, and in cases of witchcraft to the civil power. They might have their municipal organizations in imitation of the Spanish town government, with their alcaldes, fiscales, and regidores, elected from among themselves to serve for one year, elections to be held in the presence of the priest. It was made the duty of priests, prelates, all officers of the government, and in fact every Spanish subject, to watch over and protect the Indians. Governors and judges were charged under the severest penalties to see justice done them. Two officers were created at an early day for this purpose, those of _protector_ and _defensor_, the former having general oversight of the natives and their interests, and the latter appearing in their behalf in court. After a time, when it was thought the aborigines could stand alone, the offices were abolished. But the action was premature, and in 1589 Philip II. ordered them revived. These officers were appointed by the viceroys and president-governors. Indians might appear in courts of law and have counsel assigned them free of any cost; and even in suits between the natives themselves there was to be no expense, the fiscal appearing on one side, and the protector on the other. Philip also gave notice in 1593 that Spaniards who maltreated Indians were to be punished with greater rigor than for badly treating a Spaniard. This was a remarkable law; it is a pity the Puritans and their descendants lacked such a one. Indians might be hired, but they must be paid promptly. They might work in the mines, or carry burdens if they chose, but it must be done voluntarily. Enforced personal service, or any approach to it, was jealously and repeatedly prohibited. Indians under eighteen must not be employed to carry burdens. Let those who sneer at Philip and Spain remember that two centuries after this England could calmly look on and see her own little children, six years of age, working with their mothers in coal-pits. There were many ways the Spaniards had of evading the just and humane laws of their monarchs—instance the trick of employers of getting miners or other laborers in debt to them, and keeping them so, and if they attempted to run away interpose the law for their restraint. It was equivalent to slavery. A native might even sell his labor for an indefinite time, until Felipe III. in 1618 decreed that no Indian could bind himself to work for more than one year. The law endeavored to throw all severe labor upon the negro, who was supposed to be better able to endure it. The black man was likewise placed far below the red in the social scale. It was criminal for a negro or mixed-breed to have an Indian work for him, although voluntarily and for pay; nor might an African even go to the house of an American. The law endeavored to guard the Indian in his privacy, as well as in his rights. It studied to make the lot of the aboriginal as peaceful and comfortable under Christian civilization as under heathen barbarism. More it could not do; it could not do this much; after the pacifying raid through the primeval garden, all Europe could not restore it. But Spain's monarchs did their best to mitigate the sufferings caused by Spain's unruly sons. The cacique might hold his place among his people, and follow ancient usage in regard to his succession, but he must not enslave them, or inflict upon them the ancient cruel customs, such as giving Indian girls in lieu of tribute, or burying servants with their dead masters. And these petty rulers must stay at home and attend to their affairs; Indians could not leave one pueblo to take up their residence in another, and caciques could not go to Spain without special license from the king. The natives were ordered to live in communities, and have a fixed residence, and their lands were not in consequence to be taken from them. They must not ride on horseback, for that would make them too nearly equal to the cavalier in battle; they must not hold dances without permission, for then they might plot conspiracies, or give themselves up to serve heathen gods as of old; they must not work in gold or silver, an illiberal restriction which lost to the world the finest of America's arts. Spaniards could not place a cattle rancho within 1½ leagues of a native pueblo; or swine, sheep, or goats within half a league; the Indians might lawfully kill cattle trespassing on their lands. In a pueblo of Indians neither Spaniard, nor mulatto, nor negro should live. No traveller might spend the night at the house of a native if an inn was at hand. No Spanish or mestizo merchant might remain in an Indian pueblo more than three days, nor another white man more than two days. Beside the property of individuals each Indian pueblo had some common property, and a strong-box in which the community money and title-deeds were kept. Caciques must not call themselves lords of pueblos, as that detracted from royal preëminence; they must be called caciques simply. The cacique must not attempt feudal fashions; he must not oppress his people, or take more than the stipulated tribute; and he who worked for the cacique must be paid by the cacique. In criminal matters the jurisdiction of caciques over their people could not extend to death or mutilation. On the other hand a cacique could not be tried by the ordinary Spanish justice of the peace, but only by the judge of a district. The last four laws were made by Charles V. in 1538. And beside these were many other edicts promulgated by the Spanish monarchs during two and a half centuries, notable for their wisdom, energy, and humanity. By the continued outrages and excesses of their subjects in the New World the temper of the crown was often severely tried. Thus was found written by Felipe IV. with his own hand, on a decree of the council ordering the immediate suppression of all those infamous evils practised in spite of laws against them, a sentiment which was fully reiterated by his son Cárlos II. in 1680:—'I will that you give satisfaction to me and to the world concerning the manner of treating those my vassals,' so reads the writing; 'and if this be not done, so that as in response to this letter I may see exemplary punishment meted offenders, I shall hold myself disobeyed; and be assured that if you do not remedy it, I will. The least omissions I shall consider grave crimes against God and against me; the evil conduct tending as it does to the total ruin and destruction of those realms whose natives I hold in estimation; and I will that they be treated as is merited by vassals who serve the monarchy so well, and have so contributed to its grandeur and enlightenment.' See further, _Tapia_, _Hist. Civ. Española_, passim; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, 71-3; _Ramirez_, _Vida Motolinia_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, i. lxvi.; _Las Casas_, _Carta_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, vii. 290-338.

[V-6] Twenty-five pounds. The Spanish pound is a little more than the English pound. There are four arrobas in a quintal.

[V-7] _Repartimiento_, a distribution; _repartir_, to divide; _encomienda_, a charge, a commandery; _encomendar_, to give in charge; _encomendero_, he who holds an encomienda. In Spain an encomienda, as here understood, was a dignity in the four military orders, endowed with a rental, and held by certain members of the order. It was acquired through the liberality of the crown as a reward for services in the wars against the Moors. The lands taken from the Infidels were divided among Christian commanders; the inhabitants of those lands were crown tenants, and life-rights to their services were given these commanders. In the legislation of the Indies, encomienda was the patronage conferred by royal favor over a portion of the natives, coupled with the obligation to teach them the doctrines of the Church, and to defend their persons and property. It was originally intended that the recipients of these favors were to be the discoverers, conquerors, meritorious settlers, and their descendants; but in this as in many other respects the wishes of the monarchs and their advisers did not always reach the mark. The system begun in the New World by Columbus, Bobadilla, and Ovando was continued by Vasco Nuñez, Pedrarias, Cortés, and Pizarro, and finally became general. Royal decrees upon the subject, which seemed to grow more and more intricate as new possessions were pacified, began with a law by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1509, reiterated by Philip II. in 1580, to the effect that immediately upon the pacification of a province the governor should divide the natives among the settlers. The natives thus distributed were held for a term of years, or during the life of the holder, or for two or more lives—that is, during the life of the first holder, and that of his heir, and perhaps that of his heir's heir, or until the king should otherwise decree. _Solorzano_, _De Indiarum Jure_, ii. lib. ii. cap. i.; _Acosta_, _De Procur. Ind._, iii. cap. x. When by this course three fourths of certain populations had been 'recommended' to their death, at the representation of Las Casas, the king in 1523 decreed that 'as God our lord had made the Indians free,' they must not be enslaved on this or any other pretext; 'and therefore we command that it be done no more, and that those already distributed be set at liberty.' _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 10. But by this abolition the destruction of the colonies was threatened. Petition followed petition for the restoration of the system, until the king finally yielded. _Solorzano_, _Política Indiana_, i. 225. In 1542 encomiendas were again abolished, and again the king was obliged to restore them. Meanwhile every effort possible was made by the crown to prevent abuses. The encomendero must fulfil in person the intention of the law. He must not leave without permission from the governor, and then his duties must be delegated to a responsible agent. If away for four months without permission, his encomienda was to be declared vacant. The encomendero must not hire out any natives, or pledge them to creditors, under penalty of loss of Indians and a fine of 50,000 maravedís. No one could appropriate any natives except those legally assigned. When it was seen how those in office misused their power, in 1530, in 1532, in 1542, in 1551, and in 1563 all civil and ecclesiastical functionaries were forbidden to hold encomiendas; but in 1544 Philip II. excepted from this prohibition _tenientes de gobernadores_, _corregidores_, and _alcaldes mayores de pueblos_. Indians should not be given in encomienda to the daughters of royal officials, or to sons unless married. It was just and reasonable that the savages should pay the Spaniards tribute, for so God had appointed, so the pope had ordained, and the king had commanded; but it was the collection of this tribute only, and not the deprivation of liberty, or of any personal rights, that the encomienda was intended to cover. And for this tax, which whosoever enjoys the boon of civilization must surely pay, the vassal was to receive protection, and the still more blessed boon of Christianity. Nor must this impost under any consideration be made burdensome.

The manner of making assessments was minutely defined by edicts of Charles V. at divers dates from 1528 to 1555, and of Philip II. from the beginning to the end of his reign. In substance they were as follows. The king made responsible to him the viceroys, and the presidents and audiencias, who, by the aid of a commissioner and assessors, fixed the rates in their respective districts. The assessors having first heard a solemn mass of the Holy Ghost, in order to enlighten their understanding that they might justly regard the value of the rental and equitably determine the rate, they were to swear with all solemnity before the priest this to do without bias. They were personally to inspect all the pueblos of the province, noting the number of settlers and natives in each pueblo, and the quality of the land. They were to ascertain what the natives had originally paid to their caciques as tribute, and never make the new rate higher, but always lower, than the old one. For surely they should not be worse off in serving Spain than in serving their heathen lords. After thus carefully examining the resources and capabilities of the tributaries, and never infringing on the comfort of the women and children, the assessors should fix the rate according to God and their conscience. The natives might pay in money if they preferred, but payment should be required only in kind, in whatever produce grew on their lands. They must not be required to raise anything specially for this purpose; and from not over two or three kinds of produce should tribute be taken; a few chickens, or a pig or two, need not be counted at all. It was the intention of the monarchs that from a tenth to a fifth might in this way be taken, though the encomendero too often managed to get twice or thrice as much, or all the natives had. The Indians must be made to understand how the appraisement was made, and that it was not done in the interests of the Spaniards alone. Then the assessor must put in writing what each had to pay, and leave the original with the cacique, giving one copy to the encomendero, and sending one to the Council of the Indies, or to the viceroy, or to the audiencia. For the encomendero to practise extortion, or demand more than the schedule called for, there were pronounced the severest penalties, even to the loss of the encomienda and half his goods. Natives voluntarily coming forward and entering in encomienda were excused from paying tribute for ten years; and, in any event, for the first two years after congregating in pueblos but one half the usual tribute could be legally exacted. Males were taxed after the eighteenth year; caciques, elder sons, women, and alcaldes in office were exempt. After the gift, the encomienda was the property of the encomendero, not to be taken from him before the expiration of his term without cause. In every encomienda there must be a church, and where there was none, the natives must be stimulated to build one, the priest to be paid out of the rental. In every pueblo of 100 or more natives, two or three must be taught to sing, so that they might act as choristers; also a native sacristan—these to be exempt from tribute. In 1568 Philip II. ordered that no encomendero should receive a rental of over 2000 pesos; any excess was to be returned to the crown and employed as pensions. The same monarch directed in 1573 that when an encomienda fell vacant, a viceroy or governor might, if he deemed best, appropriate the rental to benevolent objects, and defer granting it again till the king's pleasure should be known. And again, in 1583, that the encomendero must have a house of his own, built of stone for purposes of defence, in the city of his residence; and he must keep his family there. He should maintain no house in the town of the Indians, nor should he have any building there except a granary. In 1592 it was decreed that Indians in encomienda could be given to none but residents in the Indies. When an encomienda became vacant, so it was decreed in 1594 and subsequently, the fact was advertised for from twenty to thirty days, during which time applicants might prefer their respective claims, and recite services rendered the crown by themselves or their ancestors. Preference was always to be given to the descendants of discoverers and settlers. Two or three small encomiendas might sometimes be joined in one. And never might religious training be forgotten; when the rental was not sufficient for the support of the encomendero and the instructor, the latter must have the revenue. Felipe III. in 1602, 1611, 1616, 1618, and 1620, decreed that as a rule but one encomienda could be held by one person; still more seldom could one be given up and another taken. There was to be no such thing as commerce in them. They were a trust. Much evil had arisen from dividing encomiendas, and it should be done no more. Felipe IV. in 1655 ordered that governors under royal commission and those named by the viceroy _ad interim_ might give Indians in encomienda, but _alcaldes ordinarios_ holding temporarily the office of governor were not allowed this privilege. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 249-284 and passim. Finally, toward the close of the seventeenth century, the monarchs, becoming more and more straitened in their need of money, ordered that encomenderos should pay a portion of their revenue to the crown; then a larger portion was demanded; and then the whole of it. In 1721 the system came to an end. But after endeavoring for two hundred years to get back what they had given away, the monarchs found there was nothing left of it, the natives having by this time merged with sometimes slightly whitened skins into the civilized pueblos.

[V-8] It was decreed by the emperor in 1555 that the _Casa de Contratacion_ should have an _arca de tres llaves_, a chest of three keys; after which the government strong-box became common in Spanish America. It was usually in the form of a sailor's chest, of heavy wood bound with brass or iron, and having three locks fastening the lid by hasps. The strong-box of the India House, the law goes on to say, must remain in the custody of the treasurer, who was responsible for its safe keeping. One of the keys was held by the _tesorero_, one by the _contador_, and one by the _factor_. Out of the hand of any one of these three royal officers his key could not lawfully go; and no one but they might put into the chest or take out of it any thing, under penalty, on the official permitting it, of four times the value of the things so handled. In this box were kept, temporarily, all gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones that came from the Indies on the king's account, or were recovered for him by suits at law brought before the India House in Spain. _Recop. de Indias_, iii. 17.

[V-9] Oviedo, i. 103, says that when the Jeronimite friars arrived a few days before Christmas, 1516, the _jueces de apelacion_ 'ya se llamaban oydores, é su auditorio ya se deçia audiençia Real.' Herrera, ii. ii. iv., treating of the instructions given the Jeronimites remarks, that it was ordered also that the jueces de apelacion should be submitted to residencia. After that he writes jueces de apelacion, and audiencia indifferently. Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, v. 45, treating of events in 1518-20, says 'jueces de apelacion;' relating the occurrences of 1521, 165, 177, he writes 'audiencia,' and 'cuatro oidores.' Writing the king August 30, 1520, _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, xiii. 332-48, the court styles itself _Real Audiencia_, the members signing the communication. In _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._,