They did nothing of the kind.

Their first proceeding was to show their resentment at the summary treatment they had received at the captain's hands by depriving him of the administration of the royal granges, the profits of which he shared with King Ferdinand, because, as his Highness explained to Pasamente in June, 1511, "Ponce received no salary as captain of the island."

They next sent a lengthy exposition to Madrid, accusing the captain of maladministration of the royal domain, and, to judge by the tenor of the king's letter to Ponce, dated in Burgos on the 23d of February, 1512, they succeeded in influencing him to some extent against his favorite, though not enough to deprive him of the royal patronage. "I am surprised," wrote the king, "at the small number of Indians and the small quantity of gold from our mines. The fiscal will audit your accounts, that you may be at liberty for the expedition to Bemini, which some one else has already proposed to me; but I prefer you, as I wish to recompense your services and because I believe that you will serve us better there than in our grange in San Juan, in which you have proceeded with some negligence."

In the redistribution of Indians which followed, Ceron and Diaz ignored the orders of the sovereign and openly favored their own followers to the neglect of the conquerors', whose claims were prior, and whose wounds and scars certainly entitled them to consideration. This caused such a storm of protest and complaint against the doings of his proteges that Diego Columbus was forced to suspend them and appoint Commander Moscoso in their place.

This personage only made matters worse. The first thing he did was to practise another redistribution of Indians. This exasperated everybody to such an extent that the Admiral found it necessary to come to San Juan himself. He came, accompanied by a numerous suite of aspirants to different positions, among them Christopher Mendoza, the successor of Moscoso (1514). After the restoration of Ceron and Diaz in their offices, Ponce quietly retired to his residence in Caparra. He was wealthy and could afford to bide his time, but the spirit of unrest in him chafed under this forced inaction. The idea of discovering the island, said to exist somewhere in the northwestern part of these Indies, where wonderful waters flowed that restored old age to youth and kept youth always young, occupied his mind more and more persistently, until, having obtained the king's sanction, he fitted out an expedition of three ships and sailed from the port of Aguada March 3, 1512.

Strange as it may seem, that men like Ponce, Zuniga, and the other leading expeditionists should be glad of an opportunity to risk their lives and fortunes in the pursuit of a chimera, it must be remembered that the island of Bemini itself was not a chimera.

The followers of Columbus, the majority of them ignorant and credulous, had seen a mysterious new world rise, as it were, from the depths of the ocean. As the islands, one after the other, appeared before their astonished eyes, they discovered real marvels each day. The air, the land, the sea, were full of them. The natives pointed in different directions and spoke of other islands, and the adventurers' imaginations peopled them with fancied wonders. There was, according to an old legend, a fountain of perennial youth somewhere in the world, and where was it more likely to be found than in this hitherto unknown part of it?

Ponce and his companions believed in its existence as firmly as, some years later, Ferdinand Pizarro believed in the existence of El Dorado and the golden lake of Parime.

The expedition touched at Guanakani on the 14th of March, and on the 27th discovered what Ponce believed to be the island of which he was in search. On April 2d Ponce landed and took possession in the king's name. The native name of the island was Cansio or Cautix, but the captain named it "la Florida," some say because he found it covered with the flowers of spring; others, because he had discovered it on Resurrection day, called "Pascua Florida" by the Spanish Catholics.

The land was inhabited by a branch of the warlike Seminole Indians, who disputed the Spaniards' advance into the interior. No traces of gold were found, nor did the invaders feel themselves rejuvenated, when, after a wearisome march or fierce fight with the natives, they bathed in, or drank of, the waters of some stream or spring. They had come to a decidedly inhospitable shore, and Ponce, after exploring the eastern and southern littoral, and discovering the Cayos group of small islands, turned back to San Juan, where he arrived in the beginning of October, "looking much older," says the chronicler, "than when he went in search of rejuvenation."

Two years later he sailed for the Peninsula and anchored in Bayona in April, 1514. King Ferdinand received him graciously and conferred on him the titles of Adelantado of Bemini and la Florida, with civil and criminal jurisdiction on land and sea. He also made him commander of the fleet for the destruction of the Caribs, and perpetual "regidor" (prefect) of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico. This last surname for the island began to be used in official documents about this time (October, 1514).

The fleet for the destruction of the Caribs consisted of three caravels. With these, Ponce sailed from Betis on May 14, 1515,[24] and reached the Leeward Islands in due course. In Guadeloupe, one of the Carib strongholds, he landed a number of men without due precaution. They were attacked by the natives. Fifteen of them were wounded, four of whom died. Some women who had been sent ashore to wash the soiled linen were carried off. Ponce's report of the event was laconic: "I wrote from San Lucas and from la Palma," he writes to the king (August 7th to 8th). "In Guadeloupe, while taking in water the Indians wounded some of my men. They shall be chastised." Haro, one of the crown officers in San Juan, informed the king afterward of all the circumstances of the affair, and added: "He (Ponce) left the (wounded) men in a deserted island on this side, which is Santa Cruz, and now he sends a captain, instead of going himself ..."

Ponce's third landing occurred June 15, 1515. He found the island in a deplorable condition. Discontent and disorder were rampant. The king had deprived Diego Columbus of the right to distribute Indians (January 23, 1513), and had commissioned Pasamonte to make a new distribution in San Juan. The treasurer had delegated the task to licentiate Sancho Velasquez, who received at the same time power to audit the accounts of all the crown officers. The redistribution was practised in September, 1514, with no better result than the former ones. It was impossible to satisfy the demands of all. The discontented were mostly Ponce's old companions, who overwhelmed the king with protests, while Velasquez defended himself, accusing Ponce and his friends of turbulence and exaggerated ambition.

As a consequence of all this strife and discord, the Indians were turned over from one master to another, distributed like cattle over different parts of the islands, and at each change their lot became worse.

Still, there were large numbers of them that had never yet been subjugated. Some, like the caciques of Humacao and Daguao, who occupied the eastern and southeastern parts of the island, had agreed to live on a peace footing with the Spaniards, but Ponce's impolitic proceeding in taking by force ten men from the village of the first-named chief caused him and his neighbor of Daguao to burn their villages and take to the mountains in revolt. Many other natives had found a comparatively safe refuge in the islands along the coast, and added largely to the precarious situation by pouncing on the Spanish settlements along the coast when least expected. Governor Mendoza undertook a punitive expedition to Vieques, in which the cacique Yaureibo was killed; but the Indians had lost that superstitious dread of the Spaniards and of their weapons that had made them submit at first, and they continued their incursions, impeding the island's progress for more than a century.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 24: Washington Irving says January.]



CHAPTER X

DISSENSIONS—TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL

1515-1520

The total number of Spaniards in the island at the time of the rebellion did not exceed 200. Of these, between 80 and 100 were killed by the Indians. The survivors were reenforced, first by the followers of Ceron and Diaz, then by some stray adventurers who accompanied Diego Columbus on his visit to the island. We may assume, therefore, with Mr. Acosta,[25] that at the time of which we write the Spanish population numbered about 400, who Arango, in a memorial addressed to the Cardinal Regent, classifies as Government officials, old conquerors, new hirelings, and "marranos hijos de reconciliados," which, translated, means, "vile brood of pardoned criminals," the latter being, in all probability, the immigrants into whose antecedents the king had recommended his officers in Seville not to inquire.

This population was divided into different hostile parties. The most powerful at the time was Ponce's party, led by Sedeno, the auditor, and Villafranca, the treasurer; opposed to whom were the partizans of Ceron and Diaz, the proteges of the Admiral, and those who had found favor with Velasquez, all of them deadly enemies because of the unequal division among them of the unhappy Indians.

The expedition to Florida and the honors conferred upon him by the king naturally enhanced Ponce's prestige among his old companions. Diego Columbus himself was fain to recognize the superior claim of him who now presented himself with the title Adelantado of Bemini and Florida, so that the captain's return to office was effected without opposition.

With his appointment as perpetual prefect, Ponce assumed the right to make a redistribution of Indians, but could not exercise it, because Sancho Velasquez had made one, as delegate of Pasamonte, only the year before (September, 1515).

In virtue of his special appointment as judge auditor of the accounts of all the crown officers, he had condemned Ponce during his absence to pay 1,352 gold pesos for shortcomings in his administration of the royal estates.[26]

The licentiate's report to the king, dated April 27, 1515, gives an idea of the state of affairs in San Juan at the time. " ... I found the island under tyranny, as will be seen from the documents I enclose. Juan Ceron and Miguel Diaz are responsible for 100,000 Castellanos[27] for Indians taken from persons who held them by schedule from your Highness."

"It would be well to send some bad characters away from here and some of the Admiral's creatures, on whom the rest count for protection."

"The treasurer (Haro) and the auditor are honest men. The accountant (Sedeno) is not a man to look after your Highness's interests. The place of factor is vacant."

"To your Highness 200 Indians have been assigned in Puerto Rico and 300 in San German."

A few days later (May 1, 1515) Velasquez himself was accused of gross abuse in the discharge of his duties by Inigo de Zuniga, who wrote to the king: " ... This licentiate has committed many injustices and offenses, as the attorney can testify. He gave Indians to many officers and merchants, depriving conquerors and settlers of them. He gambled much and always won, because they let him win in order to have him in good humor at the time of distribution of Indians. He carried away much money, especially from the 'Naborias.'" [28]

"He took the principal cacique, who lived nearest to the mines, for himself, and rented him out on condition that he keep sixteen men continually at work in the mines, and if any failed he was to receive half a ducat per head a day."

"He has taken Indians from other settlers and made them wash gold for himself, etc."

Before Ponce's departure for Spain the island had been divided into two departments or jurisdictions, the northern, with Caparra as its capital, under the direct authority of the governor, the southern division, with San German as the capital, under a lieutenant-governor, the chain of mountains in the interior being the mutual boundary. This division was maintained till 1782.

Caparra, or Puerto Rico, as it was now called, and San German were the only settlements when Ponce returned. The year before (1514) another settlement had been made in Daguao, but it had been destroyed by the Caribs, and this ever-present danger kept all immigration away.

The king recognized the fact, and to obviate this serious difficulty in the way of the island's settlement, he wrote to his officers in Seville:

" ... Spread reports about the great quantities of gold to be found in Puerto Rico, and do not trouble about the antecedents of those who wish to go, for if not useful as laborers they will do to fight."

That Ferdinand was well aware of the insecurity of his hold on the island is shown by his subsequent dispositions. To the royal contractors or commissaries he wrote in 1514: "While two forts are being constructed, one in Puerto Rico and the other in San German, where, in case of rebellion, our treasure will be secure, you will give arms and ammunition to Ponce de Leon for our account, with an artilleryman, that he may have them in his house, which is to do duty as a fortress." And on May 14, 1515, he wrote from Medina del Campo: " ... Deliver to Ponce six 'espingardas.'" [29]

During this same period the island was constituted a bishopric, with Alonzo Manso, ex-sacristan of Prince John and canon of Salamanca as prelate. He came in the beginning of 1513, when the intestine troubles were at their worst, bringing instructions to demand payment of tithes in specie and a royal grant of 150 Indians to himself, which, added to the fact that his presence would be a check upon the prevalent immorality, raised such a storm of opposition and intrigue against him that he could not exercise his functions. There was no church fit for services. This furnished him with a pretext to return to the Peninsula. When Ponce arrived the bishop was on the point of departure. There can be no doubt that King Ferdinand, in reappointing Ponce to the government of the island, trusted to the captain's military qualities for the reestablishment of order and the suppression of the attacks of the Caribs, but the result did not correspond to his Majesty's expectations.

Haro, the treasurer, reported to the king on October 6, 1515: " ... From the moment of his arrival Ponce has fomented discord. In order to remain here himself, he sent Zuniga, his lieutenant, with the fleet. He caused the caciques Humacao and Daguao, who had but just submitted, to revolt again by forcibly taking ten men for the fleet."

The crown officers confirmed this statement in a separate report.

These accusations continued to the time of Ferdinand's death (February 23, 1516), when Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros became Regent of Spain. This renowned prelate, whom Prince Charles, afterward Emperor Charles V, when confirming him in the regency, addressed as "the Very Reverend Father in Christ, Cardinal of Spain, Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of all the Spanish Territories, Chief Chancellor of Castilla, our very dear and much beloved friend and master," was also Grand Inquisitor, and was armed with the tremendous power of the terrible Holy Office.

It was dangerous for the accusers and the accused alike to annoy such a personage with tales inspired by petty rivalries from an insignificant island in the West Indies. Nevertheless, one of the first communications from Puerto Rico that was laid before him was a memorial written by one Arango, accusing Velasquez, among other things, of having given Indians to soldiers and to common people, instead of to conquerors and married men. "In Lent," says the accuser, "he goes to a grange, where he remains without hearing mass on Sundays, eating meat, and saying things against the faith ..."

The immediate effect of these complaints and mutual accusations was the suspension in his functions of Diego Columbus and the appointment of a triumvirate of Jerome friars to govern these islands. This was followed two years later by the return of Bishop Manso to San Juan, armed with the dreadful powers of General Inquisitor of the Indies and by the nomination of licentiate Antonio de la Gama as judge auditor of the accounts of Sancho Velasquez. The judge found him guilty of partiality and other offenses, and on June 12, 1520, wrote to the regent: "I have not sent the accounts of Sancho Velasquez, because it was necessary that he should go with them, but the bishop of this island has taken him for the Holy Inquisition and he has died in prison."

The Jerome fathers on their way to la Espanola, in 1516, touched at what they describe as "the port of Puerto Rico, which is in the island of San Juan de Boriquen," and the treasurer, Haro, wrote of them on January 21, 1518: " ... They have done nothing during the year, and the inhabitants are uncertain and fear changes. This is the principal cause of harm to the Indians. It is necessary to dispose what is to be done ... Although great care is now exercised in the treatment of the Indians their numbers grow less for all that, because just as they are ignorant of things concerning the faith, so do they ignore things concerning their health, and they are of very weak constitution."

The frequent changes in the government that had been made by Diego Columbus, the arrest of Velasquez and his death in the gloomy dungeons of the Inquisition, the arrival of de la Gama as judge auditor and governor ad interim, and his subsequent marriage with Ponce's daughter Isabel, all these events but served to embitter the strife of parties. "The spirit of vengeance, ambition, and other passions had become so violent and deep-rooted among the Spaniards," says Abbad,[30] "that God ordained their chastisement in various ways."

The removal of the capital from its swampy location to the islet which it now occupies was another source of dissension. It appears that the plan was started immediately after Ceron's accession, for the king wrote to him November 9, 1511: "Juan Ponce says that he located the town in the best part of the island. We fear that you want to change it. You shall not do so without our special order. If there is just reason for change you must inform us first."

Velasquez, in his report of April, 1515, mentions that he accompanied the Town Council of Caparra to see the site for the new capital, and that to him it seemed convenient.

In 1519 licentiate Rodrigo de Figueroa sent a lengthy exposition accompanied by the certified declarations of the leading inhabitants regarding the salubrity of the islet and the insalubrity of Caparra, with a copy of the disposition of the Jerome fathers authorizing the transfer, and leaving Ponce, who strenuously opposed it, at liberty to live in his fortified house in Caparra as long as he liked.

On November 16, 1520, Baltazar Castro, in the name of the crown officers of San Juan, reported to the emperor: "The City of Puerto Rico has been transferred to an islet which is in the port where the ships anchor, a very good and healthy location."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 25: Annotations, p. 96.]

[Footnote 26: Ponce protested and appealed to the Audiencia, but did not obtain restitution till 1520.]

[Footnote 27: A Castellano was the 150 part of a mark of gold. The mark had 8 ounces.]

[Footnote 28: Indians distributed to be employed as domestic servants.]

[Footnote 29: Small pieces of ordnance.]

[Footnote 30: XII, p. 89.]



CHAPTER XI

CALAMITIES—PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA AND DEATH

1520-1537

Among the calamities referred to by Friar Abbad as visitations of Providence was one which the Spaniards had brought upon themselves. Another epidemic raged principally among the Indians. In January, 1519, the Jerome friars wrote to the Government from la Espanola: " ... It has pleased our Lord to send a pestilence of smallpox among the Indians here, and nearly one-third of them have died. We are told that in the island of San Juan the Indians have begun to die of the same disease."

Another scourge came in the form of ants. "These insects," says Abbad, quoting from Herrera, "destroyed the yucca or casabe, of which the natives made their bread, and killed the most robust trees by eating into their roots, so that they turned black, and became so infected that the birds would not alight on them. The fields were left barren and waste as if fire from heaven had descended on them. These insects invaded the houses and tormented the inmates night and day. Their bite caused acute pains to adults and endangered the lives of children. The affliction was general," says Abbad, "but God heard the people's vows and the pests disappeared." The means by which this happy result was obtained are described by Father Torres Vargas: "Lots were drawn to see what saint should be chosen as the people's advocate before God. Saint Saturnine was returned, and the plague ceased at once."

"Some time after there appeared a worm which also destroyed the yucca. Lots were again drawn, and this time Saint Patrick came out; but the bishop and the ecclesiastical chapter were of opinion that this saint, being little venerated, had no great influence in heaven. Therefore, lots were drawn again and again, three times, and each time the rejected saint's name came out. This was clearly a miracle, and Saint Patrick was chosen as advocate. To atone for their unwillingness to accept him, the chapter voted the saint an annual mass, sermon, and procession, which was kept up for many years without ever anything happening again to the casabe ..."

To the above-described visitations, nature added others and more cruel ones. These were the destructive tempests, called by the Indians Ouracan.

The first hurricane since the discovery of the island by Columbus of which there is any record happened in July, 1515, when the crown officers reported to the king that a great storm had caused the death of many Indians by sickness and starvation. On October 4, 1526, there was another, which Juan de Vadillo described thus: " ... There was a great storm of wind and rain which lasted twenty-four hours and destroyed the greater part of the town, with the church. The damage caused by the flooding of the plantations is greater than any one can estimate. Many rich men have grown poor, among them Pedro Moreno, the lieutenant-governor."

In July and August, 1530, the scourge was repeated three times in six weeks, and Governor Lando wrote to Luis Columbus, then Governor of la Espanola: " ... The storms have destroyed all the plantations, drowned many cattle, and caused a great dearth of food. Half of the houses in this city have been blown down; of the other half those that are least damaged are without roofs. In the country and at the mines not a house is left standing. Everybody has been impoverished and thinking of going away. There are no more Indians and the land must be cultivated with negroes, who are a monopoly, and can not be brought here for less than 60 or 70 'castellanos' apiece. The city prays that the payment of all debts may be postponed for three years."

Seven years later (1537), three hurricanes in two months again completely devastated the island. " ... They are the greatest that have been experienced here," wrote the city officers. " ... The floods have carried away all the plantations along the borders of the rivers, many slaves and cattle have been drowned, want and poverty are universal. Those who wanted to leave the island before are now more than ever anxious to do so."

The incursions of Caribs from the neighboring islands made the existence of the colony still more precarious. Wherever a new settlement was made, they descended, killing the Spaniards, destroying the plantations, and carrying off the natives.



* * * * *

The first news of the wonderful achievements of Cortez in Mexico reached San Juan in 1520, and stirred the old adventurer Ponce to renewed action. On February 10, 1521, he wrote to the emperor: "I discovered Florida and some other small islands at my own expense, and now I am going to settle them with plenty of men and two ships, and I am going to explore the coast, to see if it compares with the lands (Cuba) discovered by Velasquez. I will leave here in four or five days, and beg your Majesty to favor me, so that I may be enabled to carry out this great enterprise."

Accordingly, he left the port of Aguada on the 26th of the same month with two ships, well provided with all that was necessary for conquest.

But the captain's star of fortune was waning. He had a stormy passage, and when he and his men landed they met with such fierce resistance from the natives that after several encounters and the loss of many men, Ponce himself being seriously wounded, they were forced to reembark. Feeling that his end was approaching, the captain did not return to San Juan, but sought a refuge in Puerto Principe, where he died.

One of his ships found its way to Vera Cruz, where its stores of arms and ammunition came as a welcome accession to those of Cortez.

The emperor bestowed the father's title of Adelantado of Florida and Bemini on his son, and the remains of the intrepid adventurer, who had found death where he had hoped to find perennial youth, rested in Cuban soil till his grandchildren had them transferred to this island and buried in the Dominican convent.

A statue was erected to his memory in 1882. It stands in the plaza of San Jose in the capital and was cast from the brass cannon left behind by the English after the siege of 1797.



CHAPTER XII

INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUEN INDIANS AND CARIBS

1530-1582

The conquest of Boriquen was far from being completed with the death of Guaybana.

The panic which the fall of a chief always produces among savages prevented, for the moment, all organized resistance on the part of Guaybana's followers, but they did not constitute the whole population of the island. Their submission gave the Spaniards the dominion over that part of it watered by the Culebrinas and the Anasco, and over the northeastern district in which Ponce had laid the foundations of his first settlement. The inhabitants of the southern and eastern parts of the island, with those of the adjacent smaller islands, were still unsubdued and remained so for years to come. Their caciques were probably as well informed of the character of the newcomers and of their doings in la Espanola as was the first Guaybana's mother, and they wisely kept aloof so long as their territories were not invaded.

The reduced number of Spaniards facilitated the maintenance of a comparative independence by these as yet unconquered Indians, at the same time that it facilitated the flight of those who, having bent their necks to the yoke, found it unbearably heavy. According to "Regidor" (Prefect) Hernando de Mogollon's letter to the Jerome fathers, fully one-third of the "pacified" Indians—that is, of those who had submitted—had disappeared and found a refuge with their kinsmen in the neighboring islands.

The first fugitives from Boriquen naturally did not go beyond the islands in the immediate vicinity. Vieques, Culebras, and la Mona became the places of rendezvous whence they started on their retaliatory expeditions, while their spies or their relatives on the main island kept them informed of what was passing. Hence, no sooner was a new settlement formed on the borders or in the neighborhood of some river than they pounced upon it, generally at night, dealing death and destruction wherever they went.

In vain did Juan Gil, with Ponce's two sons-in-law and a number of tried men, make repeated punitive expeditions to the islands. The attacks seemed to grow bolder, and not till Governor Mendoza himself led an expedition to Vieques, in which the cacique Yaureibo was killed, did the Indians move southeastward to Santa Cruz.

That the Caribs[31] inhabiting the islands Guadeloupe and Dominica made common cause with the fugitives from Boriquen is not to be doubted. The Spaniard was the common enemy and the opportunity for plunder was too good to be lost. But the primary cause of all the so-called Carib invasions of Puerto Rico was the thirst for revenge for the wrongs suffered, and long after those who had smarted under them or who had but witnessed them had passed away, the tradition of them was kept alive by the areytos and songs, in the same way as the memory of the outrages committed by the soldiers of Pizarro in Peru are kept alive till this day among the Indians of the eastern slope of the Andes. The fact that neither Jamaica nor other islands occupied by Spaniards were invaded, goes to prove that in the case of Puerto Rico the invasions were prompted by bitter resentment of natives who had preferred exile to slavery, coupled, perhaps, with a hope of being able to drive the enemies of their race from their island home, a hope which, if it existed, and if we consider the very limited number of Spaniards who occupied it, was not without foundation.

* * * * *

It was Nemesis, therefore, and not the mere lust of plunder, that guided the Boriquen Indians and their Carib allies on their invasions of Puerto Rico.

Diego Columbus during his visit in 1514 had founded a settlement with 50 colonists along the borders of the Daguao and Macao rivers on the eastern coast.

They had constructed houses and ranchos, introduced cattle, and commenced their plantations, but without taking any precautions against sudden attacks or providing themselves with extra means of defense.

One night they were awakened by the glare of fire and the yells of the savages. As they rushed out to seek safety they fell pierced with arrows or under the blows of the terrible Macanas. Very few of them escaped.

The next attack was in the locality now constituting the municipal district of Loiza.

This place was settled by several Spaniards, among them Juan Mexia, a man said to have been of herculean strength and great courage. The Indian woman with whom he cohabited had received timely warning of the intended attack, a proof that communications existed between the supposed Caribs and the Indians on the island. She endeavored to persuade the man to seek safety in flight, but he disdained to do so. Then she resolved to remain with him and share his fate. Both were killed, and Alejandro Tapia, a native poet, has immortalized the woman's devotion in a romantic, but purely imaginative, composition.

Ponce's virtual defeat in Guadeloupe made the Caribs bolder than ever. They came oftener and in larger numbers, always surprising the settlements that were least prepared to offer resistance. Five years had elapsed since the destruction of Daguao. A new settlement had gradually sprung up in the neighborhood along the river Humacao and was beginning to prosper, but it was also doomed. On November 16, 1520, Baltazar Castro, one of the crown officers, reported to the emperor:

"It is about two months since 5 canoes with 150 Carib warriors came to this island of San Juan and disembarked in the river Humacao, near some Spanish settlements, where they killed 4 Christians and 13 Indians. From here they went to some gold mines and then to some others, killing 2 Christians at each place. They burned the houses and took a fishing smack, killing 4 more. They remained from fifteen to twenty days in the country, the Christians being unable to hurt them, having no ships. They killed 13 Christians in all, and as many Indian women, and 'carried off' 50 natives. They will grow bolder for being allowed to depart without punishment. It would be well if the Seville officers sent two light-draft vessels to occupy the mouths of the rivers by which they enter."

On April 15, 1521, a large number of Indians made a descent on the south coast, but we have no details of their doings; and in 1529 their audacity culminated in an attempt on the capital itself. La Gama's report to the emperor of this event is as follows: "On the 18th of October, after midnight, 8 large pirogues full of Caribs entered the bay of Puerto Rico, and meeting a bark on her way to Bayamon, manned by 5 negroes and some other people, they took her. Finding that they had been discovered, they did not attempt a landing till sunrise, then they scuttled the bark. Some shots fired at them made them leave. Three negroes were found dead, pierced with arrows. The people of this town and all along the coast are watching. Such a thing as this has not been heard of since the discovery. A fort, arms, artillery, and 2 brigantines of 30 oars each, and no Caribs will dare to come. If not sent, fear will depopulate the island."

In the same month of the following year (1530) they returned, and this time landed and laid waste the country in the neighborhood of the capital. The report of the crown officers is dated the 31st of October: "Last Sunday, the 23d instant, 11 canoes, in which there may have been 500 Caribs, came to this island and landed at a point where there are some agricultural establishments belonging to people of this city. It is the place where the best gold in the island is found, called Daguao and the mines of Llagueello. Here they plundered the estate of Christopher Guzman, the principal settler. They killed him and some other Christians,[32] whites, blacks, and Indians, besides some fierce dogs, and horses which stood ready saddled. They burned them all, together with the houses, and committed many cruelties with the Christians. They carried off 25 negroes and Indians, to eat them, as is their wont. We fear that they will attack the defenseless city in greater force, and the fear is so great that the women and children dare not sleep in their houses, but go to the church and the monastery, which are built of stone. We men guard the city and the roads, being unable to attend to our business.

"We insist that 2 brigantines be armed and equipped, as was ordered by the Catholic king. No Caribs will then dare to come. Let the port be fortified or the island will be deserted. The governor and the officers know how great is the need, but they may make no outlays without express orders."

As a result of the repeated requests for light-draft vessels, 2 brigantines were constructed in Seville in 1531 and shipped, in sections, on board of a ship belonging to Master Juan de Leon, who arrived in June, 1532. The crown officers immediately invited all who wished to man the brigantines and make war on the Caribs, offering them as pay half of the product of the sale of the slaves they should make, the other half to be applied to the purchase of provisions.

The brigantines were unfit for service. In February, 1534, the emperor was informed: "Of the brigantines which your Majesty sent for the defense of this island only the timber came, and half of that was unfit.... We have built brigantines with the money intended for fortifications."

Governor Lando wrote about the same time: "We suffer a thousand injuries from the Caribs of Guadeloupe and Dominica. They come every year to assault us. Although the city is so poor, we have spent 4,000 pesos in fitting out an expedition of 130 men against them; but, however much they are punished, the evil will not disappear till your Majesty orders these islands to be settled." The expedition referred to sailed under the orders of Joan de Ayucar, and reached Dominica in May, 1534. Fifteen or 16 villages of about 20 houses each were burned, 103 natives were killed, and 70 prisoners were taken, the majority women and boys. The Spaniards penetrated a distance of ten leagues into the interior of the island, meeting with little resistance, because the warrior population was absent. Eight or 10 pirogues and more than 20 canoes were also burned. With this punishment the fears of the people in San Juan were considerably allayed.

In 1536 Sedeno led an expedition against the Caribs of Trinidad and Bartholome. Carreno fitted out another in 1539. He brought a number of slaves for sale, and the crown officers asked permission to brand them on the forehead, "as is done in la Espanola and in Cubagua."

The Indians returned assault for assault. Between the years 1564 and 1570 they were specially active along the southern coast of San Juan, so that Governor Francisco Bahamonde Lugo had to take the field against them in person and was wounded in the encounter. Loiza, which had been resettled, was destroyed for the second time in 1582, and a year or so later the Caribs made a night attack on Aguada, where they destroyed the Franciscan convent and killed 3 monks.

With the end of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries the West Indian archipelago became the theater of French and English maritime enterprise. The Carib strongholds were occupied, and by degrees their fierce spirit was subdued, their war dances relinquished, their war canoes destroyed, their traditions forgotten, and the bold savages, once the terror of the West Indian seas, succumbed in their turn to the inexorable law of the survival of the fittest.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 31: The West Indian islands were inhabited at the time of discovery by at least three races of different origin. One of these races occupied the Bahamas. Columbus describes them as simple, peaceful creatures, whose only weapon was a pointed stick or cane. They were of a light copper color, rather good-looking, and probably had formerly occupied the whole eastern part of the archipelago, whence they had been driven or exterminated by the Caribs, Caribos, or Guaribos, a savage, warlike, and cruel race, who had invaded the West Indies from the continent, by way of the Orinoco. The larger Antilles, Cuba, la Espanola, and Puerto Rico, were occupied by a race which probably originated from some southern division of the northern continent. The chroniclers mention the Guaycures and others as their ancestors, and Stahl traces their origin to a mixture of the Phoenicians with the Aborigines of remote antiquity]

[Footnote 32: Abbad says 30.]



CHAPTER XIII

DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND—PREVENTIVE MEASURES—INTRODUCTION OF NEGRO SLAVES

1515-1534

The natural consequence of natural calamities and invasions was the rapid disappearance of the natives. "The Indians are few and serve badly," wrote Sedeno in 1515, about the same time that the crown officers, to explain the diminution in the gold product, wrote that many Indians had died of hunger, as a result of the hurricane. " ... The people in la Mona," they said, "have provided 310 loads of bread, with which we have bought an estate in San German. It will not do to bring the Indians of that island away, because they are needed for the production of bread."

Strenuous efforts to prevent the extinction of the Indians were made by Father Bartolome Las Casas, soon after the death of King Ferdinand. This worthy Dominican friar had come to the court for the sole purpose of denouncing the system of "encomiendas" and the cruel treatment of the natives to which it gave rise. He found willing listeners in Cardinal Cisneros and Dean Adrian, of Lovaino, the regents, who recompensed his zeal with the title of "Protector of the Indians." The appointment of a triumvirate of Jerome friars to govern la Espanola and San Juan (1517) was also due to Las Casas's efforts. Two years later the triumvirate reported to the emperor that in compliance with his orders they had taken away the Indians from all non-resident Spaniards in la Espanola and had collected them in villages.

Soon after the emperor's arrival in Spain Las Casas obtained further concessions in favor of the Indians. Not the least important among these were granted in the schedule of July 12, 1520, which recognized the principle that the Indians were born free, and contained the following dispositions:

1st. That in future no more distributions of Indians should take place.

2d. That all Indians assigned to non-residents, from the monarch downward, should be ipse facto free, and be established in villages, under the authority of their respective caciques; and

3d. That all residents in these islands, who still possessed Indians, were bound to conform strictly, in their treatment of them, to the ordinances for their protection previously promulgated.

Antonio de la Gama was charged with the execution of this decree. He sent a list of non-residents, February 15,1521, with the number of Indians taken from each, his Majesty himself heading the list with 80. The total number thus liberated was 664.

These dispositions created fierce opposition. Licentiate Figueroa addressed the emperor on the subject, saying: " ... It is necessary to overlook the 'encomiendas,' otherwise the people will be unable to maintain themselves, and the island will be abandoned."

However, the crown officers ascribe the licentiate's protest to other motives than the desire for the good of the island. "He has done much harm," they wrote. "He has brought some covetous young men with him and made them inspectors. They imposed heavy fines and gave the confiscated Indians to their friends and relations. He and they are rich, while the old residents have scarcely wherewith to maintain themselves."

But Figueroa had foreseen these accusations, for he concludes his above-mentioned letter to the emperor, saying: " ... Let your Majesty give no credence to those who complain. Most of them are very cruel with the Indians, and care not if they be exterminated, provided they themselves can amass gold and return to Castilla."

Martin Fernandez Enciso, a bachelor-at-law, addressed to the emperor a learned dissertation intended to refute the doctrine that the Indians were born free, maintaining that the right of conquest of the New World granted by the Pope necessarily included the right to reduce the inhabitants to slavery.

And thus, in spite of the philanthropic efforts of Las Casas, of the well-intentioned ordinances of the Catholic kings, and of the more radical measures sanctioned by Charles V, the Indian's lot was not bettered till it was too late to save him from extinction.

"The Indians are dying out!" This is the melancholy refrain of all the official communications from 1530 to 1536. The emperor made a last effort to save the remnant in 1538, and decreed that all those who still had Indians in their possession should construct stone or adobe houses for them under penalty of losing them. In 1543 it was ordained by an Order in Council that all Indians still alive in Cuba, la Espanola, and Puerto Rico, were as free as the Spaniards themselves, and they should be permitted to loiter and be idle, "that they might increase and multiply."

Bishop Rodrigo Bastidas, who was charged to see to the execution of this order in Puerto Rico, still found 80 Indians to liberate. Notwithstanding these terminant orders, so powerless were they to abolish the abuses resulting from the iniquitous system, that as late as 1550 the Indians were still treated as slaves. In that year Governor Vallejo wrote to the emperor: "I found great irregularity in the treatment of these few Indians, ... they were being secretly sold as slaves, etc."

Finally, in 1582, Presbyter Ponce de Leon and Bachelor-at-Law Santa Clara, in a communication to the authorities, stated: "At the time when this island was taken there were found here and distributed 5,500 Indians, without counting those who would not submit, and to-day there is not one left, excepting 12 or 15, who have been brought from the continent. They died of disease, sarampion, rheum, smallpox, and ill-usage, or escaped to other islands with the Caribs. The few that remain are scattered here and there among the Spaniards on their little plantations. Some serve as soldiers. They do not speak their language, because they are mostly born in the island, and they are good Christians." This is the last we read of the Boriquen Indians.

* * * * *

With the gradual extinction of the natives, not only the gold output ceased, but the cultivation of ginger, cotton, cacao, indigo, etc., in which articles a small trade had sprung up, was abandoned. The Carib incursions and hurricanes did the rest, and the island soon became a vast jungle which everybody who could abandoned.

"We have been writing these last four years," wrote the crown officers, February 26, 1534, "that the island is becoming depopulated, the gold is diminishing, the Indians are gone. Some new gold deposits were discovered in 1532, and as much as 20,000 pesos were extracted. We thought this would contribute to the repeopling of the island, but the contrary has happened. The people, ruined by the hurricanes of the year 1530, thinking that they might find other gold deposits, bought negroes on credit at very high prices to search for them. They found none, and have not been able to pay their creditors. Some are fugitive in the mountains, others in prison, others again have stolen vessels belonging to the Administration and have gone with their negroes no one knows where. With all this and the news from Peru, not a soul would remain if they were not stopped."

When the news of the fabulous riches discovered in Peru reached this island, the desire to emigrate became irresistible. Governor Lando wrote to the emperor, February 27, 1534: " ... Two months ago there came a ship here from Peru to buy horses. The captain related such wonderful things that the people here and in San German became excited, and even the oldest settlers wanted to leave. If I had not instantly ordered him away the island would have been deserted. I have imposed the death penalty on whosoever shall attempt to leave the island."

On July 2d he wrote again: " ... Many, mad with the news from Peru, have secretly embarked in one or other of the numerous small ports at a distance from the city. Among the remaining settlers even the oldest is constantly saying: 'God help me to go to Peru.' I am watching day and night to prevent their escape, but can not assure you that I shall be able to retain the people.

"Two months ago I heard that some of them had obtained possession of a ship at a point on the coast two leagues from here and intended to leave. I sent three vessels down the coast and twenty horsemen by land. They resisted, and my presence was required to take them. Three were killed and others wounded. I ordered some of them to be flogged and cut off the feet of others, and then I had to dissimulate the seditious cries of others who were in league with them and intended to join them in la Mona, which is twelve leagues from here. If your Majesty does not promptly remedy this evil, I fear that the island will be entirely depopulated or remain like a country inn. This island is the key and the entrance to all the Antilles. The French and English freebooters land here first. The Caribs carry off our neighbors and friends before our very eyes. If a ship were to come here at night with fifty men, they could burn the city and kill every soul of us. I ask protection for this noble island, now so depopulated that one sees scarcely any Spaniards, only negroes ..."

But even the negro population was scarce. The introduction of African slaves into la Espanola had proceeded pari passu with the gradual disappearance of the Indians. As early as 1502 a certain Juan Sanchez had obtained permission to introduce five caravels of negro slaves into that island free of duty, though Ovando complained that many of them escaped to the mountains and made the Indians more insubordinate than ever; but in San Juan a special permission to introduce negroes was necessary. Geron in 1510 and Sedeno in 1512 were permitted to bring in two negroes each only by swearing that they were for their own personal service. In 1513 the general introduction of African slaves was authorized by royal schedule, but two ducats per head had to be paid for the privilege. Cardinal Cisneros suspended the export of slaves from Spain in 1516, but the emperor sanctioned it again in 1517, to stop, if possible, the destruction of the natives.

Father Las Casas favored the introduction of African slaves for the same reason, and obtained from the emperor a concession in favor of his high steward, Garrebod, to send 4,000 negroes to la Espanola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Garrebod sold the concession to a Genovese firm (1517), but negroes remained very scarce and dear in San Juan till 1530, when, by special dispensation of the empress in favor of some merchants, 200 negroes were brought to this island. They were greedily taken up on credit at exorbitant prices, which caused the ruin of the purchasers and made the city authorities of San Juan petition her Majesty April 18, 1533, praying that no more negro islaves might be permitted to come to the island for a period of eighteen months, because of the inability of the people to pay for them.

In Governor Lando's letter of July, 1534, above quoted, he informs the emperor that in the only two towns that existed in the island at that time (San Juan and San German) there were "very few Spaniards and only 6 negroes in each." The incursions of the French and English freebooters, to which he refers in the same letter, had commenced six years before, and these incursions bring the tale of the island's calamities to a climax.



CHAPTER XIV

ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS—CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE—CHARLES V.—RUIN OF THE ISLAND

1520-1556

The depredations committed by the privateers, which about this time began to infest the Antilles and prey upon the Spanish possessions, were a result of the wars with almost every nation in Europe, in which Spain became involved after the accession of Charles, the son of Juana, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella and Philip I, Archduke of Austria.

The young prince had been educated amid all the pomp and splendor of the imperial court. He was a perfect type of the medieval cavalier, who could break a lance with the proudest knight in the empire, and was worthy in every respect of the high destiny that awaited him. At the age of twenty he became the heir to eight kingdoms,[33] the recognized ruler of the Netherlands, lord of vast territories in Africa, and absolute arbiter of the destinies of the Spanish division of the New World.

Scarcely had this powerful young prince been accepted and crowned by the last and most recalcitrant of his kingdoms (Cataluna), and while still in Barcelona, the news arrived of the death of his grandfather, Maximilian, King of the Romans and Emperor elect of Germany. Intrigues for the possession of the coveted crown were set on foot at once by the prince, now Charles I of Spain and by Francis I, King of France. The powers ranged themselves on either side as their interests dictated. Henry VIII of England declared himself neutral; Pope Leon X, who distrusted both claimants, was waiting to see which of them would buy his support by the largest concessions to the temporal power of the Vatican; the Swiss Cantons hated France and sided with Charles; Venice favored Francis I.[34]

The German Diet assembled at Frankfort June 17, 1519, and unanimously elected Frederick of Saxony, surnamed the Prudent. He showed his prudence by declining the honor, and in an address to the assembly dwelt at some length on the respective merits of the two pretenders, and ended by declaring himself in favor of the Spanish prince, one reason for his preference being that Charles was more directly interested in checking the advance of the Turks, who, under Soleiman the Magnificent, threatened, at the time, to overrun the whole of eastern Europe.

Charles I of Spain was elected, and thus became Charles V, King of the Romans and Emperor of Germany—that is, the most powerful monarch of his time, before he had reached the age of manhood. His success, added to other political differences and ambitions, was not long in provoking a war with France, which, with short intervals, lasted the lifetime of the two princes.

* * * * *

Spain was most vulnerable in her ultramarine possessions. They offered tempting prizes to the unscrupulous, adventurous spirits of the period, and the merchants on the coast of Normandy asked and obtained permission to equip privateers to harass Spanish commerce and attack the unprotected settlements.

San Juan was one of the first to suffer. An official report dated September 26, 1528, informs us that "on the day of the Apostle Saint John a French caravel and a tender bore down on the port of Cubagua and attempted to land artillery from the ship with the help of Indians brought from Margarita, five leagues distant. On the 12th of August they took the town of San German, plundered and burned it; they also destroyed two caravels that were there...."

French privateers were sighted off the coast continually, but it would seem that the island, with its reputation for poverty, its two settlements 40 leagues apart, and scanty population, offered too little chance for booty, so that no other landing is recorded till 1538, when a privateer was seen chasing a caravel on her way to San German. The caravel ran ashore at a point two leagues from the capital and the crew escaped into the woods. The Frenchmen looted the vessel and then proceeded to Guadianilla, where they landed 80 men, 50 of them arquebusiers. They burned the town, robbed the church and Dominican convent; but the people, after placing their families in security, returned, and under favor of a shower of rain, which made the arquebuses useless, fell upon them, killed 15 and took 3 prisoners, in exchange for whom the stolen church property was restored. The people had only 1 killed.

The attack was duly reported to the sovereign, who ordered the construction of a fort, and appointed Juan de Castellanos, the treasurer, its commander (October 7, 1540). The treasurer's reply is characteristic: "The fort which I have been ordered to make in the town of San German, of which I am to be the commander, shall be made as well as we may, though there is great want of money ... and of carts, negroes, etc. It will be necessary to send masons from Sevilla, as there is only 1 here, also tools and 20 negroes....

"Forts for this island are well enough, but it would be better to favor the population, lending money or ceding the revenues for a few years, to construct sugar-mills...."

On June 12th of the same year the treasurer wrote again announcing that work on the San German fort had commenced, for which purpose he had bought some negroes and hired others at two and a half pesos per month.

But on February 12, 1542, the crown officers, including Castellanos, reported that the emperor's order to suspend work on the fort of San German had been obeyed.

In February, 1543, the bishop wrote to the emperor: "The people of San German, for fear of the French privateers, have taken their families and property into the woods. If there were a fort they would not be so timid nor would the place be so depopulated."

As late as September, 1548, he reported: "I came here from la Espanola in the beginning of the year to visit my diocese. I disembarked in San German with an order from the Audiencia to convoke the inhabitants, and found that there were a few over 30, who lived half a league from the port for fear of the privateers. They don't abandon the important place, but there ought to be a fort."

But the prelate pleaded in vain.

Charles V, occupied in opposing the French king's five armies, could not be expected to give much attention to the affairs of an insignificant island in a remote corner of his vast dominions. Puerto Rico was left to take care of itself, and San German's last hour struck on Palm Sunday, 1554, when 3 French ships entered the port of Guadianilla, landed a detachment of men who penetrated a league inland, plundering and destroying whatever they could. From that day San German, the settlement founded by Miguel del Toro in 1512, disappeared from the face of the land.

The capital remained. No doubt it owed its preservation from French attacks to the presence of a battery and some pieces of artillery which, as a result of reiterated petitions, had been provided. The population also was more numerous. In 1529 there were 120 houses, some of them of stone. The cathedral was completed, and a Dominican convent was in course of construction with 25 friars waiting to occupy it. Thus, one by one, all the original settlements disappeared. Guanica, Sotomayor, Daguao, Loiza, had been swept away by the Indians. San German fell the victim of the Spanish monarch's war with his neighbor. The only remaining settlement, the capital, was soon to be on the point of being sacrificed in the same way. The existence of the island seemed to be half-forgotten, its connection with the metropolis half-severed, for the crown officers wrote in 1536 that no ship from the Peninsula had entered its ports for two years.

"Negroes and Indians," says Abbad, "seeing the small number of Spaniards and their misery, escaped to the mountains of Luquillo and Anasco, whence they descended only to rob their masters."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 33: Castilla and Aragon, Navarro, Valencia, Cataluna, Mallorca, Sicily, and Naples.]

[Footnote 34: Hista. general de Espana por Don Modesto Lafuente. Barcelona, 1889.]



CHAPTER XV

SEDENO—CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

1534-1555

A slight improvement in the gloomy situation of the people of San Juan took place when, driven by necessity, they began to dedicate themselves to agriculture. At this time, too (1535), Juan Castellanos, the island's attorney at the court, returned with his own family and 75 colonists. Yet scarcely had they had time to settle when they were invited to remigrate by one of Ponce's old companions.

This was Sedeno, a perfect type of the Spanish adventurer of the sixteenth century—restless, ambitious, unscrupulous. The king had made him "contador" (comptroller) of San Juan in 1512 and perpetual "regidor" (alderman) in 1515. In 1518 we find him in prison under accusation of having brought a woman and child from a convent in Sevilla. He broke out of the prison and escaped in a ship. In 1521 he was in prison again for debt to the Government. On this occasion the judge auditor wrote to the emperor: " ... It is said of the comptroller that he has put his hands deep into your Majesty's treasure. He is the one who causes most strife and unrest in the island, ... everybody says that it would be well if he were removed." In 1524 Villasante accused him of malversation of public funds. In 1531 he appears as Governor of Trinidad, accused of capturing natives of the neighboring continent, branding them and selling them as slaves. In 1532, reinstated in his post as comptroller, he leaves Alonzo de la Fuente as his deputy and goes on an expedition to conquer Trinidad. In 1535 he complains to the emperor that the authorities in San Juan have not assisted him in his enterprise, and in the following year the governor and crown officers address a complaint against him to the empress, saying: "Sedeno presented a schedule authorizing him to bring 200 men from the Canary Islands to make war with fire and sword on the Caribs of Trinidad, and permitting him, or any other person authorized by him, to fit out an expedition for the same purpose here.

"Under this pretext he has collected people to go to the conquest of Meta. We wrote to the Audiencia in la Espanola, and an order came that he should not go beyond the limits of his government, but he continues his preparations and has already 50 horses and 120 men on the continent, and is now going with some 200 men more and another 100 horses. He takes no notice of your Majesty's commands, collects people from all parts without a license, and causes grave injury to the island, because since the rage for going to Peru began the population is very scarce and we can not remedy the evil...."

This restless adventurer died of fever on the continent in 1538. Sedeno's emigration schemes deprived the island of many of its best settlers. The wish to abandon it was universal. Lando's drastic measures to prevent it roused the people's anger, and they clamored for his removal. The Audiencia sent Juan Blasquez as judge auditor, and Vasco de Tiedra was appointed Lando's successor in 1536. But in the following year a radical change was made in the system of government.

The quarrels, the jealousies, and mutual accusations between the colonists and the Government officials that kept the island in a continual ferment, were the natural consequence of the prerogatives exercised by Diego Columbus, which permitted him to fill all lucrative positions in the island with his own favorites, often without any regard to their aptitude.

The incessant communications to the emperor, and even to the empress, on every subject more or less connected with the public service, but dictated mostly by considerations of self-interest, coming, as they did, from the smallest and poorest and least important of his Majesty's possessions, must have been a source of great annoyance to the imperial ministers, consequently they resolved to remove the cause. The Admiral was deprived of the prerogative of appointing governors, and henceforth the alcaldes (mayors) and "chief alguaciles" (high constables), to be elected from among the colonists by a body of eight aldermen (regidores), were to exercise the governmental functions for one year at a time, and could not be reelected till two years after the first nomination. The wisdom of this innovation was not generally acknowledged. The crown officers wrote: " ... All are not agreed on the point whether the governor should or should not be elected among the residents of the island. For the country's good he should, no doubt, be a resident."

Alonzo la Fuente was of a different opinion. He wrote in November, 1536: "It has been a great boon to take the appointment of governors out of the Admiral's hands. As a rule, some neighbor or friend was made supreme judge, and he usually proceeded with but little regard for the island's welfare. All the rest were servants and employees of the Admiral, which caused me much uneasiness, seeing the results. Appoint a governor, but a man from abroad, not a resident." In the following year he wrote regarding the elective system just introduced: " ... If the alcaldes must take cognizance of everything, this will become a place of confusion and disorder. A few will lord it over all the rest, and the alcaldes themselves will but be their creatures."

The new system of government was unsatisfactory. Castro and Castellanos asked for the appointment of a supreme judge in March, 1539, because an appeal to the authorities in la Espanola was made against every decision of the alcalde. Alderman La Fuente and Martel confirmed this in December, 1541. They wrote: " ... There is great want of a supreme judge. More than fifteen homicides have been committed in less than eight years, and only one of the delinquents has been punished ..." In January, 1542, the city officers sent a deputy to lay their grievances before the emperor, not daring to write them "for their lives," and in February the island's attorney, Alonzo Molina, stated the causes of the failure of the elective system to be the ignorance of the laws of those in authority and the reduced number of electors. "It is necessary," he said, "to name a mayor or governor who is a man of education and conscience, not a resident, because the judges have their 'compadres.'[35] The governor must be a man of whom they stand in fear, and if some one of this class is not sent soon, he will find few to govern, for the majority intend to abandon the island."

A law passed, it appears, at the petition of a single individual, in 1542, increased the confusion and discord still more. This law made the pastures of the island, as well as the woods and waters, public property. The woods and waters had been considered such from the beginning, but the pastures, included in the concessions of lands made at different times by the crown, were private property. The result of this law was aggression on the part of the landless and resistance on the part of the proprietors, with the consequent scenes of violence and civil strife.

Representations against the law were made by the ecclesiastical chapter, by the city attorney, and by the three crown officers in February, 1542; but the regidores, on the other hand, insisted on the compliance with the royal mandate, and reported that when the law was promulgated, all the possessors of cattle-ranges opposed it, and four of their body who voted for compliance with the law were threatened to be stoned to death and have their eyes pulled out. "We asked to have the circumstance testified to by a notary, and it was refused. We wanted to write to your Majesty, and to prevent any one conveying our letters, they bought the whole cargo of the only ship in port, and did the same with another ship that came in afterward...."

On the 2d of June following they wrote again: " ... An alcalde, two aldermen, and ten or twelve wealthy cattle-owners wanted to kill us. We had to lock ourselves up in our houses.... The people here are so insubordinate that if your Majesty does not send some one to chastise them and protect his servants, there will soon be no island of San Juan."

The system of electing annual governors among the residents was abolished in 1544, and the crown resumed its prerogative with the appointment of Geronimo Lebron, of la Espanola, as governor for one year. He died fifteen days after his arrival, and the Audiencia named licentiate Cervantes de Loayza in his place, who was compelled to imprison some of the ringleaders in the party of opposition against the pasture laws. This governor wrote to the emperor in July, 1545: " ... I came to this island with my wife and children to serve your Majesty, but I found it a prey to incredible violences...."

Cervantes was well received at first, and the city officials asked the emperor to prorogue his term of office, but as Bishop Bastidas said of the islanders, it was not in their nature to be long satisfied with any governor, and the next year they clamored for his "residencia." He rendered his accounts and came out without blame or censure.

It appears that about the year 1549 the system of electing alcaldes as governors was resumed, for in that year Bishop Bastidas thanks the emperor, and tells him "the alcaldes were sufficient, considering the small population." But in 1550 we again find a governor appointed by the crown for five years, a Doctor Louis Vallejo, from whose communications describing the conditions of the island we extract the following: "It is a pity to see how the island has been ruined by the attacks of Frenchmen and Caribs. The few people that remain in San German live in the worst possible places, in swamps surrounded by rough mountains, a league from the port...." And on the 4th of December, 1550: " ... The island was in a languishing condition because the mines gave out, but now, with the sugar industry, it is comparatively prosperous. The people beg your Majesty's protection."

However, in October, 1553, we find Bishop Alonzo la Fuente and others addressing King Philip II, and telling him that "the land is in great distress, ... traffic has ceased for fear of the corsairs...." The same complaints continue during 1554 and 1555. Then Vallejo is subjected to "residencia" by the new governor, Estevez, who, after a few months' office, is "residentiated" in his turn by Caraza, who had been governor in 1547.

After this the chronicles are so scanty that not even the diligent researches of Friar Abbad's commentator enabled him to give any reliable information regarding the government of the island. It remained the almost defenseless point of attack for the nations with which Spain was constantly at war, and this small but bright pearl in her colonial crown was preserved only by fortunate circumstances on the one hand and the loyalty of the inhabitants on the other.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 35: Protectors or proteges—literally, "godfathers."]



CHAPTER XVI

DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND—CONSTRUCTION OF FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION OF SAN JUAN

1555-1641

San German disappeared for want of means of defense, and if the French privateers of the time had been aware that the forts in San Juan were without guns or ammunition it is probable that this island would have become a French possession.

The defenses of the island were constructed by the home authorities in a very dilatory manner. Ponce's house in Caparra had been fortified in a way so ineffective that Las Casas said of it that the Indians might knock it down butting their heads against it. This so-called fort soon fell in ruins after the transfer of the capital to its present site. There is no information of what became of the six "espingardas" (small ordnance or hand-guns) with which it had been armed at King Ferdinand's expense. They had probably been transferred to San Juan, where, very likely, they did good service intimidating the Caribs.

In 1527 an English ship came prowling about San Juan bay, la Mona, and la Espanola, and this warning to the Spanish authorities was disregarded, notwithstanding Blas de Villasante's urgent request for artillery and ammunition.



After the burning of San German by a French privateer in August, 1537, Villasante bought five "lombardas" (another kind of small ordnance) for the defense of San Juan. In 1529 and 1530 both La Gama, the acting governor, and the city officers represented to the emperor the necessity of constructing fortifications, "because the island's defenseless condition caused the people to emigrate."

It appears that the construction of the first fort commenced about 1533, for in that year the Audiencia in la Espanola disposed of some funds for the purpose, and Governor Lando suggested the following year that if the fort were made of stone "it would be eternal." The suggestion was acted upon and a tax levied on the people to defray the expense.

This fort must have been concluded about the year 1540, for in that same year the ecclesiastical and the city authorities were contending for the grant of the slaves, carts, and oxen that had been employed, the former wanting them for the construction of a church, the latter for making roads and bridges.

This "Fortaleza" is the same edifice which, after many changes, was at last, and is still, used as a gubernatorial residence, the latest reconstruction being effected in 1846.[36] As a fort, Gonzalez Fernandez de Oviedo denounced it as a piece of useless work which, "if it had been constructed by blind men could not have been located in a worse place," and in harmony with his advice a battery was constructed on the rocky promontory called "the Morro."

San Juan had now a fort (1540) but no guns. The crown officers, reporting an attack on Guayama by a French privateer in 1541, again clamor for artillery. Treasurer Castellanos writes in March and June of the same year: "The artillery for this fort has not yet arrived. How are we to defend it?"

Treasurer Salinas writes in 1554: "The French have taken several ships. It would have been a great boon if your Majesty had ordered Captain Mindirichaga to come here with his four ships to defend this island and la Espanola. He would have found Frenchmen in la Mona, where they prepare for their expeditions and lay in wait. They declare their intention to take this island, and it will be difficult for us to defend it without artillery or other arms. If there is anything in the fort it is useless, nor is the fort itself of any account. It is merely a lodging-house. The bastion on the Morro, if well constructed, could defend the entrance to the harbor with 6 pieces. We have 60 horsemen here with lances and shields, but no arquebusiers or pikemen. Send us artillery and ammunition."

The demand for arms and ammunition continued in this way till 1555, when acting Governor Caraza reported that 8 pieces of bronze ordnance had been planted on the Morro.

The existing fortifications of San Juan have all been added and extended at different periods. Father Torres Vargas, in his chronicles of San Juan, says that the castle grounds of San Felipe del Morro were laid out in 1584. The construction cost 2,000,000 ducats.[37] The Boqueron, or Santiago fort, the fort of the Canuelo, and the extensions of the Morro were constructed during the administration of Gabriel Royas (1599 to 1609). Governor Henriquez began the circumvallation of the city in 1630, and his successor, Sarmiento, concluded it between the years 1635 and 1641. Fort San Cristobal was begun in the eighteenth century and completed in 1771. Some fortifications of less importance were added in the nineteenth century.

When Caraza reported, in 1555, that the first steps in the fortification of the capital had been taken, the West Indian seas swarmed with French privateers, and their depredations on Spanish commerce and ill-protected possessions continued till Philip II signed the treaty of peace at Vervins in 1598.

But before that, war with England had been declared, and a more formidable enemy than the French was soon to appear before the capital of this much-afflicted island.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 36: The inscription on the upper front wall of the building is: "During the reign of her Majesty, Dona Isabel II, the Count of Mirasol being Captain-General, Santos Cortijo, Colonel of Engineers, reconstructed this royal fort in 1846."]

[Footnote 37: Ducat, a coin struck by a duke, worth, in silver, about $1.15, in gold, twice as much. It was also a nominal money worth eleven pesetas and one maravedi.]



CHAPTER XVII

DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN

1595

Of all the English freebooters that preyed upon Spain and her colonies from the commencement of the war in 1585 to the signing of peace in 1604, Francis Drake was the greatest scourge and the most feared.

Drake early distinguished himself among the fraternity of sea-rovers by the boldness of his enterprises and the intensity of his hatred of the Spaniards. When still a young man, in 1567-'68, he was captain of a small ship, the Judith, one of a fleet of slavers running between the coast of Africa and the West Indies, under the command of John Hawkyns, another famous freebooter. In the harbor of San Juan de Ulua the Spaniards took the fleet by stratagem; the Judith and the Minion, with Hawkyns on board, being the only vessels that escaped. Young Drake's experiences on that occasion fixed the character of his relations to the Dons forever afterward. He vowed that they should pay for all he had suffered and all he had lost.

At that time the Spaniards were ostensibly still friends with England. To Drake they were then and always treacherous and forsworn enemies. In 1570 he made a voyage to the West Indies in a bark of forty tons with a private crew. In the Chagres River, on the coast of Nombre de Dios, there happened to be sundry barks transporting velvets and taffetas to the value of 40,000 ducats, besides gold and silver. They were all taken.

Two years later he made a most daring attempt to take the town of Nombre de Dios, and would probably have succeeded had he not been wounded. He fainted from loss of blood. His men carried him back on board and suspended the attack. On his recovery he met with complete success, and returned to Plymouth in 1573 with a large amount of treasure openly torn from a nation with which England was at peace, arriving at the very time that Philip's ambassador to Queen Elizabeth was negotiating a treaty of peace. Drake had no letters of marque, and consequently was guilty of piracy in the eyes of the law, the penalty for which was hanging. The Spaniards were naturally very angry, and clamored for restitution or compensation and Drake's punishment, but the queen, who shared the pirate's hatred of the Spaniards, sent him timely advice to keep out of the way.

In 1580 he returned from another voyage in the West Indies, just when a body of so-called papal volunteers had landed in Ireland. They had been brought by a Spanish officer in Spanish ships, and the queen, pending a satisfactory explanation, refused to receive Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, and hear his complaints of Drake's piracies. When his ships had been brought round in the Thames, she visited him on board and conferred on him the honor of knighthood. From this time onward he became a servant of the crown.[38]

It was this redoubtable sea-rover who, according to advices received early in 1595, was preparing an expedition in England for the purpose of wresting her West Indian possessions from Spain. The expedition was brought to naught, through the disagreements between Drake and Hawkyns, who both commanded it, by administrative blunders and vexatious delays in England. The Spaniards were everywhere forewarned and goaded to action by the terror of Drake's name.

Notwithstanding this, the island's fate, seeing its defenseless condition, would, no doubt, have been sealed at that time but for a most fortunate occurrence which brought to its shores the forces that enabled it to repulse the attack. Acosta's annotations on Abbad's history contains the following details of the events in San Juan at the time:

"General Sancho Pardo y Osorio sailed from Havana March 10, 1595, in the flagship of the Spanish West Indian fleet, to convoy some merchantmen and convey 2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver, the greater part the property of his Majesty the king. The flagship carried 300 men.

"On the 15th, when in the Bermuda channel, a storm separated the convoy from the other ships, sent her mainmast overboard, broke her rudder, and the ship sprang a leak. In this condition, after a consultation among the officers, it was decided to repair the damage as well as possible and steer for Puerto Rico, which they reached on the 9th of April. The treasure was placed in security in the fort and messengers despatched to the king to learn his Majesty's commands.

"A few days later official advice of the preparations in England was brought to the island in a despatch-boat. Governor Juarez, General Sancho, and the commander of the local infantry held a council, in which it was resolved to land the artillery from the dismasted ship and sink her and another vessel in the channel at the entrance to the harbor, while defenses should be constructed at every point where an enemy could attempt a landing. The plan was carried out under the direction of General Sancho, who had ample time, as no enemy appeared during the next seven months.

"On the 13th of November 5 Spanish frigates arrived under the command of Pedro Tello de Guzman, with orders from the king to embark the treasure forthwith and take it to Spain; but Tello, on his way hither, had fallen in off Guadeloupe with two English small craft, had had a fight with one of them, sank it, and while pursuing the other had come suddenly in sight of the whole fleet, which made him turn about and make his way to Puerto Rico before the English should cut him off. From the prisoners taken from the sunken vessel he had learned that the English fleet consisted of 6 line-of-battle ships of 600 to 800 tons each, and about 20 others of different sizes, with launches for landing troops, 3,000 infantry, 1,500 mariners, all well armed and provided with artillery, bound direct for Puerto Rico under the command of Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkyns.

"Tello's 5 frigates made a very important addition to the island's defenses. Part of his men were distributed among the land forces, and his ships anchored in the bay, just behind the two sunken ships.

"All was now ready for a determined resistance. General Sancho had charge of the shore defenses, Admiral Gonzalo Mendez de Cauzo commanded the forts, Tello, with his frigates and 300 men, defended the harbor. The bishop promised to say a mass and preach a sermon every day, and placed a priest at every post to give spiritual aid where necessary. Lastly, despatch-boats were sent to la Espanola and to Cuba to inform the authorities there of the coming danger.

"The defensive forces consisted of 450 men distributed at different points on shore with 34 pieces of ordnance of small caliber. In the forts there were 36 pieces, mostly bronze ordnance, with the respective contingent of men. On board of Tello's frigates there were 300 men.

"General Sancho, after an inspection of the defenses, assured the governor that the island was safe if the men would but fight.

"At daybreak on the 22d of November the English fleet hove in sight. The call to arms was sounded, and everybody," says the chronicler, "ran joyfully to his post."

A caravel with some launches showing white flags came on ahead, sounding, but on passing the Boqueron were saluted with a cannon shot, whereupon they withdrew replacing the white flags by red ones.

The whole fleet now came to anchor in front of the "Caleta del Cabron" (Goat's Creek), much to the surprise of the islanders, who had no idea that there was anchoring ground at that point; but, being within range of the 3 pieces of cannon on the Morrillo and of the 2 pieces planted at the mouth of the creek, they were fired upon, with the result, as became known afterward, of considerable damage to the flagship and the death of 2 or 3 persons, among them Hawkyns, Drake's second in command.

This unexpectedly warm reception made it clear to the English admiral that the islanders had been forewarned and were not so defenseless as they had been reported. Some launches were sent to take soundings in the vicinity of Goat Island, and at 5 in the afternoon the fleet lifted anchor and stood out to sea. Next morning at 8 o'clock it returned and took up a position under the shelter of the said island, out of range of the artillery on the forts.

More soundings were taken during the day in the direction of Bayamon, as far as the Canuelo. That night, about 10 o'clock, 25 launches, each containing from 50 to 60 men, advanced under cover of the darkness and attacked Tello's frigates. The flames of 3 of the ships, which the English succeeded in firing, soon lit up the bay and enabled the artillery of the 3 forts to play with effect among the crowded launches. The Spaniards on board Tello's ships succeeded in putting out the fire on board 2 of the ships, the third one was destroyed. After an hour's hard fighting and the loss by the English, as estimated by the Spanish chronicler, of 8 or 10 launches and of about 400 men, they withdrew. The Spanish loss that night was 40 killed and some wounded.

The next day the English fleet stood out to sea again, keeping to windward of the harbor, which made Tello suspect that they intended to return under full sail when the wind sprang up and force their way into the harbor. To prevent this, 2 more ships and a frigate were sunk across the entrance with all they had on board, there being no time to unload them.

As expected, the fleet came down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but did not try to force an entrance. It quietly took up the same position between the Morro and Goat Island, which it had occupied the day before, and this made the Spaniards think that another night attack on the 3 remaining frigates was impending. After dark the frigates were removed to a place of safety within the bay.

The night passed without an alarm. The next day the English launches were busy all day sounding the bay as far as the Boqueron, taking care to keep out of range of the artillery on shore. Night came on and when next morning the sun lit up the western world there was not an enemy visible. Drake had found the island too well prepared and deemed it prudent to postpone the conquest.

Two days later news came from Arecibo that the English fleet had passed that port. A messenger sent to San German returned six days later with the information that the enemy had been there four days taking in wood and water and had sailed southward on the 9th of December.

It is said that when Drake afterward learned that his abandonment of the conquest of Puerto Rico had made him miss the chance of adding 2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver to the Maiden Queen's exchequer, he pulled his beard with vexation.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 38: Drake and his Successors. The Edinburgh Review, July, 1901.]



CHAPTER XVIII

OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY LORD GEORGE CUMBERLAND—CONDITION OF THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Puerto Rico and his Majesty's treasure were now safe. When there was no longer any fear of the enemy's return, haste was made to reembark the money and get rid of General Sancho and Tello and their men who were fast consuming the island's scanty resources.

Two years after Drake's ineffectual attack on the island another English fleet, with a large body of troops under the orders of Lord George Cumberland, came to Puerto Rico. A landing was effected at Cangrejos (the present Santurce). The bridge leading to the capital was not then fortified, but its passage was gallantly disputed by Governor Antonio Mosquera, an old soldier of the war in Flanders. The English were far superior in numbers and armament, and Mosquera had to fall back. Captain Serralta, the brothers John and Simon Sanabria, and other natives of the island, greatly distinguished themselves in this action. The English occupied the capital and the forts without much more opposition. An epidemic of dysentery and yellow fever carried off 400 Englishmen in less than three months and bid fair to exterminate the whole invading force, so that, to save his troops, the English commander was obliged to evacuate the island, which he did on the 23d of November. He carried with him 70 pieces of artillery of all sizes which he found in the fortifications. The city itself he left unhurt, except that he took the church-bells and organ and carried off an artistically sculptured marble window in one of the houses which had taken his fancy.

Mr. Brau mentions some documents in the Indian archives of Spain, from which it appears that another invasion of Puerto Rico took place a year after Cumberland's departure. On that occasion the governor and the garrison were carried off as prisoners, but as there was a cruel epidemic still raging in the island at the time the English did not stay.

The death of Philip II (September 13, 1598) and of his inveterate enemy, Queen Elizabeth (March 24, 1603), brought the war with England to a close. The ambassador of Philip III in London negotiated a treaty of peace with James I, which was signed and ratified in the early part of 1604.

So ended the sixteenth century in Boriquen. If the dictum of Las Casas, that the island at the century's beginning was "as populous as a beehive and as lovely as an orchard," was but a rhetorical figure, there is no gainsaying the fact that at the time of Ponce's landing it was thickly peopled, not only that part occupied by the Spaniards but the whole island, with a comparatively innocent, simple, and peaceably disposed native race. The end of the century saw them no more. The erstwhile garden was an extensive jungle. The island's history during these hundred years was condensed into the one word "strife." All that the efforts of the king and his governors had been able to make of it was a penal settlement, a presidio with a population of about 400 inhabitants, white, black, and mongrel. The littoral was an extensive hog-and cattle-ranch, with here and there a patch of sugar-cane; there was no commerce.[39] There were no roads. The people, morally, mentally, and materially poor, were steeped in ignorance and vice. Education there was none. The very few who aspired to know, went to la Espanola to obtain an education. The few spiritual wants of the people were supplied by monks, many of them as ignorant and bigoted as themselves. War and pestilence and tempest had united to wipe the island from the face of the earth, and the very name of "Rich Port," given to it without cause or reason, must have sounded in the ears of the inhabitants as a bitter sarcasm on their wretched condition.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 39: A precarious traffic in hides and ginger did not deserve the name of commerce.]



CHAPTER XIX

ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN

1625

Holland emancipated itself from Spanish domination in 1582 and assumed the title of "the United Provinces of Netherland." After nearly half a century of an unequal struggle with the most powerful kingdom in Europe, the people's faith in final success was unbounded, while Spain was growing weary of the apparently interminable war. At this juncture, proposals for a suspension of hostilities were willingly entertained by both nations, and after protracted negotiations, a truce of twelve years was signed in Bergen-op-Zoom, April 9, 1609. In it the absolute independence of the United Provinces was recognized.

This gave the Spanish colonies a welcome respite from the ravages of privateers till 1621, the first year of the reign of King Philip IV, when hostilities immediately recommenced. France and England both came to the assistance of the Provinces with money for the raising of troops, and the wealthy merchants of Holland, following the example of the French merchants in the former century, fitted out fleets of privateers to prey upon the commerce and colonies of Spain and Portugal. The first exploits of these privateers were the invasion of Brazil and the sacking of San Salvador, of Lima and Callao (1624).

Puerto Rico was just beginning to recover from the prostration in which the last invasion had left it, when on the morning of the 24th of September, 1625, the guard on San Felipe del Morro announced 8 ships to windward of the port.

Juan de Haro, the governor, who had assumed the command only a few months before, mounted to an outlook to observe them, and was informed that more ships could be seen some distance down the coast. He sent out horsemen, and they returned about 8 o'clock at night with the news that they had counted 17 ships in all.

Alarm-bells were now rung and some cannon fired from the forts to call the inhabitants together. They were directed to the plaza, where arms and ammunition were distributed. During the night the whole city was astir preparing for events, under the direction of the governor.

Next morning the whole fleet was a short distance to windward. Lest a landing should be attempted at the Boqueron or at Goat's Creek, the two most likely places, the governor ordered a cannon to be planted at each and trenches to be dug. In the meantime, the people, who had promptly answered the call to arms, and the garrison were formed into companies on the plaza and received orders to occupy the forts, marching first along the shore, where the enemy could see them, so as to make a great show of numbers.

The artillery in the fort was in bad condition. The gun-carriages were old and rotten. Some of the pieces had been loaded four years before and were dismounted at the first firing. One of them burst on the sixth or seventh day, killing the gunners and severely wounding the governor, who personally superintended the defense.

In the afternoon of the day of their arrival the Hollanders came down under full sail "with as much confidence," says the chronicler, "as if they were entering a port in their own country."

That night the fort was provisioned as well as the scanty resources of the island permitted. The defenders numbered 330, and the food supply collected would not enable them to stand a long siege. The supply consisted of 120 loads of casabe bread, 46 bushels of maize, 130 jars or jugs of olive oil, 10 barrels of biscuit, 300 island cheeses, 1 cask of flour, 30 pitchers of wine, 200 fowls, and 150 small boxes of preserved fruit (membrillo).