A. D. 1506. straint, distributed Indians among his friends in the island. Ferdinand, to whom the queen had left by will one half of the revenue arising from the settlements in the New World, conferred grants of a similar nature upon his courtiers, as the least expensive mode of rewarding their services. They farmed out the Indians, of whom they were rendered proprietors; and that wretched people, being compelled to labour in order to satisfy the rapacity of both, the exactions of their oppressors no longer knew any bounds. During several years the gold 'brought into the royal smelting-houses in Hispaniola amounted annually to more than one hundred thousand pounds. Vast fortunes were created of a sudden by some; others dissipated in ostentatious profusion what they acquired with facility. Dazzled by both, new adventurers crowded to America, with the most eager impatience to share in those treasures which had enriched their countrymen, and the colony continued to increase. Ovando governed the Spaniards with wisdom and justice. He established equal laws, and by executing them with impartiality, accustomed the people of the colony to reverence them. He founded several new towns, and endeavoured to turn the attention of his countrymen to some branch of industry more useful than that of searching for gold in the mines. Some slips of the sugar-cane having been brought from the Canary islands by way of experiment, they were found to thrive with such increase that the cultivation of them became an object of commerce. Extensive plantations were begun, sugar-works erected, and in a few years the manufacture of this commodity was the great occupation of the inhabitants of Hispaniola, and the most considerable source of their wealth. The prudent endeavours of Ovando, to promote the welfare of the colony, were powerfully seconded by Ferdinand. The large remittances which he received from the New World, opened his eyes, at length, with respect to the value and importance of those discoveries which he had hitherto affected to undervalue. He erected a board of trade composed of persons eminent for rank and ability, to whom he committed the administration of American affairs. But, notwithstanding this attention to the welfare of the colony, a calamity impended which threatened its dissolution. The original inhabitants, on whose labour the Spaniards in Hispaniola depended for their prosperity, and even their existence, wasted so fast that the extinction of the whole race seemed to be inevitable. When Columbus discovered this island, the number of its inhabitants was computed to be at least a million. They were now reduced to sixty thousand, in the space of fifteen years. The Spaniards being thus deprived of the instruments which they were accustomed to employ, found it impossible to extend their improvements, or even to carry on the works which they had already begun. To provide an immediate remedy, Ovando proposed to transport the inhabitants of the Lucayo islands to Hispaniola, under pretence that they might be civilized with more facility, and instructed with greater advantage in the Chris. tian religion, if they were united to the Spanish colony, and placed under the immediate inspection of the missionaries settled there. Ferdinand gave his assent to the proposal; several vessels were fitted out for the Lucayos, and forty thousand of the inhabitants were decoyed into Hispaniola, to share the sufferings which were the lot of those who lived there, and to mingle their groans and tears with those of that wretched race of men. New discoveries were made, and new colonies formed; and by the command of Ovando, Sebastian de Ocampo sailed round Cuba, and proved with certainty that it was an island. This voyage was one of the last occurrences under the administration of Ovando. Ever since the death of Columbus, his son, Don Diego, had been employed in soliciting Ferdinand to grant him the offices of viceroy and admiral in the New World. After two years spent in incessant but fruitless importunity, he commenced a suit against his sovereign before the council which managed Indian affairs; and that court, with integrity which reflects honour upon its proceedings, decided against the king, and sustained Diego's claim. A. D. 1508. As soon as the obstacles were removed, Don Diego repaired quickly to Hispaniola, where he lived with a splendour and magnificence hitherto unknown in the New World; and the family of Columbus seemed now to enjoy the honours and rewards due to his inventive genius, of which he had been cruelly defrauded. No benefit, however, accrued to the unhappy natives from this change of governors. Don Diego, soon after he landed, divided such Indians as were still unappropriated among his relations and attendants. The next care of the new governor was to settle a colony in Cubagua, celebrated for large quantities of oysters which produced pearls. This became a place of considerable resort, and large fortunes were acquired by the fishery for pearls, which was carried on with extraordinary ardour. The Indians, especially those from the Lucayo islands, were compelled to dive for them; and this dangerous and unhealthy employment was an additional calamity which contributed not a little to the extinction of that devoted race. About this period Juan Diaz de Solis A. D. and Pinzon set out upon another voyage. 1509. They stood directly south, towards the equinoctial line, which Pinzon had formerly crossed, and advanced as far as the 40th degree of southern latitude. They were astonished to find that the continent of America stretched on their right-hand through all this vast extent of ocean. They landed in several places to take possession in the name of their sovereign; but though the country appeared to be extremely fertile and inviting, their force was so small that they left no colony behind them. Their voyage served, how. ever, to give the Spaniards more exalted and adequate ideas with respect to the dimensions of this quarter of the globe. Though it was about ten years since Columbus had discovered the main land in America, yet it was not till this period that the Spaniards seriously attempted to make any settlement upon it. The scheme took its rise from Alonzo de Ojeda, and Diego de Nicuessa, who were encouraged by Ferdinand. They erected two governments on the continent, one extending from Cape de Vela to the Gulf of Darien, and the other from that to Cape Gracias a Dios. The former was given to Ojeda, the latter to Nicuessa. Ojeda fitted out a ship and two brigs, with three hundred men ; Nicuessa, six vessels, with seven hundred and eighty men. They sailed about the same time from St. Domingo for their respective governments. They found the natives in those countries to be of a character very different from that of their countrymen in the islands. They were fierce and warlike. Their arrows were dipped in a poison so noxious, that every wound was followed with certain death. In one encounter they slew above seventy of Ojeda's followers, and the Spaniards, for the first time, were taught to dread the inhabitants of the New World. Nicuessa was opposed by people equally resolute in defence of their possessions. Nothing could soften their ferocity. Though the Spaniards employed every art to sooth them, they refused to hold any intercourse with men whose residence among them they considered as fatal to their liberty and independence. This implacable enmity of the natives might perhaps have been surmounted by the perseverance of the Spaniards, by the superiority of their arms, and their skill in the art of war; but every disaster which can be accumulated upon the unfortunate combined to complete their ruin. The loss of their ships, by accidents, upon an unknown coast; the diseases of the climate; the want of provisions; and the incessant hostilities of the natives, involved them in a succession of calamities, the bare recital of which strikes one with horror. Though they received two considerable reinforcements from Hispaniola, the greater part of those who engaged in this expedition perished in less than a year, in the most extreme misery. A few who survived settled as a feeble colony on the Gulf of Darien, under the command of Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, whose conduct and courage marked him out as a leader in more splendid and successful undertakings. Nor was he the only adventurer in this expedition who will hereafter appear with lustre in more important scenes. Francisco Pizarro was one of Ojeda's companions, and in this school of adversity acVOL. XXIV. F |