Part 28

This willingness to allow the inauguration of a trade in slaves in lieu of the export from the New World of the precious metal which was so persistently sought for may be also explained by the strangeness and uncouthness of the inhabitants of the West Indian islands. Apart from the Mexicans and Peruvians, the greatest extent of the New World was inhabited by peoples who had not yet got beyond the hunting stages of culture. They used, of course, articulate speech, they had the knowledge of fire, and employed a few rude instruments of stone and wood, but they were essentially savages, and up to this time man in an actually savage stage was not known to Europeans--even to travelers. Marco Polo, indeed, had told of the existence in the East of races who devoured human flesh, but he was not believed. It was the voyage of Columbus that revealed the practice to be a literal fact and gave it such impressive emphasis that the Indian name Carib or Caribbee, in the modified form of cannibal, came to be used to designate the savage who feeds on human flesh. The smaller islands of the Antilles were all occupied by branches of this parent stock, the Carib, all of whom were distinguished by savage ferocity. The name was given them by a rival race, the Arawaks, who under various designations lived in the four larger islands, Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, and Puerto Rico. Both peoples had come from the opposite coast of South America, probably drifting to the islands by the help of the equatorial current. On the mainland there was constant warfare between the two, with distinct advantages on the side of the Carib.

When Columbus reached the Antilles, the Arawaks in Cuba and in Hayti were in process of extermination at the hands of the Caribs. The work of subjugation commenced by the savage Carib was taken up by the Spaniard; in a few years the Arawaks of the larger islands were absolutely destroyed. The vigorous race in the smaller islands was never dominated by the Spanish conquerors; even when Spanish domination in the islands gave place to English and French rule, the Carib kept up the contest for more than a century. But the long years of warfare caused their numbers to dwindle away. As late as 1773 a military expedition was ordered to be sent to the island of St. Vincent to exterminate the Carib population, who refused to be reduced. But in place of drastic measures it was resolved to deport them. They were finally removed to the mainland of Honduras, where from this original small group the increase has been so remarkable that to-day their settlements extend from Belize to Cape Gracias a Dios.

Hayti, the island where the first city of European foundation in the New World was established, may be taken as illustrating the point where the island population had reached the most advanced standard of life. It is true that in part of the island the Caribs had effected a landing and were driving the less warlike Arawaks before them. But Hayti, when the Spanish conquest began, was already an agricultural country. It had no dense forests; there was an absence of larger game; the climate was mild and equable, and there were broad open tracts of country well adapted to cultivation. When the island was discovered, the population was estimated to be above a million; a few years later, in 1508, when under the cruel methods of the Spanish conquest the inhabitants must have been very considerably reduced, there were still 60,000 males left. The island was probably therefore more densely populated than any part of the mainland. The natural food resources in the shape of fish and small game could hardly support such a number. The growing of maize was not unknown, but the evidence goes to prove that the natives lived largely on the product of enormous manioc plantations. The root of this plant was reduced to a pulp, the juice was pressed out, and after being exposed to heat, the residue took the form of a meal that could be turned into bread cakes. The preparation of a crop of manioc was not difficult. The great savannah lands of the island, which were covered with prairie grass, were burnt over; the soil was thrown up with a pointed stick, hardened by fire, a few cuttings of the stem were planted in, some slight weeding was done, and after twelve months, without additional labor, there was ready a heavy crop of roots that could be immediately converted into bread. According to Las Casas’ estimate the labor of twenty women working six hours a day for a month was sufficient to provide bread enough to last three hundred persons for two years. The ease with which the crop was grown is shown by the naïve offer of a native chieftain to his Spanish masters to substitute for the tribute of gold which his people had no way of providing, an enormous field ready planted, which was to extend across the island from Isabella in the north to Santo Domingo in the south. The bulk of the natives including the males did not work at this primitive method of tillage, nor did they share in the breadmaking, but apparently their freedom from this kind of labor did not encourage other types of industry. The only metal worked was gold, though the island contained both copper and tin. For cutting they used stone implements, and for fishing bone hooks. Owing to the mild climate little clothing was necessary. The cotton plant was not artificially cultivated, both cloths and hammocks being made out of the wild cotton. Little attention was paid to housebuilding, though there were some large joint family houses. There was no stone architecture, and even fortification in its simplest form was not known.

For the purposes of warfare the island was divided into five districts, each of which contributed several thousand warriors under an independent chief, whose office was devolved upon him by hereditary descent. The warlike equipment was inadequate, not equal to that used by the aggressive Caribs, who had the training which comes from the hunting of large game. The Arawaks were therefore completely at the mercy of their savage assailants, unless they fought the Caribs with overwhelming numbers on their side. When the Spaniards began the conquest of the island the mild natives had, therefore, no chance of withstanding even small numbers of Europeans.

As a further test of the stage of culture reached by these, the most advanced of the islanders, we may take their religion, which proves their affinity to the lowest peoples known. They practised a simple form of fetichism combined with ancestor worship. There was a class of wizards, both men and women, who were supposed to control the spirit world. The multitude of spirits were embodied in the form of idols, sometimes in human shape, made of various materials. There were also idols consisting of the wooden figures of dead chiefs set up over their places of burial. The most famous of this type of idol were the images of the two first ancestors of mankind that were kept in the cave from which they had emerged after the deluge. As worship to these divinities, rude hymns were recited and manioc bread was used as a sacrificial offering and afterwards distributed among the worshippers.

The backward condition of the islanders did not discourage the projects of colonization which were inaugurated immediately on Columbus’ return from his first voyage. In 1493 the new flotilla showed the expansion of the hopes based on the discoverer’s success of the year before; there were now seventeen ships carrying 1200 men: miners, artisans, farmers, noblemen, all bent on the work of colonization. Twelve priests were included in the party. The exploration of the interior of the island was taken in hand by one of Columbus’ lieutenants, whose object was to discover gold and to commence the systematic working of the mines.

It was nearly a year before the Admiral returned to Hayti. In the meantime affairs in the nascent colony were in anything but a happy condition. The colonists, dissatisfied probably because fortunes were not coming quickly enough, were sending to the home government petitions and complaints condemning Columbus’ administration. A royal commissioner was soon sent out, whose personal inspection of the island resulted in a most unfavorable report being despatched to the Spanish sovereigns. Internal dissensions continued, due to quarrels over questions of jurisdiction, but these difficulties were less serious than the miseries occasioned by the oppression of the natives. Though Las Casas describes them as “the most humble, patient, loving, peaceful, and docile people, without contentions or tumults; neither fractious nor quarrelsome, without hatred or desire for revenge, more than any other people of the world,” the advent among them of colonists and adventurers bent on introducing the advanced economic system of Europe changed everything. A tribute was laid upon the whole population of the island which required that each Indian above fourteen years of age was to pay a little bell filled with gold every three months. In all other provinces the natives were to pay an “arroba” of cotton.

It was soon found that these taxes could not be collected. Accordingly, in 1496, a change was made; instead of gold and cotton, labor was substituted. The Indians near the plantations were obliged to prepare and work them. Such was the origin of the “repartimiento” system which, applied to a population unused to regular toil, and administered by harsh and unprincipled masters, transformed the larger Antilles into virtual prison houses. The natives who resisted were treated as guilty of rebellion and were sent to Spain to be sold as slaves. Oftentimes, in order to escape this servitude, whole villages and even tribes would take refuge in the forests. Regular raids were organized against those who tried to evade the tribute; those who were captured were sent to Spain. In 1498 the vessels of Columbus, fleet took home a consignment of six hundred, one-third of whom were given to the masters of the ships to cover the freight charges.

There were scruples on the part of the home government against sanctioning such an arrangement, and on more than one occasion, in applying his policy of “pacific penetration,” Columbus acted without waiting for royal sanction. After the two years’ insurrection of Roldon, the chief justice, had been brought to an end by mutual agreement, Columbus, in order to institute an era of good feeling, made a generous distribution of slaves and lands among Roldon’s supporters. Each man was to receive a certain number of hillocks for the purpose of manioc culture. The operation of tillage was placed in the hands of an Indian chieftain whose people were obliged to dwell on the land they cultivated. Those of the former rebels who chose to return home received from one to three slaves apiece. Fifteen took advantage of this last offer; but they soon found themselves confronted by a royal proclamation which directed that all holders of slaves given them by Columbus should return them to Hayti under pain of death. An unfortunate exception was, however, made in the case of Indians who had been taken as rebels.

Further indications of the attempt of the home government to curb the economic exploitation of the island introduced by Columbus are seen in the instructions given to Nicolas de Ovando, who succeeded Bobadilla as royal governor in April, 1502. He was directed to convert the Indians, not to maltreat them, nor to reduce them to slavery; to require them to work the gold mines, but to pay for their work; to refuse to allow Jews or Moors to have access to the island; to accept blacks as slaves. The idle and the dissolute were to be returned to Spain, and all mining concessions made by the previous governor were to be revoked. Ovando’s rule was to extend over all of the West Indies, with his residence on Hispaniola (Hayti).

The expedition conveying the new chief was of imposing size; there were thirty ships and 2500 persons. On board was the famous Las Casas, afterwards the apostle and champion of the Indians, who came now to make his fortune in the New World like so many other adventurers. The attraction of the reported mines of gold was irresistible, and it can be imagined how great was the joy of the Spaniards when the first news they heard in the colony was the report of the finding of a huge nugget of gold thirty-five pounds in weight. This treasure was dug up by an Indian girl not far from the settlement of San Domingo.

Equally reassuring as a foundation for the prosperity of the colony was a second piece of news which recounted how, in a part of the island, there had been an uprising of the natives which had been successfully punished, and in which the victors had reaped the reward of turning the captured rebels into slaves. It was well known that the feeling in the home country was becoming distinctly unfavorable to a colonial polity practised so ruthlessly on the natives. The Spanish sovereigns had declared themselves to be the protectors of the Indians, and had ordered them both to be treated mildly by the civil authorities and to be prepared for Christianity by the representatives of the Church. They were to be civilized, and taught the Spanish language and habits of industry. No arms should be sold to them, nor strong drink; there was to be cultivation of the soil, but it was not to be done under duress. The Indian lands could be bought or sold, and the natives were to be encouraged to adopt autonomous municipal institutions under the direction of the priests. They were also to have the right of appearing in court to act as witnesses or to institute suits. As to the mines, they were permitted to work in them, but were not to be forced. Even tribal customs were allowed to be continued, where they were not contrary to the ethical obligations of a higher type of civilization.

It was an almost idyllic scheme for assuming the white man’s burden, but it remained a paper reformation; as the testimony of Las Casas shows. For some time before his ordination this untiring advocate of the rights of the natives lived in Hispaniola the life of the ordinary Spanish colonist. He acquired slaves; worked them in the mines, and devoted himself with such assiduity to the control of the estates previously acquired in the colony by his father that he declares they turned in to him a yearly income of 100,000 castellanes, an enormous sum, considering the purchasing power of money at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

The gold fever caused terrible havoc among the colonists; they were not used to manual labor, they knew nothing of the methods of mining, they were poorly supplied with tools for the work. Often they rushed to the mines without taking with them an adequate supply of food. The tropical climate soon brought on a strange disease, probably pernicious malaria. Under its ravages, in a short period, 2500 of Ovando’s men met their deaths not long after they came to the colony. The conditions of life were hard, even food being scarce in the neighborhood of the mines, and, when the royal tax of one-fifth was deducted from the small proceeds after the expenses were paid, the colonist’s share was barely sufficient to cover his living expenses. The few who were contented with agricultural pursuits were really better off in every way, but in the mania for gold discovery no thought was given to the magnificent resources of the soil.

Las Casas notes that the worst effects of this colonial policy began in the year 1504, when Queen Isabella’s death became known. Ovando’s short and easy methods with the natives are described with great vividness by Las Casas, who took part in the warfare against one of the native chieftains. It was, of course, a conflict in which the weaker race could play their part only through ruse and stratagem, for, as Las Casas says, “all their wars are little more than games with little sticks such as children play in our countries.” Nor were the natives well qualified even for this sort of hostilities, since they were “most humble, most patient, most peaceful and calm, without strife or tumult; not wrangling nor querulous, as free from hate and desire for revenge as any in the world.” Even Columbus, in the hearing of Las Casas, bore witness to their humane qualities. He said that he met with such gentle and agreeable reception and such help and guidance when the ship in which he sailed was lost there, that in his own country and from his own father better treatment would not have been possible.

The escape of the natives to the mountains and their efforts to retaliate started, according to Las Casas, the war of extermination. When the governor Ovando arrived in the part of the island which was ruled over by a woman chieftain, Anacaona, more than 300 chiefs were brought together and assured of the pacific intentions of the Europeans. “He lured the principal ones by fraud into a straw house, and, setting fire to it, he burnt them alive; all the others, together with numberless people, were put to the sword and lance; and to do honor to the lady Anacaona, they hanged her.” Death by fire, administered with the most exquisitely devised tortures, was the fate of the Indian chieftains. “I once saw,” he continues, “that they had four or five of the chief lords stretched on the gridiron to burn them, and I think also there were two or three pairs of gridirons where they were burning others.” The fugitives were hunted down by boar-hounds who were taught and trained to tear an Indian to pieces as soon as they saw him.

Although Cuba had been discovered by Columbus, no attempt was made to occupy the island until 1511, when his son Diego, acting under the powers conferred upon him by the home government, selected Velasquez, one of the oldest and most respected colonists in Hispaniola, to take charge of the enterprise. With only three hundred men he easily occupied the island. Like the Indians of Hispaniola they were not able to organize any effective resistance. There was a repetition of the atrocities by which Hispaniola had been pacified. By 1521 the miserable natives were so brought under control that they were turned into the unwilling and inefficient instruments of the colonial policy of their new masters.

Las Casas was present at the close of this expedition, and he speaks of frequent burnings and hangings of the inhabitants. Many committed suicide to escape the enforced working in the mines. The following item in his indictment deserves to be reproduced: “There was,” he says, “an officer of the king in this island to whose share 300 Indians fell, and by the end of three months he had, through labor in the mines, caused the deaths of 270; so that he had only 30 left, which was the tenth part. The authorities afterwards gave him as many again, and again he killed them; and they continued to give and he to kill.... In three or four months, I being present, more than 7000 children died of hunger, their fathers and mothers having been taken to the mines.” The concentration of the conquerors on economic success may be gathered from the experience of Las Casas himself, who, though he had done all in his power to restrain the commission of cruel deeds, wherever he was present, did not hesitate to take advantage, priest though he was, of the “repartimiento” system, under which he received a valuable piece of land and a number of Indians to work it, in recognition of the services he had rendered in conciliating the natives.

Columbus, it must be remembered, received an authorization to deport from Spain criminals under sentence of either partial or perpetual banishment. Other delinquents had had their sentences remitted provided they agreed to go to the Indies. The result among such a motley crowd, released from the ordinary pressure of social obligations, was a laxity and dissoluteness such as was seen in the nineteenth century among frontier communities. Even Columbus spoke with no admiration of the colonists. “I know,” he said, “that numbers of men have gone to the Indies who did not deserve water from God or man.”

Despite the fact that the exploration and subjugation of the larger Antilles went on with feverish energy, Puerto Rico and Jamaica both being taken in 1509, the profits of the colonial system were most disappointing. The expeditions were costly, there was no economy in organization; at home and abroad, there were a host of officials who had to receive salaries. The gold mines were poor in quality. The native population, by war and disease, had been so much diminished that labor became scarce. The smaller islands were then drawn upon to keep up the supply of labor in Hispaniola, and as the death-rate still continued excessively high, the place of the natives was filled by negroes imported from the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Some negroes were taken to Hispaniola as early as 1505. In 1517 the African slave traffic was authorized by Charles V.

A more intelligent side of the colonial system was seen in the aim of the government to acclimatize in America European plants, trees, and domestic animals. From the time of the second voyage of Columbus there had been detailed government orders, according to which each ship that carried colonists should also be provided with specimens of such seeds as might be useful. Though there were very few domesticated animals in America, it was soon found that the European varieties would flourish there. Las Casas often speaks of the astonishment caused among the natives by their first sight of the horse. This animal soon became an economic necessity, and in many places herds of wild horses in unoccupied regions proved how fast the original stock multiplied in the newly discovered countries. Cattle also soon became one of the chief articles of internal trade between the colonies, and hides were one of the staple goods carried on the fleets engaged in West Indian trade. Sheep and European poultry also were introduced with great success. As to plants, the vine was not encouraged because the mother country produced more wine than was needed for home consumption, and it was an article that could be transported easily to the colonists. The introduction of the sugar-cane was a social benefaction, for it set the settlers free from the burden of gold mining under unfavorable conditions. The sugar industry was developed rapidly after the introduction of negro labor.