years to come a certain tribute, equal to what Las Casas thought they were able, for themselves and their children; but Figueroa had discretionary powers to continue the plans of the Geronimites, if he found the others impracticable. And as the Indians from Trinidad had been taken for slaves, upon pretence of their being Caribs, the evil was to be remedied, and all that had been brought to Española from the Barbadoes and "Gigantes" were to be treated as natives—and he was to punish with rigour those who, under colour of trading on the Pearl Coast, ill-treated the Indians, and supplied them with arms and wine, because they got drunk, and endangered the safety of the Fathers who were preaching among them.

Figueroa was to carry out letters to the Fathers, with thanks for what they had done, and permission for them to return; but they were to remain some days, to give him all the information they could about the Indians. He had one also to Las Casas from the King, which contained his opinion, that Las Casas was right in his statements about the capacity of the Indians, approving of his plans, and directing Figueroa to apply to him for assistance about the Indians.

Upon Cordova's report, Velasquez sent four caravals, with 300 men, to the coast of Yucatan, under the command of his nephew, Juan Grijalva Alphonso Davila; Francisco Montegria and Pedro Alvarados were the captains, and Antonio Alaminos pilot, Grijalva's orders were to collect gold, but not to leave a colony. They sailed from St. Jago, April 8th, and landed at Cozumel upon the feast of the cross, which they therefore named Santa Cruz. They found brick or stone houses, but only two Indians; who, being too old for flight, had concealed themselves. Grijalva sent them to desire their chief to come; they never returned: but a young woman came, who spoke the Jamaica dialect. She had been driven two years before, by a gale of wind, in a canoe, upon Cozumel; and her husband, and nine men who were with them, had been sacrificed. Grijalva sent her to invite the natives to traffic: he was afraid Melchor and Julian, his interpreters, would run away. returned in about forty-eight hours, unsuccessful, and implored to be taken back to Jamaica, which she was. The Spaniards found upon the island several hives of good honey, potatoes, and peccarys. They saw several places of worship; one was a square tower, the ascent to which was by eighteen steps, hollow at the top, with four large windows and a balcony: in the hollow were marble idols, and earthen images of bears, which they worshipped with songs and incense; and, surrounded by a wall with battlements, they found a white-washed cross three yards high, worshipped as the god of rain. The natives were circumcised, and at last entertained the Spaniards courteously. Their king, or high priest, wore a curiously wrought cotton garment, and had lost the toes of one foot, by the bite of a fish.

She

After three days the Spaniards stood to the westward, and landed where Cordova did the year before, at Campeche. When within a stone's throw of the town, the natives ordered them to depart; and when asked for water, pointed to a well behind the Spaniards. At night 3000 Indians remained close to them; at day-light the natives lighted a torch of frankincense between the armies, and said unless the strangers departed before that burnt out, they should be put to death. The Spaniards retired behind their guns near the well, and repelled the attack with some discharges of shot, which dispersed the astonished assailants. One Spaniard was killed and seventy wounded-Grijalva in three places: an arrow broke two of his teeth.

The Spaniards embarked, and stood to the westward, to a gulf which Alaminos named "Boca de Terminos," he thought the land was an island, and this the end of it. They landed, and found temples with idols of clay and wood, figures of men, women, and serpents. They killed several deer and rabbits, and staid three days, but lost their greyhounds.

The Spaniards coasted along by day, and "lay-to" every night. They went up a river which freshened the water two leagues from its mouth; the natives called it Tobasco. Six thousand of them, with wooden swords and spears, and broad golden shields, were upon the shore, to prevent the Spaniards landing. About 100 canoes filled with armed men, came off; but peace being offered by the interpreter, one with a chief on board came near, and asked what the strangers wanted, and being answered, "gold in exchange for other things," he rowed back to the cazique, who came to the Spaniards, and ordered his men to bring some of his treasures. He gave Grijalva, and had them put upon him, golden shoes and boots; a complete suit of armour, all of gold curiously wrought; four masks, covered with stones like emeralds, in Mosaick work; some beautiful coverings for shields; and dresses of feathers. Grijalva, in return, made the cazique a present of his crimson velvet coat and a linen shirt.

Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, hearing of the riches of Yucatan, sent Diego de Camargo, with two vessels, upon discovery; who, from the point where Grijalva had returned, discovered 100 leagues more towards Florida. Garay, claiming the merit of this, sent to Spain, offering to people and conquer those provinces at his own expence, and requesting the title of adelantado.

Velazquez also determined to send another messenger to Spain, and appointed Gonzalo de Guzman for that purpose. The Bishop of Burgos presided in the Council of the Indies; and Velazquez had requested his niece, Doña Maior de Fonseca, in marriage. The bishop thought highly of him, and sent him a licence to discover, at his own expence, any islands or lands that were not previously

Herrera, 2. 3. 4.. -2. 3. 11.

known, and which were not contained within the line of demarcation of the King of Portugal. He might conquer those lands as the King's captain, and have for his life the title of adelantado of all he should discover, and a fifteenth of their produce, as the royal revenue, for his life and his successors; and that, when he had peopled and conquered four islands, he might have the twentieth part of the royal rents of any one of them he chose, for himself and heirs for ever. He might export from Spain, duty free, for his life, any necessaries for the new countries; and permission was given him to raise men in Española for the new colonies, with several other privileges. This grant was signed at Barcelona the 13th of November, and Cortez sailed with his fleet the 18th of the same month.

An inhabitant of La Vega, named Aguilon, in 1506, brought some plants of the sugar-cane from the Canaries, which had flourished and increased so much, that the Bachelor Bellosa, a surgeon in San Domingo, a native of "Verlinga," erected a sugar-mill. The Geronimite fathers, seeing it answered, ordered that 500 pesos de oro should be lent to every inhabitant who wished to erect an 66 ingenio" for sugar: in a short time there were forty water and horse-mills upon the island. And it is to be remembered, Herrera says, that formerly there was no sugar but in Valencia afterwards they had it in Grenada; from thence it was taken to the Canaries, and from them to the Indies-where, for the service of the mills, great pains were taken to procure Negroes. This roused the Portuguese to seek for them in Guinea; and as the exportation was great, and the duties increasing, the King applied them to the building of the "Alcaçar" (Palace) in Madrid and in Toledo.

The Spaniards were beginning to enjoy the fruit of their labours in Española, when that, and particularly San Juan's Island, were so overrun with ants, that it was feared they would be totally depopulated. Those in Española did great damage to the trees, those in San Juan stung as severely as bees. The inhabitants, to keep them away at night, placed their bed-posts in four large troughs filled with water. Those in Española began to eat the tree at the root; and, as though fire had fallen from heaven and burnt them, they appeared black and dry-whole orchards together, every orange and "cañafistola" tree was destroyed. As a remedy to cure this plague, some dug a deep trench round the trees, and killed the ants in the water, and others tried to burn them: their four palms deep in the ground, in white clusters. The Franciscan young were found fathers in La Vega placed three or four pounds of sublimat of mercury upon the rails of their gallery-all the ants in the neighbourhood went to it: they died immediately upon tasting it; but for half a league round they repaired to this deadly banquet, till the gallery was black with their bodies, and the fathers determined to remove the bait. The inhabitants, that they might have an acceptable

mediator, and that God might signify whom he liked, made a solemn procession, the bishop, clergy, and all the city, and cast lots for all the Saints in the litany: it fell upon St. Saturnino, who was received with great joy as the patron, and his festival_celebrated with great solemnity then and always afterwards; and from that day they say the plague began to diminish.

The licenciate Rodrigo de Figueroa arrived at Española, and the Geronimite fathers returned to Spain: they waited upon the King at Barcelona, and stated to him, that the treasurer Passamonte was the leader of the discontented party in Española, and that he had calumniated the licenciate Zuazo, under the pretence of his having been partial in the affairs of the admiral Don Diego Columbus.

The traffic for slaves upon the Main near Cubagua having been forbidden, the Indians, who had adopted the trade of selling them to the Spaniards, finding that market closed, sold their captives to the Caribs, who bought them for the purpose of eating them.

Juan de Grijalva continued his voyage, and in two days arrived at a town called Aqualunco, which the Spaniards named "La Rambla." The natives appeared on the beach with menacing gestures, armed with shields made of turtle shells, which, in the sunshine, some of the Spaniards mistook for gold. Further on they discovered a bay and a river, which they named San Anton, and then a large river called Guaçacoalco; but bad weather prevented their going into it. They then discovered the snowy mountains of New Spain, and those of San Martin; and gave them that name, because the soldier who saw them first was so called. Coasting along, captain Pedro de Alvarado separated from the others, and went into a river, which the Indians called Papaloava, and he named Alvarado. The Indians came off, and gave him some fish: the rest of the squadron waited for him; and Grijalva, on his return, gave him a reprimand.

Coasting along, they came to another river, which they named "De Vanderas," because they saw a great number of Indians with white mantles at the end of their long lances, which looked like flags. Here Grijalva sent captain Francisco de Montego on shore, with two boats, with all the musketeers and cross-bow-men, and twenty more soldiers. The interpreters did not understand the language, because it was Mexican. The natives burnt copal before the Spaniards; and upon this Montego sent to Grijalva for more men-he himself landed; and the governor, who was one of Monteçuma's officers, received him with great courtesy. The Spaniards remained six days, during which time they obtained by traffic more than 15,000 pesos worth of base gold. This was the first landing of the Spaniards in New Spain, and Montego was the first man on shore.

Grijalva took possession of the country in the name of the King and Diego Velazquez, and proceeded to an island, which he called "Isla Blanca," because the sand was white; and about four leagues from the coast he saw another, which he named " Isla Verde," because it was covered with trees. Further on they saw another, about a league and a half from the shore: here Grijalva anchored, and went on shore. They found two houses well built with lime and stone, with several steps, by which they ascended as to an altar; here they found idols, and saw that that night five men had been sacrificed, whose breasts had been opened and their arms and thighs cut off; the walls were covered with blood. The Spaniards named it the " Isla de Sacrificios." One of the idols, resembling a lion, had a hole through its neck, into which they poured the blood of the victims, and from thence it ran into a trough of marble: another idol, shaped like a man, stooping down, appeared to be looking into the trough, as it were accepting the oblation. The Spaniards landed upon the main opposite the island, where with their oars and sails they made huts, for the men to traffic in with the Indians, but they were fearful, and brought but little gold. The Spaniards, therefore, went to some small islands, and built huts on the highest spots they could find, to avoid the mosquitos. With the boats they sounded the harbour, and found that there was good anchorage, and shelter from the north wind. Juan de Grijalva, with thirty soldiers, went to the island, he found a temple with idols, and four men dressed in very large black mantles, with hoods like friars: they were the priests of that temple, and that same day had sacrificed two boys, who were seen with their breasts opened and their hearts taken out. Grijalva asked why this was done? and an Indian, whom he had brought from the river "De Vanderas,” interpreted the answer to be, that the orders to do so came from Ulua. It being St. John's Day, and Grijalva's name being " Juan," he named the island" San Juan de Ulua." The Indian made a mistake-he was told Culua, not Ulua. The Spaniards staid seven days: they were greatly annoyed by the mosquitos, and got but little gold. Having ascertained that the land was the continent, and that there were large cities, the name of New Spain was finally determined upon. Captain Pedro de Alvarado, who commanded the San Sebastian, was chosen to go to Velazquez, with the dispatches, and to take the gold and the sick to Cuba: the others continued their navigation, and in the province of Panuco discovered a river, which they named Cancas. While at anchor here, ten canoes, with armed men, surrounded Alonso Davila's vessel, which was the smallest, and wounded five Spaniards with a volley of arrows. They also cut one of the vessel's cables; but two of their canoes being upset, the rest fled.

The Spaniards made sail, and came to a high cape, where the