| 1. | In the island of Hispaniola—which
was the first, as we have said, to be invaded by the
Christians—the immense massacres and destruction of these
people began. It was the first to be destroyed and made into
a desert. The Christians began by taking the women and
children, to use and to abuse them, and to eat of the
substance of their toil and labour, instead of contenting
themselves with what the Indians gave them spontaneously,
according to the means of each. Such stores are always
small; because they keep no more than they ordinarily need,
which they acquire with little labour; but what is enough for
three households, of ten persons each, for a month, a
Christian eats and destroys in one day. From their using
force, violence and other kinds of vexations, the Indians
began to perceive that these men could not have come from
heaven. |
|---|
| 2.2. | Some hid their provisions, others,
their wives and children: others fled to the mountains to
escape from people of such harsh and terrible intercourse.
The Christians gave them blows in the face, beatings
[pg 319] and
cudgellings, even laying hands on the lords of the land. They
reached such recklessness and effrontery, that a Christian
captain violated the lawful wife of the chief king and lord
of all the island. |
| 3.3. | After this deed, the Indians
consulted to devise means of driving the Christians from
their country. They took up their weapons, which are poor
enough and little fitted for attack, being of little force
and not even good for defence; For this reason, all their
wars are little more than games with sticks, such as children
play in our countries. |
| 4.4. | The Christians, with their horses
and swords and lances, began to slaughter and practise
strange cruelty among them. They penetrated into the country
and spared neither children nor the aged, nor pregnant women,
nor those in child labour, all of whom they ran through the
body and lacerated, as though they were assaulting so many
lambs herded in their sheepfold. |
| 5.5. | They made bets as to who would slit
a man in two, or cut off his head at one blow: or they opened
up his bowels. They tore the babes from their mothers' breast
by the feet, and dashed their heads against the rocks. Others
they seized by the shoulders and threw into the rivers,
laughing and joking, and when they fell into the water they
exclaimed: “boil body of so and
so!” They spitted the bodies of other babes, together
with their mothers and all who were before them, on their
swords. |
| 6.6. | They made a gallows just high enough
for the feet to nearly touch the ground, and by thirteens, in
honour and reverence of our Redeemer and the twelve Apostles,
they put wood underneath and, with fire, they burned the
Indians alive. |
| 7.7. | They wrapped the bodies of others
entirely in dry straw, binding them in it and setting fire to
it; and so they [pg
320] burned them. They cut off the hands of all they
wished to take alive, made them carry them fastened on to
them, and said: “Go and carry
letters”: that is; take the news to those who have
fled to the mountains. |
| 8.8. | They generally killed the lords and
nobles in the following way. They made wooden gridirons of
stakes, bound them upon them, and made a slow fire beneath:
thus the victims gave up the spirit by degrees, emitting
cries of despair in their torture. |
| 9.9. | I once saw that they had four or
five of the chief lords stretched on the gridirons to burn
them, and I think also there were two or three pairs of
gridirons, where they were burning others; and because they
cried aloud and annoyed the captain or prevented him
sleeping, he commanded that they should strangle them: the
officer who was burning them was worse than a hangman and did
not wish to suffocate them, but with his own hands he gagged
them, so that they should not make themselves heard, and he
stirred up the fire, until they roasted slowly, according to
his pleasure. I know his name, and knew also his relations in
Seville. I saw all the above things and numberless
others. |
| 9.10. | And because all the people who could
flee, hid among the mountains and climbed the crags to escape
from men so deprived of humanity, so wicked, such wild
beasts, exterminators and capital enemies of all the human
race, the Spaniards taught and trained the fiercest
boar-hounds to tear an Indian to pieces as soon as they saw
him, so that they more willingly attacked and ate one, than
if he had been a boar. These hounds made great havoc and
slaughter. |
| 10.11. | And because sometimes, though
rarely, the Indians killed a few Christians for just cause,
they made a law among themselves, that for one Christian whom
[pg 321] the
Indians killed, the Christians should kill a hundred
Indians. |
| 1. |
There
were five very large and principal kingdoms in this island
of Hispaniola, and five very mighty kings, whom all the
other numberless lords obeyed, although some of the lords
of certain separate provinces did not recognise any of them
as superior. One kingdom was called Maguá, with the last
syllable accented, which means the kingdom of the
plain.
This
plain is one of the most notable and marvellous things in
the world, for it stretches eighty leagues from the sea on
the south to that on the north. Its width is five leagues,
attaining to eight and ten, and it has very high mountains
on both sides.
|
|---|
| 2.2. | More than thirty thousand rivers,
and brooks water it among which there are twelve as large as
the Ebro, the Duero, and the Guadalquivir. And all the rivers
that flow from the western mountain, which number twenty or
twenty-five thousand, are very rich in gold. On that mountain
(or mountains) lies the province of Cibao, from which the
mines of Cibao are named, whence comes that famous gold,
superior in carat, which is held in great esteem here. |
| 3.3. | The king, and lord of this realm was
called Guarionex. He had such great lords as his vassals,
that one alone of them mustered sixteen thousand warriors to
serve Guarionex; and I knew some of them. This king Guarionex
was very obedient, virtuous and, by nature, peaceful and
devoted to the king of Castile. And in certain years, every
householder amongst his people gave by his orders, a bell
full of gold; and afterwards, because they could not fill
it, they cut it in two [pg 322] and gave that half full; because
the Indians had little or no ability to collect, or dig the
gold from the mines. |
| 4.4. | This prince offered to serve the
King of Castile, by having as much land cultivated as would
extend from Isabella, which was the first habitation of the
Christians to the town of San Domingo, which is a good fifty
leagues, in order that gold should not be asked of him;
because he said, and with truth, that his vassals knew not
how to collect it. I know he was able to do the cultivation
he proposed to undertake, most gladly; and it would have
rendered the King more than three million crowns yearly, and,
owing to this cultivation, there would have been at the
present time in this island fifty towns as large as
Seville. |
| 5.5. | The payment they awarded to this
great and good king and lord, was to dishonour him; a
captain, a bad Christian violating his wife. Although he
might have bided his time to assemble his people and revenge
himself, he determined to depart alone, and to hide himself
and die exiled from his kingdom and state, in a province
called Ciguay, of which the ruler was his vassal. |
| 6.6. | When the Christians became aware
that he was missing, he could not hide himself from them.
They made war on that ruler who sheltered him, where, after
great slaughter, they found and captured him. When he was
taken, they put him on a ship in chains, to bring him to
Castile in fetters. The ship was lost at sea, and many
Christians were drowned with him, besides a great quantity of
gold, including the great nugget, which was as big as a cake
and weighed three thousand and six hundred crowns, because
God was pleased to avenge such great injustice. |
| 7.7. | The second kingdom was called
Marien, where now is the royal port at the end of the plain
towards the north. It was larger than the kingdom of Portugal
and was [pg 323]
certainly much more prosperous, and worthy of being
populated; and it has many, and high mountains, and very rich
gold, and copper mines. Its king was named Guacanagari (with
the last letter accented) under whom there were many and very
great lords, many of whom I saw and knew. |
| 8.8. | In the country of this king, the old
Admiral[80]
who discovered the Indies, first went to stay. When he
discovered the island he, and all the Christians who
accompanied him, was received the first time by the said
Guacanagari with great humanity and charity. He met with such
a gentle and agreeable reception, and such help and guidance
when the ship in which the Admiral sailed was lost there,
that in his own country, and from his own father a better
would not have been possible. This I know from the recital
and words of the same Admiral. This king, flying from the
massacres and cruelty of the Christians, died a wanderer in
the mountains, ruined and deprived of his state. All the
other lords, his subjects, died under tyranny and servitude,
as will be told below. |
| 9.9. | The third kingdom and dominion was
Maguana, a country equally marvellous, most healthy and most
fertile; where now the best sugar of the island is made. Its
king was called Caonabò. In strength, and dignity, in
gravity, and pomp he surpassed all the others. They captured
this king with great cunning and malice, he being safe in his
own house. They put him on a ship to take him to Castile and,
as there were six ships in the port ready to leave, God, who
wished to show that this, together with the other things, was
a great iniquity and injustice, sent a tempest that night
that sank all the vessels, drowning all the Christians on
board of them. [pg
324] The said Caonabò perished, loaded with chains,
and fetters. |
| 10.10. | This lord had three or four very
brave brothers as powerful and valiant as himself. They,
seeing the unjust imprisonment of their brother and lord, and
witnessing the destruction and slaughter the Christians
perpetrated in the other kingdoms, (particularly after they
knew that the king their brother was dead) armed themselves
to attack the Christians and avenge themselves. The
Christians went against them with some horsemen. Horses are
the most deadly arm possible among the Indians. They worked
such havoc and slaughter, that they desolated, and
depopulated half the kingdom. |
| 11.11. | The fourth kingdom is that which is
called Xaragua. This was as the marrow, or the Court of all
this island. It surpassed all the other kingdoms in the
politeness of its more ornate speech as well as in more
cultured good breeding, and in the multitude and generosity
of the nobles. For there were lords and nobles in great
numbers. In their costumes and beauty, the people were
superior to all others. |
| 12.12. | The king and lord of it was called
Behechio and he had a sister called Anacaona. Both rendered
great services to the King of Castile, and immense kindnesses
to the Christians, delivering them from many mortal dangers:
and when the King Behechio died, Anacaona was left mistress
of the kingdom. |
| 13.13. | The governor[81]
who ruled this island arrived there once, with sixty horsemen
and more than three hundred foot. The horsemen alone were
sufficient to ruin the whole island and the terra firma.
More than three hundred lords were assembled, whom he had
summoned [pg
325] and reassured. He lured the principal ones by
fraud, into a straw-house, and setting fire to it, he burnt
them alive. |
| 14.14. | All the others, together with
numberless people, were put to the sword, and lance. And to
do honour to the Lady Anacaona, they hanged her. It happened
that some Christians, either out of compassion or avarice,
took some children to save them, placing them behind them on
their horses, and another Spaniard approached from behind and
ran his lance through them. Another, if a child was on the
ground, cut off its legs with his sword. Some, who could flee
from this inhuman cruelty, crossed to a little island lying
eight leagues distant in the sea; and the said governor
condemned all such to be slaves, because they had fled from
the carnage. |
| 15.15. | The fifth kingdom was called Higuey:
and an old queen called Higuanama ruled it, whom they hanged.
And I saw numberless people being burnt alive, torn, and
tortured in divers, and new ways, while all whom they took
alive were enslaved. |
| 16.16. | And because so many particulars
happened in this slaughter and destruction of people, that
they could not be contained in a lengthy description—for in
truth I believe that however many I told, I could not express
the thousandth part of the whole—I will simply conclude the
above mentioned wars by saying and affirming, before God and
my conscience, that the Indians gave no more cause, nor were
more to blame for all this injustice done unto them, and for
the other said wickedness I could tell, but omit, than a
monastery of good and well ordered monks would have given
that they should be robbed and killed, and that those who
escaped death, should be placed in perpetual captivity and
servitude, as slaves. |
| 17.17. | And furthermore, I attest, that in
all the space of time during which the multitudes of the
population of this island were being killed and destroyed, as
far as I can believe or conjecture, they did not commit a
single mortal sin against the Christians that merited
punishment by man. And of those which are reserved to God
alone, such as the desire of vengeance, hatred and rancour,
that these people might harbour against such mortal enemies
as were the Christians, I believe very few of the Indians
committed any such. They were little more impetuous and
harsh, judging from the great experience I have of them, than
children or youths of ten or twelve years. |
| 18.18. | I have certain and infallible
knowledge, that the Indians always made most just war on the
Christians while the Christians never had a single just one
with the Indians; on the contrary, they were all diabolical
and most unjust, and much worse than can be said of any
tyrant in the world; and I affirm the same of what they have
done throughout the Indies. |
| 19.19. | When the wars were finished, and
with them the murder, they divided among them all the men,
(youths, women, and children being usually spared) giving to
one, thirty, to another forty, and to another a hundred and
two hundred, according to the favour each enjoyed with the
chief tyrant, whom they called governor. Having thus
distributed them, they assigned them to each Christian,
under the pretence that the latter should train them in the
catholic faith; thus to men who are generally all idiots, and
very cruel, avaricious and vicious, they gave the care of
souls. |
| 20.20. | The care and thought these Spaniards
took, was to send the men to the mines to dig gold, which is
an intolerable labour; and they put the women into
dwellings, which are huts, to dig and cultivate the land; a
[pg 327] strong
and robust man's work. They gave food neither to the one, nor
the other, except grass, and things that have no substance.
The milk dried up in the breasts of nursing women and thus,
within a short time, all the infants died. |
| 21.21. | And as the husbands were separated
and never saw their wives, generation diminished among them;
the men died of fatigue and hunger in the mines and others
perished in dwellings or huts, for the same reason. It was in
this way that such multitudes of people were destroyed in
this island, as indeed all those in the world might be
destroyed by like means. |
| 22.22. | It is impossible to recount the
burdens with which their owners loaded them, more than three
and four arobas[82]
weight, making them walk a hundred and two hundred leagues.
The same Christians had themselves carried by Indians in
hamacas, which are like
nets; for they always used them as beasts of burden. They had
wounds on their shoulders and backs, like animals, all
wither-wrung. To tell likewise of the whip-lashings, the
beatings, the cuffs, the blows, the curses, and a thousand
other kinds of torments to which their masters treated them,
while, in truth, they were working hard, would take much time
and much paper; and would be something to amaze mankind. |
| 23.23. | It must be noted, that the
destruction of this island and of these lands was begun when
the death of the most Serene Queen, Doña Isabella was known
here, which was in the year 1504. For up to that time, only
some provinces in the island had been ruined by unjust wars,
but not entirely: and these were nearly all kept hidden from
the Queen. Because the Queen, who is in blessed glory, used
great solicitude and marvellous [pg 328] zeal for the health and prosperity
of these people, as we ourselves, who have seen the examples
of it with our eyes and touched them with our hands, well
know. |
| 24.24. | Another rule to be noted is this;
that in all parts of the Indies where the Christians have
gone and have passed, they ever did the same murder among the
Indians, and used tyranny and abominable oppression against
these innocent people; and they added many more and greater
and newer ways of torment. They became ever crueller, because
God let them precipitate themselves the more swiftly into
reprobate judgments and sentiments. |