[37] I put the figures very low. Peter Martyr, whose estimates are the lowest of any writer, says there were more than 200,000 natives on Haiti alone. (De Rebus Oceanicis, p. 295.)
[38] More than 40,000 were brought to Haiti to enjoy the benefits of Christian instruction, says Herrera, with what might pass as a ghastly sarcasm. (Historia General de las Indias, Dec. I, lib. VIII. cap. 3).
[39] Brevissima Relacion de la Destruccion de las Indias Occidentales par los Castellanos, Sevilla, 1552.
[40] Ramon de de la Sagra, Historia de la Isla de Cuba, Tom. II, p. 381.
[41] Ibid, p. 394.
[42] Ibid, p. 396.
[43] Ibid, p. 414.
[44] Ibid, p. 385. These references to De la Sagra’s work are all to the original documents in his Appendix.
[45] Las Casas knew Pane personally, and gives his name correctly (not Roman, as all the printed authorities have it). He described him as “hombre simple y de buena intencion;” “fuese Catalan de nacion y no habla del todo bien nuestra lengua Castellana.” Ramon came to Haiti four or five years before Las Casas, and the latter speaks of him in a disparaging tone. “Este Fray Ramon escudrino lo que pudó, segun lo que alcanzo de las lenguas que fueron tres, las que habia en esta ysia: pero no supo sino la una de una chica provincia, que arriba dejimos llamarse Macaria de abajo, y aquella no perfectamente. (Historia Apologetica, MSS. cap. 120, see also cap. 162). This statement is not quite true, as according to Las Casas’ own admission Pane dwelt two years in the province of Guarinoex, where the lengua universal was spoken, and there collected these traditions.
[46] Pane’s account was first published in the Historie del Frenando Colombo, Venetia, 1571, from which it has recently been translated and published with notes by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Paris, 1864. The version of Zuane de Strozi is in the Appendix to Harrisse’s Bibliotheca Primordia Americana, p. 474.