The curse of the pearls still held strong after Columbus’s death. News of the discovery of the Pearl Islands in the New World, spread rapidly through Europe. Many cruel and greedy pearl-hunters hastened to set out for the islands.
They pillaged the native villages. They hunted the Indians like wild beasts. They forced them to work in the mines. But, worst of all, they made them dive into the deep sea for pearls, under the most horrible conditions.
Then it was that the compassionate friend of the Indians, the humane priest Bartolome de Las Casas, took up their cause and pleaded for them with the Spanish Crown. But Spain was too far away for the Crown to control Spanish officials in America, and do much to lessen the sufferings of the natives.
Thus sorrow and desolation followed the finding of the sea-jewels. In time, they became a rich part of the cargoes of the Treasure Galleons. And they forged one of the first links in the chain of oppression which bound all Spanish America for over three hundred years.
For how this chain was broken by the great Liberators, read:—
Miranda, the Flaming Son of Liberty, page [325]; San Martin, the Protector, page [235]; O’Higgins, First Soldier, First Citizen, page [393]; Bolivar, the Liberator, page [371].
OCTOBER 14
WILLIAM PENN THE FOUNDER OF PENNSYLVANIA
As Justice is a preserver, so it is a better procurer of Peace,
than War.
William Penn