When Velasquez set out to conquer Cuba, he had only three hundred men; and these were thought sufficient to subdue an island above seven hundred miles in length, and filled with inhabitants. From this circumstance we may understand how naturally mild and unwarlike was the character of the Indians. Indeed, they offered no opposition to the Spaniards, except in one district. Hatney, a cacique who had fled from Hayti, had taken possession of the eastern extremity of Cuba. He stood upon the defensive, and endeavored to drive the Spaniards back to their ships. He was soon defeated and taken prisoner.
Velasquez considered him as a slave who had taken arms against his master, and condemned him to the flames. When Hatney was tied to the stake, a friar came forward, and told him that if he would embrace the Christian faith, he should be immediately, on his death, admitted into heaven.
“Are there any Spaniards,” says Hatney, after some pause, “in that region of bliss you describe?”
“Yes,” replied the monk, “but only such as are worthy and good.”
“The best of them,” returned the indignant Indian, “have neither worth nor goodness; I will not go to a place where I may meet with one of that cruel race.”
(To be continued.)
Something Wonderful.
The thing to which we refer is a seed. How wonderful that an acorn should contain within it a little plant, capable of growing up into an enormous oak, which will produce other acorns, capable of growing into other oaks, and so on forever! and yet there are seeds not one hundredth part as big as an acorn, which produce trees almost, if not quite, as large as an oak.
Or think of a grain of wheat. It is just as useful for food as if it contained nothing but a little flour mixed with a little bran. In fact, when it is ground there is nothing else to be seen; but beside these it contains a little plant, too small to be made out by common sight.