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diff --git a/old/12272-8.txt b/old/12272-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..843b956 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12272-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9706 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The History of Puerto Rico, by R.A. Van Middeldyk + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Puerto Rico + From the Spanish Discovery to the American Occupation + +Author: R.A. Van Middeldyk + +Release Date: May 5, 2004 [EBook #12272] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO *** + + + + +Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + The Expansion of the Republic Series. + + + + THE HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO + + + + FROM THE SPANISH DISCOVERY TO THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION + + + + BY R.A. VAN MIDDELDYK + + + + EDITED BY MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, PH.D., LL.D. PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGY, + UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND FIRST COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR + PUERTO RICO + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1903 + +[Illustration: Columbus statue, San Juan.] + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE + +The latest permanent possession of the United States is also the +oldest in point of European occupation. The island of Puerto Rico was +discovered by Columbus in 1493. It was occupied by the United States +Army at Guanica July 25, 1898. Spain formally evacuated the island +October 18, 1898, and military government was established until +Congress made provision for its control. By act of Congress, approved +April 12, 1900, the military control terminated and civil government +was formally instituted May 1,1900. + +Puerto Rico has an interesting history. Its four centuries under +Spanish control is a record of unusual and remarkable events. This +record is unknown to the American people. It has never been written +satisfactorily in the Spanish language, and not at all in the English +language. The author of this volume is the first to give to the reader +of English a record of Spanish rule in this "pearl of the Antilles." +Mr. Van Middeldyk is the librarian of the Free Public Library of San +Juan, an institution created under American civil control. He has had +access to all data obtainable in the island, and has faithfully and +conscientiously woven this data into a connected narrative, thus +giving the reader a view of the social and institutional life of the +island for four hundred years. + +The author has endeavored to portray salient characteristics of the +life on the island, to describe the various acts of the reigning +government, to point out the evils of colonial rule, and to figure the +general historical and geographical conditions in a manner that +enables the reader to form a fairly accurate judgment of the past and +present state of Puerto Rico. + +No attempt has been made to speculate upon the setting of this record +in the larger record of Spanish life. That is a work for the future. +But enough history of Spain and in general of continental Europe is +given to render intelligible the various and varied governmental +activities exercised by Spain in the island. There is, no doubt, much +omitted that future research may reveal, and yet it is just to state +that the record is fairly continuous, and that no salient factors in +the island's history have been overlooked. + +The people of Puerto Rico were loyal and submissive to their parent +government. No record of revolts and excessive rioting is recorded. +The island has been continuously profitable to Spain. With even +ordinarily fair administration of government the people have been +self-supporting, and in many cases have rendered substantial aid to +other Spanish possessions. Her native life--the Boriquén +Indians--rapidly became extinct, due to the "gold fever" and the +intermarriage of races. The peon class has always been a faithful +laboring class in the coffee, sugar, and tobacco estates, and the +slave element was never large. A few landowners and the professional +classes dominate the island's life. There is no middle class. There is +an utter absence of the legitimate fruits of democratic institutions. +The poor are in every way objects of pity and of sympathy. They are +the hope of the island. By education, widely diffused, a great unrest +will ensue, and from this unrest will come the social, moral, and +civic uplift of the people. + +These people do not suffer from the lack of civilization. They suffer +from the kind of civilization they have endured. The life of the +people is static. Her institutions and customs are so set upon them +that one is most impressed with the absence of legitimate activities. +The people are stoically content. Such, at least, was the condition in +1898. Under the military government of the United States much was done +to prepare the way for future advance. Its weakness was due to its +effectiveness. It did for the people what they should learn to do for +themselves. The island needed a radically new governmental +activity--an activity that would develop each citizen into a +self-respecting and self-directing force in the island's uplift. This +has been supplied by the institution of civil government. The outlook +of the people is now infinitely better than ever before. The progress +now being made is permanent. It is an advance made by the people for +themselves. Civil government is the fundamental need of the island. + +Under civil government the entire reorganization of the life of the +people is being rapidly effected. The agricultural status of the +island was never so hopeful. The commercial activity is greatly +increased. The educational awakening is universal and healthy. +Notwithstanding the disastrous cyclone of 1898, and the confusion +incident to a radical governmental reorganization, the wealth per +capita has increased, the home life is improved, and the illiteracy of +the people is being rapidly lessened. + +President McKinley declared to the writer that it was his desire "to +put the conscience of the American people into the islands of the +sea." This has been done. The result is apparent. Under wise and +conservative guidance by the American executive officers, the people +of Puerto Rico have turned to this Republic with a patriotism, a zeal, +an enthusiasm that is, perhaps, without a parallel. + +In 1898, under President McKinley as commander-in-chief, the army of +the United States forcibly invaded this island. This occupation, by +the treaty of Paris, became permanent. Congress promptly provided +civil government for the island, and in 1901 this conquered people, +almost one million in number, shared in the keen grief that attended +universally the untimely death of their conqueror. The island on the +occasion of the martyr's death was plunged in profound sorrow, and at +a hundred memorial services President McKinley was mourned by +thousands, and he was tenderly characterized as "the founder of human +liberty in Puerto Rico." + +The judgment of the American people relative to this island is based +upon meager data. The legal processes attending its entrance into the +Union have been the occasion of much comment. This comment has +invariably lent itself to a discussion of the effect of judicial +decision upon our home institutions. It has been largely a speculative +concern. In some cases it has become a political concern in the +narrowest partizan sense. The effect of all this upon the people of +Puerto Rico has not been considered. Their rights and their needs have +not come to us. We have not taken President McKinley's broad, humane, +and exalted view of our obligation to these people. They have +implicitly entrusted their life, liberty, and property to our +guardianship. The great Republic has a debt of honor to the island +which indifference and ignorance of its needs can never pay. It is +hoped that this record of their struggles during four centuries will +be a welcome source of insight and guidance to the people of the +United States in their efforts to see their duty and do it. + +M. G. BRUMBAUGH. PHILADELPHIA, _January 1, 1903_. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + +Some years ago, Mr. Manuel Elzaburu, President of the San Juan +Provincial Atheneum, in a public speech, gave it as his opinion that +the modern historian of Puerto Rico had yet to appear. This was said, +not in disparagement of the island's only existing history, but rather +as a confirmation of the general opinion that the book which does duty +as such is incorrect and incomplete. + +This book is Friar Iñigo Abbad's Historia de la Isla San Juan +Bautista, which was written in 1782 by disposition of the Count of +Floridablanca, the Minister of Colonies of Charles III, and published +in Madrid in 1788. In 1830 it was reproduced in San Juan without any +change in the text, and in 1866 Mr. José Julian Acosta published a new +edition with copious notes, comments, and additions, which added much +data relative to the Benedictine monks, corrected numerous errors, and +supplemented the chapters, some of which, in the original, are +exceedingly short, the whole history terminating abruptly with the +nineteenth chapter, that is, with the beginning of the eighteenth +century. The remaining 21 chapters are merely descriptive of the +country and people. + +Besides this work there are others by Puerto Rican authors, each one +elucidating one or more phases of the island's history. With these +separate and diverse materials, supplemented by others of my own, I +have constructed the present history. + +The transcendental change in the island's social and political +conditions, inaugurated four years ago, made the writing of an English +history of Puerto Rico necessary. The American officials who are +called upon to guide the destinies and watch over the moral, material, +and intellectual progress of the inhabitants of this new accession to +the great Republic will be able to do so all the better when they have +a knowledge of the people's historical antecedents. + +I have endeavored to supply this need to the best of my ability, and +herewith offer to the public the results of an arduous, though +self-imposed task. + +R.A.V.M. + +SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, _November 3, 1902._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +HISTORICAL + + CHAPTER + + I.--THE DEPARTURE. 1493 + + II.--THE DISCOVERY. 1493 + + III.--PONCE AND CERON. 1500-1511 + + IV.--FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. "REPARTIMIENTOS" 1510 + + V.--THE REBELLION. 1511 + + VI.--THE REBELLION (_continued_.) 1511 + + VII.--NUMBER OF ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND SECOND + DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. 1511-1515 + + VIII.--LAWS AND ORDINANCES. 1511-1515 + + IX.--THE RETURN OF CERON AND DIAZ. PONCE'S FIRST + EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA. 1511-1515 + + X.--DISSENSIONS. TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL. 1515-1520 + + XI.--CALAMITIES. PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA + AND DEATH. 1520-1537 + + XII.--INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUÉN INDIANS AND CARIBS. 1520-1582 + + XIII.--DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND. PREVENTIVE MEASURES. + INTRODUCTION OF NEGRO SLAVES. 1515-1534 + + XIV.--ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS. CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH + FRANCE. CHARLES V. RUIN OF THE ISLAND. 1520-1556 + + XV.--SEDESO. CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 1534-1555 + + XVI.--DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND. CONSTRUCTION + OF FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION + OF SAN JUAN. 1555-1641 + XVII.--DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN. 1595 + + XVIII.--OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY + LORD GEORGE CUMBERLAND. CONDITION OF + THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + XIX.--ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN. 1625 + + XX.--DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER. BUCCANEERS AND + FILIBUSTERS. 1625-1780 + + XXI.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO. SIEGE OF SAN + JUAN BY SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE. 1678-1797 + + XXII.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO (_continued_). + INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN INSURGENTS. 1797-1829 + + XXIII.--REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE + POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN FROM 1765 TO 1820 + + XXIV.--GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ISLAND FROM 1815 TO 1833 + + XXV.--POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON AFFAIRS + IN PUERTO RICO. 1833-1874 + + XXVI.--GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND, THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. + 1874-1898 + +PART II + +THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS + + XXVII.--SITUATION AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF PUERTO RICO + + XXVIII.--ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PRIMITIVE + INHABITANTS OF BORIQUÉN + + XXIX.--THE "JÍBARO" OR PUERTO RICAN PEASANT + + XXX.--ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE MODERN INHABITANTS OF PUERTO + RICO + + XXXI.--NEGRO SLAVERY IN PUERTO RICO + + XXII.--INCREASE OF POPULATION + + XXIII.--AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO + + XXXIV.--COMMERCE AND FINANCES + + XXXV.--EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO + + XXXVI.--LIBRARIES AND THE PRESS + + XXXVII.--THE REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY + +XXXVIII.--THE INQUISITION. 1520-1813 + + XXXIX.--GROWTH OF CITIES + + XL.--AURIFEROUS STREAMS AND GOLD PRODUCED FROM 1609 TO 1536 + + XLI.--WEST INDIAN HURRICANES IN PUERTO RICO FROM 1515 TO 1899 + + XLII.--THE CARIBS + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + INDEX + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Columbus statue, San Juan + + Ruins of Capárra + + Columbus monument, near Aguadilla + + Statue of Ponce de Leon, San Juan + + Inner harbor, San Juan + + Fort San Geronimo, at Santurce, near San Juan + + Only remaining gate of the city-wall, San Juan + + A tienda, or small shop + + Planter's house, ceiba tree, and royal palms + + San Francisco Church, San Juan; the oldest church in the city + + Plaza Alphonso XII and Intendencia Building, San Juan + + Casa Blanca and the sea wall, San Juan + + + + +PART I HISTORICAL + +CHAPTER I THE DEPARTURE + +1493 + +Eight centuries of a gigantic struggle for supremacy between the +Crescent and the Cross had devastated the fairest provinces of the +Spanish Peninsula. Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings, had +delivered the keys of Granada into the hands of Queen Isabel, the +proud banner of the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon floated +triumphant from the walls of the Alhambra, and Providence, as if to +recompense Iberian knighthood for turning back the tide of Moslem +conquest, which threatened to overrun the whole of meridional Europe, +had laid a new world, with all its inestimable treasures and millions +of benighted inhabitants, at the feet of the Catholic princes. + +Columbus had just returned from his first voyage. He had been scorned +as an adventurer by the courtiers of Lisbon, mocked as a visionary by +the learned priests of the Council in Salamanca, who, with texts from +the Scriptures and quotations from the saints, had tried to convince +him that the world was flat; he had been pointed at by the rabble in +the streets as a madman who maintained that there was a land where the +people walked with their heads down; and, after months of trial, he +had been able to equip his three small craft and collect a crew of +ninety men only by the aid of a royal schedule offering exemption from +punishment for offenses against the laws to all who should join the +expedition. + +At last he had sailed amid the murmurs of an incredulous crowd, who +thought him and his companions doomed to certain destruction, and now +he had returned[1] bringing with him the living proofs of what he had +declared to exist beyond that mysterious ocean, and showed to the +astounded people samples of the unknown plants and animals, and of +_the gold_ which he had said would be found there in fabulous +quantities. + +It was the proudest moment of the daring navigator's life when, clad +in his purple robe of office, bedecked with the insignia of his rank, +he entered the throne-room of the palace in Barcelona and received +permission to be seated in the royal presence to relate his +experiences. Around the hall stood the grandees of Spain and the +magnates of the Church, as obsequious and attentive to him now as they +had been proud and disdainful when, a hungry wanderer, he had knocked +at the gates of La Rabida to beg bread for his son. It was the acme of +the discoverer's destiny, the realization of his dream of glory, the +well-earned recompense of years of persevering endeavor. + +The news of the discovery created universal enthusiasm. When it was +announced that a second expedition was being organized there was no +need of a royal schedule of remission of punishment to criminals to +obtain crews. The Admiral's residence was besieged all day long by the +hidalgos[2] who were anxious to share with him the expected glories +and riches. The cessation of hostilities in Granada had left thousands +of knights, whose only patrimony was their sword, without +occupation--men with iron muscles, inured to hardship and danger, +eager for adventure and conquest. + +Then there were the monks and priests, whose religious zeal was +stimulated by the prospect of converting to Christianity the benighted +inhabitants of unknown realms; there were ruined traders, who hoped to +mend their fortunes with the gold to be had, as they thought, for +picking it up; finally, there were the protégés of royalty and of +influential persons at court, who aspired to lucrative places in the +new territories; in short, the Admiral counted among the fifteen +hundred companions of his second expedition individuals of the bluest +blood in Spain. + +As for the mariners, men-at-arms, mechanics, attendants, and servants, +they were mostly greedy, vicious, ungovernable, and turbulent +adventurers.[3] + +The confiscated property of the Jews, supplemented by a loan and some +extra duties on articles of consumption, provided the funds for the +expedition; a sufficient quantity of provisions was embarked; twenty +Granadian lancers with their spirited Andalusian horses were +accommodated; cuirasses, swords, pikes, crossbows, muskets, powder and +balls were ominously abundant; seed-corn, rice, sugar-cane, +vegetables, etc., were not forgotten; cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and +fowls for stocking the new provinces, provided for future needs; and a +breed of mastiff dogs, originally intended, perhaps, as watch-dogs +only, but which became in a short time the dreaded destroyers of +natives. Finally, Pope Alexander VI, of infamous memory, drew a line +across the map of the world, from pole to pole,[4] and assigned all +the undiscovered lands west of it to Spain, and those east of it to +Portugal, thus arbitrarily dividing the globe between the two powers. + +At daybreak, September 25, 1493, seventeen ships, three carácas of one +hundred tons each, two naos, and twelve caravels, sailed from Cadiz +amid the ringing of bells and the enthusiastic Godspeeds of thousands +of spectators. The son of a Genoese wool-carder stood there, the equal +in rank of the noblest hidalgo in Spain, Admiral of the Indian Seas, +Viceroy of all the islands and continents to be discovered, and +one-tenth of all the gold and treasures they contained would be his! + +Alas for the evanescence of worldly greatness! All this glory was soon +to be eclipsed. Eight years after that day of triumph he again landed +on the shore of Spain a pale and emaciated prisoner in chains. + +It may easily be conceived that the voyage for these fifteen hundred +men, most of whom were unaccustomed to the sea, was not a pleasure +trip. + +Fortunately they had fine weather and fair wind till October 26th, +when they experienced their first tropical rain and thunder-storm, and +the Admiral ordered litanies. On November 2d he signaled to the fleet +to shorten sail, and on the morning of the 3d fifteen hundred pairs of +wondering eyes beheld the mountains of an island mysteriously hidden +till then in the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean. + +Among the spectators were Bernal Diaz de Pisa, accountant of the +fleet, the first conspirator in America; thirteen Benedictine friars, +with Boil at their head, who, with Morén Pedro de Margarit, the +strategist, respectively represented the religious and military +powers; there was Roldán, another insubordinate, the first alcalde of +the Española; there were Alonzo de Ojeda and Guevára, true +knights-errant, who were soon to distinguish themselves: the first by +the capture of the chief Caonabó, the second by his romantic +love-affair with Higuemota, the daughter of the chiefess Anacaóna. +There was Adrian Mojíca, destined shortly to be hanged on the ramparts +of Fort Concepción by order of the Viceroy. There was Juan de +Esquivél, the future conqueror of Jamaica; Sebastian Olano, receiver +of the royal share of the gold and other riches that no one doubted to +find; Father Marchena, the Admiral's first protector, friend, and +counselor; the two knight commanders of military orders Gallego and +Arroyo; the fleet's physician, Chanca; the queen's three servants, +Navarro, Peña-soto, and Girau; the pilot, Antonio de Torres, who was +to return to Spain with the Admiral's ship and first despatches. +There was Juan de la Cosa, cartographer, who traced the first map of +the Antilles; there were the father and uncle of Bartolomé de las +Casas, the apostle of the Indies; Diego de Peñalosa, the first notary +public; Fermin Jedo, the metallurgist, and Villacorta, the mechanical +engineer. Luis de Ariega, afterward famous as the defender of the fort +at Magdalena; Diego Velasquez, the future conqueror of Cuba; Vega, +Abarca, Gil Garcia, Marguéz, Maldonado, Beltrán and many other doughty +warriors, whose names had been the terror of the Moors during the war +in Granada. Finally, there were Diego Columbus, the Admiral's brother; +and among the men-at-arms, one, destined to play the principal rôle in +the conquest of Puerto Rico. His name was Juan Ponce, a native of +Santervas or Sanservas de Campos in the kingdom of Leon. He had served +fifteen years in the war with the Moors as page or shield-bearer to +Pedro Nuñez de Guzman, knight commander of the order of Calatráva, and +he had joined Columbus like the rest--to seek his fortune in the +western hemisphere. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: March 15, 1493.] + +[Footnote 2: Literally, "_hijos d'algo_," sons of something or +somebody.] + +[Footnote 3: La Fuente. Hista. general de España.] + +[Footnote 4: Along the 30th parallel of longitude W. of Greenwich.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DISCOVERY + +1493 + +THE first island discovered on this voyage lies between 14° and 15° +north latitude, near the middle of a chain of islands of different +sizes, intermingled with rocks and reefs, which stretches from +Trinidad, near the coast of Venezuela, in a north-by-westerly +direction to Puerto Rico. They are divided in two groups, the Windward +Islands forming the southern, the Leeward Islands the northern portion +of the chain. + +The Admiral shaped his course in the direction in which the islands, +one after the other, loomed up, merely touching at some for the +purpose of obtaining what information he could, which was meager +enough. + +For an account of the expedition's experiences on that memorable +voyage, we have the fleet physician Chanca's circumstantial +description addressed to the Municipal Corporation of Seville, sent +home by the same pilot who conveyed the Admiral's first despatches to +the king and queen. + +After describing the weather experienced up to the time the fleet +arrived at the island "de Hierro," he tells their worships that for +nineteen or twenty days they had the best weather ever experienced on +such a long voyage, excepting on the eve of San Simon, when they had a +storm which for four hours caused them great anxiety. + +At daybreak on Sunday, November 3d, the pilot of the flagship +announced land. "It was marvelous," says Chanca, "to see and hear the +people's manifestations of joy; and with reason, for they were very +weary of the hardships they had undergone, and longed to be on land +again." + +The first island they saw was high and mountainous. As the day +advanced they saw another more level, and then others appeared, till +they counted six, some of good size, and all covered with forest to +the water's edge. + +Sailing along the shore of the first discovered island for the +distance of a league, and finding no suitable anchoring ground, they +proceeded to the next island, which was four or five leagues distant, +and here the Admiral landed, bearing the royal standard, and took +formal possession of this and all adjacent lands in the name of their +Highnesses. He named the first island Dominica, because it was +discovered on a Sunday, and to the second island he gave the name of +his ship, Marie-Galante. + +"In this island," says Chanca, "it was wonderful to see the dense +forest and the great variety of unknown trees, some in bloom, others +with fruit, everything looking so green. We found a tree the leaves +whereof resembled laurel leaves, but not so large, and they exhaled +the finest odor of cloves.[5] + +"There were fruits of many kinds, some of which the men imprudently +tasted, with the result that their faces swelled, and that they +suffered such violent pain in throat and mouth[6] that they behaved +like madmen, the application of cold substances giving them some +relief." No signs of inhabitants were discovered, so they remained +ashore two hours only and left next morning early (November 4th) in +the direction of another island seven or eight leagues northward. They +anchored off the southernmost coast of it, now known as Basse Terre, +and admired a mountain in the distance, which seemed to reach into the +sky (the volcano "la Souffrière"), and the beautiful waterfall on its +flank. The Admiral sent a small caravel close inshore to look for a +port, which was soon found. Perceiving some huts, the captain landed, +but the people who occupied them escaped into the forest as soon as +they saw the strangers. On entering the huts they found two large +parrots (guacamayos) entirely different from those seen until then by +the Spaniards, much cotton, spun and ready for spinning, and other +articles, bringing away a little of each, "especially," says the +doctor, "four or five bones of human arms and legs." + +From this the Admiral concluded that he had found the islands +inhabited by the redoubtable Caribs, of whom he had heard on his first +voyage, and who were said to eat human flesh. The general direction +in which these islands were situated had been pointed out to him by +the natives of Guanahani and the Española; hence, he had steered a +southwesterly course on this his second voyage, "and," says the +doctor, "by the goodness of God and the Admiral's knowledge, we came +as straight as if we had come by a known and continuous route." + +Having found a convenient port and seen some groups of huts, the +inhabitants of which fled as soon as they perceived the ships, the +Admiral gave orders that the next morning early parties of men should +go on shore to reconnoiter. Accordingly some captains, each with a +small band of men, dispersed. Most of them returned before noon with +the tangible results of their expeditions; one party brought a boy of +about fourteen years of age, who, from the signs he made, was +understood to be a captive from some other island; another party +brought a child that had been abandoned by the man who was leading it +by the hand when he perceived the Spaniards; others had taken some +women; and one party was accompanied by women who had voluntarily +joined them and who, on that account, were believed to be captives +also. Captain Diego Marquiz with six men, who had entered the thickest +part of the forest, did not return that night, nor the three following +days, notwithstanding the Admiral had sent Alonzo de Ojeda with forty +men to explore the jungle, blow trumpets, and do all that could be +done to find them. When, on the morning of the fourth day, they had +not returned, there was ground for concluding that they had been +killed and eaten by the natives; but they made their appearance in +the course of the day, emaciated and wearied, having suffered great +hardships, till by chance they had struck the coast and followed it +till they reached the ships. They brought ten persons, with +them--women and boys. + +During the days thus lost the other captains collected more than +twenty female captives, and three boys came running toward them, +evidently escaping from their captors. Few men were seen. It was +afterward ascertained that ten canoes full had gone on one of their +marauding expeditions. In their different expeditions on shore the +Spaniards found all the huts and villages abandoned, and in them "an +infinite quantity" of human bones and skulls hanging on the walls as +receptacles. From the natives taken on board the Spaniards learned +that the name of the first island they had seen was Cayri or Keiree; +the one they were on they named Sibuqueira, and they spoke of a third, +not yet discovered, named Aye-Aye. The Admiral gave to Sibuqueira the +name of Guadaloupe. + +Anchors were weighed at daybreak on November 10th. About noon of the +next day the fleet reached an island which Juan de la Cosa laid down +on his map with the name Santa Maria de Monserrat. From the Indian +women on board it was understood that this island had been depopulated +by the Caribs and was then uninhabited. On the same day in the +afternoon they made another island which, according to Navarrete, was +named by the Admiral Santa Maria de la Redonda (the round one), and +seeing that there were many shallows in the neighborhood, and that it +would be dangerous to continue the voyage during the night, the fleet +came to anchor. + +On the following morning (the 13th) another island was discovered (la +Antigua); thence the fleet proceeded in a northwesterly direction to +San Martin, without landing at any place, because, as Chanca observes, +"the Admiral was anxious to arrive at 'la Española.'" + +After weighing anchor at San Martin on the morning of Thursday the +14th, the fleet experienced rough weather and was driven southward, +anchoring the same day off the island Aye-Aye (Santa Cruz). + +Fernandez, the Admiral's son, in his description of his father's +second voyage, says that a small craft (a sloop) with twenty-five men +was sent ashore to take some of the people, that Columbus might obtain +information from them regarding his whereabouts. While they carried +out this order a canoe with four men, two women, and a boy approached +the ships, and, struck with astonishment at what they saw, they never +moved from one spot till the sloop returned with four kidnaped women +and three children. + +When the natives in the canoe saw the sloop bearing down upon them, +and that they had no chance of escape, they showed fight. Two +Spaniards were wounded--an arrow shot by one of the amazons went clear +through a buckler--then the canoe was overturned, and finding a +footing in a shallow place, they continued the fight till they were +all taken, one of them being mortally wounded by the thrust of a +lance. + +To regain the latitude in which he was sailing when the storm began to +drive his ships southwestward to Aye-Aye, the Admiral, after a delay +of only a few hours, steered north, until, toward nightfall, he +reached a numerous group of small islands. Most of them appeared bare +and devoid of vegetation. The next morning (November 15th) a small +caravel was sent among the group to explore, the other ships standing +out to sea for fear of shallows, but nothing of interest was found +except a few Indian fishermen. All the islands were uninhabited, and +they were baptized "the eleven thousand Virgins." The largest one, +according to Navarrete, was named Santa Ursula--"la Virgin Gorda" (the +fat Virgin) according to Angleria. + +During the night the ships lay to at sea. On the 16th the voyage was +continued till the afternoon of the 17th, when another island was +sighted; the fleet sailed along its southern shore for a whole day. +That night two women and a boy of those who had voluntarily joined the +expedition in Sobuqueira, swam ashore, having recognized their home. +On the 19th the fleet anchored in a bay on the western coast, where +Columbus landed and took possession in the name of his royal patrons +with the same formalities as observed in Marie-Galante, and named the +island San Juan Bautista. Near the landing-place was found a deserted +village consisting of a dozen huts of the usual size surrounding a +larger one of superior construction; from the village a road or walk, +hedged in by trees and plants, led to the sea, "which," says +Muñoz,[7] "gave it the aspect of some cacique's place of seaside +recreation." + +After remaining two days in port (November 20th and 21st), and without +a single native having shown himself, the fleet lifted anchor on the +morning of the 22d, and proceeding on its northwesterly course, +reached the bay of Samaná, in Española, before night, whence, sailing +along the coast, the Admiral reached the longed-for port of Navidad on +the 25th, only to find that the first act of the bloody drama that was +to be enacted in this bright new world had already been performed. + +Here we leave Columbus and his companions to play the important rôles +in the conquest of America assigned to each of them. The fortunes of +the yeoman of humble birth, the former lance-bearer or stirrup-page of +the knight commander of Calatráva, already referred to, were destined +to become intimately connected with those of the island whose history +we will now trace. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: The "Caryophyllus pimienta," Coll y Toste.] + +[Footnote 6: Navarrete supposes this to have been the fruit of the +Manzanilla "hippomane Mancinella," which produces identical effects.] + +[Footnote 7: Historia del Nuevo Mundo.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PONCE AND CERON + +1500-1511 + +Friar Iñigo Abbad, in his History of the Island San Juan Bautista de +Puerto Rico, gives the story of the discovery in a very short chapter, +and terminates it with the words: "Columbus sailed for Santo Domingo +November 22, 1493, and thought no more of the island, which remained +forgotten till Juan Ponce returned to explore it in 1508." + +This is not correct. The island was not forgotten, for Don José Julian +de Acosta, in his annotations to the Benedictine monk's history (pp. +21 and 23), quotes a royal decree of March 24, 1505, appointing +Vicente Yañez Pinzón Captain and "corregidor" of the island San Juan +Bautista and governor of the fort that he was to construct therein. +Pinzón transferred his rights and titles in the appointment to Martin +Garcia de Salazar, in company with whom he stocked the island with +cattle; but it seems that Boriquén did not offer sufficient scope for +the gallant pilot's ambition, for we find him between the years 1506 +and 1508 engaged in seeking new conquests on the continent. + +As far as Columbus himself is concerned, the island was certainly +forgotten amid the troubles that beset him on all sides almost from +the day of his second landing in "la Española." From 1493 to 1500 a +series of insurrections broke out, headed successively by Diaz, +Margarit, Aguado, Roldán, and others, supported by the convict rabble +that, on the Admiral's own proposals to the authorities in Spain, had +been liberated from galleys and prisons on condition that they should +join him on his third expedition. These men, turbulent, insubordinate, +and greedy, found hunger, hardships, and sickness where they had +expected to find plenty, comfort, and wealth. The Admiral, who had +indirectly promised them these things, to mitigate the universal and +bitter disappointment, had recourse to the unwarrantable expedients of +enslaving the natives, sending them to Spain to be sold, of levying +tribute on those who remained, and, worst of all, dooming them to a +sure and rapid extermination by forced labor. + +The natives, driven to despair, resisted, and in the encounters +between the naked islanders and the mailed invaders Juan Ponce +distinguished himself so that Nicolos de Ovando, the governor, made +him the lieutenant of Juan Esquivél, who was then engaged in +"pacifying" the province of Higüey.[8] After Esquivél's departure on +the conquest of Jamaica, Ponce was advanced to the rank of captain, +and it was while he was in the Higüey province that he learned from +the Boriquén natives, who occasionally visited the coast, that there +was gold in the rivers of their as yet unexplored island. This was +enough to awaken his ambition to explore it, and having asked +permission of Ovando, it was granted. + +Ponce equipped a caravel at once, and soon after left the port of +Salvaleon with a few followers and some Indians to serve as guides and +interpreters (1508). + +They probably landed at or near the same place at which their captain +had landed fifteen years before with the Admiral, that is to say, in +the neighborhood of la Aguáda, where, according to Las Casas, the +ships going and coming to and from Spain had called regularly to take +in fresh water ever since the year 1502. + +The strangers were hospitably received. It appears that the mother of +the local cacique, who was also the chief cacique of that part of the +island, was a woman of acute judgment. She had, no doubt, heard from +fugitives from la Española of the doings of the Spaniards there, and +of their irresistible might in battle, and had prudently counseled her +son to receive the intruders with kindness and hospitality. + +Accordingly Ponce and his men were welcomed and feasted. They were +supplied with provisions; areitos (dances) were held in their honor; +batos (games of ball) were played to amuse them, and the practise, +common among many of the aboriginal tribes in different parts of the +world, of exchanging names with a visitor as a mark of brotherly +affection, was also resorted to to cement the new bonds of friendship, +so that Guaybána became Ponce for the time being, and Ponce Guaybána. +The sagacious mother of the chief received the name of Doña Inéz, +other names were bestowed on other members of the family, and to +crown all, Ponce received the chief's sister in marriage. + +Under these favorable auspices Ponce made known his desire to see the +places where the chiefs obtained the yellow metal for the disks which, +as a distinctive of their rank, they wore as medals round their neck. +Guaybána responded with alacrity to his Spanish brother's wish, and +accompanied him on what modern gold-seekers would call "a prospecting +tour" to the interior. The Indian took pride in showing him the rivers +Manatuabón, Manatí, Sibucó, and others, and in having their sands +washed in the presence of his white friends, little dreaming that by +so doing he was sealing the doom of himself and people. + +Ponce was satisfied with the result of his exploration, and returned +to la Española in the first months of 1509, taking with him the +samples of gold collected, and leaving behind some of his companions, +who probably then commenced to lay the foundations of Capárra. It is +believed that Guaybána accompanied him to see and admire the wonders +of the Spanish settlement. The gold was smelted and assayed, and found +to be 450 maravedis per peso fine, which was not as fine as the gold +obtained in la Española, but sufficiently so for the king of Spain's +purposes, for he wrote to Ponce in November, 1509: "I have seen your +letter of August 16th. Be very diligent in searching for gold mines in +the island of San Juan; take out as much as possible, and after +smelting it in la Española, send it immediately." + +On August 14th of the same year Don Fernando had already written to +the captain thanking him for his diligence in the settlement of the +island and appointing him governor _ad interim_. + +Ponce returned to San Juan in July or the beginning of August, after +the arrival in la Española of Diego, the son of Christopher Columbus, +with his family and a new group of followers, as Viceroy and Admiral. +The Admiral, aware of the part which Ponce had taken in the +insurrection of Roldán against his father's authority, bore him no +good-will, notwithstanding the king's favorable disposition toward the +captain, as manifested in the instructions which he received from +Ferdinand before his departure from Spain (May 13, 1509), in which his +Highness referred to Juan Ponce de Leon as being by his special grace +and good-will authorized to settle the island of San Juan Bautista, +requesting the Admiral to make no innovations in the arrangement, and +charging him to assist and favor the captain in his undertaking. + +After Don Diego's arrival in la Española he received a letter from the +king, dated September 15, 1509, saying, "Ovando wrote that Juan Ponce +had not gone to settle the island of San Juan for want of stores; now +that they have been provided in abundance, let it be done." + +But the Admiral purposely ignored these instructions. He deposed Ponce +and appointed Juan Ceron as governor in his place, with a certain +Miguel Diaz as High Constable, and Diego Morales for the office next +in importance. His reason for thus proceeding in open defiance of the +king's orders, independent of his resentment against Ponce, was the +maintenance of the prerogatives of his rank as conceded to his father, +of which the appointment of governors and mayors over any or all the +islands discovered by him was one. + +Ceron and his two companions, with more than two hundred Spaniards, +sailed for San Juan in 1509, and were well received by Guaybána and +his Indians, among whom they took up their residence and at once +commenced the search for gold. In the meantime Ponce, in his capacity +as governor _ad interim_, continued his correspondence with the king, +who, March 2, 1510, signed his appointment as permanent governor.[9] +This conferred upon him the power to sentence in civil and criminal +affairs, to appoint and remove alcaldes, constables, etc., subject to +appeal to the government of la Española. Armed with his new authority, +and feeling himself strong in the protection of his king, Ponce now +proceeded to arrest Ceron and his two fellow officials, and sent them +to Spain in a vessel that happened to call at the island, confiscating +all their property. + +Diego Columbus, on hearing of Ponce's highhanded proceedings, +retaliated by the confiscation of all the captain's property in la +Española. + +These events did not reach the king's ears till September, 1510. He +comprehended at once that his protégé had acted precipitately, and +gave orders that the three prisoners should be set at liberty +immediately after their arrival in Spain and proceed to the Court to +appear before the Council of Indies. He next ordered Ponce (November +26, 1510) to place the confiscated properties and Indians of Ceron and +his companions at the disposal of the persons they should designate +for that purpose. Finally, after due investigation and recognition of +the violence of Ponce's proceedings, the king wrote to him June 6, +1511: "Because it has been resolved in the Council of Indies that the +government of this and the other islands discovered by his father +belongs to the Admiral and his successors, it is necessary to return +to Ceron, Diaz, and Morales their staffs of office. You will come to +where I am, leaving your property in good security, and We will see +wherein we can employ you in recompense of your good services." + +Ceron and his companions received instructions not to molest Ponce nor +any of his officers, nor demand an account of their acts, and they +were recommended to endeavor to gain their good-will and assistance. +The reinstated officers returned to San Juan in the latter part of +1511. Ponce, in obedience to the king's commands, quietly delivered +the staff of office to Ceron, and withdrew to his residence in +Capárra. He had already collected considerable wealth, which was soon +to serve him in other adventurous enterprises. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 8: The slaughter of rebellious Indians was called +"pacification" by the Spaniards.] + +[Footnote 9: The document is signed by Ferdinand and his daughter, +Doña Juana, as heir to her mother, for the part corresponding to each +in the sovereignty over the island San Juan Bautista.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. "REPARTIMIENTOS" + +1510 + +Soon after Ponce's return from la Española Guaybána sickened and died. +Up to this time the harmony established by the prudent cacique between +his tribesmen and the Spaniards on their first arrival had apparently +not been disturbed. There is no record of any dissension between them +during Ponce's absence. + +The cacique was succeeded by his brother, who according to custom +assumed the name of the deceased chief, together with his authority. + +The site for his first settlement, chosen by Ponce, was a low hill in +the center of a small plain surrounded by hills, at the distance of a +league from the sea, the whole space between being a swamp, "which," +says Oviedo, "made the transport of supplies very difficult." Here the +captain commenced the construction of a fortified house and chapel, or +hermitage, and called the place Capárra.[10] + +[Illustration: Ruins of Capárra, the first capital.] + +Among the recently arrived Spaniards there was a young man of +aristocratic birth named Christopher de Soto Mayor, who possessed +powerful friends at Court. He had been secretary to King Philip I, +and according to Abbad, was intended by Ferdinand as future governor +of San Juan; but Señor Acosta, the friar's commentator, remarks with +reason, that it is not likely that the king, who showed so much tact +and foresight in all his acts, should place a young man without +experience over an old soldier like Ponce, for whom he had a special +regard. + +The young hidalgo seemed to aspire to nothing higher than a life of +adventure, for he agreed to go as Ponce's lieutenant and form a +settlement on the south coast of the island near the bay of Guánica. + +"In this settlement," says Oviedo, "there were so many mosquitoes that +they alone were enough to depopulate it, and the people passed to +Aguáda, which is said to be to the west-nor'-west, on the borders of +the river Culebrinas, in the district now known as Aguáda and +Aguadilla; to this new settlement they gave the name Sotomayor, and +while they were there the Indians rose in rebellion one Friday in the +beginning of the year 1511." + + * * * * * + +The second Guaybána[11] was far from sharing his predecessor's +good-will toward the Spaniards or his prudence in dealing with them; +nor was the conduct of the newcomers toward the natives calculated to +cement the bonds of friendship. + +Fancying themselves secure in the friendly disposition of the +natives, prompted by that spirit of reckless daring and adventure that +distinguished most of the followers of Columbus, anxious to be first +to find a gold-bearing stream or get possession of some rich piece of +land, they did not confine themselves to the two settlements formed, +but spread through the interior, where they began to lay out farms and +to work the auriferous river sands. + +In the beginning the natives showed themselves willing enough to +assist in these labors, but when the brutal treatment to which the +people of la Española had been subjected was meted out to them also, +and the greed of gold caused their self-constituted masters to exact +from them labors beyond their strength, the Indians murmured, then +protested, at last they resisted, and at each step the taskmasters +became more exacting, more relentless. + +At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards the natives of Boriquén +seem to have led an Arcadian kind of existence; their bows and arrows +were used only when some party of Caribs came to carry off their young +men and maidens. Among themselves they lived at peace, and passed +their days in lazily swinging in their hammocks and playing ball or +dancing their "areytos." With little labor the cultivation of their +patches of yucca[12] required was performed by the women, and beyond +the construction of their canoes and the carving of some battle club, +they knew no industry, except, perhaps, the chipping of some stone +into the rude likeness of a man, or of one of the few animals they +knew. + +These creatures were suddenly called upon to labor from morning to +night, to dig and delve, and to stand up to their hips in water +washing the river sands. They were forced to change their habits and +their food, and from free and, in their own way, happy masters of the +soil they became the slaves of a handful of ruthless men from beyond +the sea. When Ponce's order to distribute them among his men confirmed +the hopelessness of their slavery, they looked upon the small number +of their destroyers and began to ask themselves if there were no means +of getting rid of them. + + * * * * * + +The system of "repartimientos" (distribution), sometimes called +"encomiendas" (patronage), was first introduced in la Española by +Columbus and sanctioned later by royal authority. Father Las Casas +insinuates that Ponce acted arbitrarily in introducing it in Boriquén, +but there were precedents for it. + +The first tribute imposed by Columbus on the natives of la Española +was in gold and in cotton[13](1495). Recognizing that the Indians +could not comply with this demand, the Admiral modified it, but still +they could not satisfy him, and many, to escape the odious imposition, +fled to the woods and mountains or wandered about from place to place. +The Admiral, in virtue of the powers granted to him, had divided the +land among his followers according to rank, or merit, or caprice, and +in the year 1496 substituted the forced labor of the Indians for the +tribute, each cacique being obliged to furnish a stipulated number of +men to cultivate the lands granted. Bobadilla, the Admiral's +successor, made this obligation to work on the land extend to the +mines, and in the royal instructions given to Ovando, who succeeded +Bobadilla, these abuses were confirmed, and he was expressly charged +to see to it "that the Indians were employed in collecting gold and +other metals for the Castilians, in cultivating their lands, in +constructing their houses, and in obeying their commands." The pretext +for these abuses was, that by thus bringing the natives into immediate +contact with their masters they would be easier converted to +Christianity. It is true that the royal ordinances stipulated that the +Indians should be well treated, and be paid for their work like free +laborers, but the fact that they were _forced_ to work and severely +punished when they refused, constituted them slaves in reality. The +royal recommendations to treat them well, to pay them for their work, +and to teach them the Christian doctrines, were ignored by the +masters, whose only object was to grow rich. The Indians were tasked +far beyond their strength. They were ill-fed, often not fed at all, +brutally ill-treated, horribly punished for trying to escape from the +hellish yoke, ruthlessly slaughtered at the slightest show of +resistance, so that thousands of them perished miserably. This had +been the fate of the natives of la Española, and there can be no doubt +that the Boriqueños had learned from fugitives of that island what +was in store for them when Ponce ordered their distribution among the +settlers. + +The following list of Indians distributed in obedience to orders from +the metropolis is taken from the work by Don Salvador Brau.[14] It was +these first distributions, made in 1509-'10, which led to the +rebellion of the Indians and the distributions that followed: + + Indians + To the general treasurer, Pasamonte, a man described by + Acosta as malevolent, insolent, deceitful, and sordid...... 300 + + To Juan Ponce de Leon...................................... 200 + + To Christopher Soto Mayor[15]...............................100 + + To Vicente Yañez Pinzón, on condition that he should settle + in the island.............................................. 100 + + To Lope de Conchillos, King Ferdinand's Chief Secretary, + as bad a character as Pasamonte............................ 100 + + To Pedro Moreno and Jerome of Brussels, the delegate and + clerk of Conchillos in Boriquén, 100 each...................200 + + To the bachelor-at-law Villalobos........................... 80 + + To Francisco Alvarado.......................................80 + + +A total of 1,060 defenseless Indians delivered into the ruthless hands +of men steeped in greed, ambition, and selfishness. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: The scanty remains of the first settlement were to be +seen till lately in the Pueblo Viejo Ward, municipal district of +Bayamón, along the road which loads from Cataño to Gurabó.] + +[Footnote 11: He may have been the tenth or the twentieth if what the +chroniclers tell us about the adoption of the defunct caciquess' names +by their successors be true.] + +[Footnote 12: The manioc of which the "casaba" bread is made.] + +[Footnote 13: A "cascabel" (a measure the size of one of the round +bells used in Spain to hang round the neck of the leader in a troop of +mules) full of gold and twenty-five pounds (an arroba) of cotton every +three months for every Indian above sixteen years of age.] + +[Footnote 14: Puerto Rico y su historia, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 15: Among the Indians given to Soto Mayor was the sister of +the cacique Guaybána second. She became his concubine, and in return +for the preference shown her she gave the young nobleman timely +warning of the impending rebellion.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE REBELLION + +1511 + +The sullen but passive resistance of the Indians was little noticed by +the Spaniards, who despised them too much to show any apprehension; +but the number of fugitives to the mountains and across the sea +increased day by day, and it soon became known that nocturnal +"areytos" were held, in which the means of shaking off the odious yoke +were discussed. Soto Mayor was warned by his paramour, and it is +probable that some of the other settlers received advice through the +same channels; still, they neglected even the ordinary precautions. + +At last, a soldier named Juan Gonzalez, who had learned the native +language in la Española, took upon himself to discover what truth +there was in these persistent reports, and, naked and painted so as to +appear like one of the Indians, he assisted at one of the nocturnal +meetings, where he learned that a serious insurrection was indeed +brewing; he informed Soto Mayor of what he had heard and seen, and the +latter now became convinced of the seriousness of the danger. + +Before Gonzalez learned what was going on, Guaybána had summoned the +neighboring caciques to a midnight "areyto" and laid his plan before +them, which consisted in each of them, on a preconcerted day, falling +upon the Spaniards living in or near their respective villages; the +attack, on the same day, on Soto Mayor's settlement, he reserved for +himself and Guariónez, the cacique of Utuáo. + +But some of the caciques doubted the feasibility of the plan. Had not +the fugitives from Quisqueiá[16] told of the terrible effects of the +shining blades they wore by their sides when wielded in battle by the +brawny arms of the dreaded strangers? Did not their own arrows glance +harmlessly from the glittering scales with which they covered their +bodies? Was Guaybána quite sure that the white-faced invader could be +killed at all? The majority thought that before undertaking their +extermination they ought to be sure that they had to do with a mortal +enemy. + +Oviedo and Herrera both relate how they proceeded to discover this. +Urayoán, the cacique of Yagüeca, was charged with the experiment. +Chance soon favored him. A young man named Salcedo passed through his +village to join some friends. He was hospitably received, well fed, +and a number of men[17] were told to accompany him and carry his +luggage. He arrived at the Guaorába, a river on the west side of the +island, which flows into the bay of San German. They offered to carry +him across. The youth accepted, was taken up between two of the +strongest Indians, who, arriving in the middle of the river, dumped +him under water--then they fell on him and held him down till he +struggled no more. Dragging him ashore, they now begged his pardon, +saying that they had stumbled, and called upon him to rise and +continue the voyage; but the young man did not move, he was dead, and +they had the proof that the supposed demi-gods were mortals after all. + +The news spread like wildfire, and from that day the Indians were in +open rebellion and began to take the offensive, shooting their arrows +and otherwise molesting every Spaniard they happened to meet alone or +off his guard. + +The following episode related by Oviedo illustrates the mental +disposition of the natives of Boriquén at this period. + +Aymamón, the cacique whose village was on the river Culebrinas, near +the settlement of Soto Mayor, had surprised a lad of sixteen years +wandering alone in the forest. The cacique carried him off, tied him +to a post in his hut and proposed to his men a game of ball, the +winner to have the privilege of convincing himself and the others of +the mortality of their enemies by killing the lad in any way he +pleased. Fortunately for the intended victim, one of the Indians knew +the youth's father, one Pedro Juarez, in the neighboring settlement, +and ran to tell him of the danger that menaced his son. Captain Diego +Salazar, who in Soto Mayor's absence was in command of the settlement, +on hearing of the case, took his sword and buckler and guided by the +friendly Indian, reached the village while the game for the boy's life +was going on. He first cut the lad's bonds, and with the words "Do as +you see me do!" rushed upon the crowd of about 300 Indians and laid +about him right and left with such effect that they had no chance even +of defending themselves. Many were killed and wounded. Among the +latter was Aymamón himself, and Salazar returned in triumph with the +boy. + +But now comes the curious part of the story, which shows the character +of the Boriquén Indian in a more favorable light. + +Aymamón, feeling himself mortally wounded, sent a messenger to +Salazar, begging him to come to his caney or hut to make friends with +him before he died. None but a man of Salazar's intrepid character +would have thought of accepting such an invitation; but _he_ did, and, +saying to young Juarez, who begged his deliverer not to go: "They +shall not think that I'm afraid of them," he went, shook hands with +the dying chief, changed names with him, and returned unharmed amid +the applauding shouts of "Salazar! Salazar!" from the multitude, among +whom his Toledo blade had made such havoc. It was evident from this +that they held courage, such as the captain had displayed, in high +esteem. To the other Spaniards they used to say: "We are not afraid of +_you_, for you are not Salazar." + + * * * * * + +It was in the beginning of June, 1511. The day fixed by Guaybána for +the general rising had arrived. Soto Mayor was still in his grange in +the territory under the cacique's authority, but having received the +confirmation of the approaching danger from Gonzalez, he now resolved +at once to place himself at the head of his men in the Aguáda +settlement. The distance was great, and he had to traverse a country +thickly peopled by Indians whom he now knew to be in open rebellion; +but he was a Spanish hidalgo and did not hesitate a moment. The +morning after receiving the report of Gonzalez he left his grange with +that individual and four other companions. + +Guaybána, hearing of Soto Mayor's departure, started in pursuit. +Gonzalez, who had lagged behind, was first overtaken, disarmed, +wounded with his own sword, and left for dead. Near the river Yauco +the Indians came upon Soto Mayor and his companions, and though there +were no witnesses to chronicle what happened, we may safely assert +that they sold their lives dear, till the last of them fell under the +clubs of the infuriated savages. + +That same night Guárionex with 3,000 Indians stealthily surrounded the +settlement and set fire to it, slaughtering all who, in trying to +escape, fell into their hands.[18] + +In the interior nearly a hundred Spaniards were killed during the +night. Gonzalez, though left for dead, had been able to make his way +through the forest to the royal grange, situated where now Toa-Caja +is. He was in a pitiful plight, and fell in a swoon when he crossed +the threshold of the house. Being restored to consciousness, he +related to the Spaniards present what was going on near the +Culebrinas, and they sent a messenger to Capárra at once. + +Immediately on receipt of the news from the grange, Ponce sent Captain +Miguel del Toro with 40 men to the assistance of Soto Mayor, but he +found the settlement in ashes and only the bodies of those who had +perished. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 16: La Española.] + +[Footnote 17: The chroniclers say fifteen or twenty, which seems an +exaggerated number.] + +[Footnote 18: Salazar was able in the dark and the confusion of the +attack on the settlement to rally a handful of followers, with whom he +cut his way through the Indians and through the jungle to Capárra.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE REBELLION _(continued)_ + +1511 + +Salazar's arrival at Capárra with a handful of wounded and exhausted +men revealed to Ponce the danger of his situation. Ponce knew that it +was necessary to strike a bold blow, and although, including the +maimed and wounded, he had but 120 men at his disposal, he prepared at +once to take the offensive. + +Sending a messenger to la Española with the news of the insurrection +and a demand for reenforcements, which, seeing his strained relations +with the Admiral, there was small chance of his obtaining, he +proceeded to divide his force in four companies of 30 men to each, and +gave command to Miguel del Toro, the future founder of San German, to +Louis de Añasco, who later gave his name to a province, to Louis +Almanza and to Diego Salazar, whose company was made up exclusively of +the maimed and wounded, and therefore called in good-humored jest the +company of cripples. + +Having learned from his scouts that Guaybána was camped with 5,000 to +6,000 men near the mouth of the river Coayúco in the territory between +the Yauco and Jacágua rivers, somewhere in the neighborhood of the +city which now bears the conqueror's name, he marched with great +precaution through forest and jungle till he reached the river. He +crossed it during the night and fell upon the Indians with such +impetus that they believed their slain enemies to have come to life. +They fled in confusion, leaving 200 dead upon the field. + +The force under Ponce's command was too small to follow up his victory +by the persecution of the terror-stricken natives; nor would the +exhausted condition of the men have permitted it, so he wisely +determined to return to Capárra, cure his wounded soldiers, and await +the result of his message to la Española. + +Oviedo and Navarro, whose narratives of these events are repeated by +Abbad, state that the Boriquén Indians, despairing of being able to +vanquish the Spaniards, called the Caribs of the neighboring islands +to their aid; that the latter arrived in groups to make common cause +with them, and that some time after the battle of Coayúco, between +Caribs and Boriqueños, 11,000 men had congregated in the Aymacó +district. + +But Mr. Brau[19] calls attention to the improbability of such a +gathering. "Guaybána," he says, "had been able, after long +preparation, to bring together between 5,000 and 6,000 warriors--of +these 200 had been slain, and an equal number, perhaps, wounded and +made prisoners, so that, to make up the number of 11,000, at least as +many Caribs as the entire warrior force of Boriquén must have come to +the island in the short space of time elapsed since the first battle. +The islands inhabited by the Caribs--Santa Cruz, San Eustaquio, San +Cristobal, and Dominica--were too distant to furnish so large a +contingent in so short a time, and the author we are quoting justly +remarks that, admitting that such a feat was possible, they must have +had at their disposition a fleet of at least 200 canoes, each capable +of holding 20 men, a number which it is not likely they ever +possessed." + +There is another reason for discrediting the assertions of the old +chroniclers in this respect. The idea of calling upon their enemies, +the Caribs, to make common cause with them against a foe from whom the +Caribs themselves had, as yet, suffered comparatively little, and the +ready acceptance by these savages of the proposal, presupposes an +amount of foresight and calculation, of diplomatic tact, so to speak, +in both the Boriqueños and Caribs with which it is difficult to credit +them. + +The probable explanation of the alleged arrival of Caribs is that some +of the fugitive Indians who had found a refuge in the small islands +close to Boriquén may have been informed of the preparations for a +revolt and of the result of the experiment with Salcedo, and they +naturally came to take part in the struggle. + +On hearing of the ominous gathering Ponce sent Louis Añasco and Miguel +del Toro with 50 men to reconnoiter and watch the Indians closely, +while he himself followed with the rest of his small force to be +present where and when it might be necessary. Their approach was soon +discovered, and, as if eager for battle, one cacique named +Mabodomáca, who had a band of 600 picked men, sent the governor an +insolent challenge to come on. Salazar with his company of cripples +was chosen to silence him. After reconnoitering the cacique's +position, he gave his men a much-needed rest till after midnight, and +then dashed among them with his accustomed recklessness. The Indians, +though taken by surprise, defended themselves bravely for three hours, +"but," says Father Abbad, "God fought on the side of the Spaniards," +and the result was that 150 dead natives were left on the field, with +many wounded and prisoners. The Spaniards had not lost a man, though +the majority had received fresh wounds. + +Ponce, with his reserve force, arrived soon after the battle and found +Salazar and his men resting. From them he learned that the main body +of the Indians, to the number of several thousand, was in the +territory of Yacüeca (now Añasco) and seemingly determined upon the +extermination of the Spaniards. + +The captain resolved to go and meet the enemy without regard to +numbers. With Salazar's men and the 50 under Añasco and Toro he +marched upon them at once. Choosing an advantageous position, he gave +orders to form an entrenched camp with fascines as well, and as +quickly as the men could, while he kept the Indians at bay with his +arquebusiers and crossbowmen each time they made a rush, which they +did repeatedly. In this manner they succeeded in entrenching +themselves fairly well. The crossbowmen and arquebusiers went out from +time to time, delivered a volley among the close masses of Indians +and then withdrew. These tactics were continued during the night and +all the next day, much to the disgust of the soldiers, who, wounded, +weary, and hungry, without hope of rescue, heard the yells of the +savages challenging them to come out of their camp. They preferred to +rush among them, as they had so often done before. But Ponce would not +permit it. + +Among the arquebusiers the best shot was a certain Juan de Leon. This +man had received instructions from Ponce to watch closely the +movements of Guaybána, who was easily distinguishable from the rest by +the "guanin," or disk of gold which he wore round the neck. On the +second day, the cacique was seen to come and go actively from group to +group, evidently animating his men for a general assault. While thus +engaged he came within the range of Leon's arquebus, and a moment +after he fell pierced by a well-directed ball. The effect was what +Ponce had doubtless expected. The Indians yelled with dismay and ran +far beyond the range of the deadly weapons; nor did they attempt to +return or molest the Spaniards when Ponce led them that night from the +camp and through the forest back to Capárra. + +This was the beginning of the end. After the death of Guaybána no +other cacique ever attempted an organized resistance, and the partial +uprisings that took place for years afterward were easily suppressed. +The report of the arquebus that laid Guaybána low was the death-knell +of the whole Boriquén race. + +The name of the island remained as a reminiscence only, and the island +itself became definitely a dependency of the Spanish crown under the +new name of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 19: Puerto Rico y su Historia, p. 189.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NUMBER OF ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND SECOND DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS + +1511-1515 + +Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, in his Relation of the Indies, says with +reference to this island, that when the Spaniards under the orders of +Juan Ceron landed here in 1509, it was as full of people as a beehive +is full of bees and as beautiful and fertile as an orchard. This +simile and some probably incorrect data from the Geography of Bayaeete +led Friar Iñigo Abbad to estimate the number of aboriginal inhabitants +at the time of the discovery at 600,000, a number for which there is +no warrant in any of the writings of the Spanish chroniclers, and +which Acosto, Brau, and Stahl, the best authorities on matters of +Puerto Rican history, reject as extremely exaggerated. + +Mr. Brau gives some good reasons for reducing the number to about +16,000, though it seems to us that since little or nothing was known +of the island, except that part of it in which the events related in +the preceding chapters took place, any reasoning regarding the +population of the whole island, based upon a knowledge of a part of +it, is liable to error. Ponce's conquest was limited to the northern +and western littoral; the interior with the southern and eastern +districts were not settled by the Spaniards till some years after the +death of Guaybána; and it seems likely that there were caciques in +those parts who, by reason of the distance or other impediments, took +no part in the uprising against the Spaniards. For the rest, Mr. +Brau's reasonings in support of his reduction to 16,000 of the number +of aborigines, are undoubtedly correct. They are: First. The +improbability of a small island like this, _in an uncultivated state_, +producing sufficient food for such large numbers. Second. The fact +that at the first battle (that of Jacáguas), in which he supposes the +whole available warrior force of the island to have taken part, there +were 5,000 to 6,000 men only, which force would have been much +stronger had the population been anything near the number given by +Abbad; and, finally, the number of Indians distributed after the +cessation of organized resistance was only 5,500, as certified by +Sancho Velasquez, the judge appointed in 1515 to rectify the +distributions made by Ceron and Moscoso, and by Captain Melarejo in +his memorial drawn up in 1582 by order of the captain-general, which +number would necessarily have been much larger if the total aboriginal +population had been but 60,000, instead of 600,000. + + * * * * * + +The immediate consequence to the natives of the panic and partial +submission that followed the death of their leader was another and +more extensive distribution. The first distributions of Indians had +been but the extension to San Juan of the system as practised in la +Española, which consisted in granting to the crown officers in +recompense for services or as an inducement to settle in the island, a +certain number of natives.[20] In this way 1,060 Boriqueños had been +disposed of in 1509 to 9 persons. The ill usage to which they saw them +subjected drove the others to rebellion, and now, væ victis, the king, +on hearing of the rebellion, wrote to Ceron and Diaz (July, 1511): "To +'pacify' the Indians you must go well armed and terrorize them. Take +their canoes from them, and if they refuse to be reduced with reason, +make war upon them by fire and sword, taking care not to kill more +than necessary, and send 40 or 50 of them to 'la Española' to serve us +as slaves, etc." To Ponce he wrote on October 10th: "I give you credit +for your labors in the 'pacification' and for having marked with an F +on their foreheads all the Indians taken in war, making slaves of them +and selling them to the highest bidders, separating the fifth part of +the product for Us." + +This time not only the 120 companions of Ponce came in for their share +of the living spoils of war, but the followers of Ceron claimed and +obtained theirs also. + +The following is the list of Indians distributed after the battle of +Yacüeca (if battle it may be called) as given by Mr. Brau, who +obtained the details from the unpublished documents of Juan Bautista +Muñoz: + + + Indians + + To the estates (haciendas) of their royal Highnesses 500 + Baltasar de Castro, the factor 200 + Miguel Diaz, the chief constable 200 + Juan Ceron, the mayor 150 + Diego Morales, bachelor-at-law 150 + Amador de Lares 150 + Louis Soto Mayor 100 + Miguel Diaz, Daux-factor 100 + the (municipal) council 100 + the hospitals 100 + Bishop Manso 100 + Sebastian de la Gama 90 + Gil de Malpartida 70 + Juan Bono (a merchant) 70 + Juan Velasquez 70 + Antonio Rivadeneyra 60 + Gracian Cansino 60 + Louis Aqueyo 60 + the apothecary 60 + Francisco Cereceda 50 + 40 other individuals 40 each 1,600 + _____ + 4,040 + Distributed in 1509 1,060 + _____ + Total 5,100 + + +These numbers included women and children old enough to perform some +kind of labor. They were employed in the mines, or in the rivers +rather (for it was alluvium gold only that the island offered to the +greed of the so-called conquerors); they were employed on the +plantations as beasts of burden, and in every conceivable capacity +under taskmasters who, in spite of Ferdinand's revocation of the order +to reduce them to slavery (September, 1514), had acted on his first +dispositions and believed themselves to have the royal warrant to work +them to death. + +The king's more lenient dispositions came too late. They were +powerless to check the abuses that were being committed under his own +previous ordinances. The Indians disappeared with fearful rapidity. +Licentiate Sancho Velasquez, who had made the second distribution, +wrote to the king April 27, 1515: " ... Excepting your Highnesses' +Indians and those of the crown officers, there are not 4,000 left." On +August 8th of the same year the officers themselves wrote: " ... The +last smeltings have produced little gold. Many Indians have died from +disease caused by the hurricane as well as from want of food...." + +To readjust the proportion of Indians according to the position or +other claims of each individual, new distributions were resorted to. +In these, some favored individuals obtained all they wanted at the +expense of others, and as the number of distributable Indians grew +less and less, reclamations, discontent, strife and rebellion broke +out among the oppressors, who thus wreaked upon each other's heads the +criminal treatment of the natives of which they were all alike guilty. + +Such had been the course of events in la Española. The same causes had +the same effects here. Herrera relates that when Miguel de Pasamente, +the royal treasurer, arrived in the former island, in 1508, it +contained 60,000 aboriginal inhabitants. Six years later, when a new +distribution had become necessary, there were but 14,000 left--the +others had been freed by the hand of death or were leading a +wandering life in the mountains and forests of their island. In this +island the process was not so rapid, but none the less effective. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 20: The king's favorites in the metropolis, anxious to +enrich themselves by these means, obtained grants of Indians and sent +their stewards to administer them. Thus, in la Española, Conehillos, +the secretary, had 1,100 Indians; Bishop Fonseca, 800; Hernando de la +Vega, 200, and many others, "The Indians thus disposed of were, as a +rule, the worst treated," says Las Casas.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LAWS AND ORDINANCES + +1511-1515 + +We have seen how Diego Columbus suspended Ponce in his functions as +governor _ad interim_, and how the captain after obtaining from the +king his appointment as permanent governor sent the Admiral's nominees +prisoners to the metropolis. The king, though inclined to favor the +captain, submitted the matter to his Indian council, which decided +that the nomination of governors and mayors over the islands +discovered by Christopher Columbus corresponded to his son. As a +consequence, Ceron and Diaz were reinstated in their respective +offices, and they were on their way back to San Juan a few months +after Ponce's final success over the rebellious Indians. + +Before their departure from Spain they received the following +instructions, characteristic of the times and of the royal personage +who imparted them: + +"1. You will take over your offices very peaceably, endeavoring to +gain the good-will of Ponce and his friends, that they may become +_your_ friends also, to the island's advantage. + +"2. This done, you will attend to the 'pacification' of the Indians. + +"3. Let many of them be employed in the mines and be well treated. + +"4. Let many Indians be brought from the other islands and be well +treated. Let the officers of justice be favored (in the distributions +of Indians). + +"5. Be very careful that no meat is eaten in Lent or other fast days, +as has been done till now in la Española. + +"6. Let those who have Indians occupy a third of their number in the +mines. + +"7. Let great care be exercised in the salt-pits, and one real be paid +for each celemin[21] extracted, as is done in la Española. + +"8. Send me a list of the number and class of Indians distributed, if +Ponce has not done so already, and of those who have distinguished +themselves in this rebellion. + +"9. You are aware that ever since the sacraments have been +administered in these islands, storms and earthquakes have ceased. Let +a chapel be built at once with the advocation of Saint John the +Baptist, and a monastery, though it be a small one, for Franciscan +friars, whose doctrine is very salutary. + +"10. Have great care in the mines and continually advise Pasamonte +(the treasurer) or his agent of what happens or what may be necessary. + +"11. Take the youngest Indians and teach them the Christian doctrine; +they can afterward teach the others with better results. + +"12. Let there be no swearing or blasphemy; impose heavy penalties +thereon. + +"13. Do not let the Indians be overloaded, but be well treated rather. + +"14. Try to keep the Caribs from coming to the island, and report what +measures it will be advisable to adopt against them. To make the +natives do what is wanted, it will be convenient to take from them, +with cunning (con maña), all the canoes they possess. + +"15. You will obey the contents of these instructions until further +orders. + +Tordesillas, 25th of July, 1511. + +F., King." + +It is clear from the above instructions that, in the king's mind, +there was no inconsistency in making the Indians work in the mines and +their good treatment. There can be no doubt that both he and Doña +Juana, his daughter, who, as heir to her mother, exercised the royal +authority with him, sincerely desired the well-being of the natives as +far as compatible with the exigencies of the treasury. + +For the increase of the white population and the development of +commerce and agriculture, liberal measures, according to the ideas of +the age, were dictated as early as February, 1511, when the same +commercial and political franchises were granted to San Juan as to la +Española. + +On July 25th the price of salt, the sale of which was a royal +monopoly, was reduced by one-half, and in October of the same year the +following rights and privileges were decreed by the king and published +by the crown officers in Seville: + +"1st. Any one may take provisions and merchandise to San Juan, which +is now being settled, and reside there with the same freedom as in la +Española. + +"2d. Any Spaniard may freely go to the Indies--that is, to la +Española and to San Juan--by simply presenting himself to the +officials in Seville, _without giving any further information_ (about +himself). + +"3d. Any Spaniard may take to the Indies what arms he wishes, +notwithstanding the prohibition. + +"4th. His Highness abolishes the contribution by the owners of one +'castellano' for every Indian, they possess. + +"5th. Those to whom the Admiral grants permission to bring Indians +(from other islands) and who used to pay the fifth of their value (to +the royal treasurer) shall be allowed to bring them free. + +"6th. Indians once given to any person shall never be taken from him, +except for delinquencies, punishable by forfeiture of property. + +"7th. This disposition reduces the king's share in the produce of the +gold-mines from one-fifth and one-ninth to one-fifth and one-tenth, +and extends the privilege of working them from one to two years. + +"8th. Whosoever wishes to conquer any part of the continent or of the +gulf of pearls, may apply to the officials in Seville, who will give +him a license, etc." + +The construction of a smelting oven for the gold, of hospitals and +churches for each new settlement, the making of roads and bridges and +other dispositions, wise and good in themselves, were also decreed; +but they became new causes of affliction for the Indians, inasmuch as +_they_ paid for them with their labor. For example: to the man who +undertook to construct and maintain a hospital, 100 Indians were +assigned. He hired them out to work in the mines or on the +plantations, and with the sums thus received often covered more than +the expense of maintaining the hospital. + +The curious medley of religious zeal, philanthropy, and gold-hunger, +communicated the first governors under the title of "instructions" did +not long keep them in doubt as to which of the three--the observance +of religious practises, the kind treatment of the natives, or the +remittance of gold--was most essential to secure the king's favor. It +was not secret that the monarch, in his _private_ instructions, went +straight to the point and wasted no words on religious or humanitarian +considerations, the proof of which is his letter to Ponce, dated +November 11, 1509. "I have seen your letter of August 16th. Be very +diligent in searching for gold. Take out as much as you can, and +having smolten it in la Española, send it at once. Settle the island +as best you can. Write often and let Us know what happens and what may +be necessary." + +It was but natural, therefore, that the royal recommendations of +clemency remained a dead letter, and that, under the pressure of the +incessant demand for gold, the Indians were reduced to the most abject +state of misery. + +[Illustration: Columbus monument, near Aguadilla.] + +Until the year 1512 the Indians remained restless and subordinate, and +in July, 1513, the efforts of the rulers in Spain to ameliorate their +condition were embodied in what are known as the Ordinances of +Valladolid. + +These ordinances, after enjoining a general kind treatment of the +natives, recommend that small pieces of land be assigned to them on +which to cultivate corn, yucca, cotton, etc., and raise fowls for +their own maintenance. The "encomendero," or master, was to construct +four rustic huts for every 50 Indians. They were to be instructed in +the doctrines of the Christian religion, the new-born babes were to be +baptized, polygamy to be prohibited. They were to attend mass with +their masters, who were to teach one young man in every forty to read. +The boys who served as pages and domestic servants were to be taught +by the friars in the convents, and afterward returned to the estates +to teach the others. The men were not to carry excessively heavy +loads. Pregnant women were not to work in the mines, nor was it +permitted to beat them with sticks or whips under penalty of five gold +pesos. They were to be provided with food, clothing, and a hammock. +Their "areytos" (dances) were not to be interrupted, and inspectors +were to be elected among the Spaniards to see that all these and +former dispositions were complied with, and all negligence on the part +of the masters severely punished. + +The credit for these well-intentioned ordinances undoubtedly belongs +to the Dominican friars, who from the earliest days of the conquest +had nobly espoused the cause of the Indians and denounced the +cruelties committed on them in no measured terms. + +Friar Antonia Montesinos, in a sermon preached in la Española in 1511, +which was attended by Diego Columbus, the crown officers, and all the +notabilities, denounced their proceedings with regard to the Indians +so vehemently that they left the church deeply offended, and that same +day intimated to the bishop the necessity of recantation, else the +Order should leave the island. The bishop answered that Montesinos had +but expressed the opinion of the whole community; but that, to allay +the scandal among the lower class of Spaniards in the island, the +father would modify his accusations in the next sermon. When the day +arrived the church was crowded, but instead of recantation, the +intrepid monk launched out upon fresh animadversion, and ended by +saying that he did so in the service not of God only, but of the king. + +The officials were furious. Pasamonte, the treasurer, the most +heartless destroyer of natives among all the king's officers, wrote, +denouncing the Dominicans as rebels, and sent a Franciscan friar to +Spain to support his accusation. The king was much offended, and when +Montesinos and the prior of his convent arrived in Madrid to +contradict Pasamonte's statements, they found the doors of the palace +closed against them. Nothing daunted and imbued with the true +apostolic spirit, they made their way, without asking permission, to +the royal presence, and there advocated the cause of the Indians so +eloquently that Ferdinand promised to have the matter investigated +immediately. A council of theologians and jurists was appointed to +study the matter and hear the evidence on both sides; but they were so +long in coming to a decision that Montesinos and his prior lost +patience and insisted on a resolution, whereupon they decided that the +distributions were legal in virtue of the powers granted by the Holy +See to the kings of Castilla, and that, if it was a matter of +conscience at all, it was one for the king and his councilors, and not +for the officials, who simply obeyed orders. The two Dominicans were +ordered to return to la Española, and by the example of their virtues +and mansuetude stimulate those who might be inclined to act wickedly. + +The royal conscience was not satisfied, however, with the sophistry of +his councilors, and as a quietus to it, the _well-meaning_ ordinances +just cited were enacted. They, too, remained a dead letter, and not +even the scathing and persevering denunciations of Las Casas, who +continued the good work begun by Montesinos, could obtain any +practical improvement in the lot of the Indians until it was too late, +and thousands of them had been crushed under the heel of the +conqueror. + + * * * * * + +King Ferdinand's efforts to make Puerto Rico a prosperous colony were +rendered futile by the dissensions between the Admiral's and his own +partizans and the passions awakened by the favoritism displayed in the +distribution of Indians. That the king took a great interest in the +colonization of the island is shown by the many ordinances and decrees +issued all tending to that end. He gave special licenses to people in +Spain and in Santo Domingo to establish themselves in Puerto Rico.[22] +In his minute instructions to Ponce and his successors he regulated +every branch of the administration, and wrote to Ceron and Diaz: " ...I +wish this island well governed and peopled as a special affair of +mine." On a single day (February 26, 1511) he made, among others of a +purely private character, the following public dispositions: "That the +tithes and 'primicias'" [23] should be paid in kind only; that the +fifth part of the output of the mines should be paid only during the +first ten years; that he ceded to the colony for the term of four +years all fines imposed by the courts, to be employed in the +construction of roads and bridges; that the traffic between San Juan +and la Española should be free, and that this island should enjoy the +same rights and privileges as the other; that no children or +grandchildren of people executed or burned for crimes or heresy should +be admitted into the colony, and that an exact account should be sent +to him of all the colonists, caciques, and Indians and their +distribution. + +He occupied himself with the island's affairs with equal interest up +to the time of his death, in 1516. He made it a bishopric in 1512. In +1513 he disposed that the colonists were to build houses of adobe, +that is, of sun-dried bricks; that all married men should send for +their wives, and that useful trees should be planted. In 1514 he +prohibited labor contracts, or the purchase or transfer of slaves or +Indians "encomendados" (distributed). Finally, in 1515, he provided +for the defense of the island against the incursions of the Caribs. + +If these measures did not produce the desired result, it was due to +the discord among the colonists, created by the system of +"repartimientos" introduced in an evil hour by Columbus, a system +which was the poisoned source of most of the evils that have afflicted +the Antilles. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 21: The twelfth part of a "fanega," equal to about two +gallons, dry measure.] + +[Footnote 22: Cedulas de vecindad.] + +[Footnote 23: First-fruits.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RETURN OF CERON AND DIAZ--PONCE'S FIRST EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA + +1511-1515 + +Ceron and Diaz returned to San Juan in November, 1511. + +Before their departure from Seville they received sundry marks of +royal favor. Among these was permission to Diaz and his wife to wear +silken garments, and to transfer to San Juan the 40 Indians they +possessed in la Española. + +We have seen that the first article of the king's instructions to them +enjoins the maintenance of friendly relations with Ponce, and in the +distribution of Indians to favor those who had distinguished +themselves in the suppression of the revolt. + +They did nothing of the kind. + +Their first proceeding was to show their resentment at the summary +treatment they had received at the captain's hands by depriving him of +the administration of the royal granges, the profits of which he +shared with King Ferdinand, because, as his Highness explained to +Pasamente in June, 1511, "Ponce received no salary as captain of the +island." + +They next sent a lengthy exposition to Madrid, accusing the captain of +maladministration of the royal domain, and, to judge by the tenor of +the king's letter to Ponce, dated in Burgos on the 23d of February, +1512, they succeeded in influencing him to some extent against his +favorite, though not enough to deprive him of the royal patronage. "I +am surprised," wrote the king, "at the small number of Indians and the +small quantity of gold from our mines. The fiscal will audit your +accounts, that you may be at liberty for the expedition to Bemini, +which some one else has already proposed to me; but I prefer _you_, as +I wish to recompense your services and because I believe that you will +serve us better there than in our grange in San Juan, _in which you +have proceeded with some negligence_." + +In the redistribution of Indians which followed, Ceron and Diaz +ignored the orders of the sovereign and openly favored their own +followers to the neglect of the conquerors', whose claims were prior, +and whose wounds and scars certainly entitled them to consideration. +This caused such a storm of protest and complaint against the doings +of his protégés that Diego Columbus was forced to suspend them and +appoint Commander Moscoso in their place. + +This personage only made matters worse. The first thing _he_ did was +to practise another redistribution of Indians. This exasperated +everybody to such an extent that the Admiral found it necessary to +come to San Juan himself. He came, accompanied by a numerous suite of +aspirants to different positions, among them Christopher Mendoza, the +successor of Moscoso (1514). After the restoration of Ceron and Diaz +in their offices, Ponce quietly retired to his residence in Capárra. +He was wealthy and could afford to bide his time, but the spirit of +unrest in him chafed under this forced inaction. The idea of +discovering the island, said to exist somewhere in the northwestern +part of these Indies, where wonderful waters flowed that restored old +age to youth and kept youth always young, occupied his mind more and +more persistently, until, having obtained the king's sanction, he +fitted out an expedition of three ships and sailed from the port of +Aguáda March 3, 1512. + +Strange as it may seem, that men like Ponce, Zuñiga, and the other +leading expeditionists should be glad of an opportunity to risk their +lives and fortunes in the pursuit of a chimera, it must be remembered +that the island of Bemini itself was not a chimera. + +The followers of Columbus, the majority of them ignorant and +credulous, had seen a mysterious new world rise, as it were, from the +depths of the ocean. As the islands, one after the other, appeared +before their astonished eyes, they discovered real marvels each day. +The air, the land, the sea, were full of them. The natives pointed in +different directions and spoke of other islands, and the adventurers' +imaginations peopled them with fancied wonders. There was, according +to an old legend, a fountain of perennial youth somewhere in the +world, and where was it more likely to be found than in this hitherto +unknown part of it? + +Ponce and his companions believed in its existence as firmly as, some +years later, Ferdinand Pizarro believed in the existence of El Dorado +and the golden lake of Parimé. + +The expedition touched at Guanakáni on the 14th of March, and on the +27th discovered what Ponce believed to be the island of which he was +in search. On April 2d Ponce landed and took possession in the king's +name. The native name of the island was Cansio or Cautix, but the +captain named it "la Florida," some say because he found it covered +with the flowers of spring; others, because he had discovered it on +Resurrection day, called "Pascua Florida" by the Spanish Catholics. + +The land was inhabited by a branch of the warlike Seminole Indians, +who disputed the Spaniards' advance into the interior. No traces of +gold were found, nor did the invaders feel themselves rejuvenated, +when, after a wearisome march or fierce fight with the natives, they +bathed in, or drank of, the waters of some stream or spring. They had +come to a decidedly inhospitable shore, and Ponce, after exploring the +eastern and southern littoral, and discovering the Cayos group of +small islands, turned back to San Juan, where he arrived in the +beginning of October, "looking much older," says the chronicler, "than +when he went in search of rejuvenation." + +Two years later he sailed for the Peninsula and anchored in Bayona in +April, 1514. King Ferdinand received him graciously and conferred on +him the titles of Adelantado of Bemini and la Florida, with civil and +criminal jurisdiction on land and sea. He also made him commander of +the fleet for the destruction of the Caribs, and perpetual "regidor" +(prefect) of San Juan Bautista _de Puerto Rico_. This last surname +for the island began to be used in official documents about this time +(October, 1514). + +The fleet for the destruction of the Caribs consisted of three +caravels. With these, Ponce sailed from Bétis on May 14, 1515,[24] and +reached the Leeward Islands in due course. In Guadeloupe, one of the +Carib strongholds, he landed a number of men without due precaution. +They were attacked by the natives. Fifteen of them were wounded, four +of whom died. Some women who had been sent ashore to wash the soiled +linen were carried off. Ponce's report of the event was laconic: "I +wrote from San Lucas and from la Palma," he writes to the king (August +7th to 8th). "In Guadeloupe, while taking in water the Indians wounded +some of my men. They shall be chastised." Haro, one of the crown +officers in San Juan, informed the king afterward of all the +circumstances of the affair, and added: "He (Ponce) left the (wounded) +men in a deserted island on this side, which is Santa Cruz, and now he +sends a captain, instead of going himself ..." + +Ponce's third landing occurred June 15, 1515. He found the island in a +deplorable condition. Discontent and disorder were rampant. The king +had deprived Diego Columbus of the right to distribute Indians +(January 23, 1513), and had commissioned Pasamonte to make a new +distribution in San Juan. The treasurer had delegated the task to +licentiate Sancho Velasquez, who received at the same time power to +audit the accounts of all the crown officers. The redistribution was +practised in September, 1514, with no better result than the former +ones. It was impossible to satisfy the demands of all. The +discontented were mostly Ponce's old companions, who overwhelmed the +king with protests, while Velasquez defended himself, accusing Ponce +and his friends of turbulence and exaggerated ambition. + +As a consequence of all this strife and discord, the Indians were +turned over from one master to another, distributed like cattle over +different parts of the islands, and at each change their lot became +worse. + +Still, there were large numbers of them that had never yet been +subjugated. Some, like the caciques of Humacáo and Daguáo, who +occupied the eastern and southeastern parts of the island, had agreed +to live on a peace footing with the Spaniards, but Ponce's impolitic +proceeding in taking by force ten men from the village of the +first-named chief caused him and his neighbor of Daguáo to burn their +villages and take to the mountains in revolt. Many other natives had +found a comparatively safe refuge in the islands along the coast, and +added largely to the precarious situation by pouncing on the Spanish +settlements along the coast when least expected. Governor Mendoza +undertook a punitive expedition to Vieques, in which the cacique +Yaureibó was killed; but the Indians had lost that superstitious dread +of the Spaniards and of their weapons that had made them submit at +first, and they continued their incursions, impeding the island's +progress for more than a century. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 24: Washington Irving says January.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DISSENSIONS--TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL + +1515-1520 + +The total number of Spaniards in the island at the time of the +rebellion did not exceed 200. Of these, between 80 and 100 were killed +by the Indians. The survivors were reenforced, first by the followers +of Ceron and Diaz, then by some stray adventurers who accompanied +Diego Columbus on his visit to the island. We may assume, therefore, +with Mr. Acosta,[25] that at the time of which we write the Spanish +population numbered about 400, who Arángo, in a memorial addressed to +the Cardinal Regent, classifies as Government officials, old +conquerors, new hirelings, and "marrános hijos de reconciliados," +which, translated, means, "vile brood of pardoned criminals," the +latter being, in all probability, the immigrants into whose +antecedents the king had recommended his officers in Seville not to +inquire. + +This population was divided into different hostile parties. The most +powerful at the time was Ponce's party, led by Sedeño, the auditor, +and Villafranca, the treasurer; opposed to whom were the partizans of +Ceron and Diaz, the protégés of the Admiral, and those who had found +favor with Velasquez, all of them deadly enemies because of the +unequal division among them of the unhappy Indians. + +The expedition to Florida and the honors conferred upon him by the +king naturally enhanced Ponce's prestige among his old companions. +Diego Columbus himself was fain to recognize the superior claim of him +who now presented himself with the title Adelantado of Bemini and +Florida, so that the captain's return to office was effected without +opposition. + +With his appointment as perpetual prefect, Ponce assumed the right to +make a redistribution of Indians, but could not exercise it, because +Sancho Velasquez had made one, as delegate of Pasamonte, only the year +before (September, 1515). + +In virtue of his special appointment as judge auditor of the accounts +of all the crown officers, he had condemned Ponce during his absence +to pay 1,352 gold pesos for shortcomings in his administration of the +royal estates.[26] + +The licentiate's report to the king, dated April 27, 1515, gives an +idea of the state of affairs in San Juan at the time. " ... I found +the island under tyranny, as will be seen from the documents I +enclose. Juan Ceron and Miguel Diaz are responsible for 100,000 +Castellanos[27] for Indians taken from persons who held them by +schedule from your Highness." + +"It would be well to send some bad characters away from here and some +of the Admiral's creatures, on whom the rest count for protection." + +"The treasurer (Haro) and the auditor are honest men. The accountant +(Sedeño) is not a man to look after your Highness's interests. The +place of factor is vacant." + +"To your Highness 200 Indians have been assigned in Puerto Rico and +300 in San German." + +A few days later (May 1, 1515) Velasquez himself was accused of gross +abuse in the discharge of his duties by Iñigo de Zuñiga, who wrote to +the king: " ... This licentiate has committed many injustices and +offenses, as the attorney can testify. He gave Indians to many +officers and merchants, depriving conquerors and settlers of them. He +gambled much and always won, because they let him win in order to have +him in good humor at the time of distribution of Indians. He carried +away much money, especially from the 'Naborias.'" [28] + +"He took the principal cacique, who lived nearest to the mines, for +himself, and rented him out on condition that he keep sixteen men +continually at work in the mines, and if any failed he was to receive +half a ducat per head a day." + +"He has taken Indians from other settlers and made them wash gold for +himself, etc." + +Before Ponce's departure for Spain the island had been divided into +two departments or jurisdictions, the northern, with Capárra as its +capital, under the direct authority of the governor, the southern +division, with San German as the capital, under a lieutenant-governor, +the chain of mountains in the interior being the mutual boundary. +This division was maintained till 1782. + +Capárra, or Puerto Rico, as it was now called, and San German were the +only settlements when Ponce returned. The year before (1514) another +settlement had been made in Daguáo, but it had been destroyed by the +Caribs, and this ever-present danger kept all immigration away. + +The king recognized the fact, and to obviate this serious difficulty +in the way of the island's settlement, he wrote to his officers in +Seville: + +" ... Spread reports about the great quantities of gold to be found in +Puerto Rico, and do not trouble about the antecedents of those who +wish to go, for if not useful as laborers they will do to fight." + +That Ferdinand was well aware of the insecurity of his hold on the +island is shown by his subsequent dispositions. To the royal +contractors or commissaries he wrote in 1514: "While two forts are +being constructed, one in Puerto Rico and the other in San German, +where, in case of rebellion, our treasure will be secure, you will +give arms and ammunition to Ponce de Leon for our account, with an +artilleryman, that he may have them in his house, which is to do +duty as a fortress." And on May 14, 1515, he wrote from Medina del +Campo: " ... Deliver to Ponce six 'espingardas.'" [29] + +During this same period the island was constituted a bishopric, with +Alonzo Manso, ex-sacristan of Prince John and cánon of Salamanca as +prelate. He came in the beginning of 1513, when the intestine troubles +were at their worst, bringing instructions to demand payment of tithes +_in specie_ and a royal grant of 150 Indians to himself, which, added +to the fact that his presence would be a check upon the prevalent +immorality, raised such a storm of opposition and intrigue against him +that he could not exercise his functions. There was no church fit for +services. This furnished him with a pretext to return to the +Peninsula. When Ponce arrived the bishop was on the point of +departure. There can be no doubt that King Ferdinand, in reappointing +Ponce to the government of the island, trusted to the captain's +military qualities for the reestablishment of order and the +suppression of the attacks of the Caribs, but the result did not +correspond to his Majesty's expectations. + +Haro, the treasurer, reported to the king on October 6, 1515: " ... +From the moment of his arrival Ponce has fomented discord. In order to +remain here himself, he sent Zuñiga, his lieutenant, with the fleet. +He caused the caciques Humacáo and Daguáo, who had but just submitted, +to revolt again by forcibly taking ten men for the fleet." + +The crown officers confirmed this statement in a separate report. + +These accusations continued to the time of Ferdinand's death (February +23, 1516), when Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros became Regent of Spain. +This renowned prelate, whom Prince Charles, afterward Emperor Charles +V, when confirming him in the regency, addressed as "the Very +Reverend Father in Christ, Cardinal of Spain, Archbishop of Toledo, +Primate of all the Spanish Territories, Chief Chancellor of Castilla, +our very dear and much beloved friend and master," was also Grand +Inquisitor, and was armed with the tremendous power of the terrible +Holy Office. + +It was dangerous for the accusers and the accused alike to annoy such +a personage with tales inspired by petty rivalries from an +insignificant island in the West Indies. Nevertheless, one of the +first communications from Puerto Rico that was laid before him was a +memorial written by one Arángo, accusing Velasquez, among other +things, of having given Indians to soldiers and to common people, +instead of to conquerors and married men. "In Lent," says the accuser, +"he goes to a grange, where he remains without hearing mass on +Sundays, eating meat, and saying things against the faith ..." + +The immediate effect of these complaints and mutual accusations was +the suspension in his functions of Diego Columbus and the appointment +of a triumvirate of Jerome friars to govern these islands. This was +followed two years later by the return of Bishop Manso to San Juan, +armed with the dreadful powers of General Inquisitor of the Indies and +by the nomination of licentiate Antonio de la Gama as judge auditor of +the accounts of Sancho Velasquez. The judge found him guilty of +partiality and other offenses, and on June 12, 1520, wrote to the +regent: "I have not sent the accounts of Sancho Velasquez, because it +was necessary that he should go with them, but the bishop of this +island has taken him for the Holy Inquisition _and he has died in +prison_." + +The Jerome fathers on their way to la Española, in 1516, touched at +what they describe as "the port of Puerto Rico, which is in the island +of San Juan de Boriquén," and the treasurer, Haro, wrote of them on +January 21, 1518: " ... They have done nothing during the year, and +the inhabitants are uncertain and fear changes. This is the principal +cause of harm to the Indians. It is necessary to dispose what is to be +done ... Although great care is now exercised in the treatment of the +Indians their numbers grow less for all that, because just as they are +ignorant of things concerning the faith, so do they ignore things +concerning their health, and they are of very weak constitution." + +The frequent changes in the government that had been made by Diego +Columbus, the arrest of Velasquez and his death in the gloomy dungeons +of the Inquisition, the arrival of de la Gama as judge auditor and +governor _ad interim_, and his subsequent marriage with Ponce's +daughter Isabel, all these events but served to embitter the strife of +parties. "The spirit of vengeance, ambition, and other passions had +become so violent and deep-rooted among the Spaniards," says +Abbad,[30] "that God ordained their chastisement in various ways." + +The removal of the capital from its swampy location to the islet which +it now occupies was another source of dissension. It appears that the +plan was started immediately after Ceron's accession, for the king +wrote to him November 9, 1511: "Juan Ponce says that he located the +town in the best part of the island. We fear that you want to change +it. You shall not do so without our special order. If there is just +reason for change you must inform us first." + +Velasquez, in his report of April, 1515, mentions that he accompanied +the Town Council of Capárra to see the site for the new capital, and +that to him it seemed convenient. + +In 1519 licentiate Rodrigo de Figueroa sent a lengthy exposition +accompanied by the certified declarations of the leading inhabitants +regarding the salubrity of the islet and the insalubrity of Capárra, +with a copy of the disposition of the Jerome fathers authorizing the +transfer, and leaving Ponce, who strenuously opposed it, at liberty to +live in his fortified house in Capárra as long as he liked. + +On November 16, 1520, Baltazar Castro, in the name of the crown +officers of San Juan, reported to the emperor: "The City of Puerto +Rico has been transferred to an islet which is in the port where the +ships anchor, a very good and healthy location." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 25: Annotations, p. 96.] + +[Footnote 26: Ponce protested and appealed to the Audiencia, but did +not obtain restitution till 1520.] + +[Footnote 27: A Castellano was the 150 part of a mark of gold. The +mark had 8 ounces.] + +[Footnote 28: Indians distributed to be employed as domestic +servants.] + +[Footnote 29: Small pieces of ordnance.] + +[Footnote 30: XII, p. 89.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CALAMITIES--PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA AND DEATH + +1520-1537 + +Among the calamities referred to by Friar Abbad as visitations of +Providence was one which the Spaniards had brought upon themselves. +Another epidemic raged principally among the Indians. In January, 1519, +the Jerome friars wrote to the Government from la Española: " ... It +has pleased our Lord to send a pestilence of smallpox among the Indians +here, and nearly one-third of them have died. We are told that in the +island of San Juan the Indians have begun to die of the same disease." + +Another scourge came in the form of ants. "These insects," says Abbad, +quoting from Herrera, "destroyed the yucca or casabe, of which the +natives made their bread, and killed the most robust trees by eating +into their roots, so that they turned black, and became so infected +that the birds would not alight on them. The fields were left barren +and waste as if fire from heaven had descended on them. These insects +invaded the houses and tormented the inmates night and day. Their bite +caused acute pains to adults and endangered the lives of children. The +affliction was general," says Abbad, "but God heard the people's vows +and the pests disappeared." The means by which this happy result was +obtained are described by Father Torres Vargas: "Lots were drawn to +see what saint should be chosen as the people's advocate before God. +Saint Saturnine was returned, and the plague ceased at once." + +"Some time after there appeared a worm which also destroyed the yucca. +Lots were again drawn, and this time Saint Patrick came out; but the +bishop and the ecclesiastical chapter were of opinion that this saint, +being little venerated, had no great influence in heaven. Therefore, +lots were drawn again and again, three times, and each time the +rejected saint's name came out. This was clearly a miracle, and Saint +Patrick was chosen as advocate. To atone for their unwillingness to +accept him, the chapter voted the saint an annual mass, sermon, and +procession, which was kept up for many years without ever anything +happening again to the casabe ..." + +To the above-described visitations, nature added others and more cruel +ones. These were the destructive tempests, called by the Indians +Ouracan. + +The first hurricane since the discovery of the island by Columbus of +which there is any record happened in July, 1515, when the crown +officers reported to the king that a great storm had caused the death +of many Indians by sickness and starvation. On October 4, 1526, there +was another, which Juan de Vadillo described thus: " ... There was a +great storm of wind and rain which lasted twenty-four hours and +destroyed the greater part of the town, with the church. The damage +caused by the flooding of the plantations is greater than any one can +estimate. Many rich men have grown poor, among them Pedro Moreno, the +lieutenant-governor." + +In July and August, 1530, the scourge was repeated three times in six +weeks, and Governor Lando wrote to Luis Columbus, then Governor of la +Española: " ... The storms have destroyed all the plantations, drowned +many cattle, and caused a great dearth of food. Half of the houses in +this city have been blown down; of the other half those that are least +damaged are without roofs. In the country and at the mines not a house +is left standing. Everybody has been impoverished and thinking of +going away. There are no more Indians and the land must be cultivated +with negroes, who are a monopoly, and can not be brought here for less +than 60 or 70 'castellanos' apiece. The city prays that the payment of +all debts may be postponed for three years." + +Seven years later (1537), three hurricanes in two months again +completely devastated the island. " ... They are the greatest that +have been experienced here," wrote the city officers. " ... The floods +have carried away all the plantations along the borders of the rivers, +many slaves and cattle have been drowned, want and poverty are +universal. Those who wanted to leave the island before are now more +than ever anxious to do so." + +The incursions of Caribs from the neighboring islands made the +existence of the colony still more precarious. Wherever a new +settlement was made, they descended, killing the Spaniards, +destroying the plantations, and carrying off the natives. + +[Illustration: Statue of Ponce de Leon, San Juan] + + * * * * * + +The first news of the wonderful achievements of Cortez in Mexico +reached San Juan in 1520, and stirred the old adventurer Ponce to +renewed action. On February 10, 1521, he wrote to the emperor: "I +discovered Florida and some other small islands at my own expense, and +now I am going to settle them with plenty of men and two ships, and I +am going to explore the coast, to see if it compares with the lands +(Cuba) discovered by Velasquez. I will leave here in four or five +days, and beg your Majesty to favor me, so that I may be enabled to +carry out this great enterprise." + +Accordingly, he left the port of Aguáda on the 26th of the same month +with two ships, well provided with all that was necessary for +conquest. + +But the captain's star of fortune was waning. He had a stormy passage, +and when he and his men landed they met with such fierce resistance +from the natives that after several encounters and the loss of many +men, Ponce himself being seriously wounded, they were forced to +reembark. Feeling that his end was approaching, the captain did not +return to San Juan, but sought a refuge in Puerto Principe, where he +died. + +One of his ships found its way to Vera Cruz, where its stores of arms +and ammunition came as a welcome accession to those of Cortez. + +The emperor bestowed the father's title of Adelantado of Florida and +Bemini on his son, and the remains of the intrepid adventurer, who had +found death where he had hoped to find perennial youth, rested in +Cuban soil till his grandchildren had them transferred to this island +and buried in the Dominican convent. + +A statue was erected to his memory in 1882. It stands in the plaza of +San José in the capital and was cast from the brass cannon left behind +by the English after the siege of 1797. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUÉN INDIANS AND CARIBS + +1530-1582 + +The conquest of Boriquén was far from being completed with the death +of Guaybána. + +The panic which the fall of a chief always produces among savages +prevented, for the moment, all organized resistance on the part of +Guaybána's followers, but _they_ did not constitute the whole +population of the island. Their submission gave the Spaniards the +dominion over that part of it watered by the Culebrinas and the +Añasco, and over the northeastern district in which Ponce had laid the +foundations of his first settlement. The inhabitants of the southern +and eastern parts of the island, with those of the adjacent smaller +islands, were still unsubdued and remained so for years to come. Their +caciques were probably as well informed of the character of the +newcomers and of their doings in la Española as was the first +Guaybána's mother, and they wisely kept aloof so long as their +territories were not invaded. + +The reduced number of Spaniards facilitated the maintenance of a +comparative independence by these as yet unconquered Indians, at the +same time that it facilitated the flight of those who, having bent +their necks to the yoke, found it unbearably heavy. According to +"Regidor" (Prefect) Hernando de Mogollon's letter to the Jerome +fathers, fully one-third of the "pacified" Indians--that is, of those +who had submitted--had disappeared and found a refuge with their +kinsmen in the neighboring islands. + +The first fugitives from Boriquén naturally did not go beyond the +islands in the immediate vicinity. Vieques, Culébras, and la Mona +became the places of rendezvous whence they started on their +retaliatory expeditions, while their spies or their relatives on the +main island kept them informed of what was passing. Hence, no sooner +was a new settlement formed on the borders or in the neighborhood of +some river than they pounced upon it, generally at night, dealing +death and destruction wherever they went. + +In vain did Juan Gil, with Ponce's two sons-in-law and a number of +tried men, make repeated punitive expeditions to the islands. The +attacks seemed to grow bolder, and not till Governor Mendoza himself +led an expedition to Vieques, in which the cacique Yaureibó was +killed, did the Indians move southeastward to Santa Cruz. + +That the Caribs[31] inhabiting the islands Guadeloupe and Dominica +made common cause with the fugitives from Boriquén is not to be +doubted. The Spaniard was the common enemy and the opportunity for +plunder was too good to be lost. But the primary cause of all the +so-called Carib invasions of Puerto Rico was the thirst for revenge +for the wrongs suffered, and long after those who had smarted under +them or who had but witnessed them had passed away, the tradition of +them was kept alive by the areytos and songs, in the same way as the +memory of the outrages committed by the soldiers of Pizarro in Peru +are kept alive _till this day_ among the Indians of the eastern slope +of the Andes. The fact that neither Jamaica nor other islands occupied +by Spaniards were invaded, goes to prove that in the case of Puerto +Rico the invasions were prompted by bitter resentment of natives who +had preferred exile to slavery, coupled, perhaps, with a hope of being +able to drive the enemies of their race from their island home, a hope +which, if it existed, and if we consider the very limited number of +Spaniards who occupied it, was not without foundation. + + * * * * * + +It was Nemesis, therefore, and not the mere lust of plunder, that +guided the Boriquén Indians and their Carib allies on their invasions +of Puerto Rico. + +Diego Columbus during his visit in 1514 had founded a settlement with +50 colonists along the borders of the Daguáo and Macáo rivers on the +eastern coast. + +They had constructed houses and ranchos, introduced cattle, and +commenced their plantations, but without taking any precautions +against sudden attacks or providing themselves with extra means of +defense. + +One night they were awakened by the glare of fire and the yells of the +savages. As they rushed out to seek safety they fell pierced with +arrows or under the blows of the terrible Macánas. Very few of them +escaped. + +The next attack was in the locality now constituting the municipal +district of Loiza. + +This place was settled by several Spaniards, among them Juan Mexia, a +man said to have been of herculean strength and great courage. The +Indian woman with whom he cohabited had received timely warning of the +intended attack, a proof that communications existed between the +supposed Caribs and the Indians on the island. She endeavored to +persuade the man to seek safety in flight, but he disdained to do so. +Then she resolved to remain with him and share his fate. Both were +killed, and Alejandro Tapia, a native poet, has immortalized the +woman's devotion in a romantic, but purely imaginative, composition. + +Ponce's virtual defeat in Guadeloupe made the Caribs bolder than ever. +They came oftener and in larger numbers, always surprising the +settlements that were least prepared to offer resistance. Five years +had elapsed since the destruction of Daguáo. A new settlement had +gradually sprung up in the neighborhood along the river Humacáo and +was beginning to prosper, but it was also doomed. On November 16, +1520, Baltazar Castro, one of the crown officers, reported to the +emperor: + +"It is about two months since 5 canoes with 150 Carib warriors came to +this island of San Juan and disembarked in the river Humacáo, near +some Spanish settlements, where they killed 4 Christians and 13 +Indians. From here they went to some gold mines and then to some +others, killing 2 Christians at each place. They burned the houses and +took a fishing smack, killing 4 more. They remained from fifteen to +twenty days in the country, the Christians being unable to hurt them, +having no ships. They killed 13 Christians in all, and as many Indian +women, and '_carried off_' 50 natives. They will grow bolder for being +allowed to depart without punishment. It would be well if the Seville +officers sent two light-draft vessels to occupy the mouths of the +rivers by which they enter." + +On April 15, 1521, a large number of Indians made a descent on the +south coast, but we have no details of their doings; and in 1529 their +audacity culminated in an attempt on the capital itself. La Gama's +report to the emperor of this event is as follows: "On the 18th of +October, after midnight, 8 large pirogues full of Caribs entered the +bay of Puerto Rico, and meeting a bark on her way to Bayamón, manned +by 5 negroes and some other people, they took her. Finding that they +had been discovered, they did not attempt a landing till sunrise, then +they scuttled the bark. Some shots fired at them made them leave. +Three negroes were found dead, pierced with arrows. The people of this +town and all along the coast are watching. Such a thing as this has +not been heard of since the discovery. A fort, arms, artillery, and 2 +brigantines of 30 oars each, and no Caribs will dare to come. If not +sent, fear will depopulate the island." + +In the same month of the following year (1530) they returned, and this +time landed and laid waste the country in the neighborhood of the +capital. The report of the crown officers is dated the 31st of +October: "Last Sunday, the 23d instant, 11 canoes, in which there may +have been 500 Caribs, came to this island and landed at a point where +there are some agricultural establishments belonging to people of this +city. It is the place where the best gold in the island is found, +called Daguáo and the mines of Llagüello. Here they plundered the +estate of Christopher Guzman, the principal settler. They killed him +and some other Christians,[32] whites, blacks, and Indians, besides +some fierce dogs, and horses which stood ready saddled. They burned +them all, together with the houses, and committed many cruelties with +the Christians. They carried off 25 negroes and Indians, _to eat them, +as is their wont_. We fear that they will attack the defenseless city +in greater force, and the fear is so great that the women and children +dare not sleep in their houses, but go to the church and the +monastery, which are built of stone. We men guard the city and the +roads, being unable to attend to our business. + +"We insist that 2 brigantines be armed and equipped, as was ordered by +the Catholic king. No Caribs will then dare to come. Let the port be +fortified or the island will be deserted. The governor and the +officers know how great is the need, but they may make no outlays +without express orders." + +As a result of the repeated requests for light-draft vessels, 2 +brigantines were constructed in Seville in 1531 and shipped, in +sections, on board of a ship belonging to Master Juan de Leon, who +arrived in June, 1532. The crown officers immediately invited all who +wished to man the brigantines and make war on the Caribs, offering +them as pay half of the product of the sale of the slaves they should +make, the other half to be applied to the purchase of provisions. + +The brigantines were unfit for service. In February, 1534, the emperor +was informed: "Of the brigantines which your Majesty sent for the +defense of this island only the timber came, and half of that was +unfit.... We have built brigantines with the money intended for +fortifications." + +Governor Lando wrote about the same time: "We suffer a thousand +injuries from the Caribs of Guadeloupe and Dominica. They come every +year to assault us. Although the city is so poor, we have spent 4,000 +pesos in fitting out an expedition of 130 men against them; but, +however much they are punished, the evil will not disappear till your +Majesty orders these islands to be settled." The expedition referred +to sailed under the orders of Joan de Ayucar, and reached Dominica in +May, 1534. Fifteen or 16 villages of about 20 houses each were burned, +103 natives were killed, and 70 prisoners were taken, the majority +women and boys. The Spaniards penetrated a distance of ten leagues +into the interior of the island, meeting with little resistance, +because the warrior population was absent. Eight or 10 pirogues and +more than 20 canoes were also burned. With this punishment the fears +of the people in San Juan were considerably allayed. + +In 1536 Sedeño led an expedition against the Caribs of Trinidad and +Bartholomé. Carreño fitted out another in 1539. He brought a number of +slaves for sale, and the crown officers asked permission to brand them +on the forehead, "as is done in la Española and in Cubágua." + +The Indians returned assault for assault. Between the years 1564 and +1570 they were specially active along the southern coast of San Juan, +so that Governor Francisco Bahamonde Lugo had to take the field +against them in person and was wounded in the encounter. Loiza, which +had been resettled, was destroyed for the second time in 1582, and a +year or so later the Caribs made a night attack on Aguáda, where they +destroyed the Franciscan convent and killed 3 monks. + +With the end of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth +centuries the West Indian archipelago became the theater of French and +English maritime enterprise. The Carib strongholds were occupied, and +by degrees their fierce spirit was subdued, their war dances +relinquished, their war canoes destroyed, their traditions forgotten, +and the bold savages, once the terror of the West Indian seas, +succumbed in their turn to the inexorable law of the survival of the +fittest. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 31: The West Indian islands were inhabited at the time of +discovery by at least three races of different origin. One of these +races occupied the Bahamas. Columbus describes them as simple, +peaceful creatures, whose only weapon was a pointed stick or cane. +They were of a light copper color, rather good-looking, and probably +had formerly occupied the whole eastern part of the archipelago, +whence they had been driven or exterminated by the Caribs, Caribós, or +Guáribos, a savage, warlike, and cruel race, who had invaded the West +Indies from the continent, by way of the Orinoco. The larger Antilles, +Cuba, la Española, and Puerto Rico, were occupied by a race which +probably originated from some southern division of the northern +continent. The chroniclers mention the Guaycures and others as their +ancestors, and Stahl traces their origin to a mixture of the +Phoenicians with the Aborigines of remote antiquity] + +[Footnote 32: Abbad says 30.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND--PREVENTIVE MEASURES--INTRODUCTION OF +NEGRO SLAVES + +1515-1534 + +The natural consequence of natural calamities and invasions was the +rapid disappearance of the natives. "The Indians are few and serve +badly," wrote Sedeño in 1515, about the same time that the crown +officers, to explain the diminution in the gold product, wrote that +many Indians had died of hunger, as a result of the hurricane. " ... +The people in la Mona," they said, "have provided 310 loads of bread, +with which we have bought an estate in San German. It will not do to +bring the Indians of that island away, because they are needed for the +production of bread." + +Strenuous efforts to prevent the extinction of the Indians were made +by Father Bartolomé Las Casas, soon after the death of King Ferdinand. +This worthy Dominican friar had come to the court for the sole purpose +of denouncing the system of "encomiendas" and the cruel treatment of +the natives to which it gave rise. He found willing listeners in +Cardinal Cisneros and Dean Adrian, of Lovaino, the regents, who +recompensed his zeal with the title of "Protector of the Indians." The +appointment of a triumvirate of Jerome friars to govern la Española +and San Juan (1517) was also due to Las Casas's efforts. Two years +later the triumvirate reported to the emperor that in compliance with +his orders they had taken away the Indians from all non-resident +Spaniards in la Española and had collected them in villages. + +Soon after the emperor's arrival in Spain Las Casas obtained further +concessions in favor of the Indians. Not the least important among +these were granted in the schedule of July 12, 1520, which recognized +the principle that the Indians were born free, and contained the +following dispositions: + +1st. That in future no more distributions of Indians should take +place. + +2d. That all Indians assigned to non-residents, from the monarch +downward, should be _ipse facto_ free, and be established in villages, +under the authority of their respective caciques; and + +3d. That all residents in these islands, who still possessed Indians, +were bound to conform strictly, in their treatment of them, to the +ordinances for their protection previously promulgated. + +Antonio de la Gama was charged with the execution of this decree. He +sent a list of non-residents, February 15,1521, with the number of +Indians taken from each, his Majesty himself heading the list with 80. +The total number thus liberated was 664. + +These dispositions created fierce opposition. Licentiate Figueroa +addressed the emperor on the subject, saying: " ... It is necessary to +overlook the 'encomiendas,' otherwise the people will be unable to +maintain themselves, and the island will be abandoned." + +However, the crown officers ascribe the licentiate's protest to other +motives than the desire for the good of the island. "He has done much +harm," they wrote. "He has brought some covetous young men with him +and made them inspectors. They imposed heavy fines and gave the +confiscated Indians to their friends and relations. He and they are +rich, while the old residents have scarcely wherewith to maintain +themselves." + +But Figueroa had foreseen these accusations, for he concludes his +above-mentioned letter to the emperor, saying: " ... Let your Majesty +give no credence to those who complain. Most of them are very cruel +with the Indians, and care not if they be exterminated, provided they +themselves can amass gold and return to Castilla." + +Martin Fernandez Enciso, a bachelor-at-law, addressed to the emperor a +learned dissertation intended to refute the doctrine that the Indians +were born free, maintaining that the right of conquest of the New +World granted by the Pope necessarily included the right to reduce the +inhabitants to slavery. + +And thus, in spite of the philanthropic efforts of Las Casas, of the +well-intentioned ordinances of the Catholic kings, and of the more +radical measures sanctioned by Charles V, the Indian's lot was not +bettered till it was too late to save him from extinction. + +"The Indians are dying out!" This is the melancholy refrain of all the +official communications from 1530 to 1536. The emperor made a last +effort to save the remnant in 1538, and decreed that all those who +still had Indians in their possession should construct stone or adobe +houses for them under penalty of losing them. In 1543 it was ordained +by an Order in Council that all Indians still alive in Cuba, la +Española, and Puerto Rico, were as free as the Spaniards themselves, +and they should be permitted to loiter and be idle, "that they might +increase and multiply." + +Bishop Rodrigo Bastidas, who was charged to see to the execution of +this order in Puerto Rico, still found 80 Indians to liberate. +Notwithstanding these terminant orders, so powerless were they to +abolish the abuses resulting from the iniquitous system, that as late +as 1550 the Indians were still treated as slaves. In that year +Governor Vallejo wrote to the emperor: "I found great irregularity in +the treatment of these few Indians, ... they were being secretly sold +as slaves, etc." + +Finally, in 1582, Presbyter Ponce de Leon and Bachelor-at-Law Santa +Clara, in a communication to the authorities, stated: "At the time +when this island was taken there were found here and distributed 5,500 +Indians, without counting those who would not submit, and to-day there +is not one left, excepting 12 or 15, who have been brought from the +continent. They died of disease, sarampion, rheum, smallpox, and +ill-usage, or escaped to other islands with the Caribs. The few that +remain are scattered here and there among the Spaniards on their +little plantations. Some serve as soldiers. They do not speak their +language, because they are mostly born in the island, and they are +good Christians." This is the last we read of the Boriquén Indians. + + * * * * * + +With the gradual extinction of the natives, not only the gold output +ceased, but the cultivation of ginger, cotton, cacao, indigo, etc., in +which articles a small trade had sprung up, was abandoned. The Carib +incursions and hurricanes did the rest, and the island soon became a +vast jungle which everybody who could abandoned. + +"We have been writing these last four years," wrote the crown +officers, February 26, 1534, "that the island is becoming depopulated, +the gold is diminishing, the Indians are gone. Some new gold deposits +were discovered in 1532, and as much as 20,000 pesos were extracted. +We thought this would contribute to the repeopling of the island, but +the contrary has happened. The people, ruined by the hurricanes of the +year 1530, thinking that they might find other gold deposits, bought +negroes on credit at very high prices to search for them. They found +none, and have not been able to pay their creditors. Some are fugitive +in the mountains, others in prison, others again have stolen vessels +belonging to the Administration and have gone with their negroes no +one knows where. With all this and the news from Peru, not a soul +would remain if they were not stopped." + +When the news of the fabulous riches discovered in Peru reached this +island, the desire to emigrate became irresistible. Governor Lando +wrote to the emperor, February 27, 1534: " ... Two months ago there +came a ship here from Peru to buy horses. The captain related such +wonderful things that the people here and in San German became +excited, and even the oldest settlers wanted to leave. If I had not +instantly ordered him away the island would have been deserted. _I +have imposed the death penalty on whosoever shall attempt to leave the +island_." + +On July 2d he wrote again: " ... Many, mad with the news from Peru, +have secretly embarked in one or other of the numerous small ports at +a distance from the city. Among the remaining settlers even the oldest +is constantly saying: 'God help me to go to Peru.' I am watching day +and night to prevent their escape, but can not assure you that I shall +be able to retain the people. + +"Two months ago I heard that some of them had obtained possession of a +ship at a point on the coast two leagues from here and intended to +leave. I sent three vessels down the coast and twenty horsemen by +land. They resisted, and my presence was required to take them. Three +were killed and others wounded. _I ordered some of them to be flogged +and cut off the feet of others_, and then I had to dissimulate the +seditious cries of others who were in league with them and intended to +join them in la Mona, which is twelve leagues from here. If your +Majesty does not promptly remedy this evil, I fear that the island +will be entirely depopulated or remain like a country inn. This island +is the key and the entrance to all the Antilles. The French and +English freebooters land here first. The Caribs carry off our +neighbors and friends before our very eyes. If a ship were to come +here at night with fifty men, they could burn the city and kill every +soul of us. I ask protection for this noble island, now so +depopulated that one sees scarcely any Spaniards, only negroes ..." + +But even the negro population was scarce. The introduction of African +slaves into la Española had proceeded _pari passu_ with the gradual +disappearance of the Indians. As early as 1502 a certain Juan Sanchez +had obtained permission to introduce five caravels of negro slaves +into that island free of duty, though Ovando complained that many of +them escaped to the mountains and made the Indians more insubordinate +than ever; but in San Juan a special permission to introduce negroes +was necessary. Geron in 1510 and Sedeño in 1512 were permitted to +bring in two negroes each only by swearing that they were for their +own personal service. In 1513 the general introduction of African +slaves was authorized by royal schedule, but two ducats per head had +to be paid for the privilege. Cardinal Cisneros suspended the export +of slaves from Spain in 1516, but the emperor sanctioned it again in +1517, to stop, if possible, the destruction of the natives. + +Father Las Casas favored the introduction of African slaves for the +same reason, and obtained from the emperor a concession in favor of +his high steward, Garrebod, to send 4,000 negroes to la Española, +Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Garrebod sold the concession to a Genovese firm +(1517), but negroes remained very scarce and dear in San Juan till +1530, when, by special dispensation of the empress in favor of some +merchants, 200 negroes were brought to this island. They were greedily +taken up on credit at exorbitant prices, which caused the ruin of the +purchasers and made the city authorities of San Juan petition her +Majesty April 18, 1533, praying that no more negro ¡slaves might be +permitted to come to the island for a period of eighteen months, +because of the inability of the people to pay for them. + +In Governor Lando's letter of July, 1534, above quoted, he informs the +emperor that in the only two towns that existed in the island at that +time (San Juan and San German) there were "very few Spaniards and only +6 negroes in each." The incursions of the French and English +freebooters, to which he refers in the same letter, had commenced six +years before, and these incursions bring the tale of the island's +calamities to a climax. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS--CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE--CHARLES +V.--RUIN OF THE ISLAND + +1520-1556 + +The depredations committed by the privateers, which about this time +began to infest the Antilles and prey upon the Spanish possessions, +were a result of the wars with almost every nation in Europe, in which +Spain became involved after the accession of Charles, the son of +Juana, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella and Philip I, Archduke of +Austria. + +The young prince had been educated amid all the pomp and splendor of +the imperial court. He was a perfect type of the medieval cavalier, +who could break a lance with the proudest knight in the empire, and +was worthy in every respect of the high destiny that awaited him. At +the age of twenty he became the heir to eight kingdoms,[33] the +recognized ruler of the Netherlands, lord of vast territories in +Africa, and absolute arbiter of the destinies of the Spanish division +of the New World. + +Scarcely had this powerful young prince been accepted and crowned by +the last and most recalcitrant of his kingdoms (Cataluña), and while +still in Barcelona, the news arrived of the death of his grandfather, +Maximilian, King of the Romans and Emperor elect of Germany. +Intrigues for the possession of the coveted crown were set on foot at +once by the prince, now Charles I of Spain and by Francis I, King of +France. The powers ranged themselves on either side as their interests +dictated. Henry VIII of England declared himself neutral; Pope León X, +who distrusted both claimants, was waiting to see which of them would +buy his support by the largest concessions to the temporal power of +the Vatican; the Swiss Cantons hated France and sided with Charles; +Venice favored Francis I.[34] + +The German Diet assembled at Frankfort June 17, 1519, and unanimously +elected Frederick of Saxony, surnamed the Prudent. He showed his +prudence by declining the honor, and in an address to the assembly +dwelt at some length on the respective merits of the two pretenders, +and ended by declaring himself in favor of the Spanish prince, one +reason for his preference being that Charles was more directly +interested in checking the advance of the Turks, who, under Soleiman +the Magnificent, threatened, at the time, to overrun the whole of +eastern Europe. + +Charles I of Spain was elected, and thus became Charles V, King of the +Romans and Emperor of Germany--that is, the most powerful monarch of +his time, before he had reached the age of manhood. His success, added +to other political differences and ambitions, was not long in +provoking a war with France, which, with short intervals, lasted the +lifetime of the two princes. + + * * * * * + +Spain was most vulnerable in her ultramarine possessions. They offered +tempting prizes to the unscrupulous, adventurous spirits of the +period, and the merchants on the coast of Normandy asked and obtained +permission to equip privateers to harass Spanish commerce and attack +the unprotected settlements. + +San Juan was one of the first to suffer. An official report dated +September 26, 1528, informs us that "on the day of the Apostle Saint +John a French caravel and a tender bore down on the port of Cubágua +and attempted to land artillery from the ship with the help of Indians +brought from Margarita, five leagues distant. On the 12th of August +they took the town of San German, plundered and burned it; they also +destroyed two caravels that were there...." + +French privateers were sighted off the coast continually, but it would +seem that the island, with its reputation for poverty, its two +settlements 40 leagues apart, and scanty population, offered too +little chance for booty, so that no other landing is recorded till +1538, when a privateer was seen chasing a caravel on her way to San +German. The caravel ran ashore at a point two leagues from the capital +and the crew escaped into the woods. The Frenchmen looted the vessel +and then proceeded to Guadianilla, where they landed 80 men, 50 of +them arquebusiers. They burned the town, robbed the church and +Dominican convent; but the people, after placing their families in +security, returned, and under favor of a shower of rain, which made +the arquebuses useless, fell upon them, killed 15 and took 3 +prisoners, in exchange for whom the stolen church property was +restored. The people had only 1 killed. + +The attack was duly reported to the sovereign, who ordered the +construction of a fort, and appointed Juan de Castellanos, the +treasurer, its commander (October 7, 1540). The treasurer's reply is +characteristic: "The fort which I have been ordered to make in the +town of San German, of which I am to be the commander, shall be made +as well as we may, though there is great want of money ... and of +carts, negroes, etc. It will be necessary to send masons from Sevilla, +as there is only 1 here, also tools and 20 negroes.... + +"Forts for this island are well enough, but it would be better to +favor the population, lending money or ceding the revenues for a few +years, to construct sugar-mills...." + +On June 12th of the same year the treasurer wrote again announcing +that work on the San German fort had commenced, for which purpose he +had bought some negroes and hired others at _two and a half pesos per +month_. + +But on February 12, 1542, the crown officers, including Castellanos, +reported that _the emperor's order to suspend work on the fort of San +German had been obeyed_. + +In February, 1543, the bishop wrote to the emperor: "The people of San +German, for fear of the French privateers, have taken their families +and property into the woods. If there were a fort they would not be +so timid nor would the place be so depopulated." + +As late as September, 1548, he reported: "I came here from la Española +in the beginning of the year to visit my diocese. I disembarked in San +German with an order from the Audiencia to convoke the inhabitants, +and found that there were a few over 30, who lived half a league from +the port for fear of the privateers. They don't abandon the important +place, but there ought to be a fort." + +But the prelate pleaded in vain. + +Charles V, occupied in opposing the French king's five armies, could +not be expected to give much attention to the affairs of an +insignificant island in a remote corner of his vast dominions. Puerto +Rico was left to take care of itself, and San German's last hour +struck on Palm Sunday, 1554, when 3 French ships entered the port of +Guadianilla, landed a detachment of men who penetrated a league +inland, plundering and destroying whatever they could. From that day +San German, the settlement founded by Miguel del Toro in 1512, +disappeared from the face of the land. + +The capital remained. No doubt it owed its preservation from French +attacks to the presence of a battery and some pieces of artillery +which, as a result of reiterated petitions, had been provided. The +population also was more numerous. In 1529 there were 120 houses, some +of them of stone. The cathedral was completed, and a Dominican convent +was in course of construction with 25 friars waiting to occupy it. +Thus, one by one, all the original settlements disappeared. Guánica, +Sotomayor, Daguáo, Loiza, had been swept away by the Indians. San +German fell the victim of the Spanish monarch's war with his neighbor. +The only remaining settlement, the capital, was soon to be on the +point of being sacrificed in the same way. The existence of the island +seemed to be half-forgotten, its connection with the metropolis +half-severed, for the crown officers wrote in 1536 that _no ship from +the Peninsula had entered its ports for two years_. + +"Negroes and Indians," says Abbad, "seeing the small number of +Spaniards and their misery, escaped to the mountains of Luquillo and +Añasco, whence they descended only to rob their masters." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 33: Castilla and Aragón, Navarro, Valencia, Cataluña, +Mallorca, Sicily, and Naples.] + +[Footnote 34: Hista. general de España por Don Modesto Lafuente. +Barcelona, 1889.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SEDEÑO--CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT + +1534-1555 + +A slight improvement in the gloomy situation of the people of San Juan +took place when, driven by necessity, they began to dedicate +themselves to agriculture. At this time, too (1535), Juan Castellanos, +the island's attorney at the court, returned with his own family and +75 colonists. Yet scarcely had they had time to settle when they were +invited to remigrate by one of Ponce's old companions. + +This was Sedeño, a perfect type of the Spanish adventurer of the +sixteenth century--restless, ambitious, unscrupulous. The king had +made him "contador" (comptroller) of San Juan in 1512 and perpetual +"regidor" (alderman) in 1515. In 1518 we find him in prison under +accusation of having brought a woman and child from a convent in +Sevilla. He broke out of the prison and escaped in a ship. In 1521 he +was in prison again for debt to the Government. On this occasion the +judge auditor wrote to the emperor: " ... It is said of the +comptroller that he has put his hands deep into your Majesty's +treasure. He is the one who causes most strife and unrest in the +island, ... everybody says that it would be well if he were removed." +In 1524 Villasante accused him of malversation of public funds. In +1531 he appears as Governor of Trinidad, accused of capturing natives +of the neighboring continent, branding them and selling them as +slaves. In 1532, reinstated in his post as comptroller, he leaves +Alonzo de la Fuente as his deputy and goes on an expedition to conquer +Trinidad. In 1535 he complains to the emperor that the authorities in +San Juan have not assisted him in his enterprise, and in the following +year the governor and crown officers address a complaint against him +to the empress, saying: "Sedeño presented a schedule authorizing him +to bring 200 men from the Canary Islands to make war with fire and +sword on the Caribs of Trinidad, and permitting him, or any other +person authorized by him, to fit out an expedition for the same +purpose here. + +"Under this pretext he has collected people to go to the conquest of +Meta. We wrote to the Audiencia in la Española, and an order came +that he should not go beyond the limits of his government, but he +continues his preparations and has already 50 horses and 120 men on +the continent, and is now going with some 200 men more and another 100 +horses. He takes no notice of your Majesty's commands, collects people +from all parts without a license, and causes grave injury to the +island, because since the rage for going to Peru began the population +is very scarce and we can not remedy the evil...." + +This restless adventurer died of fever on the continent in 1538. +Sedeño's emigration schemes deprived the island of many of its best +settlers. The wish to abandon it was universal. Lando's drastic +measures to prevent it roused the people's anger, and they clamored +for his removal. The Audiencia sent Juan Blasquez as judge auditor, +and Vasco de Tiedra was appointed Lando's successor in 1536. But in +the following year a radical change was made in the system of +government. + +The quarrels, the jealousies, and mutual accusations between the +colonists and the Government officials that kept the island in a +continual ferment, were the natural consequence of the prerogatives +exercised by Diego Columbus, which permitted him to fill all lucrative +positions in the island with his own favorites, often without any +regard to their aptitude. + +The incessant communications to the emperor, and even to the empress, +on every subject more or less connected with the public service, but +dictated mostly by considerations of self-interest, coming, as they +did, from the smallest and poorest and least important of his +Majesty's possessions, must have been a source of great annoyance to +the imperial ministers, consequently they resolved to remove the +cause. The Admiral was deprived of the prerogative of appointing +governors, and henceforth the alcaldes (mayors) and "chief alguaciles" +(high constables), to be elected from among the colonists by a body of +eight aldermen (regidores), were to exercise the governmental +functions for one year at a time, and could not be reelected till two +years after the first nomination. The wisdom of this innovation was +not generally acknowledged. The crown officers wrote: " ... All are +not agreed on the point whether the governor should or should not be +elected among the residents of the island. For the country's good he +should, no doubt, be a resident." + +Alonzo la Fuente was of a different opinion. He wrote in November, +1536: "It has been a great boon to take the appointment of governors +out of the Admiral's hands. As a rule, some neighbor or friend was +made supreme judge, and he usually proceeded with but little regard +for the island's welfare. All the rest were servants and employees of +the Admiral, which caused me much uneasiness, seeing the results. +Appoint a governor, but a man from abroad, not a resident." In the +following year he wrote regarding the elective system just introduced: +" ... If the alcaldes must take cognizance of everything, this will +become a place of confusion and disorder. A few will lord it over all +the rest, and the alcaldes themselves will but be their creatures." + +The new system of government was unsatisfactory. Castro and +Castellanos asked for the appointment of a supreme judge in March, +1539, because an appeal to the authorities in la Española was made +against every decision of the alcalde. Alderman La Fuente and Martel +confirmed this in December, 1541. They wrote: " ... There is great +want of a supreme judge. More than fifteen homicides have been +committed in less than eight years, and only one of the delinquents +has been punished ..." In January, 1542, the city officers sent a +deputy to lay their grievances before the emperor, not daring to write +them "for their lives," and in February the island's attorney, Alonzo +Molina, stated the causes of the failure of the elective system to be +the ignorance of the laws of those in authority and the reduced number +of electors. "It is necessary," he said, "to name a mayor or governor +who is a man of education and conscience, _not a resident_, because +the judges have their 'compadres.'[35] The governor must be a man of +whom they stand in fear, and if some one of this class is not sent +soon, he will find few to govern, for the majority intend to abandon +the island." + +A law passed, it appears, at the petition of a single individual, in +1542, increased the confusion and discord still more. This law made +the pastures of the island, as well as the woods and waters, public +property. The woods and waters had been considered such from the +beginning, but the pastures, included in the concessions of lands made +at different times by the crown, were private property. The result of +this law was aggression on the part of the landless and resistance on +the part of the proprietors, with the consequent scenes of violence +and civil strife. + +Representations against the law were made by the ecclesiastical +chapter, by the city attorney, and by the three crown officers in +February, 1542; but the regidores, on the other hand, insisted on the +compliance with the royal mandate, and reported that when the law was +promulgated, all the possessors of cattle-ranges opposed it, and four +of their body who voted for compliance with the law were threatened to +be stoned to death and have their eyes pulled out. "We asked to have +the circumstance testified to by a notary, and it was refused. We +wanted to write to your Majesty, and to prevent any one conveying our +letters, they bought the whole cargo of the only ship in port, and did +the same with another ship that came in afterward...." + +On the 2d of June following they wrote again: " ... An alcalde, two +aldermen, and ten or twelve wealthy cattle-owners wanted to kill us. +We had to lock ourselves up in our houses.... The people here are so +insubordinate that if your Majesty does not send some one to chastise +them and protect his servants, there will soon be no island of San +Juan." + +The system of electing annual governors among the residents was +abolished in 1544, and the crown resumed its prerogative with the +appointment of Gerónimo Lebrón, of la Española, as governor for one +year. He died fifteen days after his arrival, and the Audiencia +named licentiate Cervantes de Loayza in his place, who was compelled +to imprison some of the ringleaders in the party of opposition +against the pasture laws. This governor wrote to the emperor in July, +1545: " ... I came to this island with my wife and children to serve +your Majesty, but I found it a prey to incredible violences...." + +Cervantes was well received at first, and the city officials asked the +emperor to prorogue his term of office, but as Bishop Bastidas said of +the islanders, it was not in their nature to be long satisfied with +any governor, and the next year they clamored for his "residencia." He +rendered his accounts and came out without blame or censure. + +It appears that about the year 1549 the system of electing alcaldes as +governors was resumed, for in that year Bishop Bastidas thanks the +emperor, and tells him "the alcaldes were sufficient, considering the +small population." But in 1550 we again find a governor appointed by +the crown for five years, a Doctor Louis Vallejo, from whose +communications describing the conditions of the island we extract the +following: "It is a pity to see how the island has been ruined by the +attacks of Frenchmen and Caribs. The few people that remain in San +German live in the worst possible places, in swamps surrounded by +rough mountains, a league from the port...." And on the 4th of +December, 1550: " ... The island was in a languishing condition +because the mines gave out, but now, with the sugar industry, it is +comparatively prosperous. The people beg your Majesty's protection." + +However, in October, 1553, we find Bishop Alonzo la Fuente and others +addressing King Philip II, and telling him that "the land is in great +distress, ... traffic has ceased for fear of the corsairs...." The +same complaints continue during 1554 and 1555. Then Vallejo is +subjected to "residencia" by the new governor, Estevéz, who, after a +few months' office, is "residentiated" in his turn by Caráza, who had +been governor in 1547. + +After this the chronicles are so scanty that not even the diligent +researches of Friar Abbad's commentator enabled him to give any +reliable information regarding the government of the island. It +remained the almost defenseless point of attack for the nations with +which Spain was constantly at war, and this small but bright pearl in +her colonial crown was preserved only by fortunate circumstances on +the one hand and the loyalty of the inhabitants on the other. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 35: Protectors or protégés--literally, "godfathers."] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND--CONSTRUCTION OF +FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION OF SAN JUAN + +1555-1641 + +San German disappeared for want of means of defense, and if the French +privateers of the time had been aware that the forts in San Juan were +without guns or ammunition it is probable that this island would have +become a French possession. + +The defenses of the island were constructed by the home authorities in +a very dilatory manner. Ponce's house in Capárra had been fortified in +a way so ineffective that Las Casas said of it that the Indians might +knock it down butting their heads against it. This so-called fort soon +fell in ruins after the transfer of the capital to its present site. +There is no information of what became of the six "espingardas" (small +ordnance or hand-guns) with which it had been armed at King +Ferdinand's expense. They had probably been transferred to San Juan, +where, very likely, they did good service intimidating the Caribs. + +In 1527 an English ship came prowling about San Juan bay, la Mona, and +la Española, and this warning to the Spanish authorities was +disregarded, notwithstanding Blas de Villasante's urgent request +for artillery and ammunition. + +[Illustration: Inner harbor, San Juan.] + +After the burning of San German by a French privateer in August, 1537, +Villasante bought five "lombardas" (another kind of small ordnance) +for the defense of San Juan. In 1529 and 1530 both La Gama, the acting +governor, and the city officers represented to the emperor the +necessity of constructing fortifications, "_because the island's +defenseless condition caused the people to emigrate_." + +It appears that the construction of the first fort commenced about +1533, for in that year the Audiencia in la Española disposed of some +funds for the purpose, and Governor Lando suggested the following year +that if the fort were made of stone "it would be eternal." The +suggestion was acted upon and a tax levied on the people to defray the +expense. + +This fort must have been concluded about the year 1540, for in that +same year the ecclesiastical and the city authorities were contending +for the grant of the slaves, carts, and oxen that had been employed, +the former wanting them for the construction of a church, the latter +for making roads and bridges. + +This "Fortaleza" is the same edifice which, after many changes, was at +last, and is still, used as a gubernatorial residence, the latest +reconstruction being effected in 1846.[36] As a fort, Gonzalez +Fernandez de Oviedo denounced it as a piece of useless work which, +"if it had been constructed by blind men could not have been located +in a worse place," and in harmony with his advice a battery was +constructed on the rocky promontory called "the Morro." + +San Juan had now a fort (1540) but no guns. The crown officers, +reporting an attack on Guayáma by a French privateer in 1541, again +clamor for artillery. Treasurer Castellanos writes in March and June +of the same year: "The artillery for this fort has not yet arrived. +How are we to defend it?" + +Treasurer Salinas writes in 1554: "The French have taken several +ships. It would have been a great boon if your Majesty had ordered +Captain Mindirichága to come here with his four ships to defend this +island and la Española. He would have found Frenchmen in la Mona, +where they prepare for their expeditions and lay in wait. They declare +their intention to take this island, and it will be difficult for us +to defend it without artillery or other arms. If there is anything in +the fort it is useless, nor is the fort itself of any account. It is +merely a lodging-house. The bastion on the Morro, if well constructed, +could defend the entrance to the harbor with 6 pieces. We have 60 +horsemen here with lances and shields, but no arquebusiers or pikemen. +Send us artillery and ammunition." + +The demand for arms and ammunition continued in this way till 1555, +when acting Governor Caráza reported that 8 pieces of bronze ordnance +had been planted on the Morro. + +The existing fortifications of San Juan have all been added and +extended at different periods. Father Torres Vargas, in his chronicles +of San Juan, says that the castle grounds of San Felipe del Morro +were laid out in 1584. The construction cost 2,000,000 ducats.[37] The +Boquerón, or Santiago fort, the fort of the Cañuelo, and the +extensions of the Morro were constructed during the administration of +Gabriel Royas (1599 to 1609). Governor Henriquez began the +circumvallation of the city in 1630, and his successor, Sarmiento, +concluded it between the years 1635 and 1641. Fort San Cristobal was +begun in the eighteenth century and completed in 1771. Some +fortifications of less importance were added in the nineteenth +century. + +When Caráza reported, in 1555, that the first steps in the +fortification of the capital had been taken, the West Indian seas +swarmed with French privateers, and their depredations on Spanish +commerce and ill-protected possessions continued till Philip II signed +the treaty of peace at Vervins in 1598. + +But before that, war with England had been declared, and a more +formidable enemy than the French was soon to appear before the capital +of this much-afflicted island. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 36: The inscription on the upper front wall of the building +is: "During the reign of her Majesty, Doña Isabel II, the Count of +Mirasol being Captain-General, Santos Cortijo, Colonel of Engineers, +reconstructed this royal fort in 1846."] + +[Footnote 37: Ducat, a coin struck by a duke, worth, in silver, about +$1.15, in gold, twice as much. It was also a nominal money worth +eleven pesetas and one maravedi.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN + +1595 + +Of all the English freebooters that preyed upon Spain and her colonies +from the commencement of the war in 1585 to the signing of peace in +1604, Francis Drake was the greatest scourge and the most feared. + +Drake early distinguished himself among the fraternity of sea-rovers +by the boldness of his enterprises and the intensity of his hatred of +the Spaniards. When still a young man, in 1567-'68, he was captain of +a small ship, the Judith, one of a fleet of slavers running between +the coast of Africa and the West Indies, under the command of John +Hawkyns, another famous freebooter. In the harbor of San Juan de Ulúa +the Spaniards took the fleet by stratagem; the Judith and the Minion, +with Hawkyns on board, being the only vessels that escaped. Young +Drake's experiences on that occasion fixed the character of his +relations to the Dons forever afterward. He vowed that they should pay +for all he had suffered and all he had lost. + +At that time the Spaniards were ostensibly still friends with England. +To Drake they were then and always treacherous and forsworn enemies. +In 1570 he made a voyage to the West Indies in a bark of forty tons +with a private crew. In the Chagres River, on the coast of Nombre de +Dios, there happened to be sundry barks transporting velvets and +taffetas to the value of 40,000 ducats, besides gold and silver. They +were all taken. + +Two years later he made a most daring attempt to take the town of +Nombre de Dios, and would probably have succeeded had he not been +wounded. He fainted from loss of blood. His men carried him back on +board and suspended the attack. On his recovery he met with complete +success, and returned to Plymouth in 1573 with a large amount of +treasure openly torn from a nation with which England was at peace, +arriving at the very time that Philip's ambassador to Queen Elizabeth +was negotiating a treaty of peace. Drake had no letters of marque, and +consequently was guilty of piracy in the eyes of the law, the penalty +for which was hanging. The Spaniards were naturally very angry, and +clamored for restitution or compensation and Drake's punishment, but +the queen, who shared the pirate's hatred of the Spaniards, sent him +timely advice to keep out of the way. + +In 1580 he returned from another voyage in the West Indies, just when +a body of so-called papal volunteers had landed in Ireland. They had +been brought by a Spanish officer in Spanish ships, and the queen, +pending a satisfactory explanation, refused to receive Mendoza, the +Spanish ambassador, and hear his complaints of Drake's piracies. When +his ships had been brought round in the Thames, she visited him on +board and conferred on him the honor of knighthood. From this time +onward he became a servant of the crown.[38] + +It was this redoubtable sea-rover who, according to advices received +early in 1595, was preparing an expedition in England for the purpose +of wresting her West Indian possessions from Spain. The expedition was +brought to naught, through the disagreements between Drake and Hawkyns, +who both commanded it, by administrative blunders and vexatious delays +in England. The Spaniards were everywhere forewarned and goaded to +action by the terror of Drake's name. + +Notwithstanding this, the island's fate, seeing its defenseless +condition, would, no doubt, have been sealed at that time but for a +most fortunate occurrence which brought to its shores the forces that +enabled it to repulse the attack. Acosta's annotations on Abbad's +history contains the following details of the events in San Juan at +the time: + +"General Sancho Pardo y Osorio sailed from Havana March 10, 1595, in +the flagship of the Spanish West Indian fleet, to convoy some +merchantmen and convey 2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver, the greater +part the property of his Majesty the king. The flagship carried 300 +men. + +"On the 15th, when in the Bermuda channel, a storm separated the +convoy from the other ships, sent her mainmast overboard, broke her +rudder, and the ship sprang a leak. In this condition, after a +consultation among the officers, it was decided to repair the damage +as well as possible and steer for Puerto Rico, which they reached on +the 9th of April. The treasure was placed in security in the fort and +messengers despatched to the king to learn his Majesty's commands. + +"A few days later official advice of the preparations in England was +brought to the island in a despatch-boat. Governor Juarez, General +Sancho, and the commander of the local infantry held a council, in +which it was resolved to land the artillery from the dismasted ship +and sink her and another vessel in the channel at the entrance to the +harbor, while defenses should be constructed at every point where an +enemy could attempt a landing. The plan was carried out under the +direction of General Sancho, who had ample time, as no enemy appeared +during the next seven months. + +"On the 13th of November 5 Spanish frigates arrived under the command +of Pedro Tello de Gúzman, with orders from the king to embark the +treasure forthwith and take it to Spain; but Tello, on his way hither, +had fallen in off Guadeloupe with two English small craft, had had a +fight with one of them, sank it, and while pursuing the other had come +suddenly in sight of the whole fleet, which made him turn about and +make his way to Puerto Rico before the English should cut him off. +From the prisoners taken from the sunken vessel he had learned that +the English fleet consisted of 6 line-of-battle ships of 600 to 800 +tons each, and about 20 others of different sizes, with launches for +landing troops, 3,000 infantry, 1,500 mariners, all well armed and +provided with artillery, bound direct for Puerto Rico under the +command of Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkyns. + +"Tello's 5 frigates made a very important addition to the island's +defenses. Part of his men were distributed among the land forces, and +his ships anchored in the bay, just behind the two sunken ships. + +"All was now ready for a determined resistance. General Sancho had +charge of the shore defenses, Admiral Gonzalo Mendez de Cauzo +commanded the forts, Tello, with his frigates and 300 men, defended +the harbor. The bishop promised to say a mass and preach a sermon +every day, and placed a priest at every post to give spiritual aid +where necessary. Lastly, despatch-boats were sent to la Española and +to Cuba to inform the authorities there of the coming danger. + +"The defensive forces consisted of 450 men distributed at different +points on shore with 34 pieces of ordnance of small caliber. In the +forts there were 36 pieces, mostly bronze ordnance, with the +respective contingent of men. On board of Tello's frigates there were +300 men. + +"General Sancho, after an inspection of the defenses, assured the +governor that the island was safe if the men would but fight. + +"At daybreak on the 22d of November the English fleet hove in sight. +The call to arms was sounded, and everybody," says the chronicler, +"ran joyfully to his post." + +A caravel with some launches showing white flags came on ahead, +sounding, but on passing the Boquerón were saluted with a cannon shot, +whereupon they withdrew replacing the white flags by red ones. + +The whole fleet now came to anchor in front of the "Caleta del Cabron" +(Goat's Creek), much to the surprise of the islanders, who had no idea +that there was anchoring ground at that point; but, being within range +of the 3 pieces of cannon on the Morrillo and of the 2 pieces planted +at the mouth of the creek, they were fired upon, with the result, as +became known afterward, of considerable damage to the flagship and the +death of 2 or 3 persons, among them Hawkyns, Drake's second in +command. + +This unexpectedly warm reception made it clear to the English admiral +that the islanders had been forewarned and were not so defenseless as +they had been reported. Some launches were sent to take soundings in +the vicinity of Goat Island, and at 5 in the afternoon the fleet +lifted anchor and stood out to sea. Next morning at 8 o'clock it +returned and took up a position under the shelter of the said island, +out of range of the artillery on the forts. + +More soundings were taken during the day in the direction of Bayamón, +as far as the Cañuelo. That night, about 10 o'clock, 25 launches, each +containing from 50 to 60 men, advanced under cover of the darkness and +attacked Tello's frigates. The flames of 3 of the ships, which the +English succeeded in firing, soon lit up the bay and enabled the +artillery of the 3 forts to play with effect among the crowded +launches. The Spaniards on board Tello's ships succeeded in putting +out the fire on board 2 of the ships, the third one was destroyed. +After an hour's hard fighting and the loss by the English, as +estimated by the Spanish chronicler, of 8 or 10 launches and of about +400 men, they withdrew. The Spanish loss that night was 40 killed and +some wounded. + +The next day the English fleet stood out to sea again, keeping to +windward of the harbor, which made Tello suspect that they intended to +return under full sail when the wind sprang up and force their way +into the harbor. To prevent this, 2 more ships and a frigate were sunk +across the entrance with all they had on board, there being no time to +unload them. + +As expected, the fleet came down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but +did not try to force an entrance. It quietly took up the same position +between the Morro and Goat Island, which it had occupied the day +before, and this made the Spaniards think that another night attack on +the 3 remaining frigates was impending. After dark the frigates were +removed to a place of safety within the bay. + +The night passed without an alarm. The next day the English launches +were busy all day sounding the bay as far as the Boquerón, taking care +to keep out of range of the artillery on shore. Night came on and when +next morning the sun lit up the western world there was not an enemy +visible. Drake had found the island too well prepared and deemed it +prudent to postpone the conquest. + +Two days later news came from Arecibo that the English fleet had +passed that port. A messenger sent to San German returned six days +later with the information that the enemy had been there four days +taking in wood and water and had sailed southward on the 9th of +December. + +It is said that when Drake afterward learned that his abandonment of +the conquest of Puerto Rico had made him miss the chance of adding +2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver to the Maiden Queen's exchequer, he +pulled his beard with vexation. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 38: Drake and his Successors. The Edinburgh Review, July, +1901.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY LORD GEORGE +CUMBERLAND--CONDITION OF THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH +CENTURY + +Puerto Rico and his Majesty's treasure were now safe. When there was +no longer any fear of the enemy's return, haste was made to reembark +the money and get rid of General Sancho and Tello and their men who +were fast consuming the island's scanty resources. + +Two years after Drake's ineffectual attack on the island another +English fleet, with a large body of troops under the orders of Lord +George Cumberland, came to Puerto Rico. A landing was effected at +Cangrejos (the present Santurce). The bridge leading to the capital +was not then fortified, but its passage was gallantly disputed by +Governor Antonio Mosquera, an old soldier of the war in Flanders. The +English were far superior in numbers and armament, and Mosquera had to +fall back. Captain Serralta, the brothers John and Simon Sanabria, and +other natives of the island, greatly distinguished themselves in this +action. The English occupied the capital and the forts without much +more opposition. An epidemic of dysentery and yellow fever carried off +400 Englishmen in less than three months and bid fair to exterminate +the whole invading force, so that, to save his troops, the English +commander was obliged to evacuate the island, which he did on the 23d +of November. He carried with him 70 pieces of artillery of all sizes +which he found in the fortifications. The city itself he left unhurt, +except that he took the church-bells and organ and carried off an +artistically sculptured marble window in one of the houses which had +taken his fancy. + +Mr. Brau mentions some documents in the Indian archives of Spain, from +which it appears that another invasion of Puerto Rico took place a +year after Cumberland's departure. On that occasion the governor and +the garrison were carried off as prisoners, but as there was a cruel +epidemic still raging in the island at the time the English did not +stay. + +The death of Philip II (September 13, 1598) and of his inveterate +enemy, Queen Elizabeth (March 24, 1603), brought the war with England +to a close. The ambassador of Philip III in London negotiated a treaty +of peace with James I, which was signed and ratified in the early part +of 1604. + +So ended the sixteenth century in Boriquén. If the dictum of Las +Casas, that the island at the century's beginning was "as populous as +a beehive and as lovely as an orchard," was but a rhetorical figure, +there is no gainsaying the fact that at the time of Ponce's landing it +was thickly peopled, not only that part occupied by the Spaniards but +_the whole island_, with a comparatively innocent, simple, and +peaceably disposed native race. The end of the century saw them no +more. The erstwhile garden was an extensive jungle. The island's +history during these hundred years was condensed into the one word +"strife." All that the efforts of the king and his governors had been +able to make of it was a penal settlement, a presidio with a +population of about 400 inhabitants, white, black, and mongrel. The +littoral was an extensive hog-and cattle-ranch, with here and there a +patch of sugar-cane; there was no commerce.[39] There were no roads. +The people, morally, mentally, and materially poor, were steeped in +ignorance and vice. Education there was none. The very few who aspired +to know, went to la Española to obtain an education. The few spiritual +wants of the people were supplied by monks, many of them as ignorant +and bigoted as themselves. War and pestilence and tempest had united +to wipe the island from the face of the earth, and the very name of +"Rich Port," given to it without cause or reason, must have sounded in +the ears of the inhabitants as a bitter sarcasm on their wretched +condition. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 39: A precarious traffic in hides and ginger did not deserve +the name of commerce.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN + +1625 + +Holland emancipated itself from Spanish domination in 1582 and assumed +the title of "the United Provinces of Netherland." After nearly half a +century of an unequal struggle with the most powerful kingdom in +Europe, the people's faith in final success was unbounded, while Spain +was growing weary of the apparently interminable war. At this +juncture, proposals for a suspension of hostilities were willingly +entertained by both nations, and after protracted negotiations, a +truce of twelve years was signed in Bergen-op-Zoom, April 9, 1609. In +it the absolute independence of the United Provinces was recognized. + +This gave the Spanish colonies a welcome respite from the ravages of +privateers till 1621, the first year of the reign of King Philip IV, +when hostilities immediately recommenced. France and England both came +to the assistance of the Provinces with money for the raising of +troops, and the wealthy merchants of Holland, following the example of +the French merchants in the former century, fitted out fleets of +privateers to prey upon the commerce and colonies of Spain and +Portugal. The first exploits of these privateers were the invasion of +Brazil and the sacking of San Salvador, of Lima and Callao (1624). + +Puerto Rico was just beginning to recover from the prostration in +which the last invasion had left it, when on the morning of the 24th +of September, 1625, the guard on San Felipe del Morro announced 8 +ships to windward of the port. + +Juan de Haro, the governor, who had assumed the command only a few +months before, mounted to an outlook to observe them, and was informed +that more ships could be seen some distance down the coast. He sent +out horsemen, and they returned about 8 o'clock at night with the news +that they had counted 17 ships in all. + +Alarm-bells were now rung and some cannon fired from the forts to call +the inhabitants together. They were directed to the plaza, where arms +and ammunition were distributed. During the night the whole city was +astir preparing for events, under the direction of the governor. + +Next morning the whole fleet was a short distance to windward. Lest a +landing should be attempted at the Boquerón or at Goat's Creek, the +two most likely places, the governor ordered a cannon to be planted at +each and trenches to be dug. In the meantime, the people, who had +promptly answered the call to arms, and the garrison were formed into +companies on the plaza and received orders to occupy the forts, +marching first along the shore, where the enemy could see them, so as +to make a great show of numbers. + +The artillery in the fort was in bad condition. The gun-carriages were +old and rotten. Some of the pieces had been loaded four years before +and were dismounted at the first firing. One of them burst on the +sixth or seventh day, killing the gunners and severely wounding the +governor, who personally superintended the defense. + +In the afternoon of the day of their arrival the Hollanders came down +under full sail "with as much confidence," says the chronicler, "as if +they were entering a port in their own country." + +That night the fort was provisioned as well as the scanty resources of +the island permitted. The defenders numbered 330, and the food supply +collected would not enable them to stand a long siege. The supply +consisted of 120 loads of casabe bread, 46 bushels of maize, 130 jars +or jugs of olive oil, 10 barrels of biscuit, 300 island cheeses, 1 +cask of flour, 30 pitchers of wine, 200 fowls, and 150 small boxes of +preserved fruit (membrillo). + +Fortunately during the night 50 head of cattle and 20 horses were +driven in from the surrounding country. + +From the 26th to the 29th the enemy busied himself landing troops, +digging trenches, and planting 6 pieces of cannon on a height called +"the Calvary." Then he began firing at the fort, which replied, doing +considerable damage. + +At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 30th, a drummer under a flag of +truce presented himself before the castle with a letter addressed to +the governor. It was couched in the following terms: + +"Señor Governor Don Juan Faro, you must be well aware of the reasons +of our coming so near and of our intentions. Therefore, I, Bowdoin +Hendrick, general of these forces, in the name of the States General +and of his Highness the Prince of Orange, do hereby demand that you +deliver this castle and garrison into our hands, which doing we will +not fail to come to terms with you. And if not, I give you notice, +that from this day forward we will spare neither old nor young, woman +nor child; and to this we wait your answer in a few words. + +"BOWDOIN HENDRICK." + +To which epistle the governor replied: + +"I have seen your paper, and am surprised that you should ask such a +thing of me, seeing that I have served thirteen years in Flanders, +where I have learned to value your boastings and know what sieges are. +On the contrary, if you will deliver the ships in which you have come +to me, I will let you have one to return with. And these are the +orders of my King and Master, and none other, with which I have +answered your paper, in the Castle of San Felipe del Morro, the 30th +of September, 1625. + +"JUAN DE HARO." + +The next day a heavy cannonading commenced, the Hollanders firing over +150 shots at the castle with small effect. The same day a Spanish ship +arrived with wine and provisions, but seeing the danger it ran of +being taken, did not enter the port, but steered to la Española, to +the great disappointment of the people in the fort. + +On the 4th of October the governor ordered a sortie of 80 men in three +parties. On the 5th Captain Juan de Amezquita led another sortie, and +so between sorties, surprises, night attacks, and mutual cannonadings +things continued till the 21st of October. + +On that day Bowdoin sent another letter announcing his intention of +burning the city if no understanding was arrived at. To which letter +the governor replied that there was building material enough in the +island to construct another city, and that he wished the whole army of +Holland might be here to witness Spanish bravery. + +Bowdoin carried his threat into effect, and the next day over a +hundred houses were burned. Bishop Balbueno's palace and library and +the city archives were also destroyed. To put a stop to this wanton +destruction Captains Amezquita and Botello led a sortie of 200 men. +They attacked the enemy in front and rear with such _élan_ that they +drove them from their trenches and into the water in their haste to +reach their launches. + +This, and other remarkable exploits, related by the native +chroniclers, so discouraged the Hollanders that they abandoned the +siege on the 2d of November, leaving behind them one of their largest +ships, stranded, and over 400 dead. + +The fleet repaired to la Aguáda to refit. Bowdoin, who, apparently, +was a better letter writer than general, sent a third missive to the +governor, asking permission to purchase victuals, which was, of +course, flatly refused. + +The king duly recompensed the brave defenders. The governor was made +Chevalier of the Order of Santiago and received a money grant of 2,000 +ducats. Captain Amezquita received 1,000 ducats, and was later +appointed Governor of Cuba. Captain Botello also received 1,000 +ducats, and others who had distinguished themselves received +corresponding rewards. + +Puerto Rico's successful resistance to this invasion encouraged the +belief that, provided the mother country should furnish the necessary +means of defense, the island would end by commanding the respect of +its enemies and be left unmolested. But the mother country's wars with +England, France, and Holland absorbed all its attention in Europe and +consumed all its resources. The colonies remained dependent for their +defense on their own efforts, while privateers, freebooters, and +pirates of the three nations at war with Spain settled like swarms of +hornets in every available island in the West Indies. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER--BUCCANEERS AND FILIBUSTERS + +1625-1780 + +The power of Spain received its death-blow during the course of the +war with England. The destruction of the Armada and of the fleets +subsequently equipped by Philip II for the invasion of Ireland were +calamities from which Spain never recovered. + +The wars with almost every European nation in turn, which raged during +the reigns of the third and fourth Philips, swallowed up all the +blood-stained treasure that the colonial governors could wring from +the natives of the New World. The flower of the German and Italian +legions had left their bones in the marshes of Holland, and Spain, the +proudest nation in Europe, had been humiliated to the point of +treating for peace, on an equal footing, with a handful of rebels and +recognizing their independence. France had four armies in the field +against her (1637). A fleet equipped with great sacrifice and +difficulty was destroyed by the Hollanders in the waters of Brazil +(1630). Van Tromp annihilated another in the English Channel, +consisting of 70 ships, with 10,000 of Spain's best troops on board. +Cataluña was in open revolt (1640). The Italian provinces followed +(1641). Portugal fought and achieved her emancipation from Spanish +rule. The treasury was empty, the people starving. Yet, while all +these calamities were befalling the land, the king and his court, +under the guidance of an inept minister (the Duke of Olivares), were +wasting the country's resources in rounds of frivolous and immoral +pleasures, in dances, theatrical representations, and bull-fights. The +court was corrupt; vice and crime were rampant in the streets of +Madrid.[40] + +Under such a régime the colonists were naturally left to take care of +themselves, and this, coupled with the policy of excluding them from +all foreign commerce, justified Spain's enemies in seeking to wrest +from her the possessions from which she drew the revenues that enabled +her to make war on them. Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Hollanders made of +the Antilles their trysting-ground for the purpose of preying upon the +common enemy. + +These were the buccaneers and filibusters of that period, the most +lawless class of men in an age of universal lawlessness, the refuse +from the seaports of northern Europe, as cruel miscreants as ever +blackened the pages of history. + +The buccaneers derived their name from the Carib word "boucan," a +kind of gridiron on which, like the natives, they cooked their meat, +hence, bou-canier. The word filibuster comes from the Spanish +"fee-lee-bote," English "fly-boat," a small, swift sailing-vessel +with a large mainsail, which enabled the buccaneers to pursue +merchantmen in the open sea and escape among the shoals and shallows +of the archipelago when pursued in their turn by men-of-war. + +They recognized no authority, no law but force. They obeyed a leader +only when on their plundering expeditions. The spoils were equally +divided, the captain's share being double that of the men. The maimed +in battle received a compensation proportionate to the injury +received. The captains were naturally distinguished by the qualities +of character that alone could command obedience from crews who feared +neither God nor man. + +One of the most dreaded among them was a Frenchman, a native of Sables +d'Olonne, hence called l'Olonais. He had been a prisoner of the +Spaniards, and the treatment he received at their hands had filled his +soul with such deadly hatred, that when he regained his liberty he +swore a solemn oath to live henceforth for revenge alone. And he did. +He never spared sex or age, and took a hellish pleasure in torturing +his victims. He made several descents on the coast of this island, +burned Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, Veragua, and other places, and was +killed at last by the Indians of Darien. + +Sir Henry Morgan, a Welsh aristocrat turned pirate, was another famous +scourge of the Spanish colonies. His inhuman treatment of the +inhabitants of Puerto Principe, in 1668, is a matter of history. He +plundered Porto Bello, Chagres, Panamá, and extended his depredations +to the coast of Costa Rica. He used to subject his victims to torture +to make them declare where they had hidden their valuables, and many a +poor wretch who had no valuables to hide was ruthlessly tortured to +death. + +Pierre Legrand was another Frenchman who, after committing all kinds +of outrages in the West Indies, passed with his robber crew to the +Pacific and scoured the coasts as far as California. + +The atrocities committed by a certain Montbras, of Languedoc, earned +him the name of "the Exterminator." + + * * * * * + +When the first buccaneers made their appearance in the Antilles +(1520), the Windward Islands were still occupied by the Caribs. Here +they formed temporary settlements, which, by degrees, grew into +permanent pirates' nests. In some of these islands they found large +herds of cattle, the progeny of the first few heads introduced by the +early Spanish colonists, who afterward abandoned them. In 1625 a party +of English and French occupied the island San Cristobal. Four years +later Puerto Rico, being well garrisoned at the time, the governor, +Enrique Henriquez, fitted out an expedition to dislodge them, in which +he succeeded only to make them take up new quarters in Antigua. + +The next year the French and English buccaneers who occupied the small +island of Tortuga made a descent upon the western part of la Española, +called Haiti by the natives (mountainous land), and maintained +themselves there till that part of the island was ceded to France by +the treaty of Ryswyk, in 1697. + +Spain equipped a fleet to clear the West Indies from pirates in 1630, +and placed it under the command of Don Federico de Toledo. He was met +in the neighborhood of San Cristobal by a numerous fleet of small +craft, which had the advantage over the unwieldy Spanish ships in that +they could maneuver with greater rapidity and precision. There are no +reliable details of the result of the engagement. Abbad tells us that +the Spaniards were victorious, but the buccaneers continued to occupy +all the islands which they had occupied before. + +In 1634 they took possession of Curagao, Aruba, and Bonaíre, near the +coast of Venezuela, and established themselves in 1638 in San +Eustaquio, Saba, San Martin, and Santa Cruz. + +In 1640 the Governor of Puerto Rico sought to expel them from the +last-named island. He defeated them, killing many and taking others +prisoners; but as soon as he returned to Puerto Rico the Hollanders +from San Eustaquio and San Martin reoccupied Santa Cruz, and he was +compelled to equip another expedition to dislodge them, in which he +was completely successful. This time he left a garrison, but in the +same year the French commander, Poincy, came with a strong force and +compelled the garrison to capitulate. The island remained a French +possession under the name of Saint Croix until it was sold to Denmark, +in 1733, for $150,000. Another expedition set out from Puerto Rico in +1650, to oust the French and Hollanders from San Martin. The Spaniards +destroyed a fort that had been constructed there, but as soon as they +returned to this island the pirates reoccupied their nest. In 1657 an +Englishman named Cook came with a sufficient force and San Martin +became an English possession. + +About 1665 the French Governor of Tortuga, Beltrán Ogeron, planned the +conquest of Puerto Rico. He appeared off the coast with 3 ships, but +one of the hurricanes so frequent in these latitudes came to the +island's rescue. The ships were stranded, and the surviving Frenchmen +made prisoners. Among them was Ogeron himself, but his men shielded +him by saying that he was drowned. On the march to the capital he and +his ship's surgeon managed to escape, and, after killing the owner of +a fishing-smack, returned to Tortuga, where he immediately commenced +preparations for another invasion of Puerto Rico. When he came back he +was so well received by the armed peasantry (jíbaros) that he was +forced to reembark. + +From this time to 1679 several expeditions were fitted out in San Juan +to drive the filibusters from one or another of the islands in the +neighborhood. In 1780 a fleet was equipped with the object of +definitely destroying all the pirates' nests. The greater part of the +garrison, all the Puerto Ricans most distinguished for bravery, +intelligence, and experience, took part in the expedition. The fleet +was accompanied by the Spanish battle-ship Carlos V, which carried 50 +cannon and 500 men. Of this expedition not a soul returned. It was +totally destroyed by a hurricane, and the island was once more plunged +in mourning, ruin, and poverty, from which it did not emerge till +nearly a century later. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 40: In fifteen days 110 men and women were assassinated in +the capital alone, some of them persons of distinction. Cánovas, +Decadencia de España, Libro VI.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO--SIEGE OF SAN JUAN BY SIR RALPH +ABERCROMBIE + +1678-1797 + +The _entente cordiale_ which had existed between England under Charles +I and Spain under Philip IV ceased with the tragic death of the +first-named monarch.[41] + +Immediately after Cromwell's elevation both France and Spain made +overtures for an alliance with England. But the Protector well knew +that in the event of war with either power, Spain's colonies and +treasure-laden galleons offered a better chance for obtaining booty +than the poor possessions of France. He favored an alliance with Louis +XIV, and ended by signing a treaty with him in 1657. + +The first result of the hostilities that ensued was the capture by the +English Admirals Blake and Stayner of several richly laden galleons. + +From that time to the end of the eighteenth century England's attempts +to secure the two most-coveted Antilles (Cuba and Puerto Rico) +continued with short intervals of peace. + +In 1768 an English fleet of 22 ships, with a landing force under the +command of the Earl of Estren, appeared before San Juan and demanded +its surrender. Before a formal attack could be made a furious +hurricane wrecked the fleet on Bird Island, and everybody on board +perished excepting a few soldiers and marines, who escaped a watery +grave only to be made prisoners.[42] + +It is certain, however, that on August 5, 1702, an English brigantine +and a sloop came to Arecibo and landed 30 men, who were forced to +reembark with considerable loss, though the details of this affair, as +given by Friar Abbad, and repeated by Mr. Neuman, are evidently +largely drawn from imagination. + +In September of the following year (1703) there were landings of +Englishmen near Loiza and in the neighborhood of San German, of which +we know only that they were stoutly opposed; and we learn from an +official document that there was another landing at Boca Chica on the +south coast in 1743, when the English were once more obliged to +reembark with the loss of a pilot-boat. + +These incessant attacks, not on Puerto Rico only, but on all the other +Spanish possessions, and the reprisals they provoked, created such +animosity between the people of both countries that hostilities had +practically commenced before the declaration of war (October 23, +1739). In November Admiral Vernon was already in the Antilles with a +large fleet. He took Porto Bello, laid siege to Cartagena, but was +forced to withdraw; then he made an ineffectual attack on Cuba, after +which he passed round Cape Horn into the Pacific, caused great +consternation in Chile, sacked and burned Payta, captured the galleon +Covadonga with a cargo worth $1,500,000, and finally returned to +England with a few ships only and less than half his men. + +The next war between the two nations was the result of the famous +Bourbon family compact, and lasted from 1761 to 1763. + +Two powerful fleets sailed from England for the Antilles; the one +under the orders of Admiral Rodney attacked the French colonies and +took Martinique, Granada, Santa Lucia, San Vicente, and Tabago; the +other under Admiral Pocock appeared before Havana, June 2, 1762, with +a fleet of 30 line-of-battle ships, 100 transports, and 14,000 landing +troops under the command of the Earl of Albemarle. In four days the +English took "la Cabaña," which Prado, the governor, considered the +key to the city. For some unexplained reason the Spanish fleet became +useless; but Captain Louis Velasco defended the Morro, and for two +months and ten days he kept the English at bay, till they undermined +the walls of the fort and blew them up. Then Prado capitulated (August +13), and Havana with its forts and defenses, with 60 leagues of +territory to the west of the city, with $15,000,000, an immense +quantity of naval and military stores, 9 line-of-battle ships and 3 +frigates, was delivered into Albemarle's hands. It was Puerto Rico's +turn next, and preparations were made for an attack, when the +signing of the treaty of peace in Paris (February, 1763) averted the +imminent danger. + +By the stipulations of that treaty England returned Havana and +Manila[43] to Spain in exchange for Florida and some territories on +the Mississippi; she also returned to France part of her conquered +possessions. + +In 1778 Charles III joined France in a war against England, the +motives for which, as explained by the king's minister, were frivolous +in the extreme. The real reason was England's refusal to admit Spain +as mediator in the differences with her North American colonies. This +war lasted till 1783, and though the Antilles, as usual, became the +principal scene of war, Puerto Rico happily escaped attack. + +Not so during the hostilities that broke out anew in consequence of +Charles IV's offensive and defensive alliance with the French +Republic, signed in San Ildefonso on the 18th of August, 1796. + +In February, 1797, Admiral Henry Harvey, with 60 ships, including +transports and small craft, and from 6,000 to 7,000 troops under the +orders of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, appeared before the island of +Trinidad and took possession of it with but little resistance from the +Spanish garrison. On the 17th of April the whole fleet appeared before +San Juan. + +The capital was well prepared for defense. The forts, as now existing, +were completed, and the city surrounded by a wall the strength of +which may be estimated by the appearance of the parts still intact. On +these defenses 376 pieces of cannon of different caliber were planted, +besides 35 mortars, 4 howitzers, and 3 swivel guns. The garrison was +reduced to about 200 men, part of the troops having been sent to la +Española to quell the insurrection of the negro population led by +Toussaint L'Ouverture. There were, besides these 200 veteran troops, +4,000 militiamen, about 2,000 men from the towns in the interior +(urbános) armed with lances and machetes, 12 gunboats and several +French privateers, the crews of which numbered about 300. + +Abercrombie landed on the 18th at Cangrejos (Santurce) with 3,000 men, +and demanded the surrender of the city. Governor Castro, in polite but +energetic language, refused, and hostilities commenced. For the next +thirteen days there were skirmishes and more or less serious +encounters on land and sea. On the morning of the 1st of May the +defenders of the city were preparing a general attack on the English +lines, when, lo! the enemy had reembarked during the night, leaving +behind his spiked guns and a considerable quantity of stores and +ammunition. + +[Illustration: Fort San Geronimo, at Santurce, near San Juan.] + +The people ascribed this unexpected deliverance from their foes to the +miraculous intervention of the Virgin, but the real reason for the +raising of the siege was the strength of the fortifications. "Whoever +has viewed these fortifications," says Colonel Flinter,[44] "must feel +surprised that the English with a force of less than 5,000 men should +lay siege to the place, a force not sufficient for a single line along +the coast on the opposite side of the bay to prevent provisions from +being sent to the garrison from the surrounding country. Sir Ralph's +object in landing, surely, could only have been to try whether he +could surprise or intimidate the scanty garrison. Had he not +reembarked very soon, he would have had to repent his temerity, for +the shipping could not safely remain at anchor where there was no +harbor and where a dangerous coast threatened destruction. His +communication with the country was cut off by the armed peasantry, who +rose _en masse_, and to the number of not less than 20,000 threw +themselves into the fortress in less than a week after the invasion, +so that the British forces would, most undoubtedly, have been obliged +to surrender at discretion had the commander not effected a timely +retreat." + +The enemy's retreat was celebrated with a solemn Te Deum in the +cathedral, at which the governor, the municipal authorities, and all +the troops assisted. The municipality addressed the king, giving due +credit to the brilliant military qualities displayed during the siege +by the governor and his officers. The governor was promoted to the +rank of field-marshal and the officers correspondingly. To the +municipality the privilege was granted to encircle the city's coat of +arms with the words: "For its constancy, love, and fidelity, this city +is yclept very noble and very loyal." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 41: He was decapitated February 9, 1649.] + +[Footnote 42: So says Abbad. No mention is made of this episode in +Señor Acosta's notes, nor is the name of Earl Estren to be found among +those of the British commanders of that period.] + +[Footnote 43: Manila was taken in October, 1762.] + +[Footnote 44: An Account of Puerto Rico. London, 1834,] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO _(continued)_--INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN +INSURGENTS + +1797-1829 + +The raising of the siege of San Juan by Abercrombie did not raise at +the same time the blockade of the island. Communications with the +metropolis were cut off, and the remittances from Mexico which, under +the appellation of "situados," constituted the only means of carrying +on the Government, were suspended.[45] In San Juan the garrison was +kept on half pay, provisions were scarce, and the influx of immigrants +from la Española, where a bloody civil war raged at the time, +increased the consumption and the price. The militia corps was +disbanded to prevent serious injury to the island's agricultural +interests, although English attacks on different points of the coast +continued, and kept the inhabitants in a state of constant fear and +alarm. + +In December, 1797, an English three-decker and a frigate menaced +Aguadilla, but an attempt at landing was repulsed. Another attempt to +land was made at Guayanilla with the same result, and in June, 1801, +Guayanilla was again attacked. This time an English frigate sent +several launches full of men ashore, but they were beaten off by the +people, who, armed only with lances and machetes, pursued them into +the water, "swimming or wading up to their necks," says Mr. Neuman.[46] + +From 1801 to 1808 England's navy and English privateers pursued both +French and Spanish ships with dogged pertinacity. In August, 1803, +British privateers boarded and captured a French frigate in the port +of Salinas in this island. Four Spanish homeward-bound frigates fell +into their hands about the same time. Another English frigate captured +a French privateer in what is now the port of Ponce (November 12, +1804) and rescued a British craft which the privateer had captured. +Even the negroes of Haiti armed seven privateers under British +auspices and preyed upon the French and Spanish merchant ships in +these Antilles. + +Governor Castro, during the whole of his period of service, had vainly +importuned the home Government for money and arms and ships to defend +this island against the ceaseless attacks of the English. When he +handed over the command to his successor, Field-Marshal Toribio +Montes, in 1804, the treasury was empty. He himself had long ceased to +draw his salary, and the money necessary to attend to the most +pressing needs for the defense was obtained by contributions from the +inhabitants. + +While the people of Puerto Rico were thus giving proofs of their +loyalty to Spain, and sacrificing their lives and property to preserve +their poverty-stricken island to the Spanish crown, the other +colonies, rich and important, were breaking the bonds that united them +to the mother country. + +The example of the English colonies had long since awakened among the +more enlightened class of creoles on the continent a desire for +emancipation, which the events in France on the one hand, and the +ill-advised, often cruel measures adopted by the Spanish authorities +to quench that aspiration, on the other hand, had only served to make +irresistible. But Puerto Rico did not aspire to emancipation. It never +had been a colony, there was no creole class, and the only indigenous +population--the "jíbaros," the mixed descendants of Indians, negroes, +and Spaniards--were too poor, too illiterate, too ignorant of +everything concerning the outside world to look with anything but +suspicion upon the invitations of the insurgents of Colombia and +Venezuela to join them or imitate their example. They, nor the great +majority of the masses whom Bolivar, San Martin, Hidalgo, and others +liberated from an oppressive yoke, cared little for the rights of man. +When the Colombian insurgents landed on the coast of Puerto Rico, to +encourage and assist the people to shake off a yoke which did not gall +them, they were looked upon by the natives as freebooters of another +class who came to plunder them. + +On the 20th of December, 1819, an insurgent brigantine and a sloop +attempted a landing at Aguadilla. They were beaten back by a Spanish +sergeant at the head of a detachment of twenty men, while a Mr. +Domeneck with his servants attended to the artillery in Fort San +Carlos, constructed during Castro's administration. In February, 1825, +some insurgent ships landed fifty marines at night near Point +Boriquén, where the lighthouse now is. They captured the fort by +surprise and dismounted the guns, but the people of Aguadilla replaced +them on their carriages the next day and offered such energetic +resistance to the landing parties that they had to retreat. + +Another landing was effected at Patillas in November, 1829. This port +was opened to commerce by royal decree December 30, 1821. There were +several small trading craft in the port at the time of the attack. +They fell a prey to the invaders; but when they landed they were met +by the armed inhabitants, and after a sharp fight, in which the +Colombians had 8 men killed, they reembarked. + + * * * * * + +The beginning of the nineteenth century found Spain deprived of all +that beautiful island world which Columbus had laid at the foot of the +throne of Ferdinand and Isabel four centuries ago, of all but a part +of the "Española," since called Santo Domingo, and of the two +Antilles. Before the first quarter of the century had passed all the +continental colonies had broken the bonds that united them to the +mother country, and before the twentieth century the last vestiges of +the most extensive and the richest colonial empire ever possessed by +any nation refused further allegiance, as the logical result of four +centuries of political, religious, and financial myopia. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 45: They ceased altogether in 1810, as a result of the +revolution in Mexico.] + +[Footnote 46: Benefactores and Hombres Illustres de Puerto Rico, p. +289.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE POLITICAL +EVENTS IN SPAIN FROM + +1765 TO 1820 + +After the conquest of Mexico and Peru with their apparently inexhaustible +mineral wealth, Spain attached very little importance to the archipelago +of the Antilles. The largest and finest only of these islands were +selected for colonization, the small and comparatively sterile ones were +neglected, and fell an easy prey to pirates and privateers. + +Puerto Rico, notwithstanding its advantages of soil and situation, was +considered for the space of three centuries only as a fit place of +banishment (a _presidio_) for the malefactors of the mother country. +Agriculture did not emerge from primitive simplicity. The inhabitants +led a pastoral life, cultivating food barely sufficient for their +support, because there was no stimulus to exertion. They looked +passively upon the riches centered in their soil, and rocked +themselves to sleep in their hammocks. The commerce carried on +scarcely deserved that name. The few wants of the people were supplied +by a contraband trade with St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. In the island's +finances a system of fraud and peculation prevailed, and the amount of +public revenue was so inadequate to meet the expenses of maintaining +the garrison that the officers' and soldiers' pay was reduced to +one-fourth of its just amount, and they often received only a +miserable ration. + +His Excellency Alexander O'Reilly, who came to the Antilles on a +commission from Charles IV, in his report on Puerto Rico (1765) gives +the following description of the condition of the inhabitants at that +time: + +" ... To form an idea of how these natives have lived and still live, +it is enough to say that there are only two schools in the whole +island; that outside of the capital and San German few know how to +read; that they count time by changes in the Government, hurricanes, +visits from bishops, arrivals of 'situados,' etc. They do not know +what a league is. Each one reckons distance according to his own speed +in traveling. The principal ones among them, including those of the +capital, when they are in the country go barefooted and barelegged. +The whites show no reluctance at being mixed up with the colored +population. In the towns (the capital included) there are few +permanent inhabitants besides the curate; the others are always in the +country, except Sundays and feast-days, when those living near to +where there is a church come to hear mass. During these feast-days +they occupy houses that look like hen-coops. They consist of a couple +of rooms, most of them without doors or windows, and therefore open +day and night. Their furniture is so scant that they can move in an +instant. The country houses are of the same description. There is +little distinction among the people. The only difference between them +consists in the possession of a little more or less property, and, +perhaps, the rank of a subaltern officer in the militia." + +Abbad makes some suggestions for increasing the population. He +proposes the distribution of the unoccupied lands among the +"agregados" or idle "hangers-on" of each family; among the convicts +who have served out their time and can not or will not return to the +Peninsula; among the freed slaves, who have purchased their own +freedom or have been manumitted by their masters; and, finally, among +the great number of individuals who, having deserted from ships or +being left behind, wandered about from place to place or became +contrabandists, pirates, or thieves. + +"Their numbers are so small and the soil so fruitful they generally +have an abundance of bananas, maize, beans, and other food. Fish is +abundant, and few are without a cow or two. The only furniture they +have and need is a hammock and a cooking-pot. Plates, spoons, jugs, +and basins they make of the bark of the 'totumo,' a tree which is +found in every forest. A saber or a 'machete,' as they call it, is the +only agricultural implement they use. The construction of their houses +does not occupy them more than a day or two." + +The good friar goes on to tell us that, through indolence, they have +not even learned from the Indians how to protect their plantations +from the fierce heat of the sun and avoid consequent failure of crops +in time of drought, by making the plantations in clearings in the +forest, so that the surrounding walls of verdure may give moisture +and shade to the plants. "Nor have they learned to build their bohíos +(huts) to windward of swamps or clearings to avoid the fever-laden +emanations." + + * * * * * + +The stirring events in Europe that marked the end of the eighteenth +and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries did not find these +conditions much changed, though _some_ advance had been made and was +being made in spite of the prohibitive measures of the Government, +which were well calculated to check all advance. To prevent the spread +of the ideas that had given birth to the French Revolution, absolute +powers were granted to the captains-general, odious restrictions were +placed upon all communication with the interior, sacrifices in men and +money were demanded on the plea of patriotism, and a policy of +suspicion and distrust adopted toward the colonies which in the end +fomented the very political aspirations it was intended to suppress. + +From the outbreak of the French Revolution, Spain was entangled in a +maze of political difficulties. The natural sympathy of Charles IV for +the unfortunate King of France well-nigh provoked hostilities between +the two nations from the very beginning. The king gave public +expression to his opinion that to make war on France was as legitimate +as to make war on pirates and bandits; and the Directory, though it +took little notice at the time, remembered it when Godoy, the +favorite, in his endeavors to save the lives of Louis XVI and his +family entered into correspondence with the French emigres. Then war +was declared. + +The war was popular. All classes contended to make the greatest +sacrifices to aid the Government. Men and money came in abundantly, +and before long three army corps crossed the Pyrenees into French +territory ... They had to recross the next year, followed by the +victorious soldiers of the Republic, who planted the tricolor on some +of the principal Spanish frontier fortresses. Then the peace of +Basilia was signed, and, as one of the conditions of that peace, Spain +ceded to France the part she still held of Santo Domingo. + +From this period Charles, in the terror inspired by the excesses of +the Revolution and the probable fear for his own safety, forgot that +he was a Bourbon and began to seek an alliance with the executioners +of his family. As a result, the treaty of San Ildefonso was signed +(1796). Spain became the enemy of England, and the first effects +thereof which she experienced were the bombardment of Cadiz by an +English fleet, the loss of the island of Trinidad, and the siege of +Puerto Rico by Abercrombie. + +Spain also became the willing vassal, rather than the ally, of the +military genius whom the French Revolution had revealed, and obeyed +his mandates without a murmur. In 1803 Napoleon demanded a subsidy of +6,000,000 francs per month as the price of Spain's neutrality, but in +the following year he insisted on the renewal of the alliance against +England (treaty of Paris, 1804). The total destruction of the Spanish +fleet at the battles of Saint Vincent and Trafalgar was the result. + +Godoy, who in his ambitious dreams had seen a crown and a throne +somewhere in Portugal to be bestowed on him by the man to whose +triumphal car he had attached his king and his country, began to +suspect Napoleon's intentions. + +Seeing the war-clouds gather in the north of Europe, he thought that +the coalition of the powers against the tyrant was the presage of his +downfall, and he now hastened to send an emissary to England. + +The war-clouds burst, and from amid the thunder and smoke of battle at +Jena, Eylau, and Friedland, the victor's figure arose more imperious +than ever. All the crowned heads of Europe but one[47] hastened to do +him homage, among them Charles IV of Spain and the Prince of Asturias, +his son. + +The next step in the grand drama that was being enacted was the +occupation of Spanish territory by what Bonaparte was pleased to call +an army of observation. This time Godoy's suspicions became confirmed, +and to save the royal family he counsels the king to withdraw to +Andalusia. Ferdinand conspires to dethrone his father, the people +become excited, riots take place, Godoy's residence in Aranguez is +attacked by the mob, and the king abdicates in favor of his son. +Napoleon himself now lands at Bayona. Charles and his son hasten +thither to salute Europe's master, and, after declaring that his +abdication was imposed on him by violence, the king resumes his +crown and humbly lays it at the feet of the arbiter of the fate of +kings, who stoops to pick it up only to offer it to his brother Louis, +who refuses it. Then he places it on the head of his younger brother +Joseph. + +Thus fared the crown of Spain, the erstwhile proud mistress of half +the world, and the degenerate successors of Charles V accept an asylum +in France from the hands of a soldier of fortune. + +But if their rulers had lost all sense of dignity, all feeling of +national pride, the Spanish nation remained true to itself, and when +the doings at Bayona became known a cry of indignation went up from +the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean. On May 2, 1808, the people of Spain +commenced a six years' struggle full of heroic and terrible episodes. +At the end of that period the necessity of withdrawing the French +troops from Spain to confront the second coalition, and the assistance +of the English under Lord Wellesley cleared the Peninsula of French +soldiers. After the battle of Leipzig (1813) a treaty between +Ferdinand VII and Napoleon was signed in Valencia, and Spain's +independence was recognized and guaranteed by the allies. + + * * * * * + +From the beginning of the war many officers and privates, residents of +Puerto Rico, enlisted to serve against the French, and large sums of +money, considering the island's poverty, were subscribed among the +inhabitants to aid in the defense of the mother country. + +Ferdinand VII reentered Madrid as king on March 24, 1814, accompanied +by a coterie of retrograde, revengeful priests, of whom his +confessor, Victor Saez, was the leader. He made this priest Minister +of State, and soon proved the truth of the saying that the Bourbons +forget nothing, forgive nothing, and learn nothing from experience. + +He commenced by ignoring the regency and the Cortes. These had +preserved his kingdom for him while he was an exile. He refused to +recognize the constitution which they had framed, and at once +initiated an epoch of cruel persecution against such as had +distinguished themselves by their talents, love of liberty, and +progressive ideas. The public press was completely silenced, the +Inquisition reestablished, the convents reopened, provincial +deputations and municipalities abolished, distinguished men were +surprised in their beds at night and torn from the arms of their wives +and children, to be conducted by soldiers to the fortress of Ceuta--in +short, the Government was a civil dictatorship occupied in hanging the +most distinguished citizens, while the military authorities busied +themselves in shooting them. + +In the colonies the king's lackeys repeated the same outrages. Puerto +Rico suffered like the rest, and many of the best families emigrated +to the neighboring English and French possessions. + +The result of the royal turpitude was the revolution headed by Rafael +Diego, seconded by General O'Daly, a Puerto Rican by birth, who had +greatly distinguished himself in the war against the French. Other +generals and their troops followed, and when General Labisbal, sent by +Ferdinand to quell the insurrection, joined his comrades, the +trembling tyrant was only too glad to save his throne by swearing to +maintain the constitution of 1812. O'Daly's share in these events +raised him to the rank of field-marshal, and the people of Puerto Rico +elected him their deputy to Cortes by a large majority (1820). + +The first constitutional régime in Puerto Rico was not abolished till +December 3, 1814. For the great majority of the inhabitants of the +island at that time the privileges of citizenship had neither meaning +nor value. They were still too profoundly ignorant, too desperately +poor, to take any interest in what was passing outside of their +island. Cock-fighting and horse-racing occupied most of their time. +Schools had not increased much since O'Reilly reported the existence +of two in 1765. There was an official periodical, the Gazette, in +which the Government offered spelling-books _for sale_ to those who +wished to learn to read.[48] + +During the second constitutional period, Puerto Rico was divided by a +resolution in Cortes into 7 judicial districts, and tablets with the +constitutional prescriptions on them were ordered to be placed in the +plazas of the towns in the interior. Public spirit began to awaken, +several patriotic associations were formed, among them those of "the +Lovers of Science," "the Liberals, Lovers of their Country," and +others. But the dawn of progress was eclipsed again toward the end of +1823, when the news of the fall of the second constitutional régime +reached Puerto Rico a few months after the people had elected their +deputies to Cortes. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 47: The King of England.] + +[Footnote 48: Neuman, p. 354.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ISLAND + +FROM 1815 TO 1833 + +That Ferdinand should, while engaged in cruel persecution of his best +subjects in the Peninsula, think of dictating liberal laws for this +island is an anomaly which can be explained only by its small +political importance. + +In August, 1815, there appeared a decree entitled "Regulations for +promoting the population, commerce, industry, and agriculture of +Puerto Rico." It embraced every object, and provided for all the +various incidents that could instil life and vigor into an infant +colony. It held out the most flattering prospects to industrious and +enterprising foreigners. It conferred the rights and privileges of +Spaniards on them and their children. Lands were granted to them +gratis, and no expenses attended the issue of titles and legal +documents constituting it private property. The quantity of land +allotted was in proportion to the number of slaves introduced by each +new settler. The new colonists were not to be subject to taxes or +export duty on their produce, or import duties on their agricultural +implements. If war should be declared between Spain and their native +country, their persons and properties were to be respected, and if +they wished to leave the island they were permitted to realize on +their property and carry its value along with them, paying 10 per cent +on the surplus of the capital they had brought. They were exempted +from the capitation tax or personal tribute. Each slave was to pay a +tax of one dollar yearly after having been ten years in the island. +During the first five years the colonists had liberty to return to +their former places of residence, and in this case could carry with +them all that they had brought without being obliged to pay export +duty. Those who should die in the island without heirs might leave +their property to their friends and relations in other countries. The +heirs had the privilege of remaining on the same conditions as the +testators, or if they preferred to take away their inheritance they +might do so on paying a duty of 15 per cent. + +The colonists were likewise exonerated from the payment of tithes for +fifteen years, and at the end of that period they were to pay only 2 +12 per cent. They were equally free, for the same period, from the +payment of alcabala,[49] and at the expiration of the specified term +they were to pay 2 12 per cent, but if they shipped their produce to +Spain, nothing. The introduction of negroes into the island was to be +perpetually free. Direct commerce with Spain and the other Spanish +possessions was to be free for fifteen years, and after that period +Puerto Rico was to be placed on the same footing with the other +Spanish colonies. These concessions and exemptions were contained in +thirty-three articles, and though, at the present day, they may seem +but the abolition of unwarrantable abuses, at the time the concessions +were made they were real and important and produced salutary effects. +They brought foreigners possessing capital and agricultural knowledge +into the country, whose habits of industry and skill in cultivation +soon began to be imitated and acquired by the natives. + +The effects of the revolution of 1820 were felt in Puerto Rico as well +as in Spain. The concentration of civil and military power in the +hands of the captains-general ceased, but party spirit began to show +its disturbing influence. The press, hitherto muffled by political and +ecclesiastical censors, often went to the extremes of abuse and +personalities. Mechanics and artisans began to neglect their workshops +to listen to the harangues of politicians on the nature of governments +and laws. Agriculture and commerce diminished. Great but ineffectual +efforts were made to induce the people of Puerto Rico to follow the +example of the colonies on the continent and proclaim their +independence. + +This state of affairs lasted till 1823, when, through French +intervention, the constitutional Government in Spain was overthrown, +and a second reactionary period set in even worse in its +manifestations of odium to progress and liberty than the one of 1814. +The leading men of the fallen government, to escape death or +imprisonment, emigrated. Among them was O'Daly, who, after living some +time in London, settled in Saint Thomas, where he earned a precarious +living as teacher of languages.[50] + + * * * * * + +In 1825 the island's governor was Lieutenant-General Miguel de la +Torre, Count de Torrepando, who was invested by the king with +viceregal powers, which he used in the first place to put a stop to +the organized system of defalcation that existed. The proof of the +efficacy of the timely and vigorous proceedings which he employed was +the immediate increase of the public revenue, which from that day +continued rapidly to advance. The troops in garrison and all persons +employed in the public service were regularly paid, nearly half the +arrears of back pay were gradually paid off, confidence was restored, +and "more was accomplished for the island during the last seven years +of Governor La Torre's administration (from 1827 to 1834), and more +money arising from its revenues was expended on works of public +utility, than the total amounts furnished for the same object during +the preceding 300 years." [51] + +The era of prosperity which marked the period of Count de Torrepando's +administration, and which at the same time prevailed in Cuba also, was +largely due to the advent in these Antilles of many of the best and +wealthiest citizens of Venezuela, Colombia, and Santo Domingo, who, +driven from their homes by the incessant revolutions, to escape +persecution settled in them, and infused a new and healthier element +in the lower classes of the population. + +The condition of Puerto Rican society at this period, though much +improved since 1815, still left much to be desired. The leaders of +society were the Spanish civil and military officers, who, with little +prospect of returning to the Peninsula, married wealthy creole women +and made the island their home. Their descendants form the aristocracy +of today. Next came the merchants and shopkeepers, active and +industrious Catalans, Gallegos, Mallorquins, who seldom married but +returned to the Peninsula as soon as they had made sufficient money. +These and the soldiers of the garrison made a transitory population. +Tradesmen and artisans, as a rule, were creoles. Besides these, the +island swarmed with adventurers of all countries, who came and went as +fortune favored or frowned. + +There was another class of "whites" who made up no inconsiderable +portion of the population--namely, the convicts who had served out +their time in the island's fortress. Few of them had any inducements +to return to their native land. They generally succeeded in finding a +refuge with some family of colored people, and it may be supposed that +this ingraftment did not enhance the morality of the class with whom +they mixed. The evil reputation which Puerto Rico had in the French +and English Antilles as being an island where rape, robbery, and +assassination were rife was probably due to this circumstance, and not +altogether undeserved, for we read[52] that in 1827 the municipal +corporation of Aguadilla discussed the convenience of granting or +refusing permission for the celebration of the annual Feast of the +Conception, which had been suspended since 1820 at the request of the +curate, "on account of the gambling, rapes, and robberies that +accompanied it." + +Horse-racing and cock-fighting remained the principal amusement of the +populace. Every house and cabin had its game-cock, every village its +licensed cockpit. The houses of all classes were built of wood; the +cabins of the "jíbaros" were mere bamboo hovels, where the family, +males and females of all ages, slept huddled together on a platform of +boards. There were no inns in country or town, except one in the +capital. Schools for both sexes were wanting, a few youths were sent +by their parents to be educated in France or Spain or the United +States, and after two or three years returned with a little +superficial knowledge. + +About this time the formation of a militia corps of 7,000 men was a +step in the right direction. The people, dispersed over the face of +the country, living in isolated houses, had little incentive to +industry. Their wants were few and easily satisfied, and their time +was spent swinging in a hammock or in their favorite amusements. The +obligation to serve in the militia forced them to abandon their +indolent and unsocial habits and appear in the towns on Sundays for +drill. They were thus compelled to be better dressed, and a salutary +spirit of emulation was produced. This created new wants, which had to +be supplied by increased labor, their manners were softened, and if +their morals did not gain, they were, at least, aroused from the +listless inactivity of an almost savage life to exertion and social +intercourse. + +Such were the social conditions of the island when the death of +Ferdinand VII gave rise to an uninterrupted succession of political +upheavals, the baneful effects of which were felt here. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 49: Duty on the sale of produce or articles of commerce.] + +[Footnote 50: In 1834 the Queen Regent, Maria Christina, gave him +permission to reside in Puerto Rico. Two years later he was reinstated +in favor and was made Military Governor of Cartagena. He died in +Madrid a few years later.] + +[Footnote 51: Colonel Flinter. An Account of the Present State of the +Island of Puerto Rico. London, 1834.] + +[Footnote 52: Brau, p. 284.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON AFFAIRS IN PUERTO +RICO + +1833-1874 + +THE French Revolution of 1830 and the expulsion of Charles X revived +the hopes of the liberal party in Spain, which party the bigoted +absolutism of the king and his minister had vainly endeavored to +exterminate. The liberals saluted that event as a promise that the +nineteenth century should see the realization of their aspirations, +and the exiled members of the party at once came to France to attempt +an invasion of Spain, counting upon the sympathy of the French +Government, which was denied them. The attempt only brought renewed +persecution to the members at home. + +Fortunately, the king's failing health and subsequent death +transferred the reins of government to the hands of the queen, who, +less absolutist than her consort, reopened the universities, which had +long been closed, and proclaimed a general amnesty, thus bringing the +expatriated and imprisoned Liberals back to political life. + +After the king's death the pretensions of Don Carlos, his brother, lit +the torch of civil war, which blazed fiercely till 1836, when a +revolution changed the Government's policy and the constitution of +1812 was again declared in force. In 1837 the Cortes, though nearly +all the Deputies were Progressists, by a vote of 90 to 60, deprived +Cuba and Puerto Rico of the right of representation. + +Another Carlist campaign was initiated in 1838. In 1839 Maria +Christina, having lost her prestige, was obliged to abdicate; then +followed the regency of the Duke de la Victoria Espartero, an +insurrection in Barcelona, the Cortes of 1843, an attack on Madrid, +and the fall of the regency, a period of seven years marked by a +series of military pronunciamentos, the last of which was headed by +General Prim. + +Isabel II was now declared of age (1843), and from the date of her +accession two political parties, the Progressists and the Moderates, +under the leadership of Espartero and Narvaez respectively, contended +for control, until, in 1865, the insurrection of Vicalváro gave the +direction of affairs to O'Donnell, Canovas del Castillo, and others, +who represented the liberal Unionist party. They remained in power +till 1866, when Prim and Gonzales Bravo raised the standard of revolt +once more and Isabel II was dethroned. Then another provisional +government was formed under a triumvirate composed of Generals Prim, +Serrano, and Topete, who represented the Progressist and the +democratic parties (September, 1868). They steered the ship of state +till 1871, and, seeing the rocks of revolution still ahead, offered +the Spanish crown to Amadeo, who, after wearing it scarce two years, +found it too heavy for his brow, and abdicated. He had changed +ministeriums six times in less than two years, and came to the +conclusion that the modern Spaniards were ungovernable. + +A republican form of government was now established (February 11, +1873), and it was understood by all parties that it should be a +Federal Republic, in which each of the provinces should enjoy the +largest possible amount of autonomy, subject to the authority of the +central government. + +This proved to be the stumbling-block; the deputies could not agree on +the details, passions were aroused, violent discussions took place. +The Carlists, seeing a favorable opportunity, plunged the Basque +provinces, Navarra, Cataluña, lower Aragón, and part of Castilla and +Valencia, into civil war. At the same time, the Radicals promoted what +were called "cantonnal" insurrections in Cartagena, and Spain seemed +on the verge of social chaos and ruin. + +A _coup d'état_ saved the country. General Pavia, the Captain-General +of Madrid, with a body of guards forced an entrance into the halls of +congress and turned the Deputies out (January 3, 1874). A provisional +government was once more constituted with Serrano at the head. His +first act was to dissolve the Cortes. + + * * * * * + +The events just summarized exercised a baneful influence on the +social, political, and economic conditions of this and of its more +important sister Antilla. + +Royalists, Carlists, Liberals, Reformists, Unionists, Moderates, and +men of other political parties disputed over the direction of the +nation's affairs at the point of the sword, and as each party obtained +an ephemeral victory it hastened to send its partizans to govern +these islands. The new governors invariably proceeded at once to undo +what their predecessors had wrought before them. + +They succeeded each other at short intervals. From 1837 to 1874 +twenty-six captains-general came to Puerto Rico, only six of whom left +any grateful memories behind. The others looked upon the people as +always watching for an opportunity to follow the example of the +continental colonies. They pursued a policy of distrust, suspicion, +and of uncompromising antagonism to the people's most legitimate +aspirations. + +The reactionists, in their implacable odium of progress and liberty, +considered every measure calculated to give greater freedom to the +people or raise their moral and intellectual status as a crime against +the mother country; hence the utter absence of the means of education, +and a systematic demoralization of the masses. + +Don Angel Acosta[53] mentions the Count de Torrepando as an example of +this. He came from Venezuela to govern this island in 1837, with the +express purpose, he declared, of diverting the attention of the +inhabitants from the revolutionary doings of Bolivar. + +Gambling was, and is still, one of the ruling vices of the common +people. He encouraged it, established cockpits in every town and +instituted the carnival games. He also established the feast of San +Juan, which lasted, and still lasts, the whole month of June; and +when some respectable people, Insulars as well as Peninsulars, +protested against this official propaganda of vice and idleness, he +replied: "Let them be--while they dance and gamble they don't +conspire; ... these people must be governed by three B's--Barraja, +Botella, and Berijo." [54] General Pezuela, a man of liberal +disposition and literary attainments,[55] stigmatized the people of +Puerto Rico as a people without faith, without thought, and without +religion, and, though he afterward did something for the intellectual +development of the inhabitants, in the beginning of his administration +(1848-1851) thought it expedient not to discourage cock-fighting, but +regulated it. + +In 1865 gambling was public and universal. In the capital there was a +gambling-house in almost every street. One in the upper story of the +house at the corner of San Francisco and Cruz Streets, kept by an +Italian, was crowded day and night. The bank could be distinctly seen +from the Plaza, and the noise, the oaths, the foul language, mixing +with the chink of money distinctly heard. When the governor's +attention (General Felix Messina) was called to the scandalous +exhibition, his answer was: "Let them gamble, ... while they are at it +they will not occupy themselves with politics, and if they get ruined +it is for the benefit of others." + +This systematic villification of the people completely neutralized +the effect of the measures adopted from time to time by progressist +governors, such as the Count of Mirasol, Norzagaray, Cotoner, and +Pavia, and not even the revolution of September, 1868, materially +affected the disgraceful condition of affairs in the island. Only +those who paid twenty-five pesos direct contribution had the right of +suffrage. The press remained subject to previous censorship, its +principal function being to swing the incense-burner; the right of +public reunion was unknown, and if known would have been +impracticable; the majority of the respectable citizens lived under +constant apprehension lest they should be secretly accused of +disloyalty and prosecuted. Rumors of conspiracies, filibustering +expeditions, clandestine introductions of arms, and attempts at +insurrection were the order of the day. Every Liberal was sure to be +inscribed on the lists of "suspects," harassed and persecuted. + +A seditious movement among the garrison on the 7th of June, 1867, gave +Governor Marchessi a pretext for banishing about a dozen of the +leading inhabitants of the capital, an arbitrary proceeding which was +afterward disapproved by the Government in Madrid. + +Such a situation naturally affected the economic conditions of the +island. Confidence there was none. Credit was refused. Capital +emigrated with its possessors. Commerce and agriculture languished. +Misery spread over the land. The treasury was empty, for no +contributions could be collected from an impoverished population, and +the island's future was compromised by loans at usurious rates. + +The dethronement of Isabel II, and the revolution of September, 1868, +brought a change for the better. The injustice done to the Antilles by +the Cortes of 1873 was repaired, and the island was again called upon +to elect representatives. The first meetings with that object were +held in February, 1869. + +The ideas and tendencies of the Liberal and Conservative parties among +the native Puerto Ricans were now beginning to be defined. Each party +had its organ in the press[56] and advocated its principles; the +authorities stood aloof; the elections came off in an orderly manner +(May, 1869); the Conservatives carried the first and third districts, +the Liberals the second. + +It may be said that the political education of the Puerto Ricans +commenced with the royal decree of 1865, which authorized the minister +of ultramarine affairs, Canovas del Castillo, to draw up a report from +the information to be furnished by special commissioners to be elected +in Puerto Rico and Cuba, which information was to serve as a basis for +the enactment of special laws for the government of each island. This +gave the commissioners an opportunity to discuss their views on +insular government with the leading public men of Spain, and they +profited by these discussions till 1867, when they returned. + +The question of the abolition of slavery had not been brought to a +decision. The insular deputies were almost equally divided in their +opinions for and against, but the revolutionary committee in its +manifesto declared that from September 19, 1868, all children born of +a slave mother should be free. + +In Puerto Rico this measure remained without effect owing to the +arbitrary and reactionist character of the governor who was appointed +to succeed Don Julian Pavia, during whose just and prudent +administration the so-called Insurrection of Lares happened. It was +originally planned by an ex-commissioner to Cortes, Don Ruiz Belviz, +and his friend Betánces, who had incurred the resentment of Governor +Marchessi, and who were banished in consequence. They obtained the +remission of their sentences in Madrid. Betánces returned to Santo +Domingo and Belviz started on a tour through Spanish-American +republics to solicit assistance in his secessionist plan; but he died +in Valparaiso, and Betánces was left to carry it out alone. + +September 20, 1868, two or three hundred individuals of all classes +and colors, many of them negro slaves brought along by their masters +under promise of liberation, met at the coffee plantation of a Mr. +Bruckman, an American, who provided them with knives and machetes, of +which he had a large stock in readiness. Thus armed they proceeded to +the plantation of a Mr. Rosas, who saluted them as "the army of +liberators," and announced himself as their general-in-chief, in token +whereof he was dressed in the uniform of an American fireman, with a +tri-colored scarf across his breast, a flaming sash around his waist, +with sword, revolver, and cavalry boots. During the day detachments +of men from different parts of the district joined the party and +brought the numbers to from eight to ten hundred. The commissariat, +not yet being organized, the general-in-chief generously provided an +abundant meal for his men, which, washed down with copious drafts of +rum, put them in excellent condition to undertake the march on Lares +that same evening. + +At midnight the peaceful inhabitants of that small town, which lies +nestled among precipitous mountains in the interior, were startled +from their sleep by loud yells and cries of "Long live Puerto Rico +independent! Down with Spain! Death to the Spaniards!" The alcalde and +his secretary, who came out in the street to see what the noise was +about, were made prisoners and placed in the stocks, where they were +soon joined by a number of Spaniards who lived in the town. + +The contents of two or three wine and provision shops (pulperias) that +were plundered kept the "enthusiasm" alive. + +The next day the Republic of Boriquén was proclaimed. To give +solemnity to the occasion, the curate was forced to hold a +thanksgiving service and sing a Te Deum, after which the Provisional +Government was installed. Francisco Ramirez, a small landholder, was +the president. The justice of the peace was made secretary of +government, his clerk became secretary of finance, another clerk was +made secretary of justice, and the lessee of a cockpit secretary of +state. The "alcaldia" was the executive's palace, and the queen's +portrait, which hung in the room, was replaced by a white flag with +the inscription: "Long live free Puerto Rico! Liberty or Death! 1868." + +The declaration of independence came next. All Spaniards were ordered +to leave the island with their families within three days, failing +which they would be considered as citizens of the new-born republic +and obliged to take arms in its defense; in case of refusal they would +be treated as traitors. + +The next important step was to form a plan of campaign. It was agreed +to divide "the army" in two columns and march them the following day +on the towns of Pepino and Camuy; but when morning came it appeared +that the night air had cooled the enthusiasm of more than half the +number of "liberators," and that, considering discretion the better +part of valor, they had returned to their homes. + +However, there were about three hundred men left, and with these the +"commander-in-chief" marched upon Pepino. When the inhabitants became +aware of the approach of their liberators they ran to shut themselves +up in their houses. The column made a short halt at a "pulperia" in +the outskirts of the town, to take some "refreshment," and then boldly +penetrated to the plaza, where it was met by sixteen loyal militiamen. +A number of shots were exchanged. One "libertador" was killed and two +or three wounded, when suddenly some one cried: "The soldiers are +coming!" This was the signal for a general _sauve qui peut_, and soon +Commander Rojas with a few of his "officers" were left alone. It is +said that he tried to rally his panic-stricken warriors, but they +would not listen to him. Then he returned to his plantation a sadder, +but, presumably, a wiser man.[57] + +As soon as the news of the disturbance reached San Juan, the Governor +sent Lieutenant-Colonel Gamar in pursuit of the rebels, with orders to +investigate the details of the movement and make a list of names of +all those implicated. Rosas and all his followers were taken prisoners +without resistance. Bruckman and a Venezuelan resisted and were shot +down. + +Here was an opportunity for the reactionists to visit on the heads of +all the members of the reform party the offense of a few misguided +jíbaros, and they tried hard to persuade the governor to adopt severe +measures against their enemies; but General Pavia was a just and a +prudent man, and he placed the rebels at the disposition of the civil +court. They were imprisoned in Lares, Arecibo, and Aguadilla, and, +while awaiting their trial, an epidemic, brought on by the unsanitary +conditions of the prisons in which they were packed, speedily carried +off seventy-nine of them. + +Of the rest seven were condemned to death, but the governor pardoned +five. The remaining two were pardoned by his successor. + +So ended the insurrection of Lares. During the trial of the rebels, +the same members of the reform party who had been banished by +Governor Marchessi, Don Julian Blanco, Don José Julian Acosta, Don +Pedro Goico, Don Rufino Goenaga, and Don Calixto Romero, were +denounced as the leaders of the Separatist movement. They were +imprisoned, but were soon after found to have been falsely accused and +liberated. + +[Illustration: Only remaining gate of the city wall, San Juan.] + +Until the arrival of General Don Gabriel Baldrich as governor (May, +1870), Puerto Rico benefited little by the revolution of September, +1868. The insurrection in Cuba, which coincided with the movement in +Lares, made Sanz, the successor of Pavia, a man of arbitrary character +and reactionary principles, adopt a policy more suspicious and +intransigent than ever (from 1869 to 1870), but Governor Baldrich was +a staunch Liberal, and the Separatist phantom which had haunted +his predecessor had no terrors for him. From the day of his arrival, +the dense atmosphere of obstruction, distrust, and jealousy in which +the island was suffocating cleared. The rumors of conspiracies ceased, +political opinions were respected, the Liberals could publicly express +their desire for reform without being subjected to insult and +persecution. The gag was removed from the mouth of the press and each +party had its proper organ. The municipal elections came off +peaceably, and the Provincial Deputation, composed entirely of Liberal +reformists, was inaugurated April 1, 1871. + +General Baldrich was terribly harassed by the intransigents here and +in the Peninsula. He was accused of being an enemy of Spain and of +protecting the Separatists. Meetings were held denouncing his +administration, menaces of expulsion were uttered, and he was insulted +even in his own palace. Violent opposition to his reform measures were +carried to such an extent that he was at last obliged to declare the +capital in a state of siege (July 26, 1871). + +On September 27th of the same year he left Puerto Rico disgusted, much +to the regret of the enlightened part of the population, which had, +for the first time, enjoyed for a short period the benefits of +political freedom. As a proof of the disposition of the majority of +the people they had elected eighteen Liberal reformists as Deputies to +Cortes out of the nineteen that corresponded to the island. + +Baldrich's successor was General Ramon Gomez Pulido, nicknamed "coco +seco" (dried coconut) on account of his shriveled appearance. Although +appointed by a Radical Ministry, he inaugurated a reactionary policy. +He ordered new elections to be held at once, and soon filled the +prisons of the island with Liberal reformists. He was followed by +General Don Simon de la Torre (1872). His reform measures met with +still fiercer opposition than that which General Baldrich encountered. +He also was forced to declare the state of siege in the capital and +landed the marines of a Spanish war-ship that happened to be in the +port. He posted them in the Morro and San Cristobal forts, with the +guns pointed on the city, threatening to bombard it if the +"inconditionals" who had tried to suborn the garrison carried their +intention of promoting an insurrection into effect. He removed the +chief of the staff from his post and sent him to Spain, relieved the +colonel of the Puerto Rican battalion and the two colonels in +Mayaguez and Ponce from their respective commands, and maintained +order with a strong hand till he was recalled by the Government in +Madrid through the machinations of his opponents. + +During the interval between the departure of General Baldrich and the +arrival in April, 1873, of Lieutenant-General Primo de Rivero, there +happened what was called "the insurrection of Camuy," in which three +men were killed, two wounded, and sixteen taken prisoners, which +turned out to have been an unwarrantable aggression on the part of the +reactionists, falsely reported as an attempt at insurrection. + +General Primo de Rivero brought with him the proclamation of the +abolition of slavery and Article I of the Constitution of 1869, +whereby the inhabitants of the island were recognized as Spaniards. + +Great popular rejoicings followed these proclamations. In San Juan +processions paraded the streets amid "vivas" to Spain, to the +Republic, and to Liberty. In Ponce the people and the soldiers +fraternized, and the long-cherished aspirations of the inhabitants +seemed to be realized at last. + +But they were soon to be undeceived. The Republican authorities in the +metropolis sent Sanz, the reactionist, as governor for the second +time. His first act was to suspend the individual guarantees granted +by the Constitution, then he abolished the Provincial Deputation, +dissolved the municipalities in which the Liberal reformists had a +majority, and a new period of persecution set in, in which teachers, +clergymen, lawyers, and judges--in short, all who were distinguished +by superior education and their liberal ideas--were punished for the +crime of having striven with deed or tongue or pen for the progress +and welfare of the land of their birth. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 53: Estudio Historico. San Juan, 1899.] + +[Footnote 54: Cards, rum, and women.] + +[Footnote 55: He had been President of the Royal Academy.] + +[Footnote 56: El Porvenir, for the Liberals, the Boletin Mercantíl, +for the Conservatives.] + +[Footnote 57: Extracts from the History of the Insurrection of Lares, +by José Perez Moris.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND--THE DAWN OF FREEDOM + +1874-1898 + +The Spanish Republic was but short lived. From the day of its +proclamation (February 11, 1873) to the landing in Barcelona of +Alphonso XII in the early days of 1876 its history is the record of an +uninterrupted series of popular tumults. + +The political restlessness in the Peninsula, accentuating as it did +the party antagonisms in Cuba and Puerto Rico, led the governors, most +of whom were chosen for their adherence to conservative principles, to +endeavor, but in vain, to stem the tide of revolutionary and +Separatist ideas with more and more drastic measures of repression. + +This persistence of the colonial authorities in the maintenance of an +obsolete system of administration, in the face of a universal +recognition of the principles of liberty and self-government, added to +the immediate effect on the economic and social conditions in this +island of the abolition of slavery, for which it was unprepared,[58] +brought it once more to the brink of ruin. + +From 1873 to 1880 the resources of the island grew gradually less, +the country's capital was being consumed without profit, credit became +depressed, the best business forecasts turned out illusive, the most +intelligent industrial efforts remained sterile. The sun of prosperity +which rose over the island in 1815 set again in gloom during this +period of seven years. + +The causes were clear to every unbiased mind and must have been so +even to the prejudiced officials of the Government. They consisted in +the anomalous restrictions on the coasting trade, the unjustifiable +difference in the duties on Spanish and island produce, the high duty +on flour from the United States, the export duties, the extravagant +expenditure in the administration, irritating monopolies, and +countless abuses, vexatious formalities, and ruinous exactions. + +Mr. James McCormick, an intelligent Scotchman, for many years a +resident of the island, who, in 1880, was commissioned by the +Provincial Deputation to draw up a report on the causes of the +agricultural depression in this island and its removal by the +introduction of the system of central sugar factories, describes the +situation as follows: + +" ... The truth is, that the country is in a pitiable condition. +Throughout its extent it resents the many drains upon its vitality. +Its strength is wasted, and the activities that utilized its favorable +natural conditions are paralyzed. The damages sustained have been +enormous and it is scarcely possible to appraise them at their true +value. With the produce of the soil diminished and the sale thereof at +losing prices the value of real estate throughout the island has +decreased in alarming proportions. Everybody's resources have been +wasted and spent uselessly, and many landholders, wealthy but +yesterday, have been ruined if not reduced to misery. The leading +merchants and proprietors, men who were identified with the progress +of the country and had vast resources at their command, after a long +and tenacious struggle have succumbed at last under the accumulation +of misfortunes banded against them." + +Such was the situation in 1880. + +To relieve the financial distress of the country a series of +ordinances were enacted[59] which culminated in the reform laws of +March 15, 1895, and if royal decrees had had power to cure the +incurable or remove the causes that for four centuries had undermined +the foundations of Spain's colonial empire, they might, possibly, have +sustained the crumbling edifice for some time longer. + +But they came too late. The Antilles were slipping from Spain's grasp; +nor could Weyler's inhuman proceedings in Cuba nor the tardy +concession of a pseudo-autonomy to Puerto Rico arrest the movement. + +The laws of March 15, 1895, for the administrative reorganization of +Cuba and Puerto Rico, the basis of which was approved by a unanimous +vote of the leaders of the Peninsula and Antillean parties in Cortes, +remained without application in Cuba because of the insurrection, and +in Puerto Rico because of the influence upon the inhabitants of this +island of the events in the neighboring island. + +After the death of Macéo and of Marti, the two most influential +leaders of the revolution, and the terrible measures for suppressing +the revolt adopted by Weyler, the Spanish Colonial Minister, Don Tomas +Castellano y Villaroya, addressed the Queen Regent December 31, 1896. +He declared his belief in the proximate pacification of Cuba, and +said: That the moment had arrived for the Government to show to the +world (_vide licet_ United States) its firm resolution to comply with +the spontaneous promises made by the nation by introducing and +amplifying in Puerto Rico the reforms in civil government and +administration which had been voted by Cortes. + +He further stated that the inconditional party in Puerto Rico, guided +by the patriotism which distinguished it, showed its complete +conformity with the reforms proposed by the Government, and that the +"autonomist" party, which, in the beginning, looked upon the proposed +reforms with indifference, had also accepted and declared its +conformity with them. + +Therefore, the minister continued: "It would not be just in the +Government to indefinitely postpone the application in Puerto Rico of +a law which awakens so many hopes of a better future." + +The minister assures the Queen Regent that the proposed laws respond +to an ample spirit of decentralization, and expresses confidence that, +as soon as possible, her Majesty will introduce in Cuba also, not +only the reforms intended by the law of March 15th, but will extend to +Puerto Rico the promised measures to provide the Antilles _with an +exclusively local administration and economic personnel_. "The reform +laws," the minister adds, "will be the foundation of the new regimen, +but an additional decree, to be laid before the Cortes, will amplify +them in such a way that a truly autonomous administration will be +established in our Antilles." Then follow the proposed laws, which are +to apply, explain, and complement in Puerto Rico, the reform laws of +March 15th--namely, the Provincial law, the Municipal law, and the +Electoral law. + +The Peninsular electoral law of June, 1890, was adapted to Cuba and +Puerto Rico at the suggestion of Sagasta, who, in the exposition to +the Queen Regent, which accompanied the project of autonomy, stated: +That the inhabitants of the Antilles frequently complained of, and +lamented the irritating inequalities which alone were enough to +obstruct or entirely prevent the exercise of constitutional +privileges, and he concludes with these remarkable words: " ... So +that, if by arbitrary dispositions without appeal, by penalties +imposed by proclamations of the governors-general, or by simply +ignoring the laws of procedure, the citizen may be restrained, +harassed, deported even to distant territories, it is impossible for +him to exercise the right of free speech, free thought, or free +writing, or the freedom of instruction, or religious tolerance, nor +can he practise the right of union and association." These words +constitute a synopsis of the causes that made the Spanish +Government's tardy attempts at reform in the administration of its +ultramarine possessions illusive; that mocked the people's legitimate +aspirations, destroyed their confidence in the promises of the home +Government, and made the people of Puerto Rico look upon the American +soldiers, when they landed, not as men in search of conquest and +spoliation, but as the representatives of a nation enjoying a full +measure of the liberties and privileges, for a moderate share of which +they had vainly petitioned the mother country through long years of +unquestioning loyalty. + +The royal decree conceding autonomy to Puerto Rico was signed on +November 25, 1897. On April 21, 1898, Governor-General Manuel Macias, +suspended the constitutional guarantees and declared the island in +state of war. A few months later Puerto Rico, recognized too late as +ripe for self-government by the mother country, became a part of the +territory of the United States. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 58: The slaveholders were paid in Government bonds +(schedules), redeemable in ten years. They lost their labor supply, +and had neither capital nor other means to replace it. Their ruin +became inevitable. An English or German syndicate bought up the bonds +at 15 per cent.] + +[Footnote 59: See Part II, chapter on Finances.] + + + + +PART II + +THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SITUATION AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF PUERTO RICO + +The island of Puerto Rico, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, is +about 1,420 miles from New York, 1,000 miles from Havana, 1,050 miles +from Key West, 1,200 miles from Panama, 3,450 miles from Land's End in +England, and 3,180 from the port of Cadiz. It is about 104 miles in +length from east to west, by 34 miles in average breadth, and has an +area of 2,970 square miles. It lies eastward of the other greater +Antilles, Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, and although inferior even to the +last of these islands in population and extent, it yields to none of +them in fertility. + +By its geographical position Puerto Rico is peculiarly adapted to +become the center of an extensive commerce. It lies to the windward of +Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Jamaica, and of the Gulf of Mexico and Bay of +Honduras. It is contiguous to all the English and French Windward +Islands, only a few hours distant from the former Danish islands Saint +Thomas, Saint John, and Santa Cruz, and a few days' sail from the +coast of Venezuela. + +Puerto Rico is the fourth in size of the greater Antilles. Its first +appearance to the eye of the stranger is striking and picturesque. +Nature here offers herself to his contemplation clothed in the +splendid vesture of tropical vegetation. The chain of mountains which +intersects the island from east to west seems at first sight to form +two distinct chains parallel to each other, but closer observation +makes it evident that they are in reality corresponding parts of the +same chain, with upland valleys and tablelands in the center, which +again rise gradually and incorporate themselves with the higher +ridges. The height of these mountains is lofty, if compared with those +of the other Antilles. The loftiest part is that of Luguillo, or +Loquillo, at the northeast extremity of the island, which measures +1,334 Castilian yards, and the highest point, denominated El Yunque, +can be seen at the distance of 68 miles at sea. The summit of this +ridge is almost always enveloped in mist, and when its sides are +overhung by white fleecy clouds it is the certain precursor of the +heavy showers which fertilize the northern coast. The soil in the +center of the mountains is excellent, and the mountains themselves are +susceptible of cultivation to their summits. Several towns and +villages are situated among these mountains, where the inhabitants +enjoy the coolness of a European spring and a pure and salubrious +atmosphere. The town of Alboníto, built on a table-land about eight +leagues from Ponce, on the southern coast, enjoys a delightful +climate. + +To the north and south of this interior ridge of mountains, stretching +along the seacoasts, are the fertile valleys which produce the chief +wealth of the island. From the principal chain smaller ridges run +north and south, forming between them innumerable valleys, fertilized +by limpid streams which, descending from the mountains, empty +themselves into the sea on either coast. In these valleys the majestic +beauty of the palm-trees, the pleasant alternation of hill and dale, +the lively verdure of the hills, compared with the deeper tints of the +forest, the orange trees, especially when covered with their golden +fruit, the rivers winding through the dales, the luxuriant fields of +sugar-cane, corn, and rice, with here and there a house peeping +through a grove of plantains, and cattle grazing in the green pasture, +form altogether a landscape of rural beauty scarcely to be surpassed +in any country in the world. + +The valleys of the north and east coasts are richest in cattle and +most picturesque. The pasturage there is always verdant and luxuriant, +while those of the south coast, richer in sugar, are often parched by +excessive drought, which, however, does not affect their fertility, +for water is found near the surface. This same alternation of rain and +drought on the north and south coasts is generally observed in all the +West India islands. + +Few islands of the extent of Puerto Rico are watered by so many +streams. Seventeen rivers, taking their rise in the mountains, cross +the valleys of the north coast and fall into the sea. Some of these +are navigable for two or three leagues from their mouths for small +craft. Those of Manati, Loisa, Trabajo, and Arecibo are very deep and +broad, and it is difficult to imagine how such large bodies of water +can be collected in so short a course. Owing to the heavy surf which +continually breaks on the north coast, these rivers have bars across +their embouchures which do not allow large vessels to enter. The +rivers of Bayamón and Rio Piedras flow into the harbor of the capital, +and are also navigable for boats. At Arecibo, at high water, small +brigs may enter with perfect safety, notwithstanding the bar. The +south, west, and east coasts are also well supplied with water. + +From the Cabeza de San Juan, which is the northeast extremity of the +island, to Cape Mala Pascua, which lies to the southeast, nine rivers +fall into the sea. From Cape Mala Pascua to Point Aguila, which forms +the southwest angle of the island, sixteen rivers discharge their +waters on the south coast. + +On the west coast, three rivers, five rivulets, and several +fresh-water lakes communicate with the sea. The rivers of the north +coast are well stocked with edible fish. + +The roads formed in Puerto Rico during the Spanish administration are +constructed on a substantial plan, the center being filled with gravel +and stones well cemented. Each town made and repaired the roads of its +respective district. Many excellent and solid bridges, with stone +abutments, existed at the time of the transfer of the island to the +American nation. + +The whole line of coast of this island is indented with harbors, bays, +and creeks where ships of heavy draft may come to anchor. On the north +coast, during the months of November, December, and January, when the +wind blows sometimes with violence from the east and northeast, the +anchorage is dangerous in all the bays and harbors of that coast, +except in the port of San Juan. + +On the western coast the spacious bay of Aguadilla is formed by Cape +Borrigua and Cape San Francisco. When the southeast winds prevail it +is _not_ a safe anchorage for ships. + +Mayaguez is also an open roadstead on the west coast formed by two +projecting capes. It has good anchorage for vessels of large size and +is well sheltered from the north winds. + +The south coast also abounds in bays and harbors, but those which +deserve particular attention are the ports of Guánica and Hobos, or +Jovos, near Guayama. In Guánica vessels drawing 21 feet of water may +enter with perfect safety and anchor close to the shore. Hobos or +Jovos is a haven of considerable importance; sailing vessels of the +largest class may anchor and ride in safety; it has 4 fathoms of water +in the shallowest part of the entrance, but it is difficult to enter +from June to November as the sea breaks with violence at the entrance +on account of the southerly winds which prevail at this season. + +All the large islands in the tropics enjoy approximately the same +climate. The heat, the rains, the seasons, are, with trifling +variations, the same in all, but the number of mountains and running +streams, the absence of stagnant waters and general cultivation of the +land in Puerto Rico do, probably, powerfully contribute to purify the +atmosphere and render it more salubrious to Europeans than it +otherwise would be. In the mountains one enjoys the coolness of +spring, but the valleys, were it not for the daily breeze which blows +from the northeast and east, would be almost uninhabitable for white +men during part of the year. The climate of the north and south coasts +of this island, though under the same tropical influence, is +nevertheless essentially different. On the north coast it sometimes +rains almost the whole year, while on the south coast sometimes no +rain falls for twelve or fourteen months. On the whole, Puerto Rico is +one of the healthiest islands in the West Indies, nor is it infested +to the same extent as other islands by poisonous snakes and other +noxious reptiles. The laborer may sleep in peace and security in the +midst of the forest, by the side of the river, or in the meadow with +his cattle with no other fear than that of an occasional centipede or +guabuá (large hairy spider). + +Unlike most tropical islands there are no indigenous quadrupeds and +scarcely any of the feathered tribe in the forests. On the rivers +there are a few water-fowl and in the forests the green parrot. There +are neither monkeys nor rabbits, but rats and mongooses infest the +country and sometimes commit dreadful ravages in the sugar-cane. Ants +of different species also abound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF BORIQUÉN + +The origin of the primitive inhabitants of the West Indian Archipelago +has been the subject of much learned controversy, ending, like all +such discussions, in different theories and more or less verisimilar +conjecture. + +It appears that at the time of the discovery these islands were +inhabited by three races of different origin. One of these races +occupied the Bahamas. Columbus describes them as simple, generous, +peaceful creatures, whose only weapon was a pointed stick or cane. +They were of a light copper color, well-proportioned but slender, +rather good-looking, with aquiline noses, salient cheek-bones, +medium-sized mouths, long coarse hair. They had, perhaps, formerly +occupied the eastern part of the archipelago, whence they had +gradually disappeared, driven or exterminated by the Caribs, Caribós, +or Guáribos, a savage, warlike, and cruel race, which had invaded the +West Indies from the continent by way of the Orinoco, along the +tributaries of which river tribes of the same race are still to be +found. The larger Antilles, Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Puerto Rico, were +occupied by a race which probably originated from some part of the +southern division of the northern continent. The chroniclers mention +the Guaycures and others as their possible ancestors, and Stahl traces +their origin to a mixture of the Phoenicians with the aborigines of +remote antiquity. + +The information which we possess with regard to the habits and customs +of the inhabitants of Boriquén at the time of discovery is too scanty +and too unreliable to permit us to form more than a speculative +opinion of the degree of culture attained by them. + +Friar Abbad, in the fourth chapter of his history, gives us a +description of the character and customs of the people of Boriquén +taken wholly from the works of Oviedo, Herrera, Robertson, Raynal, and +others. + +Like most of the aboriginal inhabitants of America, the natives of +Boriquén were copper-colored, but somewhat darker than the inhabitants +of the neighboring islands. They were shorter of stature than the +Spaniards, but corpulent and well-proportioned, with flat noses, wide +nostrils, dull eyes, bad teeth, narrow foreheads, the skull +artificially flattened before and behind so as to give it a conical +shape, with long, black, coarse hair, beardless and hairless on the +rest of the body. Says Oviedo: " ... Their heads were not like other +people's, their skulls were so hard and thick that the Christians by +fighting with them have learned not to strike them on the head because +the swords break." + +Their whole appearance betrayed a lazy, indolent habit, and they +showed extreme aversion to labor or fatigue of any kind. They put +forth no exertion save what was necessary to obtain food, and only +rose from their "hamácas" or "jamácas," or shook off their habitual +indolence to play a game of ball (batey) or attend the dances +(areytos) which were accompanied by rude music and the chanting of +whatever happened to occupy their minds at the time. + +Notwithstanding their indolence and the unsubstantial nature of their +food, they were comparatively strong and robust, as they proved in +many a personal tussle with the Spaniards. + +Clothing was almost unknown. Only the women of mature age used an +apron of varying length, the rest, without distinction of age or sex, +were naked. They took great pains in painting their bodies with all +sorts of grotesque figures, the earthy coloring matter being laid on +by means of oily or resinous substances extracted from plants or +trees. + +These coats of paint, when fresh, served as holiday attire, and +protected them from the bites of mosquitoes and other insects. The +dandies among them added to this airy apparel a few bright feathers in +their hair, a shell or two in their ears and nostrils. And the +caciques wore a disk of gold (guarim) the size of a large medal round +their necks to denote their rank. + +The huts were built square or oblong, raised somewhat above the +ground, with only one opening for entrance and exit, cane being the +principal building material. The chief piece of furniture was the +"hamáca," made with creepers or strips of bark of the "emajágua" tree. +The "totúmo" or "jigüera" furnished them with their domestic +utensils, as it furnishes the "jíbaro" of to-day with his cups and +jugs and basins. Their mode of making fire was the universal one +practised by savages. Their arms were the usual macána and bow and +arrows, but they did not poison the arrows as did the Caribs. The +largest of their canoes, or "piráguas," could contain from 40 to 50 +men, and served for purposes of war, but the majority of their canoes +were of small size used in navigating the coast and rivers. + +There being no mammals in the island, they knew not the use of flesh +for food, but they had abundance of fish, and they ate besides +whatever creeping or crawling thing they happened to find. These with +the yucca from which they made their casabe or bread, maize, yams, and +other edible roots, constituted their food supply. + +There were in Boriquén, as there are among all primitive races, +certain individuals, the embryos of future church functionaries, who +were medicine-man, priest, prophet, and general director of the moral +and intellectual affairs of the benighted masses, but that is all we +know of them.[60] + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 60: For further information on this subject, see Estudios +Ethnologicos sobre los indios Boriqueños, by A. Stahl, 1888. Revista +Puertoriqueña, Año II, tomo II.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE "JÍBARO," OR PUERTO RICAN PEASANT + +"There is in this island a class of inhabitants, not the least +numerous by any means, who dwell in swamps and marshes, live on +vegetables, and drink muddy water." So wrote Dr. Richard Rey[61] a +couple of decades ago, and, although, under the changed political and +social conditions, these people, as a class, will soon disappear, they +are quite numerous still, and being the product of the peculiar social +and political conditions of a past era deserve to be known. + +To this considerable part of the population of Puerto Rico the name of +"jíbaros" is applied; they are the descendants of the settlers who in +the early days of the colonization of the island spread through the +interior, and with the assistance of an Indian or negro slave or two +cleared and cultivated a piece of land in some isolated locality, +where they continued to live from day to day without troubling +themselves about the future or about what passed in the rest of the +universe. + +The modern jíbaro builds his "bohío," or hut, in any place without +regard to hygienic conditions, and in its construction follows the +same plan and uses the same materials employed in their day by the +aboriginal inhabitants. This "bohío" is square or oblong in form, +raised on posts two or three feet from the ground, and the materials +are cane, the trunks of the coco-palm, entire or cut into boards, and +the bark of another species of palm, the "yaguas," which serves for +roofing and walls. The interior of these huts is sometimes divided by +a partition of reeds into two apartments, in one of which the family +sit by day. The other is the sleeping room, where the father, mother, +and children, male and female, of all ages, sleep, promiscuously +huddled together on a platform of boards or bar bacao. + +The majority of the jíbaros are whites. Mestizoes, mulattos, and +negroes are numerous also. But we are here concerned with the jíbaro +of European descent only, whose redemption from a degraded condition +of existence it is to the country's interest should be specially +attended to. + +Mr. Francisco del Valle Atilés, one of Puerto Rico's distinguished +literary men, has left us a circumstantial description of the +character and conditions of these rustics.[62] He divides them into +three groups: those living in the neighborhood of the large sugar and +coffee estates, who earn their living working as peons; the second +group comprises the small proprietors who cultivate their own patch of +land, and the third, the comparatively well-to-do individuals or +small proprietors who usually prefer to live as far as possible from +the centers of population. + +The jíbaro, as a rule, is well formed, slender, of a delicate +constitution, slow in his movements, taciturn, and of a sickly aspect. +Occasionally, in the mountainous districts, one meets a man of +advanced age still strong and robust doing daily work and mounting on +horseback without effort. Such a one will generally be found to be of +pure Spanish descent, and to have a numerous family of healthy, +good-looking children, but the appearance of the average jíbaro is as +described. He looks sickly and anemic in consequence of the +insufficient quantity and innutritious quality of the food on which he +subsists and the unhealthy conditions of his surroundings. Rice, +plantains, sweet potatoes, maize, yams, beans, and salted fish +constitute his diet year in year out, and although there are Indian +races who could thrive perhaps on such frugal fare, the effect of such +a _régime_ on individuals of the white race is loss of muscular energy +and a consequent craving for stimulants. + +His clothing, too, is scanty. He wears no shoes, and when drenched +with rain or perspiration he will probably let his garments dry on his +body. For the empty feeling in his stomach, the damp and the cold to +which he is thus daily exposed, his antidotes are tobacco and rum, the +first he chews and smokes. In the use of the second he seldom goes to +the extent of intoxication. + +Under these conditions, and considering his absolute ignorance and +consequent neglect of the laws of hygiene, it is but natural that the +Puerto Rican peasant should be subject to the ravages of paludal +fever, one of the most dangerous of the endemic diseases of the +tropics. + +Friar Abbad observes: " ... No cure has yet been discovered (1781) for +the intermittent fevers which are often from four to six years in +duration. Those who happen to get rid of them recover very slowly; +many remain weak and attenuated; the want of nutritious food and the +climate conduce to one disease or another, so that those who escape +the fever generally die of dropsy." + +However, the at first sight apathetic and weak jíbaro, when roused to +exertion or when stimulated by personal interest or passion, can +display remarkable powers of endurance. Notwithstanding his reputation +of being lazy, he will work ten or eleven hours a day if fairly +remunerated. Under the Spanish _régime_, when he was forced to present +himself on the plantations to work for a few cents from sunrise to +sundown, he was slow; or if he was of the small proprietor class, he +had to pay an enormous municipal tax on his scanty produce, so that it +is very likely that he may often have preferred swinging in his +hammock to laboring in the fields for the benefit of the municipal +treasury. + +Mr. Atilés refers to the premature awakening among the rustic +population of this island of the procreative instincts, and the +consequent increase in their numbers notwithstanding the high rate of +mortality. The fecundity of the women is notable; from six to ten +children in a family seems to be the normal number. + + [Illustration: A tienda, or small shop.] + +Intellectually the jíbaro is as poor as he is physically. His +illiteracy is complete; his speech is notoriously incorrect; his +songs, if not of a silly, meaningless character, are often obscene; +sometimes they betray the existence of a poetic sentiment. These songs +are usually accompanied by the music of a stringed instrument of the +guitar kind made by the musician himself, to which is added the +"güiro," a kind of ribbed gourd which is scraped with a small stick to +the measure of the tune, and produces a noise very trying to the +nerves of a person not accustomed to it. + +In religion the jíbaro professes Catholicism with a large admixture of +fetichism. His moral sense is blunt in many respects. + +Colonel Flinter[63] gives the following description of the jíbaros of +his day, which also applies to them to-day: + +"They are very civil in their manners, but, though they seem all +simplicity and humility, they are so acute in their dealings that they +are sure to deceive a person who is not very guarded. Although they +would scorn to commit a robbery, yet they think it only fair to +deceive or overreach in a bargain. Like the peasantry of Ireland, they +are proverbial for their hospitality, and, like them, they are ever +ready to fight on the slightest provocation. They swing themselves to +and fro in their hammocks all day long, smoking their cigars or +scraping a guitar. The plantain grove which surrounds their houses, +and the coffee tree which grows almost without cultivation, afford +them a frugal subsistence. If with these they have a cow and a horse, +they consider themselves rich and happy. Happy indeed they are; they +feel neither the pangs nor remorse which follow the steps of +disappointed ambition nor the daily wants experienced by the poor +inhabitants of northern regions." + +This entirely materialistic conception of happiness which, it is +certain, the Puerto Rican peasant still entertains, is now giving way +slowly but surely before the new influences that are being brought to +bear on himself and on his surroundings. The touch of education is +dispelling the darkness of ignorance that enveloped the rural +districts of this island until lately; industrial activity is placing +the means of greater comfort within the reach of every one who cares +to work for them; the observance of the laws of health is beginning to +be enforced, even in the bohío, and with them will come a greater +morality. In a word, in ten years the Puerto Rican jíbaro will have +disappeared, and in his place there will be an industrious, +well-behaved, and no longer illiterate class of field laborers, with a +nobler conception of happiness than that to which they have aspired +for many generations. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 61: Estudio sobre el paludismo en Puerto Rico.] + +[Footnote 62: El campesino Puertoriqueño, sus condiciones, etc. +Revista Puertoriqueña, vols. ii, iii, 1887, 1888.] + +[Footnote 63: An Account of the Present State of the Island of Puerto +Rico. London, 1834.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE MODERN INHABITANTS OF PUERTO +RICO + +During the initial period of conquest and colonization, no Spanish +females came to this or any other of the conquered territories. +Soldiers, mariners, monks, and adventurers brought no families with +them; so that by the side of the aboriginals and the Spaniards "pur +sang" there sprang up an indigenous population of mestizos. + +The result of the union of two physically, ethically, and +intellectually widely differing races is _not_ the transmission to the +progeny of any or all of the superior qualities of the progenitor, but +rather his own moral degradation. The mestizos of Spanish America, the +Eurasians of the East Indies, the mulattoes of Africa are moral, as +well as physical hybrids in whose character, as a rule, the worst +qualities of the two races from which they spring predominate. It is +only in subsequent generations, after oft-repeated crossings and +recrossings, that atavism takes place, or that the fusion of the two +races is finally consummated through the preponderance of the +physiological attributes of the ancestor of superior race. + +The early introduction of negro slaves, almost exclusively males, the +affinity between them and the Indians, the state of common servitude +and close, daily contact produced another race. By the side of the +mestizo there grew up the zambo. Later, when negro women were brought +from Santo Domingo or other islands, the mulatto was added. + +Considering the class to which the majority of the first Spanish +settlers in this island belonged, the social status resulting from +these additions to their number could be but little superior to that +of the aboriginals themselves. + +The necessity of raising that status by the introduction of white +married couples was manifest to the king's officers in the island, who +asked the Government in 1534 to send them 50 such couples. It was not +done. Fifty bachelors came instead, whose arrival lowered the moral +standard still further. + +It was late in the island's history before the influx of respectable +foreigners and their families began to diffuse a higher ethical tone +among the creoles of the better class. Unfortunately, the daily +contact of the lower and middle classes with the soldiers of the +garrison did not tend to improve their character and manners, and the +effects of this contact are clearly traceable to-day in the manners +and language of the common people. + +From the crossings in the first degree of the Indian, negro, and white +races, and their subsequent recrossings, there arose in course of time +a mixed race of so many gradations of color that it became difficult +in many instances to tell from the outward appearance of an individual +to what original stock he belonged; and, it being the established +rule in all Spanish colonies to grant no civil or military employment +above a certain grade to any but Peninsulars or their descendants of +pure blood, it became necessary to demand from every candidate +documentary evidence that he had no Indian or negro blood in his +veins. This was called presenting an "expediente de sangre," and the +practise remained in force till the year 1870, when Marshal Serrano +abolished it. + +Whether it be due to atavism, or whether, as is more likely, the +Indians did not really become extinct till much later than the period +at which it is generally supposed their final fusion into the two +exotic races took place,[64] it is certain that Indian characteristics, +physical and ethical, still largely prevail among the rural population +of Puerto Rico, as observed by Schoelzer and other ethnologists. + +The evolution of a new type of life is now in course of process. In +the meantime, we have Mr. Salvador Brau's authority[65] for stating +the general character of the present generation of Puerto Ricans to be +made up of the distinctive qualities of the three races from which +they are descended, to wit: indolence, taciturnity, sobriety, +disinterestedness, hospitality, inherited from their Indian ancestors; +physical endurance, sensuality, and fatalism from their negro +progenitors; and love of display, love of country, independence, +devotion, perseverance, and chivalry from their Spanish sires. + +A somewhat sarcastic reference to the characteristics due to the +Spanish blood in them was made in 1644 by Bishop Damian de Haro in a +letter to a friend, wherein, speaking of his diocesans, he says that +they are of very chivalric extraction, for, "he who is not descended +from the House of Austria is related to the Dauphin of France or to +Charlemagne." He draws an amusing picture of the inhabitants of the +capital, saying that at the time there were about 200 males and 4,000 +women "between black and mulatto." He complains that there are no +grapes in the country; that the melons are red, and that the butcher +retails turtle meat instead of beef or pork; yet, says he, "my table +is a bishop's table for all that." + +To a lady in Santo Domingo he sent the following sonnet: + + + This is a small island, lady, + With neither money nor provisions; + The blacks go naked as they do yonder, + And there 're more people in the Seville prison. + The Castilian coats of arms + Are conspicuous by their absence, + But there are plenty cavaliers + Who deal in hides and ginger, + There's water in the tanks, when 't rains, + A cathedral, but no priests, + Handsome women, but not elegant, + Greed and envy are indigenous. + Plenty of heat and palm-tree shade, + And best of all a refreshing breeze. + +Of the moral defects of the people it would be invidious to speak. +The lower classes are not remarkable for their respect for the +property of others. On the subject of morality among the rural +population we may cite Count de Caspe, the governor's report to the +king: " ... Destitute as they are of religious instruction and moral +restraint, their unions are without the sanction of religious or civil +law, and last just as long as their sensual appetites last; it may +therefore be truly said, that in the rural districts of Puerto Rico +the family, morally constituted, does not exist." + +Colonel Flinter's account of the people and social conditions of +Puerto Rico in 1834 is a rather flattering one, though he acknowledges +that the island had a bad reputation on account of the lawless +character of the lower class of inhabitants. + +All this has greatly changed for the better, but much remains to be +done in the way of moral improvement. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 64: Abbad points out that in 1710-'20 there were still two +Indian settlements in the neighborhood of Añasco and San German.] + +[Footnote 65: Puerto Rico y su historia, p. 369.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEGRO SLAVERY IN PUERTO RICO + +From the early days of the conquest the black race appeared side by +side with the white race. Both supplanted the native race, and both +have marched parallel ever since, sometimes separately, sometimes +mixing their blood. + +The introduction of African negroes into Puerto Rico made the +institution of slavery permanent. It is true that King Ferdinand +ordered the reduction to slavery of all rebellious Indians in 1511, +but he revoked the order the next year. The negro was and remained a +slave. For centuries he had been looked upon as a special creation for +the purpose of servitude, and the Spaniards were accustomed to see him +daily offered for sale in the markets of Andalusia. + +Notwithstanding the practical reduction to slavery of the Indians of +la Española by Columbus, under the title of "repartimientos," negro +slaves were introduced into that island as early as 1502, when a +certain Juan Sanchez and Alfonso Bravo received royal permission to +carry five caravels of slaves to the newly discovered island. Ovando, +who was governor at the time, protested strongly on the ground that +the negroes escaped to the forests and mountains, where they joined +the rebellious or fugitive Indians and made their subjugation much +more difficult. The same thing happened later in San Juan. + +In this island special permission was necessary to introduce negroes. +Sedeño and the smelter of ores, Giron, who came here in 1510, made +oath that the two slaves each brought with them were for their +personal service only. In 1513 their general introduction was +authorized by royal schedule on payment of two ducats per head. + +Cardinal Cisneros prohibited the export of negro slaves from Spain in +1516; but the efforts of Father Las Casas to alleviate the lot of the +Indians by the introduction of what he believed, with the rest of his +contemporaries, to be providentially ordained slaves, obtained from +Charles II a concession in favor of Garrebod, the king's high steward, +to ship 4,000 negroes to la Española, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica +(1517). Garrebod sold the concession to some merchants of Genoa. + +With the same view of saving the Indians, the Jerome fathers, who +governed the Antilles in 1518, requested the emperor's permission to +fit out slave-ships themselves and send them to the coast of Africa +for negroes. It appears that this permission was not granted; but in +1528 another concession to introduce 4,000 negroes into the Antilles +was given to some Germans, who, however, did not comply with the terms +of the contract. + +Negroes were scarce and dear in San Juan at this period, which caused +the authorities to petition the emperor for permission to each settler +to bring two slaves free of duty, and, this being granted, it gave +rise to abuse, as the city officers in their address of thanks to the +empress, stated at the same time that many took advantage of the +privilege to transfer or sell their permit in Seville without coming +to the island. Then it was enacted that slaves should be introduced +only by authorized traffickers, who soon raised the price to 60 or 70 +Castilian dollars per head. The crown officers in the island +protested, and asked that every settler might be permitted to bring 10 +or 12 negroes, paying the duty of 2 ducats per head, which had been +imposed by King Ferdinand in 1513. A new deposit of gold had been +discovered about this time (1533), and the hope that others might be +found now induced the colonists to buy the negroes from the authorized +traders on credit at very high prices, to be paid with the gold which +the slaves should be made instrumental in discovering. But the +longed-for metal did not appear. The purchasers could not pay. Many +had their property embargoed and sold, and were ruined. Some were +imprisoned, others escaped to the mountains or left the island. + +From 1536 to 1553 the authorities kept asking for negroes; sometimes +offering to pay duty, at others soliciting their free introduction; +now complaining that the colonists escaped _with their slaves_ to +Mexico and Peru, then lamenting that the German merchants, who had the +monopoly of the traffic, took them to all the other Antilles, but +would bring none to this island. However, 1,500 African slaves entered +here at different times during those seventeen years, without +reckoning the large numbers that were introduced as contraband. + +Philip II tried to reduce the exorbitant prices exacted by the German +monopolists of the West Indian slave-trade, but, finding that his +efforts to do so diminished the importation, he revoked his +ordinances. + +A Genoese banking-house, having made him large advances to help equip +the great Armada for the invasion of England, obtained the next +monopoly (1580). + +During the course of the seventeenth century the privilege of +introducing African slaves into the Antilles was sold successively to +Genoese, Portuguese, Holland, French, and Spanish companies. The +traffic was an exceedingly profitable one, not so much on account of +the high prices obtained for the negroes as on account of the +contraband trade in all kinds of merchandise that accompanied it. From +1613 to 1621 during the government of Felipe de Beaumont, 11 +ship-loads of slaves entered San Juan harbor. + +During the eighteenth century the traffic expanded still more. To +induce England to abandon the cause of the House of Austria, for which +that nation was fighting, Philip V offered it the exclusive privilege +of introducing 140,000 negro slaves into the Spanish-American colonies +within a period of thirty years; the monopolists to pay 33-13 silver +crowns for each negro introduced, to the Spanish Government.[66] + + +War interrupted this contract several times, and long before the +termination of the thirty years the English ceased to import slaves. + +Several contracts for the importation of slaves into the Antilles were +made from 1760 to the end of the century. First a contract was made +with Miguel Uriarte to take 15,000 slaves to different parts of +Spanish America. In 1765 the king sanctioned the introduction by the +Carácas company of 2,000 slaves to replace the Indians in Carácas and +Maraeaíbo, who had died of smallpox. All duties on the introduction of +negroes into Santo Domingo, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Margarita, and Trinidad +were commuted in the same year for a moderate capitation tax, and the +Spanish firm of Aguirre, Aristegui & Co. was authorized to provide the +Antilles with negroes, on condition of reducing the price 10 pesos per +head, besides the amount of abolished duty. + +This firm abused the privileges granted, and the inhabitants of all +the colonies, excepting Peru, Chile, and the Argentina, were allowed +to provide themselves, as best they could, with slaves from the French +colonies while the war lasted (1780). + +Four years later, January 16, 1784, a certain Lenormand, of Xantes, +received the king's permission to take a ship-load of African slaves +to Puerto Rico on condition of paying 6 per cent of the product to the +Government. + +In this same year the barbarous custom of branding the slaves was +abolished. + +The abominable traffic was declared entirely free in Santo Domingo, +Cuba, and Puerto Rico by royal decree, February 28, 1789. Foreign +ships were placed under certain restrictions, but a bounty of 4 pesos +per head was paid for negroes brought in Spanish bottoms, to meet +which a per capita tax of 2 pesos per head on domestic slaves was +levied. + +By this time the famous debates in the British Parliament and other +signs of the times announced the dawn of freedom for the oppressed +African race. Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Buxton, the English +abolitionists, continued their denunciations of the demoralizing +institution. Their effects were crowned with success in 1833. The +traffic was abolished, and ten years later Great Britain emancipated +more than twelve million slaves in her East and West Indian +possessions, paying the masters over one hundred millions of dollars +as indemnity. + +Spain agreed in 1817 to abolish the slave-trade in her dominions by +May 30,1820. By Articles 3 and 4 of the convention, England offered to +pay to Spain $20,000,000 as complete compensation to his Catholic +Majesty's subjects who were engaged in the traffic. + +The Spanish Government illegally employed this money to purchase from +Russia a fleet of five ships of the line and eight frigates. + +The slaves in Puerto Rico were not emancipated until March 22, 1873, +when 31,000 were manumitted in one day, at a cost to the Government of +200 pesos each, plus the interest on the bonds that were issued. + +The nature of the relations between the master and the slave in Puerto +Rico probably did not differ much from that which existed between them +in the other Spanish colonies. But these relations began to assume an +aspect of distrust and severity on the one hand and sullen resentment +on the other when the war of extermination between whites and blacks +in Santo Domingo and the establishment of a negro republic in Haiti +made it possible for the flame of negro insurrection to be wafted +across the narrow space of water that separates the two islands. + +There was sufficient ground for such apprehension. The free colored +population in Puerto Rico at that time (1830-'34) numbered 127,287, +the slaves 34,240, as against 162,311 whites, among whom many were of +mixed blood.[67] Prim, the governor-general, to suppress every attempt +at insurrection, issued the proclamation, of which the following is a +synopsis: + +"I, John Prim, Count of Ecus, etc., etc., etc. + +"Whereas, The critical circumstances of the times and the afflictive +condition of the countries in the neighborhood of this island, some of +which are torn by civil war, and others engaged in a war of +extermination between the white and black races; it is incumbent on me +to dictate efficacious measures to prevent the spread of these +calamities to our pacific soil.... I have decreed as follows: + +"ARTICLE 1. All offenses committed by individuals of African race, +whether free or slaves, shall be judged by court-martial. + +"ART. 2. Any individual of African race, whether free or slave, who +shall offer armed resistance to a white, shall be shot, if a slave, +and have his right hand cut off by the public executioner, if a free +man. Should he be wounded he shall be shot. + +"ART. 3. If any individual of African race, whether slave or free, +shall insult, menace, or maltreat, in any way, a white person, he will +be condemned to five years of penal servitude, if a slave, and +according to the circumstances of the case, if free. + +"ART. 4. The owners of slaves are hereby authorized to correct and +chastise them for slight misdemeanors, without any civil or military +functionary having the right to interfere. + +"ART. 5. If any slave shall rebel against his master, the latter is +authorized to kill him on the spot. + +"ART. 6 orders the military commanders of the 8 departments of the +island to decide all cases of offenses committed by colored people +within twenty-four hours of their denunciation." + + +This Draconic decree is signed, Puerto Rico, May 31, 1843. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 66: Treaty of Madrid, March 16, 1713, ratified by the treaty +of Utrecht. There were two kinds of silver crowns, one of 8 pesetas, +the other of 10, worth respectively 4 and 5 English shillings.] + +[Footnote 67: Flinter, p. 211.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +INCREASE OF POPULATION + +ALL statements of definite numbers with respect to the aboriginal +population of this island are essentially fabulous. Columbus touched +at only one port on the western shore. He remained there but a few +days and did not come in contact with the inhabitants. Ponce and his +men conquered but a part of the island, and had no time to study the +question of population, even if they had had the inclination to do so. +They did not count the enemy in time of war, and only interested +themselves in the number of prisoners which to them constituted the +spoils of conquest. Any calculation regarding the numbers that +remained at large, based on the number of Indians distributed, can not +be correct. + +The same may be said of the computations of the population of the +island made by Abbad, O'Reilly, and others at a time when there was +not a correct statistical survey existing in the most civilized +countries of Europe. None of these computations exceed the limits of +mere conjecture. + +With regard to the attempts to explain the causes of the decay and +ultimate disappearance of the aboriginal race, this subject also +appears to be involved in considerable doubt and obscurity, +notwithstanding the positive statements of native writers regarding +it. It has been impossible to ascertain in what degree they became +amalgamated by intermarriage with the conquerors; yet, that it has +been to a much larger degree than generally supposed, is proved by the +fact that many of the inhabitants, classed as white, have, both in +their features and manners, definite traces of the Indian race.[68] + +With respect to the census taken by the Spanish authorities at +different times, though they may have taken great pains to obtain +correct statistical accounts, there is little doubt that the real +numbers greatly exceeded those which appear in the official returns. +The reason for this discrepancy is supposed by the author mentioned to +have been the _direct contribution_ which was levied on agricultural +property, inducing the landed proprietors to conceal the real number +of their slaves in order to make their crops appear to have been +_smaller_ than they were. + +Nor does it appear that the increase in the population of Puerto Rico +is so much indebted to immigration as is generally supposed; for, +notwithstanding the advantages offered to colonists by the Government +in 1815, and the influx of settlers from Santo Domingo and Venezuela +during the civil wars in these republics, there were only 2,833 +naturalized foreigners in the island in 1830. It appears also that the +Spanish immigration from the revolted colonies did not exceed 7,000 +souls. + +Puerto Rico had the reputation of being very poor, consequently, no +immigrants were attracted by the prospect of money-making. The +increase in the population of this island is sufficiently accounted +for by the fact that three-fourths of the inhabitants are engaged in +agricultural pursuits, which, of all occupations, are most conducive +to health. To which must be added the people's frugal habits, the easy +morals, the effect of climate, and the fecundity of the women of all +mixed races. These, and the peace which the island enjoyed in the +beginning of the nineteenth century, together with the abolition of +some of the restrictions on commerce and industry, promoted an era of +prosperity the like of which the inhabitants had never before known, +and the natural consequence was increase in numbers. + +"In those days," says Colonel Flinter, "if some perfect stranger had +dropped from the clouds as it were, on this island, naked, without any +other auxiliaries than health and strength, he might have married the +next day and maintained a family without suffering more hardships or +privations than fall to the lot of every laborer in the ordinary +process of clearing and cultivating a piece of land." + +The earliest information on the subject was given by Alexander +O'Reilly, the royal commissioner to the Antilles in 1765, who +enumerates a list of 24 towns and settlements with a total population +of + + _Free_ men, women, and children of all colors....39,846 + Slaves of both sexes, including their children ........5,037 + Total.................................................44,883 + +Abbad, in his "general statistics of the island," corresponding to +the end of the year 1776, gives the details of the population in 30 +"partidas," or ecclesiastical districts, as follows: + + + Whites 29,263 + Free colored people 33,808 + Free blacks 2,803 + Other free people ("agregados") 7,835 + Slaves 6,537 + ------ + Total 80,246 + +That is to say, an increase of 7-311 per cent per annum during the +eleven years elapsed since O'Reilly's computation, which was a period +of constant apprehension of attacks by pirates and privateers. + +From 1782 to 1802 there were three censuses taken showing the +following totals: + + In 1782 81,180 souls. + " 1792 115,557 " + " 1802 163,192 " + +From 1800 to 1815, there was universal poverty and depression in the +island in consequence of the prohibitive system introduced by the +Spanish authorities in all branches of commerce and industry, and the +sudden failure of the annual remittances from Mexico in consequence of +the insurrection. Still, the population had increased from 163,192 in +1802 to 220,892 in 1815. + +From this year forward a great improvement in the island's general +condition set in, thanks to the efforts of Don Ramon Power, Puerto +Rico's delegate to Cortes, who obtained for the island, in November, +1811, the freedom of commerce with foreign nations, and by the +appointment of Intendant Ramirez procured the suppression of many +abuses and monopolies. + +The royal schedule of August 13, 1815, called "the schedule of +graces," also contributed to the general improvement by the opening of +the ports to immigrants, though short-sighted restrictions destroyed +the beneficent effects of the measure to no small extent. However, +immigrants came, and among them 83 practical agriculturists from +Louisiana, with slaves and capital. + +The census of 1834 gives the total population on an area of 330 square +leagues, in the proportion of 981-16 inhabitants per square league, +as follows: + +Whites.......................... 188,869 + +Colored..........................126,400 + +Slaves........................... 41,817 + +Troops and prisoners.............. 1,730 + +Total........................... 358,836 + +This year shows an increase in the proportion of the slave population +over the free population since 1815, due to the free introduction of +slaves and the slaves brought by the immigrants. + +A statistical commission for the island of Puerto Rico was created in +1845. The census taken under its auspices in the following year may be +considered reliable. The total figures are: + +Whites........................... 216,083 + +Free colored......................175,791 + +Slaves............................ 51,265 + +Total............................ 443,139 + +In 1855 cholera morbus raged throughout the island, especially among +the colored population, and carried off 9,529 slaves alone. + +The next census shows the progressive increase of inhabitants. It was +conducted by royal decree of September 30,1858, on the nights of +December 25 and 26, 1860. The official memorial gives the following +totals: + +Whites................................ 300,430 +Free colored.......................... 341,015 +Slaves................................ 41,736 +Unclassified.......................... 127 + +Total............................. 583,308 + +or 1,802.2 inhabitants per square league; one of the densest +populations on the globe, and the densest in the Antilles at the time +except Barbados. + +The annual increase of population in Puerto Rico, according to the +calculations of Colonel Flinter, was: + + From 1778-1802 ... 24 years ... 5-12 per cent per annum. + " 1802-1812 ... 10 " ... 1-15 " " + 1812-1820 ... 8 " ... 3-14 " " + " 1820-1830 ... 10 " ... 4 " " + " 1830-1846 ... 16 " ... 3-15 " " + " 1846-1860 ... 14 " ... 3.72 " " + +or an average annual increase of a little less than 4 per cent in a +period of eighty-two years. + +From 1860 to 1864 the increase was small, but from that year to the +end of Spanish domination the percentage of increase was larger than +in any of the preceding periods. + +The treaty of Paris brought 894,302 souls under the protection of the +American flag. They consisted of 570,187 whites, 239,808 of mixed +race, and 75,824 negroes. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 68: Flinter.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO + +After the cessation of the gold produce, when the colonists were +forced by necessity to dedicate themselves to agriculture, they met +with many adverse conditions: + +The incursions of the Caribs, the hurricanes of 1530 and 1537, the +emigration to Peru and Mexico, the internal dissensions, and last, but +not least, the heavy taxes. The colonists had found the soil of Puerto +Rico admirably adapted to sugar-cane, which they brought from Santo +Domingo, where Columbus had introduced it on his second voyage, and +the nascent sugar industry was beginning to prosper and expand when a +royal decree imposing a heavy tax on sugar came to strangle it in its +birth. Bishop Bastidas called the Government's attention to the fact +in a letter dated March 20, 1544, in which he says: " ... The new tax +to be paid on sugar in this island, as ordained by your Majesty, will +still further reduce the number of mills, which have been diminishing +of late. Let this tax be suspended and the mills in course of +construction will be finished, while the erection of others will be +encouraged." + +The prelate's efforts seem to have produced a favorable effect. +Treasurer Castellanos, in 1546, loaned 6,000 pesos for the +Government's account, to two colonists for the erection of two +sugar-cane mills. In 1548 Gregorio Santolaya built, in the +neighborhood of the capital, the first cane-mill turned by +water-power, and two mills moved by horse-power. Another water-power +mill was mounted in 1549 on the estate of Alonzo Perez Martel with the +assistance of 1,500 pesos lent by the king. Loans for the same purpose +continued to be made for years after. + +But if the Government encouraged the sugar industry with one hand, +with the other it checked its development, together with that of other +agricultural industries appropriate to the island, by means of +prohibitive legislation, monopolies, and other oppressive measures. +The effects of this administrative stupidity were still patent a +century later. Bishop Fray Lopez de Haro wrote in 1644: " ... The only +crop in this island is ginger, and it is so depreciated that nobody +buys it or wants to take it to Spain.... There are many cattle farms +in the country, and 7 sugar mills, where the families live with their +slaves the whole year round." + +Canon Torres Vargas, in his Memoirs, amplifies the bishop's statement, +stating that the principal articles of commerce of the island were +ginger, hides, and sugar, and he gives the location of the +above-mentioned 7 sugar-cane mills. The total annual produce of ginger +had been as much as 14,000 centals, but, with the war and excessive +supply, the price had gone down, and in the year he wrote (1646) only +4,000 centals had been harvested. He informs us, too, that cacáo had +been planted in sufficient quantity to send ship-loads to Spain +within four years. The number of hides annually exported to Spain was +8,000 to 10,000. Tobacco had begun to be cultivated within the last +ten years, and its exportation had commenced. He pronounces it better +than the tobacco of Havana, Santo Domingo, and Margarita, but not as +good as that of Barinas. + +The cultivation of tobacco in Puerto Rico was permitted by a special +law in 1614, but the sale of it to foreigners was prohibited _under +penalty of death and confiscation of property._[69] These and other +stringent measures dictated in 1777 and 1784 by their very severity +defeated their own purpose, and the laws, to a great extent, remained +a dead letter. + +The cultivation of cacáo in Puerto Rico did not prosper for the reason +that the plant takes a long time in coming to maturity, and during +that period is exceedingly sensible to the effects of strong winds, +which, in this island, prevail from July to October. The first +plantations being destroyed by hurricanes, few new plantations were +made. + +Of the other staple products of Puerto Rico, the most valuable, +coffee, was first planted in Martinique in 1720 by M. Declieux, who +brought the seeds from the Botanical Garden in Paris. The coco-palm +was introduced by Diego Lorenzo, a canon in the Cape de Verde Islands, +who also brought the first guinea-fowls; and, possibly, the plantain +species known in this island under the name of "guinéo" came from the +same part of the world. According to Oviedo, it was first planted in +Santo Domingo in 1516 by a monk named Berlangas. + +Abbad gives the detailed agricultural statistics of the island in +1776, from which it appears that the cultivation of the new articles +introduced was general at the time, and that, under the influence of +climate and abundant pastures, the animal industry had become one of +the principal sources of wealth for the inhabitants. + +There were in that year 5,581 farms, and 234 cattle-ranches (hatos). + +On the farms or estates there were under cultivation: + + Sugar-cane 3,156 cuerdas[70] + Plantains 8,315 " + Coffee-trees 1,196,184 + Cotton-plants 103,591 + +On the cattle-ranches there were: + + Head of horned cattle 77,384 + Horses 23,195 + Mules 1,534 + Asses, swine, goats, and sheep 49,050 + +This was a comparatively large capital in stock and produce for a +population of 80,000 souls, but the reverend historian severely +criticizes the agricultural population of that day, and says of them: +" ... They scarcely know what implements are; ... they bring down a +tree, principally by means of fire; with a saber, which they call a +'machete,' they clear the jungle and clean the ground; with the point +of this machete, or a pointed stick, they dig the holes or furrows in +which they set their plants or sow their seeds. Thus they provide for +their subsistence, and when a hurricane or other mishap destroys their +crops, they supply their wants by fishing or collect edible roots. + +"Indolence, rather than want of means, makes them confine their +cultivation to the level lands, which they abandon as soon as they +perceive that the fertility of the soil decreases, which happens very +soon, because they do not plow, nor do they turn over the soil, much +less manure it, so that the superficies soon becomes sterile; then +they make a clearing on some mountainside. Neither the knowledge of +the soil and climate acquired during many years of residence, nor the +increased facilities for obtaining the necessary agricultural +implements, nor the large number of cattle they possess that could be +used for agricultural purposes, nor the Government's dispositions to +improve the system of cultivation, have been sufficient to make these +islanders abandon the indolence with which they regard the most +important of all arts, and the first obligation imposed by God on +man--namely, the cultivation of the soil. They leave this to the +slaves, who are few and ill-fed, and know no more of agriculture than +their masters do; ... their great laziness, together with a silly, +baseless vanity, makes them look upon all manual labor as degrading, +proper only for slaves, and so they prefer poverty to doing honest +work. To this must be added their ambition to make rapid fortunes, as +some of them do, by contraband trading, which makes good sailors of +them but bad agriculturists. + +"These are the reasons why they prefer the cultivation of produce that +requires little labor. Most proprietors have a small portion of their +land planted with cane, but few have made it their principal crop, +because of the expense of erecting a mill and the greater number of +slaves and implements required; yet this industry alone, if properly +fostered, would soon remove all obstacles to their progress. + +"It is useless, therefore, to look for gardens and orchards in a +country where the plow is yet unknown, and which has not even made the +first step in agricultural development." + + * * * * * + +Under the royal decree of 1815 commerce, both foreign and inland, +rapidly developed. + +From the official returns made to the Government in 1828 to 1830, +Colonel Flinter drew up the following statement of the agricultural +wealth of the island in the latter year (1830): + + Wooden sugar-cane mills 1,277 + Iron sugar-cane mills 800 + Coffee estates with machinery 148 + Stills for distilling rum 340 + Brick ovens 80 + Lime kilns 45 + +_Land under Cultivation_ + + Cane 14,803 acres. + Plantains 30,706 " + Rice 14,850 " + Maize 16,194 " + Tobacco 2,599 " + Manioc 1,150 " + Sweet potatoes 1,224 " + Yams 6,696 " + Pulse 1,100 " + Horticulture 31 " + + Coffee-plants 16,750 acres 16,992,857 + Cotton-trees 3,079 " 3,079,310 + Coco-palms 2,402 " 60,050 + Orange-trees 3,430 " 85,760 + Aguacate-trees 2,230 " 55,760 + Pepper or chilli or aji trees 500 + +The live stock of the island in the same year consisted of: + + Cows 42,500 head. + Bulls 6,720 " + Oxen 20,910 " + Horses 25,760 " + Mares 27,210 " + Asses 315 " + Mules 1,112 " + Sheep 7,560 " + Goats 5,969 " + Swine 25,087 " + Turkeys 8,671 " + Other fowls 838,454 " + +This agricultural wealth of the island, houses, lands, and slaves +_not_ included, was valued at $37,993,600, and its annual produce at +$6,883,371, half of which was exported. These statistics may be +considered as only _approximately correct,_ as the returns made by the +proprietors to the Government, in order to escape taxation, were less +than the real numbers existing. + +The natural wealth of Puerto Rico may be divided into agricultural, +pastoral, and sylvan. According to the Spanish Government measurements +the island's area is 2,584,000 English acres. Of these, there were + + Under cultivation in 1830, as above + detailed 117,244 acres. + In pastures 634,506 " + In forests 728,703 " + ------------ + Total _tax-paying lands_ 1,480,453 " + +The pasture lands on the north and east coasts are equal to the best +lands of the kind in the West Indies for the breeding and fattening of +cattle. On the south coast excessive droughts often parch the grass, +in which case the cattle are fed on cane-tops at harvest time. There +are excellent and nutritive native grasses of different species to be +found in every valley. The cattle bred in the island are generally +tame. + +From 1865 to 1872 was the era of greatest prosperity ever experienced +in Puerto Rico under Spanish rule. The land was not yet exhausted, +harvests were abundant, labor cheap, the quality of the sugar produced +was excellent, prices were high, contributions and taxes were +moderate. There were no export duties, and although, during this +period, the growing manufacture of beet-root sugar was lowering the +price of "mascabado" all over the world, no effect was felt in Puerto +Rico, because it was the nearest market to the United States, where +the civil war had put an end to the annual product by the Southern +States of half a million bocoyes,[71] or about 675,000,000 gallons; +and the abolition of all import duties on sugar in England also +favored the maintenance of high prices for a number of years. + +However, the production of beet-root sugar and the increase of cane +cultivation in the East[72] caused the fall in prices which, in +combination with the numberless oppressive restrictions imposed by the +Spanish Government, brought Puerto Rico to the verge of ruin. + +"The misfortunes that afflict us," says Mr. James McCormick to the +Provincial Deputation in his official report on the condition of the +sugar industry in this island in 1880, "come under different forms +from different directions, and _every inhabitant knows what causes +have contributed to reduce this island, once prosperous and happy, to +its actual condition of prostration and anguish_." + +That condition he paints in the following words: "Mechanical arts and +industries languish because there is no demand or profitable market +for its products; commerce is paralyzed by the obstacles placed in its +way; the country never has had sufficient capital and what there is +hides itself or is withdrawn from circulation; foreign capital has +been frightened away; Puerto Rican landowners are looked upon with +special disfavor and credit is denied them, unfortunately with good +reason, seeing the lamentable condition of our agriculture. The +production of sugar scarcely amounts to half of what it was in former +years. From the year 1873 a great proportion of the existing sugar +estates have fallen to ruin; in 8 districts their number has been +reduced from 104 to 38, and of these the majority are in an agonizing +condition. In other parts of the island many estates, in which large +capitals in machinery, drainage, etc., have been invested, have been +abandoned and the land is returning to its primitive condition of +jungle and swamp. Ten years ago the island exported 100,000 tons of +sugar annually, the product of 553 mills; during the last three years +(1878-1880) the average export has been 60,000 tons, the product of +325 mills that have been able to continue working. Everywhere in this +province the evidences of the ruin which has overtaken the planters +meet the eye, and nothing is heard but the lamentations of proprietors +reduced to misery and desperation." + +This state of things continued notwithstanding the representations +made before the "high spheres of Government" by the leading men in +commerce and agriculture, by the press of all political colors, and by +Congress. The Minister of Ultramar in Madrid recognized the gravity of +the situation, and it is said that the lamentations of the people of +Puerto Rico found an echo even at the foot of the throne. + +And there they died. Nothing was done to remedy the growing evil, and +the writer of the pamphlet, not daring openly to accuse the Government +as the only cause of the island's desperate situation, counsels +patience, and timidly expresses the hope that the exorbitant taxes +and contributions will be lowered; that economy in the Government +expenditures will be practised; that monopolies will be abolished, and +odious, oppressive practises of all kinds be discontinued. + +Such was the condition of Puerto Rico in 1880. The Government's +oppressive practises, and they only, were the causes of the ruin of +this and all the other rich and beautiful colonies that destiny laid +at the feet of Ferdinand and Isabel four centuries ago. + +The following statement of the proportion of sugar to each acre of +land under cane cultivation in the Antilles, compared with Puerto +Rico, may be of interest. + +The computation of the average sugar produce per acre, according to +the best and most correct information from intelligent planters, who +had no motives for deception, was, in 1830:[73] + + For Jamaica 10 centals per acre. + Dominica 10 " " + Granada 15 " " + St. Vincent 25 " " + Tobago 20 " " + Antigua 7-12 " " + Saint Kitts 20 " " + Puerto Rico 30 " " + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 69: Leyes de Indias, Ley IV, Libro IV, Titulo XVIII.] + +[Footnote 70: The actual cuerda is a square of 75 varas each side, +about one-tenth less than an acre. Abbad understood by a cuerda a +rectangle of 75 varas front by 1,500 varas depth, that is, 20 cuerdas +superficies of those actually in use.--_Acosta._] + +[Footnote 71: The bocoy in Puerto Rico, equal from 12 to 20 centals of +sugar, according the quality.] + +[Footnote 72: British India produced about that time over 1,500,000 +tons of cane-sugar per annum.] + +[Footnote 73: Colonel Flinter, An Account of the Island of Puerto +Rico. London, 1834] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +COMMERCE AND FINANCES + +Until the year 1813 the captains-general of Puerto Rico had the +superintendence of the revenues. The capital was the only authorized +port open to commerce. No regular books were kept by the authorities. +A day-book of duties paid and expended was all that was considered +necessary. Merchandise was smuggled in at every part of the coast,[74] +the treasury chest was empty, and the Government officers and troops +were reduced to a very small portion of their pay. + +The total revenues of the island, including the old-established taxes +and contributions, produced 70,000 pesos, and half of that sum was +never recovered on account of the abuses and dishonesty that had been +introduced in the system of collection. + +An intendancy was deemed necessary, and the Home Government appointed +Alexander Ramirez to the post in February, 1813. He promptly +introduced important reforms in the administration, and caused regular +accounts to be kept. He made ample and liberal concessions to +commerce, opened five additional ports with custom-houses, freed +agriculture from the trammels that had impeded its development, and +placed labor, instruments, seeds, and modern machinery within its +reach. He printed and distributed short essays or manuals on the +cultivation of different products and the systems adopted by other +nations, promoted the immigration of Canary Islanders, founded the +Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country, and edited the +Diario Económico de Puerto Rico, the first number of which appeared +February 28, 1814. + +The first year after the establishment of these improvements, +notwithstanding the abolition of some of the most onerous taxes, the +revenues of the capital rose to $161,000, and the new custom-houses +produced $242,842. + +Having placed this island's financial administration on a sound basis, +Ramirez was called upon by the Government to perform the same valuable +services for Cuba. Unfortunately, his successors here soon destroyed +the good effects of his measures by continual variations in the +system, and in the commercial tariffs. They attempted to prevent +smuggling by increasing the duties, the very means of encouraging +contraband trade, and the old mismanagement and malversations in the +custom-houses revived. One intendant, often from a mere spirit of +innovation, applied to the court for a decree canceling the +regulations of his predecessor, so that, from the concurring effects +of contraband and mismanagement, commerce suffered, and the country +became once more impoverished. + +The revenues fell so low and the malversation of public money reached +such a height that the captain-general found it necessary in 1825 to +charge the military commanders of the respective districts with the +prevention of smuggling. He placed supervisors of known intelligence +and probity in each custom-house to watch and prevent fraud and +peculation. These measures almost doubled the amount of revenue in the +following year (1826). + +As late as 1810 the imports in Puerto Rico exceeded three times the +sum of the produce exported. The difference was made up by the +"situados," or remittances in cash from Mexico, which began early in +the seventeenth century, when the repeated attacks on the island by +French and English privateers forced the Spanish Government to choose +between losing the island or fortifying it. The king chose the latter, +and made an assignment on the royal treasury of Mexico of nearly half +a million pesos per annum. With these subsidies all the fortifications +were constructed and the garrison and civil and military employees +were paid, till the insurrection in Mexico put a stop to the fall of +this pecuniary manna. + +It was fortunate for Puerto Rico that it ceased. The people of the +island had become so accustomed to look to this supply of money for +the purchase of their necessities that they entirely neglected the +development of the rich resources in their fertile soil. When a +remittance arrived in due time, all was joy and animation; when it was +delayed, as was often the case, all was gloom and silence, and +recourse was had to "papeletas," a temporary paper currency or +promises to pay. + +With the cessation of the "situados" the scanty resources of the +treasury soon gave out. The funds of the churches were first +requisitioned; then the judicial deposits, the property of people who +had died in the Peninsula, and other unclaimed funds were attached; +next, donations and private loans were solicited, and when all these +expedients were exhausted, the final resort of bankrupt communities, +paper money, was adopted (1812). + +Then Puerto Rico's poverty became extreme. In 1814 there was at least +half a million paper money in circulation with a depreciation of 400 +per cent. To avoid absolute ruin, the intendant had recourse to the +introduction of what were called "macuquinos," or pieces of rudely +cut, uncoined silver of inferior alloy, representing approximately the +value of the coin that each piece of metal stood for. With these he +redeemed in 1816 all the paper money that had been put in circulation; +but the emergency money gave rise to agioist speculation and remained +the currency long after it had served its purpose. It was not replaced +by Spanish national coin till 1857. + +The royal decree of 1815, and the improvements in the financial +situation, as a result of the new administrative system established by +Ramirez, gave a strong impulse to foreign commerce. Though commerce +with the mother country remained in a languishing condition, because +the so-called "decree of graces" had fixed the import duty on Spanish +merchandise at 6 per cent _ad valorem_, while the valuations which +the custom-house officials made exceeded the market prices to such an +extent that many articles really paid 8 per cent and some 10, 12, and +even 15 per cent. + +An estimate of the commerce of this island about the year 1830 divides +the total imports and exports which, in that year, amounted to +$5,620,786 among the following nations: + + + Per cent. Per cent. + + West Indian Islands imports 53-12 Exports 26 + United States imports 27-14 " 49 + Spanish imports 12-18 " 7 + English imports 2-34 " 6-12 + French imports 2-58 " 6-58 + Other nations' imports 1-34 " 8-34 + + + +The American trade at that time formed nearly one-third of the whole +of the value of the imports and nearly half of all the exports. + +An American consul resided at the capital and all the principal ports +had deputy consuls. The articles of importation from the United States +were principally timber, staves for sugar-casks, flour and other +provisions, and furniture.[75] + + * * * * * + +The financial history of Puerto Rico commences about the middle of the +eighteenth century. In 1758 the revenues amounted to 6,858 pesos. In +1765, to 10,814, and in 1778 to 47,500. Their increase up to 1,605,523 +in 1864 was due to the natural development of the island's resources, +which accompanied the increase of population; yet financial distress +was chronic all the time, and not a year passed without the +application of the supposed panacea of royal decrees and ordinances, +without the expected improvement. + +From 1850 to 1864, for the first time in the island's history, there +happened to be a surplus revenue. The authorities wasted it in an +attempt to reannex Santo Domingo and in contributions toward the +expenses of the war in Morocco. The balance was used by the Spanish +Minister of Ultramar, the Government being of opinion that surpluses +in colonial treasuries were a source of danger. To avoid a plethora of +money contributions were asked for in the name of patriotism, which +nobody dared refuse, and which were, therefore, always liberally +responded to. Of this class was a contribution of half a million pesos +toward the expenses of the war with the Carlists to secure the +succession of Isabel II, and Sunday collections for the benefit of the +Spanish soldiers in Cuba, for the sufferers by the inundations in +Murcia, the earthquakes in Andalusia, etc. From 1870 to 1876 a series +of laws and ordinances relating to finances were promulgated. February +22d, a royal decree admitted Mexican silver coin as currency. December +3, 1880, another royal decree reformed the financial administration of +the island. This was followed in 1881 by instructions for the +collection of personal contributions. In 1882 the Intendant Alcázar +published the regulations for the imposition, collection, and +administration of the land tax; from 1882 to 1892 another series of +laws, ordinances, and decrees appeared for the collection and +administration of different taxes and contributions, and October 28, +1895, another royal decree withdrew the Mexican coin from circulation. +In the same year (March 15th) the reform laws were promulgated, which +were followed in the next year by the municipal law.[76] + +In the meantime commerce languished. The excessively high export +duties on island produce imposed by Governor Sanz in 1868 to 1870 +brought 600,000 pesos per annum into the treasury, but ruined +agriculture, and this lasted till the end of Spanish rule. + +The directory of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and +Navigation of San Juan, at the general meeting of members in 1895, +reported that it had occupied itself during that year, through the +medium of the island's representative in Cortes, with the promised +tariff reform, but without result. Nor had its endeavors to obtain the +exchange of the Mexican coin still in circulation for Peninsular money +been successful on account of the opposition of those interested in +the maintenance of the system. The abolition of the so-called +"conciertos" of matches and petroleum had also occupied them, and in +this case successfully; but the directors complained of the apathy and +the indifference of the public in general for the objects which the +Chamber of Commerce was organized to advocate and promote, and they +state that within the last year the number of associates had +diminished. + +The Directors' report of January, 1897, was even more gloomy. They +complain of the want of interest in their proceedings on the part of +many of the leading commercial houses, of the lamentable condition of +commerce, of the inattention of their "mother," Spain, to the +plausible pretentions of this her daughter, animated though she was by +the most fervent patriotism. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 74: Rafael Conty, subdelegate of the treasury of Aguadilla, +sailed round the island in a sloop in 1790 and confiscated eleven +vessels engaged in smuggling.] + +[Footnote 75: For commercial statistics of Puerto Rico from 1813 to +1864, see Señor Acosta's interesting notes to Chapter XXVIII of +Abbad's history.] + +[Footnote 76: _Vide_ Reseña del Estado Social, Económico é Industrial +de la Isla de Puerto Rico por el Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste, 1899.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO + +In Chapter XXIII of this history we gave an extract from his +Excellency Alexander O'Reilly's report to King Charles IV, wherein, +referring to the intellectual status of the inhabitants of Puerto Rico +in 1765, he informs his Majesty that there were only two schools in +the whole island and that, outside of the capital and San German, few +knew how to read. + +In the mother country, at that period, even primary instruction was +very deficient. It remained so for a long time. As late as 1838 +reading, writing, and arithmetic only were taught in the best public +schools of Spain. The other branches of knowledge, such as geography, +history, physics, chemistry, natural history, could be studied in a +few ecclesiastical educational establishments.[77] The illiteracy of +the inhabitants of this, the least important of Spain's conquered +provinces, was therefore but natural, seeing that the conquerors who +had settled in it belonged to the most ignorant classes of an +illiterate country in an illiterate age. Something was done in Puerto +Rico by the Dominican and Franciscan friars in the way of preparatory +training for ecclesiastical callings. They taught Latin and philosophy +to a limited number of youths; the bishop himself gave regular +instruction in Latin. + +A few youths, whose parents could afford it, were sent to the +universities of Carácas and Santo Domingo, where some of them +distinguished themselves by their aptitude for study. One of these, +afterward known as Father Bonilla, obtained the highest academic +honors in Santo Domingo. + +From 1820 to 1823, under the auspices of a constitutional government, +intellectual life in Puerto Rico really began. A Mr. Louis Santiago +called public attention to the necessity of attending to primary +education. "The greatest evil," he said, "that which demands the +speediest remedy, is the general ignorance of the art of reading and +writing. It is painful to see the signatures of the alcaldes to public +documents." He wrote a pamphlet of instructions in the art of teaching +in primary schools, which was printed and distributed through the +interior of the island. The governor, Gonzalo Arostegui, addressed an +official note to the Provincial Deputation charging that body to +propose to him "without rest or interruption, and as soon as +possible," the means to establish primary schools in the capital and +in the towns of the interior; to the municipalities he sent a +circular, dated September 28, 1821, recommending them to facilitate +the coming to the capital of the teachers in their respective +districts who wished to attend, for a period of two months, a class in +the Lancasterian method of primary teaching, to be held in the Normal +School by Ramon Carpegna, the political secretary. A certain amount of +instruction, talent, and disposition for magisterial work was required +of the pupils, and those who already had positions as teachers could +assist at the two months' course without detriment to their salaries. + +The fall of the constitutional government in Spain, brought about by +French intervention and the reaction that followed, extinguished the +light that had just begun to shine, and this unfortunate island was +again plunged into the intellectual darkness of the middle ages. +Persecution became fiercer than ever, and the citizens most +distinguished for their learning and liberal ideas had to seek safety +in emigration. + +For the next twenty years the education of the youth of Puerto Rico +was entirely in the hands of the clergy. With the legacies left to +the Church by Bishop Arizmendi and other pious defuncts, Bishop Pedro +Gutierrez de Cos founded the Conciliar Seminary in 1831, and appointed +as Rector Friar Angel de la Concepción Vazquez, a Puerto Rican by +birth, educated in the Franciscan Convent of Carácas. + +In the same year there came to Puerto Rico, as prebendary of the +cathedral, an ex-professor of experimental physics in the University +of Galicia, whose name was Rufo Fernandez. He founded a cabinet of +physics and a chemical laboratory, and invited the youth of the +capital to attend the lectures on these two sciences which he gave +gratis. + +Fray Angel, as he was familiarly called, the rector of the seminary, +at Dr. Rufo's suggestion, asked permission of the superior +ecclesiastical authorities to transfer the latter's cabinet and +laboratory to the seminary for the purpose of adding the courses of +physics and chemistry to the curriculum, but failed to obtain it, the +reasons given for the adverse decision being, "that the science of +chemistry was unnecessary for the students, who, in accordance with +the dispositions of the Council of Trent, were to dedicate themselves +to ecclesiastical sciences only." The rector, while expressing his +regret at the decision, adds: "I can not help telling you what I have +always felt--namely, that there is some malediction resting on the +education of youth in this island, which evokes formidable obstacles +from every side, though there are not wanting generous spirits ready +to make sacrifices in its favor." [78] + +Some of these generous spirits had organized, as early as 1813, under +the auspices of Intendant Ramirez, the Economic Society of Friends of +the Country. Puerto Rico owes almost all its intellectual progress to +this society. Its aim was the island's moral and material advancement, +and, in spite of obstacles, it has nobly labored with that object in +view to the end of Spanish domination. From its very inception it +established a primary school for 12 poor girls, and classes in +mathematics, geography, French, English, and drawing, to which a class +of practical or applied mechanics was added later. In 1844 the society +asked and obtained permission from the governor, the Count of +Mirasol, to solicit subscriptions for the establishment and endowment +of a central college. The people responded with enthusiasm, and in +less than a month 30,000 pesos were collected. + + +The college was opened. In 1846 four youths, under the guidance of Dr. +Rufo, were sent to Spain to complete their studies to enable them to +worthily fill professorships in the central school. Two of them died +shortly after their arrival in Madrid. When the other two returned to +Puerto Rico in 1849 they found the college closed and the +subscriptions for its maintenance returned to the donors by order of +Juan de la Pezuela, Count Mirasol's successor in the governorship. + +If the unfavorable opinion of the character of the Puerto Ricans to +which this personage gave expression in one of his official +communications was the motive for his proceeding in this case, it +would seem that he changed it toward the end of his administration, +for he founded a Royal Academy of Belles-Lettres, and a library which +was provided with books by occasional gifts from the public. He +introduced some useful reforms in the system of primary instruction, +and inaugurated the first prize competitions for poetical compositions +by native authors. + +From the returns of the census of 1860 it appears that at that time +only 17-12 per cent of the male population of the island knew how to +read, and only 12-12 per cent of the female population. Four years +later, at the end of 1864 there were, according to official data, +98,817 families in Puerto Rico whose intellectual wants were supplied +by 74 public schools for boys and 48 for girls, besides 16 and 9 +private schools for boys and girls respectively. + +In 1854 General Norzagery, then governor, assisted by Andres Viña, the +secretary of the Royal Board of Commerce and Industry, had founded a +school of Commerce, Agriculture, and Navigation. After sixteen years +of existence, this establishment was unfavorably reported upon by +Governor Sanz, who wished to suppress it on account of the liberal +ideas and autonomist tendencies of its two principal professors, José +Julian Acosta (Abbad's commentator) and Ramon B. Castro. In the +preamble to a secret report sent by this governor to Madrid he says: +"This supreme civil government has always secured professors who, in +addition to the required ability for their position, possess the moral +and political character and qualities to form citizens, lovers of +their country, i.e., lovers of Puerto Rico as a Spanish province, _not +of Puerto Rico as an independent state annexed to North America_." + +Female education had all along received even less attention than the +education of boys. Alexander Infiesta, in an article on the subject +published in the Revista in February, 1888, states, that according to +the latest census there were 399,674 females in the island, of whom +293,247 could neither read nor write, 158,528 of them being white +women and girls. The number of schools for boys was 408, with an +attendance of 18,194, and that for girls 127, with 7,183 pupils. + +From the memorial published by the Director of the Provincial +Institute for Secondary Education, regarding the courses of study in +that establishment during the year 1888-'89, we learn that the number +of primary schools in the island had increased to 600, but, according +to Mr. Coll y Toste's Reseña, published in 1899, there were, among a +total population of 894,302 souls, only 497 primary schools in the +island at the time of the American occupation. The total attendance +was 22,265 pupils, 15,108 boys and 7,157 girls. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 77: See Franco del Valle Atilés, Causas del atras +Intellectual del campesino Puertoriqueño. Revista Puertoriqueña, Año +II, tomo II, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 78: Letter to Dr. Rufo Fernandez from Fray Angel de la +Concepcion Vazquez. See Acosta's notes to Abbad's history, pp. 412, +413, foot note.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +LIBRARIES AND THE PRESS + +Books for the people were considered by the Spanish colonial +authorities to be of the nature of inflammable or explosive +substances, which it was not safe to introduce freely. + +From their point of view, they were right. The Droits de l'homme of +Jean Jacques Rousseau, for example, translated into every European +language, had added more volunteers of all nationalities to the ranks +of the Spanish-American patriots than was generally supposed--and so, +books and printing material were subjected to the payment of high +import duties, and a series of annoying formalities, among which the +passing of the political and ecclesiastical censors was the most +formidable. + +The result among the poorer classes of natives was blank illiteracy. A +pall of profound ignorance hung over the island, and although, with +the revival of letters in the seventeenth century the light of +intellect dawned over western Europe, not a ray of it was permitted to +reach the Spanish colonies. + +The ruling class, every individual of whom came from the Peninsula, +kept what books each individual possessed to themselves. To the people +all learning, except such as it was considered safe to impart, was +forbidden fruit. + +Under these conditions it is not strange that the idea of founding +public libraries did not germinate in the minds of the more +intelligent among the Puerto Ricans till the middle of the nineteenth +century; whereas, the other colonies that had shaken off their +allegiance to the mother country, had long since entered upon the road +of intellectual progress with resolute step. + +Collegiate libraries, however, had existed in the capital of the +island as early as the sixteenth century. The first of which we have +any tradition was founded by the Dominican friars in their convent. It +contained works on art, literature, and theology. + +The next library was formed in the episcopal palace, or "casa +parochial," by Bishop Don Bernardo de Valbuena, poet and author of a +pastoral novel entitled the Golden Age, and other works of literary +merit. This library, together with that of the Dominicans, and the +respective episcopal and conventual archives were burned by the +Hollanders during the siege of San Juan in 1625. + +The Franciscan friars also had a library in their convent (1660). The +books disappeared at the time of the community's dissolution in 1835. + +Bishop Pedro Gutierres de Cos, who founded the San Juan Conciliar +Seminary in 1832, established a library in connection with it, the +remains of which are still extant in the old seminary building, but +much neglected and worm-eaten. + +A library of a semipublic character was founded by royal order dated +June 19, 1831, shortly after the installation of the Audiencia in San +Juan. It was a large and valuable collection of books on juridical +subjects, which remained under the care of a salaried librarian till +1899, when it was amalgamated with the library of the College of +Lawyers. + +This last is a rich collection of works on jurisprudence, and the +exclusive property of the college, but accessible to professional men. +The library is in the former Audiencia building, now occupied by the +insular courts. + +The period from 1830 to 1850 appears to have been one of greatest +intellectual activity in Puerto Rico. Toward its close Juan de la +Pezuela, the governor, founded the Royal Academy of Belles-Lettres, an +institution of literary and pedagogical character, with the functions +of a normal school. It was endowed with a modest library, but it only +lived till the year 1860, when, in consequence of disagreement between +the founder and the professors, the school was closed and the library +passed into the possession of the Economic Society of Friends of the +Country. + +This, and the library of the Royal Academy, which the society had also +acquired, formed a small but excellent nucleus, and with, the produce +of the public subscription of 1884 it was enabled to stock its library +with many of the best standard works of the time in Spanish and +French, and open to the Puerto Ricans of all classes the doors of the +first long-wished-for public library. + +Since then it has contributed in no small degree to the enlightenment +of the better part of the laboring classes in the capital, till it was +closed at the commencement of the war. + +During the transition period the books were transferred from one +locality to another, and in the process the best works disappeared, +until the island's first civil governor, Charles H. Allen, at the +suggestion of Commissioner of Education Martin G. Brumbaugh, rescued +the remainder and made it the nucleus of the first _American_ free +library. + +The second Puerto Rican public library was opened by Don Ramon +Santaella, October 15, 1880, in the basement of the Town Hall. It +began with 400 volumes, and possesses to-day 6,361 literary and +didactic books in different languages. + +The Puerto Rican Atheneum Library was established in 1876. Its +collection of books, consisting principally of Spanish and French +literature, is an important one, both in numbers and quality. It has +been enriched by accessions of books from the library of the extinct +Society of Friends of the Country. It is open to members of the +Atheneum only, or to visitors introduced by them. + +The Casino Español possesses a small but select library with a +comfortable reading-room. Its collection of books and periodicals is +said to be the richest and most varied in the island. It was founded +in 1871. + +The religious association known under the name of Conferences of St. +Vincent de Paul had a small circulating library of religious works +duly approved by the censors. The congregation was broken up in 1887 +and the library disappeared. + +The Provincial Institute of Secondary Education, which was located in +the building now occupied by the free library and legislature, +possessed a small pedagogical library which shared the same fate as +that of the Society of Friends of the Country. + +The Spanish Public Works Department possessed another valuable +collection of books, mostly on technical and scientific subjects. A +number of books on other than technical subjects, probably from the +extinct libraries just referred to, have been added to the original +collection, and the whole, to the number of 1,544 volumes in excellent +condition, exist under the care of the chief of the Public Works +Department. + +Besides the above specified libraries of a public and collegiate +character, there are some private collections of books in the +principal towns of the island. Chief among these is the collection of +Don Fernando Juncos, of San Juan, which contains 15,000 volumes of +classic and preceptive literature and social and economic science, +1,200 volumes of which bear the author's autographs. + +The desire for intellectual improvement began to manifest itself in +the interior of the island a few years after the establishment of the +first public library in the capital. The municipality of Ponce founded +a library in 1894. It contains 809 bound volumes and 669 pamphlets in +English, German, French, and Spanish, many of them duplicates. The +general condition of the books is bad, and the location of the library +altogether unsuitable. There was a municipal appropriation of 350 +pesos per annum for library purposes, but since 1898 it has not been +available. + +Mayaguez founded its public library in 1872. It possesses over 5,000 +volumes, with a small archeological and natural history museum +attached to it. + +Some of the smaller towns also felt the need of intellectual +expansion, and tried to supply it by the establishment of +reading-rooms. Arecibo, Véga-Baja, Toa-Alta, Yauco, Cabo-Rojo, +Aguadilla, Humacáo, and others made efforts in this direction either +through their municipalities or private initiative. A few only +succeeded, but they did not outlive the critical times that commenced +with the war, aggravated by the hurricane of August, 1898. + + * * * * * + +Since the American occupation of the island, four public libraries +have been established. Two of them are exclusively Spanish, the +Circulating Scholastic Library, inaugurated in San Juan on February +22, 1901, by Don Pedro Carlos Timothe, and the Circulating Scholastic +Library of Yauco, established a month later under the auspices of S. +Egózene of that town. The two others are, one, largely English, the +Pedagogical Library, established under the auspices of the +Commissioner of Education, and the San Juan Free Library, to which Mr. +Andrew Carnegie has given $100,000, and which is polyglot, and was +formally opened to the public April 20, 1901. There is also a growing +number of libraries in the public schools. From the above data it +appears that, owing to the peculiar conditions that obtained in this +island, the people of Puerto Rico were very slow in joining the +movement of intellectual expansion which began in Spanish America in +the eighteenth century. They did so at last, unaided and with their +own limited resources, even before the obstacles placed in their way +by the Government were removed. If they have not achieved more, it is +because within the last few decades the island has been unfortunate in +more than one respect. Now that a new era has dawned, it may +reasonably be expected that the increased opportunities for +intellectual development afforded them will be duly appreciated and +taken advantage of by the people, and if we may judge from the +eagerness with which the youth of the capital reads the books of the +San Juan Free Library, it seems clear that the seed so recently sown +has fallen in fruitful soil. + + * * * * * + +The history of the Press in Puerto Rico is short. The first printing +machine was introduced by the Government in 1807 for the purpose of +publishing the Official Gazette. No serious attempt at publication of +any periodical for the people was made till the commencement of the +second constitutional period (1820-'23), when, for the first time in +the island's history, public affairs could be discussed without the +risk of imprisonment or banishment. The right of association was also +recognized. The Society of Liberal Lovers of the Country and the +Society of Lovers of Science were formed about this time. The +Investigator and the Constitutional Gazette were published and gave +food for nightly discussions on political and social questions in the +coffee-house on the Marina. + +The period of freedom of spoken and written thought was short, but an +impulse had been given which could not be arrested. In 1865 there were +eight periodicals published in the island. On September 29th of that +year a law regulating the publication of newspapers indirectly +suppressed half of them. It contained twenty articles, each more +stringent than the other. To obtain a license to publish or to +continue publishing a paper, a deposit of 2,000 crowns had to be made +to cover the fines that were almost sure to be imposed. The +publications were subject to the strictest censorship. They could not +appear till the proofs of each article had been signed by the censor, +and the whole process of printing and publishing was fenced in by such +minute and annoying regulations, the smallest infraction of which was +punished by such heavy fines that it was a marvel how any paper could +be published under such conditions. These conditions were relaxed a +decade or two later, and a number of publications sprang into +existence at once. When the United States Government took possession +of the island, there were 9 periodicals published in San Juan, 5 in +Ponce, 3 in Mayaguez, 1 in Humacáo, and a few others in different +towns of the interior. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY + +In Catholic countries the monastic orders constitute the regular +clergy. The secular clergy is not bound by monastic rules. Both +classes exercise their functions independently, the former under the +authority of their respective superiors or generals, the latter under +the bishops. + +When, after the return of Columbus from his first voyage, the +existence of a new world was demonstrated and preparations for +occupying it were made, the Pope, to assure the Christianization of +the inhabitants, gave to the monks of all orders who wished to go the +privilege, pertaining till then to the secular clergy exclusively, of +administering parishes and collecting tithes without subjection to the +authority of the bishops. + +The Dominicans and the Franciscans availed themselves of this +privilege at once. There was rivalry for power and influence between +these two orders from the time of their first installation, and they +carried their quarrels with them to America, where their differences +of opinion regarding the enslaving and treatment of the Indians +embittered them still more. The Dominicans secured a footing in Santo +Domingo and in Puerto Rico almost to the exclusion of their rivals, +notwithstanding the king's recommendation to Ceron in 1511 to build a +monastery for Franciscans, whose doctrines he considered "salutary." + +[Illustration: San Francisco Church, San Juan; the oldest church in +the city.] + +Puerto Rico was scantily provided with priests till the year 1518, +when the treasurer, Haro, wrote to Cardinal Cisneros: "There are no +priests in the granges as has been commanded; only one in Capárra, and +one in San German. The island is badly served. Send us a goodly number +of priests or permission to pay them out of the produce of the +tithes." + +The "goodly number of priests" was duly provided. Immediately after +the transfer of the capital to its present site in 1521, the +Dominicans began the construction of a convent, which was nearly +completed in 1529, when there were 25 friars in it. They had acquired +great influence over Bishop Manso, and obtained many privileges and +immunities from him. Bishop Bastidas, Manso's successor, was less +favorably disposed toward them, and demanded payment of tithes of the +produce of their agricultural establishments. He reported to the king +in 1548: "There is a Dominican monastery here large enough for a city +of 2,000 inhabitants,[79] and there are many friars in it. They +possess farms, cattle, negroes, Indians, and are building horse-power +sugar-mills; meanwhile, I know that they are asking your Majesty for +alms to finish their church ... It were better to oblige them to sell +their estates and live in poverty as prescribed by the rules of their +order." + +The Franciscans came to Puerto Rico in 1534, but founded no convent +till 1585, when one of their order, Nicolas Ramos, was appointed to +the see of San Juan. Then they established themselves in "la Aguáda," +and named the settlement San Francisco de Asis. Two years later it was +destroyed by the Caribs, and five of the brothers martyrized. No +attempt at reconstruction of the convent was made. The order abandoned +the island and did not return till 1642, when they obtained the Pope's +license to establish themselves in the capital. Like the Dominicans, +they soon acquired considerable wealth. + +The privilege of administering parishes and collecting tithes, which +was the principal source of monastic revenues, was canceled by royal +schedule June 13, 1757. The monks continued in the full enjoyment of +their property till 1835, when all the property of the regular clergy +throughout the Peninsula and the colonies was expropriated by the +Government. In this island the convents were appropriated only after +long and tedious judicial proceedings, in which the Government +demonstrated that the transfer was necessary for the public good. Then +the convents were used--that of the Dominicans as Audiencia hall, that +of the Franciscans as artillery barracks. The intendancy took charge +of the administration of the estate of the two communities, the +mortmain was canceled, and the transfer duly legalized. A promised +indemnity to the two brotherhoods was never paid, but in 1897 a sum of +5,000 pesos annually was added to the insular budget, to be paid to +the clergy as compensation for the expropriated estate of the +Dominicans in San German. Succeeding political events prevented the +payment of this also. The last representatives in this island of the +two dispossessed orders died in San Juan about the year 1865. + +Bishop Monserrate made an effort to reestablish the order of +Franciscans in 1875-'76. Only three brothers came to the island and +they, not liking the aspect of affairs, went to South America. + + * * * * * + +The first head of the secular clergy in Puerto Rico was nominated in +1511. The Catholic princes besought Pope Julius II to make it a +bishopric, and recommended as its first prelate Alonzo Manso, canon of +Salamanca, doctor in theology, a man held in high esteem at court. His +Holiness granted the request, and designated the whole of the island +as the diocese, with the principal settlement in it as the see. + +The subsequent conquests on the mainland kept adding vast territories +to this diocese till, toward the end of the eighteenth century, it +included the whole region extending from the upper Orinoco to the +Amazon, and from Guiana to the plains of Bogotá. Manso's successors +repeatedly represented to the king the absolute impossibility of +attending to the spiritual wants of "the lambs that were continually +added to the flock." They requested that the see might be transferred +to the mainland or that the diocese might be divided in two or more. +This was done in 1791, when the diocese of Guiana was created, and +Puerto Rico with the island of Vieyques remained as the original one. + +The bishop came to San Juan in 1513, and at once began to dispose all +that was necessary to give splendor and good government to the first +episcopal seat in America. Unfortunately, he arrived at a time when +dissension, strife, and immorality were rampant; and when it became +known that he was authorized to collect his tithes _in specie_, the +opposition of the quarrelsome and insubordinate inhabitants became so +violent that the prelate could not exercise his functions, and was +forced to return to the Peninsula in 1515. He came back in 1519, +invested with the powers of a Provincial Inquisitor, which he +exercised till 1539, when he died and was buried in the cathedral, +where a monument with an alabaster effigy marked his tomb till 1625, +when it was destroyed by the Hollanders. + +Rodrigo Bastidas, a native of Santo Domingo, was Manso's successor. He +was appointed Bishop of Coro in Venezuela in 1532, but solicited and +obtained the see of Puerto Rico in 1542. He was a man of great +capacity, virtuous and benevolent. He advised the suppression of the +Inquisition, asked the Government for facilities to educate the youth +and advance the agricultural interests of his diocese, and commenced +the construction of the cathedral. He died in Santo Domingo in 1561, +very old and very rich. + +Friar Diego de Salamanca, of the order of Augustines, succeeded +Bastidas. He continued the construction of the cathedral, but soon +returned to the metropolis, leaving the diocese to the care of the +Vicar-General, Santa Olaya, till 1585, when the Franciscan friar +Nicolas Bamos was appointed to the see. He was the last Bishop of +Puerto Rico who united the functions of inquisitor with those of the +episcopate, and a zealous burner of heretics. After him the see +remained vacant for fourteen years; since then, to the end of the +eighteenth century there were 39 consecrated prelates, 9 of whom +renounced, or for some other reason did not take possession. The most +distinguished among the remaining 30 were: Bernardo Balbuena, poet and +author, 1623-'27; Friar Manuel Gimenez Perez, pious, active, and +philanthropist, 1770-'84; and Juan Alejo Arismendi, who, according to +the Latin inscription on his tomb, was an amiable, religious, upright, +zealous, compassionate, learned, decorous, active, leading, +benevolent, paternal man. Of the rest little more is known than their +names and the dates of their assumption of office and demise. + + * * * * * + +The year 1842 was, for the secular clergy, one of anxiety for the +safety of their long and assiduously accumulated wealth. The members +to the number of 17 individuals, including the bishop, drew annual +stipends from the insular treasury to the amount of 36,888 pesos, +besides which they possessed and still possess a capital of over one +and a half millions of pesos, represented by: 1. Vacant chaplaincies. +2. Investments under the head Ecclesiastical Chapter. 3. Idem for +account of the Carmelite Sisterhood. 4. Legacies to saints for the +purpose of celebrating masses and processions in all the parishes of +the island. 5. Pious donations. 6. Fraternities and religious +associations for the worship of some special saint. 7. Revenues from +an institution known by the name of Third Orders. 8. Capital invested +by the founders of the Hospital of the Conception, the income of which +is mostly consumed by the nuns of that order. And 9. The +ecclesiastical revenues of different kinds in San German. + +All this was put in jeopardy by the following decree: + +"Doña Isabel II, by the grace of God and the Constitution of the +Spanish Monarchy, Queen of Spain, and during her minority Baldomero +Espartero, Duke of 'la Victoria' and Morella, Regent of the kingdom, +to all who these presents may see and understand, makes known that the +Cortes have decreed, and we have sanctioned, as follows: + +"ARTICLE I. All properties of the secular clergy of whatever class; +rights or shares of whatever origin or denomination they may be, or +for whatever application or purpose they may have been given, bought, +or acquired, are national properties. + +"ART. II. The properties, rights, and shares corresponding in any +manner to ecclesiastical unions or fraternities, are also national +properties. + +"ART. III. All estates, rights, and shares of the cathedral, +collegiate and parochial clergy and ecclesiastical unions and +fraternities referred to in the preceding articles, are hereby +declared _for sale_." + + * * * * * +The 15 articles that follow specify the properties +in detail, the manner of sale, the disposition of the +products, administration of rents, etc. + +The law was not carried into effect. Espartero, very popular at first, +by adopting the principles of the progressist party, forfeited the +support of the conservatives--that is, of the clerical party, and the +man is not born yet who can successfully introduce into Spain a +radical reform of the nature of the one he sanctioned with his +signature September 2, 1841. From that moment his overthrow was +certain. Narvaez headed the revolution against him, his own officers +and men abandoned him, and on July 30, 1843, he wrote his farewell +manifesto to the nation on board a British ship of war. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 79: San Juan had only about 100 "vecinos"--that is, white +people.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE INQUISITION + +1520-1813 + +Bishop Manso, on his arrival in 1513, found Puerto Rico in a state +bordering on anarchy, and after vain attempts to check the prevalent +immorality and establish the authority of the Church, he returned to +Spain in 1519. The account he gave Cardinal Cisneros of the island's +condition suggested to the Grand Inquisitor the obvious remedy of +clothing the bishop with the powers of Provincial Inquisitor, which he +did. + +Diego Torres Vargas, the canon of the San Juan Cathedral, says in his +memoirs: "Manso was made inquisitor, and he, being the first, may be +said to have been the Inquisitor-General of the Indies; ... the +delinquents were brought from all parts to be burned and punished +here ... The Inquisition building exists till this day (1647), and until +the coming of the Hollanders in 1625 many sambenitos could be seen in +the cathedral hung up behind the choir." + +These "sambenitos" were sacks of coarse yellow cloth with a large red +cross on them, and figures of devils and instruments of torture among +the flames of hell. The delinquents, dressed in one of these sacks, +bareheaded and barefooted, were made to do penance, or, if condemned +to be burned, marched to the place of execution. It is said that in +San Juan they were not tied to a stake but enclosed in a hollow +plaster cast, against which the faggots were piled,[80] so that they +were roasted rather than burned to death. The place for burning the +sinners was outside the gate of the fort San Cristobal. Mr. M.F. +Juncos believes that the prisons were in the lower part of the +Dominican Convent, later the territorial audience and now the supreme +court, but Mr. Salvador Brau thinks that they occupied a plot of +ground in the angle formed by Cristo Street and the "Caleta" of San +Juan. + +Of Nicolas Ramos, the last Bishop of Puerto Rico, who united the +functions of inquisitor with the duties of the episcopate, Canon +Vargas says: " ... He was very severe, burning and punishing, _as was +his duty_, some of the people whose cases came before him ..." + +It seems that the records of the Inquisition in this island were +destroyed and the traditions of its doings suppressed, because nothing +is said regarding them by the native commentators on the island's +history. Only the names of a few of the leading men who came in +contact with the Tribunal have come down to us. Licentiate Sancho +Velasquez, who was accused of speaking against the faith and eating +meat in Lent, appears to have been Manso's first victim, since he died +in a dungeon. A clergyman named Juan Carecras was sent to Spain at the +disposition of the general, for the crime of practising surgery. In +the same year (1536) we find the treasurer, Blas de Villasante, in an +Inquisition dungeon, because, though married in Spain, he cohabited +with a native woman--an offense too common at that time not to leave +room for suspicion that the treasurer must have made himself obnoxious +to the Holy Office in some other way. In 1537, a judge auditor was +sent from the Española, but the parties whose accounts were to be +audited contrived to have him arrested by the officers of the +Inquisition on the day of his arrival. Doctor Juan Blazquez, having +attempted to correct some abuses committed by the Admiral's employees +in connivance with the Inquisition agents, suffered forty days' +imprisonment, and was condemned to hear a mass standing erect all the +time, besides paying a fine of 50 pesos. + +These are the only cases on record. Only the walls of the Inquisition +building, could they speak, could reveal what passed within them from +the time of Manso's arrival in 1520 to the end of the sixteenth +century, when the West Indian Superior Tribunal was transferred to +Cartagena, and a special subordinate judge only was left in San Juan. +Bishop Rodrigo de Bastidas, who visited San Juan on a Government +commission in 1533, perceiving the abuses that were committed in the +inquisitor's name, proposed the abolition of the Holy Office; but the +odious institution continued to exist till 1813, when the +extraordinary Cortes of Cadiz removed, for a time, this blot on +Spanish history. The decree is dated February 22d, and accompanied by +a manifesto which is an instructive historical document in itself. It +shows that the Cortes dared not attempt the suppression of the dreaded +Tribunal without first convincing the people of the disconnection of +the measure with the religious question, and justifying it as one +necessary for the public weal. + +"You can not doubt," they say, "that we endeavor to maintain in this +kingdom the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion, which you have the +happiness to profess; ... the deputies elected by you know, as do the +legislators of all times and all nations, that a social edifice not +founded on religion, is constructed in vain; ... the true religion +which we profess is the greatest blessing which God has bestowed on +the Spanish people; we do not recognize as Spaniards those who do not +profess it ... It is the surest support of all private and social +virtues, of fidelity to the laws and to the monarch, of the love of +country and of just liberty, which are graven in every Spanish heart, +which have impelled you to battle with the hosts of the usurper, +vanquishing and annihilating them, while braving hunger and nakedness, +torture, and death." + +The Inquisition is next referred to. It is stated that in their +constant endeavor to hasten the termination of the evils that afflict +the Spanish nation, the people's representatives have first given +their attention to the Inquisition; that, with the object of +discovering the exact civil and ecclesiastical status of the Holy +Office, they have examined all the papal bulls and other documents +that could throw light on the subject, and have discovered that only +the Inquisitor-General had ecclesiastical powers; that the Provincial +Inquisitors were merely his delegates acting under his instructions; +that no supreme inquisitorial council had ever been instituted by +papal brief, and that the general, being with the enemy (the French +troops), no Inquisition really existed. From these investigations the +Cortes had acquired a knowledge of the mode of procedure of the +tribunals, of their history, and of the opinion of them entertained by +the Cortes of the kingdom in early days. " ... We will now speak +frankly to you," continues the document, "for it is time that you +should know the naked truth, and that the veil be lifted with which +false politicians have covered their designs. + +"Examining the instructions by which the provincial tribunals were +governed, it becomes clear at first sight that the soul of the +institution was inviolable secrecy. This covered all the proceedings +of the inquisitors, and made them the arbiters of the life and honor +of all Spaniards, without responsibility to anybody on earth. They +were men, and as such subject to the same errors and passions as the +rest of mankind, and it is inconceivable that the nation did not exact +responsibility since, in virtue of the temporal power that had been +delegated to them, they condemned to seclusion, imprisonment, torture, +and death. Thus the inquisitors exercised a power which the +Constitution denies to every authority in the land save the sacred +person of the king. + +"Another notable circumstance made the power of the +Inquisitors-General still more unusual; this was that, without +consulting the king or the Supreme Pontiff, they dictated laws, +changed them, abolished them, or substituted them by others, so that +there was within the nation a judge, the Inquisitor-General, whose +powers transcended those of the sovereign. + +"Here now how the Tribunal proceeded with the offenders. When an +accusation was made, the accused were taken to a secret prison without +being permitted to communicate with parents, children, relations, or +friends, till they were condemned or absolved. Their families were +denied the consolation of weeping with them over their misfortunes or +of assisting them in their defense. The accused was not only deprived +of the assistance of his relations and friends, but in no case was he +informed of the name of his accuser nor of the witnesses who declared +against him; and in order that he might not discover who they were, +they used to truncate the declarations and make them appear as coming +from a third party. + +"Some one will be bold enough to say that the rectitude and the +religious character of the inquisitors prevented the confusion of the +innocent with the criminal; but the experiences of many years and the +history of the Inquisition give the lie to such assurances. They show +us sage and saintly men in the Tribunal's dungeons. Sixtus IV himself, +who, at the request of the Catholic kings, had sanctioned the creation +of the Tribunal, complained strongly of the innumerable protests that +reached him from persecuted people who had been falsely accused of +heresy. Neither the virtue nor the position of distinguished men could +protect them. The venerable Archbishop of Grenada, formerly the +confessor of Queen Isabel, suffered most rigorous persecutions from +the inquisitors of Cordóva, and the same befell the Archbishop of +Toledo, Friar Louis de Leon, the venerable Avila, Father Siguenza, and +many other eminent men. + +"In view of these facts, it is no paradox to say that _the ignorance, +the decadence of science, of the arts, commerce and agriculture, the +depopulation and poverty of Spain, are mainly due to the Inquisition._ + +"How the Inquisition could be established among such a noble and +generous people as the Spanish, will be a difficult problem for +posterity to solve. It will be more difficult still to explain how +such a Tribunal could exist for more than three hundred years. +Circumstances favored its establishment. It was introduced under the +pretext of restraining the Moors and the Jews, who were obnoxious to +the Spanish people, and who found protection in their financial +relations with the most illustrious families of the kingdom. With such +plausible motives the politicians of the time covered a measure which +was contrary to the laws of the monarchy. Religion demanded it as a +protection, and the people permitted it, though not without strong +protest. As soon as the causes that called the Inquisition into +existence had ceased, the people's attorneys in Cortes demanded the +establishment of the legal mode of procedure. The Cortes of Valladolid +of 1518 and 1523 asked from the king that in matters of religion the +ordinary judges might be declared competent, and that in the +proceedings the canons and common codes might be followed; the Cortes +of Saragossa asked the same in 1519, and the kings would have acceded +to the will of the people, expressed through their representatives, +especially in view of the indirect encouragement to do so which they +received from the Holy See, but for the influence of those with whom +they were surrounded who had an interest in the maintenance of the +odious institution." + +The manifesto terminates with an assurance to the Spanish people that, +under the new law, heresy would not go unpunished; that, under the new +system of judicial proceedings, the innocent would no longer be +confounded with the criminal. " ... There will be no more voluntary +errors, no more suborned witnesses, offenders will henceforth be +judged by upright magistrates in accordance with the sacred canons and +the civil code ... Then, genius and talent will display all their +energies without fear of being checked in their career by intrigue and +calumny; ... science, the arts, agriculture, and commerce will +flourish under the guidance of the distinguished men who abound in +Spain ... The king, the bishops, all the venerable ecclesiastics will +instruct the faithful in the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion without +fear of seeing its beauty tarnished by ignorance and superstition, +and, who knows, this decree may contribute to the realization, some +day, of religious fraternity among all nations!" + +From this beautiful dream the Cortes were rudely awakened the very +next year when King Ferdinand VII, replaced on his throne by the +powers who formed the holy alliance, entered Madrid surrounded by a +host of retrograde, revengeful priests. Then the Regency, the Cortes, +the Constitution were ignored. The deputies were the first to suffer +exile, imprisonment, and death in return for their loyalty and +liberalism; the public press was silenced; the convents reopened, +municipalities and provincial deputations abolished, the Jesuits +restored, the Inquisition reestablished, and priestcraft once more +spread its influence over the mental and social life of a naturally +generous, brave, and intelligent people. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 80: Neumann, p. 205.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +GROWTH OF CITIES + +The proceedings in the formation of a Spanish settlement in the +sixteenth century were the same everywhere. For the choice of a site +the presence of gold was a condition _sine quâ non_, without gold, no +matter how beautiful or fertile the region, no settlement was made. + +When a favorable locality was found the first thing done was to +construct a fort, because the natives, friendly disposed at first, +were not long in becoming the deadly enemies of the handful of +strangers who constituted themselves their masters. The next requisite +was a church or chapel in which to invoke the divine blessing on the +enterprise, or maybe to appease the divine wrath at the iniquities +committed. Last, but certainly not least in importance, came the +smelting-house, where the King of Spain's share of the gold was +separated. + +Around these the settlers grouped their houses or huts as they +pleased. + +The first settlement on this island was made in 1508, on the north +coast, at the distance of more than a league from the present port of +San Juan, the space between being swampy. Ponce called it Capárra. +When the promising result of Ponce's first visit to the island was +communicated to King Ferdinand by Ovando, the Governor of la Española, +his Highness replied in a letter dated Valladolid, September 15, 1509: +"I note the good services rendered by Ponce and that he has not gone +to settle the island for want of means. Now that they are being sent +from here in abundance, let him go at once with as many men as he +can." To Ponce himself the king wrote: "I have seen your letter of +August 16th. Be very diligent in the search for gold-mines. Take out +as much as possible, smelt it in la Española and remit it instantly. +Settle the island as best you can. Write often and let me know what is +needed and what passes." + +Armed with these instructions, and with his appointment as governor +_ad interim_, Ponce returned to San Juan in February, 1510, with his +wife and two daughters, settled in Capárra, where, before his +departure in 1509, he had built a house of stamped earth (tapia), and +where some of the companions of his first expedition had resided ever +since. Ponce's house, afterward built of stone, served as a fort. A +church or chapel existed already, and we know that there was a +smelting-house, because we read that the first gold-smelting took +place in Capárra in October, 1510, and that the king's one-fifth came +to 2,645 pesos. + +[Illustration: Plaza Alphonso XII and Intendencia Building, San Juan.] + +With the reinstatement of Ceron and Diaz, complaints about the +distance of the settlement from the port, and its unhealthy location, +soon reached the king's ears, accompanied by requests for permission +to transfer it to an islet near the shore. No action was taken. In +November, 1511, the monarch wrote to Ceron: "Ponce says that he +founded the town of Capárra in the most favorable locality of the +island. I fear that you want to change it. You shall not do so without +our special approval. If there is just reason for moving you must +first inform me." + +Capárra remained for the time the only settlement, and was honored +with the name of "City of Puerto Rico." A municipal council was +installed, and the king granted the island a coat of arms which +differed slightly from that used by the authorities till lately. + +The next settlement was made on the south shore, at a place named +Guánica, "where there is a bay," says Oviedo, "which is one of the +best in the world, but the mosquitoes were so numerous that they alone +were sufficient to depopulate it." [81] The Spaniards then moved to +Aguáda, on the northwestern shore, and founded a settlement to which +they gave the name of their leader Soto Mayor. + +This was a young man of aristocratic birth, ex-secretary of King +Philip, surnamed "the Handsome." He had come to the Indies with a +license authorizing him to traffic in captive Indians, and Ponce, +wishing, no doubt, to enlist the young hidalgo's family influence at +the court in his favor, made him high constable (_alguacil mayor_) of +the southern division (June, 1510). + +The new settlement's existence was short. It was destroyed by the +Indians in the insurrection of February of the following year, when +Christopher Soto Mayor and 80 more of his countrymen, who had +imprudently settled in isolated localities in the interior, fell +victims of the rage of the natives. + +Diego Columbus proposed the reconstruction of the destroyed +settlement, with the appellation of San German. The king approved, and +near the end of the year 1512, Miguel del Torro, one of Ponce's +companions, was delegated to choose a site. He fixed upon the bay of +Guayanilla, eastward of Guánica, and San German became the port of +call for the Spanish ships bound to Pária. Its proximity to the "pearl +coast," as the north shore of Venezuela was named, made it the point +of departure for all who wished to reach that coast or escape from the +shores of poverty-stricken Puerto Rico--namely, the dreamers of the +riches of Peru, those who, like Sedeño, aspired to new conquests on +the mainland, or crown officers who had good reasons for wishing to +avoid giving an account of their administration of the royal revenues. +The comparative prosperity which it enjoyed made San German the object +of repeated attacks by the French privateers. It was burned and +plundered several times during the forty-three years of its existence, +till one day in September, 1554, three French ships of the line +entered the port and landed a detachment of troops who plundered and +destroyed everything to a distance of a league and a half into the +interior. From that day San German, founded by Miguel del Torro, +ceased to exist. + +The town with the same name, existing at present on the southwest +coast, was founded in 1570 by Governor Francisco Solis with the +remains of the ill-fated settlement on the bay of Guayanilla. The +Dominican friars had a large estate in this neighborhood, and the new +settlement enhanced its value. Both the governor and the bishop were +natives of Salamanca, and named the place New Salamanca, but the name +of New San German has prevailed. In 1626 the new town had 50 citizens +(vecinos). + +_San Juan_.--Licentiate Velasquez, one of the king's officers at +Capárra, wrote to his Highness in April, 1515: " ... The people of +this town wish to move to an islet in the port. I went to see it with +the town council and it looks well"; and some time later: " ... We +will send a description of the islet to which it is convenient to +remove the town of Puerto Rico." + +Ponce opposed the change. His reasons were that the locality of +Capárra was dry and level, with abundance of wood, water, and pasture, +and that most of the inhabitants, occupied as they were with +gold-washing, had to provide themselves with provisions from the +neighboring granges. He recognized that the islet was healthier, but +maintained that the change would benefit only the traders. + +The dispute continued for some time. Medical certificates were +presented declaring Capárra unhealthy. The leading inhabitants +declared their opinion in favor of the transfer. A petition was signed +and addressed to the Jerome friars, who governed in la Española, and +they ordered the transfer in June, 1519. Ponce was permitted to +remain in his stone house in the abandoned town as long as he liked. +In November, 1520, Castro wrote to the emperor expressing his +satisfaction with the change, and asked that a fort and a stone +smelting-house might be constructed, because the one in use was of +straw and had been burned on several occasions. Finally, in 1521, the +translation of the capital of Puerto Rico to its present site was +officially recognized and approved. + +There were now two settlements in the island. There were 35 citizens +in each in 1515, but the gold produced attracted others, and in 1529 +the Bishop of la Española reported that there were 120 houses in San +Juan, "some of stone, the majority of straw. The church was roofed +while I was there." He says, "a Dominican monastery was in course of +construction, nearly finished, with more than 125 friars in it." + +During the next five years the gold produce rapidly diminished; the +Indians, who extracted it, escaped or died. Tempests and epidemics +devastated the land. The Caribs and the French freebooters destroyed +what the former spared. All those who could, emigrated to Mexico or +Peru, and such was the depopulated condition of the capital, that +Governor Lando wrote in 1534: "If a ship with 50 men were to come +during the night, they could land and kill all who live here." + +With the inhabitants engaged in the cultivation of sugar-cane, some +improvement in their condition took place. Still, there were only 130 +citizens in San Juan in 1556, and only 30 in New San German. In 1595, +when Drake appeared before San Juan with a fleet of 26 ships, the +governor could only muster a few peons and 50 horsemen, and but for +the accidental presence of the Spanish frigates, Puerto Rico would +probably be an English possession to-day. It _was_ taken by the Duke +of Cumberland four years later, but abandoned again on account of the +epidemic that broke out among the English troops. When the Hollanders +laid siege to the capital in 1625 there were only 330 men between +citizens and jíbaros that could be collected for the defense. In 1646 +there were 500 citizens and 400 houses in San Juan, and 200 citizens +in New San German. Arecibo and Coámo had recently been founded. + +Scarcely any progress in the settlement of the country was made during +the remaining years of the seventeenth century. Toward the middle of +the eighteenth century great steps in this direction had been made. +From Governor Bravo de Rivera's list of men fit for militia service, +we discover that in 1759 there were 18 new settlements or towns in the +island with a total of 4,559 men able to carry arms; exclusive of San +Juan and San German, they were: + + + + Ponce with 356 men. + Aguáda with 564 " + Manatí " 357 " + Añasco " 460 " + Yauco " 164 " + Coámo " 342 " + La Tuna " 104 " + Arecibo " 647 " + Utuado " 126 " + Loiza " 179 " + Toa-Alta " 188 " + Toa-Baja " 294 " + Piedras " 104 " + Bayamón " 256 " + Cáguas " 100 " + Guayama " 211 " + Rio Piedras with 46 " + Cangrejos with 120 " + + +The oldest of these settlements is + +_La Aguáda_.--The name signifies "place at which water is taken," and +_Aguadilla_, which is to the north of the former and the head of the +province, is merely the diminutive of Aguáda. The first possesses +abundant springs of excellent water, one of them distant only five +minutes from the landing-place. In Aguadilla a famous spring rises in +the middle of the town and runs through it in a permanent stream. + +In 1511 the king directed his officers in Seville to make all ships, +leaving that port for the Indies, call at the island of San Juan in +order to make the Caribs believe that the Spanish population was much +larger than it really was, and thus prevent or diminish their attacks. +The excellence of the water which the ships found at Aguáda made it +convenient for them to call, and the Spanish ships continued to do so +long after the need of frightening away the Caribs had passed. + +The first regular settlement was founded in 1585 by the Franciscan +monks, who named it San Francisco de Asis. The Caribs surprised the +place about the year 1590, destroyed the convent, and martyrized five +of the monks, which caused the temporary abandonment of the +settlement. It was soon repeopled, notwithstanding the repeated +attacks of Caribs and French and English privateers. Drake stopped +there to provide his fleet with water in 1595. Cumberland did the same +four years later. The Columbian insurgents attempted a landing in 1819 +and another in 1825, but were beaten off. Their valiant conduct on +these occasions, and their loyalty in contributing a large sum of +money toward the expenses of the war in Africa, earned for their +town, from the Home Government, the title of "unconquerable" (villa +invicta) in 1860. + +Aguáda, or rather the mouth of the river Culebrinas, which flows into +the sea near it, is the place where Columbus landed in 1493. The +fourth centenary of the event was commemorated in 1893 by the +erection, on a granite pedestal, of a marble column, 11 meters high, +crowned with a Latin cross. On the pedestal is the inscription: + + + 1493 + 19th of November + 1893 + + +_Loiza._--Along the borders of the river which bears this name there +settled, about the year 1514, Pedro Mexia, Sancho Arángo, Francisco +Quinaós, Pedro Lopez, and some other Spaniards, with their respective +Indian laborers. In one of the raids of the Indians from Vieyques or +Aye-Aye, which were so frequent at the time, a cacique named Cacimár +met his death at the hands of Arángo. The fallen chief's brother +Yaureibó, in revenge, prepared a large expedition, and penetrating at +night with several pirogues full of men by way of the river to within +a short distance of the settlement, fell upon it and utterly destroyed +it, killing many and carrying off others. Among the killed were Mexia +and his Indian concubine named Louisa or Heloise. Tradition says that +this woman, having been advised by some Indian friend of the intended +attack, tried to persuade her paramour to flee. When he refused, she +scorned his recommendation to save herself and remained with him to +share his fate. + +In the relation of this episode by the chroniclers, figures also the +name of the dog Becerrillo (small calf), a mastiff belonging to +Arángo, who had brought the animal from the Española, where Columbus +had introduced the breed on his second voyage. In the fight with the +Indians Arángo was overpowered and was being carried off alive, when +his dog, at the call of his master, came bounding to the rescue and +made the Indians release him. They sprang into the river for safety, +and the gallant brute following them was shot with a poisoned +arrow.[82] + +_Arecibo_ is situated on the river of that name. It was founded by +Felipe de Beaumont in 1616, with the appellation San Felipe de +Arecibo. + +_Fajardo._--Governor Bravo de Rivero, with a view to found a +settlement on the east coast, detached a number of soldiers from their +regiment and gave to them and some other people a caballeria[83] of +land each, in the district watered by the river Fajardo. Alexander +O'Reilly, the king's commissioner, who visited the settlement in 1765, +found 474 people, and wrote: " ...They have cleared little ground and +cultivated so little that they are still in the very commencements. +The only industry practised by the inhabitants is illicit trade with +the Danish islands of Saint Thomas and Saint Cross. The people of +Fajardo are the commission agents for the people there. What else +could be expected from indolent soldiers and vagabonds without any +means of clearing forests or building houses? If no other measures are +adopted this settlement will remain many years in the same unhappy +condition and be useful only to foreigners." In 1780 there were 243 +heads of families in the district; the town proper had 9 houses and a +church. + +With regard to the remaining settlements mentioned in Governor Bravo +de Rivero's list, there are no reliable data. + +From 1759, the year in which a general distribution of Government +lands was practised and titles were granted, to the year 1774, in +which Governor Miguel Muesas reformed or redistributed some of the +urban districts, many, if not most of the settlements referred to were +formed or received the names they bear at present. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 81: The first landing of the American troops was effected +here on July 25, 1898.] + +[Footnote 82: These two episodes have given rise to several fantastic +versions by native writers.] + +[Footnote 83: Ten by twenty "cuerdas." The cuerda is one-tenth less +than an English acre.] + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AURIFEROUS STREAMS AND GOLD PRODUCED FROM + +1509 TO 1536 + +If a systematic exploration were practised to-day, by competent +mineralogists, of the entire chain of mountains which intersects the +island from east to west, it is probable that lodes of gold-bearing +quartz or conglomerate, worth working, would be discovered. Even the +alluvium deposits along the banks of the rivers and their tributaries, +as well as the river beds, might, in many instances, be found to +"pay." + +The early settlers compelled the Indians to work for them. These poor +creatures, armed with the simplest tools, dug the earth from the river +banks. Their wives and daughters, standing up to their knees in the +river, washed it in wooden troughs. When the output diminished another +site was chosen, often before the first one was half worked out. The +Indians' practical knowledge of the places where gold was likely to be +found was the Spanish gold-seeker's only guide, the Indians' labor the +only labor employed in the collection of it. + +As for the mountains, they have never been properly explored. The +Indians who occupied them remained in a state of insurrection for +years, and when the mountain districts could be safely visited at +last, the _auri sacra fames_ had subsided. The governors did not +interest themselves in the mineral resources of the island, and the +people found it too difficult to provide for their daily wants to go +prospecting. So the surface gold in the alluvium deposits was all that +was collected by the Spaniards, and what there still may be on the +bed-rocks of the rivers or in the lodes in the mountains from which it +has been washed, awaits the advent of modern gold-seekers. + +The first samples of gold from Puerto Rico were taken to the Española +by Ponce, who had obtained them from the river Manatuabón, to which +the friendly cacique Guaybána conducted him on his first visit (1508). +This river disembogues into the sea on the south coast near Cape +Malapascua; but it appears that the doughty captain also visited the +north coast and found gold enough in the rivers Cóa and Sibúco to +justify him in making his headquarters at Capárra, which is in the +neighborhood. That gold was found there in considerable quantities is +shown by the fact that in August of the same year of Ponce's return to +the island (he returned in February, 1509), 8,975 pesos corresponded +to the king's fifth of the first _washings_. The first _smelting_ was +practised October 26, 1510. The next occurred May 22, 1511, producing +respectively 2,645 and 3,043 gold pesos as the king's share. Thus, in +the three first years the crown revenues from this source amounted to +14,663 gold pesos, and the total output to 73,315 gold pesos, which, +at three dollars of our money per peso, approximately represented a +total of $219,945 obtained from the rivers in the neighborhood of +Capárra alone. + +In 1515 a fresh discovery of gold-bearing earth in this locality was +reported to the king by Sancho Velasquez, the treasurer, who wrote on +April 27th: " ... At 4 leagues' distance from here rich gold deposits +have been found in certain rivers and streams. From Reyes (December +4th) to March 15th, with very few Indians, 25,000 pesos have been +taken out. It is expected that the output this season will be 100,000 +pesos." + +The streams in the neighborhood of San German, on the south coast, the +only other settlement in the island at the time, seem to have been +equally rich. The year after its foundation by Miguel del Toro the +settlers were able to smelt and deliver 6,147 pesos to the royal +treasurer. The next year the king's share amounted to 7,508 pesos, and +Treasurer Haro reported that the same operation for the years 1517 and +1518 had produced $186,000 in all--that is, 3,740 for the treasury. + +A good idea of the island's mineral and other resources at this period +may be formed from Treasurer Haro's extensive report to the +authorities in Madrid, dated January 21, 1518. + +" ... Your Highness's revenues," he says, "are: one-fifth of the gold +extracted and of the pearls brought by those who go (to the coast of +Venezuela) to purchase them, the salt produce and the duties on +imports and exports. Every one of the three smeltings that are +practised here every two years produces about 250,000 pesos, in San +German about 186,000 pesos. But the amounts fluctuate. + +"The product of pearls is uncertain. Since the advent of the Jerome +fathers the business has been suspended until the arrival of your +Highness. Two caravels have gone now, but few will go, because the +fathers say that the traffic in Indians is to cease and the greatest +profit is in that ... On your Highness's estates there are 400 Indians +who wash gold, work in the fields, build houses, etc.; ... they +produce from 1,500 to 2,000 pesos profit every gang (demora).... I +send in this ship, with Juan Viscaino, 8,000 pesos and 40 marks of +pearls. There remain in my possession 17,000 pesos and 70 marks of +pearls, which shall be sent by the next ship in obedience to your +Highness's orders, not to send more than 10,000 pesos at a time. The +pearls that go now are worth that amount. Until the present we sent +only 5,000 pesos' worth of pearls at one time." + +The yearly output of gold fluctuated, but it continued steadily, as +Velasquez wrote to the emperor in 1521, when he made a remittance of +5,000 pesos. Six or seven years later, the placers, for such they +were, were becoming exhausted. Castellanos, the treasurer, wrote in +1518 that only 429 pesos had been received as the king's share of the +last two years' smelting. Some new deposit was discovered in the river +Daguáo, but it does not seem to have been of much importance. From the +year 1530 the reports of the crown officers are full of complaints of +the growing scarcity of gold; finally, in 1536, the last remittance +was made; not, it may be safely assumed, because there was no more +gold in the island, but because those who had labored and suffered in +its production, had succumbed to the unaccustomed hardships imposed on +them and to the cruel treatment received from their sordid masters. + +Besides the river mentioned, the majority of those which have their +sources in the mountains of Luquillo are more or less auriferous. +These are: the Rio Prieto, the Fajardo, the Espíritu Santo, the Rio +Grande, and, especially, the Mameyes. The river Loiza also contains +gold, but, judging from the traces of diggings still here and there +visible along the beds of the Mavilla, the Sibúco, the Congo, the Rio +Negro, and Carozal, in the north, it would seem that these rivers and +their affluents produced the coveted metal in largest quantities. The +Duey, the Yauco, and the Oromico, or Hormigueros, on the south coast +are supposed to be auriferous also, but do not seem to have been +worked. + +The metal was and is still found in seed-shaped grains, sometimes of +the weight of 2 or 3 pesos. Tradition speaks of a nugget found in the +Fajardo river weighing 4 ounces, and of another found in an affluent +of the Congo of 1 pound in weight. + +_Silver_.--In 1538 the crown officers in San Juan wrote to the Home +Government: " ... The gold is diminishing. Several veins of lead ore +have been discovered, from which some silver has been extracted. The +search would continue if the concession to work these veins were given +for ten years, with 1.20 or 1.15 royalty." On March 29th of the +following year the same officers reported: " ... Respecting the silver +ores discovered, we have smolten some, but no one here knows how to +do it. Veins of this ore have been discovered in many parts of the +island, but nobody works them. We are waiting for some one to come who +knows how to smelt them." + +The following extract from the memoirs and documents left by Juan +Bautista Muñoz, gives the value in "gold pesos"[84] of the bullion and +pearls, corresponding to the king's one-fifth share of the total +produce remitted to Spain from this island from the year 1509 to 1536: + + + In 1509, gold pesos 8,975 + 1510, " 2,645 + 1511, " 10,000 + 1512, " 3,043 + 1513, " 27,291 + 1514, " 18,000 + 1515, " 17,000 + 1516, " 11,490 + 1517-18, " 38,497 + 1519, " 10,000 + 1520, " 35,733 + In 1521, " 10,000 + 1522, " 7,979 + 1523-29, " 40,000 + 1530, " 12,440 + 1531, " 6,500 + 1532, " 9,000 + 1533, " 4,000 + 1534, " 8,500 + 1535, " 1,848 + 1536, " 10,000 + ______ + Total, 15 share 277,941 + + + +The entire output for this period was 1,389,705 gold pesos, or +$4,169,115 Spanish coin of to-day, as the total produce in gold and +pearls of the island of San Juan de Puerto Rico during the first +twenty-seven years of its occupation by the Spaniards. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 84: Washington Irving estimates the value of the "gold peso" +of the sixteenth century at $3 Spanish money of our day.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +WEST INDIAN HURRICANES IN PUERTO RICO FROM + +1515 TO 1899 + +Whoever has witnessed the awful magnificence of what the primitive +inhabitants of the West Indian islands called _ou-ra-cán,_ will never +forget the sense of his own utter nothingness and absolute +helplessness. With the wind rushing at the rate of 65 or more miles an +hour, amid the roar of waves lashed into furious rolling mountains of +water, the incessant flash of lightning, the dreadful roll of thunder, +the fierce beating of rain, one sees giant trees torn up by the roots +and man's proud constructions of stone and iron broken and scattered +like children's toys. + +The tropical latitudes to the east and north of the West Indian +Archipelago are the birthplace of these phenomena. According to Mr. +Redfield[85] they cover simultaneously an extent of surface from 100 +to 500 miles in diameter, acting with diminished violence toward the +circumference and with increased energy toward the center of this +space. + +In the Weather Bureau's bulletin cited, there is a description of the +most remarkable and destructive among the 355 hurricanes that have +swept over the West Indies from 1492 to 1899. Not a single island has +escaped the tempest's ravages. I have endeavored in vain to make an +approximate computation of the human life and property destroyed by +these visitations of Providence. Such a computation is impossible when +we read of entire towns destroyed not once but 6, 8, and 10 times; of +crops swept away by the tempest's fury, and the subsequent starvation +of untold thousands; of whole fleets of ships swallowed up by the sea +with every soul on board, and of hundreds of others cast on shore like +coco shards. + +To give an idea of the appalling disasters caused by these too oft +recurring phenomena, the above-mentioned bulletin gives Flammarion's +description of the great hurricane of 1780.[86] + +"The most terrible cyclone of modern times is probably that which +occurred on October 10, 1780, which has been specially called the +great hurricane, and which seems to have embodied all the horrible +scenes that attend a phenomenon of this kind. Starting from Barbados, +where trees and houses were all blown down, it engulfed an English +fleet anchored before St. Lucia, and then ravaged the whole of that +island, where 6,000 persons were buried beneath the ruins. From thence +it traveled to Martinique, overtook a French transport fleet and sunk +40 ships conveying 4,000 soldiers. The vessels _disappeared_." + +Such is the laconic language in which the governor reported the +disaster. Farther north, Santo Domingo, St. Vincent, St. Eustatius, +and Puerto Rico were devastated, and most of the vessels that were +sailing in the track of the cyclone were lost with all on board. +Beyond Puerto Rico the tempest turned northeast toward Bermuda, and +though its violence gradually decreased, it nevertheless sunk several +English vessels. This hurricane was quite as destructive inland. Nine +thousand persons perished in Martinique, and 1,000 in St. Pierre, +where not a single house was left standing, for the sea rose to a +height of 25 feet, and 150 houses that were built along the shore were +engulfed. At Port Royal the cathedral, 7 churches, and 1,400 houses +were blown down; 1,600 sick and wounded were buried beneath the ruins +of the hospital. At St. Eustatius, 7 vessels were dashed to pieces on +the rocks, and of the 19 which lifted their anchors and went out to +sea, only 1 returned. At St. Lucia the strongest buildings were torn +up from their foundations, a cannon was hurled a distance of more than +30 yards, and men as well as animals were lifted off their feet and +carried several yards. The sea rose so high that it destroyed the fort +and drove a vessel against the hospital with such force as to stave in +the walls of that building. Of the 600 houses at Kingston, on the +island of St. Vincent, 14 alone remained intact, and the French +frigate Junon was lost. Alarming consequences were feared from the +number of dead bodies which lay uninterred, and the quantity of fish +the sea threw up, but these alarms soon subsided...." + +"The aboriginal inhabitants," says Abbad, "foresaw these catastrophes +two or three days in advance. They were sure of their approach when +they perceived a hazy atmosphere, the red aspect of the sun, a dull, +rumbling, subterranean sound, the stars shining through a kind of mist +which made them look larger, the nor'west horizon heavily clouded, a +strong-smelling emanation from the sea, a heavy swell with calm +weather, and sudden changes of the wind from east to west." The +Spanish settlers also learned to foretell the approach of a hurricane +by the sulphurous exhalations of the earth, but especially by the +incessant neighing of horses, bellowing of cattle, and general +restlessness of these animals, who seem to acquire a presentiment of +the coming danger. + +"The physical features of hurricanes are well understood. The approach +of a hurricane is usually indicated by a long swell on the ocean, +propagated to great distances, and forewarning the observer by two or +three days. A faint rise in the barometer occurs before the gradual +fall, which becomes very pronounced at the center. Fine wisps of +cirrus-clouds are first seen, which surround the center to a distance +of 200 miles; the air is calm and sultry, but this is gradually +supplanted by a gentle breeze, and later the wind increases to a gale, +the clouds become matted, the sea rough, rain falls, and the winds are +gusty and dangerous as the vortex comes on. Then comes the +indescribable tempest, dealing destruction, impressing the imagination +with the wild exhibition of the forces of nature, the flashes of +lightning, the torrents of rain, the cold air, all the elements in an +uproar, which indicate the close approach of the center. In the midst +of this turmoil there is a sudden pause, the winds almost cease, the +sky clears, the waves, however, rage in great turbulence. This is the +eye of the storm, the core of the vortex, and it is, perhaps, 20 miles +in diameter, or one-thirtieth of the whole hurricane. The respite is +brief, and is soon followed by the abrupt renewal of the violent wind +and rain, but now coming from the opposite direction, and the storm +passes off with the several features following each other in the +reverse order." [87] + +The distribution over the months of the year of the 355 West Indian +hurricanes which occurred during the four hundred and six years +elapsed since the discovery, to the last on the list, is as follows: + + + Months. No of hurricanes. + + January 5 + February 7 + March 11 + April 6 + May 5 + June 10 + July 42 + August 96 + September 80 + October 69 + November 17 + December 7 + + 355 + + +Puerto Rico has been devastated by hurricanes more than 20 times since +its occupation by the Spaniards. But the records, beyond the mere +statement of the facts, are very incomplete. Four stand out +prominently as having committed terrible ravages. These are the +hurricanes of Santa Ana, on July 26, 1825; Los Angeles, on +August 2,1837; San Narciso, on October 29, 1867, and San Ciriaco, +on August 8, 1899. + +The first mention of the occurrence of a hurricane in this island we +find in a letter from the crown officers to the king, dated August 8, +1515, wherein they explain: " ... In these last smeltings there was +little gold, because many Indians died in consequence of sickness +caused by the tempest as well as from want of food ..." + +The next we read of was October 8, 1526, and is thus described by +licentiate Juan de Vadillo: + +"On the night of the 4th of October last there broke over this island +such a violent storm of wind and rain, which the natives call +'_ou-ra-cán'_ that it destroyed the greater part of this city (San +Juan) with the church. In the country it caused such damage by the +overflow of rivers that many rich men have been made poor." + +On September 8, 1530, Governor Francisco Manuel de Lando reported to +the king: "During the last six weeks there have been three storms of +wind and rain in this island (July 26, August 23 and 31). They have +destroyed all the plantations, drowned many cattle, and caused much +hunger and misery in the land. In this city the half of the houses +were entirely destroyed, and of the other half the least injured is +without a roof. In the country and in the mines nothing has remained +standing. Everybody is ruined and thinking of going away." + +_1537_.--July and August. The town officers wrote to the king in +September: "In the last two months we have had three storms of wind +and rain, the greatest that have been seen in this island, and as the +plantations are along the banks of the rivers the floods have +destroyed them all. Many slaves and cattle have been drowned, and this +has caused much discouragement among the settlers, who before were +inclined to go away, and are now more so." + +_1575_.--September 21 (San Mateo), hurricane mentioned in the memoirs +of Father Torres Vargas. + +_1614_.--September 12, mentioned by the same chronicler in the +following words: "Fray Pedro de Solier came to his bishopric in the +year 1615, the same in which a great tempest occurred, after more than +forty years since the one called of San Mateo. This one happened on +the 12th of September. It did so much damage to the cathedral that it +was necessary partly to cover it with straw and write to his Majesty +asking for a donation to repair it. With his accustomed generosity he +gave 4,000 ducats." + +_1678_.--Abbad states that a certain Count or Duke Estren, an English +commander, with a fleet of 22 ships and a body of landing troops +appeared before San Juan and demanded its surrender, but that, before +the English had time to land, a violent hurricane occurred which +stranded every one of the British ships on Bird Island. Most of the +people on board perished, and the few who saved their lives were made +prisoners of war. + +_1740_.--Precise date unknown. Monsieur Moreau de Jonnès, in his +work,[88] says that this hurricane destroyed a coco-palm grove of 5 or +6 leagues in extent, which existed near Ponce. Other writers confirm +this. + +_1772, August 28_.--Friar Iñigo Abbad, who was in the island at the +time, gives the following description of this tempest: "About a +quarter to eleven of the night of the 28th of August the storm began +to be felt in the capital of the island. A dull but continuous roll of +thunder filled the celestial hemisphere, the sound as of approaching +torrents of rain, the frightful sight of incessant lightning, and a +slow quaking of the earth accompanied the furious wind. The tearing up +of trees, the lifting of roofs, smashing of windows, and leveling of +everything added terror-striking noises to the scene. The tempest +raged with the same fury in the capital till after one o'clock in the +morning. In other parts of the island it began about the same hour, +but without any serious effect till later. In Aguáda, where I was at +the time, nothing was felt till half-past two in the morning. It blew +violently till a quarter to four, and the wind continued, growing less +strong, till noon. During this time the wind came from all points of +the compass, and the storm visited every part of the island, causing +more damage in some places than others, according to their degree of +exposure." + +_1780, June 13, and 1788, August 16._--No details of these two +hurricanes are found in any of the Puerto Rican chronicles. + +_1804, September 4._--A great cyclone, a detailed description of +which is given in the work of Mr. Jonnés. + +_1818 and 1814_--Both hurricanes happened on the same date, that +is, the 23d of July. Yauco and San German suffered most. A description +of the effects of these storms was given in the Dario Económico of the +11th of August, 1814. + +_1819, September 21_.--(San Mateo.) This cyclone is mentioned by +Jonnés and by Córdova, who says that it caused extraordinary damages +on the plantations. + +_1825, July 26_.--(Santa Ana.) Córdova (vol. ii, p. 21 of his Memoirs) +says of this hurricane: "It destroyed the towns of Patillas, Maunabó, +Yabucóa, Humacáo, Gurabó, and Cáguas. In the north, east, and center +of the island it caused great damage. More than three hundred people +and a large number of cattle perished; 500 persons were badly wounded. +The rivers rose to an unheard of extent, and scarcely a house remained +standing. In the capital part of the San Antonio bridge was blown +down, and the city wall facing the Marina on Tanca Creek was cracked. +The royal Fortaleza (the present Executive Mansion) suffered much, +also the house of Ponce. The lightning-conductors of the +powder-magazine were blown down." + +_1837, August 2_.--(Los Angeles.) This cyclone was general over the +island and caused exceedingly grave losses of life and property. All +the ships in the harbor of San Juan were lost. + +_1840, September 16_.--No details. + +_1851, August 18_.--No details, except that this hurricane caused +considerable damage. + +_1867, October 29_.--(San Narciso.) No details. + + [Illustration: Casa Blanca and the sea wall, San Juan.] + + _1871, August 23_.--(San Felipe.) No details. _1899, August +8_.--(San Ciriaco.) When this hurricane occurred there was a +meteorological station in operation in San Juan, and we are therefore +enabled to present the following data from Mr. Geddings's report: "The +rainfall was excessive, as much as 23 inches falling at Adjuntas +during the course of twenty-four hours. This caused severe inundations +of rivers, and the deaths from drowning numbered 2,569 as compared +with 800 killed by injuries received from the effects of the wind. +This number does not include the thousands who have since died from +starvation. The total loss of property was 35,889,013 pesos." + +The United States Government and people promptly came to the +assistance of the starving population, and something like 32,000,000 +rations were distributed by the army during the ten months succeeding +the hurricane. + + * * * * * + +Such are the calamities that are suspended over the heads of the +inhabitants of the West Indian Islands. From July to October, at any +moment, the sapphire skies may turn black with thunder-clouds; the +Eden-like landscapes turned into scenes of ruin and desolation; the +rippling ocean that lovingly laves their shores becomes a roaring +monster trying to swallow them. The refreshing breezes that fan them +become a destructive blast. Yet, such is the fecundity of nature in +these regions that a year after a tempest has swept over an island, if +the debris be removed, not a trace of its passage is visible--the +fields are as green as ever, the earth, the trees, and plants that +were spared by the tempest double their productive powers as if to +indemnify the afflicted inhabitants for the losses they suffered. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 85: See Bulletin H, Weather Bureau, West Indian Hurricanes, +by E.B. Garriott, Washington, 1900.] + +[Footnote 86: L'Atmosphère, p. 377 and following.] + +[Footnote 87: Enrique del Monte, Havana University, On the Climate of +the West Indies and West Indian Hurricanes.] + +[Footnote 88: Histoire physique des Antilles Françaises.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE CARIBS + +The origin of the Caribs, their supposed cannibalism and other customs +have occasioned much controversy among West Indian chroniclers. The +first question is undecided, and probably will remain so forever. With +regard to cannibalism, in spite of the confirmative assurances of the +early Spanish chroniclers, we have the testimony of eminent +authorities to the contrary; and the writings of Jesuit missionaries +who have lived many years among the Caribs give us a not unfavorable +idea of their character and social institutions. + +The first European who became intimately acquainted with the people of +the West Indian Islands, on the return from his first voyage, wrote to +the Spanish princes: " ... In all these islands I did not observe much +difference in the faces and figures of the inhabitants, nor in their +customs, nor in their language, seeing that they all understand each +other, which is very singular." On the other hand the readiness with +which the inhabitants of Aye-Aye and the other Carib islands gave +asylum to the fugitive Boriquén Indians and joined them in their +retaliatory expeditions, also points to the existence of some bond of +kinship between them, so that there is ground for the opinion +entertained by some writers that all the inhabitants of all the +Antilles were of the race designated under the generic name of Caribs. + +The theory generally accepted at first was, that at the time of the +discovery two races of different origin occupied the West Indian +Archipelago. The larger Antilles with the groups of small islands to +the north of them were supposed to be inhabited by a race named +Guaycures, driven from the peninsula of Florida by the warlike +Seminoles; the Guaycures, it is said, could easily have reached the +Bahamas and traversed the short distance that separated them from Cuba +in their canoes, some of which could contain 100 men, and once there +they would naturally spread over the neighboring islands. It is +surmised that they occupied them at the time of the advent of the +Phoenicians in this hemisphere, and Dr. Calixto Romero, in an +interesting article on Lucúo, the god of the Boriquéns,[89] mentions a +tradition referring to the arrival of these ancient navigators, and +traces some of the Boriquén religious customs to them. The Guaycures +were a peacefully disposed race, hospitable, indolent, fond of dancing +and singing, by means of which they transmitted their legends from +generation to generation. They fell an easy prey to the Spaniards. +Velasquez conquered Cuba without the loss of a man. Juan Esquivél made +himself master of Jamaica with scarcely any sacrifice, and if the +aborigines of the Española and Boriquén resisted, it was only after +patiently enduring insupportable oppression for several years. + +The other race which inhabited the Antilles were said to have come +from the south. They were supposed to have descended the Orinoco, +spreading along the shore of the continent to the west of the river's +mouths and thence to have invaded one after the other all the lesser +Antilles. They were in a fair way of occupying the larger Antilles +also when the discoveries of Columbus checked their career. + +In support of the theory of the south-continental origin of the Caribs +we have, in the first place, the work of Mr. Aristides Rojas on +Venezuelan hieroglyphics, wherein he treats of numerous Carib +characters on the rocks along the plains and rivers of that republic, +marking their itinerary from east to west. He states that the +Acháguas, the aboriginals of Columbia, gave to these wanderers, on +account of their ferocity, the name of Chabi-Nabi, that is, tiger-men +or descendants of tigers. + +In the classification of native tribes in Codazzi's geography of +Venezuela, he includes the Caribs, and describes them as "a very +numerous race, enterprising and warlike, which in former times +exercised great influence over the whole territory extending from +Ecuador to the Antilles. They were the tallest and most robust Indians +known on the continent; they traded in slaves, and though they were +cruel and ferocious in their incursions, they were not cannibals like +their kinsmen of the lesser Antilles, who were so addicted to the +custom of eating their prisoners that the names of cannibal and Carib +had become synonymous." [90] + +Another theory of the origin of the Caribs is that advanced by M. +d'Orbigny, who, after eight years of travel over the South American +continent, published the result of his researches in Paris in 1834. He +considers them to be a branch of the great Guaraní family. And the +Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Raymond and Dutertre, who lived many +years among the Antillean Caribs, concluded from their traditions that +they were descended from a people on the continent named Galibis, who, +according to M. d'Orbigny, were a branch of the Guaranís. + +But the Guaranís, though a very wide-spread family of South American +aborigines, were neither a conquering nor a wandering race. They +occupied that part of the continent situated between the rivers +Paraguay and Paraná, from where these two rivers join the river Plate, +northward, to about latitude 22° south. This region was the home of +the Guaranís, a people indolent, sensual, and peaceful, among whom the +Jesuits, in the eighteenth century founded a religious republic, which +toward the end of that period counted 33 towns with a total population +of over one hundred thousand souls. A glance at the map will show the +improbability of any Indian tribe, no matter how warlike, making its +way from the heart of the continent to the Orinoco through 30° of +primitive forests, mountains, and rivers, inhabited by hostile +tribes.[91] + +The French missionaries who lived many years with the Caribs of +Guadeloupe and the other French possessions, do not agree on the +subject of their origin. Fathers Dutertre and Raymond believe them to +be the descendants of the Galibis, a people inhabiting Guiana. Fathers +Rochefort, Labat, and Bristol maintain that they are descended from +the Apalaches who inhabited the northern part of Florida. Humboldt is +of the same opinion, and suggests that the name Carib may be derived +from Calina or Caripuna through transformation of the letters _l_ and +_p_ into _r_ and _b_, forming Caribi or Galibi.[92] Pedro Martyr +strongly opposes this opinion, the principal objection to which is +that a tribe from the North American continent invading the West +Indies by way of Florida would naturally occupy the larger Antilles +before traveling east and southward. Under this hypothesis, as we have +said, all the inhabitants of the Antilles would be Caribs, but in that +case the difference in the character of the inhabitants of the two +divisions of the archipelago would have to be accounted for. + +Most of the evidence we have been able to collect on this subject +points to a south-continental origin of the Caribs. On the maps of +America, published in 1587 by Abraham Ortellus, of Antwerp, in 1626 by +John Speed, of London, and in 1656 by Sanson d'Abbeville in Paris, the +whole region to the north of the Orinoco is marked Caribana. In the +history of the Dutch occupation of Guiana we read that hostile Caribs +occupied a shelter[93] constructed in 1684 by the governor on the +borders of the Barima, which shows that the vast region along the +Orinoco and its tributaries, as well as the lesser Antilles, was +inhabited by an ethnologically identical race. + + * * * * * + +Were the Caribs cannibals? This question has been controverted as much +as that of their origin, and with the same doubtful result. + +The only testimony upon which the assumption that the Caribs were +cannibals is founded is that of the companions of Columbus on his +second voyage, when, landing at Guadeloupe, they found human bones and +skulls in the deserted huts. No other evidence of cannibalism of a +positive character was ever after obtained, so that the belief in it +rests exclusively upon Chanca's narrative of what the Spaniards saw +and learned during the few days of their stay among the islands. Their +imagination could not but be much excited by the sight of what the +doctor describes as "infinite quantities" of bones of human +creatures, who, they took for granted, had been devoured, and of +skulls hanging on the walls by way of receptacles for curios. It was +the age of universal credulity, and for more than a century after the +most absurd tales with regard to the people and things of the +mysterious new continent found ready credence even among men of +science. Columbus, in his letter to Santangel (February, 1493), +describing the different islands and people, wrote: "I have not yet +seen any of the human monsters that are supposed to exist here." The +descriptions of the customs of the natives of the newly discovered +islands which Dr. Chanca sent to the town council of Seville were +unquestioned by them, and afterward by the Spanish chroniclers; but +there is reason to believe with Mr. Ignacio Armas, an erudite Cuban +author, who published a paper in 1884 entitled the Fable of the +Caribs, that the belief in their cannibalism originated in an error of +judgment, was an illusion afterward, and ended by being a +calumny[97]. Father Bartolomé de las Casas was the first to contradict +this belief. "They [the Spaniards] saw skulls," he says, "and human +bones. These must have been of chiefs or other persons whom they held +in esteem, because, to say that they were the remains of people who +had been eaten, if the natives devoured as many as was supposed, the +houses could not contain the bones, and there is no reason why, after +eating them, they should preserve the relics. All this is but +guesswork." Washington Irving agrees with the reverend historian, and +describes the general belief in the cannibalism of the Caribs to the +Spaniards' fear of them. Two eminent authorities positively deny it. +Humboldt, in his before-cited work, in the chapter on Carib missions, +says: "All the missionaries of the Carony, of the lower Orinoco, and +of the plains of Cari, whom we have had occasion to consult, have +assured us that the Caribs were perhaps the least anthropophagous of +any tribes on the new continent, ..." and Sir Robert Schomburgh, who +was charged by the Royal Geographical Society with the survey of +Guiana in 1835, reported that among the Caribs he found peace and +contentment, simple family affections, and frank gratitude for +kindness shown.[94] + + * * * * * + +The narratives of the French, English, and Dutch conquerors of the +Guianas and the lesser Antilles accord with the observations of +Humboldt in describing the Caribs as an ambitious and intelligent +race, among whom there still existed traces of a superior social +organization, such as the hereditary power of chiefs, respect for the +priestly caste, and attachment to ancient customs. Employed only in +fishing and hunting, the Carib was accustomed to the use of arms from +childhood; war was the principal object of his existence, and the +proofs through which the young warrior had to pass before being +admitted to the ranks of the braves, remind us of the customs of +certain North American Indians. + +They were of a light yellow color with a sooty tint, small, black +eyes, white and well-formed teeth, straight, shining, black hair, +without a beard or hair on any other part of their bodies. The +expression of their face was sad, like that of all savage tribes in +tropical regions. They were of middle size, but strong and vigorous. +To protect their bodies from the stings of insects they anointed them +with the juice or oil of certain plants. They were polygamous. From +their women they exacted the most absolute submission. The females did +all the domestic labor, and were not permitted to eat in the presence +of the men. In case of infidelity the husband had the right to kill +his wife. Each family formed a village by itself (carbet) where the +oldest member ruled. + +Their industry, besides the manufacture of their arms and canoes, was +limited to the spinning and dyeing of cotton goods, notably their +hammocks, and the making of pottery for domestic uses. Though +possessing no temples, nor religious observances, they recognized two +principles or spirits, the spirit of good (boyee) and the spirit of +evil (maboya). The priests invoked the first or drove out the second +as occasion required. Each individual had his good spirit. + +Their language resembled in sound the Italian, the words being +sonorous, terminating in vowels. By the end of the eighteenth century +the missionaries had made vocabularies of 50 Carib dialects, and the +Bible had been translated into one of them, the Arawak. A remarkable +custom was the use of two distinct languages, one by the males, +another by the females. Tradition says that when the Caribs first +invaded the Antilles they put to death all the males but spared the +females. The women continued speaking their own tongue and taught it +to their daughters, but the sons learned their fathers' language. In +time, both males and females learned both languages. + +"It is true," says the Jesuit Father Rochefort, in his Histoire des +Antilles, "that the Caribs have degenerated from the virtues of their +ancestors, but it is also true that the Europeans, by their pernicious +examples, their ill-treatment of them, their villainous deceit, their +dastardly breaking of every promise, their pitiless plundering and +burning of their villages, their beastly violation of their girls and +women, have taught them, to the eternal infamy of the name of +Christian, to lie, to betray, to be licentious, and other vices which +they knew not before they came in contact with us." + +Father Dutertre declares that at the time of the arrival of the +Europeans the Caribs were contented, happy, and sociable. Physically +they were the best made and healthiest people of America. Theft was +unknown to them, nothing was hidden; their huts had neither doors nor +windows, and when, after the advent of the French, a Carib missed +anything in his hut, he used to say: "A Christian has been here!" +Dutertre says that in thirty-five years all the French missionaries +together, by taking the greatest pains, had not been able to convert +20 adults. Those who were thought to have embraced Christianity +returned to their practises as soon as they rejoined their fellows. +"The reason for this want of success," says the father, "is the bad +impression produced on the minds of these intelligent natives by the +cruelties and immoralities of the Christians, which are more barbarous +than those of the islanders themselves. They have inspired the Caribs +with such a horror of Christianity that the greatest reproach they can +think of for an enemy is to call him a Christian." + +The reason the Spaniards never attempted the conquest of the Caribs is +clear. There was no gold in their islands. They defended their homes +foot by foot, and if, by chance, they were taken prisoners, they +preferred suicide to slavery. Toward the end of the eighteenth century +there still existed a few hundred of the race in the island of St. +Vincent. They were known as the black Caribs, because they were +largely mixed with fugitive negro slaves from other islands and with +the people of a slave-ship wrecked on their coast in 1685. They lived +there tranquil and isolated till 1795, when the island was settled by +French colonists, and they were finally absorbed by them. They were +the last representatives in the Antilles of a race which, during five +centuries, had ruled both on land and sea. On the continent, along the +Esequibo and its affluents, they are numerous still; but in their +contact with the European settlers in those regions they have lost +the strength and the virtues of their former state without acquiring +those of the higher civilization. Like all aboriginals under similar +conditions, they are slowly disappearing. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 89: Revista Puertoriqueña, Tomo I, Año I, 1887.] + +[Footnote 90: The word "cannibal" is but a corruption of guaribó, is, +"brave or strong," changed into Caribó, Caríba, and finally that +Carib. The name Galibi, also applied to the Caribs, means equally +strong or brave.] + +[Footnote 91: The author visited this region and sketched some of the +ruins of these Jesuit-Guarani missions, of which scarcely one stone +has remained on the other. They were destroyed by the Brazilians after +the suppression of the Society of Jesus by Pope Clement XIV in 1773; +the defenseless Indians were cruelly butchered or carried off as +slaves. The sculptured remains of temples, of gardens and orchards +grown into jungles still attest the high degree of development +attained by these missions under the guidance of the Jesuit fathers.] + +[Footnote 92: Voyage aux Regions Equinoctiales du Nouveau Continent, +Paris, 1826.] + +[Footnote 93: "Kleyn pleysterhuisye," small plaster house.] + +[Footnote 94: As an example of the credulity of the people of the +period, see Theodore Bry's work in the library of Congress in +Washington, in which there is a map of Guiana, published in Frankfort +in 1599. On it are depicted with short descriptions the lake of Parmié +and the city of Manáo, which represent El Dorado, in search of which +hundreds of Spaniards and thousands of Indians lost their lives. There +is a picture of one of the Amazons, with a short notice of their +habits and customs, and there is the portrait of one of the +inhabitants of the country Twai-Panoma, who were born without heads, +but had eyes, nose, and mouth conveniently located in their breast.] + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY The history of Puerto Rico has long since been a +subject of study and research by native writers and others, to whose +works we owe many of the data contained in this book. Their names, in +alphabetical order, are: + +ABBAD, FRAY IÑIGO.--Historia geográfica, civil y natural de San Juan +Bautista de Puerto Rico. Madrid, 1788. + +AGOSTA, D. JOSÉ JULIÁN.--New edition of Abbad's history, with notes +and commentaries. Puerto Rico, 1866. + +BRAU, D. SALVADOR.--Puerto Rico y su historia. (Critical +investigations.)Valencia, 1894. + +CEDÓ, D. SANTIAGO.--Compendio de geografía para instrucción de la +juventud portoriqueña. Mayaguez, 1855. + +COELLO, D. FRANCISCO.--Mapa de la isla de Puerto Rico, ilustrado con +notas históricas y estadísticas escritas por Don Pascual Madoz. +Madrid, 1851. + +COLL Y TOSTE, D. CAYETANO.--Colón en Puerto Rico. (Disquisiciones +histórico-filológicas.) Puerto Rico, 1894. Repertorio histórico de +Puerto Rico. A monthly publication. + +CÓRDOVA, D. PEDRO TOMÁS.--Memorias geográficas, históricas, económicas +y estadísticas de la isla de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, 1830. Memoria +sobre todos los ramos de la administración de la isla de Puerto Rico. +Madrid, 1838. + +CORTÓN, D. ANTONIO.--La separación de mandos en Puerto Rico. Discurso +escrito y comenzado á leer ante la Comisión del Congreso de los +Diputados. Habana, 1890. + +FLINTER, COLONEL.--An Account of the Present State of the Island of +Puerto Rico. London, 1834. + +JIMENO AGIUS, J.--Puerto Rico. Madrid, 1890. LEDRU, ANDRÉ +PIERRE.--Voyage aux iles Ténériffe, la Trinité, St. Thomas, Ste. Croix +et Porto Rico, avec des notes et des additions par Sonnini, Paris, +1810. (A work full of fantastic and imaginary data, without any +historical value.) + +MELENDEZ Y BRUNA, D. SALVADOR.--Puerto Rico. Representation of the +Governor of the Island to the King. Cadiz, 1811. + +NAZARIO, D. JOSÉ MARÍA.--Guayanilla y la historia de Puerto Rico. +Ponce, 1893. + +PÉREZ MORIS, D. JOSÉ, Y CUETO, D. LUIS.--Historia de la insurrección +de Lares. + +SAMA, D. MANUEL MARÍA.--El desembarco de Colón en Puerto Rico y el +Monumento de Culebrinas, Mayaguez, 1895. + +STAHL, D. AGUSTIN.--Los Indios Borinqueños. Puerto Rico, 1887. + +TAPIA, D. ALEJANDRO.--Biblioteca histórica de Puerto Rico. Puerto +Rico, 1854. + +TORRES, D. LUIS LLORENS.--América. Estudios históricos y filológicos. +Madrid y Barcelona, 1897. + +UBEDA Y DELGADO, D. MANUEL.--Isla de Puerto Rico, Estudio +histórico-geográfico. Puerto Rico, 1878. + +VIZCARRONDO, D. JULIO.--Elementos de historia y geografía de la isla +de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, 1863. + +There are other writings on subjects connected with the island's +history by native authors, some published in book or pamphlet form, +others, like those of Zeno Gandía, Neumann, Dr. Dominguez, and +Navarrete, have appeared in the columns of periodicals at different +times before the American occupation of the island. + + + + + INDEX + + Abbad, Friar Iñigo, his history of + Puerto Rico; cited; on + state of agriculture in 1776. + + Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, attacks San + Juan. + + Aborigines, see Indians. + + Agriculture, inhabitants of Puerto + Rico forced to turn to; + condition of, in 1776. + + Aguáda, its history. + + Albemarle, Earl of, captures + Havana. + + Alexander VI, Pope, divides the + world between Spain and + Portugal. + + American army, landing of; + recognized as liberators,; also + see preface v. + + Americans, interest of, in the + insurrection of Lares, 1868. + + Antigua, discovery of. + + Arecibo, town of. + + Armada, effects of destruction of. + + Autonomy granted to Puerto Rico. + + Bastidas, Bishop Rodrigo, charged + with liberating Indian slaves in + Puerto Rico. + + Beet-sugar, its injurious + competition with cane-sugar, 228. + + Bemini (Florida), island of, King + Ferdinand wants Ponce to explore + it, 59; Indian reports of, 60; + discovery of, 61. + + Blake, English admiral, captures + Spanish galleons, 136. + + Blasquez, Juan, judge-auditor of + Puerto Rico, 102. + + Boabdil, last of the Moorish kings. + + Boriquén, first known name of + Puerto Rico; seat of Guaybána; Boriqueños + restless; revolt in; last of the Boriquén + Indians; the republic of, proclaimed; falls; + native inhabitants of. + + Bowdoin, Hendrick, commands + Dutch fleet in attack on San Juan. + + Brau, his history of Puerto Rico quoted. + + Bruckman, an American, takes + active part in insurrection; + shot. + + Buccaneers, their origin. + + Cacáo. + + Cannibals, supposed to be found among + the Caribs. + + Capárra, first settlement of Spaniards + in Puerto Rico; capital transferred + from, to San Juan; the old capital. + + Capital, transferred from Capárra to Sun Juan. + + Caribs, supposed by Columbus to be + on Guadeloupe; annoy Spaniards in Puerto + Rico; assist the Boriquén Indians; raids in + Puerto Rico; in Dominica punished by the + Spaniards; in the Windward Islands; their + extermination of aborigines of the West + Indies; origin of; characteristics; were they + cannibals?; disappearing. + + Castellano y Villaroya, Spanish Colonial + Minister, intercedes in behalf of Puerto + Rico. + + Castellanos, Juan, brings 75 colonists + to Puerto Rico; attorney for Puerto + Rico at the court of Spain. + + Castellanos, Juan de, treasurer of Puerto Rico. + + Castro, Baltazar, reports depredations of Caribs. + + Ceron, Juan, Governor of Puerto Rico; + arrested by Juan Ponce; + restored to office; + returns to Puerto Rico as governor. + + Cervantes de Loayza, governor. + + Charles V, King of Spain; + quarrels with Francis I of France; + orders the fortification of San German. + + Cholera, epidemic of. + + Church, in general. + + Cities, growth of. + + Clergy; + the island made a diocese; + Alonzo Manso, first prelate; + decree of Isabel II affecting clergy. + + Coco-palm introduced. + + Coffee. + + Columbus, Christopher, returns from his first + voyage; received by the court at Barcelona; + second expedition organized; his second + expedition sails from Cadiz; discovers the + Windward Islands; introduces system of + enslaving the Indians by "distribution" of + them among settlers. + + Columbus, Diego, with Christopher + Columbus's second expedition; viceroy and + admiral, in la Española; deposes Ponce; + authority of, suspended; deprived of the + power of appointing Governor of Puerto Rico. + + Commerce, its development; imports + and exports. + + Cortéz, his conquest of Mexico. + + Cromwell, his alliance with France + against Spain. + + Cuba, influence of Cuban revolution on + Puerto Rico; reforms in, suggested by + Sagasta. + + De la Gama, Antonio, charged with executing + the royal decree against the "distribution" of Indians. + + Diaz, Bernal, de Pisa, with Columbus's + second expedition. + + Diego, Rafael, organizer of the revolution + of 1812. + + Distribution of Indians among the Spanish + conquerors as slaves; + system introduced by Columbus. + + Dominica, discovery of; + Caribs in, aid Puerto Rico Indians against + the Spaniards; Spanish expedition against + Caribs in. + + Dominicans, order of. + + Drake, Francis, his expeditions in the + Caribbean. + + Education; + illiteracy and general ignorance; in hands of + clergy; new interest in; first college; + schools. + + Elective system. + + England contracts to take slaves into + the Spanish-American colonies. + + English, ship visits Puerto Rico and + alarms inhabitants; war with, fleet sent + against Spaniards in West Indies; fleet + anchors off "Caleta del Cabron," and is fired + on by Spaniards; abandons the attack; + alliance with France against Spain; capture + Havana; attack San Juan. + + Española (Santo Domingo). + + Fajardo, town of. + + Ferdinand, King of Spain, his interest + in Puerto Rico. + + Fetichism in the religion of the peasantry. + + Filibusters, origin of. + + Finance. + + Florida, discovery of; + Ponce's last expedition to. + + Francis I, King of France, quarrel + with Charles V of Spain. + + Franciscans, order of. + + French, send privateers to attack the Antilles; + capture San German twice and destroy it; + attack Guayama; fail in an attack on Puerto + Rico; alliance with English against Spain; + pirates in the Caribbean. + + Fuente, Alonso la, his letters to the + Spanish Government. + + Ginger. + + Gold, in Puerto Rico; + early search for; first discovery; + gold-bearing streams; production of + gold. + + Government of Puerto Rico, instructions + by the King of Spain. + + Guadeloupe, discovery of; + Caribs in, aid Puerto Rico Indians + against the Spaniards. + + Guaybána, cacique in Puerto Rico; + death of. + + Guaybána second, heads revolt against + the Spaniards; massacres Spaniards; + is defeated; killed. + + Haro, Juan de, governor, defends San + Juan against the Dutch. + + Havana, captured by the English under + the Earl of Albemarle and Admiral + Pocock. + + Hawkyns, John, his freebooting + voyages among the Antilles; his fleet + captured; killed. + + Holland, Spain's war with; + sends fleet against Puerto Rico; + it is defeated. + + Hurricanes in the West Indies; + in Puerto Rico. + + Indians, system of "distribution" of, + introduced; in revolt; slaughter Spaniards; + defeated by Ponce; number of, in Puerto Rico; + "distribution" of; rapid decrease of; + condition of; efforts to prevent extinction + of; "distribution" of, among settlers + forbidden; the last 80 survivors liberated + from slavery; last report of the Boriquén + Indians. + + Inquisition, the, in Puerto Rico; + Nicolas Ramos, the last Inquisitor; + abolition of the Inquisition; + reestablished. + + Isabel II, her decree declaring property + of the secular clergy national property. + + Jews, property of, confiscated to supply + funds for Columbus's second expedition. + + Jíbaro, the Puerto Rican peasant; + customs of. + + Lando, Governor of Puerto Rico, tries + to prevent persons leaving the island. + + Lares, the insurrection of. + + Las Casas, Bartolomé de, his "Relations + of the Indies" cited; seeks to prevent + extinction of Indians; favors introduction of + negro slaves. + + Laws, reform, promised; + electoral. + + Leeward Islands, discovery of. + + Le Grand, Pierre, the French pirate. + + Libraries; since American occupation. + + Loiza, settlement of. + + l'Olonais, sobriquet of Sables d'Olone, + _q.v._ + + Macias, Manuel, governor-general, declares + the island in a state of war. + + Manso, Alonzo, first bishop of Puerto + Rico. + + Marie-Galante, discovery of. + + Mayor, Soto, forms a settlement at Guánica; + killed by Indians. + + McCormick, James, his report on Puerto + Rico in 1880. + + Mestizos, or mixed races. + + Military service, number of men in Puerto + Rico able to carry arms. + + Mixed races; + prejudice against. + + Montbras, French pirate. + + Morals in the island under Spanish rule. + + Morgan, Sir Henry, the pirate. + + Mulattoes in the Spanish colony. + + Napoleon, his influence over Spain. + + Natives, see Indians. + + Negroes, introduced into Santo Domingo + as slaves; into Puerto Rico; as slaves in + Puerto Rico; introduced to save the Indians + from extermination; intermix with Indians; + number of, in the island; severe laws + against. + + Newspapers. + + O'Daly, General, leads successful + revolution in Puerto Rico. + + Palm, coco-, introduced. + + Papers, see Newspapers. + + Peasants of Puerto Rico. + + Peru, gold discoveries there serve to + attract many settlers from Puerto + Rico. + + Philip I, his character. + + Philip II, death of. + + Pirates, see Buccaneers and Filibusters. + + Pocock, English admiral, and the Earl + of Albemarle, capture Havana. + + Political rights. + + Ponce, Juan, de Leon, with Columbus's + second expedition; lands on Puerto Rico; + appointed governor; deposed; restored; + arrests Ceron; recalled by the King of Spain; + defeats Guaybána with 5,000 to 6,000 Indians; + deprived of his privileges; retires to + Capárra; prepares for exploring the island of + Bemini; discovers Florida; honored by the + king; ordered to destroy the Caribs; accused + of fomenting discord in Puerto Rico; last + expedition to Florida, wounded, dies; + monument to him in San Juan. + + Population, growth of. + + Portugal, Alexander VI divides world + between Portugal and Spain. + + Press, the; + first printing-press. + + Prim, John, Count of Reus, his severe + proclamation against the negroes. + + Primitive inhabitants. + + Products. + + Puerto Rico, discovery of; + first settlement, at Capárra; made a + bishopric; name of Puerto Rico first used + October, 1514; divided into two departments; + capital transferred from Capárra to present + location, San Juan; disease and pestilence; + destructive storms; news of gold discoveries + in Peru causes many settlers to leave; + inhabitants try to leave the island for the + Peru gold fields; devastated by French and + Indians; the inhabitants turn to agriculture, + 100; expedition sent against the French in + Santa Cruz; English fleet, under the Earl of + Estren, appears off San Juan; used as a + "presidio," or place of banishment for + political prisoners for three centuries; + condition of, in 1765, described by Alexander + O'Reilly; revolution headed by Rafael Diego + and General O'Daly, 153; divided into seven + judicial districts; political rights in the + island; efforts of Spain to promote + development of the island; state of society, + 159; effects of Carlist troubles in Spain; + resources of, diminished; description of the + island in 1880; reform laws to relieve + financial distress; promise of reforms; the + new electoral law; conditions in the island + immediately before the American occupation; + becomes part of the United States; its + advantageous situation; soil and products; + harbors; climate; primitive inhabitants; + present inhabitants; era of greatest + prosperity under Spanish rule. + + Races in Puerto Rico. + + Ramirez, Francisco, President of the + "Republic of Boriquén,". + + Reforms, promise of, by Spanish + Government; granted too late. + + Religion of the peasantry. + + Republic of Boriquén proclaimed. + + Revolution, against Spanish oppression. + + Rodney, English admiral, attacks French + West Indies. + + Sables d'Olone, French pirate. + + Sagasta, suggests reforms in Puerto Rico + and Cuba. + + Sail. + + Salazar, Diego do, heroic conduct of; + defeats Indians. + + San German founded. + + San Juan, only settlement in Puerto + Rico not destroyed by the French; + the fort, "Fortaleza," still used as + governor's residence, built in 1540; + fortification and improvement of; + attacked by English fleet, under Drake; + captured by English, 120; evacuated by the + English; attacked by English; + history of; replaces Capárra as the + capital. + + San Juan Bautista, island of (Puerto + Rico). + + Santa Cruz taken and held by the French. + + Santo Domingo, discovery of. + + Schools, number and attendance of, in + 1889. + + Sedeño, Contador of Puerto Rico; his + peculations and death. + + Slavery, Indians placed in, through the + system of "distribution.". + + Slavery, negro, introduced into Santo + Domingo; favored by Church and State; first + negro slaves in Puerto Rico; discussion of + its abolition; abolition of; its history in + the island; introduced to replace lost labor + of the Indians; England contracts to take + 140,000 slaves into the Spanish-American + colonies in thirty years; slaves emancipated. + + Spain, Alexander VI divides the world + between Spain and Portugal; effects of her + disastrous wars; sends fleet against + pirates in the West Indies; abolishes + the slave-trade. + + Spaniards, number of, in Puerto Rico; + as colonists in Puerto Rico; no women + among early settlers. + + Storms, damages by. + + Sugar; + the industry injured by production of + beet-sugar. + + Tiedra, Vasco de, Governor of Puerto + Rico. + + Tobacco, its cultivation permitted by a + special law. + + Trade, its growth. + + United States sends army to Puerto Rico; + acquires the island. + + Weyler, General, his inhuman proceedings + in Cuba. + + Windward Islands, discovered by Columbus. + + Women, none among early Spanish settlers; + education of, neglected. + + Zambos, mixture of negro and Indian. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Puerto Rico, by R.A. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/12272-8.zip b/old/12272-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..59d3d3a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12272-8.zip diff --git a/old/12272.txt b/old/12272.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f5bc27 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12272.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9706 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The History of Puerto Rico, by R.A. Van Middeldyk + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Puerto Rico + From the Spanish Discovery to the American Occupation + +Author: R.A. Van Middeldyk + +Release Date: May 5, 2004 [EBook #12272] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO *** + + + + +Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + The Expansion of the Republic Series. + + + + THE HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO + + + + FROM THE SPANISH DISCOVERY TO THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION + + + + BY R.A. VAN MIDDELDYK + + + + EDITED BY MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, PH.D., LL.D. PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGY, + UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND FIRST COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR + PUERTO RICO + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1903 + +[Illustration: Columbus statue, San Juan.] + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE + +The latest permanent possession of the United States is also the +oldest in point of European occupation. The island of Puerto Rico was +discovered by Columbus in 1493. It was occupied by the United States +Army at Guanica July 25, 1898. Spain formally evacuated the island +October 18, 1898, and military government was established until +Congress made provision for its control. By act of Congress, approved +April 12, 1900, the military control terminated and civil government +was formally instituted May 1,1900. + +Puerto Rico has an interesting history. Its four centuries under +Spanish control is a record of unusual and remarkable events. This +record is unknown to the American people. It has never been written +satisfactorily in the Spanish language, and not at all in the English +language. The author of this volume is the first to give to the reader +of English a record of Spanish rule in this "pearl of the Antilles." +Mr. Van Middeldyk is the librarian of the Free Public Library of San +Juan, an institution created under American civil control. He has had +access to all data obtainable in the island, and has faithfully and +conscientiously woven this data into a connected narrative, thus +giving the reader a view of the social and institutional life of the +island for four hundred years. + +The author has endeavored to portray salient characteristics of the +life on the island, to describe the various acts of the reigning +government, to point out the evils of colonial rule, and to figure the +general historical and geographical conditions in a manner that +enables the reader to form a fairly accurate judgment of the past and +present state of Puerto Rico. + +No attempt has been made to speculate upon the setting of this record +in the larger record of Spanish life. That is a work for the future. +But enough history of Spain and in general of continental Europe is +given to render intelligible the various and varied governmental +activities exercised by Spain in the island. There is, no doubt, much +omitted that future research may reveal, and yet it is just to state +that the record is fairly continuous, and that no salient factors in +the island's history have been overlooked. + +The people of Puerto Rico were loyal and submissive to their parent +government. No record of revolts and excessive rioting is recorded. +The island has been continuously profitable to Spain. With even +ordinarily fair administration of government the people have been +self-supporting, and in many cases have rendered substantial aid to +other Spanish possessions. Her native life--the Boriquen +Indians--rapidly became extinct, due to the "gold fever" and the +intermarriage of races. The peon class has always been a faithful +laboring class in the coffee, sugar, and tobacco estates, and the +slave element was never large. A few landowners and the professional +classes dominate the island's life. There is no middle class. There is +an utter absence of the legitimate fruits of democratic institutions. +The poor are in every way objects of pity and of sympathy. They are +the hope of the island. By education, widely diffused, a great unrest +will ensue, and from this unrest will come the social, moral, and +civic uplift of the people. + +These people do not suffer from the lack of civilization. They suffer +from the kind of civilization they have endured. The life of the +people is static. Her institutions and customs are so set upon them +that one is most impressed with the absence of legitimate activities. +The people are stoically content. Such, at least, was the condition in +1898. Under the military government of the United States much was done +to prepare the way for future advance. Its weakness was due to its +effectiveness. It did for the people what they should learn to do for +themselves. The island needed a radically new governmental +activity--an activity that would develop each citizen into a +self-respecting and self-directing force in the island's uplift. This +has been supplied by the institution of civil government. The outlook +of the people is now infinitely better than ever before. The progress +now being made is permanent. It is an advance made by the people for +themselves. Civil government is the fundamental need of the island. + +Under civil government the entire reorganization of the life of the +people is being rapidly effected. The agricultural status of the +island was never so hopeful. The commercial activity is greatly +increased. The educational awakening is universal and healthy. +Notwithstanding the disastrous cyclone of 1898, and the confusion +incident to a radical governmental reorganization, the wealth per +capita has increased, the home life is improved, and the illiteracy of +the people is being rapidly lessened. + +President McKinley declared to the writer that it was his desire "to +put the conscience of the American people into the islands of the +sea." This has been done. The result is apparent. Under wise and +conservative guidance by the American executive officers, the people +of Puerto Rico have turned to this Republic with a patriotism, a zeal, +an enthusiasm that is, perhaps, without a parallel. + +In 1898, under President McKinley as commander-in-chief, the army of +the United States forcibly invaded this island. This occupation, by +the treaty of Paris, became permanent. Congress promptly provided +civil government for the island, and in 1901 this conquered people, +almost one million in number, shared in the keen grief that attended +universally the untimely death of their conqueror. The island on the +occasion of the martyr's death was plunged in profound sorrow, and at +a hundred memorial services President McKinley was mourned by +thousands, and he was tenderly characterized as "the founder of human +liberty in Puerto Rico." + +The judgment of the American people relative to this island is based +upon meager data. The legal processes attending its entrance into the +Union have been the occasion of much comment. This comment has +invariably lent itself to a discussion of the effect of judicial +decision upon our home institutions. It has been largely a speculative +concern. In some cases it has become a political concern in the +narrowest partizan sense. The effect of all this upon the people of +Puerto Rico has not been considered. Their rights and their needs have +not come to us. We have not taken President McKinley's broad, humane, +and exalted view of our obligation to these people. They have +implicitly entrusted their life, liberty, and property to our +guardianship. The great Republic has a debt of honor to the island +which indifference and ignorance of its needs can never pay. It is +hoped that this record of their struggles during four centuries will +be a welcome source of insight and guidance to the people of the +United States in their efforts to see their duty and do it. + +M. G. BRUMBAUGH. PHILADELPHIA, _January 1, 1903_. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + +Some years ago, Mr. Manuel Elzaburu, President of the San Juan +Provincial Atheneum, in a public speech, gave it as his opinion that +the modern historian of Puerto Rico had yet to appear. This was said, +not in disparagement of the island's only existing history, but rather +as a confirmation of the general opinion that the book which does duty +as such is incorrect and incomplete. + +This book is Friar Inigo Abbad's Historia de la Isla San Juan +Bautista, which was written in 1782 by disposition of the Count of +Floridablanca, the Minister of Colonies of Charles III, and published +in Madrid in 1788. In 1830 it was reproduced in San Juan without any +change in the text, and in 1866 Mr. Jose Julian Acosta published a new +edition with copious notes, comments, and additions, which added much +data relative to the Benedictine monks, corrected numerous errors, and +supplemented the chapters, some of which, in the original, are +exceedingly short, the whole history terminating abruptly with the +nineteenth chapter, that is, with the beginning of the eighteenth +century. The remaining 21 chapters are merely descriptive of the +country and people. + +Besides this work there are others by Puerto Rican authors, each one +elucidating one or more phases of the island's history. With these +separate and diverse materials, supplemented by others of my own, I +have constructed the present history. + +The transcendental change in the island's social and political +conditions, inaugurated four years ago, made the writing of an English +history of Puerto Rico necessary. The American officials who are +called upon to guide the destinies and watch over the moral, material, +and intellectual progress of the inhabitants of this new accession to +the great Republic will be able to do so all the better when they have +a knowledge of the people's historical antecedents. + +I have endeavored to supply this need to the best of my ability, and +herewith offer to the public the results of an arduous, though +self-imposed task. + +R.A.V.M. + +SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, _November 3, 1902._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +HISTORICAL + + CHAPTER + + I.--THE DEPARTURE. 1493 + + II.--THE DISCOVERY. 1493 + + III.--PONCE AND CERON. 1500-1511 + + IV.--FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. "REPARTIMIENTOS" 1510 + + V.--THE REBELLION. 1511 + + VI.--THE REBELLION (_continued_.) 1511 + + VII.--NUMBER OF ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND SECOND + DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. 1511-1515 + + VIII.--LAWS AND ORDINANCES. 1511-1515 + + IX.--THE RETURN OF CERON AND DIAZ. PONCE'S FIRST + EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA. 1511-1515 + + X.--DISSENSIONS. TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL. 1515-1520 + + XI.--CALAMITIES. PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA + AND DEATH. 1520-1537 + + XII.--INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUEN INDIANS AND CARIBS. 1520-1582 + + XIII.--DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND. PREVENTIVE MEASURES. + INTRODUCTION OF NEGRO SLAVES. 1515-1534 + + XIV.--ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS. CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH + FRANCE. CHARLES V. RUIN OF THE ISLAND. 1520-1556 + + XV.--SEDESO. CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 1534-1555 + + XVI.--DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND. CONSTRUCTION + OF FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION + OF SAN JUAN. 1555-1641 + XVII.--DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN. 1595 + + XVIII.--OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY + LORD GEORGE CUMBERLAND. CONDITION OF + THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + + XIX.--ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN. 1625 + + XX.--DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER. BUCCANEERS AND + FILIBUSTERS. 1625-1780 + + XXI.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO. SIEGE OF SAN + JUAN BY SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE. 1678-1797 + + XXII.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO (_continued_). + INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN INSURGENTS. 1797-1829 + + XXIII.--REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE + POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN FROM 1765 TO 1820 + + XXIV.--GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ISLAND FROM 1815 TO 1833 + + XXV.--POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON AFFAIRS + IN PUERTO RICO. 1833-1874 + + XXVI.--GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND, THE DAWN OF FREEDOM. + 1874-1898 + +PART II + +THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS + + XXVII.--SITUATION AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF PUERTO RICO + + XXVIII.--ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PRIMITIVE + INHABITANTS OF BORIQUEN + + XXIX.--THE "JIBARO" OR PUERTO RICAN PEASANT + + XXX.--ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE MODERN INHABITANTS OF PUERTO + RICO + + XXXI.--NEGRO SLAVERY IN PUERTO RICO + + XXII.--INCREASE OF POPULATION + + XXIII.--AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO + + XXXIV.--COMMERCE AND FINANCES + + XXXV.--EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO + + XXXVI.--LIBRARIES AND THE PRESS + + XXXVII.--THE REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY + +XXXVIII.--THE INQUISITION. 1520-1813 + + XXXIX.--GROWTH OF CITIES + + XL.--AURIFEROUS STREAMS AND GOLD PRODUCED FROM 1609 TO 1536 + + XLI.--WEST INDIAN HURRICANES IN PUERTO RICO FROM 1515 TO 1899 + + XLII.--THE CARIBS + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + INDEX + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Columbus statue, San Juan + + Ruins of Caparra + + Columbus monument, near Aguadilla + + Statue of Ponce de Leon, San Juan + + Inner harbor, San Juan + + Fort San Geronimo, at Santurce, near San Juan + + Only remaining gate of the city-wall, San Juan + + A tienda, or small shop + + Planter's house, ceiba tree, and royal palms + + San Francisco Church, San Juan; the oldest church in the city + + Plaza Alphonso XII and Intendencia Building, San Juan + + Casa Blanca and the sea wall, San Juan + + + + +PART I HISTORICAL + +CHAPTER I THE DEPARTURE + +1493 + +Eight centuries of a gigantic struggle for supremacy between the +Crescent and the Cross had devastated the fairest provinces of the +Spanish Peninsula. Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings, had +delivered the keys of Granada into the hands of Queen Isabel, the +proud banner of the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon floated +triumphant from the walls of the Alhambra, and Providence, as if to +recompense Iberian knighthood for turning back the tide of Moslem +conquest, which threatened to overrun the whole of meridional Europe, +had laid a new world, with all its inestimable treasures and millions +of benighted inhabitants, at the feet of the Catholic princes. + +Columbus had just returned from his first voyage. He had been scorned +as an adventurer by the courtiers of Lisbon, mocked as a visionary by +the learned priests of the Council in Salamanca, who, with texts from +the Scriptures and quotations from the saints, had tried to convince +him that the world was flat; he had been pointed at by the rabble in +the streets as a madman who maintained that there was a land where the +people walked with their heads down; and, after months of trial, he +had been able to equip his three small craft and collect a crew of +ninety men only by the aid of a royal schedule offering exemption from +punishment for offenses against the laws to all who should join the +expedition. + +At last he had sailed amid the murmurs of an incredulous crowd, who +thought him and his companions doomed to certain destruction, and now +he had returned[1] bringing with him the living proofs of what he had +declared to exist beyond that mysterious ocean, and showed to the +astounded people samples of the unknown plants and animals, and of +_the gold_ which he had said would be found there in fabulous +quantities. + +It was the proudest moment of the daring navigator's life when, clad +in his purple robe of office, bedecked with the insignia of his rank, +he entered the throne-room of the palace in Barcelona and received +permission to be seated in the royal presence to relate his +experiences. Around the hall stood the grandees of Spain and the +magnates of the Church, as obsequious and attentive to him now as they +had been proud and disdainful when, a hungry wanderer, he had knocked +at the gates of La Rabida to beg bread for his son. It was the acme of +the discoverer's destiny, the realization of his dream of glory, the +well-earned recompense of years of persevering endeavor. + +The news of the discovery created universal enthusiasm. When it was +announced that a second expedition was being organized there was no +need of a royal schedule of remission of punishment to criminals to +obtain crews. The Admiral's residence was besieged all day long by the +hidalgos[2] who were anxious to share with him the expected glories +and riches. The cessation of hostilities in Granada had left thousands +of knights, whose only patrimony was their sword, without +occupation--men with iron muscles, inured to hardship and danger, +eager for adventure and conquest. + +Then there were the monks and priests, whose religious zeal was +stimulated by the prospect of converting to Christianity the benighted +inhabitants of unknown realms; there were ruined traders, who hoped to +mend their fortunes with the gold to be had, as they thought, for +picking it up; finally, there were the proteges of royalty and of +influential persons at court, who aspired to lucrative places in the +new territories; in short, the Admiral counted among the fifteen +hundred companions of his second expedition individuals of the bluest +blood in Spain. + +As for the mariners, men-at-arms, mechanics, attendants, and servants, +they were mostly greedy, vicious, ungovernable, and turbulent +adventurers.[3] + +The confiscated property of the Jews, supplemented by a loan and some +extra duties on articles of consumption, provided the funds for the +expedition; a sufficient quantity of provisions was embarked; twenty +Granadian lancers with their spirited Andalusian horses were +accommodated; cuirasses, swords, pikes, crossbows, muskets, powder and +balls were ominously abundant; seed-corn, rice, sugar-cane, +vegetables, etc., were not forgotten; cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and +fowls for stocking the new provinces, provided for future needs; and a +breed of mastiff dogs, originally intended, perhaps, as watch-dogs +only, but which became in a short time the dreaded destroyers of +natives. Finally, Pope Alexander VI, of infamous memory, drew a line +across the map of the world, from pole to pole,[4] and assigned all +the undiscovered lands west of it to Spain, and those east of it to +Portugal, thus arbitrarily dividing the globe between the two powers. + +At daybreak, September 25, 1493, seventeen ships, three caracas of one +hundred tons each, two naos, and twelve caravels, sailed from Cadiz +amid the ringing of bells and the enthusiastic Godspeeds of thousands +of spectators. The son of a Genoese wool-carder stood there, the equal +in rank of the noblest hidalgo in Spain, Admiral of the Indian Seas, +Viceroy of all the islands and continents to be discovered, and +one-tenth of all the gold and treasures they contained would be his! + +Alas for the evanescence of worldly greatness! All this glory was soon +to be eclipsed. Eight years after that day of triumph he again landed +on the shore of Spain a pale and emaciated prisoner in chains. + +It may easily be conceived that the voyage for these fifteen hundred +men, most of whom were unaccustomed to the sea, was not a pleasure +trip. + +Fortunately they had fine weather and fair wind till October 26th, +when they experienced their first tropical rain and thunder-storm, and +the Admiral ordered litanies. On November 2d he signaled to the fleet +to shorten sail, and on the morning of the 3d fifteen hundred pairs of +wondering eyes beheld the mountains of an island mysteriously hidden +till then in the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean. + +Among the spectators were Bernal Diaz de Pisa, accountant of the +fleet, the first conspirator in America; thirteen Benedictine friars, +with Boil at their head, who, with Moren Pedro de Margarit, the +strategist, respectively represented the religious and military +powers; there was Roldan, another insubordinate, the first alcalde of +the Espanola; there were Alonzo de Ojeda and Guevara, true +knights-errant, who were soon to distinguish themselves: the first by +the capture of the chief Caonabo, the second by his romantic +love-affair with Higuemota, the daughter of the chiefess Anacaona. +There was Adrian Mojica, destined shortly to be hanged on the ramparts +of Fort Concepcion by order of the Viceroy. There was Juan de +Esquivel, the future conqueror of Jamaica; Sebastian Olano, receiver +of the royal share of the gold and other riches that no one doubted to +find; Father Marchena, the Admiral's first protector, friend, and +counselor; the two knight commanders of military orders Gallego and +Arroyo; the fleet's physician, Chanca; the queen's three servants, +Navarro, Pena-soto, and Girau; the pilot, Antonio de Torres, who was +to return to Spain with the Admiral's ship and first despatches. +There was Juan de la Cosa, cartographer, who traced the first map of +the Antilles; there were the father and uncle of Bartolome de las +Casas, the apostle of the Indies; Diego de Penalosa, the first notary +public; Fermin Jedo, the metallurgist, and Villacorta, the mechanical +engineer. Luis de Ariega, afterward famous as the defender of the fort +at Magdalena; Diego Velasquez, the future conqueror of Cuba; Vega, +Abarca, Gil Garcia, Marguez, Maldonado, Beltran and many other doughty +warriors, whose names had been the terror of the Moors during the war +in Granada. Finally, there were Diego Columbus, the Admiral's brother; +and among the men-at-arms, one, destined to play the principal role in +the conquest of Puerto Rico. His name was Juan Ponce, a native of +Santervas or Sanservas de Campos in the kingdom of Leon. He had served +fifteen years in the war with the Moors as page or shield-bearer to +Pedro Nunez de Guzman, knight commander of the order of Calatrava, and +he had joined Columbus like the rest--to seek his fortune in the +western hemisphere. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: March 15, 1493.] + +[Footnote 2: Literally, "_hijos d'algo_," sons of something or +somebody.] + +[Footnote 3: La Fuente. Hista. general de Espana.] + +[Footnote 4: Along the 30th parallel of longitude W. of Greenwich.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DISCOVERY + +1493 + +THE first island discovered on this voyage lies between 14 deg. and 15 deg. +north latitude, near the middle of a chain of islands of different +sizes, intermingled with rocks and reefs, which stretches from +Trinidad, near the coast of Venezuela, in a north-by-westerly +direction to Puerto Rico. They are divided in two groups, the Windward +Islands forming the southern, the Leeward Islands the northern portion +of the chain. + +The Admiral shaped his course in the direction in which the islands, +one after the other, loomed up, merely touching at some for the +purpose of obtaining what information he could, which was meager +enough. + +For an account of the expedition's experiences on that memorable +voyage, we have the fleet physician Chanca's circumstantial +description addressed to the Municipal Corporation of Seville, sent +home by the same pilot who conveyed the Admiral's first despatches to +the king and queen. + +After describing the weather experienced up to the time the fleet +arrived at the island "de Hierro," he tells their worships that for +nineteen or twenty days they had the best weather ever experienced on +such a long voyage, excepting on the eve of San Simon, when they had a +storm which for four hours caused them great anxiety. + +At daybreak on Sunday, November 3d, the pilot of the flagship +announced land. "It was marvelous," says Chanca, "to see and hear the +people's manifestations of joy; and with reason, for they were very +weary of the hardships they had undergone, and longed to be on land +again." + +The first island they saw was high and mountainous. As the day +advanced they saw another more level, and then others appeared, till +they counted six, some of good size, and all covered with forest to +the water's edge. + +Sailing along the shore of the first discovered island for the +distance of a league, and finding no suitable anchoring ground, they +proceeded to the next island, which was four or five leagues distant, +and here the Admiral landed, bearing the royal standard, and took +formal possession of this and all adjacent lands in the name of their +Highnesses. He named the first island Dominica, because it was +discovered on a Sunday, and to the second island he gave the name of +his ship, Marie-Galante. + +"In this island," says Chanca, "it was wonderful to see the dense +forest and the great variety of unknown trees, some in bloom, others +with fruit, everything looking so green. We found a tree the leaves +whereof resembled laurel leaves, but not so large, and they exhaled +the finest odor of cloves.[5] + +"There were fruits of many kinds, some of which the men imprudently +tasted, with the result that their faces swelled, and that they +suffered such violent pain in throat and mouth[6] that they behaved +like madmen, the application of cold substances giving them some +relief." No signs of inhabitants were discovered, so they remained +ashore two hours only and left next morning early (November 4th) in +the direction of another island seven or eight leagues northward. They +anchored off the southernmost coast of it, now known as Basse Terre, +and admired a mountain in the distance, which seemed to reach into the +sky (the volcano "la Souffriere"), and the beautiful waterfall on its +flank. The Admiral sent a small caravel close inshore to look for a +port, which was soon found. Perceiving some huts, the captain landed, +but the people who occupied them escaped into the forest as soon as +they saw the strangers. On entering the huts they found two large +parrots (guacamayos) entirely different from those seen until then by +the Spaniards, much cotton, spun and ready for spinning, and other +articles, bringing away a little of each, "especially," says the +doctor, "four or five bones of human arms and legs." + +From this the Admiral concluded that he had found the islands +inhabited by the redoubtable Caribs, of whom he had heard on his first +voyage, and who were said to eat human flesh. The general direction +in which these islands were situated had been pointed out to him by +the natives of Guanahani and the Espanola; hence, he had steered a +southwesterly course on this his second voyage, "and," says the +doctor, "by the goodness of God and the Admiral's knowledge, we came +as straight as if we had come by a known and continuous route." + +Having found a convenient port and seen some groups of huts, the +inhabitants of which fled as soon as they perceived the ships, the +Admiral gave orders that the next morning early parties of men should +go on shore to reconnoiter. Accordingly some captains, each with a +small band of men, dispersed. Most of them returned before noon with +the tangible results of their expeditions; one party brought a boy of +about fourteen years of age, who, from the signs he made, was +understood to be a captive from some other island; another party +brought a child that had been abandoned by the man who was leading it +by the hand when he perceived the Spaniards; others had taken some +women; and one party was accompanied by women who had voluntarily +joined them and who, on that account, were believed to be captives +also. Captain Diego Marquiz with six men, who had entered the thickest +part of the forest, did not return that night, nor the three following +days, notwithstanding the Admiral had sent Alonzo de Ojeda with forty +men to explore the jungle, blow trumpets, and do all that could be +done to find them. When, on the morning of the fourth day, they had +not returned, there was ground for concluding that they had been +killed and eaten by the natives; but they made their appearance in +the course of the day, emaciated and wearied, having suffered great +hardships, till by chance they had struck the coast and followed it +till they reached the ships. They brought ten persons, with +them--women and boys. + +During the days thus lost the other captains collected more than +twenty female captives, and three boys came running toward them, +evidently escaping from their captors. Few men were seen. It was +afterward ascertained that ten canoes full had gone on one of their +marauding expeditions. In their different expeditions on shore the +Spaniards found all the huts and villages abandoned, and in them "an +infinite quantity" of human bones and skulls hanging on the walls as +receptacles. From the natives taken on board the Spaniards learned +that the name of the first island they had seen was Cayri or Keiree; +the one they were on they named Sibuqueira, and they spoke of a third, +not yet discovered, named Aye-Aye. The Admiral gave to Sibuqueira the +name of Guadaloupe. + +Anchors were weighed at daybreak on November 10th. About noon of the +next day the fleet reached an island which Juan de la Cosa laid down +on his map with the name Santa Maria de Monserrat. From the Indian +women on board it was understood that this island had been depopulated +by the Caribs and was then uninhabited. On the same day in the +afternoon they made another island which, according to Navarrete, was +named by the Admiral Santa Maria de la Redonda (the round one), and +seeing that there were many shallows in the neighborhood, and that it +would be dangerous to continue the voyage during the night, the fleet +came to anchor. + +On the following morning (the 13th) another island was discovered (la +Antigua); thence the fleet proceeded in a northwesterly direction to +San Martin, without landing at any place, because, as Chanca observes, +"the Admiral was anxious to arrive at 'la Espanola.'" + +After weighing anchor at San Martin on the morning of Thursday the +14th, the fleet experienced rough weather and was driven southward, +anchoring the same day off the island Aye-Aye (Santa Cruz). + +Fernandez, the Admiral's son, in his description of his father's +second voyage, says that a small craft (a sloop) with twenty-five men +was sent ashore to take some of the people, that Columbus might obtain +information from them regarding his whereabouts. While they carried +out this order a canoe with four men, two women, and a boy approached +the ships, and, struck with astonishment at what they saw, they never +moved from one spot till the sloop returned with four kidnaped women +and three children. + +When the natives in the canoe saw the sloop bearing down upon them, +and that they had no chance of escape, they showed fight. Two +Spaniards were wounded--an arrow shot by one of the amazons went clear +through a buckler--then the canoe was overturned, and finding a +footing in a shallow place, they continued the fight till they were +all taken, one of them being mortally wounded by the thrust of a +lance. + +To regain the latitude in which he was sailing when the storm began to +drive his ships southwestward to Aye-Aye, the Admiral, after a delay +of only a few hours, steered north, until, toward nightfall, he +reached a numerous group of small islands. Most of them appeared bare +and devoid of vegetation. The next morning (November 15th) a small +caravel was sent among the group to explore, the other ships standing +out to sea for fear of shallows, but nothing of interest was found +except a few Indian fishermen. All the islands were uninhabited, and +they were baptized "the eleven thousand Virgins." The largest one, +according to Navarrete, was named Santa Ursula--"la Virgin Gorda" (the +fat Virgin) according to Angleria. + +During the night the ships lay to at sea. On the 16th the voyage was +continued till the afternoon of the 17th, when another island was +sighted; the fleet sailed along its southern shore for a whole day. +That night two women and a boy of those who had voluntarily joined the +expedition in Sobuqueira, swam ashore, having recognized their home. +On the 19th the fleet anchored in a bay on the western coast, where +Columbus landed and took possession in the name of his royal patrons +with the same formalities as observed in Marie-Galante, and named the +island San Juan Bautista. Near the landing-place was found a deserted +village consisting of a dozen huts of the usual size surrounding a +larger one of superior construction; from the village a road or walk, +hedged in by trees and plants, led to the sea, "which," says +Munoz,[7] "gave it the aspect of some cacique's place of seaside +recreation." + +After remaining two days in port (November 20th and 21st), and without +a single native having shown himself, the fleet lifted anchor on the +morning of the 22d, and proceeding on its northwesterly course, +reached the bay of Samana, in Espanola, before night, whence, sailing +along the coast, the Admiral reached the longed-for port of Navidad on +the 25th, only to find that the first act of the bloody drama that was +to be enacted in this bright new world had already been performed. + +Here we leave Columbus and his companions to play the important roles +in the conquest of America assigned to each of them. The fortunes of +the yeoman of humble birth, the former lance-bearer or stirrup-page of +the knight commander of Calatrava, already referred to, were destined +to become intimately connected with those of the island whose history +we will now trace. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: The "Caryophyllus pimienta," Coll y Toste.] + +[Footnote 6: Navarrete supposes this to have been the fruit of the +Manzanilla "hippomane Mancinella," which produces identical effects.] + +[Footnote 7: Historia del Nuevo Mundo.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PONCE AND CERON + +1500-1511 + +Friar Inigo Abbad, in his History of the Island San Juan Bautista de +Puerto Rico, gives the story of the discovery in a very short chapter, +and terminates it with the words: "Columbus sailed for Santo Domingo +November 22, 1493, and thought no more of the island, which remained +forgotten till Juan Ponce returned to explore it in 1508." + +This is not correct. The island was not forgotten, for Don Jose Julian +de Acosta, in his annotations to the Benedictine monk's history (pp. +21 and 23), quotes a royal decree of March 24, 1505, appointing +Vicente Yanez Pinzon Captain and "corregidor" of the island San Juan +Bautista and governor of the fort that he was to construct therein. +Pinzon transferred his rights and titles in the appointment to Martin +Garcia de Salazar, in company with whom he stocked the island with +cattle; but it seems that Boriquen did not offer sufficient scope for +the gallant pilot's ambition, for we find him between the years 1506 +and 1508 engaged in seeking new conquests on the continent. + +As far as Columbus himself is concerned, the island was certainly +forgotten amid the troubles that beset him on all sides almost from +the day of his second landing in "la Espanola." From 1493 to 1500 a +series of insurrections broke out, headed successively by Diaz, +Margarit, Aguado, Roldan, and others, supported by the convict rabble +that, on the Admiral's own proposals to the authorities in Spain, had +been liberated from galleys and prisons on condition that they should +join him on his third expedition. These men, turbulent, insubordinate, +and greedy, found hunger, hardships, and sickness where they had +expected to find plenty, comfort, and wealth. The Admiral, who had +indirectly promised them these things, to mitigate the universal and +bitter disappointment, had recourse to the unwarrantable expedients of +enslaving the natives, sending them to Spain to be sold, of levying +tribute on those who remained, and, worst of all, dooming them to a +sure and rapid extermination by forced labor. + +The natives, driven to despair, resisted, and in the encounters +between the naked islanders and the mailed invaders Juan Ponce +distinguished himself so that Nicolos de Ovando, the governor, made +him the lieutenant of Juan Esquivel, who was then engaged in +"pacifying" the province of Higueey.[8] After Esquivel's departure on +the conquest of Jamaica, Ponce was advanced to the rank of captain, +and it was while he was in the Higueey province that he learned from +the Boriquen natives, who occasionally visited the coast, that there +was gold in the rivers of their as yet unexplored island. This was +enough to awaken his ambition to explore it, and having asked +permission of Ovando, it was granted. + +Ponce equipped a caravel at once, and soon after left the port of +Salvaleon with a few followers and some Indians to serve as guides and +interpreters (1508). + +They probably landed at or near the same place at which their captain +had landed fifteen years before with the Admiral, that is to say, in +the neighborhood of la Aguada, where, according to Las Casas, the +ships going and coming to and from Spain had called regularly to take +in fresh water ever since the year 1502. + +The strangers were hospitably received. It appears that the mother of +the local cacique, who was also the chief cacique of that part of the +island, was a woman of acute judgment. She had, no doubt, heard from +fugitives from la Espanola of the doings of the Spaniards there, and +of their irresistible might in battle, and had prudently counseled her +son to receive the intruders with kindness and hospitality. + +Accordingly Ponce and his men were welcomed and feasted. They were +supplied with provisions; areitos (dances) were held in their honor; +batos (games of ball) were played to amuse them, and the practise, +common among many of the aboriginal tribes in different parts of the +world, of exchanging names with a visitor as a mark of brotherly +affection, was also resorted to to cement the new bonds of friendship, +so that Guaybana became Ponce for the time being, and Ponce Guaybana. +The sagacious mother of the chief received the name of Dona Inez, +other names were bestowed on other members of the family, and to +crown all, Ponce received the chief's sister in marriage. + +Under these favorable auspices Ponce made known his desire to see the +places where the chiefs obtained the yellow metal for the disks which, +as a distinctive of their rank, they wore as medals round their neck. +Guaybana responded with alacrity to his Spanish brother's wish, and +accompanied him on what modern gold-seekers would call "a prospecting +tour" to the interior. The Indian took pride in showing him the rivers +Manatuabon, Manati, Sibuco, and others, and in having their sands +washed in the presence of his white friends, little dreaming that by +so doing he was sealing the doom of himself and people. + +Ponce was satisfied with the result of his exploration, and returned +to la Espanola in the first months of 1509, taking with him the +samples of gold collected, and leaving behind some of his companions, +who probably then commenced to lay the foundations of Caparra. It is +believed that Guaybana accompanied him to see and admire the wonders +of the Spanish settlement. The gold was smelted and assayed, and found +to be 450 maravedis per peso fine, which was not as fine as the gold +obtained in la Espanola, but sufficiently so for the king of Spain's +purposes, for he wrote to Ponce in November, 1509: "I have seen your +letter of August 16th. Be very diligent in searching for gold mines in +the island of San Juan; take out as much as possible, and after +smelting it in la Espanola, send it immediately." + +On August 14th of the same year Don Fernando had already written to +the captain thanking him for his diligence in the settlement of the +island and appointing him governor _ad interim_. + +Ponce returned to San Juan in July or the beginning of August, after +the arrival in la Espanola of Diego, the son of Christopher Columbus, +with his family and a new group of followers, as Viceroy and Admiral. +The Admiral, aware of the part which Ponce had taken in the +insurrection of Roldan against his father's authority, bore him no +good-will, notwithstanding the king's favorable disposition toward the +captain, as manifested in the instructions which he received from +Ferdinand before his departure from Spain (May 13, 1509), in which his +Highness referred to Juan Ponce de Leon as being by his special grace +and good-will authorized to settle the island of San Juan Bautista, +requesting the Admiral to make no innovations in the arrangement, and +charging him to assist and favor the captain in his undertaking. + +After Don Diego's arrival in la Espanola he received a letter from the +king, dated September 15, 1509, saying, "Ovando wrote that Juan Ponce +had not gone to settle the island of San Juan for want of stores; now +that they have been provided in abundance, let it be done." + +But the Admiral purposely ignored these instructions. He deposed Ponce +and appointed Juan Ceron as governor in his place, with a certain +Miguel Diaz as High Constable, and Diego Morales for the office next +in importance. His reason for thus proceeding in open defiance of the +king's orders, independent of his resentment against Ponce, was the +maintenance of the prerogatives of his rank as conceded to his father, +of which the appointment of governors and mayors over any or all the +islands discovered by him was one. + +Ceron and his two companions, with more than two hundred Spaniards, +sailed for San Juan in 1509, and were well received by Guaybana and +his Indians, among whom they took up their residence and at once +commenced the search for gold. In the meantime Ponce, in his capacity +as governor _ad interim_, continued his correspondence with the king, +who, March 2, 1510, signed his appointment as permanent governor.[9] +This conferred upon him the power to sentence in civil and criminal +affairs, to appoint and remove alcaldes, constables, etc., subject to +appeal to the government of la Espanola. Armed with his new authority, +and feeling himself strong in the protection of his king, Ponce now +proceeded to arrest Ceron and his two fellow officials, and sent them +to Spain in a vessel that happened to call at the island, confiscating +all their property. + +Diego Columbus, on hearing of Ponce's highhanded proceedings, +retaliated by the confiscation of all the captain's property in la +Espanola. + +These events did not reach the king's ears till September, 1510. He +comprehended at once that his protege had acted precipitately, and +gave orders that the three prisoners should be set at liberty +immediately after their arrival in Spain and proceed to the Court to +appear before the Council of Indies. He next ordered Ponce (November +26, 1510) to place the confiscated properties and Indians of Ceron and +his companions at the disposal of the persons they should designate +for that purpose. Finally, after due investigation and recognition of +the violence of Ponce's proceedings, the king wrote to him June 6, +1511: "Because it has been resolved in the Council of Indies that the +government of this and the other islands discovered by his father +belongs to the Admiral and his successors, it is necessary to return +to Ceron, Diaz, and Morales their staffs of office. You will come to +where I am, leaving your property in good security, and We will see +wherein we can employ you in recompense of your good services." + +Ceron and his companions received instructions not to molest Ponce nor +any of his officers, nor demand an account of their acts, and they +were recommended to endeavor to gain their good-will and assistance. +The reinstated officers returned to San Juan in the latter part of +1511. Ponce, in obedience to the king's commands, quietly delivered +the staff of office to Ceron, and withdrew to his residence in +Caparra. He had already collected considerable wealth, which was soon +to serve him in other adventurous enterprises. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 8: The slaughter of rebellious Indians was called +"pacification" by the Spaniards.] + +[Footnote 9: The document is signed by Ferdinand and his daughter, +Dona Juana, as heir to her mother, for the part corresponding to each +in the sovereignty over the island San Juan Bautista.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. "REPARTIMIENTOS" + +1510 + +Soon after Ponce's return from la Espanola Guaybana sickened and died. +Up to this time the harmony established by the prudent cacique between +his tribesmen and the Spaniards on their first arrival had apparently +not been disturbed. There is no record of any dissension between them +during Ponce's absence. + +The cacique was succeeded by his brother, who according to custom +assumed the name of the deceased chief, together with his authority. + +The site for his first settlement, chosen by Ponce, was a low hill in +the center of a small plain surrounded by hills, at the distance of a +league from the sea, the whole space between being a swamp, "which," +says Oviedo, "made the transport of supplies very difficult." Here the +captain commenced the construction of a fortified house and chapel, or +hermitage, and called the place Caparra.[10] + +[Illustration: Ruins of Caparra, the first capital.] + +Among the recently arrived Spaniards there was a young man of +aristocratic birth named Christopher de Soto Mayor, who possessed +powerful friends at Court. He had been secretary to King Philip I, +and according to Abbad, was intended by Ferdinand as future governor +of San Juan; but Senor Acosta, the friar's commentator, remarks with +reason, that it is not likely that the king, who showed so much tact +and foresight in all his acts, should place a young man without +experience over an old soldier like Ponce, for whom he had a special +regard. + +The young hidalgo seemed to aspire to nothing higher than a life of +adventure, for he agreed to go as Ponce's lieutenant and form a +settlement on the south coast of the island near the bay of Guanica. + +"In this settlement," says Oviedo, "there were so many mosquitoes that +they alone were enough to depopulate it, and the people passed to +Aguada, which is said to be to the west-nor'-west, on the borders of +the river Culebrinas, in the district now known as Aguada and +Aguadilla; to this new settlement they gave the name Sotomayor, and +while they were there the Indians rose in rebellion one Friday in the +beginning of the year 1511." + + * * * * * + +The second Guaybana[11] was far from sharing his predecessor's +good-will toward the Spaniards or his prudence in dealing with them; +nor was the conduct of the newcomers toward the natives calculated to +cement the bonds of friendship. + +Fancying themselves secure in the friendly disposition of the +natives, prompted by that spirit of reckless daring and adventure that +distinguished most of the followers of Columbus, anxious to be first +to find a gold-bearing stream or get possession of some rich piece of +land, they did not confine themselves to the two settlements formed, +but spread through the interior, where they began to lay out farms and +to work the auriferous river sands. + +In the beginning the natives showed themselves willing enough to +assist in these labors, but when the brutal treatment to which the +people of la Espanola had been subjected was meted out to them also, +and the greed of gold caused their self-constituted masters to exact +from them labors beyond their strength, the Indians murmured, then +protested, at last they resisted, and at each step the taskmasters +became more exacting, more relentless. + +At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards the natives of Boriquen +seem to have led an Arcadian kind of existence; their bows and arrows +were used only when some party of Caribs came to carry off their young +men and maidens. Among themselves they lived at peace, and passed +their days in lazily swinging in their hammocks and playing ball or +dancing their "areytos." With little labor the cultivation of their +patches of yucca[12] required was performed by the women, and beyond +the construction of their canoes and the carving of some battle club, +they knew no industry, except, perhaps, the chipping of some stone +into the rude likeness of a man, or of one of the few animals they +knew. + +These creatures were suddenly called upon to labor from morning to +night, to dig and delve, and to stand up to their hips in water +washing the river sands. They were forced to change their habits and +their food, and from free and, in their own way, happy masters of the +soil they became the slaves of a handful of ruthless men from beyond +the sea. When Ponce's order to distribute them among his men confirmed +the hopelessness of their slavery, they looked upon the small number +of their destroyers and began to ask themselves if there were no means +of getting rid of them. + + * * * * * + +The system of "repartimientos" (distribution), sometimes called +"encomiendas" (patronage), was first introduced in la Espanola by +Columbus and sanctioned later by royal authority. Father Las Casas +insinuates that Ponce acted arbitrarily in introducing it in Boriquen, +but there were precedents for it. + +The first tribute imposed by Columbus on the natives of la Espanola +was in gold and in cotton[13](1495). Recognizing that the Indians +could not comply with this demand, the Admiral modified it, but still +they could not satisfy him, and many, to escape the odious imposition, +fled to the woods and mountains or wandered about from place to place. +The Admiral, in virtue of the powers granted to him, had divided the +land among his followers according to rank, or merit, or caprice, and +in the year 1496 substituted the forced labor of the Indians for the +tribute, each cacique being obliged to furnish a stipulated number of +men to cultivate the lands granted. Bobadilla, the Admiral's +successor, made this obligation to work on the land extend to the +mines, and in the royal instructions given to Ovando, who succeeded +Bobadilla, these abuses were confirmed, and he was expressly charged +to see to it "that the Indians were employed in collecting gold and +other metals for the Castilians, in cultivating their lands, in +constructing their houses, and in obeying their commands." The pretext +for these abuses was, that by thus bringing the natives into immediate +contact with their masters they would be easier converted to +Christianity. It is true that the royal ordinances stipulated that the +Indians should be well treated, and be paid for their work like free +laborers, but the fact that they were _forced_ to work and severely +punished when they refused, constituted them slaves in reality. The +royal recommendations to treat them well, to pay them for their work, +and to teach them the Christian doctrines, were ignored by the +masters, whose only object was to grow rich. The Indians were tasked +far beyond their strength. They were ill-fed, often not fed at all, +brutally ill-treated, horribly punished for trying to escape from the +hellish yoke, ruthlessly slaughtered at the slightest show of +resistance, so that thousands of them perished miserably. This had +been the fate of the natives of la Espanola, and there can be no doubt +that the Boriquenos had learned from fugitives of that island what +was in store for them when Ponce ordered their distribution among the +settlers. + +The following list of Indians distributed in obedience to orders from +the metropolis is taken from the work by Don Salvador Brau.[14] It was +these first distributions, made in 1509-'10, which led to the +rebellion of the Indians and the distributions that followed: + + Indians + To the general treasurer, Pasamonte, a man described by + Acosta as malevolent, insolent, deceitful, and sordid...... 300 + + To Juan Ponce de Leon...................................... 200 + + To Christopher Soto Mayor[15]...............................100 + + To Vicente Yanez Pinzon, on condition that he should settle + in the island.............................................. 100 + + To Lope de Conchillos, King Ferdinand's Chief Secretary, + as bad a character as Pasamonte............................ 100 + + To Pedro Moreno and Jerome of Brussels, the delegate and + clerk of Conchillos in Boriquen, 100 each...................200 + + To the bachelor-at-law Villalobos........................... 80 + + To Francisco Alvarado.......................................80 + + +A total of 1,060 defenseless Indians delivered into the ruthless hands +of men steeped in greed, ambition, and selfishness. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: The scanty remains of the first settlement were to be +seen till lately in the Pueblo Viejo Ward, municipal district of +Bayamon, along the road which loads from Catano to Gurabo.] + +[Footnote 11: He may have been the tenth or the twentieth if what the +chroniclers tell us about the adoption of the defunct caciquess' names +by their successors be true.] + +[Footnote 12: The manioc of which the "casaba" bread is made.] + +[Footnote 13: A "cascabel" (a measure the size of one of the round +bells used in Spain to hang round the neck of the leader in a troop of +mules) full of gold and twenty-five pounds (an arroba) of cotton every +three months for every Indian above sixteen years of age.] + +[Footnote 14: Puerto Rico y su historia, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 15: Among the Indians given to Soto Mayor was the sister of +the cacique Guaybana second. She became his concubine, and in return +for the preference shown her she gave the young nobleman timely +warning of the impending rebellion.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE REBELLION + +1511 + +The sullen but passive resistance of the Indians was little noticed by +the Spaniards, who despised them too much to show any apprehension; +but the number of fugitives to the mountains and across the sea +increased day by day, and it soon became known that nocturnal +"areytos" were held, in which the means of shaking off the odious yoke +were discussed. Soto Mayor was warned by his paramour, and it is +probable that some of the other settlers received advice through the +same channels; still, they neglected even the ordinary precautions. + +At last, a soldier named Juan Gonzalez, who had learned the native +language in la Espanola, took upon himself to discover what truth +there was in these persistent reports, and, naked and painted so as to +appear like one of the Indians, he assisted at one of the nocturnal +meetings, where he learned that a serious insurrection was indeed +brewing; he informed Soto Mayor of what he had heard and seen, and the +latter now became convinced of the seriousness of the danger. + +Before Gonzalez learned what was going on, Guaybana had summoned the +neighboring caciques to a midnight "areyto" and laid his plan before +them, which consisted in each of them, on a preconcerted day, falling +upon the Spaniards living in or near their respective villages; the +attack, on the same day, on Soto Mayor's settlement, he reserved for +himself and Guarionez, the cacique of Utuao. + +But some of the caciques doubted the feasibility of the plan. Had not +the fugitives from Quisqueia[16] told of the terrible effects of the +shining blades they wore by their sides when wielded in battle by the +brawny arms of the dreaded strangers? Did not their own arrows glance +harmlessly from the glittering scales with which they covered their +bodies? Was Guaybana quite sure that the white-faced invader could be +killed at all? The majority thought that before undertaking their +extermination they ought to be sure that they had to do with a mortal +enemy. + +Oviedo and Herrera both relate how they proceeded to discover this. +Urayoan, the cacique of Yagueeca, was charged with the experiment. +Chance soon favored him. A young man named Salcedo passed through his +village to join some friends. He was hospitably received, well fed, +and a number of men[17] were told to accompany him and carry his +luggage. He arrived at the Guaoraba, a river on the west side of the +island, which flows into the bay of San German. They offered to carry +him across. The youth accepted, was taken up between two of the +strongest Indians, who, arriving in the middle of the river, dumped +him under water--then they fell on him and held him down till he +struggled no more. Dragging him ashore, they now begged his pardon, +saying that they had stumbled, and called upon him to rise and +continue the voyage; but the young man did not move, he was dead, and +they had the proof that the supposed demi-gods were mortals after all. + +The news spread like wildfire, and from that day the Indians were in +open rebellion and began to take the offensive, shooting their arrows +and otherwise molesting every Spaniard they happened to meet alone or +off his guard. + +The following episode related by Oviedo illustrates the mental +disposition of the natives of Boriquen at this period. + +Aymamon, the cacique whose village was on the river Culebrinas, near +the settlement of Soto Mayor, had surprised a lad of sixteen years +wandering alone in the forest. The cacique carried him off, tied him +to a post in his hut and proposed to his men a game of ball, the +winner to have the privilege of convincing himself and the others of +the mortality of their enemies by killing the lad in any way he +pleased. Fortunately for the intended victim, one of the Indians knew +the youth's father, one Pedro Juarez, in the neighboring settlement, +and ran to tell him of the danger that menaced his son. Captain Diego +Salazar, who in Soto Mayor's absence was in command of the settlement, +on hearing of the case, took his sword and buckler and guided by the +friendly Indian, reached the village while the game for the boy's life +was going on. He first cut the lad's bonds, and with the words "Do as +you see me do!" rushed upon the crowd of about 300 Indians and laid +about him right and left with such effect that they had no chance even +of defending themselves. Many were killed and wounded. Among the +latter was Aymamon himself, and Salazar returned in triumph with the +boy. + +But now comes the curious part of the story, which shows the character +of the Boriquen Indian in a more favorable light. + +Aymamon, feeling himself mortally wounded, sent a messenger to +Salazar, begging him to come to his caney or hut to make friends with +him before he died. None but a man of Salazar's intrepid character +would have thought of accepting such an invitation; but _he_ did, and, +saying to young Juarez, who begged his deliverer not to go: "They +shall not think that I'm afraid of them," he went, shook hands with +the dying chief, changed names with him, and returned unharmed amid +the applauding shouts of "Salazar! Salazar!" from the multitude, among +whom his Toledo blade had made such havoc. It was evident from this +that they held courage, such as the captain had displayed, in high +esteem. To the other Spaniards they used to say: "We are not afraid of +_you_, for you are not Salazar." + + * * * * * + +It was in the beginning of June, 1511. The day fixed by Guaybana for +the general rising had arrived. Soto Mayor was still in his grange in +the territory under the cacique's authority, but having received the +confirmation of the approaching danger from Gonzalez, he now resolved +at once to place himself at the head of his men in the Aguada +settlement. The distance was great, and he had to traverse a country +thickly peopled by Indians whom he now knew to be in open rebellion; +but he was a Spanish hidalgo and did not hesitate a moment. The +morning after receiving the report of Gonzalez he left his grange with +that individual and four other companions. + +Guaybana, hearing of Soto Mayor's departure, started in pursuit. +Gonzalez, who had lagged behind, was first overtaken, disarmed, +wounded with his own sword, and left for dead. Near the river Yauco +the Indians came upon Soto Mayor and his companions, and though there +were no witnesses to chronicle what happened, we may safely assert +that they sold their lives dear, till the last of them fell under the +clubs of the infuriated savages. + +That same night Guarionex with 3,000 Indians stealthily surrounded the +settlement and set fire to it, slaughtering all who, in trying to +escape, fell into their hands.[18] + +In the interior nearly a hundred Spaniards were killed during the +night. Gonzalez, though left for dead, had been able to make his way +through the forest to the royal grange, situated where now Toa-Caja +is. He was in a pitiful plight, and fell in a swoon when he crossed +the threshold of the house. Being restored to consciousness, he +related to the Spaniards present what was going on near the +Culebrinas, and they sent a messenger to Caparra at once. + +Immediately on receipt of the news from the grange, Ponce sent Captain +Miguel del Toro with 40 men to the assistance of Soto Mayor, but he +found the settlement in ashes and only the bodies of those who had +perished. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 16: La Espanola.] + +[Footnote 17: The chroniclers say fifteen or twenty, which seems an +exaggerated number.] + +[Footnote 18: Salazar was able in the dark and the confusion of the +attack on the settlement to rally a handful of followers, with whom he +cut his way through the Indians and through the jungle to Caparra.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE REBELLION _(continued)_ + +1511 + +Salazar's arrival at Caparra with a handful of wounded and exhausted +men revealed to Ponce the danger of his situation. Ponce knew that it +was necessary to strike a bold blow, and although, including the +maimed and wounded, he had but 120 men at his disposal, he prepared at +once to take the offensive. + +Sending a messenger to la Espanola with the news of the insurrection +and a demand for reenforcements, which, seeing his strained relations +with the Admiral, there was small chance of his obtaining, he +proceeded to divide his force in four companies of 30 men to each, and +gave command to Miguel del Toro, the future founder of San German, to +Louis de Anasco, who later gave his name to a province, to Louis +Almanza and to Diego Salazar, whose company was made up exclusively of +the maimed and wounded, and therefore called in good-humored jest the +company of cripples. + +Having learned from his scouts that Guaybana was camped with 5,000 to +6,000 men near the mouth of the river Coayuco in the territory between +the Yauco and Jacagua rivers, somewhere in the neighborhood of the +city which now bears the conqueror's name, he marched with great +precaution through forest and jungle till he reached the river. He +crossed it during the night and fell upon the Indians with such +impetus that they believed their slain enemies to have come to life. +They fled in confusion, leaving 200 dead upon the field. + +The force under Ponce's command was too small to follow up his victory +by the persecution of the terror-stricken natives; nor would the +exhausted condition of the men have permitted it, so he wisely +determined to return to Caparra, cure his wounded soldiers, and await +the result of his message to la Espanola. + +Oviedo and Navarro, whose narratives of these events are repeated by +Abbad, state that the Boriquen Indians, despairing of being able to +vanquish the Spaniards, called the Caribs of the neighboring islands +to their aid; that the latter arrived in groups to make common cause +with them, and that some time after the battle of Coayuco, between +Caribs and Boriquenos, 11,000 men had congregated in the Aymaco +district. + +But Mr. Brau[19] calls attention to the improbability of such a +gathering. "Guaybana," he says, "had been able, after long +preparation, to bring together between 5,000 and 6,000 warriors--of +these 200 had been slain, and an equal number, perhaps, wounded and +made prisoners, so that, to make up the number of 11,000, at least as +many Caribs as the entire warrior force of Boriquen must have come to +the island in the short space of time elapsed since the first battle. +The islands inhabited by the Caribs--Santa Cruz, San Eustaquio, San +Cristobal, and Dominica--were too distant to furnish so large a +contingent in so short a time, and the author we are quoting justly +remarks that, admitting that such a feat was possible, they must have +had at their disposition a fleet of at least 200 canoes, each capable +of holding 20 men, a number which it is not likely they ever +possessed." + +There is another reason for discrediting the assertions of the old +chroniclers in this respect. The idea of calling upon their enemies, +the Caribs, to make common cause with them against a foe from whom the +Caribs themselves had, as yet, suffered comparatively little, and the +ready acceptance by these savages of the proposal, presupposes an +amount of foresight and calculation, of diplomatic tact, so to speak, +in both the Boriquenos and Caribs with which it is difficult to credit +them. + +The probable explanation of the alleged arrival of Caribs is that some +of the fugitive Indians who had found a refuge in the small islands +close to Boriquen may have been informed of the preparations for a +revolt and of the result of the experiment with Salcedo, and they +naturally came to take part in the struggle. + +On hearing of the ominous gathering Ponce sent Louis Anasco and Miguel +del Toro with 50 men to reconnoiter and watch the Indians closely, +while he himself followed with the rest of his small force to be +present where and when it might be necessary. Their approach was soon +discovered, and, as if eager for battle, one cacique named +Mabodomaca, who had a band of 600 picked men, sent the governor an +insolent challenge to come on. Salazar with his company of cripples +was chosen to silence him. After reconnoitering the cacique's +position, he gave his men a much-needed rest till after midnight, and +then dashed among them with his accustomed recklessness. The Indians, +though taken by surprise, defended themselves bravely for three hours, +"but," says Father Abbad, "God fought on the side of the Spaniards," +and the result was that 150 dead natives were left on the field, with +many wounded and prisoners. The Spaniards had not lost a man, though +the majority had received fresh wounds. + +Ponce, with his reserve force, arrived soon after the battle and found +Salazar and his men resting. From them he learned that the main body +of the Indians, to the number of several thousand, was in the +territory of Yacueeca (now Anasco) and seemingly determined upon the +extermination of the Spaniards. + +The captain resolved to go and meet the enemy without regard to +numbers. With Salazar's men and the 50 under Anasco and Toro he +marched upon them at once. Choosing an advantageous position, he gave +orders to form an entrenched camp with fascines as well, and as +quickly as the men could, while he kept the Indians at bay with his +arquebusiers and crossbowmen each time they made a rush, which they +did repeatedly. In this manner they succeeded in entrenching +themselves fairly well. The crossbowmen and arquebusiers went out from +time to time, delivered a volley among the close masses of Indians +and then withdrew. These tactics were continued during the night and +all the next day, much to the disgust of the soldiers, who, wounded, +weary, and hungry, without hope of rescue, heard the yells of the +savages challenging them to come out of their camp. They preferred to +rush among them, as they had so often done before. But Ponce would not +permit it. + +Among the arquebusiers the best shot was a certain Juan de Leon. This +man had received instructions from Ponce to watch closely the +movements of Guaybana, who was easily distinguishable from the rest by +the "guanin," or disk of gold which he wore round the neck. On the +second day, the cacique was seen to come and go actively from group to +group, evidently animating his men for a general assault. While thus +engaged he came within the range of Leon's arquebus, and a moment +after he fell pierced by a well-directed ball. The effect was what +Ponce had doubtless expected. The Indians yelled with dismay and ran +far beyond the range of the deadly weapons; nor did they attempt to +return or molest the Spaniards when Ponce led them that night from the +camp and through the forest back to Caparra. + +This was the beginning of the end. After the death of Guaybana no +other cacique ever attempted an organized resistance, and the partial +uprisings that took place for years afterward were easily suppressed. +The report of the arquebus that laid Guaybana low was the death-knell +of the whole Boriquen race. + +The name of the island remained as a reminiscence only, and the island +itself became definitely a dependency of the Spanish crown under the +new name of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 19: Puerto Rico y su Historia, p. 189.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +NUMBER OF ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND SECOND DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS + +1511-1515 + +Friar Bartolome de Las Casas, in his Relation of the Indies, says with +reference to this island, that when the Spaniards under the orders of +Juan Ceron landed here in 1509, it was as full of people as a beehive +is full of bees and as beautiful and fertile as an orchard. This +simile and some probably incorrect data from the Geography of Bayaeete +led Friar Inigo Abbad to estimate the number of aboriginal inhabitants +at the time of the discovery at 600,000, a number for which there is +no warrant in any of the writings of the Spanish chroniclers, and +which Acosto, Brau, and Stahl, the best authorities on matters of +Puerto Rican history, reject as extremely exaggerated. + +Mr. Brau gives some good reasons for reducing the number to about +16,000, though it seems to us that since little or nothing was known +of the island, except that part of it in which the events related in +the preceding chapters took place, any reasoning regarding the +population of the whole island, based upon a knowledge of a part of +it, is liable to error. Ponce's conquest was limited to the northern +and western littoral; the interior with the southern and eastern +districts were not settled by the Spaniards till some years after the +death of Guaybana; and it seems likely that there were caciques in +those parts who, by reason of the distance or other impediments, took +no part in the uprising against the Spaniards. For the rest, Mr. +Brau's reasonings in support of his reduction to 16,000 of the number +of aborigines, are undoubtedly correct. They are: First. The +improbability of a small island like this, _in an uncultivated state_, +producing sufficient food for such large numbers. Second. The fact +that at the first battle (that of Jacaguas), in which he supposes the +whole available warrior force of the island to have taken part, there +were 5,000 to 6,000 men only, which force would have been much +stronger had the population been anything near the number given by +Abbad; and, finally, the number of Indians distributed after the +cessation of organized resistance was only 5,500, as certified by +Sancho Velasquez, the judge appointed in 1515 to rectify the +distributions made by Ceron and Moscoso, and by Captain Melarejo in +his memorial drawn up in 1582 by order of the captain-general, which +number would necessarily have been much larger if the total aboriginal +population had been but 60,000, instead of 600,000. + + * * * * * + +The immediate consequence to the natives of the panic and partial +submission that followed the death of their leader was another and +more extensive distribution. The first distributions of Indians had +been but the extension to San Juan of the system as practised in la +Espanola, which consisted in granting to the crown officers in +recompense for services or as an inducement to settle in the island, a +certain number of natives.[20] In this way 1,060 Boriquenos had been +disposed of in 1509 to 9 persons. The ill usage to which they saw them +subjected drove the others to rebellion, and now, vae victis, the king, +on hearing of the rebellion, wrote to Ceron and Diaz (July, 1511): "To +'pacify' the Indians you must go well armed and terrorize them. Take +their canoes from them, and if they refuse to be reduced with reason, +make war upon them by fire and sword, taking care not to kill more +than necessary, and send 40 or 50 of them to 'la Espanola' to serve us +as slaves, etc." To Ponce he wrote on October 10th: "I give you credit +for your labors in the 'pacification' and for having marked with an F +on their foreheads all the Indians taken in war, making slaves of them +and selling them to the highest bidders, separating the fifth part of +the product for Us." + +This time not only the 120 companions of Ponce came in for their share +of the living spoils of war, but the followers of Ceron claimed and +obtained theirs also. + +The following is the list of Indians distributed after the battle of +Yacueeca (if battle it may be called) as given by Mr. Brau, who +obtained the details from the unpublished documents of Juan Bautista +Munoz: + + + Indians + + To the estates (haciendas) of their royal Highnesses 500 + Baltasar de Castro, the factor 200 + Miguel Diaz, the chief constable 200 + Juan Ceron, the mayor 150 + Diego Morales, bachelor-at-law 150 + Amador de Lares 150 + Louis Soto Mayor 100 + Miguel Diaz, Daux-factor 100 + the (municipal) council 100 + the hospitals 100 + Bishop Manso 100 + Sebastian de la Gama 90 + Gil de Malpartida 70 + Juan Bono (a merchant) 70 + Juan Velasquez 70 + Antonio Rivadeneyra 60 + Gracian Cansino 60 + Louis Aqueyo 60 + the apothecary 60 + Francisco Cereceda 50 + 40 other individuals 40 each 1,600 + _____ + 4,040 + Distributed in 1509 1,060 + _____ + Total 5,100 + + +These numbers included women and children old enough to perform some +kind of labor. They were employed in the mines, or in the rivers +rather (for it was alluvium gold only that the island offered to the +greed of the so-called conquerors); they were employed on the +plantations as beasts of burden, and in every conceivable capacity +under taskmasters who, in spite of Ferdinand's revocation of the order +to reduce them to slavery (September, 1514), had acted on his first +dispositions and believed themselves to have the royal warrant to work +them to death. + +The king's more lenient dispositions came too late. They were +powerless to check the abuses that were being committed under his own +previous ordinances. The Indians disappeared with fearful rapidity. +Licentiate Sancho Velasquez, who had made the second distribution, +wrote to the king April 27, 1515: " ... Excepting your Highnesses' +Indians and those of the crown officers, there are not 4,000 left." On +August 8th of the same year the officers themselves wrote: " ... The +last smeltings have produced little gold. Many Indians have died from +disease caused by the hurricane as well as from want of food...." + +To readjust the proportion of Indians according to the position or +other claims of each individual, new distributions were resorted to. +In these, some favored individuals obtained all they wanted at the +expense of others, and as the number of distributable Indians grew +less and less, reclamations, discontent, strife and rebellion broke +out among the oppressors, who thus wreaked upon each other's heads the +criminal treatment of the natives of which they were all alike guilty. + +Such had been the course of events in la Espanola. The same causes had +the same effects here. Herrera relates that when Miguel de Pasamente, +the royal treasurer, arrived in the former island, in 1508, it +contained 60,000 aboriginal inhabitants. Six years later, when a new +distribution had become necessary, there were but 14,000 left--the +others had been freed by the hand of death or were leading a +wandering life in the mountains and forests of their island. In this +island the process was not so rapid, but none the less effective. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 20: The king's favorites in the metropolis, anxious to +enrich themselves by these means, obtained grants of Indians and sent +their stewards to administer them. Thus, in la Espanola, Conehillos, +the secretary, had 1,100 Indians; Bishop Fonseca, 800; Hernando de la +Vega, 200, and many others, "The Indians thus disposed of were, as a +rule, the worst treated," says Las Casas.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LAWS AND ORDINANCES + +1511-1515 + +We have seen how Diego Columbus suspended Ponce in his functions as +governor _ad interim_, and how the captain after obtaining from the +king his appointment as permanent governor sent the Admiral's nominees +prisoners to the metropolis. The king, though inclined to favor the +captain, submitted the matter to his Indian council, which decided +that the nomination of governors and mayors over the islands +discovered by Christopher Columbus corresponded to his son. As a +consequence, Ceron and Diaz were reinstated in their respective +offices, and they were on their way back to San Juan a few months +after Ponce's final success over the rebellious Indians. + +Before their departure from Spain they received the following +instructions, characteristic of the times and of the royal personage +who imparted them: + +"1. You will take over your offices very peaceably, endeavoring to +gain the good-will of Ponce and his friends, that they may become +_your_ friends also, to the island's advantage. + +"2. This done, you will attend to the 'pacification' of the Indians. + +"3. Let many of them be employed in the mines and be well treated. + +"4. Let many Indians be brought from the other islands and be well +treated. Let the officers of justice be favored (in the distributions +of Indians). + +"5. Be very careful that no meat is eaten in Lent or other fast days, +as has been done till now in la Espanola. + +"6. Let those who have Indians occupy a third of their number in the +mines. + +"7. Let great care be exercised in the salt-pits, and one real be paid +for each celemin[21] extracted, as is done in la Espanola. + +"8. Send me a list of the number and class of Indians distributed, if +Ponce has not done so already, and of those who have distinguished +themselves in this rebellion. + +"9. You are aware that ever since the sacraments have been +administered in these islands, storms and earthquakes have ceased. Let +a chapel be built at once with the advocation of Saint John the +Baptist, and a monastery, though it be a small one, for Franciscan +friars, whose doctrine is very salutary. + +"10. Have great care in the mines and continually advise Pasamonte +(the treasurer) or his agent of what happens or what may be necessary. + +"11. Take the youngest Indians and teach them the Christian doctrine; +they can afterward teach the others with better results. + +"12. Let there be no swearing or blasphemy; impose heavy penalties +thereon. + +"13. Do not let the Indians be overloaded, but be well treated rather. + +"14. Try to keep the Caribs from coming to the island, and report what +measures it will be advisable to adopt against them. To make the +natives do what is wanted, it will be convenient to take from them, +with cunning (con mana), all the canoes they possess. + +"15. You will obey the contents of these instructions until further +orders. + +Tordesillas, 25th of July, 1511. + +F., King." + +It is clear from the above instructions that, in the king's mind, +there was no inconsistency in making the Indians work in the mines and +their good treatment. There can be no doubt that both he and Dona +Juana, his daughter, who, as heir to her mother, exercised the royal +authority with him, sincerely desired the well-being of the natives as +far as compatible with the exigencies of the treasury. + +For the increase of the white population and the development of +commerce and agriculture, liberal measures, according to the ideas of +the age, were dictated as early as February, 1511, when the same +commercial and political franchises were granted to San Juan as to la +Espanola. + +On July 25th the price of salt, the sale of which was a royal +monopoly, was reduced by one-half, and in October of the same year the +following rights and privileges were decreed by the king and published +by the crown officers in Seville: + +"1st. Any one may take provisions and merchandise to San Juan, which +is now being settled, and reside there with the same freedom as in la +Espanola. + +"2d. Any Spaniard may freely go to the Indies--that is, to la +Espanola and to San Juan--by simply presenting himself to the +officials in Seville, _without giving any further information_ (about +himself). + +"3d. Any Spaniard may take to the Indies what arms he wishes, +notwithstanding the prohibition. + +"4th. His Highness abolishes the contribution by the owners of one +'castellano' for every Indian, they possess. + +"5th. Those to whom the Admiral grants permission to bring Indians +(from other islands) and who used to pay the fifth of their value (to +the royal treasurer) shall be allowed to bring them free. + +"6th. Indians once given to any person shall never be taken from him, +except for delinquencies, punishable by forfeiture of property. + +"7th. This disposition reduces the king's share in the produce of the +gold-mines from one-fifth and one-ninth to one-fifth and one-tenth, +and extends the privilege of working them from one to two years. + +"8th. Whosoever wishes to conquer any part of the continent or of the +gulf of pearls, may apply to the officials in Seville, who will give +him a license, etc." + +The construction of a smelting oven for the gold, of hospitals and +churches for each new settlement, the making of roads and bridges and +other dispositions, wise and good in themselves, were also decreed; +but they became new causes of affliction for the Indians, inasmuch as +_they_ paid for them with their labor. For example: to the man who +undertook to construct and maintain a hospital, 100 Indians were +assigned. He hired them out to work in the mines or on the +plantations, and with the sums thus received often covered more than +the expense of maintaining the hospital. + +The curious medley of religious zeal, philanthropy, and gold-hunger, +communicated the first governors under the title of "instructions" did +not long keep them in doubt as to which of the three--the observance +of religious practises, the kind treatment of the natives, or the +remittance of gold--was most essential to secure the king's favor. It +was not secret that the monarch, in his _private_ instructions, went +straight to the point and wasted no words on religious or humanitarian +considerations, the proof of which is his letter to Ponce, dated +November 11, 1509. "I have seen your letter of August 16th. Be very +diligent in searching for gold. Take out as much as you can, and +having smolten it in la Espanola, send it at once. Settle the island +as best you can. Write often and let Us know what happens and what may +be necessary." + +It was but natural, therefore, that the royal recommendations of +clemency remained a dead letter, and that, under the pressure of the +incessant demand for gold, the Indians were reduced to the most abject +state of misery. + +[Illustration: Columbus monument, near Aguadilla.] + +Until the year 1512 the Indians remained restless and subordinate, and +in July, 1513, the efforts of the rulers in Spain to ameliorate their +condition were embodied in what are known as the Ordinances of +Valladolid. + +These ordinances, after enjoining a general kind treatment of the +natives, recommend that small pieces of land be assigned to them on +which to cultivate corn, yucca, cotton, etc., and raise fowls for +their own maintenance. The "encomendero," or master, was to construct +four rustic huts for every 50 Indians. They were to be instructed in +the doctrines of the Christian religion, the new-born babes were to be +baptized, polygamy to be prohibited. They were to attend mass with +their masters, who were to teach one young man in every forty to read. +The boys who served as pages and domestic servants were to be taught +by the friars in the convents, and afterward returned to the estates +to teach the others. The men were not to carry excessively heavy +loads. Pregnant women were not to work in the mines, nor was it +permitted to beat them with sticks or whips under penalty of five gold +pesos. They were to be provided with food, clothing, and a hammock. +Their "areytos" (dances) were not to be interrupted, and inspectors +were to be elected among the Spaniards to see that all these and +former dispositions were complied with, and all negligence on the part +of the masters severely punished. + +The credit for these well-intentioned ordinances undoubtedly belongs +to the Dominican friars, who from the earliest days of the conquest +had nobly espoused the cause of the Indians and denounced the +cruelties committed on them in no measured terms. + +Friar Antonia Montesinos, in a sermon preached in la Espanola in 1511, +which was attended by Diego Columbus, the crown officers, and all the +notabilities, denounced their proceedings with regard to the Indians +so vehemently that they left the church deeply offended, and that same +day intimated to the bishop the necessity of recantation, else the +Order should leave the island. The bishop answered that Montesinos had +but expressed the opinion of the whole community; but that, to allay +the scandal among the lower class of Spaniards in the island, the +father would modify his accusations in the next sermon. When the day +arrived the church was crowded, but instead of recantation, the +intrepid monk launched out upon fresh animadversion, and ended by +saying that he did so in the service not of God only, but of the king. + +The officials were furious. Pasamonte, the treasurer, the most +heartless destroyer of natives among all the king's officers, wrote, +denouncing the Dominicans as rebels, and sent a Franciscan friar to +Spain to support his accusation. The king was much offended, and when +Montesinos and the prior of his convent arrived in Madrid to +contradict Pasamonte's statements, they found the doors of the palace +closed against them. Nothing daunted and imbued with the true +apostolic spirit, they made their way, without asking permission, to +the royal presence, and there advocated the cause of the Indians so +eloquently that Ferdinand promised to have the matter investigated +immediately. A council of theologians and jurists was appointed to +study the matter and hear the evidence on both sides; but they were so +long in coming to a decision that Montesinos and his prior lost +patience and insisted on a resolution, whereupon they decided that the +distributions were legal in virtue of the powers granted by the Holy +See to the kings of Castilla, and that, if it was a matter of +conscience at all, it was one for the king and his councilors, and not +for the officials, who simply obeyed orders. The two Dominicans were +ordered to return to la Espanola, and by the example of their virtues +and mansuetude stimulate those who might be inclined to act wickedly. + +The royal conscience was not satisfied, however, with the sophistry of +his councilors, and as a quietus to it, the _well-meaning_ ordinances +just cited were enacted. They, too, remained a dead letter, and not +even the scathing and persevering denunciations of Las Casas, who +continued the good work begun by Montesinos, could obtain any +practical improvement in the lot of the Indians until it was too late, +and thousands of them had been crushed under the heel of the +conqueror. + + * * * * * + +King Ferdinand's efforts to make Puerto Rico a prosperous colony were +rendered futile by the dissensions between the Admiral's and his own +partizans and the passions awakened by the favoritism displayed in the +distribution of Indians. That the king took a great interest in the +colonization of the island is shown by the many ordinances and decrees +issued all tending to that end. He gave special licenses to people in +Spain and in Santo Domingo to establish themselves in Puerto Rico.[22] +In his minute instructions to Ponce and his successors he regulated +every branch of the administration, and wrote to Ceron and Diaz: " ...I +wish this island well governed and peopled as a special affair of +mine." On a single day (February 26, 1511) he made, among others of a +purely private character, the following public dispositions: "That the +tithes and 'primicias'" [23] should be paid in kind only; that the +fifth part of the output of the mines should be paid only during the +first ten years; that he ceded to the colony for the term of four +years all fines imposed by the courts, to be employed in the +construction of roads and bridges; that the traffic between San Juan +and la Espanola should be free, and that this island should enjoy the +same rights and privileges as the other; that no children or +grandchildren of people executed or burned for crimes or heresy should +be admitted into the colony, and that an exact account should be sent +to him of all the colonists, caciques, and Indians and their +distribution. + +He occupied himself with the island's affairs with equal interest up +to the time of his death, in 1516. He made it a bishopric in 1512. In +1513 he disposed that the colonists were to build houses of adobe, +that is, of sun-dried bricks; that all married men should send for +their wives, and that useful trees should be planted. In 1514 he +prohibited labor contracts, or the purchase or transfer of slaves or +Indians "encomendados" (distributed). Finally, in 1515, he provided +for the defense of the island against the incursions of the Caribs. + +If these measures did not produce the desired result, it was due to +the discord among the colonists, created by the system of +"repartimientos" introduced in an evil hour by Columbus, a system +which was the poisoned source of most of the evils that have afflicted +the Antilles. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 21: The twelfth part of a "fanega," equal to about two +gallons, dry measure.] + +[Footnote 22: Cedulas de vecindad.] + +[Footnote 23: First-fruits.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RETURN OF CERON AND DIAZ--PONCE'S FIRST EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA + +1511-1515 + +Ceron and Diaz returned to San Juan in November, 1511. + +Before their departure from Seville they received sundry marks of +royal favor. Among these was permission to Diaz and his wife to wear +silken garments, and to transfer to San Juan the 40 Indians they +possessed in la Espanola. + +We have seen that the first article of the king's instructions to them +enjoins the maintenance of friendly relations with Ponce, and in the +distribution of Indians to favor those who had distinguished +themselves in the suppression of the revolt. + +They did nothing of the kind. + +Their first proceeding was to show their resentment at the summary +treatment they had received at the captain's hands by depriving him of +the administration of the royal granges, the profits of which he +shared with King Ferdinand, because, as his Highness explained to +Pasamente in June, 1511, "Ponce received no salary as captain of the +island." + +They next sent a lengthy exposition to Madrid, accusing the captain of +maladministration of the royal domain, and, to judge by the tenor of +the king's letter to Ponce, dated in Burgos on the 23d of February, +1512, they succeeded in influencing him to some extent against his +favorite, though not enough to deprive him of the royal patronage. "I +am surprised," wrote the king, "at the small number of Indians and the +small quantity of gold from our mines. The fiscal will audit your +accounts, that you may be at liberty for the expedition to Bemini, +which some one else has already proposed to me; but I prefer _you_, as +I wish to recompense your services and because I believe that you will +serve us better there than in our grange in San Juan, _in which you +have proceeded with some negligence_." + +In the redistribution of Indians which followed, Ceron and Diaz +ignored the orders of the sovereign and openly favored their own +followers to the neglect of the conquerors', whose claims were prior, +and whose wounds and scars certainly entitled them to consideration. +This caused such a storm of protest and complaint against the doings +of his proteges that Diego Columbus was forced to suspend them and +appoint Commander Moscoso in their place. + +This personage only made matters worse. The first thing _he_ did was +to practise another redistribution of Indians. This exasperated +everybody to such an extent that the Admiral found it necessary to +come to San Juan himself. He came, accompanied by a numerous suite of +aspirants to different positions, among them Christopher Mendoza, the +successor of Moscoso (1514). After the restoration of Ceron and Diaz +in their offices, Ponce quietly retired to his residence in Caparra. +He was wealthy and could afford to bide his time, but the spirit of +unrest in him chafed under this forced inaction. The idea of +discovering the island, said to exist somewhere in the northwestern +part of these Indies, where wonderful waters flowed that restored old +age to youth and kept youth always young, occupied his mind more and +more persistently, until, having obtained the king's sanction, he +fitted out an expedition of three ships and sailed from the port of +Aguada March 3, 1512. + +Strange as it may seem, that men like Ponce, Zuniga, and the other +leading expeditionists should be glad of an opportunity to risk their +lives and fortunes in the pursuit of a chimera, it must be remembered +that the island of Bemini itself was not a chimera. + +The followers of Columbus, the majority of them ignorant and +credulous, had seen a mysterious new world rise, as it were, from the +depths of the ocean. As the islands, one after the other, appeared +before their astonished eyes, they discovered real marvels each day. +The air, the land, the sea, were full of them. The natives pointed in +different directions and spoke of other islands, and the adventurers' +imaginations peopled them with fancied wonders. There was, according +to an old legend, a fountain of perennial youth somewhere in the +world, and where was it more likely to be found than in this hitherto +unknown part of it? + +Ponce and his companions believed in its existence as firmly as, some +years later, Ferdinand Pizarro believed in the existence of El Dorado +and the golden lake of Parime. + +The expedition touched at Guanakani on the 14th of March, and on the +27th discovered what Ponce believed to be the island of which he was +in search. On April 2d Ponce landed and took possession in the king's +name. The native name of the island was Cansio or Cautix, but the +captain named it "la Florida," some say because he found it covered +with the flowers of spring; others, because he had discovered it on +Resurrection day, called "Pascua Florida" by the Spanish Catholics. + +The land was inhabited by a branch of the warlike Seminole Indians, +who disputed the Spaniards' advance into the interior. No traces of +gold were found, nor did the invaders feel themselves rejuvenated, +when, after a wearisome march or fierce fight with the natives, they +bathed in, or drank of, the waters of some stream or spring. They had +come to a decidedly inhospitable shore, and Ponce, after exploring the +eastern and southern littoral, and discovering the Cayos group of +small islands, turned back to San Juan, where he arrived in the +beginning of October, "looking much older," says the chronicler, "than +when he went in search of rejuvenation." + +Two years later he sailed for the Peninsula and anchored in Bayona in +April, 1514. King Ferdinand received him graciously and conferred on +him the titles of Adelantado of Bemini and la Florida, with civil and +criminal jurisdiction on land and sea. He also made him commander of +the fleet for the destruction of the Caribs, and perpetual "regidor" +(prefect) of San Juan Bautista _de Puerto Rico_. This last surname +for the island began to be used in official documents about this time +(October, 1514). + +The fleet for the destruction of the Caribs consisted of three +caravels. With these, Ponce sailed from Betis on May 14, 1515,[24] and +reached the Leeward Islands in due course. In Guadeloupe, one of the +Carib strongholds, he landed a number of men without due precaution. +They were attacked by the natives. Fifteen of them were wounded, four +of whom died. Some women who had been sent ashore to wash the soiled +linen were carried off. Ponce's report of the event was laconic: "I +wrote from San Lucas and from la Palma," he writes to the king (August +7th to 8th). "In Guadeloupe, while taking in water the Indians wounded +some of my men. They shall be chastised." Haro, one of the crown +officers in San Juan, informed the king afterward of all the +circumstances of the affair, and added: "He (Ponce) left the (wounded) +men in a deserted island on this side, which is Santa Cruz, and now he +sends a captain, instead of going himself ..." + +Ponce's third landing occurred June 15, 1515. He found the island in a +deplorable condition. Discontent and disorder were rampant. The king +had deprived Diego Columbus of the right to distribute Indians +(January 23, 1513), and had commissioned Pasamonte to make a new +distribution in San Juan. The treasurer had delegated the task to +licentiate Sancho Velasquez, who received at the same time power to +audit the accounts of all the crown officers. The redistribution was +practised in September, 1514, with no better result than the former +ones. It was impossible to satisfy the demands of all. The +discontented were mostly Ponce's old companions, who overwhelmed the +king with protests, while Velasquez defended himself, accusing Ponce +and his friends of turbulence and exaggerated ambition. + +As a consequence of all this strife and discord, the Indians were +turned over from one master to another, distributed like cattle over +different parts of the islands, and at each change their lot became +worse. + +Still, there were large numbers of them that had never yet been +subjugated. Some, like the caciques of Humacao and Daguao, who +occupied the eastern and southeastern parts of the island, had agreed +to live on a peace footing with the Spaniards, but Ponce's impolitic +proceeding in taking by force ten men from the village of the +first-named chief caused him and his neighbor of Daguao to burn their +villages and take to the mountains in revolt. Many other natives had +found a comparatively safe refuge in the islands along the coast, and +added largely to the precarious situation by pouncing on the Spanish +settlements along the coast when least expected. Governor Mendoza +undertook a punitive expedition to Vieques, in which the cacique +Yaureibo was killed; but the Indians had lost that superstitious dread +of the Spaniards and of their weapons that had made them submit at +first, and they continued their incursions, impeding the island's +progress for more than a century. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 24: Washington Irving says January.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DISSENSIONS--TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL + +1515-1520 + +The total number of Spaniards in the island at the time of the +rebellion did not exceed 200. Of these, between 80 and 100 were killed +by the Indians. The survivors were reenforced, first by the followers +of Ceron and Diaz, then by some stray adventurers who accompanied +Diego Columbus on his visit to the island. We may assume, therefore, +with Mr. Acosta,[25] that at the time of which we write the Spanish +population numbered about 400, who Arango, in a memorial addressed to +the Cardinal Regent, classifies as Government officials, old +conquerors, new hirelings, and "marranos hijos de reconciliados," +which, translated, means, "vile brood of pardoned criminals," the +latter being, in all probability, the immigrants into whose +antecedents the king had recommended his officers in Seville not to +inquire. + +This population was divided into different hostile parties. The most +powerful at the time was Ponce's party, led by Sedeno, the auditor, +and Villafranca, the treasurer; opposed to whom were the partizans of +Ceron and Diaz, the proteges of the Admiral, and those who had found +favor with Velasquez, all of them deadly enemies because of the +unequal division among them of the unhappy Indians. + +The expedition to Florida and the honors conferred upon him by the +king naturally enhanced Ponce's prestige among his old companions. +Diego Columbus himself was fain to recognize the superior claim of him +who now presented himself with the title Adelantado of Bemini and +Florida, so that the captain's return to office was effected without +opposition. + +With his appointment as perpetual prefect, Ponce assumed the right to +make a redistribution of Indians, but could not exercise it, because +Sancho Velasquez had made one, as delegate of Pasamonte, only the year +before (September, 1515). + +In virtue of his special appointment as judge auditor of the accounts +of all the crown officers, he had condemned Ponce during his absence +to pay 1,352 gold pesos for shortcomings in his administration of the +royal estates.[26] + +The licentiate's report to the king, dated April 27, 1515, gives an +idea of the state of affairs in San Juan at the time. " ... I found +the island under tyranny, as will be seen from the documents I +enclose. Juan Ceron and Miguel Diaz are responsible for 100,000 +Castellanos[27] for Indians taken from persons who held them by +schedule from your Highness." + +"It would be well to send some bad characters away from here and some +of the Admiral's creatures, on whom the rest count for protection." + +"The treasurer (Haro) and the auditor are honest men. The accountant +(Sedeno) is not a man to look after your Highness's interests. The +place of factor is vacant." + +"To your Highness 200 Indians have been assigned in Puerto Rico and +300 in San German." + +A few days later (May 1, 1515) Velasquez himself was accused of gross +abuse in the discharge of his duties by Inigo de Zuniga, who wrote to +the king: " ... This licentiate has committed many injustices and +offenses, as the attorney can testify. He gave Indians to many +officers and merchants, depriving conquerors and settlers of them. He +gambled much and always won, because they let him win in order to have +him in good humor at the time of distribution of Indians. He carried +away much money, especially from the 'Naborias.'" [28] + +"He took the principal cacique, who lived nearest to the mines, for +himself, and rented him out on condition that he keep sixteen men +continually at work in the mines, and if any failed he was to receive +half a ducat per head a day." + +"He has taken Indians from other settlers and made them wash gold for +himself, etc." + +Before Ponce's departure for Spain the island had been divided into +two departments or jurisdictions, the northern, with Caparra as its +capital, under the direct authority of the governor, the southern +division, with San German as the capital, under a lieutenant-governor, +the chain of mountains in the interior being the mutual boundary. +This division was maintained till 1782. + +Caparra, or Puerto Rico, as it was now called, and San German were the +only settlements when Ponce returned. The year before (1514) another +settlement had been made in Daguao, but it had been destroyed by the +Caribs, and this ever-present danger kept all immigration away. + +The king recognized the fact, and to obviate this serious difficulty +in the way of the island's settlement, he wrote to his officers in +Seville: + +" ... Spread reports about the great quantities of gold to be found in +Puerto Rico, and do not trouble about the antecedents of those who +wish to go, for if not useful as laborers they will do to fight." + +That Ferdinand was well aware of the insecurity of his hold on the +island is shown by his subsequent dispositions. To the royal +contractors or commissaries he wrote in 1514: "While two forts are +being constructed, one in Puerto Rico and the other in San German, +where, in case of rebellion, our treasure will be secure, you will +give arms and ammunition to Ponce de Leon for our account, with an +artilleryman, that he may have them in his house, which is to do +duty as a fortress." And on May 14, 1515, he wrote from Medina del +Campo: " ... Deliver to Ponce six 'espingardas.'" [29] + +During this same period the island was constituted a bishopric, with +Alonzo Manso, ex-sacristan of Prince John and canon of Salamanca as +prelate. He came in the beginning of 1513, when the intestine troubles +were at their worst, bringing instructions to demand payment of tithes +_in specie_ and a royal grant of 150 Indians to himself, which, added +to the fact that his presence would be a check upon the prevalent +immorality, raised such a storm of opposition and intrigue against him +that he could not exercise his functions. There was no church fit for +services. This furnished him with a pretext to return to the +Peninsula. When Ponce arrived the bishop was on the point of +departure. There can be no doubt that King Ferdinand, in reappointing +Ponce to the government of the island, trusted to the captain's +military qualities for the reestablishment of order and the +suppression of the attacks of the Caribs, but the result did not +correspond to his Majesty's expectations. + +Haro, the treasurer, reported to the king on October 6, 1515: " ... +From the moment of his arrival Ponce has fomented discord. In order to +remain here himself, he sent Zuniga, his lieutenant, with the fleet. +He caused the caciques Humacao and Daguao, who had but just submitted, +to revolt again by forcibly taking ten men for the fleet." + +The crown officers confirmed this statement in a separate report. + +These accusations continued to the time of Ferdinand's death (February +23, 1516), when Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros became Regent of Spain. +This renowned prelate, whom Prince Charles, afterward Emperor Charles +V, when confirming him in the regency, addressed as "the Very +Reverend Father in Christ, Cardinal of Spain, Archbishop of Toledo, +Primate of all the Spanish Territories, Chief Chancellor of Castilla, +our very dear and much beloved friend and master," was also Grand +Inquisitor, and was armed with the tremendous power of the terrible +Holy Office. + +It was dangerous for the accusers and the accused alike to annoy such +a personage with tales inspired by petty rivalries from an +insignificant island in the West Indies. Nevertheless, one of the +first communications from Puerto Rico that was laid before him was a +memorial written by one Arango, accusing Velasquez, among other +things, of having given Indians to soldiers and to common people, +instead of to conquerors and married men. "In Lent," says the accuser, +"he goes to a grange, where he remains without hearing mass on +Sundays, eating meat, and saying things against the faith ..." + +The immediate effect of these complaints and mutual accusations was +the suspension in his functions of Diego Columbus and the appointment +of a triumvirate of Jerome friars to govern these islands. This was +followed two years later by the return of Bishop Manso to San Juan, +armed with the dreadful powers of General Inquisitor of the Indies and +by the nomination of licentiate Antonio de la Gama as judge auditor of +the accounts of Sancho Velasquez. The judge found him guilty of +partiality and other offenses, and on June 12, 1520, wrote to the +regent: "I have not sent the accounts of Sancho Velasquez, because it +was necessary that he should go with them, but the bishop of this +island has taken him for the Holy Inquisition _and he has died in +prison_." + +The Jerome fathers on their way to la Espanola, in 1516, touched at +what they describe as "the port of Puerto Rico, which is in the island +of San Juan de Boriquen," and the treasurer, Haro, wrote of them on +January 21, 1518: " ... They have done nothing during the year, and +the inhabitants are uncertain and fear changes. This is the principal +cause of harm to the Indians. It is necessary to dispose what is to be +done ... Although great care is now exercised in the treatment of the +Indians their numbers grow less for all that, because just as they are +ignorant of things concerning the faith, so do they ignore things +concerning their health, and they are of very weak constitution." + +The frequent changes in the government that had been made by Diego +Columbus, the arrest of Velasquez and his death in the gloomy dungeons +of the Inquisition, the arrival of de la Gama as judge auditor and +governor _ad interim_, and his subsequent marriage with Ponce's +daughter Isabel, all these events but served to embitter the strife of +parties. "The spirit of vengeance, ambition, and other passions had +become so violent and deep-rooted among the Spaniards," says +Abbad,[30] "that God ordained their chastisement in various ways." + +The removal of the capital from its swampy location to the islet which +it now occupies was another source of dissension. It appears that the +plan was started immediately after Ceron's accession, for the king +wrote to him November 9, 1511: "Juan Ponce says that he located the +town in the best part of the island. We fear that you want to change +it. You shall not do so without our special order. If there is just +reason for change you must inform us first." + +Velasquez, in his report of April, 1515, mentions that he accompanied +the Town Council of Caparra to see the site for the new capital, and +that to him it seemed convenient. + +In 1519 licentiate Rodrigo de Figueroa sent a lengthy exposition +accompanied by the certified declarations of the leading inhabitants +regarding the salubrity of the islet and the insalubrity of Caparra, +with a copy of the disposition of the Jerome fathers authorizing the +transfer, and leaving Ponce, who strenuously opposed it, at liberty to +live in his fortified house in Caparra as long as he liked. + +On November 16, 1520, Baltazar Castro, in the name of the crown +officers of San Juan, reported to the emperor: "The City of Puerto +Rico has been transferred to an islet which is in the port where the +ships anchor, a very good and healthy location." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 25: Annotations, p. 96.] + +[Footnote 26: Ponce protested and appealed to the Audiencia, but did +not obtain restitution till 1520.] + +[Footnote 27: A Castellano was the 150 part of a mark of gold. The +mark had 8 ounces.] + +[Footnote 28: Indians distributed to be employed as domestic +servants.] + +[Footnote 29: Small pieces of ordnance.] + +[Footnote 30: XII, p. 89.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CALAMITIES--PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA AND DEATH + +1520-1537 + +Among the calamities referred to by Friar Abbad as visitations of +Providence was one which the Spaniards had brought upon themselves. +Another epidemic raged principally among the Indians. In January, 1519, +the Jerome friars wrote to the Government from la Espanola: " ... It +has pleased our Lord to send a pestilence of smallpox among the Indians +here, and nearly one-third of them have died. We are told that in the +island of San Juan the Indians have begun to die of the same disease." + +Another scourge came in the form of ants. "These insects," says Abbad, +quoting from Herrera, "destroyed the yucca or casabe, of which the +natives made their bread, and killed the most robust trees by eating +into their roots, so that they turned black, and became so infected +that the birds would not alight on them. The fields were left barren +and waste as if fire from heaven had descended on them. These insects +invaded the houses and tormented the inmates night and day. Their bite +caused acute pains to adults and endangered the lives of children. The +affliction was general," says Abbad, "but God heard the people's vows +and the pests disappeared." The means by which this happy result was +obtained are described by Father Torres Vargas: "Lots were drawn to +see what saint should be chosen as the people's advocate before God. +Saint Saturnine was returned, and the plague ceased at once." + +"Some time after there appeared a worm which also destroyed the yucca. +Lots were again drawn, and this time Saint Patrick came out; but the +bishop and the ecclesiastical chapter were of opinion that this saint, +being little venerated, had no great influence in heaven. Therefore, +lots were drawn again and again, three times, and each time the +rejected saint's name came out. This was clearly a miracle, and Saint +Patrick was chosen as advocate. To atone for their unwillingness to +accept him, the chapter voted the saint an annual mass, sermon, and +procession, which was kept up for many years without ever anything +happening again to the casabe ..." + +To the above-described visitations, nature added others and more cruel +ones. These were the destructive tempests, called by the Indians +Ouracan. + +The first hurricane since the discovery of the island by Columbus of +which there is any record happened in July, 1515, when the crown +officers reported to the king that a great storm had caused the death +of many Indians by sickness and starvation. On October 4, 1526, there +was another, which Juan de Vadillo described thus: " ... There was a +great storm of wind and rain which lasted twenty-four hours and +destroyed the greater part of the town, with the church. The damage +caused by the flooding of the plantations is greater than any one can +estimate. Many rich men have grown poor, among them Pedro Moreno, the +lieutenant-governor." + +In July and August, 1530, the scourge was repeated three times in six +weeks, and Governor Lando wrote to Luis Columbus, then Governor of la +Espanola: " ... The storms have destroyed all the plantations, drowned +many cattle, and caused a great dearth of food. Half of the houses in +this city have been blown down; of the other half those that are least +damaged are without roofs. In the country and at the mines not a house +is left standing. Everybody has been impoverished and thinking of +going away. There are no more Indians and the land must be cultivated +with negroes, who are a monopoly, and can not be brought here for less +than 60 or 70 'castellanos' apiece. The city prays that the payment of +all debts may be postponed for three years." + +Seven years later (1537), three hurricanes in two months again +completely devastated the island. " ... They are the greatest that +have been experienced here," wrote the city officers. " ... The floods +have carried away all the plantations along the borders of the rivers, +many slaves and cattle have been drowned, want and poverty are +universal. Those who wanted to leave the island before are now more +than ever anxious to do so." + +The incursions of Caribs from the neighboring islands made the +existence of the colony still more precarious. Wherever a new +settlement was made, they descended, killing the Spaniards, +destroying the plantations, and carrying off the natives. + +[Illustration: Statue of Ponce de Leon, San Juan] + + * * * * * + +The first news of the wonderful achievements of Cortez in Mexico +reached San Juan in 1520, and stirred the old adventurer Ponce to +renewed action. On February 10, 1521, he wrote to the emperor: "I +discovered Florida and some other small islands at my own expense, and +now I am going to settle them with plenty of men and two ships, and I +am going to explore the coast, to see if it compares with the lands +(Cuba) discovered by Velasquez. I will leave here in four or five +days, and beg your Majesty to favor me, so that I may be enabled to +carry out this great enterprise." + +Accordingly, he left the port of Aguada on the 26th of the same month +with two ships, well provided with all that was necessary for +conquest. + +But the captain's star of fortune was waning. He had a stormy passage, +and when he and his men landed they met with such fierce resistance +from the natives that after several encounters and the loss of many +men, Ponce himself being seriously wounded, they were forced to +reembark. Feeling that his end was approaching, the captain did not +return to San Juan, but sought a refuge in Puerto Principe, where he +died. + +One of his ships found its way to Vera Cruz, where its stores of arms +and ammunition came as a welcome accession to those of Cortez. + +The emperor bestowed the father's title of Adelantado of Florida and +Bemini on his son, and the remains of the intrepid adventurer, who had +found death where he had hoped to find perennial youth, rested in +Cuban soil till his grandchildren had them transferred to this island +and buried in the Dominican convent. + +A statue was erected to his memory in 1882. It stands in the plaza of +San Jose in the capital and was cast from the brass cannon left behind +by the English after the siege of 1797. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUEN INDIANS AND CARIBS + +1530-1582 + +The conquest of Boriquen was far from being completed with the death +of Guaybana. + +The panic which the fall of a chief always produces among savages +prevented, for the moment, all organized resistance on the part of +Guaybana's followers, but _they_ did not constitute the whole +population of the island. Their submission gave the Spaniards the +dominion over that part of it watered by the Culebrinas and the +Anasco, and over the northeastern district in which Ponce had laid the +foundations of his first settlement. The inhabitants of the southern +and eastern parts of the island, with those of the adjacent smaller +islands, were still unsubdued and remained so for years to come. Their +caciques were probably as well informed of the character of the +newcomers and of their doings in la Espanola as was the first +Guaybana's mother, and they wisely kept aloof so long as their +territories were not invaded. + +The reduced number of Spaniards facilitated the maintenance of a +comparative independence by these as yet unconquered Indians, at the +same time that it facilitated the flight of those who, having bent +their necks to the yoke, found it unbearably heavy. According to +"Regidor" (Prefect) Hernando de Mogollon's letter to the Jerome +fathers, fully one-third of the "pacified" Indians--that is, of those +who had submitted--had disappeared and found a refuge with their +kinsmen in the neighboring islands. + +The first fugitives from Boriquen naturally did not go beyond the +islands in the immediate vicinity. Vieques, Culebras, and la Mona +became the places of rendezvous whence they started on their +retaliatory expeditions, while their spies or their relatives on the +main island kept them informed of what was passing. Hence, no sooner +was a new settlement formed on the borders or in the neighborhood of +some river than they pounced upon it, generally at night, dealing +death and destruction wherever they went. + +In vain did Juan Gil, with Ponce's two sons-in-law and a number of +tried men, make repeated punitive expeditions to the islands. The +attacks seemed to grow bolder, and not till Governor Mendoza himself +led an expedition to Vieques, in which the cacique Yaureibo was +killed, did the Indians move southeastward to Santa Cruz. + +That the Caribs[31] inhabiting the islands Guadeloupe and Dominica +made common cause with the fugitives from Boriquen is not to be +doubted. The Spaniard was the common enemy and the opportunity for +plunder was too good to be lost. But the primary cause of all the +so-called Carib invasions of Puerto Rico was the thirst for revenge +for the wrongs suffered, and long after those who had smarted under +them or who had but witnessed them had passed away, the tradition of +them was kept alive by the areytos and songs, in the same way as the +memory of the outrages committed by the soldiers of Pizarro in Peru +are kept alive _till this day_ among the Indians of the eastern slope +of the Andes. The fact that neither Jamaica nor other islands occupied +by Spaniards were invaded, goes to prove that in the case of Puerto +Rico the invasions were prompted by bitter resentment of natives who +had preferred exile to slavery, coupled, perhaps, with a hope of being +able to drive the enemies of their race from their island home, a hope +which, if it existed, and if we consider the very limited number of +Spaniards who occupied it, was not without foundation. + + * * * * * + +It was Nemesis, therefore, and not the mere lust of plunder, that +guided the Boriquen Indians and their Carib allies on their invasions +of Puerto Rico. + +Diego Columbus during his visit in 1514 had founded a settlement with +50 colonists along the borders of the Daguao and Macao rivers on the +eastern coast. + +They had constructed houses and ranchos, introduced cattle, and +commenced their plantations, but without taking any precautions +against sudden attacks or providing themselves with extra means of +defense. + +One night they were awakened by the glare of fire and the yells of the +savages. As they rushed out to seek safety they fell pierced with +arrows or under the blows of the terrible Macanas. Very few of them +escaped. + +The next attack was in the locality now constituting the municipal +district of Loiza. + +This place was settled by several Spaniards, among them Juan Mexia, a +man said to have been of herculean strength and great courage. The +Indian woman with whom he cohabited had received timely warning of the +intended attack, a proof that communications existed between the +supposed Caribs and the Indians on the island. She endeavored to +persuade the man to seek safety in flight, but he disdained to do so. +Then she resolved to remain with him and share his fate. Both were +killed, and Alejandro Tapia, a native poet, has immortalized the +woman's devotion in a romantic, but purely imaginative, composition. + +Ponce's virtual defeat in Guadeloupe made the Caribs bolder than ever. +They came oftener and in larger numbers, always surprising the +settlements that were least prepared to offer resistance. Five years +had elapsed since the destruction of Daguao. A new settlement had +gradually sprung up in the neighborhood along the river Humacao and +was beginning to prosper, but it was also doomed. On November 16, +1520, Baltazar Castro, one of the crown officers, reported to the +emperor: + +"It is about two months since 5 canoes with 150 Carib warriors came to +this island of San Juan and disembarked in the river Humacao, near +some Spanish settlements, where they killed 4 Christians and 13 +Indians. From here they went to some gold mines and then to some +others, killing 2 Christians at each place. They burned the houses and +took a fishing smack, killing 4 more. They remained from fifteen to +twenty days in the country, the Christians being unable to hurt them, +having no ships. They killed 13 Christians in all, and as many Indian +women, and '_carried off_' 50 natives. They will grow bolder for being +allowed to depart without punishment. It would be well if the Seville +officers sent two light-draft vessels to occupy the mouths of the +rivers by which they enter." + +On April 15, 1521, a large number of Indians made a descent on the +south coast, but we have no details of their doings; and in 1529 their +audacity culminated in an attempt on the capital itself. La Gama's +report to the emperor of this event is as follows: "On the 18th of +October, after midnight, 8 large pirogues full of Caribs entered the +bay of Puerto Rico, and meeting a bark on her way to Bayamon, manned +by 5 negroes and some other people, they took her. Finding that they +had been discovered, they did not attempt a landing till sunrise, then +they scuttled the bark. Some shots fired at them made them leave. +Three negroes were found dead, pierced with arrows. The people of this +town and all along the coast are watching. Such a thing as this has +not been heard of since the discovery. A fort, arms, artillery, and 2 +brigantines of 30 oars each, and no Caribs will dare to come. If not +sent, fear will depopulate the island." + +In the same month of the following year (1530) they returned, and this +time landed and laid waste the country in the neighborhood of the +capital. The report of the crown officers is dated the 31st of +October: "Last Sunday, the 23d instant, 11 canoes, in which there may +have been 500 Caribs, came to this island and landed at a point where +there are some agricultural establishments belonging to people of this +city. It is the place where the best gold in the island is found, +called Daguao and the mines of Llagueello. Here they plundered the +estate of Christopher Guzman, the principal settler. They killed him +and some other Christians,[32] whites, blacks, and Indians, besides +some fierce dogs, and horses which stood ready saddled. They burned +them all, together with the houses, and committed many cruelties with +the Christians. They carried off 25 negroes and Indians, _to eat them, +as is their wont_. We fear that they will attack the defenseless city +in greater force, and the fear is so great that the women and children +dare not sleep in their houses, but go to the church and the +monastery, which are built of stone. We men guard the city and the +roads, being unable to attend to our business. + +"We insist that 2 brigantines be armed and equipped, as was ordered by +the Catholic king. No Caribs will then dare to come. Let the port be +fortified or the island will be deserted. The governor and the +officers know how great is the need, but they may make no outlays +without express orders." + +As a result of the repeated requests for light-draft vessels, 2 +brigantines were constructed in Seville in 1531 and shipped, in +sections, on board of a ship belonging to Master Juan de Leon, who +arrived in June, 1532. The crown officers immediately invited all who +wished to man the brigantines and make war on the Caribs, offering +them as pay half of the product of the sale of the slaves they should +make, the other half to be applied to the purchase of provisions. + +The brigantines were unfit for service. In February, 1534, the emperor +was informed: "Of the brigantines which your Majesty sent for the +defense of this island only the timber came, and half of that was +unfit.... We have built brigantines with the money intended for +fortifications." + +Governor Lando wrote about the same time: "We suffer a thousand +injuries from the Caribs of Guadeloupe and Dominica. They come every +year to assault us. Although the city is so poor, we have spent 4,000 +pesos in fitting out an expedition of 130 men against them; but, +however much they are punished, the evil will not disappear till your +Majesty orders these islands to be settled." The expedition referred +to sailed under the orders of Joan de Ayucar, and reached Dominica in +May, 1534. Fifteen or 16 villages of about 20 houses each were burned, +103 natives were killed, and 70 prisoners were taken, the majority +women and boys. The Spaniards penetrated a distance of ten leagues +into the interior of the island, meeting with little resistance, +because the warrior population was absent. Eight or 10 pirogues and +more than 20 canoes were also burned. With this punishment the fears +of the people in San Juan were considerably allayed. + +In 1536 Sedeno led an expedition against the Caribs of Trinidad and +Bartholome. Carreno fitted out another in 1539. He brought a number of +slaves for sale, and the crown officers asked permission to brand them +on the forehead, "as is done in la Espanola and in Cubagua." + +The Indians returned assault for assault. Between the years 1564 and +1570 they were specially active along the southern coast of San Juan, +so that Governor Francisco Bahamonde Lugo had to take the field +against them in person and was wounded in the encounter. Loiza, which +had been resettled, was destroyed for the second time in 1582, and a +year or so later the Caribs made a night attack on Aguada, where they +destroyed the Franciscan convent and killed 3 monks. + +With the end of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth +centuries the West Indian archipelago became the theater of French and +English maritime enterprise. The Carib strongholds were occupied, and +by degrees their fierce spirit was subdued, their war dances +relinquished, their war canoes destroyed, their traditions forgotten, +and the bold savages, once the terror of the West Indian seas, +succumbed in their turn to the inexorable law of the survival of the +fittest. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 31: The West Indian islands were inhabited at the time of +discovery by at least three races of different origin. One of these +races occupied the Bahamas. Columbus describes them as simple, +peaceful creatures, whose only weapon was a pointed stick or cane. +They were of a light copper color, rather good-looking, and probably +had formerly occupied the whole eastern part of the archipelago, +whence they had been driven or exterminated by the Caribs, Caribos, or +Guaribos, a savage, warlike, and cruel race, who had invaded the West +Indies from the continent, by way of the Orinoco. The larger Antilles, +Cuba, la Espanola, and Puerto Rico, were occupied by a race which +probably originated from some southern division of the northern +continent. The chroniclers mention the Guaycures and others as their +ancestors, and Stahl traces their origin to a mixture of the +Phoenicians with the Aborigines of remote antiquity] + +[Footnote 32: Abbad says 30.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND--PREVENTIVE MEASURES--INTRODUCTION OF +NEGRO SLAVES + +1515-1534 + +The natural consequence of natural calamities and invasions was the +rapid disappearance of the natives. "The Indians are few and serve +badly," wrote Sedeno in 1515, about the same time that the crown +officers, to explain the diminution in the gold product, wrote that +many Indians had died of hunger, as a result of the hurricane. " ... +The people in la Mona," they said, "have provided 310 loads of bread, +with which we have bought an estate in San German. It will not do to +bring the Indians of that island away, because they are needed for the +production of bread." + +Strenuous efforts to prevent the extinction of the Indians were made +by Father Bartolome Las Casas, soon after the death of King Ferdinand. +This worthy Dominican friar had come to the court for the sole purpose +of denouncing the system of "encomiendas" and the cruel treatment of +the natives to which it gave rise. He found willing listeners in +Cardinal Cisneros and Dean Adrian, of Lovaino, the regents, who +recompensed his zeal with the title of "Protector of the Indians." The +appointment of a triumvirate of Jerome friars to govern la Espanola +and San Juan (1517) was also due to Las Casas's efforts. Two years +later the triumvirate reported to the emperor that in compliance with +his orders they had taken away the Indians from all non-resident +Spaniards in la Espanola and had collected them in villages. + +Soon after the emperor's arrival in Spain Las Casas obtained further +concessions in favor of the Indians. Not the least important among +these were granted in the schedule of July 12, 1520, which recognized +the principle that the Indians were born free, and contained the +following dispositions: + +1st. That in future no more distributions of Indians should take +place. + +2d. That all Indians assigned to non-residents, from the monarch +downward, should be _ipse facto_ free, and be established in villages, +under the authority of their respective caciques; and + +3d. That all residents in these islands, who still possessed Indians, +were bound to conform strictly, in their treatment of them, to the +ordinances for their protection previously promulgated. + +Antonio de la Gama was charged with the execution of this decree. He +sent a list of non-residents, February 15,1521, with the number of +Indians taken from each, his Majesty himself heading the list with 80. +The total number thus liberated was 664. + +These dispositions created fierce opposition. Licentiate Figueroa +addressed the emperor on the subject, saying: " ... It is necessary to +overlook the 'encomiendas,' otherwise the people will be unable to +maintain themselves, and the island will be abandoned." + +However, the crown officers ascribe the licentiate's protest to other +motives than the desire for the good of the island. "He has done much +harm," they wrote. "He has brought some covetous young men with him +and made them inspectors. They imposed heavy fines and gave the +confiscated Indians to their friends and relations. He and they are +rich, while the old residents have scarcely wherewith to maintain +themselves." + +But Figueroa had foreseen these accusations, for he concludes his +above-mentioned letter to the emperor, saying: " ... Let your Majesty +give no credence to those who complain. Most of them are very cruel +with the Indians, and care not if they be exterminated, provided they +themselves can amass gold and return to Castilla." + +Martin Fernandez Enciso, a bachelor-at-law, addressed to the emperor a +learned dissertation intended to refute the doctrine that the Indians +were born free, maintaining that the right of conquest of the New +World granted by the Pope necessarily included the right to reduce the +inhabitants to slavery. + +And thus, in spite of the philanthropic efforts of Las Casas, of the +well-intentioned ordinances of the Catholic kings, and of the more +radical measures sanctioned by Charles V, the Indian's lot was not +bettered till it was too late to save him from extinction. + +"The Indians are dying out!" This is the melancholy refrain of all the +official communications from 1530 to 1536. The emperor made a last +effort to save the remnant in 1538, and decreed that all those who +still had Indians in their possession should construct stone or adobe +houses for them under penalty of losing them. In 1543 it was ordained +by an Order in Council that all Indians still alive in Cuba, la +Espanola, and Puerto Rico, were as free as the Spaniards themselves, +and they should be permitted to loiter and be idle, "that they might +increase and multiply." + +Bishop Rodrigo Bastidas, who was charged to see to the execution of +this order in Puerto Rico, still found 80 Indians to liberate. +Notwithstanding these terminant orders, so powerless were they to +abolish the abuses resulting from the iniquitous system, that as late +as 1550 the Indians were still treated as slaves. In that year +Governor Vallejo wrote to the emperor: "I found great irregularity in +the treatment of these few Indians, ... they were being secretly sold +as slaves, etc." + +Finally, in 1582, Presbyter Ponce de Leon and Bachelor-at-Law Santa +Clara, in a communication to the authorities, stated: "At the time +when this island was taken there were found here and distributed 5,500 +Indians, without counting those who would not submit, and to-day there +is not one left, excepting 12 or 15, who have been brought from the +continent. They died of disease, sarampion, rheum, smallpox, and +ill-usage, or escaped to other islands with the Caribs. The few that +remain are scattered here and there among the Spaniards on their +little plantations. Some serve as soldiers. They do not speak their +language, because they are mostly born in the island, and they are +good Christians." This is the last we read of the Boriquen Indians. + + * * * * * + +With the gradual extinction of the natives, not only the gold output +ceased, but the cultivation of ginger, cotton, cacao, indigo, etc., in +which articles a small trade had sprung up, was abandoned. The Carib +incursions and hurricanes did the rest, and the island soon became a +vast jungle which everybody who could abandoned. + +"We have been writing these last four years," wrote the crown +officers, February 26, 1534, "that the island is becoming depopulated, +the gold is diminishing, the Indians are gone. Some new gold deposits +were discovered in 1532, and as much as 20,000 pesos were extracted. +We thought this would contribute to the repeopling of the island, but +the contrary has happened. The people, ruined by the hurricanes of the +year 1530, thinking that they might find other gold deposits, bought +negroes on credit at very high prices to search for them. They found +none, and have not been able to pay their creditors. Some are fugitive +in the mountains, others in prison, others again have stolen vessels +belonging to the Administration and have gone with their negroes no +one knows where. With all this and the news from Peru, not a soul +would remain if they were not stopped." + +When the news of the fabulous riches discovered in Peru reached this +island, the desire to emigrate became irresistible. Governor Lando +wrote to the emperor, February 27, 1534: " ... Two months ago there +came a ship here from Peru to buy horses. The captain related such +wonderful things that the people here and in San German became +excited, and even the oldest settlers wanted to leave. If I had not +instantly ordered him away the island would have been deserted. _I +have imposed the death penalty on whosoever shall attempt to leave the +island_." + +On July 2d he wrote again: " ... Many, mad with the news from Peru, +have secretly embarked in one or other of the numerous small ports at +a distance from the city. Among the remaining settlers even the oldest +is constantly saying: 'God help me to go to Peru.' I am watching day +and night to prevent their escape, but can not assure you that I shall +be able to retain the people. + +"Two months ago I heard that some of them had obtained possession of a +ship at a point on the coast two leagues from here and intended to +leave. I sent three vessels down the coast and twenty horsemen by +land. They resisted, and my presence was required to take them. Three +were killed and others wounded. _I ordered some of them to be flogged +and cut off the feet of others_, and then I had to dissimulate the +seditious cries of others who were in league with them and intended to +join them in la Mona, which is twelve leagues from here. If your +Majesty does not promptly remedy this evil, I fear that the island +will be entirely depopulated or remain like a country inn. This island +is the key and the entrance to all the Antilles. The French and +English freebooters land here first. The Caribs carry off our +neighbors and friends before our very eyes. If a ship were to come +here at night with fifty men, they could burn the city and kill every +soul of us. I ask protection for this noble island, now so +depopulated that one sees scarcely any Spaniards, only negroes ..." + +But even the negro population was scarce. The introduction of African +slaves into la Espanola had proceeded _pari passu_ with the gradual +disappearance of the Indians. As early as 1502 a certain Juan Sanchez +had obtained permission to introduce five caravels of negro slaves +into that island free of duty, though Ovando complained that many of +them escaped to the mountains and made the Indians more insubordinate +than ever; but in San Juan a special permission to introduce negroes +was necessary. Geron in 1510 and Sedeno in 1512 were permitted to +bring in two negroes each only by swearing that they were for their +own personal service. In 1513 the general introduction of African +slaves was authorized by royal schedule, but two ducats per head had +to be paid for the privilege. Cardinal Cisneros suspended the export +of slaves from Spain in 1516, but the emperor sanctioned it again in +1517, to stop, if possible, the destruction of the natives. + +Father Las Casas favored the introduction of African slaves for the +same reason, and obtained from the emperor a concession in favor of +his high steward, Garrebod, to send 4,000 negroes to la Espanola, +Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Garrebod sold the concession to a Genovese firm +(1517), but negroes remained very scarce and dear in San Juan till +1530, when, by special dispensation of the empress in favor of some +merchants, 200 negroes were brought to this island. They were greedily +taken up on credit at exorbitant prices, which caused the ruin of the +purchasers and made the city authorities of San Juan petition her +Majesty April 18, 1533, praying that no more negro islaves might be +permitted to come to the island for a period of eighteen months, +because of the inability of the people to pay for them. + +In Governor Lando's letter of July, 1534, above quoted, he informs the +emperor that in the only two towns that existed in the island at that +time (San Juan and San German) there were "very few Spaniards and only +6 negroes in each." The incursions of the French and English +freebooters, to which he refers in the same letter, had commenced six +years before, and these incursions bring the tale of the island's +calamities to a climax. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS--CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE--CHARLES +V.--RUIN OF THE ISLAND + +1520-1556 + +The depredations committed by the privateers, which about this time +began to infest the Antilles and prey upon the Spanish possessions, +were a result of the wars with almost every nation in Europe, in which +Spain became involved after the accession of Charles, the son of +Juana, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella and Philip I, Archduke of +Austria. + +The young prince had been educated amid all the pomp and splendor of +the imperial court. He was a perfect type of the medieval cavalier, +who could break a lance with the proudest knight in the empire, and +was worthy in every respect of the high destiny that awaited him. At +the age of twenty he became the heir to eight kingdoms,[33] the +recognized ruler of the Netherlands, lord of vast territories in +Africa, and absolute arbiter of the destinies of the Spanish division +of the New World. + +Scarcely had this powerful young prince been accepted and crowned by +the last and most recalcitrant of his kingdoms (Cataluna), and while +still in Barcelona, the news arrived of the death of his grandfather, +Maximilian, King of the Romans and Emperor elect of Germany. +Intrigues for the possession of the coveted crown were set on foot at +once by the prince, now Charles I of Spain and by Francis I, King of +France. The powers ranged themselves on either side as their interests +dictated. Henry VIII of England declared himself neutral; Pope Leon X, +who distrusted both claimants, was waiting to see which of them would +buy his support by the largest concessions to the temporal power of +the Vatican; the Swiss Cantons hated France and sided with Charles; +Venice favored Francis I.[34] + +The German Diet assembled at Frankfort June 17, 1519, and unanimously +elected Frederick of Saxony, surnamed the Prudent. He showed his +prudence by declining the honor, and in an address to the assembly +dwelt at some length on the respective merits of the two pretenders, +and ended by declaring himself in favor of the Spanish prince, one +reason for his preference being that Charles was more directly +interested in checking the advance of the Turks, who, under Soleiman +the Magnificent, threatened, at the time, to overrun the whole of +eastern Europe. + +Charles I of Spain was elected, and thus became Charles V, King of the +Romans and Emperor of Germany--that is, the most powerful monarch of +his time, before he had reached the age of manhood. His success, added +to other political differences and ambitions, was not long in +provoking a war with France, which, with short intervals, lasted the +lifetime of the two princes. + + * * * * * + +Spain was most vulnerable in her ultramarine possessions. They offered +tempting prizes to the unscrupulous, adventurous spirits of the +period, and the merchants on the coast of Normandy asked and obtained +permission to equip privateers to harass Spanish commerce and attack +the unprotected settlements. + +San Juan was one of the first to suffer. An official report dated +September 26, 1528, informs us that "on the day of the Apostle Saint +John a French caravel and a tender bore down on the port of Cubagua +and attempted to land artillery from the ship with the help of Indians +brought from Margarita, five leagues distant. On the 12th of August +they took the town of San German, plundered and burned it; they also +destroyed two caravels that were there...." + +French privateers were sighted off the coast continually, but it would +seem that the island, with its reputation for poverty, its two +settlements 40 leagues apart, and scanty population, offered too +little chance for booty, so that no other landing is recorded till +1538, when a privateer was seen chasing a caravel on her way to San +German. The caravel ran ashore at a point two leagues from the capital +and the crew escaped into the woods. The Frenchmen looted the vessel +and then proceeded to Guadianilla, where they landed 80 men, 50 of +them arquebusiers. They burned the town, robbed the church and +Dominican convent; but the people, after placing their families in +security, returned, and under favor of a shower of rain, which made +the arquebuses useless, fell upon them, killed 15 and took 3 +prisoners, in exchange for whom the stolen church property was +restored. The people had only 1 killed. + +The attack was duly reported to the sovereign, who ordered the +construction of a fort, and appointed Juan de Castellanos, the +treasurer, its commander (October 7, 1540). The treasurer's reply is +characteristic: "The fort which I have been ordered to make in the +town of San German, of which I am to be the commander, shall be made +as well as we may, though there is great want of money ... and of +carts, negroes, etc. It will be necessary to send masons from Sevilla, +as there is only 1 here, also tools and 20 negroes.... + +"Forts for this island are well enough, but it would be better to +favor the population, lending money or ceding the revenues for a few +years, to construct sugar-mills...." + +On June 12th of the same year the treasurer wrote again announcing +that work on the San German fort had commenced, for which purpose he +had bought some negroes and hired others at _two and a half pesos per +month_. + +But on February 12, 1542, the crown officers, including Castellanos, +reported that _the emperor's order to suspend work on the fort of San +German had been obeyed_. + +In February, 1543, the bishop wrote to the emperor: "The people of San +German, for fear of the French privateers, have taken their families +and property into the woods. If there were a fort they would not be +so timid nor would the place be so depopulated." + +As late as September, 1548, he reported: "I came here from la Espanola +in the beginning of the year to visit my diocese. I disembarked in San +German with an order from the Audiencia to convoke the inhabitants, +and found that there were a few over 30, who lived half a league from +the port for fear of the privateers. They don't abandon the important +place, but there ought to be a fort." + +But the prelate pleaded in vain. + +Charles V, occupied in opposing the French king's five armies, could +not be expected to give much attention to the affairs of an +insignificant island in a remote corner of his vast dominions. Puerto +Rico was left to take care of itself, and San German's last hour +struck on Palm Sunday, 1554, when 3 French ships entered the port of +Guadianilla, landed a detachment of men who penetrated a league +inland, plundering and destroying whatever they could. From that day +San German, the settlement founded by Miguel del Toro in 1512, +disappeared from the face of the land. + +The capital remained. No doubt it owed its preservation from French +attacks to the presence of a battery and some pieces of artillery +which, as a result of reiterated petitions, had been provided. The +population also was more numerous. In 1529 there were 120 houses, some +of them of stone. The cathedral was completed, and a Dominican convent +was in course of construction with 25 friars waiting to occupy it. +Thus, one by one, all the original settlements disappeared. Guanica, +Sotomayor, Daguao, Loiza, had been swept away by the Indians. San +German fell the victim of the Spanish monarch's war with his neighbor. +The only remaining settlement, the capital, was soon to be on the +point of being sacrificed in the same way. The existence of the island +seemed to be half-forgotten, its connection with the metropolis +half-severed, for the crown officers wrote in 1536 that _no ship from +the Peninsula had entered its ports for two years_. + +"Negroes and Indians," says Abbad, "seeing the small number of +Spaniards and their misery, escaped to the mountains of Luquillo and +Anasco, whence they descended only to rob their masters." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 33: Castilla and Aragon, Navarro, Valencia, Cataluna, +Mallorca, Sicily, and Naples.] + +[Footnote 34: Hista. general de Espana por Don Modesto Lafuente. +Barcelona, 1889.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SEDENO--CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT + +1534-1555 + +A slight improvement in the gloomy situation of the people of San Juan +took place when, driven by necessity, they began to dedicate +themselves to agriculture. At this time, too (1535), Juan Castellanos, +the island's attorney at the court, returned with his own family and +75 colonists. Yet scarcely had they had time to settle when they were +invited to remigrate by one of Ponce's old companions. + +This was Sedeno, a perfect type of the Spanish adventurer of the +sixteenth century--restless, ambitious, unscrupulous. The king had +made him "contador" (comptroller) of San Juan in 1512 and perpetual +"regidor" (alderman) in 1515. In 1518 we find him in prison under +accusation of having brought a woman and child from a convent in +Sevilla. He broke out of the prison and escaped in a ship. In 1521 he +was in prison again for debt to the Government. On this occasion the +judge auditor wrote to the emperor: " ... It is said of the +comptroller that he has put his hands deep into your Majesty's +treasure. He is the one who causes most strife and unrest in the +island, ... everybody says that it would be well if he were removed." +In 1524 Villasante accused him of malversation of public funds. In +1531 he appears as Governor of Trinidad, accused of capturing natives +of the neighboring continent, branding them and selling them as +slaves. In 1532, reinstated in his post as comptroller, he leaves +Alonzo de la Fuente as his deputy and goes on an expedition to conquer +Trinidad. In 1535 he complains to the emperor that the authorities in +San Juan have not assisted him in his enterprise, and in the following +year the governor and crown officers address a complaint against him +to the empress, saying: "Sedeno presented a schedule authorizing him +to bring 200 men from the Canary Islands to make war with fire and +sword on the Caribs of Trinidad, and permitting him, or any other +person authorized by him, to fit out an expedition for the same +purpose here. + +"Under this pretext he has collected people to go to the conquest of +Meta. We wrote to the Audiencia in la Espanola, and an order came +that he should not go beyond the limits of his government, but he +continues his preparations and has already 50 horses and 120 men on +the continent, and is now going with some 200 men more and another 100 +horses. He takes no notice of your Majesty's commands, collects people +from all parts without a license, and causes grave injury to the +island, because since the rage for going to Peru began the population +is very scarce and we can not remedy the evil...." + +This restless adventurer died of fever on the continent in 1538. +Sedeno's emigration schemes deprived the island of many of its best +settlers. The wish to abandon it was universal. Lando's drastic +measures to prevent it roused the people's anger, and they clamored +for his removal. The Audiencia sent Juan Blasquez as judge auditor, +and Vasco de Tiedra was appointed Lando's successor in 1536. But in +the following year a radical change was made in the system of +government. + +The quarrels, the jealousies, and mutual accusations between the +colonists and the Government officials that kept the island in a +continual ferment, were the natural consequence of the prerogatives +exercised by Diego Columbus, which permitted him to fill all lucrative +positions in the island with his own favorites, often without any +regard to their aptitude. + +The incessant communications to the emperor, and even to the empress, +on every subject more or less connected with the public service, but +dictated mostly by considerations of self-interest, coming, as they +did, from the smallest and poorest and least important of his +Majesty's possessions, must have been a source of great annoyance to +the imperial ministers, consequently they resolved to remove the +cause. The Admiral was deprived of the prerogative of appointing +governors, and henceforth the alcaldes (mayors) and "chief alguaciles" +(high constables), to be elected from among the colonists by a body of +eight aldermen (regidores), were to exercise the governmental +functions for one year at a time, and could not be reelected till two +years after the first nomination. The wisdom of this innovation was +not generally acknowledged. The crown officers wrote: " ... All are +not agreed on the point whether the governor should or should not be +elected among the residents of the island. For the country's good he +should, no doubt, be a resident." + +Alonzo la Fuente was of a different opinion. He wrote in November, +1536: "It has been a great boon to take the appointment of governors +out of the Admiral's hands. As a rule, some neighbor or friend was +made supreme judge, and he usually proceeded with but little regard +for the island's welfare. All the rest were servants and employees of +the Admiral, which caused me much uneasiness, seeing the results. +Appoint a governor, but a man from abroad, not a resident." In the +following year he wrote regarding the elective system just introduced: +" ... If the alcaldes must take cognizance of everything, this will +become a place of confusion and disorder. A few will lord it over all +the rest, and the alcaldes themselves will but be their creatures." + +The new system of government was unsatisfactory. Castro and +Castellanos asked for the appointment of a supreme judge in March, +1539, because an appeal to the authorities in la Espanola was made +against every decision of the alcalde. Alderman La Fuente and Martel +confirmed this in December, 1541. They wrote: " ... There is great +want of a supreme judge. More than fifteen homicides have been +committed in less than eight years, and only one of the delinquents +has been punished ..." In January, 1542, the city officers sent a +deputy to lay their grievances before the emperor, not daring to write +them "for their lives," and in February the island's attorney, Alonzo +Molina, stated the causes of the failure of the elective system to be +the ignorance of the laws of those in authority and the reduced number +of electors. "It is necessary," he said, "to name a mayor or governor +who is a man of education and conscience, _not a resident_, because +the judges have their 'compadres.'[35] The governor must be a man of +whom they stand in fear, and if some one of this class is not sent +soon, he will find few to govern, for the majority intend to abandon +the island." + +A law passed, it appears, at the petition of a single individual, in +1542, increased the confusion and discord still more. This law made +the pastures of the island, as well as the woods and waters, public +property. The woods and waters had been considered such from the +beginning, but the pastures, included in the concessions of lands made +at different times by the crown, were private property. The result of +this law was aggression on the part of the landless and resistance on +the part of the proprietors, with the consequent scenes of violence +and civil strife. + +Representations against the law were made by the ecclesiastical +chapter, by the city attorney, and by the three crown officers in +February, 1542; but the regidores, on the other hand, insisted on the +compliance with the royal mandate, and reported that when the law was +promulgated, all the possessors of cattle-ranges opposed it, and four +of their body who voted for compliance with the law were threatened to +be stoned to death and have their eyes pulled out. "We asked to have +the circumstance testified to by a notary, and it was refused. We +wanted to write to your Majesty, and to prevent any one conveying our +letters, they bought the whole cargo of the only ship in port, and did +the same with another ship that came in afterward...." + +On the 2d of June following they wrote again: " ... An alcalde, two +aldermen, and ten or twelve wealthy cattle-owners wanted to kill us. +We had to lock ourselves up in our houses.... The people here are so +insubordinate that if your Majesty does not send some one to chastise +them and protect his servants, there will soon be no island of San +Juan." + +The system of electing annual governors among the residents was +abolished in 1544, and the crown resumed its prerogative with the +appointment of Geronimo Lebron, of la Espanola, as governor for one +year. He died fifteen days after his arrival, and the Audiencia +named licentiate Cervantes de Loayza in his place, who was compelled +to imprison some of the ringleaders in the party of opposition +against the pasture laws. This governor wrote to the emperor in July, +1545: " ... I came to this island with my wife and children to serve +your Majesty, but I found it a prey to incredible violences...." + +Cervantes was well received at first, and the city officials asked the +emperor to prorogue his term of office, but as Bishop Bastidas said of +the islanders, it was not in their nature to be long satisfied with +any governor, and the next year they clamored for his "residencia." He +rendered his accounts and came out without blame or censure. + +It appears that about the year 1549 the system of electing alcaldes as +governors was resumed, for in that year Bishop Bastidas thanks the +emperor, and tells him "the alcaldes were sufficient, considering the +small population." But in 1550 we again find a governor appointed by +the crown for five years, a Doctor Louis Vallejo, from whose +communications describing the conditions of the island we extract the +following: "It is a pity to see how the island has been ruined by the +attacks of Frenchmen and Caribs. The few people that remain in San +German live in the worst possible places, in swamps surrounded by +rough mountains, a league from the port...." And on the 4th of +December, 1550: " ... The island was in a languishing condition +because the mines gave out, but now, with the sugar industry, it is +comparatively prosperous. The people beg your Majesty's protection." + +However, in October, 1553, we find Bishop Alonzo la Fuente and others +addressing King Philip II, and telling him that "the land is in great +distress, ... traffic has ceased for fear of the corsairs...." The +same complaints continue during 1554 and 1555. Then Vallejo is +subjected to "residencia" by the new governor, Estevez, who, after a +few months' office, is "residentiated" in his turn by Caraza, who had +been governor in 1547. + +After this the chronicles are so scanty that not even the diligent +researches of Friar Abbad's commentator enabled him to give any +reliable information regarding the government of the island. It +remained the almost defenseless point of attack for the nations with +which Spain was constantly at war, and this small but bright pearl in +her colonial crown was preserved only by fortunate circumstances on +the one hand and the loyalty of the inhabitants on the other. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 35: Protectors or proteges--literally, "godfathers."] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND--CONSTRUCTION OF +FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION OF SAN JUAN + +1555-1641 + +San German disappeared for want of means of defense, and if the French +privateers of the time had been aware that the forts in San Juan were +without guns or ammunition it is probable that this island would have +become a French possession. + +The defenses of the island were constructed by the home authorities in +a very dilatory manner. Ponce's house in Caparra had been fortified in +a way so ineffective that Las Casas said of it that the Indians might +knock it down butting their heads against it. This so-called fort soon +fell in ruins after the transfer of the capital to its present site. +There is no information of what became of the six "espingardas" (small +ordnance or hand-guns) with which it had been armed at King +Ferdinand's expense. They had probably been transferred to San Juan, +where, very likely, they did good service intimidating the Caribs. + +In 1527 an English ship came prowling about San Juan bay, la Mona, and +la Espanola, and this warning to the Spanish authorities was +disregarded, notwithstanding Blas de Villasante's urgent request +for artillery and ammunition. + +[Illustration: Inner harbor, San Juan.] + +After the burning of San German by a French privateer in August, 1537, +Villasante bought five "lombardas" (another kind of small ordnance) +for the defense of San Juan. In 1529 and 1530 both La Gama, the acting +governor, and the city officers represented to the emperor the +necessity of constructing fortifications, "_because the island's +defenseless condition caused the people to emigrate_." + +It appears that the construction of the first fort commenced about +1533, for in that year the Audiencia in la Espanola disposed of some +funds for the purpose, and Governor Lando suggested the following year +that if the fort were made of stone "it would be eternal." The +suggestion was acted upon and a tax levied on the people to defray the +expense. + +This fort must have been concluded about the year 1540, for in that +same year the ecclesiastical and the city authorities were contending +for the grant of the slaves, carts, and oxen that had been employed, +the former wanting them for the construction of a church, the latter +for making roads and bridges. + +This "Fortaleza" is the same edifice which, after many changes, was at +last, and is still, used as a gubernatorial residence, the latest +reconstruction being effected in 1846.[36] As a fort, Gonzalez +Fernandez de Oviedo denounced it as a piece of useless work which, +"if it had been constructed by blind men could not have been located +in a worse place," and in harmony with his advice a battery was +constructed on the rocky promontory called "the Morro." + +San Juan had now a fort (1540) but no guns. The crown officers, +reporting an attack on Guayama by a French privateer in 1541, again +clamor for artillery. Treasurer Castellanos writes in March and June +of the same year: "The artillery for this fort has not yet arrived. +How are we to defend it?" + +Treasurer Salinas writes in 1554: "The French have taken several +ships. It would have been a great boon if your Majesty had ordered +Captain Mindirichaga to come here with his four ships to defend this +island and la Espanola. He would have found Frenchmen in la Mona, +where they prepare for their expeditions and lay in wait. They declare +their intention to take this island, and it will be difficult for us +to defend it without artillery or other arms. If there is anything in +the fort it is useless, nor is the fort itself of any account. It is +merely a lodging-house. The bastion on the Morro, if well constructed, +could defend the entrance to the harbor with 6 pieces. We have 60 +horsemen here with lances and shields, but no arquebusiers or pikemen. +Send us artillery and ammunition." + +The demand for arms and ammunition continued in this way till 1555, +when acting Governor Caraza reported that 8 pieces of bronze ordnance +had been planted on the Morro. + +The existing fortifications of San Juan have all been added and +extended at different periods. Father Torres Vargas, in his chronicles +of San Juan, says that the castle grounds of San Felipe del Morro +were laid out in 1584. The construction cost 2,000,000 ducats.[37] The +Boqueron, or Santiago fort, the fort of the Canuelo, and the +extensions of the Morro were constructed during the administration of +Gabriel Royas (1599 to 1609). Governor Henriquez began the +circumvallation of the city in 1630, and his successor, Sarmiento, +concluded it between the years 1635 and 1641. Fort San Cristobal was +begun in the eighteenth century and completed in 1771. Some +fortifications of less importance were added in the nineteenth +century. + +When Caraza reported, in 1555, that the first steps in the +fortification of the capital had been taken, the West Indian seas +swarmed with French privateers, and their depredations on Spanish +commerce and ill-protected possessions continued till Philip II signed +the treaty of peace at Vervins in 1598. + +But before that, war with England had been declared, and a more +formidable enemy than the French was soon to appear before the capital +of this much-afflicted island. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 36: The inscription on the upper front wall of the building +is: "During the reign of her Majesty, Dona Isabel II, the Count of +Mirasol being Captain-General, Santos Cortijo, Colonel of Engineers, +reconstructed this royal fort in 1846."] + +[Footnote 37: Ducat, a coin struck by a duke, worth, in silver, about +$1.15, in gold, twice as much. It was also a nominal money worth +eleven pesetas and one maravedi.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN + +1595 + +Of all the English freebooters that preyed upon Spain and her colonies +from the commencement of the war in 1585 to the signing of peace in +1604, Francis Drake was the greatest scourge and the most feared. + +Drake early distinguished himself among the fraternity of sea-rovers +by the boldness of his enterprises and the intensity of his hatred of +the Spaniards. When still a young man, in 1567-'68, he was captain of +a small ship, the Judith, one of a fleet of slavers running between +the coast of Africa and the West Indies, under the command of John +Hawkyns, another famous freebooter. In the harbor of San Juan de Ulua +the Spaniards took the fleet by stratagem; the Judith and the Minion, +with Hawkyns on board, being the only vessels that escaped. Young +Drake's experiences on that occasion fixed the character of his +relations to the Dons forever afterward. He vowed that they should pay +for all he had suffered and all he had lost. + +At that time the Spaniards were ostensibly still friends with England. +To Drake they were then and always treacherous and forsworn enemies. +In 1570 he made a voyage to the West Indies in a bark of forty tons +with a private crew. In the Chagres River, on the coast of Nombre de +Dios, there happened to be sundry barks transporting velvets and +taffetas to the value of 40,000 ducats, besides gold and silver. They +were all taken. + +Two years later he made a most daring attempt to take the town of +Nombre de Dios, and would probably have succeeded had he not been +wounded. He fainted from loss of blood. His men carried him back on +board and suspended the attack. On his recovery he met with complete +success, and returned to Plymouth in 1573 with a large amount of +treasure openly torn from a nation with which England was at peace, +arriving at the very time that Philip's ambassador to Queen Elizabeth +was negotiating a treaty of peace. Drake had no letters of marque, and +consequently was guilty of piracy in the eyes of the law, the penalty +for which was hanging. The Spaniards were naturally very angry, and +clamored for restitution or compensation and Drake's punishment, but +the queen, who shared the pirate's hatred of the Spaniards, sent him +timely advice to keep out of the way. + +In 1580 he returned from another voyage in the West Indies, just when +a body of so-called papal volunteers had landed in Ireland. They had +been brought by a Spanish officer in Spanish ships, and the queen, +pending a satisfactory explanation, refused to receive Mendoza, the +Spanish ambassador, and hear his complaints of Drake's piracies. When +his ships had been brought round in the Thames, she visited him on +board and conferred on him the honor of knighthood. From this time +onward he became a servant of the crown.[38] + +It was this redoubtable sea-rover who, according to advices received +early in 1595, was preparing an expedition in England for the purpose +of wresting her West Indian possessions from Spain. The expedition was +brought to naught, through the disagreements between Drake and Hawkyns, +who both commanded it, by administrative blunders and vexatious delays +in England. The Spaniards were everywhere forewarned and goaded to +action by the terror of Drake's name. + +Notwithstanding this, the island's fate, seeing its defenseless +condition, would, no doubt, have been sealed at that time but for a +most fortunate occurrence which brought to its shores the forces that +enabled it to repulse the attack. Acosta's annotations on Abbad's +history contains the following details of the events in San Juan at +the time: + +"General Sancho Pardo y Osorio sailed from Havana March 10, 1595, in +the flagship of the Spanish West Indian fleet, to convoy some +merchantmen and convey 2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver, the greater +part the property of his Majesty the king. The flagship carried 300 +men. + +"On the 15th, when in the Bermuda channel, a storm separated the +convoy from the other ships, sent her mainmast overboard, broke her +rudder, and the ship sprang a leak. In this condition, after a +consultation among the officers, it was decided to repair the damage +as well as possible and steer for Puerto Rico, which they reached on +the 9th of April. The treasure was placed in security in the fort and +messengers despatched to the king to learn his Majesty's commands. + +"A few days later official advice of the preparations in England was +brought to the island in a despatch-boat. Governor Juarez, General +Sancho, and the commander of the local infantry held a council, in +which it was resolved to land the artillery from the dismasted ship +and sink her and another vessel in the channel at the entrance to the +harbor, while defenses should be constructed at every point where an +enemy could attempt a landing. The plan was carried out under the +direction of General Sancho, who had ample time, as no enemy appeared +during the next seven months. + +"On the 13th of November 5 Spanish frigates arrived under the command +of Pedro Tello de Guzman, with orders from the king to embark the +treasure forthwith and take it to Spain; but Tello, on his way hither, +had fallen in off Guadeloupe with two English small craft, had had a +fight with one of them, sank it, and while pursuing the other had come +suddenly in sight of the whole fleet, which made him turn about and +make his way to Puerto Rico before the English should cut him off. +From the prisoners taken from the sunken vessel he had learned that +the English fleet consisted of 6 line-of-battle ships of 600 to 800 +tons each, and about 20 others of different sizes, with launches for +landing troops, 3,000 infantry, 1,500 mariners, all well armed and +provided with artillery, bound direct for Puerto Rico under the +command of Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkyns. + +"Tello's 5 frigates made a very important addition to the island's +defenses. Part of his men were distributed among the land forces, and +his ships anchored in the bay, just behind the two sunken ships. + +"All was now ready for a determined resistance. General Sancho had +charge of the shore defenses, Admiral Gonzalo Mendez de Cauzo +commanded the forts, Tello, with his frigates and 300 men, defended +the harbor. The bishop promised to say a mass and preach a sermon +every day, and placed a priest at every post to give spiritual aid +where necessary. Lastly, despatch-boats were sent to la Espanola and +to Cuba to inform the authorities there of the coming danger. + +"The defensive forces consisted of 450 men distributed at different +points on shore with 34 pieces of ordnance of small caliber. In the +forts there were 36 pieces, mostly bronze ordnance, with the +respective contingent of men. On board of Tello's frigates there were +300 men. + +"General Sancho, after an inspection of the defenses, assured the +governor that the island was safe if the men would but fight. + +"At daybreak on the 22d of November the English fleet hove in sight. +The call to arms was sounded, and everybody," says the chronicler, +"ran joyfully to his post." + +A caravel with some launches showing white flags came on ahead, +sounding, but on passing the Boqueron were saluted with a cannon shot, +whereupon they withdrew replacing the white flags by red ones. + +The whole fleet now came to anchor in front of the "Caleta del Cabron" +(Goat's Creek), much to the surprise of the islanders, who had no idea +that there was anchoring ground at that point; but, being within range +of the 3 pieces of cannon on the Morrillo and of the 2 pieces planted +at the mouth of the creek, they were fired upon, with the result, as +became known afterward, of considerable damage to the flagship and the +death of 2 or 3 persons, among them Hawkyns, Drake's second in +command. + +This unexpectedly warm reception made it clear to the English admiral +that the islanders had been forewarned and were not so defenseless as +they had been reported. Some launches were sent to take soundings in +the vicinity of Goat Island, and at 5 in the afternoon the fleet +lifted anchor and stood out to sea. Next morning at 8 o'clock it +returned and took up a position under the shelter of the said island, +out of range of the artillery on the forts. + +More soundings were taken during the day in the direction of Bayamon, +as far as the Canuelo. That night, about 10 o'clock, 25 launches, each +containing from 50 to 60 men, advanced under cover of the darkness and +attacked Tello's frigates. The flames of 3 of the ships, which the +English succeeded in firing, soon lit up the bay and enabled the +artillery of the 3 forts to play with effect among the crowded +launches. The Spaniards on board Tello's ships succeeded in putting +out the fire on board 2 of the ships, the third one was destroyed. +After an hour's hard fighting and the loss by the English, as +estimated by the Spanish chronicler, of 8 or 10 launches and of about +400 men, they withdrew. The Spanish loss that night was 40 killed and +some wounded. + +The next day the English fleet stood out to sea again, keeping to +windward of the harbor, which made Tello suspect that they intended to +return under full sail when the wind sprang up and force their way +into the harbor. To prevent this, 2 more ships and a frigate were sunk +across the entrance with all they had on board, there being no time to +unload them. + +As expected, the fleet came down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but +did not try to force an entrance. It quietly took up the same position +between the Morro and Goat Island, which it had occupied the day +before, and this made the Spaniards think that another night attack on +the 3 remaining frigates was impending. After dark the frigates were +removed to a place of safety within the bay. + +The night passed without an alarm. The next day the English launches +were busy all day sounding the bay as far as the Boqueron, taking care +to keep out of range of the artillery on shore. Night came on and when +next morning the sun lit up the western world there was not an enemy +visible. Drake had found the island too well prepared and deemed it +prudent to postpone the conquest. + +Two days later news came from Arecibo that the English fleet had +passed that port. A messenger sent to San German returned six days +later with the information that the enemy had been there four days +taking in wood and water and had sailed southward on the 9th of +December. + +It is said that when Drake afterward learned that his abandonment of +the conquest of Puerto Rico had made him miss the chance of adding +2,000,000 pesos in gold and silver to the Maiden Queen's exchequer, he +pulled his beard with vexation. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 38: Drake and his Successors. The Edinburgh Review, July, +1901.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY LORD GEORGE +CUMBERLAND--CONDITION OF THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH +CENTURY + +Puerto Rico and his Majesty's treasure were now safe. When there was +no longer any fear of the enemy's return, haste was made to reembark +the money and get rid of General Sancho and Tello and their men who +were fast consuming the island's scanty resources. + +Two years after Drake's ineffectual attack on the island another +English fleet, with a large body of troops under the orders of Lord +George Cumberland, came to Puerto Rico. A landing was effected at +Cangrejos (the present Santurce). The bridge leading to the capital +was not then fortified, but its passage was gallantly disputed by +Governor Antonio Mosquera, an old soldier of the war in Flanders. The +English were far superior in numbers and armament, and Mosquera had to +fall back. Captain Serralta, the brothers John and Simon Sanabria, and +other natives of the island, greatly distinguished themselves in this +action. The English occupied the capital and the forts without much +more opposition. An epidemic of dysentery and yellow fever carried off +400 Englishmen in less than three months and bid fair to exterminate +the whole invading force, so that, to save his troops, the English +commander was obliged to evacuate the island, which he did on the 23d +of November. He carried with him 70 pieces of artillery of all sizes +which he found in the fortifications. The city itself he left unhurt, +except that he took the church-bells and organ and carried off an +artistically sculptured marble window in one of the houses which had +taken his fancy. + +Mr. Brau mentions some documents in the Indian archives of Spain, from +which it appears that another invasion of Puerto Rico took place a +year after Cumberland's departure. On that occasion the governor and +the garrison were carried off as prisoners, but as there was a cruel +epidemic still raging in the island at the time the English did not +stay. + +The death of Philip II (September 13, 1598) and of his inveterate +enemy, Queen Elizabeth (March 24, 1603), brought the war with England +to a close. The ambassador of Philip III in London negotiated a treaty +of peace with James I, which was signed and ratified in the early part +of 1604. + +So ended the sixteenth century in Boriquen. If the dictum of Las +Casas, that the island at the century's beginning was "as populous as +a beehive and as lovely as an orchard," was but a rhetorical figure, +there is no gainsaying the fact that at the time of Ponce's landing it +was thickly peopled, not only that part occupied by the Spaniards but +_the whole island_, with a comparatively innocent, simple, and +peaceably disposed native race. The end of the century saw them no +more. The erstwhile garden was an extensive jungle. The island's +history during these hundred years was condensed into the one word +"strife." All that the efforts of the king and his governors had been +able to make of it was a penal settlement, a presidio with a +population of about 400 inhabitants, white, black, and mongrel. The +littoral was an extensive hog-and cattle-ranch, with here and there a +patch of sugar-cane; there was no commerce.[39] There were no roads. +The people, morally, mentally, and materially poor, were steeped in +ignorance and vice. Education there was none. The very few who aspired +to know, went to la Espanola to obtain an education. The few spiritual +wants of the people were supplied by monks, many of them as ignorant +and bigoted as themselves. War and pestilence and tempest had united +to wipe the island from the face of the earth, and the very name of +"Rich Port," given to it without cause or reason, must have sounded in +the ears of the inhabitants as a bitter sarcasm on their wretched +condition. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 39: A precarious traffic in hides and ginger did not deserve +the name of commerce.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN + +1625 + +Holland emancipated itself from Spanish domination in 1582 and assumed +the title of "the United Provinces of Netherland." After nearly half a +century of an unequal struggle with the most powerful kingdom in +Europe, the people's faith in final success was unbounded, while Spain +was growing weary of the apparently interminable war. At this +juncture, proposals for a suspension of hostilities were willingly +entertained by both nations, and after protracted negotiations, a +truce of twelve years was signed in Bergen-op-Zoom, April 9, 1609. In +it the absolute independence of the United Provinces was recognized. + +This gave the Spanish colonies a welcome respite from the ravages of +privateers till 1621, the first year of the reign of King Philip IV, +when hostilities immediately recommenced. France and England both came +to the assistance of the Provinces with money for the raising of +troops, and the wealthy merchants of Holland, following the example of +the French merchants in the former century, fitted out fleets of +privateers to prey upon the commerce and colonies of Spain and +Portugal. The first exploits of these privateers were the invasion of +Brazil and the sacking of San Salvador, of Lima and Callao (1624). + +Puerto Rico was just beginning to recover from the prostration in +which the last invasion had left it, when on the morning of the 24th +of September, 1625, the guard on San Felipe del Morro announced 8 +ships to windward of the port. + +Juan de Haro, the governor, who had assumed the command only a few +months before, mounted to an outlook to observe them, and was informed +that more ships could be seen some distance down the coast. He sent +out horsemen, and they returned about 8 o'clock at night with the news +that they had counted 17 ships in all. + +Alarm-bells were now rung and some cannon fired from the forts to call +the inhabitants together. They were directed to the plaza, where arms +and ammunition were distributed. During the night the whole city was +astir preparing for events, under the direction of the governor. + +Next morning the whole fleet was a short distance to windward. Lest a +landing should be attempted at the Boqueron or at Goat's Creek, the +two most likely places, the governor ordered a cannon to be planted at +each and trenches to be dug. In the meantime, the people, who had +promptly answered the call to arms, and the garrison were formed into +companies on the plaza and received orders to occupy the forts, +marching first along the shore, where the enemy could see them, so as +to make a great show of numbers. + +The artillery in the fort was in bad condition. The gun-carriages were +old and rotten. Some of the pieces had been loaded four years before +and were dismounted at the first firing. One of them burst on the +sixth or seventh day, killing the gunners and severely wounding the +governor, who personally superintended the defense. + +In the afternoon of the day of their arrival the Hollanders came down +under full sail "with as much confidence," says the chronicler, "as if +they were entering a port in their own country." + +That night the fort was provisioned as well as the scanty resources of +the island permitted. The defenders numbered 330, and the food supply +collected would not enable them to stand a long siege. The supply +consisted of 120 loads of casabe bread, 46 bushels of maize, 130 jars +or jugs of olive oil, 10 barrels of biscuit, 300 island cheeses, 1 +cask of flour, 30 pitchers of wine, 200 fowls, and 150 small boxes of +preserved fruit (membrillo). + +Fortunately during the night 50 head of cattle and 20 horses were +driven in from the surrounding country. + +From the 26th to the 29th the enemy busied himself landing troops, +digging trenches, and planting 6 pieces of cannon on a height called +"the Calvary." Then he began firing at the fort, which replied, doing +considerable damage. + +At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 30th, a drummer under a flag of +truce presented himself before the castle with a letter addressed to +the governor. It was couched in the following terms: + +"Senor Governor Don Juan Faro, you must be well aware of the reasons +of our coming so near and of our intentions. Therefore, I, Bowdoin +Hendrick, general of these forces, in the name of the States General +and of his Highness the Prince of Orange, do hereby demand that you +deliver this castle and garrison into our hands, which doing we will +not fail to come to terms with you. And if not, I give you notice, +that from this day forward we will spare neither old nor young, woman +nor child; and to this we wait your answer in a few words. + +"BOWDOIN HENDRICK." + +To which epistle the governor replied: + +"I have seen your paper, and am surprised that you should ask such a +thing of me, seeing that I have served thirteen years in Flanders, +where I have learned to value your boastings and know what sieges are. +On the contrary, if you will deliver the ships in which you have come +to me, I will let you have one to return with. And these are the +orders of my King and Master, and none other, with which I have +answered your paper, in the Castle of San Felipe del Morro, the 30th +of September, 1625. + +"JUAN DE HARO." + +The next day a heavy cannonading commenced, the Hollanders firing over +150 shots at the castle with small effect. The same day a Spanish ship +arrived with wine and provisions, but seeing the danger it ran of +being taken, did not enter the port, but steered to la Espanola, to +the great disappointment of the people in the fort. + +On the 4th of October the governor ordered a sortie of 80 men in three +parties. On the 5th Captain Juan de Amezquita led another sortie, and +so between sorties, surprises, night attacks, and mutual cannonadings +things continued till the 21st of October. + +On that day Bowdoin sent another letter announcing his intention of +burning the city if no understanding was arrived at. To which letter +the governor replied that there was building material enough in the +island to construct another city, and that he wished the whole army of +Holland might be here to witness Spanish bravery. + +Bowdoin carried his threat into effect, and the next day over a +hundred houses were burned. Bishop Balbueno's palace and library and +the city archives were also destroyed. To put a stop to this wanton +destruction Captains Amezquita and Botello led a sortie of 200 men. +They attacked the enemy in front and rear with such _elan_ that they +drove them from their trenches and into the water in their haste to +reach their launches. + +This, and other remarkable exploits, related by the native +chroniclers, so discouraged the Hollanders that they abandoned the +siege on the 2d of November, leaving behind them one of their largest +ships, stranded, and over 400 dead. + +The fleet repaired to la Aguada to refit. Bowdoin, who, apparently, +was a better letter writer than general, sent a third missive to the +governor, asking permission to purchase victuals, which was, of +course, flatly refused. + +The king duly recompensed the brave defenders. The governor was made +Chevalier of the Order of Santiago and received a money grant of 2,000 +ducats. Captain Amezquita received 1,000 ducats, and was later +appointed Governor of Cuba. Captain Botello also received 1,000 +ducats, and others who had distinguished themselves received +corresponding rewards. + +Puerto Rico's successful resistance to this invasion encouraged the +belief that, provided the mother country should furnish the necessary +means of defense, the island would end by commanding the respect of +its enemies and be left unmolested. But the mother country's wars with +England, France, and Holland absorbed all its attention in Europe and +consumed all its resources. The colonies remained dependent for their +defense on their own efforts, while privateers, freebooters, and +pirates of the three nations at war with Spain settled like swarms of +hornets in every available island in the West Indies. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER--BUCCANEERS AND FILIBUSTERS + +1625-1780 + +The power of Spain received its death-blow during the course of the +war with England. The destruction of the Armada and of the fleets +subsequently equipped by Philip II for the invasion of Ireland were +calamities from which Spain never recovered. + +The wars with almost every European nation in turn, which raged during +the reigns of the third and fourth Philips, swallowed up all the +blood-stained treasure that the colonial governors could wring from +the natives of the New World. The flower of the German and Italian +legions had left their bones in the marshes of Holland, and Spain, the +proudest nation in Europe, had been humiliated to the point of +treating for peace, on an equal footing, with a handful of rebels and +recognizing their independence. France had four armies in the field +against her (1637). A fleet equipped with great sacrifice and +difficulty was destroyed by the Hollanders in the waters of Brazil +(1630). Van Tromp annihilated another in the English Channel, +consisting of 70 ships, with 10,000 of Spain's best troops on board. +Cataluna was in open revolt (1640). The Italian provinces followed +(1641). Portugal fought and achieved her emancipation from Spanish +rule. The treasury was empty, the people starving. Yet, while all +these calamities were befalling the land, the king and his court, +under the guidance of an inept minister (the Duke of Olivares), were +wasting the country's resources in rounds of frivolous and immoral +pleasures, in dances, theatrical representations, and bull-fights. The +court was corrupt; vice and crime were rampant in the streets of +Madrid.[40] + +Under such a regime the colonists were naturally left to take care of +themselves, and this, coupled with the policy of excluding them from +all foreign commerce, justified Spain's enemies in seeking to wrest +from her the possessions from which she drew the revenues that enabled +her to make war on them. Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Hollanders made of +the Antilles their trysting-ground for the purpose of preying upon the +common enemy. + +These were the buccaneers and filibusters of that period, the most +lawless class of men in an age of universal lawlessness, the refuse +from the seaports of northern Europe, as cruel miscreants as ever +blackened the pages of history. + +The buccaneers derived their name from the Carib word "boucan," a +kind of gridiron on which, like the natives, they cooked their meat, +hence, bou-canier. The word filibuster comes from the Spanish +"fee-lee-bote," English "fly-boat," a small, swift sailing-vessel +with a large mainsail, which enabled the buccaneers to pursue +merchantmen in the open sea and escape among the shoals and shallows +of the archipelago when pursued in their turn by men-of-war. + +They recognized no authority, no law but force. They obeyed a leader +only when on their plundering expeditions. The spoils were equally +divided, the captain's share being double that of the men. The maimed +in battle received a compensation proportionate to the injury +received. The captains were naturally distinguished by the qualities +of character that alone could command obedience from crews who feared +neither God nor man. + +One of the most dreaded among them was a Frenchman, a native of Sables +d'Olonne, hence called l'Olonais. He had been a prisoner of the +Spaniards, and the treatment he received at their hands had filled his +soul with such deadly hatred, that when he regained his liberty he +swore a solemn oath to live henceforth for revenge alone. And he did. +He never spared sex or age, and took a hellish pleasure in torturing +his victims. He made several descents on the coast of this island, +burned Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, Veragua, and other places, and was +killed at last by the Indians of Darien. + +Sir Henry Morgan, a Welsh aristocrat turned pirate, was another famous +scourge of the Spanish colonies. His inhuman treatment of the +inhabitants of Puerto Principe, in 1668, is a matter of history. He +plundered Porto Bello, Chagres, Panama, and extended his depredations +to the coast of Costa Rica. He used to subject his victims to torture +to make them declare where they had hidden their valuables, and many a +poor wretch who had no valuables to hide was ruthlessly tortured to +death. + +Pierre Legrand was another Frenchman who, after committing all kinds +of outrages in the West Indies, passed with his robber crew to the +Pacific and scoured the coasts as far as California. + +The atrocities committed by a certain Montbras, of Languedoc, earned +him the name of "the Exterminator." + + * * * * * + +When the first buccaneers made their appearance in the Antilles +(1520), the Windward Islands were still occupied by the Caribs. Here +they formed temporary settlements, which, by degrees, grew into +permanent pirates' nests. In some of these islands they found large +herds of cattle, the progeny of the first few heads introduced by the +early Spanish colonists, who afterward abandoned them. In 1625 a party +of English and French occupied the island San Cristobal. Four years +later Puerto Rico, being well garrisoned at the time, the governor, +Enrique Henriquez, fitted out an expedition to dislodge them, in which +he succeeded only to make them take up new quarters in Antigua. + +The next year the French and English buccaneers who occupied the small +island of Tortuga made a descent upon the western part of la Espanola, +called Haiti by the natives (mountainous land), and maintained +themselves there till that part of the island was ceded to France by +the treaty of Ryswyk, in 1697. + +Spain equipped a fleet to clear the West Indies from pirates in 1630, +and placed it under the command of Don Federico de Toledo. He was met +in the neighborhood of San Cristobal by a numerous fleet of small +craft, which had the advantage over the unwieldy Spanish ships in that +they could maneuver with greater rapidity and precision. There are no +reliable details of the result of the engagement. Abbad tells us that +the Spaniards were victorious, but the buccaneers continued to occupy +all the islands which they had occupied before. + +In 1634 they took possession of Curagao, Aruba, and Bonaire, near the +coast of Venezuela, and established themselves in 1638 in San +Eustaquio, Saba, San Martin, and Santa Cruz. + +In 1640 the Governor of Puerto Rico sought to expel them from the +last-named island. He defeated them, killing many and taking others +prisoners; but as soon as he returned to Puerto Rico the Hollanders +from San Eustaquio and San Martin reoccupied Santa Cruz, and he was +compelled to equip another expedition to dislodge them, in which he +was completely successful. This time he left a garrison, but in the +same year the French commander, Poincy, came with a strong force and +compelled the garrison to capitulate. The island remained a French +possession under the name of Saint Croix until it was sold to Denmark, +in 1733, for $150,000. Another expedition set out from Puerto Rico in +1650, to oust the French and Hollanders from San Martin. The Spaniards +destroyed a fort that had been constructed there, but as soon as they +returned to this island the pirates reoccupied their nest. In 1657 an +Englishman named Cook came with a sufficient force and San Martin +became an English possession. + +About 1665 the French Governor of Tortuga, Beltran Ogeron, planned the +conquest of Puerto Rico. He appeared off the coast with 3 ships, but +one of the hurricanes so frequent in these latitudes came to the +island's rescue. The ships were stranded, and the surviving Frenchmen +made prisoners. Among them was Ogeron himself, but his men shielded +him by saying that he was drowned. On the march to the capital he and +his ship's surgeon managed to escape, and, after killing the owner of +a fishing-smack, returned to Tortuga, where he immediately commenced +preparations for another invasion of Puerto Rico. When he came back he +was so well received by the armed peasantry (jibaros) that he was +forced to reembark. + +From this time to 1679 several expeditions were fitted out in San Juan +to drive the filibusters from one or another of the islands in the +neighborhood. In 1780 a fleet was equipped with the object of +definitely destroying all the pirates' nests. The greater part of the +garrison, all the Puerto Ricans most distinguished for bravery, +intelligence, and experience, took part in the expedition. The fleet +was accompanied by the Spanish battle-ship Carlos V, which carried 50 +cannon and 500 men. Of this expedition not a soul returned. It was +totally destroyed by a hurricane, and the island was once more plunged +in mourning, ruin, and poverty, from which it did not emerge till +nearly a century later. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 40: In fifteen days 110 men and women were assassinated in +the capital alone, some of them persons of distinction. Canovas, +Decadencia de Espana, Libro VI.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO--SIEGE OF SAN JUAN BY SIR RALPH +ABERCROMBIE + +1678-1797 + +The _entente cordiale_ which had existed between England under Charles +I and Spain under Philip IV ceased with the tragic death of the +first-named monarch.[41] + +Immediately after Cromwell's elevation both France and Spain made +overtures for an alliance with England. But the Protector well knew +that in the event of war with either power, Spain's colonies and +treasure-laden galleons offered a better chance for obtaining booty +than the poor possessions of France. He favored an alliance with Louis +XIV, and ended by signing a treaty with him in 1657. + +The first result of the hostilities that ensued was the capture by the +English Admirals Blake and Stayner of several richly laden galleons. + +From that time to the end of the eighteenth century England's attempts +to secure the two most-coveted Antilles (Cuba and Puerto Rico) +continued with short intervals of peace. + +In 1768 an English fleet of 22 ships, with a landing force under the +command of the Earl of Estren, appeared before San Juan and demanded +its surrender. Before a formal attack could be made a furious +hurricane wrecked the fleet on Bird Island, and everybody on board +perished excepting a few soldiers and marines, who escaped a watery +grave only to be made prisoners.[42] + +It is certain, however, that on August 5, 1702, an English brigantine +and a sloop came to Arecibo and landed 30 men, who were forced to +reembark with considerable loss, though the details of this affair, as +given by Friar Abbad, and repeated by Mr. Neuman, are evidently +largely drawn from imagination. + +In September of the following year (1703) there were landings of +Englishmen near Loiza and in the neighborhood of San German, of which +we know only that they were stoutly opposed; and we learn from an +official document that there was another landing at Boca Chica on the +south coast in 1743, when the English were once more obliged to +reembark with the loss of a pilot-boat. + +These incessant attacks, not on Puerto Rico only, but on all the other +Spanish possessions, and the reprisals they provoked, created such +animosity between the people of both countries that hostilities had +practically commenced before the declaration of war (October 23, +1739). In November Admiral Vernon was already in the Antilles with a +large fleet. He took Porto Bello, laid siege to Cartagena, but was +forced to withdraw; then he made an ineffectual attack on Cuba, after +which he passed round Cape Horn into the Pacific, caused great +consternation in Chile, sacked and burned Payta, captured the galleon +Covadonga with a cargo worth $1,500,000, and finally returned to +England with a few ships only and less than half his men. + +The next war between the two nations was the result of the famous +Bourbon family compact, and lasted from 1761 to 1763. + +Two powerful fleets sailed from England for the Antilles; the one +under the orders of Admiral Rodney attacked the French colonies and +took Martinique, Granada, Santa Lucia, San Vicente, and Tabago; the +other under Admiral Pocock appeared before Havana, June 2, 1762, with +a fleet of 30 line-of-battle ships, 100 transports, and 14,000 landing +troops under the command of the Earl of Albemarle. In four days the +English took "la Cabana," which Prado, the governor, considered the +key to the city. For some unexplained reason the Spanish fleet became +useless; but Captain Louis Velasco defended the Morro, and for two +months and ten days he kept the English at bay, till they undermined +the walls of the fort and blew them up. Then Prado capitulated (August +13), and Havana with its forts and defenses, with 60 leagues of +territory to the west of the city, with $15,000,000, an immense +quantity of naval and military stores, 9 line-of-battle ships and 3 +frigates, was delivered into Albemarle's hands. It was Puerto Rico's +turn next, and preparations were made for an attack, when the +signing of the treaty of peace in Paris (February, 1763) averted the +imminent danger. + +By the stipulations of that treaty England returned Havana and +Manila[43] to Spain in exchange for Florida and some territories on +the Mississippi; she also returned to France part of her conquered +possessions. + +In 1778 Charles III joined France in a war against England, the +motives for which, as explained by the king's minister, were frivolous +in the extreme. The real reason was England's refusal to admit Spain +as mediator in the differences with her North American colonies. This +war lasted till 1783, and though the Antilles, as usual, became the +principal scene of war, Puerto Rico happily escaped attack. + +Not so during the hostilities that broke out anew in consequence of +Charles IV's offensive and defensive alliance with the French +Republic, signed in San Ildefonso on the 18th of August, 1796. + +In February, 1797, Admiral Henry Harvey, with 60 ships, including +transports and small craft, and from 6,000 to 7,000 troops under the +orders of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, appeared before the island of +Trinidad and took possession of it with but little resistance from the +Spanish garrison. On the 17th of April the whole fleet appeared before +San Juan. + +The capital was well prepared for defense. The forts, as now existing, +were completed, and the city surrounded by a wall the strength of +which may be estimated by the appearance of the parts still intact. On +these defenses 376 pieces of cannon of different caliber were planted, +besides 35 mortars, 4 howitzers, and 3 swivel guns. The garrison was +reduced to about 200 men, part of the troops having been sent to la +Espanola to quell the insurrection of the negro population led by +Toussaint L'Ouverture. There were, besides these 200 veteran troops, +4,000 militiamen, about 2,000 men from the towns in the interior +(urbanos) armed with lances and machetes, 12 gunboats and several +French privateers, the crews of which numbered about 300. + +Abercrombie landed on the 18th at Cangrejos (Santurce) with 3,000 men, +and demanded the surrender of the city. Governor Castro, in polite but +energetic language, refused, and hostilities commenced. For the next +thirteen days there were skirmishes and more or less serious +encounters on land and sea. On the morning of the 1st of May the +defenders of the city were preparing a general attack on the English +lines, when, lo! the enemy had reembarked during the night, leaving +behind his spiked guns and a considerable quantity of stores and +ammunition. + +[Illustration: Fort San Geronimo, at Santurce, near San Juan.] + +The people ascribed this unexpected deliverance from their foes to the +miraculous intervention of the Virgin, but the real reason for the +raising of the siege was the strength of the fortifications. "Whoever +has viewed these fortifications," says Colonel Flinter,[44] "must feel +surprised that the English with a force of less than 5,000 men should +lay siege to the place, a force not sufficient for a single line along +the coast on the opposite side of the bay to prevent provisions from +being sent to the garrison from the surrounding country. Sir Ralph's +object in landing, surely, could only have been to try whether he +could surprise or intimidate the scanty garrison. Had he not +reembarked very soon, he would have had to repent his temerity, for +the shipping could not safely remain at anchor where there was no +harbor and where a dangerous coast threatened destruction. His +communication with the country was cut off by the armed peasantry, who +rose _en masse_, and to the number of not less than 20,000 threw +themselves into the fortress in less than a week after the invasion, +so that the British forces would, most undoubtedly, have been obliged +to surrender at discretion had the commander not effected a timely +retreat." + +The enemy's retreat was celebrated with a solemn Te Deum in the +cathedral, at which the governor, the municipal authorities, and all +the troops assisted. The municipality addressed the king, giving due +credit to the brilliant military qualities displayed during the siege +by the governor and his officers. The governor was promoted to the +rank of field-marshal and the officers correspondingly. To the +municipality the privilege was granted to encircle the city's coat of +arms with the words: "For its constancy, love, and fidelity, this city +is yclept very noble and very loyal." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 41: He was decapitated February 9, 1649.] + +[Footnote 42: So says Abbad. No mention is made of this episode in +Senor Acosta's notes, nor is the name of Earl Estren to be found among +those of the British commanders of that period.] + +[Footnote 43: Manila was taken in October, 1762.] + +[Footnote 44: An Account of Puerto Rico. London, 1834,] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO _(continued)_--INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN +INSURGENTS + +1797-1829 + +The raising of the siege of San Juan by Abercrombie did not raise at +the same time the blockade of the island. Communications with the +metropolis were cut off, and the remittances from Mexico which, under +the appellation of "situados," constituted the only means of carrying +on the Government, were suspended.[45] In San Juan the garrison was +kept on half pay, provisions were scarce, and the influx of immigrants +from la Espanola, where a bloody civil war raged at the time, +increased the consumption and the price. The militia corps was +disbanded to prevent serious injury to the island's agricultural +interests, although English attacks on different points of the coast +continued, and kept the inhabitants in a state of constant fear and +alarm. + +In December, 1797, an English three-decker and a frigate menaced +Aguadilla, but an attempt at landing was repulsed. Another attempt to +land was made at Guayanilla with the same result, and in June, 1801, +Guayanilla was again attacked. This time an English frigate sent +several launches full of men ashore, but they were beaten off by the +people, who, armed only with lances and machetes, pursued them into +the water, "swimming or wading up to their necks," says Mr. Neuman.[46] + +From 1801 to 1808 England's navy and English privateers pursued both +French and Spanish ships with dogged pertinacity. In August, 1803, +British privateers boarded and captured a French frigate in the port +of Salinas in this island. Four Spanish homeward-bound frigates fell +into their hands about the same time. Another English frigate captured +a French privateer in what is now the port of Ponce (November 12, +1804) and rescued a British craft which the privateer had captured. +Even the negroes of Haiti armed seven privateers under British +auspices and preyed upon the French and Spanish merchant ships in +these Antilles. + +Governor Castro, during the whole of his period of service, had vainly +importuned the home Government for money and arms and ships to defend +this island against the ceaseless attacks of the English. When he +handed over the command to his successor, Field-Marshal Toribio +Montes, in 1804, the treasury was empty. He himself had long ceased to +draw his salary, and the money necessary to attend to the most +pressing needs for the defense was obtained by contributions from the +inhabitants. + +While the people of Puerto Rico were thus giving proofs of their +loyalty to Spain, and sacrificing their lives and property to preserve +their poverty-stricken island to the Spanish crown, the other +colonies, rich and important, were breaking the bonds that united them +to the mother country. + +The example of the English colonies had long since awakened among the +more enlightened class of creoles on the continent a desire for +emancipation, which the events in France on the one hand, and the +ill-advised, often cruel measures adopted by the Spanish authorities +to quench that aspiration, on the other hand, had only served to make +irresistible. But Puerto Rico did not aspire to emancipation. It never +had been a colony, there was no creole class, and the only indigenous +population--the "jibaros," the mixed descendants of Indians, negroes, +and Spaniards--were too poor, too illiterate, too ignorant of +everything concerning the outside world to look with anything but +suspicion upon the invitations of the insurgents of Colombia and +Venezuela to join them or imitate their example. They, nor the great +majority of the masses whom Bolivar, San Martin, Hidalgo, and others +liberated from an oppressive yoke, cared little for the rights of man. +When the Colombian insurgents landed on the coast of Puerto Rico, to +encourage and assist the people to shake off a yoke which did not gall +them, they were looked upon by the natives as freebooters of another +class who came to plunder them. + +On the 20th of December, 1819, an insurgent brigantine and a sloop +attempted a landing at Aguadilla. They were beaten back by a Spanish +sergeant at the head of a detachment of twenty men, while a Mr. +Domeneck with his servants attended to the artillery in Fort San +Carlos, constructed during Castro's administration. In February, 1825, +some insurgent ships landed fifty marines at night near Point +Boriquen, where the lighthouse now is. They captured the fort by +surprise and dismounted the guns, but the people of Aguadilla replaced +them on their carriages the next day and offered such energetic +resistance to the landing parties that they had to retreat. + +Another landing was effected at Patillas in November, 1829. This port +was opened to commerce by royal decree December 30, 1821. There were +several small trading craft in the port at the time of the attack. +They fell a prey to the invaders; but when they landed they were met +by the armed inhabitants, and after a sharp fight, in which the +Colombians had 8 men killed, they reembarked. + + * * * * * + +The beginning of the nineteenth century found Spain deprived of all +that beautiful island world which Columbus had laid at the foot of the +throne of Ferdinand and Isabel four centuries ago, of all but a part +of the "Espanola," since called Santo Domingo, and of the two +Antilles. Before the first quarter of the century had passed all the +continental colonies had broken the bonds that united them to the +mother country, and before the twentieth century the last vestiges of +the most extensive and the richest colonial empire ever possessed by +any nation refused further allegiance, as the logical result of four +centuries of political, religious, and financial myopia. + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 45: They ceased altogether in 1810, as a result of the +revolution in Mexico.] + +[Footnote 46: Benefactores and Hombres Illustres de Puerto Rico, p. +289.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE POLITICAL +EVENTS IN SPAIN FROM + +1765 TO 1820 + +After the conquest of Mexico and Peru with their apparently inexhaustible +mineral wealth, Spain attached very little importance to the archipelago +of the Antilles. The largest and finest only of these islands were +selected for colonization, the small and comparatively sterile ones were +neglected, and fell an easy prey to pirates and privateers. + +Puerto Rico, notwithstanding its advantages of soil and situation, was +considered for the space of three centuries only as a fit place of +banishment (a _presidio_) for the malefactors of the mother country. +Agriculture did not emerge from primitive simplicity. The inhabitants +led a pastoral life, cultivating food barely sufficient for their +support, because there was no stimulus to exertion. They looked +passively upon the riches centered in their soil, and rocked +themselves to sleep in their hammocks. The commerce carried on +scarcely deserved that name. The few wants of the people were supplied +by a contraband trade with St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. In the island's +finances a system of fraud and peculation prevailed, and the amount of +public revenue was so inadequate to meet the expenses of maintaining +the garrison that the officers' and soldiers' pay was reduced to +one-fourth of its just amount, and they often received only a +miserable ration. + +His Excellency Alexander O'Reilly, who came to the Antilles on a +commission from Charles IV, in his report on Puerto Rico (1765) gives +the following description of the condition of the inhabitants at that +time: + +" ... To form an idea of how these natives have lived and still live, +it is enough to say that there are only two schools in the whole +island; that outside of the capital and San German few know how to +read; that they count time by changes in the Government, hurricanes, +visits from bishops, arrivals of 'situados,' etc. They do not know +what a league is. Each one reckons distance according to his own speed +in traveling. The principal ones among them, including those of the +capital, when they are in the country go barefooted and barelegged. +The whites show no reluctance at being mixed up with the colored +population. In the towns (the capital included) there are few +permanent inhabitants besides the curate; the others are always in the +country, except Sundays and feast-days, when those living near to +where there is a church come to hear mass. During these feast-days +they occupy houses that look like hen-coops. They consist of a couple +of rooms, most of them without doors or windows, and therefore open +day and night. Their furniture is so scant that they can move in an +instant. The country houses are of the same description. There is +little distinction among the people. The only difference between them +consists in the possession of a little more or less property, and, +perhaps, the rank of a subaltern officer in the militia." + +Abbad makes some suggestions for increasing the population. He +proposes the distribution of the unoccupied lands among the +"agregados" or idle "hangers-on" of each family; among the convicts +who have served out their time and can not or will not return to the +Peninsula; among the freed slaves, who have purchased their own +freedom or have been manumitted by their masters; and, finally, among +the great number of individuals who, having deserted from ships or +being left behind, wandered about from place to place or became +contrabandists, pirates, or thieves. + +"Their numbers are so small and the soil so fruitful they generally +have an abundance of bananas, maize, beans, and other food. Fish is +abundant, and few are without a cow or two. The only furniture they +have and need is a hammock and a cooking-pot. Plates, spoons, jugs, +and basins they make of the bark of the 'totumo,' a tree which is +found in every forest. A saber or a 'machete,' as they call it, is the +only agricultural implement they use. The construction of their houses +does not occupy them more than a day or two." + +The good friar goes on to tell us that, through indolence, they have +not even learned from the Indians how to protect their plantations +from the fierce heat of the sun and avoid consequent failure of crops +in time of drought, by making the plantations in clearings in the +forest, so that the surrounding walls of verdure may give moisture +and shade to the plants. "Nor have they learned to build their bohios +(huts) to windward of swamps or clearings to avoid the fever-laden +emanations." + + * * * * * + +The stirring events in Europe that marked the end of the eighteenth +and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries did not find these +conditions much changed, though _some_ advance had been made and was +being made in spite of the prohibitive measures of the Government, +which were well calculated to check all advance. To prevent the spread +of the ideas that had given birth to the French Revolution, absolute +powers were granted to the captains-general, odious restrictions were +placed upon all communication with the interior, sacrifices in men and +money were demanded on the plea of patriotism, and a policy of +suspicion and distrust adopted toward the colonies which in the end +fomented the very political aspirations it was intended to suppress. + +From the outbreak of the French Revolution, Spain was entangled in a +maze of political difficulties. The natural sympathy of Charles IV for +the unfortunate King of France well-nigh provoked hostilities between +the two nations from the very beginning. The king gave public +expression to his opinion that to make war on France was as legitimate +as to make war on pirates and bandits; and the Directory, though it +took little notice at the time, remembered it when Godoy, the +favorite, in his endeavors to save the lives of Louis XVI and his +family entered into correspondence with the French emigres. Then war +was declared. + +The war was popular. All classes contended to make the greatest +sacrifices to aid the Government. Men and money came in abundantly, +and before long three army corps crossed the Pyrenees into French +territory ... They had to recross the next year, followed by the +victorious soldiers of the Republic, who planted the tricolor on some +of the principal Spanish frontier fortresses. Then the peace of +Basilia was signed, and, as one of the conditions of that peace, Spain +ceded to France the part she still held of Santo Domingo. + +From this period Charles, in the terror inspired by the excesses of +the Revolution and the probable fear for his own safety, forgot that +he was a Bourbon and began to seek an alliance with the executioners +of his family. As a result, the treaty of San Ildefonso was signed +(1796). Spain became the enemy of England, and the first effects +thereof which she experienced were the bombardment of Cadiz by an +English fleet, the loss of the island of Trinidad, and the siege of +Puerto Rico by Abercrombie. + +Spain also became the willing vassal, rather than the ally, of the +military genius whom the French Revolution had revealed, and obeyed +his mandates without a murmur. In 1803 Napoleon demanded a subsidy of +6,000,000 francs per month as the price of Spain's neutrality, but in +the following year he insisted on the renewal of the alliance against +England (treaty of Paris, 1804). The total destruction of the Spanish +fleet at the battles of Saint Vincent and Trafalgar was the result. + +Godoy, who in his ambitious dreams had seen a crown and a throne +somewhere in Portugal to be bestowed on him by the man to whose +triumphal car he had attached his king and his country, began to +suspect Napoleon's intentions. + +Seeing the war-clouds gather in the north of Europe, he thought that +the coalition of the powers against the tyrant was the presage of his +downfall, and he now hastened to send an emissary to England. + +The war-clouds burst, and from amid the thunder and smoke of battle at +Jena, Eylau, and Friedland, the victor's figure arose more imperious +than ever. All the crowned heads of Europe but one[47] hastened to do +him homage, among them Charles IV of Spain and the Prince of Asturias, +his son. + +The next step in the grand drama that was being enacted was the +occupation of Spanish territory by what Bonaparte was pleased to call +an army of observation. This time Godoy's suspicions became confirmed, +and to save the royal family he counsels the king to withdraw to +Andalusia. Ferdinand conspires to dethrone his father, the people +become excited, riots take place, Godoy's residence in Aranguez is +attacked by the mob, and the king abdicates in favor of his son. +Napoleon himself now lands at Bayona. Charles and his son hasten +thither to salute Europe's master, and, after declaring that his +abdication was imposed on him by violence, the king resumes his +crown and humbly lays it at the feet of the arbiter of the fate of +kings, who stoops to pick it up only to offer it to his brother Louis, +who refuses it. Then he places it on the head of his younger brother +Joseph. + +Thus fared the crown of Spain, the erstwhile proud mistress of half +the world, and the degenerate successors of Charles V accept an asylum +in France from the hands of a soldier of fortune. + +But if their rulers had lost all sense of dignity, all feeling of +national pride, the Spanish nation remained true to itself, and when +the doings at Bayona became known a cry of indignation went up from +the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean. On May 2, 1808, the people of Spain +commenced a six years' struggle full of heroic and terrible episodes. +At the end of that period the necessity of withdrawing the French +troops from Spain to confront the second coalition, and the assistance +of the English under Lord Wellesley cleared the Peninsula of French +soldiers. After the battle of Leipzig (1813) a treaty between +Ferdinand VII and Napoleon was signed in Valencia, and Spain's +independence was recognized and guaranteed by the allies. + + * * * * * + +From the beginning of the war many officers and privates, residents of +Puerto Rico, enlisted to serve against the French, and large sums of +money, considering the island's poverty, were subscribed among the +inhabitants to aid in the defense of the mother country. + +Ferdinand VII reentered Madrid as king on March 24, 1814, accompanied +by a coterie of retrograde, revengeful priests, of whom his +confessor, Victor Saez, was the leader. He made this priest Minister +of State, and soon proved the truth of the saying that the Bourbons +forget nothing, forgive nothing, and learn nothing from experience. + +He commenced by ignoring the regency and the Cortes. These had +preserved his kingdom for him while he was an exile. He refused to +recognize the constitution which they had framed, and at once +initiated an epoch of cruel persecution against such as had +distinguished themselves by their talents, love of liberty, and +progressive ideas. The public press was completely silenced, the +Inquisition reestablished, the convents reopened, provincial +deputations and municipalities abolished, distinguished men were +surprised in their beds at night and torn from the arms of their wives +and children, to be conducted by soldiers to the fortress of Ceuta--in +short, the Government was a civil dictatorship occupied in hanging the +most distinguished citizens, while the military authorities busied +themselves in shooting them. + +In the colonies the king's lackeys repeated the same outrages. Puerto +Rico suffered like the rest, and many of the best families emigrated +to the neighboring English and French possessions. + +The result of the royal turpitude was the revolution headed by Rafael +Diego, seconded by General O'Daly, a Puerto Rican by birth, who had +greatly distinguished himself in the war against the French. Other +generals and their troops followed, and when General Labisbal, sent by +Ferdinand to quell the insurrection, joined his comrades, the +trembling tyrant was only too glad to save his throne by swearing to +maintain the constitution of 1812. O'Daly's share in these events +raised him to the rank of field-marshal, and the people of Puerto Rico +elected him their deputy to Cortes by a large majority (1820). + +The first constitutional regime in Puerto Rico was not abolished till +December 3, 1814. For the great majority of the inhabitants of the +island at that time the privileges of citizenship had neither meaning +nor value. They were still too profoundly ignorant, too desperately +poor, to take any interest in what was passing outside of their +island. Cock-fighting and horse-racing occupied most of their time. +Schools had not increased much since O'Reilly reported the existence +of two in 1765. There was an official periodical, the Gazette, in +which the Government offered spelling-books _for sale_ to those who +wished to learn to read.[48] + +During the second constitutional period, Puerto Rico was divided by a +resolution in Cortes into 7 judicial districts, and tablets with the +constitutional prescriptions on them were ordered to be placed in the +plazas of the towns in the interior. Public spirit began to awaken, +several patriotic associations were formed, among them those of "the +Lovers of Science," "the Liberals, Lovers of their Country," and +others. But the dawn of progress was eclipsed again toward the end of +1823, when the news of the fall of the second constitutional regime +reached Puerto Rico a few months after the people had elected their +deputies to Cortes. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 47: The King of England.] + +[Footnote 48: Neuman, p. 354.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ISLAND + +FROM 1815 TO 1833 + +That Ferdinand should, while engaged in cruel persecution of his best +subjects in the Peninsula, think of dictating liberal laws for this +island is an anomaly which can be explained only by its small +political importance. + +In August, 1815, there appeared a decree entitled "Regulations for +promoting the population, commerce, industry, and agriculture of +Puerto Rico." It embraced every object, and provided for all the +various incidents that could instil life and vigor into an infant +colony. It held out the most flattering prospects to industrious and +enterprising foreigners. It conferred the rights and privileges of +Spaniards on them and their children. Lands were granted to them +gratis, and no expenses attended the issue of titles and legal +documents constituting it private property. The quantity of land +allotted was in proportion to the number of slaves introduced by each +new settler. The new colonists were not to be subject to taxes or +export duty on their produce, or import duties on their agricultural +implements. If war should be declared between Spain and their native +country, their persons and properties were to be respected, and if +they wished to leave the island they were permitted to realize on +their property and carry its value along with them, paying 10 per cent +on the surplus of the capital they had brought. They were exempted +from the capitation tax or personal tribute. Each slave was to pay a +tax of one dollar yearly after having been ten years in the island. +During the first five years the colonists had liberty to return to +their former places of residence, and in this case could carry with +them all that they had brought without being obliged to pay export +duty. Those who should die in the island without heirs might leave +their property to their friends and relations in other countries. The +heirs had the privilege of remaining on the same conditions as the +testators, or if they preferred to take away their inheritance they +might do so on paying a duty of 15 per cent. + +The colonists were likewise exonerated from the payment of tithes for +fifteen years, and at the end of that period they were to pay only 2 +12 per cent. They were equally free, for the same period, from the +payment of alcabala,[49] and at the expiration of the specified term +they were to pay 2 12 per cent, but if they shipped their produce to +Spain, nothing. The introduction of negroes into the island was to be +perpetually free. Direct commerce with Spain and the other Spanish +possessions was to be free for fifteen years, and after that period +Puerto Rico was to be placed on the same footing with the other +Spanish colonies. These concessions and exemptions were contained in +thirty-three articles, and though, at the present day, they may seem +but the abolition of unwarrantable abuses, at the time the concessions +were made they were real and important and produced salutary effects. +They brought foreigners possessing capital and agricultural knowledge +into the country, whose habits of industry and skill in cultivation +soon began to be imitated and acquired by the natives. + +The effects of the revolution of 1820 were felt in Puerto Rico as well +as in Spain. The concentration of civil and military power in the +hands of the captains-general ceased, but party spirit began to show +its disturbing influence. The press, hitherto muffled by political and +ecclesiastical censors, often went to the extremes of abuse and +personalities. Mechanics and artisans began to neglect their workshops +to listen to the harangues of politicians on the nature of governments +and laws. Agriculture and commerce diminished. Great but ineffectual +efforts were made to induce the people of Puerto Rico to follow the +example of the colonies on the continent and proclaim their +independence. + +This state of affairs lasted till 1823, when, through French +intervention, the constitutional Government in Spain was overthrown, +and a second reactionary period set in even worse in its +manifestations of odium to progress and liberty than the one of 1814. +The leading men of the fallen government, to escape death or +imprisonment, emigrated. Among them was O'Daly, who, after living some +time in London, settled in Saint Thomas, where he earned a precarious +living as teacher of languages.[50] + + * * * * * + +In 1825 the island's governor was Lieutenant-General Miguel de la +Torre, Count de Torrepando, who was invested by the king with +viceregal powers, which he used in the first place to put a stop to +the organized system of defalcation that existed. The proof of the +efficacy of the timely and vigorous proceedings which he employed was +the immediate increase of the public revenue, which from that day +continued rapidly to advance. The troops in garrison and all persons +employed in the public service were regularly paid, nearly half the +arrears of back pay were gradually paid off, confidence was restored, +and "more was accomplished for the island during the last seven years +of Governor La Torre's administration (from 1827 to 1834), and more +money arising from its revenues was expended on works of public +utility, than the total amounts furnished for the same object during +the preceding 300 years." [51] + +The era of prosperity which marked the period of Count de Torrepando's +administration, and which at the same time prevailed in Cuba also, was +largely due to the advent in these Antilles of many of the best and +wealthiest citizens of Venezuela, Colombia, and Santo Domingo, who, +driven from their homes by the incessant revolutions, to escape +persecution settled in them, and infused a new and healthier element +in the lower classes of the population. + +The condition of Puerto Rican society at this period, though much +improved since 1815, still left much to be desired. The leaders of +society were the Spanish civil and military officers, who, with little +prospect of returning to the Peninsula, married wealthy creole women +and made the island their home. Their descendants form the aristocracy +of today. Next came the merchants and shopkeepers, active and +industrious Catalans, Gallegos, Mallorquins, who seldom married but +returned to the Peninsula as soon as they had made sufficient money. +These and the soldiers of the garrison made a transitory population. +Tradesmen and artisans, as a rule, were creoles. Besides these, the +island swarmed with adventurers of all countries, who came and went as +fortune favored or frowned. + +There was another class of "whites" who made up no inconsiderable +portion of the population--namely, the convicts who had served out +their time in the island's fortress. Few of them had any inducements +to return to their native land. They generally succeeded in finding a +refuge with some family of colored people, and it may be supposed that +this ingraftment did not enhance the morality of the class with whom +they mixed. The evil reputation which Puerto Rico had in the French +and English Antilles as being an island where rape, robbery, and +assassination were rife was probably due to this circumstance, and not +altogether undeserved, for we read[52] that in 1827 the municipal +corporation of Aguadilla discussed the convenience of granting or +refusing permission for the celebration of the annual Feast of the +Conception, which had been suspended since 1820 at the request of the +curate, "on account of the gambling, rapes, and robberies that +accompanied it." + +Horse-racing and cock-fighting remained the principal amusement of the +populace. Every house and cabin had its game-cock, every village its +licensed cockpit. The houses of all classes were built of wood; the +cabins of the "jibaros" were mere bamboo hovels, where the family, +males and females of all ages, slept huddled together on a platform of +boards. There were no inns in country or town, except one in the +capital. Schools for both sexes were wanting, a few youths were sent +by their parents to be educated in France or Spain or the United +States, and after two or three years returned with a little +superficial knowledge. + +About this time the formation of a militia corps of 7,000 men was a +step in the right direction. The people, dispersed over the face of +the country, living in isolated houses, had little incentive to +industry. Their wants were few and easily satisfied, and their time +was spent swinging in a hammock or in their favorite amusements. The +obligation to serve in the militia forced them to abandon their +indolent and unsocial habits and appear in the towns on Sundays for +drill. They were thus compelled to be better dressed, and a salutary +spirit of emulation was produced. This created new wants, which had to +be supplied by increased labor, their manners were softened, and if +their morals did not gain, they were, at least, aroused from the +listless inactivity of an almost savage life to exertion and social +intercourse. + +Such were the social conditions of the island when the death of +Ferdinand VII gave rise to an uninterrupted succession of political +upheavals, the baneful effects of which were felt here. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 49: Duty on the sale of produce or articles of commerce.] + +[Footnote 50: In 1834 the Queen Regent, Maria Christina, gave him +permission to reside in Puerto Rico. Two years later he was reinstated +in favor and was made Military Governor of Cartagena. He died in +Madrid a few years later.] + +[Footnote 51: Colonel Flinter. An Account of the Present State of the +Island of Puerto Rico. London, 1834.] + +[Footnote 52: Brau, p. 284.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON AFFAIRS IN PUERTO +RICO + +1833-1874 + +THE French Revolution of 1830 and the expulsion of Charles X revived +the hopes of the liberal party in Spain, which party the bigoted +absolutism of the king and his minister had vainly endeavored to +exterminate. The liberals saluted that event as a promise that the +nineteenth century should see the realization of their aspirations, +and the exiled members of the party at once came to France to attempt +an invasion of Spain, counting upon the sympathy of the French +Government, which was denied them. The attempt only brought renewed +persecution to the members at home. + +Fortunately, the king's failing health and subsequent death +transferred the reins of government to the hands of the queen, who, +less absolutist than her consort, reopened the universities, which had +long been closed, and proclaimed a general amnesty, thus bringing the +expatriated and imprisoned Liberals back to political life. + +After the king's death the pretensions of Don Carlos, his brother, lit +the torch of civil war, which blazed fiercely till 1836, when a +revolution changed the Government's policy and the constitution of +1812 was again declared in force. In 1837 the Cortes, though nearly +all the Deputies were Progressists, by a vote of 90 to 60, deprived +Cuba and Puerto Rico of the right of representation. + +Another Carlist campaign was initiated in 1838. In 1839 Maria +Christina, having lost her prestige, was obliged to abdicate; then +followed the regency of the Duke de la Victoria Espartero, an +insurrection in Barcelona, the Cortes of 1843, an attack on Madrid, +and the fall of the regency, a period of seven years marked by a +series of military pronunciamentos, the last of which was headed by +General Prim. + +Isabel II was now declared of age (1843), and from the date of her +accession two political parties, the Progressists and the Moderates, +under the leadership of Espartero and Narvaez respectively, contended +for control, until, in 1865, the insurrection of Vicalvaro gave the +direction of affairs to O'Donnell, Canovas del Castillo, and others, +who represented the liberal Unionist party. They remained in power +till 1866, when Prim and Gonzales Bravo raised the standard of revolt +once more and Isabel II was dethroned. Then another provisional +government was formed under a triumvirate composed of Generals Prim, +Serrano, and Topete, who represented the Progressist and the +democratic parties (September, 1868). They steered the ship of state +till 1871, and, seeing the rocks of revolution still ahead, offered +the Spanish crown to Amadeo, who, after wearing it scarce two years, +found it too heavy for his brow, and abdicated. He had changed +ministeriums six times in less than two years, and came to the +conclusion that the modern Spaniards were ungovernable. + +A republican form of government was now established (February 11, +1873), and it was understood by all parties that it should be a +Federal Republic, in which each of the provinces should enjoy the +largest possible amount of autonomy, subject to the authority of the +central government. + +This proved to be the stumbling-block; the deputies could not agree on +the details, passions were aroused, violent discussions took place. +The Carlists, seeing a favorable opportunity, plunged the Basque +provinces, Navarra, Cataluna, lower Aragon, and part of Castilla and +Valencia, into civil war. At the same time, the Radicals promoted what +were called "cantonnal" insurrections in Cartagena, and Spain seemed +on the verge of social chaos and ruin. + +A _coup d'etat_ saved the country. General Pavia, the Captain-General +of Madrid, with a body of guards forced an entrance into the halls of +congress and turned the Deputies out (January 3, 1874). A provisional +government was once more constituted with Serrano at the head. His +first act was to dissolve the Cortes. + + * * * * * + +The events just summarized exercised a baneful influence on the +social, political, and economic conditions of this and of its more +important sister Antilla. + +Royalists, Carlists, Liberals, Reformists, Unionists, Moderates, and +men of other political parties disputed over the direction of the +nation's affairs at the point of the sword, and as each party obtained +an ephemeral victory it hastened to send its partizans to govern +these islands. The new governors invariably proceeded at once to undo +what their predecessors had wrought before them. + +They succeeded each other at short intervals. From 1837 to 1874 +twenty-six captains-general came to Puerto Rico, only six of whom left +any grateful memories behind. The others looked upon the people as +always watching for an opportunity to follow the example of the +continental colonies. They pursued a policy of distrust, suspicion, +and of uncompromising antagonism to the people's most legitimate +aspirations. + +The reactionists, in their implacable odium of progress and liberty, +considered every measure calculated to give greater freedom to the +people or raise their moral and intellectual status as a crime against +the mother country; hence the utter absence of the means of education, +and a systematic demoralization of the masses. + +Don Angel Acosta[53] mentions the Count de Torrepando as an example of +this. He came from Venezuela to govern this island in 1837, with the +express purpose, he declared, of diverting the attention of the +inhabitants from the revolutionary doings of Bolivar. + +Gambling was, and is still, one of the ruling vices of the common +people. He encouraged it, established cockpits in every town and +instituted the carnival games. He also established the feast of San +Juan, which lasted, and still lasts, the whole month of June; and +when some respectable people, Insulars as well as Peninsulars, +protested against this official propaganda of vice and idleness, he +replied: "Let them be--while they dance and gamble they don't +conspire; ... these people must be governed by three B's--Barraja, +Botella, and Berijo." [54] General Pezuela, a man of liberal +disposition and literary attainments,[55] stigmatized the people of +Puerto Rico as a people without faith, without thought, and without +religion, and, though he afterward did something for the intellectual +development of the inhabitants, in the beginning of his administration +(1848-1851) thought it expedient not to discourage cock-fighting, but +regulated it. + +In 1865 gambling was public and universal. In the capital there was a +gambling-house in almost every street. One in the upper story of the +house at the corner of San Francisco and Cruz Streets, kept by an +Italian, was crowded day and night. The bank could be distinctly seen +from the Plaza, and the noise, the oaths, the foul language, mixing +with the chink of money distinctly heard. When the governor's +attention (General Felix Messina) was called to the scandalous +exhibition, his answer was: "Let them gamble, ... while they are at it +they will not occupy themselves with politics, and if they get ruined +it is for the benefit of others." + +This systematic villification of the people completely neutralized +the effect of the measures adopted from time to time by progressist +governors, such as the Count of Mirasol, Norzagaray, Cotoner, and +Pavia, and not even the revolution of September, 1868, materially +affected the disgraceful condition of affairs in the island. Only +those who paid twenty-five pesos direct contribution had the right of +suffrage. The press remained subject to previous censorship, its +principal function being to swing the incense-burner; the right of +public reunion was unknown, and if known would have been +impracticable; the majority of the respectable citizens lived under +constant apprehension lest they should be secretly accused of +disloyalty and prosecuted. Rumors of conspiracies, filibustering +expeditions, clandestine introductions of arms, and attempts at +insurrection were the order of the day. Every Liberal was sure to be +inscribed on the lists of "suspects," harassed and persecuted. + +A seditious movement among the garrison on the 7th of June, 1867, gave +Governor Marchessi a pretext for banishing about a dozen of the +leading inhabitants of the capital, an arbitrary proceeding which was +afterward disapproved by the Government in Madrid. + +Such a situation naturally affected the economic conditions of the +island. Confidence there was none. Credit was refused. Capital +emigrated with its possessors. Commerce and agriculture languished. +Misery spread over the land. The treasury was empty, for no +contributions could be collected from an impoverished population, and +the island's future was compromised by loans at usurious rates. + +The dethronement of Isabel II, and the revolution of September, 1868, +brought a change for the better. The injustice done to the Antilles by +the Cortes of 1873 was repaired, and the island was again called upon +to elect representatives. The first meetings with that object were +held in February, 1869. + +The ideas and tendencies of the Liberal and Conservative parties among +the native Puerto Ricans were now beginning to be defined. Each party +had its organ in the press[56] and advocated its principles; the +authorities stood aloof; the elections came off in an orderly manner +(May, 1869); the Conservatives carried the first and third districts, +the Liberals the second. + +It may be said that the political education of the Puerto Ricans +commenced with the royal decree of 1865, which authorized the minister +of ultramarine affairs, Canovas del Castillo, to draw up a report from +the information to be furnished by special commissioners to be elected +in Puerto Rico and Cuba, which information was to serve as a basis for +the enactment of special laws for the government of each island. This +gave the commissioners an opportunity to discuss their views on +insular government with the leading public men of Spain, and they +profited by these discussions till 1867, when they returned. + +The question of the abolition of slavery had not been brought to a +decision. The insular deputies were almost equally divided in their +opinions for and against, but the revolutionary committee in its +manifesto declared that from September 19, 1868, all children born of +a slave mother should be free. + +In Puerto Rico this measure remained without effect owing to the +arbitrary and reactionist character of the governor who was appointed +to succeed Don Julian Pavia, during whose just and prudent +administration the so-called Insurrection of Lares happened. It was +originally planned by an ex-commissioner to Cortes, Don Ruiz Belviz, +and his friend Betances, who had incurred the resentment of Governor +Marchessi, and who were banished in consequence. They obtained the +remission of their sentences in Madrid. Betances returned to Santo +Domingo and Belviz started on a tour through Spanish-American +republics to solicit assistance in his secessionist plan; but he died +in Valparaiso, and Betances was left to carry it out alone. + +September 20, 1868, two or three hundred individuals of all classes +and colors, many of them negro slaves brought along by their masters +under promise of liberation, met at the coffee plantation of a Mr. +Bruckman, an American, who provided them with knives and machetes, of +which he had a large stock in readiness. Thus armed they proceeded to +the plantation of a Mr. Rosas, who saluted them as "the army of +liberators," and announced himself as their general-in-chief, in token +whereof he was dressed in the uniform of an American fireman, with a +tri-colored scarf across his breast, a flaming sash around his waist, +with sword, revolver, and cavalry boots. During the day detachments +of men from different parts of the district joined the party and +brought the numbers to from eight to ten hundred. The commissariat, +not yet being organized, the general-in-chief generously provided an +abundant meal for his men, which, washed down with copious drafts of +rum, put them in excellent condition to undertake the march on Lares +that same evening. + +At midnight the peaceful inhabitants of that small town, which lies +nestled among precipitous mountains in the interior, were startled +from their sleep by loud yells and cries of "Long live Puerto Rico +independent! Down with Spain! Death to the Spaniards!" The alcalde and +his secretary, who came out in the street to see what the noise was +about, were made prisoners and placed in the stocks, where they were +soon joined by a number of Spaniards who lived in the town. + +The contents of two or three wine and provision shops (pulperias) that +were plundered kept the "enthusiasm" alive. + +The next day the Republic of Boriquen was proclaimed. To give +solemnity to the occasion, the curate was forced to hold a +thanksgiving service and sing a Te Deum, after which the Provisional +Government was installed. Francisco Ramirez, a small landholder, was +the president. The justice of the peace was made secretary of +government, his clerk became secretary of finance, another clerk was +made secretary of justice, and the lessee of a cockpit secretary of +state. The "alcaldia" was the executive's palace, and the queen's +portrait, which hung in the room, was replaced by a white flag with +the inscription: "Long live free Puerto Rico! Liberty or Death! 1868." + +The declaration of independence came next. All Spaniards were ordered +to leave the island with their families within three days, failing +which they would be considered as citizens of the new-born republic +and obliged to take arms in its defense; in case of refusal they would +be treated as traitors. + +The next important step was to form a plan of campaign. It was agreed +to divide "the army" in two columns and march them the following day +on the towns of Pepino and Camuy; but when morning came it appeared +that the night air had cooled the enthusiasm of more than half the +number of "liberators," and that, considering discretion the better +part of valor, they had returned to their homes. + +However, there were about three hundred men left, and with these the +"commander-in-chief" marched upon Pepino. When the inhabitants became +aware of the approach of their liberators they ran to shut themselves +up in their houses. The column made a short halt at a "pulperia" in +the outskirts of the town, to take some "refreshment," and then boldly +penetrated to the plaza, where it was met by sixteen loyal militiamen. +A number of shots were exchanged. One "libertador" was killed and two +or three wounded, when suddenly some one cried: "The soldiers are +coming!" This was the signal for a general _sauve qui peut_, and soon +Commander Rojas with a few of his "officers" were left alone. It is +said that he tried to rally his panic-stricken warriors, but they +would not listen to him. Then he returned to his plantation a sadder, +but, presumably, a wiser man.[57] + +As soon as the news of the disturbance reached San Juan, the Governor +sent Lieutenant-Colonel Gamar in pursuit of the rebels, with orders to +investigate the details of the movement and make a list of names of +all those implicated. Rosas and all his followers were taken prisoners +without resistance. Bruckman and a Venezuelan resisted and were shot +down. + +Here was an opportunity for the reactionists to visit on the heads of +all the members of the reform party the offense of a few misguided +jibaros, and they tried hard to persuade the governor to adopt severe +measures against their enemies; but General Pavia was a just and a +prudent man, and he placed the rebels at the disposition of the civil +court. They were imprisoned in Lares, Arecibo, and Aguadilla, and, +while awaiting their trial, an epidemic, brought on by the unsanitary +conditions of the prisons in which they were packed, speedily carried +off seventy-nine of them. + +Of the rest seven were condemned to death, but the governor pardoned +five. The remaining two were pardoned by his successor. + +So ended the insurrection of Lares. During the trial of the rebels, +the same members of the reform party who had been banished by +Governor Marchessi, Don Julian Blanco, Don Jose Julian Acosta, Don +Pedro Goico, Don Rufino Goenaga, and Don Calixto Romero, were +denounced as the leaders of the Separatist movement. They were +imprisoned, but were soon after found to have been falsely accused and +liberated. + +[Illustration: Only remaining gate of the city wall, San Juan.] + +Until the arrival of General Don Gabriel Baldrich as governor (May, +1870), Puerto Rico benefited little by the revolution of September, +1868. The insurrection in Cuba, which coincided with the movement in +Lares, made Sanz, the successor of Pavia, a man of arbitrary character +and reactionary principles, adopt a policy more suspicious and +intransigent than ever (from 1869 to 1870), but Governor Baldrich was +a staunch Liberal, and the Separatist phantom which had haunted +his predecessor had no terrors for him. From the day of his arrival, +the dense atmosphere of obstruction, distrust, and jealousy in which +the island was suffocating cleared. The rumors of conspiracies ceased, +political opinions were respected, the Liberals could publicly express +their desire for reform without being subjected to insult and +persecution. The gag was removed from the mouth of the press and each +party had its proper organ. The municipal elections came off +peaceably, and the Provincial Deputation, composed entirely of Liberal +reformists, was inaugurated April 1, 1871. + +General Baldrich was terribly harassed by the intransigents here and +in the Peninsula. He was accused of being an enemy of Spain and of +protecting the Separatists. Meetings were held denouncing his +administration, menaces of expulsion were uttered, and he was insulted +even in his own palace. Violent opposition to his reform measures were +carried to such an extent that he was at last obliged to declare the +capital in a state of siege (July 26, 1871). + +On September 27th of the same year he left Puerto Rico disgusted, much +to the regret of the enlightened part of the population, which had, +for the first time, enjoyed for a short period the benefits of +political freedom. As a proof of the disposition of the majority of +the people they had elected eighteen Liberal reformists as Deputies to +Cortes out of the nineteen that corresponded to the island. + +Baldrich's successor was General Ramon Gomez Pulido, nicknamed "coco +seco" (dried coconut) on account of his shriveled appearance. Although +appointed by a Radical Ministry, he inaugurated a reactionary policy. +He ordered new elections to be held at once, and soon filled the +prisons of the island with Liberal reformists. He was followed by +General Don Simon de la Torre (1872). His reform measures met with +still fiercer opposition than that which General Baldrich encountered. +He also was forced to declare the state of siege in the capital and +landed the marines of a Spanish war-ship that happened to be in the +port. He posted them in the Morro and San Cristobal forts, with the +guns pointed on the city, threatening to bombard it if the +"inconditionals" who had tried to suborn the garrison carried their +intention of promoting an insurrection into effect. He removed the +chief of the staff from his post and sent him to Spain, relieved the +colonel of the Puerto Rican battalion and the two colonels in +Mayaguez and Ponce from their respective commands, and maintained +order with a strong hand till he was recalled by the Government in +Madrid through the machinations of his opponents. + +During the interval between the departure of General Baldrich and the +arrival in April, 1873, of Lieutenant-General Primo de Rivero, there +happened what was called "the insurrection of Camuy," in which three +men were killed, two wounded, and sixteen taken prisoners, which +turned out to have been an unwarrantable aggression on the part of the +reactionists, falsely reported as an attempt at insurrection. + +General Primo de Rivero brought with him the proclamation of the +abolition of slavery and Article I of the Constitution of 1869, +whereby the inhabitants of the island were recognized as Spaniards. + +Great popular rejoicings followed these proclamations. In San Juan +processions paraded the streets amid "vivas" to Spain, to the +Republic, and to Liberty. In Ponce the people and the soldiers +fraternized, and the long-cherished aspirations of the inhabitants +seemed to be realized at last. + +But they were soon to be undeceived. The Republican authorities in the +metropolis sent Sanz, the reactionist, as governor for the second +time. His first act was to suspend the individual guarantees granted +by the Constitution, then he abolished the Provincial Deputation, +dissolved the municipalities in which the Liberal reformists had a +majority, and a new period of persecution set in, in which teachers, +clergymen, lawyers, and judges--in short, all who were distinguished +by superior education and their liberal ideas--were punished for the +crime of having striven with deed or tongue or pen for the progress +and welfare of the land of their birth. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 53: Estudio Historico. San Juan, 1899.] + +[Footnote 54: Cards, rum, and women.] + +[Footnote 55: He had been President of the Royal Academy.] + +[Footnote 56: El Porvenir, for the Liberals, the Boletin Mercantil, +for the Conservatives.] + +[Footnote 57: Extracts from the History of the Insurrection of Lares, +by Jose Perez Moris.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND--THE DAWN OF FREEDOM + +1874-1898 + +The Spanish Republic was but short lived. From the day of its +proclamation (February 11, 1873) to the landing in Barcelona of +Alphonso XII in the early days of 1876 its history is the record of an +uninterrupted series of popular tumults. + +The political restlessness in the Peninsula, accentuating as it did +the party antagonisms in Cuba and Puerto Rico, led the governors, most +of whom were chosen for their adherence to conservative principles, to +endeavor, but in vain, to stem the tide of revolutionary and +Separatist ideas with more and more drastic measures of repression. + +This persistence of the colonial authorities in the maintenance of an +obsolete system of administration, in the face of a universal +recognition of the principles of liberty and self-government, added to +the immediate effect on the economic and social conditions in this +island of the abolition of slavery, for which it was unprepared,[58] +brought it once more to the brink of ruin. + +From 1873 to 1880 the resources of the island grew gradually less, +the country's capital was being consumed without profit, credit became +depressed, the best business forecasts turned out illusive, the most +intelligent industrial efforts remained sterile. The sun of prosperity +which rose over the island in 1815 set again in gloom during this +period of seven years. + +The causes were clear to every unbiased mind and must have been so +even to the prejudiced officials of the Government. They consisted in +the anomalous restrictions on the coasting trade, the unjustifiable +difference in the duties on Spanish and island produce, the high duty +on flour from the United States, the export duties, the extravagant +expenditure in the administration, irritating monopolies, and +countless abuses, vexatious formalities, and ruinous exactions. + +Mr. James McCormick, an intelligent Scotchman, for many years a +resident of the island, who, in 1880, was commissioned by the +Provincial Deputation to draw up a report on the causes of the +agricultural depression in this island and its removal by the +introduction of the system of central sugar factories, describes the +situation as follows: + +" ... The truth is, that the country is in a pitiable condition. +Throughout its extent it resents the many drains upon its vitality. +Its strength is wasted, and the activities that utilized its favorable +natural conditions are paralyzed. The damages sustained have been +enormous and it is scarcely possible to appraise them at their true +value. With the produce of the soil diminished and the sale thereof at +losing prices the value of real estate throughout the island has +decreased in alarming proportions. Everybody's resources have been +wasted and spent uselessly, and many landholders, wealthy but +yesterday, have been ruined if not reduced to misery. The leading +merchants and proprietors, men who were identified with the progress +of the country and had vast resources at their command, after a long +and tenacious struggle have succumbed at last under the accumulation +of misfortunes banded against them." + +Such was the situation in 1880. + +To relieve the financial distress of the country a series of +ordinances were enacted[59] which culminated in the reform laws of +March 15, 1895, and if royal decrees had had power to cure the +incurable or remove the causes that for four centuries had undermined +the foundations of Spain's colonial empire, they might, possibly, have +sustained the crumbling edifice for some time longer. + +But they came too late. The Antilles were slipping from Spain's grasp; +nor could Weyler's inhuman proceedings in Cuba nor the tardy +concession of a pseudo-autonomy to Puerto Rico arrest the movement. + +The laws of March 15, 1895, for the administrative reorganization of +Cuba and Puerto Rico, the basis of which was approved by a unanimous +vote of the leaders of the Peninsula and Antillean parties in Cortes, +remained without application in Cuba because of the insurrection, and +in Puerto Rico because of the influence upon the inhabitants of this +island of the events in the neighboring island. + +After the death of Maceo and of Marti, the two most influential +leaders of the revolution, and the terrible measures for suppressing +the revolt adopted by Weyler, the Spanish Colonial Minister, Don Tomas +Castellano y Villaroya, addressed the Queen Regent December 31, 1896. +He declared his belief in the proximate pacification of Cuba, and +said: That the moment had arrived for the Government to show to the +world (_vide licet_ United States) its firm resolution to comply with +the spontaneous promises made by the nation by introducing and +amplifying in Puerto Rico the reforms in civil government and +administration which had been voted by Cortes. + +He further stated that the inconditional party in Puerto Rico, guided +by the patriotism which distinguished it, showed its complete +conformity with the reforms proposed by the Government, and that the +"autonomist" party, which, in the beginning, looked upon the proposed +reforms with indifference, had also accepted and declared its +conformity with them. + +Therefore, the minister continued: "It would not be just in the +Government to indefinitely postpone the application in Puerto Rico of +a law which awakens so many hopes of a better future." + +The minister assures the Queen Regent that the proposed laws respond +to an ample spirit of decentralization, and expresses confidence that, +as soon as possible, her Majesty will introduce in Cuba also, not +only the reforms intended by the law of March 15th, but will extend to +Puerto Rico the promised measures to provide the Antilles _with an +exclusively local administration and economic personnel_. "The reform +laws," the minister adds, "will be the foundation of the new regimen, +but an additional decree, to be laid before the Cortes, will amplify +them in such a way that a truly autonomous administration will be +established in our Antilles." Then follow the proposed laws, which are +to apply, explain, and complement in Puerto Rico, the reform laws of +March 15th--namely, the Provincial law, the Municipal law, and the +Electoral law. + +The Peninsular electoral law of June, 1890, was adapted to Cuba and +Puerto Rico at the suggestion of Sagasta, who, in the exposition to +the Queen Regent, which accompanied the project of autonomy, stated: +That the inhabitants of the Antilles frequently complained of, and +lamented the irritating inequalities which alone were enough to +obstruct or entirely prevent the exercise of constitutional +privileges, and he concludes with these remarkable words: " ... So +that, if by arbitrary dispositions without appeal, by penalties +imposed by proclamations of the governors-general, or by simply +ignoring the laws of procedure, the citizen may be restrained, +harassed, deported even to distant territories, it is impossible for +him to exercise the right of free speech, free thought, or free +writing, or the freedom of instruction, or religious tolerance, nor +can he practise the right of union and association." These words +constitute a synopsis of the causes that made the Spanish +Government's tardy attempts at reform in the administration of its +ultramarine possessions illusive; that mocked the people's legitimate +aspirations, destroyed their confidence in the promises of the home +Government, and made the people of Puerto Rico look upon the American +soldiers, when they landed, not as men in search of conquest and +spoliation, but as the representatives of a nation enjoying a full +measure of the liberties and privileges, for a moderate share of which +they had vainly petitioned the mother country through long years of +unquestioning loyalty. + +The royal decree conceding autonomy to Puerto Rico was signed on +November 25, 1897. On April 21, 1898, Governor-General Manuel Macias, +suspended the constitutional guarantees and declared the island in +state of war. A few months later Puerto Rico, recognized too late as +ripe for self-government by the mother country, became a part of the +territory of the United States. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 58: The slaveholders were paid in Government bonds +(schedules), redeemable in ten years. They lost their labor supply, +and had neither capital nor other means to replace it. Their ruin +became inevitable. An English or German syndicate bought up the bonds +at 15 per cent.] + +[Footnote 59: See Part II, chapter on Finances.] + + + + +PART II + +THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SITUATION AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF PUERTO RICO + +The island of Puerto Rico, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, is +about 1,420 miles from New York, 1,000 miles from Havana, 1,050 miles +from Key West, 1,200 miles from Panama, 3,450 miles from Land's End in +England, and 3,180 from the port of Cadiz. It is about 104 miles in +length from east to west, by 34 miles in average breadth, and has an +area of 2,970 square miles. It lies eastward of the other greater +Antilles, Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, and although inferior even to the +last of these islands in population and extent, it yields to none of +them in fertility. + +By its geographical position Puerto Rico is peculiarly adapted to +become the center of an extensive commerce. It lies to the windward of +Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Jamaica, and of the Gulf of Mexico and Bay of +Honduras. It is contiguous to all the English and French Windward +Islands, only a few hours distant from the former Danish islands Saint +Thomas, Saint John, and Santa Cruz, and a few days' sail from the +coast of Venezuela. + +Puerto Rico is the fourth in size of the greater Antilles. Its first +appearance to the eye of the stranger is striking and picturesque. +Nature here offers herself to his contemplation clothed in the +splendid vesture of tropical vegetation. The chain of mountains which +intersects the island from east to west seems at first sight to form +two distinct chains parallel to each other, but closer observation +makes it evident that they are in reality corresponding parts of the +same chain, with upland valleys and tablelands in the center, which +again rise gradually and incorporate themselves with the higher +ridges. The height of these mountains is lofty, if compared with those +of the other Antilles. The loftiest part is that of Luguillo, or +Loquillo, at the northeast extremity of the island, which measures +1,334 Castilian yards, and the highest point, denominated El Yunque, +can be seen at the distance of 68 miles at sea. The summit of this +ridge is almost always enveloped in mist, and when its sides are +overhung by white fleecy clouds it is the certain precursor of the +heavy showers which fertilize the northern coast. The soil in the +center of the mountains is excellent, and the mountains themselves are +susceptible of cultivation to their summits. Several towns and +villages are situated among these mountains, where the inhabitants +enjoy the coolness of a European spring and a pure and salubrious +atmosphere. The town of Albonito, built on a table-land about eight +leagues from Ponce, on the southern coast, enjoys a delightful +climate. + +To the north and south of this interior ridge of mountains, stretching +along the seacoasts, are the fertile valleys which produce the chief +wealth of the island. From the principal chain smaller ridges run +north and south, forming between them innumerable valleys, fertilized +by limpid streams which, descending from the mountains, empty +themselves into the sea on either coast. In these valleys the majestic +beauty of the palm-trees, the pleasant alternation of hill and dale, +the lively verdure of the hills, compared with the deeper tints of the +forest, the orange trees, especially when covered with their golden +fruit, the rivers winding through the dales, the luxuriant fields of +sugar-cane, corn, and rice, with here and there a house peeping +through a grove of plantains, and cattle grazing in the green pasture, +form altogether a landscape of rural beauty scarcely to be surpassed +in any country in the world. + +The valleys of the north and east coasts are richest in cattle and +most picturesque. The pasturage there is always verdant and luxuriant, +while those of the south coast, richer in sugar, are often parched by +excessive drought, which, however, does not affect their fertility, +for water is found near the surface. This same alternation of rain and +drought on the north and south coasts is generally observed in all the +West India islands. + +Few islands of the extent of Puerto Rico are watered by so many +streams. Seventeen rivers, taking their rise in the mountains, cross +the valleys of the north coast and fall into the sea. Some of these +are navigable for two or three leagues from their mouths for small +craft. Those of Manati, Loisa, Trabajo, and Arecibo are very deep and +broad, and it is difficult to imagine how such large bodies of water +can be collected in so short a course. Owing to the heavy surf which +continually breaks on the north coast, these rivers have bars across +their embouchures which do not allow large vessels to enter. The +rivers of Bayamon and Rio Piedras flow into the harbor of the capital, +and are also navigable for boats. At Arecibo, at high water, small +brigs may enter with perfect safety, notwithstanding the bar. The +south, west, and east coasts are also well supplied with water. + +From the Cabeza de San Juan, which is the northeast extremity of the +island, to Cape Mala Pascua, which lies to the southeast, nine rivers +fall into the sea. From Cape Mala Pascua to Point Aguila, which forms +the southwest angle of the island, sixteen rivers discharge their +waters on the south coast. + +On the west coast, three rivers, five rivulets, and several +fresh-water lakes communicate with the sea. The rivers of the north +coast are well stocked with edible fish. + +The roads formed in Puerto Rico during the Spanish administration are +constructed on a substantial plan, the center being filled with gravel +and stones well cemented. Each town made and repaired the roads of its +respective district. Many excellent and solid bridges, with stone +abutments, existed at the time of the transfer of the island to the +American nation. + +The whole line of coast of this island is indented with harbors, bays, +and creeks where ships of heavy draft may come to anchor. On the north +coast, during the months of November, December, and January, when the +wind blows sometimes with violence from the east and northeast, the +anchorage is dangerous in all the bays and harbors of that coast, +except in the port of San Juan. + +On the western coast the spacious bay of Aguadilla is formed by Cape +Borrigua and Cape San Francisco. When the southeast winds prevail it +is _not_ a safe anchorage for ships. + +Mayaguez is also an open roadstead on the west coast formed by two +projecting capes. It has good anchorage for vessels of large size and +is well sheltered from the north winds. + +The south coast also abounds in bays and harbors, but those which +deserve particular attention are the ports of Guanica and Hobos, or +Jovos, near Guayama. In Guanica vessels drawing 21 feet of water may +enter with perfect safety and anchor close to the shore. Hobos or +Jovos is a haven of considerable importance; sailing vessels of the +largest class may anchor and ride in safety; it has 4 fathoms of water +in the shallowest part of the entrance, but it is difficult to enter +from June to November as the sea breaks with violence at the entrance +on account of the southerly winds which prevail at this season. + +All the large islands in the tropics enjoy approximately the same +climate. The heat, the rains, the seasons, are, with trifling +variations, the same in all, but the number of mountains and running +streams, the absence of stagnant waters and general cultivation of the +land in Puerto Rico do, probably, powerfully contribute to purify the +atmosphere and render it more salubrious to Europeans than it +otherwise would be. In the mountains one enjoys the coolness of +spring, but the valleys, were it not for the daily breeze which blows +from the northeast and east, would be almost uninhabitable for white +men during part of the year. The climate of the north and south coasts +of this island, though under the same tropical influence, is +nevertheless essentially different. On the north coast it sometimes +rains almost the whole year, while on the south coast sometimes no +rain falls for twelve or fourteen months. On the whole, Puerto Rico is +one of the healthiest islands in the West Indies, nor is it infested +to the same extent as other islands by poisonous snakes and other +noxious reptiles. The laborer may sleep in peace and security in the +midst of the forest, by the side of the river, or in the meadow with +his cattle with no other fear than that of an occasional centipede or +guabua (large hairy spider). + +Unlike most tropical islands there are no indigenous quadrupeds and +scarcely any of the feathered tribe in the forests. On the rivers +there are a few water-fowl and in the forests the green parrot. There +are neither monkeys nor rabbits, but rats and mongooses infest the +country and sometimes commit dreadful ravages in the sugar-cane. Ants +of different species also abound. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS OF BORIQUEN + +The origin of the primitive inhabitants of the West Indian Archipelago +has been the subject of much learned controversy, ending, like all +such discussions, in different theories and more or less verisimilar +conjecture. + +It appears that at the time of the discovery these islands were +inhabited by three races of different origin. One of these races +occupied the Bahamas. Columbus describes them as simple, generous, +peaceful creatures, whose only weapon was a pointed stick or cane. +They were of a light copper color, well-proportioned but slender, +rather good-looking, with aquiline noses, salient cheek-bones, +medium-sized mouths, long coarse hair. They had, perhaps, formerly +occupied the eastern part of the archipelago, whence they had +gradually disappeared, driven or exterminated by the Caribs, Caribos, +or Guaribos, a savage, warlike, and cruel race, which had invaded the +West Indies from the continent by way of the Orinoco, along the +tributaries of which river tribes of the same race are still to be +found. The larger Antilles, Cuba, Santo Domingo, and Puerto Rico, were +occupied by a race which probably originated from some part of the +southern division of the northern continent. The chroniclers mention +the Guaycures and others as their possible ancestors, and Stahl traces +their origin to a mixture of the Phoenicians with the aborigines of +remote antiquity. + +The information which we possess with regard to the habits and customs +of the inhabitants of Boriquen at the time of discovery is too scanty +and too unreliable to permit us to form more than a speculative +opinion of the degree of culture attained by them. + +Friar Abbad, in the fourth chapter of his history, gives us a +description of the character and customs of the people of Boriquen +taken wholly from the works of Oviedo, Herrera, Robertson, Raynal, and +others. + +Like most of the aboriginal inhabitants of America, the natives of +Boriquen were copper-colored, but somewhat darker than the inhabitants +of the neighboring islands. They were shorter of stature than the +Spaniards, but corpulent and well-proportioned, with flat noses, wide +nostrils, dull eyes, bad teeth, narrow foreheads, the skull +artificially flattened before and behind so as to give it a conical +shape, with long, black, coarse hair, beardless and hairless on the +rest of the body. Says Oviedo: " ... Their heads were not like other +people's, their skulls were so hard and thick that the Christians by +fighting with them have learned not to strike them on the head because +the swords break." + +Their whole appearance betrayed a lazy, indolent habit, and they +showed extreme aversion to labor or fatigue of any kind. They put +forth no exertion save what was necessary to obtain food, and only +rose from their "hamacas" or "jamacas," or shook off their habitual +indolence to play a game of ball (batey) or attend the dances +(areytos) which were accompanied by rude music and the chanting of +whatever happened to occupy their minds at the time. + +Notwithstanding their indolence and the unsubstantial nature of their +food, they were comparatively strong and robust, as they proved in +many a personal tussle with the Spaniards. + +Clothing was almost unknown. Only the women of mature age used an +apron of varying length, the rest, without distinction of age or sex, +were naked. They took great pains in painting their bodies with all +sorts of grotesque figures, the earthy coloring matter being laid on +by means of oily or resinous substances extracted from plants or +trees. + +These coats of paint, when fresh, served as holiday attire, and +protected them from the bites of mosquitoes and other insects. The +dandies among them added to this airy apparel a few bright feathers in +their hair, a shell or two in their ears and nostrils. And the +caciques wore a disk of gold (guarim) the size of a large medal round +their necks to denote their rank. + +The huts were built square or oblong, raised somewhat above the +ground, with only one opening for entrance and exit, cane being the +principal building material. The chief piece of furniture was the +"hamaca," made with creepers or strips of bark of the "emajagua" tree. +The "totumo" or "jigueera" furnished them with their domestic +utensils, as it furnishes the "jibaro" of to-day with his cups and +jugs and basins. Their mode of making fire was the universal one +practised by savages. Their arms were the usual macana and bow and +arrows, but they did not poison the arrows as did the Caribs. The +largest of their canoes, or "piraguas," could contain from 40 to 50 +men, and served for purposes of war, but the majority of their canoes +were of small size used in navigating the coast and rivers. + +There being no mammals in the island, they knew not the use of flesh +for food, but they had abundance of fish, and they ate besides +whatever creeping or crawling thing they happened to find. These with +the yucca from which they made their casabe or bread, maize, yams, and +other edible roots, constituted their food supply. + +There were in Boriquen, as there are among all primitive races, +certain individuals, the embryos of future church functionaries, who +were medicine-man, priest, prophet, and general director of the moral +and intellectual affairs of the benighted masses, but that is all we +know of them.[60] + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 60: For further information on this subject, see Estudios +Ethnologicos sobre los indios Boriquenos, by A. Stahl, 1888. Revista +Puertoriquena, Ano II, tomo II.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE "JIBARO," OR PUERTO RICAN PEASANT + +"There is in this island a class of inhabitants, not the least +numerous by any means, who dwell in swamps and marshes, live on +vegetables, and drink muddy water." So wrote Dr. Richard Rey[61] a +couple of decades ago, and, although, under the changed political and +social conditions, these people, as a class, will soon disappear, they +are quite numerous still, and being the product of the peculiar social +and political conditions of a past era deserve to be known. + +To this considerable part of the population of Puerto Rico the name of +"jibaros" is applied; they are the descendants of the settlers who in +the early days of the colonization of the island spread through the +interior, and with the assistance of an Indian or negro slave or two +cleared and cultivated a piece of land in some isolated locality, +where they continued to live from day to day without troubling +themselves about the future or about what passed in the rest of the +universe. + +The modern jibaro builds his "bohio," or hut, in any place without +regard to hygienic conditions, and in its construction follows the +same plan and uses the same materials employed in their day by the +aboriginal inhabitants. This "bohio" is square or oblong in form, +raised on posts two or three feet from the ground, and the materials +are cane, the trunks of the coco-palm, entire or cut into boards, and +the bark of another species of palm, the "yaguas," which serves for +roofing and walls. The interior of these huts is sometimes divided by +a partition of reeds into two apartments, in one of which the family +sit by day. The other is the sleeping room, where the father, mother, +and children, male and female, of all ages, sleep, promiscuously +huddled together on a platform of boards or bar bacao. + +The majority of the jibaros are whites. Mestizoes, mulattos, and +negroes are numerous also. But we are here concerned with the jibaro +of European descent only, whose redemption from a degraded condition +of existence it is to the country's interest should be specially +attended to. + +Mr. Francisco del Valle Atiles, one of Puerto Rico's distinguished +literary men, has left us a circumstantial description of the +character and conditions of these rustics.[62] He divides them into +three groups: those living in the neighborhood of the large sugar and +coffee estates, who earn their living working as peons; the second +group comprises the small proprietors who cultivate their own patch of +land, and the third, the comparatively well-to-do individuals or +small proprietors who usually prefer to live as far as possible from +the centers of population. + +The jibaro, as a rule, is well formed, slender, of a delicate +constitution, slow in his movements, taciturn, and of a sickly aspect. +Occasionally, in the mountainous districts, one meets a man of +advanced age still strong and robust doing daily work and mounting on +horseback without effort. Such a one will generally be found to be of +pure Spanish descent, and to have a numerous family of healthy, +good-looking children, but the appearance of the average jibaro is as +described. He looks sickly and anemic in consequence of the +insufficient quantity and innutritious quality of the food on which he +subsists and the unhealthy conditions of his surroundings. Rice, +plantains, sweet potatoes, maize, yams, beans, and salted fish +constitute his diet year in year out, and although there are Indian +races who could thrive perhaps on such frugal fare, the effect of such +a _regime_ on individuals of the white race is loss of muscular energy +and a consequent craving for stimulants. + +His clothing, too, is scanty. He wears no shoes, and when drenched +with rain or perspiration he will probably let his garments dry on his +body. For the empty feeling in his stomach, the damp and the cold to +which he is thus daily exposed, his antidotes are tobacco and rum, the +first he chews and smokes. In the use of the second he seldom goes to +the extent of intoxication. + +Under these conditions, and considering his absolute ignorance and +consequent neglect of the laws of hygiene, it is but natural that the +Puerto Rican peasant should be subject to the ravages of paludal +fever, one of the most dangerous of the endemic diseases of the +tropics. + +Friar Abbad observes: " ... No cure has yet been discovered (1781) for +the intermittent fevers which are often from four to six years in +duration. Those who happen to get rid of them recover very slowly; +many remain weak and attenuated; the want of nutritious food and the +climate conduce to one disease or another, so that those who escape +the fever generally die of dropsy." + +However, the at first sight apathetic and weak jibaro, when roused to +exertion or when stimulated by personal interest or passion, can +display remarkable powers of endurance. Notwithstanding his reputation +of being lazy, he will work ten or eleven hours a day if fairly +remunerated. Under the Spanish _regime_, when he was forced to present +himself on the plantations to work for a few cents from sunrise to +sundown, he was slow; or if he was of the small proprietor class, he +had to pay an enormous municipal tax on his scanty produce, so that it +is very likely that he may often have preferred swinging in his +hammock to laboring in the fields for the benefit of the municipal +treasury. + +Mr. Atiles refers to the premature awakening among the rustic +population of this island of the procreative instincts, and the +consequent increase in their numbers notwithstanding the high rate of +mortality. The fecundity of the women is notable; from six to ten +children in a family seems to be the normal number. + + [Illustration: A tienda, or small shop.] + +Intellectually the jibaro is as poor as he is physically. His +illiteracy is complete; his speech is notoriously incorrect; his +songs, if not of a silly, meaningless character, are often obscene; +sometimes they betray the existence of a poetic sentiment. These songs +are usually accompanied by the music of a stringed instrument of the +guitar kind made by the musician himself, to which is added the +"gueiro," a kind of ribbed gourd which is scraped with a small stick to +the measure of the tune, and produces a noise very trying to the +nerves of a person not accustomed to it. + +In religion the jibaro professes Catholicism with a large admixture of +fetichism. His moral sense is blunt in many respects. + +Colonel Flinter[63] gives the following description of the jibaros of +his day, which also applies to them to-day: + +"They are very civil in their manners, but, though they seem all +simplicity and humility, they are so acute in their dealings that they +are sure to deceive a person who is not very guarded. Although they +would scorn to commit a robbery, yet they think it only fair to +deceive or overreach in a bargain. Like the peasantry of Ireland, they +are proverbial for their hospitality, and, like them, they are ever +ready to fight on the slightest provocation. They swing themselves to +and fro in their hammocks all day long, smoking their cigars or +scraping a guitar. The plantain grove which surrounds their houses, +and the coffee tree which grows almost without cultivation, afford +them a frugal subsistence. If with these they have a cow and a horse, +they consider themselves rich and happy. Happy indeed they are; they +feel neither the pangs nor remorse which follow the steps of +disappointed ambition nor the daily wants experienced by the poor +inhabitants of northern regions." + +This entirely materialistic conception of happiness which, it is +certain, the Puerto Rican peasant still entertains, is now giving way +slowly but surely before the new influences that are being brought to +bear on himself and on his surroundings. The touch of education is +dispelling the darkness of ignorance that enveloped the rural +districts of this island until lately; industrial activity is placing +the means of greater comfort within the reach of every one who cares +to work for them; the observance of the laws of health is beginning to +be enforced, even in the bohio, and with them will come a greater +morality. In a word, in ten years the Puerto Rican jibaro will have +disappeared, and in his place there will be an industrious, +well-behaved, and no longer illiterate class of field laborers, with a +nobler conception of happiness than that to which they have aspired +for many generations. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 61: Estudio sobre el paludismo en Puerto Rico.] + +[Footnote 62: El campesino Puertoriqueno, sus condiciones, etc. +Revista Puertoriquena, vols. ii, iii, 1887, 1888.] + +[Footnote 63: An Account of the Present State of the Island of Puerto +Rico. London, 1834.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE MODERN INHABITANTS OF PUERTO +RICO + +During the initial period of conquest and colonization, no Spanish +females came to this or any other of the conquered territories. +Soldiers, mariners, monks, and adventurers brought no families with +them; so that by the side of the aboriginals and the Spaniards "pur +sang" there sprang up an indigenous population of mestizos. + +The result of the union of two physically, ethically, and +intellectually widely differing races is _not_ the transmission to the +progeny of any or all of the superior qualities of the progenitor, but +rather his own moral degradation. The mestizos of Spanish America, the +Eurasians of the East Indies, the mulattoes of Africa are moral, as +well as physical hybrids in whose character, as a rule, the worst +qualities of the two races from which they spring predominate. It is +only in subsequent generations, after oft-repeated crossings and +recrossings, that atavism takes place, or that the fusion of the two +races is finally consummated through the preponderance of the +physiological attributes of the ancestor of superior race. + +The early introduction of negro slaves, almost exclusively males, the +affinity between them and the Indians, the state of common servitude +and close, daily contact produced another race. By the side of the +mestizo there grew up the zambo. Later, when negro women were brought +from Santo Domingo or other islands, the mulatto was added. + +Considering the class to which the majority of the first Spanish +settlers in this island belonged, the social status resulting from +these additions to their number could be but little superior to that +of the aboriginals themselves. + +The necessity of raising that status by the introduction of white +married couples was manifest to the king's officers in the island, who +asked the Government in 1534 to send them 50 such couples. It was not +done. Fifty bachelors came instead, whose arrival lowered the moral +standard still further. + +It was late in the island's history before the influx of respectable +foreigners and their families began to diffuse a higher ethical tone +among the creoles of the better class. Unfortunately, the daily +contact of the lower and middle classes with the soldiers of the +garrison did not tend to improve their character and manners, and the +effects of this contact are clearly traceable to-day in the manners +and language of the common people. + +From the crossings in the first degree of the Indian, negro, and white +races, and their subsequent recrossings, there arose in course of time +a mixed race of so many gradations of color that it became difficult +in many instances to tell from the outward appearance of an individual +to what original stock he belonged; and, it being the established +rule in all Spanish colonies to grant no civil or military employment +above a certain grade to any but Peninsulars or their descendants of +pure blood, it became necessary to demand from every candidate +documentary evidence that he had no Indian or negro blood in his +veins. This was called presenting an "expediente de sangre," and the +practise remained in force till the year 1870, when Marshal Serrano +abolished it. + +Whether it be due to atavism, or whether, as is more likely, the +Indians did not really become extinct till much later than the period +at which it is generally supposed their final fusion into the two +exotic races took place,[64] it is certain that Indian characteristics, +physical and ethical, still largely prevail among the rural population +of Puerto Rico, as observed by Schoelzer and other ethnologists. + +The evolution of a new type of life is now in course of process. In +the meantime, we have Mr. Salvador Brau's authority[65] for stating +the general character of the present generation of Puerto Ricans to be +made up of the distinctive qualities of the three races from which +they are descended, to wit: indolence, taciturnity, sobriety, +disinterestedness, hospitality, inherited from their Indian ancestors; +physical endurance, sensuality, and fatalism from their negro +progenitors; and love of display, love of country, independence, +devotion, perseverance, and chivalry from their Spanish sires. + +A somewhat sarcastic reference to the characteristics due to the +Spanish blood in them was made in 1644 by Bishop Damian de Haro in a +letter to a friend, wherein, speaking of his diocesans, he says that +they are of very chivalric extraction, for, "he who is not descended +from the House of Austria is related to the Dauphin of France or to +Charlemagne." He draws an amusing picture of the inhabitants of the +capital, saying that at the time there were about 200 males and 4,000 +women "between black and mulatto." He complains that there are no +grapes in the country; that the melons are red, and that the butcher +retails turtle meat instead of beef or pork; yet, says he, "my table +is a bishop's table for all that." + +To a lady in Santo Domingo he sent the following sonnet: + + + This is a small island, lady, + With neither money nor provisions; + The blacks go naked as they do yonder, + And there 're more people in the Seville prison. + The Castilian coats of arms + Are conspicuous by their absence, + But there are plenty cavaliers + Who deal in hides and ginger, + There's water in the tanks, when 't rains, + A cathedral, but no priests, + Handsome women, but not elegant, + Greed and envy are indigenous. + Plenty of heat and palm-tree shade, + And best of all a refreshing breeze. + +Of the moral defects of the people it would be invidious to speak. +The lower classes are not remarkable for their respect for the +property of others. On the subject of morality among the rural +population we may cite Count de Caspe, the governor's report to the +king: " ... Destitute as they are of religious instruction and moral +restraint, their unions are without the sanction of religious or civil +law, and last just as long as their sensual appetites last; it may +therefore be truly said, that in the rural districts of Puerto Rico +the family, morally constituted, does not exist." + +Colonel Flinter's account of the people and social conditions of +Puerto Rico in 1834 is a rather flattering one, though he acknowledges +that the island had a bad reputation on account of the lawless +character of the lower class of inhabitants. + +All this has greatly changed for the better, but much remains to be +done in the way of moral improvement. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 64: Abbad points out that in 1710-'20 there were still two +Indian settlements in the neighborhood of Anasco and San German.] + +[Footnote 65: Puerto Rico y su historia, p. 369.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEGRO SLAVERY IN PUERTO RICO + +From the early days of the conquest the black race appeared side by +side with the white race. Both supplanted the native race, and both +have marched parallel ever since, sometimes separately, sometimes +mixing their blood. + +The introduction of African negroes into Puerto Rico made the +institution of slavery permanent. It is true that King Ferdinand +ordered the reduction to slavery of all rebellious Indians in 1511, +but he revoked the order the next year. The negro was and remained a +slave. For centuries he had been looked upon as a special creation for +the purpose of servitude, and the Spaniards were accustomed to see him +daily offered for sale in the markets of Andalusia. + +Notwithstanding the practical reduction to slavery of the Indians of +la Espanola by Columbus, under the title of "repartimientos," negro +slaves were introduced into that island as early as 1502, when a +certain Juan Sanchez and Alfonso Bravo received royal permission to +carry five caravels of slaves to the newly discovered island. Ovando, +who was governor at the time, protested strongly on the ground that +the negroes escaped to the forests and mountains, where they joined +the rebellious or fugitive Indians and made their subjugation much +more difficult. The same thing happened later in San Juan. + +In this island special permission was necessary to introduce negroes. +Sedeno and the smelter of ores, Giron, who came here in 1510, made +oath that the two slaves each brought with them were for their +personal service only. In 1513 their general introduction was +authorized by royal schedule on payment of two ducats per head. + +Cardinal Cisneros prohibited the export of negro slaves from Spain in +1516; but the efforts of Father Las Casas to alleviate the lot of the +Indians by the introduction of what he believed, with the rest of his +contemporaries, to be providentially ordained slaves, obtained from +Charles II a concession in favor of Garrebod, the king's high steward, +to ship 4,000 negroes to la Espanola, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica +(1517). Garrebod sold the concession to some merchants of Genoa. + +With the same view of saving the Indians, the Jerome fathers, who +governed the Antilles in 1518, requested the emperor's permission to +fit out slave-ships themselves and send them to the coast of Africa +for negroes. It appears that this permission was not granted; but in +1528 another concession to introduce 4,000 negroes into the Antilles +was given to some Germans, who, however, did not comply with the terms +of the contract. + +Negroes were scarce and dear in San Juan at this period, which caused +the authorities to petition the emperor for permission to each settler +to bring two slaves free of duty, and, this being granted, it gave +rise to abuse, as the city officers in their address of thanks to the +empress, stated at the same time that many took advantage of the +privilege to transfer or sell their permit in Seville without coming +to the island. Then it was enacted that slaves should be introduced +only by authorized traffickers, who soon raised the price to 60 or 70 +Castilian dollars per head. The crown officers in the island +protested, and asked that every settler might be permitted to bring 10 +or 12 negroes, paying the duty of 2 ducats per head, which had been +imposed by King Ferdinand in 1513. A new deposit of gold had been +discovered about this time (1533), and the hope that others might be +found now induced the colonists to buy the negroes from the authorized +traders on credit at very high prices, to be paid with the gold which +the slaves should be made instrumental in discovering. But the +longed-for metal did not appear. The purchasers could not pay. Many +had their property embargoed and sold, and were ruined. Some were +imprisoned, others escaped to the mountains or left the island. + +From 1536 to 1553 the authorities kept asking for negroes; sometimes +offering to pay duty, at others soliciting their free introduction; +now complaining that the colonists escaped _with their slaves_ to +Mexico and Peru, then lamenting that the German merchants, who had the +monopoly of the traffic, took them to all the other Antilles, but +would bring none to this island. However, 1,500 African slaves entered +here at different times during those seventeen years, without +reckoning the large numbers that were introduced as contraband. + +Philip II tried to reduce the exorbitant prices exacted by the German +monopolists of the West Indian slave-trade, but, finding that his +efforts to do so diminished the importation, he revoked his +ordinances. + +A Genoese banking-house, having made him large advances to help equip +the great Armada for the invasion of England, obtained the next +monopoly (1580). + +During the course of the seventeenth century the privilege of +introducing African slaves into the Antilles was sold successively to +Genoese, Portuguese, Holland, French, and Spanish companies. The +traffic was an exceedingly profitable one, not so much on account of +the high prices obtained for the negroes as on account of the +contraband trade in all kinds of merchandise that accompanied it. From +1613 to 1621 during the government of Felipe de Beaumont, 11 +ship-loads of slaves entered San Juan harbor. + +During the eighteenth century the traffic expanded still more. To +induce England to abandon the cause of the House of Austria, for which +that nation was fighting, Philip V offered it the exclusive privilege +of introducing 140,000 negro slaves into the Spanish-American colonies +within a period of thirty years; the monopolists to pay 33-13 silver +crowns for each negro introduced, to the Spanish Government.[66] + + +War interrupted this contract several times, and long before the +termination of the thirty years the English ceased to import slaves. + +Several contracts for the importation of slaves into the Antilles were +made from 1760 to the end of the century. First a contract was made +with Miguel Uriarte to take 15,000 slaves to different parts of +Spanish America. In 1765 the king sanctioned the introduction by the +Caracas company of 2,000 slaves to replace the Indians in Caracas and +Maraeaibo, who had died of smallpox. All duties on the introduction of +negroes into Santo Domingo, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Margarita, and Trinidad +were commuted in the same year for a moderate capitation tax, and the +Spanish firm of Aguirre, Aristegui & Co. was authorized to provide the +Antilles with negroes, on condition of reducing the price 10 pesos per +head, besides the amount of abolished duty. + +This firm abused the privileges granted, and the inhabitants of all +the colonies, excepting Peru, Chile, and the Argentina, were allowed +to provide themselves, as best they could, with slaves from the French +colonies while the war lasted (1780). + +Four years later, January 16, 1784, a certain Lenormand, of Xantes, +received the king's permission to take a ship-load of African slaves +to Puerto Rico on condition of paying 6 per cent of the product to the +Government. + +In this same year the barbarous custom of branding the slaves was +abolished. + +The abominable traffic was declared entirely free in Santo Domingo, +Cuba, and Puerto Rico by royal decree, February 28, 1789. Foreign +ships were placed under certain restrictions, but a bounty of 4 pesos +per head was paid for negroes brought in Spanish bottoms, to meet +which a per capita tax of 2 pesos per head on domestic slaves was +levied. + +By this time the famous debates in the British Parliament and other +signs of the times announced the dawn of freedom for the oppressed +African race. Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Buxton, the English +abolitionists, continued their denunciations of the demoralizing +institution. Their effects were crowned with success in 1833. The +traffic was abolished, and ten years later Great Britain emancipated +more than twelve million slaves in her East and West Indian +possessions, paying the masters over one hundred millions of dollars +as indemnity. + +Spain agreed in 1817 to abolish the slave-trade in her dominions by +May 30,1820. By Articles 3 and 4 of the convention, England offered to +pay to Spain $20,000,000 as complete compensation to his Catholic +Majesty's subjects who were engaged in the traffic. + +The Spanish Government illegally employed this money to purchase from +Russia a fleet of five ships of the line and eight frigates. + +The slaves in Puerto Rico were not emancipated until March 22, 1873, +when 31,000 were manumitted in one day, at a cost to the Government of +200 pesos each, plus the interest on the bonds that were issued. + +The nature of the relations between the master and the slave in Puerto +Rico probably did not differ much from that which existed between them +in the other Spanish colonies. But these relations began to assume an +aspect of distrust and severity on the one hand and sullen resentment +on the other when the war of extermination between whites and blacks +in Santo Domingo and the establishment of a negro republic in Haiti +made it possible for the flame of negro insurrection to be wafted +across the narrow space of water that separates the two islands. + +There was sufficient ground for such apprehension. The free colored +population in Puerto Rico at that time (1830-'34) numbered 127,287, +the slaves 34,240, as against 162,311 whites, among whom many were of +mixed blood.[67] Prim, the governor-general, to suppress every attempt +at insurrection, issued the proclamation, of which the following is a +synopsis: + +"I, John Prim, Count of Ecus, etc., etc., etc. + +"Whereas, The critical circumstances of the times and the afflictive +condition of the countries in the neighborhood of this island, some of +which are torn by civil war, and others engaged in a war of +extermination between the white and black races; it is incumbent on me +to dictate efficacious measures to prevent the spread of these +calamities to our pacific soil.... I have decreed as follows: + +"ARTICLE 1. All offenses committed by individuals of African race, +whether free or slaves, shall be judged by court-martial. + +"ART. 2. Any individual of African race, whether free or slave, who +shall offer armed resistance to a white, shall be shot, if a slave, +and have his right hand cut off by the public executioner, if a free +man. Should he be wounded he shall be shot. + +"ART. 3. If any individual of African race, whether slave or free, +shall insult, menace, or maltreat, in any way, a white person, he will +be condemned to five years of penal servitude, if a slave, and +according to the circumstances of the case, if free. + +"ART. 4. The owners of slaves are hereby authorized to correct and +chastise them for slight misdemeanors, without any civil or military +functionary having the right to interfere. + +"ART. 5. If any slave shall rebel against his master, the latter is +authorized to kill him on the spot. + +"ART. 6 orders the military commanders of the 8 departments of the +island to decide all cases of offenses committed by colored people +within twenty-four hours of their denunciation." + + +This Draconic decree is signed, Puerto Rico, May 31, 1843. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 66: Treaty of Madrid, March 16, 1713, ratified by the treaty +of Utrecht. There were two kinds of silver crowns, one of 8 pesetas, +the other of 10, worth respectively 4 and 5 English shillings.] + +[Footnote 67: Flinter, p. 211.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +INCREASE OF POPULATION + +ALL statements of definite numbers with respect to the aboriginal +population of this island are essentially fabulous. Columbus touched +at only one port on the western shore. He remained there but a few +days and did not come in contact with the inhabitants. Ponce and his +men conquered but a part of the island, and had no time to study the +question of population, even if they had had the inclination to do so. +They did not count the enemy in time of war, and only interested +themselves in the number of prisoners which to them constituted the +spoils of conquest. Any calculation regarding the numbers that +remained at large, based on the number of Indians distributed, can not +be correct. + +The same may be said of the computations of the population of the +island made by Abbad, O'Reilly, and others at a time when there was +not a correct statistical survey existing in the most civilized +countries of Europe. None of these computations exceed the limits of +mere conjecture. + +With regard to the attempts to explain the causes of the decay and +ultimate disappearance of the aboriginal race, this subject also +appears to be involved in considerable doubt and obscurity, +notwithstanding the positive statements of native writers regarding +it. It has been impossible to ascertain in what degree they became +amalgamated by intermarriage with the conquerors; yet, that it has +been to a much larger degree than generally supposed, is proved by the +fact that many of the inhabitants, classed as white, have, both in +their features and manners, definite traces of the Indian race.[68] + +With respect to the census taken by the Spanish authorities at +different times, though they may have taken great pains to obtain +correct statistical accounts, there is little doubt that the real +numbers greatly exceeded those which appear in the official returns. +The reason for this discrepancy is supposed by the author mentioned to +have been the _direct contribution_ which was levied on agricultural +property, inducing the landed proprietors to conceal the real number +of their slaves in order to make their crops appear to have been +_smaller_ than they were. + +Nor does it appear that the increase in the population of Puerto Rico +is so much indebted to immigration as is generally supposed; for, +notwithstanding the advantages offered to colonists by the Government +in 1815, and the influx of settlers from Santo Domingo and Venezuela +during the civil wars in these republics, there were only 2,833 +naturalized foreigners in the island in 1830. It appears also that the +Spanish immigration from the revolted colonies did not exceed 7,000 +souls. + +Puerto Rico had the reputation of being very poor, consequently, no +immigrants were attracted by the prospect of money-making. The +increase in the population of this island is sufficiently accounted +for by the fact that three-fourths of the inhabitants are engaged in +agricultural pursuits, which, of all occupations, are most conducive +to health. To which must be added the people's frugal habits, the easy +morals, the effect of climate, and the fecundity of the women of all +mixed races. These, and the peace which the island enjoyed in the +beginning of the nineteenth century, together with the abolition of +some of the restrictions on commerce and industry, promoted an era of +prosperity the like of which the inhabitants had never before known, +and the natural consequence was increase in numbers. + +"In those days," says Colonel Flinter, "if some perfect stranger had +dropped from the clouds as it were, on this island, naked, without any +other auxiliaries than health and strength, he might have married the +next day and maintained a family without suffering more hardships or +privations than fall to the lot of every laborer in the ordinary +process of clearing and cultivating a piece of land." + +The earliest information on the subject was given by Alexander +O'Reilly, the royal commissioner to the Antilles in 1765, who +enumerates a list of 24 towns and settlements with a total population +of + + _Free_ men, women, and children of all colors....39,846 + Slaves of both sexes, including their children ........5,037 + Total.................................................44,883 + +Abbad, in his "general statistics of the island," corresponding to +the end of the year 1776, gives the details of the population in 30 +"partidas," or ecclesiastical districts, as follows: + + + Whites 29,263 + Free colored people 33,808 + Free blacks 2,803 + Other free people ("agregados") 7,835 + Slaves 6,537 + ------ + Total 80,246 + +That is to say, an increase of 7-311 per cent per annum during the +eleven years elapsed since O'Reilly's computation, which was a period +of constant apprehension of attacks by pirates and privateers. + +From 1782 to 1802 there were three censuses taken showing the +following totals: + + In 1782 81,180 souls. + " 1792 115,557 " + " 1802 163,192 " + +From 1800 to 1815, there was universal poverty and depression in the +island in consequence of the prohibitive system introduced by the +Spanish authorities in all branches of commerce and industry, and the +sudden failure of the annual remittances from Mexico in consequence of +the insurrection. Still, the population had increased from 163,192 in +1802 to 220,892 in 1815. + +From this year forward a great improvement in the island's general +condition set in, thanks to the efforts of Don Ramon Power, Puerto +Rico's delegate to Cortes, who obtained for the island, in November, +1811, the freedom of commerce with foreign nations, and by the +appointment of Intendant Ramirez procured the suppression of many +abuses and monopolies. + +The royal schedule of August 13, 1815, called "the schedule of +graces," also contributed to the general improvement by the opening of +the ports to immigrants, though short-sighted restrictions destroyed +the beneficent effects of the measure to no small extent. However, +immigrants came, and among them 83 practical agriculturists from +Louisiana, with slaves and capital. + +The census of 1834 gives the total population on an area of 330 square +leagues, in the proportion of 981-16 inhabitants per square league, +as follows: + +Whites.......................... 188,869 + +Colored..........................126,400 + +Slaves........................... 41,817 + +Troops and prisoners.............. 1,730 + +Total........................... 358,836 + +This year shows an increase in the proportion of the slave population +over the free population since 1815, due to the free introduction of +slaves and the slaves brought by the immigrants. + +A statistical commission for the island of Puerto Rico was created in +1845. The census taken under its auspices in the following year may be +considered reliable. The total figures are: + +Whites........................... 216,083 + +Free colored......................175,791 + +Slaves............................ 51,265 + +Total............................ 443,139 + +In 1855 cholera morbus raged throughout the island, especially among +the colored population, and carried off 9,529 slaves alone. + +The next census shows the progressive increase of inhabitants. It was +conducted by royal decree of September 30,1858, on the nights of +December 25 and 26, 1860. The official memorial gives the following +totals: + +Whites................................ 300,430 +Free colored.......................... 341,015 +Slaves................................ 41,736 +Unclassified.......................... 127 + +Total............................. 583,308 + +or 1,802.2 inhabitants per square league; one of the densest +populations on the globe, and the densest in the Antilles at the time +except Barbados. + +The annual increase of population in Puerto Rico, according to the +calculations of Colonel Flinter, was: + + From 1778-1802 ... 24 years ... 5-12 per cent per annum. + " 1802-1812 ... 10 " ... 1-15 " " + 1812-1820 ... 8 " ... 3-14 " " + " 1820-1830 ... 10 " ... 4 " " + " 1830-1846 ... 16 " ... 3-15 " " + " 1846-1860 ... 14 " ... 3.72 " " + +or an average annual increase of a little less than 4 per cent in a +period of eighty-two years. + +From 1860 to 1864 the increase was small, but from that year to the +end of Spanish domination the percentage of increase was larger than +in any of the preceding periods. + +The treaty of Paris brought 894,302 souls under the protection of the +American flag. They consisted of 570,187 whites, 239,808 of mixed +race, and 75,824 negroes. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 68: Flinter.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO + +After the cessation of the gold produce, when the colonists were +forced by necessity to dedicate themselves to agriculture, they met +with many adverse conditions: + +The incursions of the Caribs, the hurricanes of 1530 and 1537, the +emigration to Peru and Mexico, the internal dissensions, and last, but +not least, the heavy taxes. The colonists had found the soil of Puerto +Rico admirably adapted to sugar-cane, which they brought from Santo +Domingo, where Columbus had introduced it on his second voyage, and +the nascent sugar industry was beginning to prosper and expand when a +royal decree imposing a heavy tax on sugar came to strangle it in its +birth. Bishop Bastidas called the Government's attention to the fact +in a letter dated March 20, 1544, in which he says: " ... The new tax +to be paid on sugar in this island, as ordained by your Majesty, will +still further reduce the number of mills, which have been diminishing +of late. Let this tax be suspended and the mills in course of +construction will be finished, while the erection of others will be +encouraged." + +The prelate's efforts seem to have produced a favorable effect. +Treasurer Castellanos, in 1546, loaned 6,000 pesos for the +Government's account, to two colonists for the erection of two +sugar-cane mills. In 1548 Gregorio Santolaya built, in the +neighborhood of the capital, the first cane-mill turned by +water-power, and two mills moved by horse-power. Another water-power +mill was mounted in 1549 on the estate of Alonzo Perez Martel with the +assistance of 1,500 pesos lent by the king. Loans for the same purpose +continued to be made for years after. + +But if the Government encouraged the sugar industry with one hand, +with the other it checked its development, together with that of other +agricultural industries appropriate to the island, by means of +prohibitive legislation, monopolies, and other oppressive measures. +The effects of this administrative stupidity were still patent a +century later. Bishop Fray Lopez de Haro wrote in 1644: " ... The only +crop in this island is ginger, and it is so depreciated that nobody +buys it or wants to take it to Spain.... There are many cattle farms +in the country, and 7 sugar mills, where the families live with their +slaves the whole year round." + +Canon Torres Vargas, in his Memoirs, amplifies the bishop's statement, +stating that the principal articles of commerce of the island were +ginger, hides, and sugar, and he gives the location of the +above-mentioned 7 sugar-cane mills. The total annual produce of ginger +had been as much as 14,000 centals, but, with the war and excessive +supply, the price had gone down, and in the year he wrote (1646) only +4,000 centals had been harvested. He informs us, too, that cacao had +been planted in sufficient quantity to send ship-loads to Spain +within four years. The number of hides annually exported to Spain was +8,000 to 10,000. Tobacco had begun to be cultivated within the last +ten years, and its exportation had commenced. He pronounces it better +than the tobacco of Havana, Santo Domingo, and Margarita, but not as +good as that of Barinas. + +The cultivation of tobacco in Puerto Rico was permitted by a special +law in 1614, but the sale of it to foreigners was prohibited _under +penalty of death and confiscation of property._[69] These and other +stringent measures dictated in 1777 and 1784 by their very severity +defeated their own purpose, and the laws, to a great extent, remained +a dead letter. + +The cultivation of cacao in Puerto Rico did not prosper for the reason +that the plant takes a long time in coming to maturity, and during +that period is exceedingly sensible to the effects of strong winds, +which, in this island, prevail from July to October. The first +plantations being destroyed by hurricanes, few new plantations were +made. + +Of the other staple products of Puerto Rico, the most valuable, +coffee, was first planted in Martinique in 1720 by M. Declieux, who +brought the seeds from the Botanical Garden in Paris. The coco-palm +was introduced by Diego Lorenzo, a canon in the Cape de Verde Islands, +who also brought the first guinea-fowls; and, possibly, the plantain +species known in this island under the name of "guineo" came from the +same part of the world. According to Oviedo, it was first planted in +Santo Domingo in 1516 by a monk named Berlangas. + +Abbad gives the detailed agricultural statistics of the island in +1776, from which it appears that the cultivation of the new articles +introduced was general at the time, and that, under the influence of +climate and abundant pastures, the animal industry had become one of +the principal sources of wealth for the inhabitants. + +There were in that year 5,581 farms, and 234 cattle-ranches (hatos). + +On the farms or estates there were under cultivation: + + Sugar-cane 3,156 cuerdas[70] + Plantains 8,315 " + Coffee-trees 1,196,184 + Cotton-plants 103,591 + +On the cattle-ranches there were: + + Head of horned cattle 77,384 + Horses 23,195 + Mules 1,534 + Asses, swine, goats, and sheep 49,050 + +This was a comparatively large capital in stock and produce for a +population of 80,000 souls, but the reverend historian severely +criticizes the agricultural population of that day, and says of them: +" ... They scarcely know what implements are; ... they bring down a +tree, principally by means of fire; with a saber, which they call a +'machete,' they clear the jungle and clean the ground; with the point +of this machete, or a pointed stick, they dig the holes or furrows in +which they set their plants or sow their seeds. Thus they provide for +their subsistence, and when a hurricane or other mishap destroys their +crops, they supply their wants by fishing or collect edible roots. + +"Indolence, rather than want of means, makes them confine their +cultivation to the level lands, which they abandon as soon as they +perceive that the fertility of the soil decreases, which happens very +soon, because they do not plow, nor do they turn over the soil, much +less manure it, so that the superficies soon becomes sterile; then +they make a clearing on some mountainside. Neither the knowledge of +the soil and climate acquired during many years of residence, nor the +increased facilities for obtaining the necessary agricultural +implements, nor the large number of cattle they possess that could be +used for agricultural purposes, nor the Government's dispositions to +improve the system of cultivation, have been sufficient to make these +islanders abandon the indolence with which they regard the most +important of all arts, and the first obligation imposed by God on +man--namely, the cultivation of the soil. They leave this to the +slaves, who are few and ill-fed, and know no more of agriculture than +their masters do; ... their great laziness, together with a silly, +baseless vanity, makes them look upon all manual labor as degrading, +proper only for slaves, and so they prefer poverty to doing honest +work. To this must be added their ambition to make rapid fortunes, as +some of them do, by contraband trading, which makes good sailors of +them but bad agriculturists. + +"These are the reasons why they prefer the cultivation of produce that +requires little labor. Most proprietors have a small portion of their +land planted with cane, but few have made it their principal crop, +because of the expense of erecting a mill and the greater number of +slaves and implements required; yet this industry alone, if properly +fostered, would soon remove all obstacles to their progress. + +"It is useless, therefore, to look for gardens and orchards in a +country where the plow is yet unknown, and which has not even made the +first step in agricultural development." + + * * * * * + +Under the royal decree of 1815 commerce, both foreign and inland, +rapidly developed. + +From the official returns made to the Government in 1828 to 1830, +Colonel Flinter drew up the following statement of the agricultural +wealth of the island in the latter year (1830): + + Wooden sugar-cane mills 1,277 + Iron sugar-cane mills 800 + Coffee estates with machinery 148 + Stills for distilling rum 340 + Brick ovens 80 + Lime kilns 45 + +_Land under Cultivation_ + + Cane 14,803 acres. + Plantains 30,706 " + Rice 14,850 " + Maize 16,194 " + Tobacco 2,599 " + Manioc 1,150 " + Sweet potatoes 1,224 " + Yams 6,696 " + Pulse 1,100 " + Horticulture 31 " + + Coffee-plants 16,750 acres 16,992,857 + Cotton-trees 3,079 " 3,079,310 + Coco-palms 2,402 " 60,050 + Orange-trees 3,430 " 85,760 + Aguacate-trees 2,230 " 55,760 + Pepper or chilli or aji trees 500 + +The live stock of the island in the same year consisted of: + + Cows 42,500 head. + Bulls 6,720 " + Oxen 20,910 " + Horses 25,760 " + Mares 27,210 " + Asses 315 " + Mules 1,112 " + Sheep 7,560 " + Goats 5,969 " + Swine 25,087 " + Turkeys 8,671 " + Other fowls 838,454 " + +This agricultural wealth of the island, houses, lands, and slaves +_not_ included, was valued at $37,993,600, and its annual produce at +$6,883,371, half of which was exported. These statistics may be +considered as only _approximately correct,_ as the returns made by the +proprietors to the Government, in order to escape taxation, were less +than the real numbers existing. + +The natural wealth of Puerto Rico may be divided into agricultural, +pastoral, and sylvan. According to the Spanish Government measurements +the island's area is 2,584,000 English acres. Of these, there were + + Under cultivation in 1830, as above + detailed 117,244 acres. + In pastures 634,506 " + In forests 728,703 " + ------------ + Total _tax-paying lands_ 1,480,453 " + +The pasture lands on the north and east coasts are equal to the best +lands of the kind in the West Indies for the breeding and fattening of +cattle. On the south coast excessive droughts often parch the grass, +in which case the cattle are fed on cane-tops at harvest time. There +are excellent and nutritive native grasses of different species to be +found in every valley. The cattle bred in the island are generally +tame. + +From 1865 to 1872 was the era of greatest prosperity ever experienced +in Puerto Rico under Spanish rule. The land was not yet exhausted, +harvests were abundant, labor cheap, the quality of the sugar produced +was excellent, prices were high, contributions and taxes were +moderate. There were no export duties, and although, during this +period, the growing manufacture of beet-root sugar was lowering the +price of "mascabado" all over the world, no effect was felt in Puerto +Rico, because it was the nearest market to the United States, where +the civil war had put an end to the annual product by the Southern +States of half a million bocoyes,[71] or about 675,000,000 gallons; +and the abolition of all import duties on sugar in England also +favored the maintenance of high prices for a number of years. + +However, the production of beet-root sugar and the increase of cane +cultivation in the East[72] caused the fall in prices which, in +combination with the numberless oppressive restrictions imposed by the +Spanish Government, brought Puerto Rico to the verge of ruin. + +"The misfortunes that afflict us," says Mr. James McCormick to the +Provincial Deputation in his official report on the condition of the +sugar industry in this island in 1880, "come under different forms +from different directions, and _every inhabitant knows what causes +have contributed to reduce this island, once prosperous and happy, to +its actual condition of prostration and anguish_." + +That condition he paints in the following words: "Mechanical arts and +industries languish because there is no demand or profitable market +for its products; commerce is paralyzed by the obstacles placed in its +way; the country never has had sufficient capital and what there is +hides itself or is withdrawn from circulation; foreign capital has +been frightened away; Puerto Rican landowners are looked upon with +special disfavor and credit is denied them, unfortunately with good +reason, seeing the lamentable condition of our agriculture. The +production of sugar scarcely amounts to half of what it was in former +years. From the year 1873 a great proportion of the existing sugar +estates have fallen to ruin; in 8 districts their number has been +reduced from 104 to 38, and of these the majority are in an agonizing +condition. In other parts of the island many estates, in which large +capitals in machinery, drainage, etc., have been invested, have been +abandoned and the land is returning to its primitive condition of +jungle and swamp. Ten years ago the island exported 100,000 tons of +sugar annually, the product of 553 mills; during the last three years +(1878-1880) the average export has been 60,000 tons, the product of +325 mills that have been able to continue working. Everywhere in this +province the evidences of the ruin which has overtaken the planters +meet the eye, and nothing is heard but the lamentations of proprietors +reduced to misery and desperation." + +This state of things continued notwithstanding the representations +made before the "high spheres of Government" by the leading men in +commerce and agriculture, by the press of all political colors, and by +Congress. The Minister of Ultramar in Madrid recognized the gravity of +the situation, and it is said that the lamentations of the people of +Puerto Rico found an echo even at the foot of the throne. + +And there they died. Nothing was done to remedy the growing evil, and +the writer of the pamphlet, not daring openly to accuse the Government +as the only cause of the island's desperate situation, counsels +patience, and timidly expresses the hope that the exorbitant taxes +and contributions will be lowered; that economy in the Government +expenditures will be practised; that monopolies will be abolished, and +odious, oppressive practises of all kinds be discontinued. + +Such was the condition of Puerto Rico in 1880. The Government's +oppressive practises, and they only, were the causes of the ruin of +this and all the other rich and beautiful colonies that destiny laid +at the feet of Ferdinand and Isabel four centuries ago. + +The following statement of the proportion of sugar to each acre of +land under cane cultivation in the Antilles, compared with Puerto +Rico, may be of interest. + +The computation of the average sugar produce per acre, according to +the best and most correct information from intelligent planters, who +had no motives for deception, was, in 1830:[73] + + For Jamaica 10 centals per acre. + Dominica 10 " " + Granada 15 " " + St. Vincent 25 " " + Tobago 20 " " + Antigua 7-12 " " + Saint Kitts 20 " " + Puerto Rico 30 " " + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 69: Leyes de Indias, Ley IV, Libro IV, Titulo XVIII.] + +[Footnote 70: The actual cuerda is a square of 75 varas each side, +about one-tenth less than an acre. Abbad understood by a cuerda a +rectangle of 75 varas front by 1,500 varas depth, that is, 20 cuerdas +superficies of those actually in use.--_Acosta._] + +[Footnote 71: The bocoy in Puerto Rico, equal from 12 to 20 centals of +sugar, according the quality.] + +[Footnote 72: British India produced about that time over 1,500,000 +tons of cane-sugar per annum.] + +[Footnote 73: Colonel Flinter, An Account of the Island of Puerto +Rico. London, 1834] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +COMMERCE AND FINANCES + +Until the year 1813 the captains-general of Puerto Rico had the +superintendence of the revenues. The capital was the only authorized +port open to commerce. No regular books were kept by the authorities. +A day-book of duties paid and expended was all that was considered +necessary. Merchandise was smuggled in at every part of the coast,[74] +the treasury chest was empty, and the Government officers and troops +were reduced to a very small portion of their pay. + +The total revenues of the island, including the old-established taxes +and contributions, produced 70,000 pesos, and half of that sum was +never recovered on account of the abuses and dishonesty that had been +introduced in the system of collection. + +An intendancy was deemed necessary, and the Home Government appointed +Alexander Ramirez to the post in February, 1813. He promptly +introduced important reforms in the administration, and caused regular +accounts to be kept. He made ample and liberal concessions to +commerce, opened five additional ports with custom-houses, freed +agriculture from the trammels that had impeded its development, and +placed labor, instruments, seeds, and modern machinery within its +reach. He printed and distributed short essays or manuals on the +cultivation of different products and the systems adopted by other +nations, promoted the immigration of Canary Islanders, founded the +Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country, and edited the +Diario Economico de Puerto Rico, the first number of which appeared +February 28, 1814. + +The first year after the establishment of these improvements, +notwithstanding the abolition of some of the most onerous taxes, the +revenues of the capital rose to $161,000, and the new custom-houses +produced $242,842. + +Having placed this island's financial administration on a sound basis, +Ramirez was called upon by the Government to perform the same valuable +services for Cuba. Unfortunately, his successors here soon destroyed +the good effects of his measures by continual variations in the +system, and in the commercial tariffs. They attempted to prevent +smuggling by increasing the duties, the very means of encouraging +contraband trade, and the old mismanagement and malversations in the +custom-houses revived. One intendant, often from a mere spirit of +innovation, applied to the court for a decree canceling the +regulations of his predecessor, so that, from the concurring effects +of contraband and mismanagement, commerce suffered, and the country +became once more impoverished. + +The revenues fell so low and the malversation of public money reached +such a height that the captain-general found it necessary in 1825 to +charge the military commanders of the respective districts with the +prevention of smuggling. He placed supervisors of known intelligence +and probity in each custom-house to watch and prevent fraud and +peculation. These measures almost doubled the amount of revenue in the +following year (1826). + +As late as 1810 the imports in Puerto Rico exceeded three times the +sum of the produce exported. The difference was made up by the +"situados," or remittances in cash from Mexico, which began early in +the seventeenth century, when the repeated attacks on the island by +French and English privateers forced the Spanish Government to choose +between losing the island or fortifying it. The king chose the latter, +and made an assignment on the royal treasury of Mexico of nearly half +a million pesos per annum. With these subsidies all the fortifications +were constructed and the garrison and civil and military employees +were paid, till the insurrection in Mexico put a stop to the fall of +this pecuniary manna. + +It was fortunate for Puerto Rico that it ceased. The people of the +island had become so accustomed to look to this supply of money for +the purchase of their necessities that they entirely neglected the +development of the rich resources in their fertile soil. When a +remittance arrived in due time, all was joy and animation; when it was +delayed, as was often the case, all was gloom and silence, and +recourse was had to "papeletas," a temporary paper currency or +promises to pay. + +With the cessation of the "situados" the scanty resources of the +treasury soon gave out. The funds of the churches were first +requisitioned; then the judicial deposits, the property of people who +had died in the Peninsula, and other unclaimed funds were attached; +next, donations and private loans were solicited, and when all these +expedients were exhausted, the final resort of bankrupt communities, +paper money, was adopted (1812). + +Then Puerto Rico's poverty became extreme. In 1814 there was at least +half a million paper money in circulation with a depreciation of 400 +per cent. To avoid absolute ruin, the intendant had recourse to the +introduction of what were called "macuquinos," or pieces of rudely +cut, uncoined silver of inferior alloy, representing approximately the +value of the coin that each piece of metal stood for. With these he +redeemed in 1816 all the paper money that had been put in circulation; +but the emergency money gave rise to agioist speculation and remained +the currency long after it had served its purpose. It was not replaced +by Spanish national coin till 1857. + +The royal decree of 1815, and the improvements in the financial +situation, as a result of the new administrative system established by +Ramirez, gave a strong impulse to foreign commerce. Though commerce +with the mother country remained in a languishing condition, because +the so-called "decree of graces" had fixed the import duty on Spanish +merchandise at 6 per cent _ad valorem_, while the valuations which +the custom-house officials made exceeded the market prices to such an +extent that many articles really paid 8 per cent and some 10, 12, and +even 15 per cent. + +An estimate of the commerce of this island about the year 1830 divides +the total imports and exports which, in that year, amounted to +$5,620,786 among the following nations: + + + Per cent. Per cent. + + West Indian Islands imports 53-12 Exports 26 + United States imports 27-14 " 49 + Spanish imports 12-18 " 7 + English imports 2-34 " 6-12 + French imports 2-58 " 6-58 + Other nations' imports 1-34 " 8-34 + + + +The American trade at that time formed nearly one-third of the whole +of the value of the imports and nearly half of all the exports. + +An American consul resided at the capital and all the principal ports +had deputy consuls. The articles of importation from the United States +were principally timber, staves for sugar-casks, flour and other +provisions, and furniture.[75] + + * * * * * + +The financial history of Puerto Rico commences about the middle of the +eighteenth century. In 1758 the revenues amounted to 6,858 pesos. In +1765, to 10,814, and in 1778 to 47,500. Their increase up to 1,605,523 +in 1864 was due to the natural development of the island's resources, +which accompanied the increase of population; yet financial distress +was chronic all the time, and not a year passed without the +application of the supposed panacea of royal decrees and ordinances, +without the expected improvement. + +From 1850 to 1864, for the first time in the island's history, there +happened to be a surplus revenue. The authorities wasted it in an +attempt to reannex Santo Domingo and in contributions toward the +expenses of the war in Morocco. The balance was used by the Spanish +Minister of Ultramar, the Government being of opinion that surpluses +in colonial treasuries were a source of danger. To avoid a plethora of +money contributions were asked for in the name of patriotism, which +nobody dared refuse, and which were, therefore, always liberally +responded to. Of this class was a contribution of half a million pesos +toward the expenses of the war with the Carlists to secure the +succession of Isabel II, and Sunday collections for the benefit of the +Spanish soldiers in Cuba, for the sufferers by the inundations in +Murcia, the earthquakes in Andalusia, etc. From 1870 to 1876 a series +of laws and ordinances relating to finances were promulgated. February +22d, a royal decree admitted Mexican silver coin as currency. December +3, 1880, another royal decree reformed the financial administration of +the island. This was followed in 1881 by instructions for the +collection of personal contributions. In 1882 the Intendant Alcazar +published the regulations for the imposition, collection, and +administration of the land tax; from 1882 to 1892 another series of +laws, ordinances, and decrees appeared for the collection and +administration of different taxes and contributions, and October 28, +1895, another royal decree withdrew the Mexican coin from circulation. +In the same year (March 15th) the reform laws were promulgated, which +were followed in the next year by the municipal law.[76] + +In the meantime commerce languished. The excessively high export +duties on island produce imposed by Governor Sanz in 1868 to 1870 +brought 600,000 pesos per annum into the treasury, but ruined +agriculture, and this lasted till the end of Spanish rule. + +The directory of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and +Navigation of San Juan, at the general meeting of members in 1895, +reported that it had occupied itself during that year, through the +medium of the island's representative in Cortes, with the promised +tariff reform, but without result. Nor had its endeavors to obtain the +exchange of the Mexican coin still in circulation for Peninsular money +been successful on account of the opposition of those interested in +the maintenance of the system. The abolition of the so-called +"conciertos" of matches and petroleum had also occupied them, and in +this case successfully; but the directors complained of the apathy and +the indifference of the public in general for the objects which the +Chamber of Commerce was organized to advocate and promote, and they +state that within the last year the number of associates had +diminished. + +The Directors' report of January, 1897, was even more gloomy. They +complain of the want of interest in their proceedings on the part of +many of the leading commercial houses, of the lamentable condition of +commerce, of the inattention of their "mother," Spain, to the +plausible pretentions of this her daughter, animated though she was by +the most fervent patriotism. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 74: Rafael Conty, subdelegate of the treasury of Aguadilla, +sailed round the island in a sloop in 1790 and confiscated eleven +vessels engaged in smuggling.] + +[Footnote 75: For commercial statistics of Puerto Rico from 1813 to +1864, see Senor Acosta's interesting notes to Chapter XXVIII of +Abbad's history.] + +[Footnote 76: _Vide_ Resena del Estado Social, Economico e Industrial +de la Isla de Puerto Rico por el Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste, 1899.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO + +In Chapter XXIII of this history we gave an extract from his +Excellency Alexander O'Reilly's report to King Charles IV, wherein, +referring to the intellectual status of the inhabitants of Puerto Rico +in 1765, he informs his Majesty that there were only two schools in +the whole island and that, outside of the capital and San German, few +knew how to read. + +In the mother country, at that period, even primary instruction was +very deficient. It remained so for a long time. As late as 1838 +reading, writing, and arithmetic only were taught in the best public +schools of Spain. The other branches of knowledge, such as geography, +history, physics, chemistry, natural history, could be studied in a +few ecclesiastical educational establishments.[77] The illiteracy of +the inhabitants of this, the least important of Spain's conquered +provinces, was therefore but natural, seeing that the conquerors who +had settled in it belonged to the most ignorant classes of an +illiterate country in an illiterate age. Something was done in Puerto +Rico by the Dominican and Franciscan friars in the way of preparatory +training for ecclesiastical callings. They taught Latin and philosophy +to a limited number of youths; the bishop himself gave regular +instruction in Latin. + +A few youths, whose parents could afford it, were sent to the +universities of Caracas and Santo Domingo, where some of them +distinguished themselves by their aptitude for study. One of these, +afterward known as Father Bonilla, obtained the highest academic +honors in Santo Domingo. + +From 1820 to 1823, under the auspices of a constitutional government, +intellectual life in Puerto Rico really began. A Mr. Louis Santiago +called public attention to the necessity of attending to primary +education. "The greatest evil," he said, "that which demands the +speediest remedy, is the general ignorance of the art of reading and +writing. It is painful to see the signatures of the alcaldes to public +documents." He wrote a pamphlet of instructions in the art of teaching +in primary schools, which was printed and distributed through the +interior of the island. The governor, Gonzalo Arostegui, addressed an +official note to the Provincial Deputation charging that body to +propose to him "without rest or interruption, and as soon as +possible," the means to establish primary schools in the capital and +in the towns of the interior; to the municipalities he sent a +circular, dated September 28, 1821, recommending them to facilitate +the coming to the capital of the teachers in their respective +districts who wished to attend, for a period of two months, a class in +the Lancasterian method of primary teaching, to be held in the Normal +School by Ramon Carpegna, the political secretary. A certain amount of +instruction, talent, and disposition for magisterial work was required +of the pupils, and those who already had positions as teachers could +assist at the two months' course without detriment to their salaries. + +The fall of the constitutional government in Spain, brought about by +French intervention and the reaction that followed, extinguished the +light that had just begun to shine, and this unfortunate island was +again plunged into the intellectual darkness of the middle ages. +Persecution became fiercer than ever, and the citizens most +distinguished for their learning and liberal ideas had to seek safety +in emigration. + +For the next twenty years the education of the youth of Puerto Rico +was entirely in the hands of the clergy. With the legacies left to +the Church by Bishop Arizmendi and other pious defuncts, Bishop Pedro +Gutierrez de Cos founded the Conciliar Seminary in 1831, and appointed +as Rector Friar Angel de la Concepcion Vazquez, a Puerto Rican by +birth, educated in the Franciscan Convent of Caracas. + +In the same year there came to Puerto Rico, as prebendary of the +cathedral, an ex-professor of experimental physics in the University +of Galicia, whose name was Rufo Fernandez. He founded a cabinet of +physics and a chemical laboratory, and invited the youth of the +capital to attend the lectures on these two sciences which he gave +gratis. + +Fray Angel, as he was familiarly called, the rector of the seminary, +at Dr. Rufo's suggestion, asked permission of the superior +ecclesiastical authorities to transfer the latter's cabinet and +laboratory to the seminary for the purpose of adding the courses of +physics and chemistry to the curriculum, but failed to obtain it, the +reasons given for the adverse decision being, "that the science of +chemistry was unnecessary for the students, who, in accordance with +the dispositions of the Council of Trent, were to dedicate themselves +to ecclesiastical sciences only." The rector, while expressing his +regret at the decision, adds: "I can not help telling you what I have +always felt--namely, that there is some malediction resting on the +education of youth in this island, which evokes formidable obstacles +from every side, though there are not wanting generous spirits ready +to make sacrifices in its favor." [78] + +Some of these generous spirits had organized, as early as 1813, under +the auspices of Intendant Ramirez, the Economic Society of Friends of +the Country. Puerto Rico owes almost all its intellectual progress to +this society. Its aim was the island's moral and material advancement, +and, in spite of obstacles, it has nobly labored with that object in +view to the end of Spanish domination. From its very inception it +established a primary school for 12 poor girls, and classes in +mathematics, geography, French, English, and drawing, to which a class +of practical or applied mechanics was added later. In 1844 the society +asked and obtained permission from the governor, the Count of +Mirasol, to solicit subscriptions for the establishment and endowment +of a central college. The people responded with enthusiasm, and in +less than a month 30,000 pesos were collected. + + +The college was opened. In 1846 four youths, under the guidance of Dr. +Rufo, were sent to Spain to complete their studies to enable them to +worthily fill professorships in the central school. Two of them died +shortly after their arrival in Madrid. When the other two returned to +Puerto Rico in 1849 they found the college closed and the +subscriptions for its maintenance returned to the donors by order of +Juan de la Pezuela, Count Mirasol's successor in the governorship. + +If the unfavorable opinion of the character of the Puerto Ricans to +which this personage gave expression in one of his official +communications was the motive for his proceeding in this case, it +would seem that he changed it toward the end of his administration, +for he founded a Royal Academy of Belles-Lettres, and a library which +was provided with books by occasional gifts from the public. He +introduced some useful reforms in the system of primary instruction, +and inaugurated the first prize competitions for poetical compositions +by native authors. + +From the returns of the census of 1860 it appears that at that time +only 17-12 per cent of the male population of the island knew how to +read, and only 12-12 per cent of the female population. Four years +later, at the end of 1864 there were, according to official data, +98,817 families in Puerto Rico whose intellectual wants were supplied +by 74 public schools for boys and 48 for girls, besides 16 and 9 +private schools for boys and girls respectively. + +In 1854 General Norzagery, then governor, assisted by Andres Vina, the +secretary of the Royal Board of Commerce and Industry, had founded a +school of Commerce, Agriculture, and Navigation. After sixteen years +of existence, this establishment was unfavorably reported upon by +Governor Sanz, who wished to suppress it on account of the liberal +ideas and autonomist tendencies of its two principal professors, Jose +Julian Acosta (Abbad's commentator) and Ramon B. Castro. In the +preamble to a secret report sent by this governor to Madrid he says: +"This supreme civil government has always secured professors who, in +addition to the required ability for their position, possess the moral +and political character and qualities to form citizens, lovers of +their country, i.e., lovers of Puerto Rico as a Spanish province, _not +of Puerto Rico as an independent state annexed to North America_." + +Female education had all along received even less attention than the +education of boys. Alexander Infiesta, in an article on the subject +published in the Revista in February, 1888, states, that according to +the latest census there were 399,674 females in the island, of whom +293,247 could neither read nor write, 158,528 of them being white +women and girls. The number of schools for boys was 408, with an +attendance of 18,194, and that for girls 127, with 7,183 pupils. + +From the memorial published by the Director of the Provincial +Institute for Secondary Education, regarding the courses of study in +that establishment during the year 1888-'89, we learn that the number +of primary schools in the island had increased to 600, but, according +to Mr. Coll y Toste's Resena, published in 1899, there were, among a +total population of 894,302 souls, only 497 primary schools in the +island at the time of the American occupation. The total attendance +was 22,265 pupils, 15,108 boys and 7,157 girls. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 77: See Franco del Valle Atiles, Causas del atras +Intellectual del campesino Puertoriqueno. Revista Puertoriquena, Ano +II, tomo II, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 78: Letter to Dr. Rufo Fernandez from Fray Angel de la +Concepcion Vazquez. See Acosta's notes to Abbad's history, pp. 412, +413, foot note.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +LIBRARIES AND THE PRESS + +Books for the people were considered by the Spanish colonial +authorities to be of the nature of inflammable or explosive +substances, which it was not safe to introduce freely. + +From their point of view, they were right. The Droits de l'homme of +Jean Jacques Rousseau, for example, translated into every European +language, had added more volunteers of all nationalities to the ranks +of the Spanish-American patriots than was generally supposed--and so, +books and printing material were subjected to the payment of high +import duties, and a series of annoying formalities, among which the +passing of the political and ecclesiastical censors was the most +formidable. + +The result among the poorer classes of natives was blank illiteracy. A +pall of profound ignorance hung over the island, and although, with +the revival of letters in the seventeenth century the light of +intellect dawned over western Europe, not a ray of it was permitted to +reach the Spanish colonies. + +The ruling class, every individual of whom came from the Peninsula, +kept what books each individual possessed to themselves. To the people +all learning, except such as it was considered safe to impart, was +forbidden fruit. + +Under these conditions it is not strange that the idea of founding +public libraries did not germinate in the minds of the more +intelligent among the Puerto Ricans till the middle of the nineteenth +century; whereas, the other colonies that had shaken off their +allegiance to the mother country, had long since entered upon the road +of intellectual progress with resolute step. + +Collegiate libraries, however, had existed in the capital of the +island as early as the sixteenth century. The first of which we have +any tradition was founded by the Dominican friars in their convent. It +contained works on art, literature, and theology. + +The next library was formed in the episcopal palace, or "casa +parochial," by Bishop Don Bernardo de Valbuena, poet and author of a +pastoral novel entitled the Golden Age, and other works of literary +merit. This library, together with that of the Dominicans, and the +respective episcopal and conventual archives were burned by the +Hollanders during the siege of San Juan in 1625. + +The Franciscan friars also had a library in their convent (1660). The +books disappeared at the time of the community's dissolution in 1835. + +Bishop Pedro Gutierres de Cos, who founded the San Juan Conciliar +Seminary in 1832, established a library in connection with it, the +remains of which are still extant in the old seminary building, but +much neglected and worm-eaten. + +A library of a semipublic character was founded by royal order dated +June 19, 1831, shortly after the installation of the Audiencia in San +Juan. It was a large and valuable collection of books on juridical +subjects, which remained under the care of a salaried librarian till +1899, when it was amalgamated with the library of the College of +Lawyers. + +This last is a rich collection of works on jurisprudence, and the +exclusive property of the college, but accessible to professional men. +The library is in the former Audiencia building, now occupied by the +insular courts. + +The period from 1830 to 1850 appears to have been one of greatest +intellectual activity in Puerto Rico. Toward its close Juan de la +Pezuela, the governor, founded the Royal Academy of Belles-Lettres, an +institution of literary and pedagogical character, with the functions +of a normal school. It was endowed with a modest library, but it only +lived till the year 1860, when, in consequence of disagreement between +the founder and the professors, the school was closed and the library +passed into the possession of the Economic Society of Friends of the +Country. + +This, and the library of the Royal Academy, which the society had also +acquired, formed a small but excellent nucleus, and with, the produce +of the public subscription of 1884 it was enabled to stock its library +with many of the best standard works of the time in Spanish and +French, and open to the Puerto Ricans of all classes the doors of the +first long-wished-for public library. + +Since then it has contributed in no small degree to the enlightenment +of the better part of the laboring classes in the capital, till it was +closed at the commencement of the war. + +During the transition period the books were transferred from one +locality to another, and in the process the best works disappeared, +until the island's first civil governor, Charles H. Allen, at the +suggestion of Commissioner of Education Martin G. Brumbaugh, rescued +the remainder and made it the nucleus of the first _American_ free +library. + +The second Puerto Rican public library was opened by Don Ramon +Santaella, October 15, 1880, in the basement of the Town Hall. It +began with 400 volumes, and possesses to-day 6,361 literary and +didactic books in different languages. + +The Puerto Rican Atheneum Library was established in 1876. Its +collection of books, consisting principally of Spanish and French +literature, is an important one, both in numbers and quality. It has +been enriched by accessions of books from the library of the extinct +Society of Friends of the Country. It is open to members of the +Atheneum only, or to visitors introduced by them. + +The Casino Espanol possesses a small but select library with a +comfortable reading-room. Its collection of books and periodicals is +said to be the richest and most varied in the island. It was founded +in 1871. + +The religious association known under the name of Conferences of St. +Vincent de Paul had a small circulating library of religious works +duly approved by the censors. The congregation was broken up in 1887 +and the library disappeared. + +The Provincial Institute of Secondary Education, which was located in +the building now occupied by the free library and legislature, +possessed a small pedagogical library which shared the same fate as +that of the Society of Friends of the Country. + +The Spanish Public Works Department possessed another valuable +collection of books, mostly on technical and scientific subjects. A +number of books on other than technical subjects, probably from the +extinct libraries just referred to, have been added to the original +collection, and the whole, to the number of 1,544 volumes in excellent +condition, exist under the care of the chief of the Public Works +Department. + +Besides the above specified libraries of a public and collegiate +character, there are some private collections of books in the +principal towns of the island. Chief among these is the collection of +Don Fernando Juncos, of San Juan, which contains 15,000 volumes of +classic and preceptive literature and social and economic science, +1,200 volumes of which bear the author's autographs. + +The desire for intellectual improvement began to manifest itself in +the interior of the island a few years after the establishment of the +first public library in the capital. The municipality of Ponce founded +a library in 1894. It contains 809 bound volumes and 669 pamphlets in +English, German, French, and Spanish, many of them duplicates. The +general condition of the books is bad, and the location of the library +altogether unsuitable. There was a municipal appropriation of 350 +pesos per annum for library purposes, but since 1898 it has not been +available. + +Mayaguez founded its public library in 1872. It possesses over 5,000 +volumes, with a small archeological and natural history museum +attached to it. + +Some of the smaller towns also felt the need of intellectual +expansion, and tried to supply it by the establishment of +reading-rooms. Arecibo, Vega-Baja, Toa-Alta, Yauco, Cabo-Rojo, +Aguadilla, Humacao, and others made efforts in this direction either +through their municipalities or private initiative. A few only +succeeded, but they did not outlive the critical times that commenced +with the war, aggravated by the hurricane of August, 1898. + + * * * * * + +Since the American occupation of the island, four public libraries +have been established. Two of them are exclusively Spanish, the +Circulating Scholastic Library, inaugurated in San Juan on February +22, 1901, by Don Pedro Carlos Timothe, and the Circulating Scholastic +Library of Yauco, established a month later under the auspices of S. +Egozene of that town. The two others are, one, largely English, the +Pedagogical Library, established under the auspices of the +Commissioner of Education, and the San Juan Free Library, to which Mr. +Andrew Carnegie has given $100,000, and which is polyglot, and was +formally opened to the public April 20, 1901. There is also a growing +number of libraries in the public schools. From the above data it +appears that, owing to the peculiar conditions that obtained in this +island, the people of Puerto Rico were very slow in joining the +movement of intellectual expansion which began in Spanish America in +the eighteenth century. They did so at last, unaided and with their +own limited resources, even before the obstacles placed in their way +by the Government were removed. If they have not achieved more, it is +because within the last few decades the island has been unfortunate in +more than one respect. Now that a new era has dawned, it may +reasonably be expected that the increased opportunities for +intellectual development afforded them will be duly appreciated and +taken advantage of by the people, and if we may judge from the +eagerness with which the youth of the capital reads the books of the +San Juan Free Library, it seems clear that the seed so recently sown +has fallen in fruitful soil. + + * * * * * + +The history of the Press in Puerto Rico is short. The first printing +machine was introduced by the Government in 1807 for the purpose of +publishing the Official Gazette. No serious attempt at publication of +any periodical for the people was made till the commencement of the +second constitutional period (1820-'23), when, for the first time in +the island's history, public affairs could be discussed without the +risk of imprisonment or banishment. The right of association was also +recognized. The Society of Liberal Lovers of the Country and the +Society of Lovers of Science were formed about this time. The +Investigator and the Constitutional Gazette were published and gave +food for nightly discussions on political and social questions in the +coffee-house on the Marina. + +The period of freedom of spoken and written thought was short, but an +impulse had been given which could not be arrested. In 1865 there were +eight periodicals published in the island. On September 29th of that +year a law regulating the publication of newspapers indirectly +suppressed half of them. It contained twenty articles, each more +stringent than the other. To obtain a license to publish or to +continue publishing a paper, a deposit of 2,000 crowns had to be made +to cover the fines that were almost sure to be imposed. The +publications were subject to the strictest censorship. They could not +appear till the proofs of each article had been signed by the censor, +and the whole process of printing and publishing was fenced in by such +minute and annoying regulations, the smallest infraction of which was +punished by such heavy fines that it was a marvel how any paper could +be published under such conditions. These conditions were relaxed a +decade or two later, and a number of publications sprang into +existence at once. When the United States Government took possession +of the island, there were 9 periodicals published in San Juan, 5 in +Ponce, 3 in Mayaguez, 1 in Humacao, and a few others in different +towns of the interior. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY + +In Catholic countries the monastic orders constitute the regular +clergy. The secular clergy is not bound by monastic rules. Both +classes exercise their functions independently, the former under the +authority of their respective superiors or generals, the latter under +the bishops. + +When, after the return of Columbus from his first voyage, the +existence of a new world was demonstrated and preparations for +occupying it were made, the Pope, to assure the Christianization of +the inhabitants, gave to the monks of all orders who wished to go the +privilege, pertaining till then to the secular clergy exclusively, of +administering parishes and collecting tithes without subjection to the +authority of the bishops. + +The Dominicans and the Franciscans availed themselves of this +privilege at once. There was rivalry for power and influence between +these two orders from the time of their first installation, and they +carried their quarrels with them to America, where their differences +of opinion regarding the enslaving and treatment of the Indians +embittered them still more. The Dominicans secured a footing in Santo +Domingo and in Puerto Rico almost to the exclusion of their rivals, +notwithstanding the king's recommendation to Ceron in 1511 to build a +monastery for Franciscans, whose doctrines he considered "salutary." + +[Illustration: San Francisco Church, San Juan; the oldest church in +the city.] + +Puerto Rico was scantily provided with priests till the year 1518, +when the treasurer, Haro, wrote to Cardinal Cisneros: "There are no +priests in the granges as has been commanded; only one in Caparra, and +one in San German. The island is badly served. Send us a goodly number +of priests or permission to pay them out of the produce of the +tithes." + +The "goodly number of priests" was duly provided. Immediately after +the transfer of the capital to its present site in 1521, the +Dominicans began the construction of a convent, which was nearly +completed in 1529, when there were 25 friars in it. They had acquired +great influence over Bishop Manso, and obtained many privileges and +immunities from him. Bishop Bastidas, Manso's successor, was less +favorably disposed toward them, and demanded payment of tithes of the +produce of their agricultural establishments. He reported to the king +in 1548: "There is a Dominican monastery here large enough for a city +of 2,000 inhabitants,[79] and there are many friars in it. They +possess farms, cattle, negroes, Indians, and are building horse-power +sugar-mills; meanwhile, I know that they are asking your Majesty for +alms to finish their church ... It were better to oblige them to sell +their estates and live in poverty as prescribed by the rules of their +order." + +The Franciscans came to Puerto Rico in 1534, but founded no convent +till 1585, when one of their order, Nicolas Ramos, was appointed to +the see of San Juan. Then they established themselves in "la Aguada," +and named the settlement San Francisco de Asis. Two years later it was +destroyed by the Caribs, and five of the brothers martyrized. No +attempt at reconstruction of the convent was made. The order abandoned +the island and did not return till 1642, when they obtained the Pope's +license to establish themselves in the capital. Like the Dominicans, +they soon acquired considerable wealth. + +The privilege of administering parishes and collecting tithes, which +was the principal source of monastic revenues, was canceled by royal +schedule June 13, 1757. The monks continued in the full enjoyment of +their property till 1835, when all the property of the regular clergy +throughout the Peninsula and the colonies was expropriated by the +Government. In this island the convents were appropriated only after +long and tedious judicial proceedings, in which the Government +demonstrated that the transfer was necessary for the public good. Then +the convents were used--that of the Dominicans as Audiencia hall, that +of the Franciscans as artillery barracks. The intendancy took charge +of the administration of the estate of the two communities, the +mortmain was canceled, and the transfer duly legalized. A promised +indemnity to the two brotherhoods was never paid, but in 1897 a sum of +5,000 pesos annually was added to the insular budget, to be paid to +the clergy as compensation for the expropriated estate of the +Dominicans in San German. Succeeding political events prevented the +payment of this also. The last representatives in this island of the +two dispossessed orders died in San Juan about the year 1865. + +Bishop Monserrate made an effort to reestablish the order of +Franciscans in 1875-'76. Only three brothers came to the island and +they, not liking the aspect of affairs, went to South America. + + * * * * * + +The first head of the secular clergy in Puerto Rico was nominated in +1511. The Catholic princes besought Pope Julius II to make it a +bishopric, and recommended as its first prelate Alonzo Manso, canon of +Salamanca, doctor in theology, a man held in high esteem at court. His +Holiness granted the request, and designated the whole of the island +as the diocese, with the principal settlement in it as the see. + +The subsequent conquests on the mainland kept adding vast territories +to this diocese till, toward the end of the eighteenth century, it +included the whole region extending from the upper Orinoco to the +Amazon, and from Guiana to the plains of Bogota. Manso's successors +repeatedly represented to the king the absolute impossibility of +attending to the spiritual wants of "the lambs that were continually +added to the flock." They requested that the see might be transferred +to the mainland or that the diocese might be divided in two or more. +This was done in 1791, when the diocese of Guiana was created, and +Puerto Rico with the island of Vieyques remained as the original one. + +The bishop came to San Juan in 1513, and at once began to dispose all +that was necessary to give splendor and good government to the first +episcopal seat in America. Unfortunately, he arrived at a time when +dissension, strife, and immorality were rampant; and when it became +known that he was authorized to collect his tithes _in specie_, the +opposition of the quarrelsome and insubordinate inhabitants became so +violent that the prelate could not exercise his functions, and was +forced to return to the Peninsula in 1515. He came back in 1519, +invested with the powers of a Provincial Inquisitor, which he +exercised till 1539, when he died and was buried in the cathedral, +where a monument with an alabaster effigy marked his tomb till 1625, +when it was destroyed by the Hollanders. + +Rodrigo Bastidas, a native of Santo Domingo, was Manso's successor. He +was appointed Bishop of Coro in Venezuela in 1532, but solicited and +obtained the see of Puerto Rico in 1542. He was a man of great +capacity, virtuous and benevolent. He advised the suppression of the +Inquisition, asked the Government for facilities to educate the youth +and advance the agricultural interests of his diocese, and commenced +the construction of the cathedral. He died in Santo Domingo in 1561, +very old and very rich. + +Friar Diego de Salamanca, of the order of Augustines, succeeded +Bastidas. He continued the construction of the cathedral, but soon +returned to the metropolis, leaving the diocese to the care of the +Vicar-General, Santa Olaya, till 1585, when the Franciscan friar +Nicolas Bamos was appointed to the see. He was the last Bishop of +Puerto Rico who united the functions of inquisitor with those of the +episcopate, and a zealous burner of heretics. After him the see +remained vacant for fourteen years; since then, to the end of the +eighteenth century there were 39 consecrated prelates, 9 of whom +renounced, or for some other reason did not take possession. The most +distinguished among the remaining 30 were: Bernardo Balbuena, poet and +author, 1623-'27; Friar Manuel Gimenez Perez, pious, active, and +philanthropist, 1770-'84; and Juan Alejo Arismendi, who, according to +the Latin inscription on his tomb, was an amiable, religious, upright, +zealous, compassionate, learned, decorous, active, leading, +benevolent, paternal man. Of the rest little more is known than their +names and the dates of their assumption of office and demise. + + * * * * * + +The year 1842 was, for the secular clergy, one of anxiety for the +safety of their long and assiduously accumulated wealth. The members +to the number of 17 individuals, including the bishop, drew annual +stipends from the insular treasury to the amount of 36,888 pesos, +besides which they possessed and still possess a capital of over one +and a half millions of pesos, represented by: 1. Vacant chaplaincies. +2. Investments under the head Ecclesiastical Chapter. 3. Idem for +account of the Carmelite Sisterhood. 4. Legacies to saints for the +purpose of celebrating masses and processions in all the parishes of +the island. 5. Pious donations. 6. Fraternities and religious +associations for the worship of some special saint. 7. Revenues from +an institution known by the name of Third Orders. 8. Capital invested +by the founders of the Hospital of the Conception, the income of which +is mostly consumed by the nuns of that order. And 9. The +ecclesiastical revenues of different kinds in San German. + +All this was put in jeopardy by the following decree: + +"Dona Isabel II, by the grace of God and the Constitution of the +Spanish Monarchy, Queen of Spain, and during her minority Baldomero +Espartero, Duke of 'la Victoria' and Morella, Regent of the kingdom, +to all who these presents may see and understand, makes known that the +Cortes have decreed, and we have sanctioned, as follows: + +"ARTICLE I. All properties of the secular clergy of whatever class; +rights or shares of whatever origin or denomination they may be, or +for whatever application or purpose they may have been given, bought, +or acquired, are national properties. + +"ART. II. The properties, rights, and shares corresponding in any +manner to ecclesiastical unions or fraternities, are also national +properties. + +"ART. III. All estates, rights, and shares of the cathedral, +collegiate and parochial clergy and ecclesiastical unions and +fraternities referred to in the preceding articles, are hereby +declared _for sale_." + + * * * * * +The 15 articles that follow specify the properties +in detail, the manner of sale, the disposition of the +products, administration of rents, etc. + +The law was not carried into effect. Espartero, very popular at first, +by adopting the principles of the progressist party, forfeited the +support of the conservatives--that is, of the clerical party, and the +man is not born yet who can successfully introduce into Spain a +radical reform of the nature of the one he sanctioned with his +signature September 2, 1841. From that moment his overthrow was +certain. Narvaez headed the revolution against him, his own officers +and men abandoned him, and on July 30, 1843, he wrote his farewell +manifesto to the nation on board a British ship of war. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 79: San Juan had only about 100 "vecinos"--that is, white +people.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +THE INQUISITION + +1520-1813 + +Bishop Manso, on his arrival in 1513, found Puerto Rico in a state +bordering on anarchy, and after vain attempts to check the prevalent +immorality and establish the authority of the Church, he returned to +Spain in 1519. The account he gave Cardinal Cisneros of the island's +condition suggested to the Grand Inquisitor the obvious remedy of +clothing the bishop with the powers of Provincial Inquisitor, which he +did. + +Diego Torres Vargas, the canon of the San Juan Cathedral, says in his +memoirs: "Manso was made inquisitor, and he, being the first, may be +said to have been the Inquisitor-General of the Indies; ... the +delinquents were brought from all parts to be burned and punished +here ... The Inquisition building exists till this day (1647), and until +the coming of the Hollanders in 1625 many sambenitos could be seen in +the cathedral hung up behind the choir." + +These "sambenitos" were sacks of coarse yellow cloth with a large red +cross on them, and figures of devils and instruments of torture among +the flames of hell. The delinquents, dressed in one of these sacks, +bareheaded and barefooted, were made to do penance, or, if condemned +to be burned, marched to the place of execution. It is said that in +San Juan they were not tied to a stake but enclosed in a hollow +plaster cast, against which the faggots were piled,[80] so that they +were roasted rather than burned to death. The place for burning the +sinners was outside the gate of the fort San Cristobal. Mr. M.F. +Juncos believes that the prisons were in the lower part of the +Dominican Convent, later the territorial audience and now the supreme +court, but Mr. Salvador Brau thinks that they occupied a plot of +ground in the angle formed by Cristo Street and the "Caleta" of San +Juan. + +Of Nicolas Ramos, the last Bishop of Puerto Rico, who united the +functions of inquisitor with the duties of the episcopate, Canon +Vargas says: " ... He was very severe, burning and punishing, _as was +his duty_, some of the people whose cases came before him ..." + +It seems that the records of the Inquisition in this island were +destroyed and the traditions of its doings suppressed, because nothing +is said regarding them by the native commentators on the island's +history. Only the names of a few of the leading men who came in +contact with the Tribunal have come down to us. Licentiate Sancho +Velasquez, who was accused of speaking against the faith and eating +meat in Lent, appears to have been Manso's first victim, since he died +in a dungeon. A clergyman named Juan Carecras was sent to Spain at the +disposition of the general, for the crime of practising surgery. In +the same year (1536) we find the treasurer, Blas de Villasante, in an +Inquisition dungeon, because, though married in Spain, he cohabited +with a native woman--an offense too common at that time not to leave +room for suspicion that the treasurer must have made himself obnoxious +to the Holy Office in some other way. In 1537, a judge auditor was +sent from the Espanola, but the parties whose accounts were to be +audited contrived to have him arrested by the officers of the +Inquisition on the day of his arrival. Doctor Juan Blazquez, having +attempted to correct some abuses committed by the Admiral's employees +in connivance with the Inquisition agents, suffered forty days' +imprisonment, and was condemned to hear a mass standing erect all the +time, besides paying a fine of 50 pesos. + +These are the only cases on record. Only the walls of the Inquisition +building, could they speak, could reveal what passed within them from +the time of Manso's arrival in 1520 to the end of the sixteenth +century, when the West Indian Superior Tribunal was transferred to +Cartagena, and a special subordinate judge only was left in San Juan. +Bishop Rodrigo de Bastidas, who visited San Juan on a Government +commission in 1533, perceiving the abuses that were committed in the +inquisitor's name, proposed the abolition of the Holy Office; but the +odious institution continued to exist till 1813, when the +extraordinary Cortes of Cadiz removed, for a time, this blot on +Spanish history. The decree is dated February 22d, and accompanied by +a manifesto which is an instructive historical document in itself. It +shows that the Cortes dared not attempt the suppression of the dreaded +Tribunal without first convincing the people of the disconnection of +the measure with the religious question, and justifying it as one +necessary for the public weal. + +"You can not doubt," they say, "that we endeavor to maintain in this +kingdom the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion, which you have the +happiness to profess; ... the deputies elected by you know, as do the +legislators of all times and all nations, that a social edifice not +founded on religion, is constructed in vain; ... the true religion +which we profess is the greatest blessing which God has bestowed on +the Spanish people; we do not recognize as Spaniards those who do not +profess it ... It is the surest support of all private and social +virtues, of fidelity to the laws and to the monarch, of the love of +country and of just liberty, which are graven in every Spanish heart, +which have impelled you to battle with the hosts of the usurper, +vanquishing and annihilating them, while braving hunger and nakedness, +torture, and death." + +The Inquisition is next referred to. It is stated that in their +constant endeavor to hasten the termination of the evils that afflict +the Spanish nation, the people's representatives have first given +their attention to the Inquisition; that, with the object of +discovering the exact civil and ecclesiastical status of the Holy +Office, they have examined all the papal bulls and other documents +that could throw light on the subject, and have discovered that only +the Inquisitor-General had ecclesiastical powers; that the Provincial +Inquisitors were merely his delegates acting under his instructions; +that no supreme inquisitorial council had ever been instituted by +papal brief, and that the general, being with the enemy (the French +troops), no Inquisition really existed. From these investigations the +Cortes had acquired a knowledge of the mode of procedure of the +tribunals, of their history, and of the opinion of them entertained by +the Cortes of the kingdom in early days. " ... We will now speak +frankly to you," continues the document, "for it is time that you +should know the naked truth, and that the veil be lifted with which +false politicians have covered their designs. + +"Examining the instructions by which the provincial tribunals were +governed, it becomes clear at first sight that the soul of the +institution was inviolable secrecy. This covered all the proceedings +of the inquisitors, and made them the arbiters of the life and honor +of all Spaniards, without responsibility to anybody on earth. They +were men, and as such subject to the same errors and passions as the +rest of mankind, and it is inconceivable that the nation did not exact +responsibility since, in virtue of the temporal power that had been +delegated to them, they condemned to seclusion, imprisonment, torture, +and death. Thus the inquisitors exercised a power which the +Constitution denies to every authority in the land save the sacred +person of the king. + +"Another notable circumstance made the power of the +Inquisitors-General still more unusual; this was that, without +consulting the king or the Supreme Pontiff, they dictated laws, +changed them, abolished them, or substituted them by others, so that +there was within the nation a judge, the Inquisitor-General, whose +powers transcended those of the sovereign. + +"Here now how the Tribunal proceeded with the offenders. When an +accusation was made, the accused were taken to a secret prison without +being permitted to communicate with parents, children, relations, or +friends, till they were condemned or absolved. Their families were +denied the consolation of weeping with them over their misfortunes or +of assisting them in their defense. The accused was not only deprived +of the assistance of his relations and friends, but in no case was he +informed of the name of his accuser nor of the witnesses who declared +against him; and in order that he might not discover who they were, +they used to truncate the declarations and make them appear as coming +from a third party. + +"Some one will be bold enough to say that the rectitude and the +religious character of the inquisitors prevented the confusion of the +innocent with the criminal; but the experiences of many years and the +history of the Inquisition give the lie to such assurances. They show +us sage and saintly men in the Tribunal's dungeons. Sixtus IV himself, +who, at the request of the Catholic kings, had sanctioned the creation +of the Tribunal, complained strongly of the innumerable protests that +reached him from persecuted people who had been falsely accused of +heresy. Neither the virtue nor the position of distinguished men could +protect them. The venerable Archbishop of Grenada, formerly the +confessor of Queen Isabel, suffered most rigorous persecutions from +the inquisitors of Cordova, and the same befell the Archbishop of +Toledo, Friar Louis de Leon, the venerable Avila, Father Siguenza, and +many other eminent men. + +"In view of these facts, it is no paradox to say that _the ignorance, +the decadence of science, of the arts, commerce and agriculture, the +depopulation and poverty of Spain, are mainly due to the Inquisition._ + +"How the Inquisition could be established among such a noble and +generous people as the Spanish, will be a difficult problem for +posterity to solve. It will be more difficult still to explain how +such a Tribunal could exist for more than three hundred years. +Circumstances favored its establishment. It was introduced under the +pretext of restraining the Moors and the Jews, who were obnoxious to +the Spanish people, and who found protection in their financial +relations with the most illustrious families of the kingdom. With such +plausible motives the politicians of the time covered a measure which +was contrary to the laws of the monarchy. Religion demanded it as a +protection, and the people permitted it, though not without strong +protest. As soon as the causes that called the Inquisition into +existence had ceased, the people's attorneys in Cortes demanded the +establishment of the legal mode of procedure. The Cortes of Valladolid +of 1518 and 1523 asked from the king that in matters of religion the +ordinary judges might be declared competent, and that in the +proceedings the canons and common codes might be followed; the Cortes +of Saragossa asked the same in 1519, and the kings would have acceded +to the will of the people, expressed through their representatives, +especially in view of the indirect encouragement to do so which they +received from the Holy See, but for the influence of those with whom +they were surrounded who had an interest in the maintenance of the +odious institution." + +The manifesto terminates with an assurance to the Spanish people that, +under the new law, heresy would not go unpunished; that, under the new +system of judicial proceedings, the innocent would no longer be +confounded with the criminal. " ... There will be no more voluntary +errors, no more suborned witnesses, offenders will henceforth be +judged by upright magistrates in accordance with the sacred canons and +the civil code ... Then, genius and talent will display all their +energies without fear of being checked in their career by intrigue and +calumny; ... science, the arts, agriculture, and commerce will +flourish under the guidance of the distinguished men who abound in +Spain ... The king, the bishops, all the venerable ecclesiastics will +instruct the faithful in the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion without +fear of seeing its beauty tarnished by ignorance and superstition, +and, who knows, this decree may contribute to the realization, some +day, of religious fraternity among all nations!" + +From this beautiful dream the Cortes were rudely awakened the very +next year when King Ferdinand VII, replaced on his throne by the +powers who formed the holy alliance, entered Madrid surrounded by a +host of retrograde, revengeful priests. Then the Regency, the Cortes, +the Constitution were ignored. The deputies were the first to suffer +exile, imprisonment, and death in return for their loyalty and +liberalism; the public press was silenced; the convents reopened, +municipalities and provincial deputations abolished, the Jesuits +restored, the Inquisition reestablished, and priestcraft once more +spread its influence over the mental and social life of a naturally +generous, brave, and intelligent people. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 80: Neumann, p. 205.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +GROWTH OF CITIES + +The proceedings in the formation of a Spanish settlement in the +sixteenth century were the same everywhere. For the choice of a site +the presence of gold was a condition _sine qua non_, without gold, no +matter how beautiful or fertile the region, no settlement was made. + +When a favorable locality was found the first thing done was to +construct a fort, because the natives, friendly disposed at first, +were not long in becoming the deadly enemies of the handful of +strangers who constituted themselves their masters. The next requisite +was a church or chapel in which to invoke the divine blessing on the +enterprise, or maybe to appease the divine wrath at the iniquities +committed. Last, but certainly not least in importance, came the +smelting-house, where the King of Spain's share of the gold was +separated. + +Around these the settlers grouped their houses or huts as they +pleased. + +The first settlement on this island was made in 1508, on the north +coast, at the distance of more than a league from the present port of +San Juan, the space between being swampy. Ponce called it Caparra. +When the promising result of Ponce's first visit to the island was +communicated to King Ferdinand by Ovando, the Governor of la Espanola, +his Highness replied in a letter dated Valladolid, September 15, 1509: +"I note the good services rendered by Ponce and that he has not gone +to settle the island for want of means. Now that they are being sent +from here in abundance, let him go at once with as many men as he +can." To Ponce himself the king wrote: "I have seen your letter of +August 16th. Be very diligent in the search for gold-mines. Take out +as much as possible, smelt it in la Espanola and remit it instantly. +Settle the island as best you can. Write often and let me know what is +needed and what passes." + +Armed with these instructions, and with his appointment as governor +_ad interim_, Ponce returned to San Juan in February, 1510, with his +wife and two daughters, settled in Caparra, where, before his +departure in 1509, he had built a house of stamped earth (tapia), and +where some of the companions of his first expedition had resided ever +since. Ponce's house, afterward built of stone, served as a fort. A +church or chapel existed already, and we know that there was a +smelting-house, because we read that the first gold-smelting took +place in Caparra in October, 1510, and that the king's one-fifth came +to 2,645 pesos. + +[Illustration: Plaza Alphonso XII and Intendencia Building, San Juan.] + +With the reinstatement of Ceron and Diaz, complaints about the +distance of the settlement from the port, and its unhealthy location, +soon reached the king's ears, accompanied by requests for permission +to transfer it to an islet near the shore. No action was taken. In +November, 1511, the monarch wrote to Ceron: "Ponce says that he +founded the town of Caparra in the most favorable locality of the +island. I fear that you want to change it. You shall not do so without +our special approval. If there is just reason for moving you must +first inform me." + +Caparra remained for the time the only settlement, and was honored +with the name of "City of Puerto Rico." A municipal council was +installed, and the king granted the island a coat of arms which +differed slightly from that used by the authorities till lately. + +The next settlement was made on the south shore, at a place named +Guanica, "where there is a bay," says Oviedo, "which is one of the +best in the world, but the mosquitoes were so numerous that they alone +were sufficient to depopulate it." [81] The Spaniards then moved to +Aguada, on the northwestern shore, and founded a settlement to which +they gave the name of their leader Soto Mayor. + +This was a young man of aristocratic birth, ex-secretary of King +Philip, surnamed "the Handsome." He had come to the Indies with a +license authorizing him to traffic in captive Indians, and Ponce, +wishing, no doubt, to enlist the young hidalgo's family influence at +the court in his favor, made him high constable (_alguacil mayor_) of +the southern division (June, 1510). + +The new settlement's existence was short. It was destroyed by the +Indians in the insurrection of February of the following year, when +Christopher Soto Mayor and 80 more of his countrymen, who had +imprudently settled in isolated localities in the interior, fell +victims of the rage of the natives. + +Diego Columbus proposed the reconstruction of the destroyed +settlement, with the appellation of San German. The king approved, and +near the end of the year 1512, Miguel del Torro, one of Ponce's +companions, was delegated to choose a site. He fixed upon the bay of +Guayanilla, eastward of Guanica, and San German became the port of +call for the Spanish ships bound to Paria. Its proximity to the "pearl +coast," as the north shore of Venezuela was named, made it the point +of departure for all who wished to reach that coast or escape from the +shores of poverty-stricken Puerto Rico--namely, the dreamers of the +riches of Peru, those who, like Sedeno, aspired to new conquests on +the mainland, or crown officers who had good reasons for wishing to +avoid giving an account of their administration of the royal revenues. +The comparative prosperity which it enjoyed made San German the object +of repeated attacks by the French privateers. It was burned and +plundered several times during the forty-three years of its existence, +till one day in September, 1554, three French ships of the line +entered the port and landed a detachment of troops who plundered and +destroyed everything to a distance of a league and a half into the +interior. From that day San German, founded by Miguel del Torro, +ceased to exist. + +The town with the same name, existing at present on the southwest +coast, was founded in 1570 by Governor Francisco Solis with the +remains of the ill-fated settlement on the bay of Guayanilla. The +Dominican friars had a large estate in this neighborhood, and the new +settlement enhanced its value. Both the governor and the bishop were +natives of Salamanca, and named the place New Salamanca, but the name +of New San German has prevailed. In 1626 the new town had 50 citizens +(vecinos). + +_San Juan_.--Licentiate Velasquez, one of the king's officers at +Caparra, wrote to his Highness in April, 1515: " ... The people of +this town wish to move to an islet in the port. I went to see it with +the town council and it looks well"; and some time later: " ... We +will send a description of the islet to which it is convenient to +remove the town of Puerto Rico." + +Ponce opposed the change. His reasons were that the locality of +Caparra was dry and level, with abundance of wood, water, and pasture, +and that most of the inhabitants, occupied as they were with +gold-washing, had to provide themselves with provisions from the +neighboring granges. He recognized that the islet was healthier, but +maintained that the change would benefit only the traders. + +The dispute continued for some time. Medical certificates were +presented declaring Caparra unhealthy. The leading inhabitants +declared their opinion in favor of the transfer. A petition was signed +and addressed to the Jerome friars, who governed in la Espanola, and +they ordered the transfer in June, 1519. Ponce was permitted to +remain in his stone house in the abandoned town as long as he liked. +In November, 1520, Castro wrote to the emperor expressing his +satisfaction with the change, and asked that a fort and a stone +smelting-house might be constructed, because the one in use was of +straw and had been burned on several occasions. Finally, in 1521, the +translation of the capital of Puerto Rico to its present site was +officially recognized and approved. + +There were now two settlements in the island. There were 35 citizens +in each in 1515, but the gold produced attracted others, and in 1529 +the Bishop of la Espanola reported that there were 120 houses in San +Juan, "some of stone, the majority of straw. The church was roofed +while I was there." He says, "a Dominican monastery was in course of +construction, nearly finished, with more than 125 friars in it." + +During the next five years the gold produce rapidly diminished; the +Indians, who extracted it, escaped or died. Tempests and epidemics +devastated the land. The Caribs and the French freebooters destroyed +what the former spared. All those who could, emigrated to Mexico or +Peru, and such was the depopulated condition of the capital, that +Governor Lando wrote in 1534: "If a ship with 50 men were to come +during the night, they could land and kill all who live here." + +With the inhabitants engaged in the cultivation of sugar-cane, some +improvement in their condition took place. Still, there were only 130 +citizens in San Juan in 1556, and only 30 in New San German. In 1595, +when Drake appeared before San Juan with a fleet of 26 ships, the +governor could only muster a few peons and 50 horsemen, and but for +the accidental presence of the Spanish frigates, Puerto Rico would +probably be an English possession to-day. It _was_ taken by the Duke +of Cumberland four years later, but abandoned again on account of the +epidemic that broke out among the English troops. When the Hollanders +laid siege to the capital in 1625 there were only 330 men between +citizens and jibaros that could be collected for the defense. In 1646 +there were 500 citizens and 400 houses in San Juan, and 200 citizens +in New San German. Arecibo and Coamo had recently been founded. + +Scarcely any progress in the settlement of the country was made during +the remaining years of the seventeenth century. Toward the middle of +the eighteenth century great steps in this direction had been made. +From Governor Bravo de Rivera's list of men fit for militia service, +we discover that in 1759 there were 18 new settlements or towns in the +island with a total of 4,559 men able to carry arms; exclusive of San +Juan and San German, they were: + + + + Ponce with 356 men. + Aguada with 564 " + Manati " 357 " + Anasco " 460 " + Yauco " 164 " + Coamo " 342 " + La Tuna " 104 " + Arecibo " 647 " + Utuado " 126 " + Loiza " 179 " + Toa-Alta " 188 " + Toa-Baja " 294 " + Piedras " 104 " + Bayamon " 256 " + Caguas " 100 " + Guayama " 211 " + Rio Piedras with 46 " + Cangrejos with 120 " + + +The oldest of these settlements is + +_La Aguada_.--The name signifies "place at which water is taken," and +_Aguadilla_, which is to the north of the former and the head of the +province, is merely the diminutive of Aguada. The first possesses +abundant springs of excellent water, one of them distant only five +minutes from the landing-place. In Aguadilla a famous spring rises in +the middle of the town and runs through it in a permanent stream. + +In 1511 the king directed his officers in Seville to make all ships, +leaving that port for the Indies, call at the island of San Juan in +order to make the Caribs believe that the Spanish population was much +larger than it really was, and thus prevent or diminish their attacks. +The excellence of the water which the ships found at Aguada made it +convenient for them to call, and the Spanish ships continued to do so +long after the need of frightening away the Caribs had passed. + +The first regular settlement was founded in 1585 by the Franciscan +monks, who named it San Francisco de Asis. The Caribs surprised the +place about the year 1590, destroyed the convent, and martyrized five +of the monks, which caused the temporary abandonment of the +settlement. It was soon repeopled, notwithstanding the repeated +attacks of Caribs and French and English privateers. Drake stopped +there to provide his fleet with water in 1595. Cumberland did the same +four years later. The Columbian insurgents attempted a landing in 1819 +and another in 1825, but were beaten off. Their valiant conduct on +these occasions, and their loyalty in contributing a large sum of +money toward the expenses of the war in Africa, earned for their +town, from the Home Government, the title of "unconquerable" (villa +invicta) in 1860. + +Aguada, or rather the mouth of the river Culebrinas, which flows into +the sea near it, is the place where Columbus landed in 1493. The +fourth centenary of the event was commemorated in 1893 by the +erection, on a granite pedestal, of a marble column, 11 meters high, +crowned with a Latin cross. On the pedestal is the inscription: + + + 1493 + 19th of November + 1893 + + +_Loiza._--Along the borders of the river which bears this name there +settled, about the year 1514, Pedro Mexia, Sancho Arango, Francisco +Quinaos, Pedro Lopez, and some other Spaniards, with their respective +Indian laborers. In one of the raids of the Indians from Vieyques or +Aye-Aye, which were so frequent at the time, a cacique named Cacimar +met his death at the hands of Arango. The fallen chief's brother +Yaureibo, in revenge, prepared a large expedition, and penetrating at +night with several pirogues full of men by way of the river to within +a short distance of the settlement, fell upon it and utterly destroyed +it, killing many and carrying off others. Among the killed were Mexia +and his Indian concubine named Louisa or Heloise. Tradition says that +this woman, having been advised by some Indian friend of the intended +attack, tried to persuade her paramour to flee. When he refused, she +scorned his recommendation to save herself and remained with him to +share his fate. + +In the relation of this episode by the chroniclers, figures also the +name of the dog Becerrillo (small calf), a mastiff belonging to +Arango, who had brought the animal from the Espanola, where Columbus +had introduced the breed on his second voyage. In the fight with the +Indians Arango was overpowered and was being carried off alive, when +his dog, at the call of his master, came bounding to the rescue and +made the Indians release him. They sprang into the river for safety, +and the gallant brute following them was shot with a poisoned +arrow.[82] + +_Arecibo_ is situated on the river of that name. It was founded by +Felipe de Beaumont in 1616, with the appellation San Felipe de +Arecibo. + +_Fajardo._--Governor Bravo de Rivero, with a view to found a +settlement on the east coast, detached a number of soldiers from their +regiment and gave to them and some other people a caballeria[83] of +land each, in the district watered by the river Fajardo. Alexander +O'Reilly, the king's commissioner, who visited the settlement in 1765, +found 474 people, and wrote: " ...They have cleared little ground and +cultivated so little that they are still in the very commencements. +The only industry practised by the inhabitants is illicit trade with +the Danish islands of Saint Thomas and Saint Cross. The people of +Fajardo are the commission agents for the people there. What else +could be expected from indolent soldiers and vagabonds without any +means of clearing forests or building houses? If no other measures are +adopted this settlement will remain many years in the same unhappy +condition and be useful only to foreigners." In 1780 there were 243 +heads of families in the district; the town proper had 9 houses and a +church. + +With regard to the remaining settlements mentioned in Governor Bravo +de Rivero's list, there are no reliable data. + +From 1759, the year in which a general distribution of Government +lands was practised and titles were granted, to the year 1774, in +which Governor Miguel Muesas reformed or redistributed some of the +urban districts, many, if not most of the settlements referred to were +formed or received the names they bear at present. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 81: The first landing of the American troops was effected +here on July 25, 1898.] + +[Footnote 82: These two episodes have given rise to several fantastic +versions by native writers.] + +[Footnote 83: Ten by twenty "cuerdas." The cuerda is one-tenth less +than an English acre.] + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +AURIFEROUS STREAMS AND GOLD PRODUCED FROM + +1509 TO 1536 + +If a systematic exploration were practised to-day, by competent +mineralogists, of the entire chain of mountains which intersects the +island from east to west, it is probable that lodes of gold-bearing +quartz or conglomerate, worth working, would be discovered. Even the +alluvium deposits along the banks of the rivers and their tributaries, +as well as the river beds, might, in many instances, be found to +"pay." + +The early settlers compelled the Indians to work for them. These poor +creatures, armed with the simplest tools, dug the earth from the river +banks. Their wives and daughters, standing up to their knees in the +river, washed it in wooden troughs. When the output diminished another +site was chosen, often before the first one was half worked out. The +Indians' practical knowledge of the places where gold was likely to be +found was the Spanish gold-seeker's only guide, the Indians' labor the +only labor employed in the collection of it. + +As for the mountains, they have never been properly explored. The +Indians who occupied them remained in a state of insurrection for +years, and when the mountain districts could be safely visited at +last, the _auri sacra fames_ had subsided. The governors did not +interest themselves in the mineral resources of the island, and the +people found it too difficult to provide for their daily wants to go +prospecting. So the surface gold in the alluvium deposits was all that +was collected by the Spaniards, and what there still may be on the +bed-rocks of the rivers or in the lodes in the mountains from which it +has been washed, awaits the advent of modern gold-seekers. + +The first samples of gold from Puerto Rico were taken to the Espanola +by Ponce, who had obtained them from the river Manatuabon, to which +the friendly cacique Guaybana conducted him on his first visit (1508). +This river disembogues into the sea on the south coast near Cape +Malapascua; but it appears that the doughty captain also visited the +north coast and found gold enough in the rivers Coa and Sibuco to +justify him in making his headquarters at Caparra, which is in the +neighborhood. That gold was found there in considerable quantities is +shown by the fact that in August of the same year of Ponce's return to +the island (he returned in February, 1509), 8,975 pesos corresponded +to the king's fifth of the first _washings_. The first _smelting_ was +practised October 26, 1510. The next occurred May 22, 1511, producing +respectively 2,645 and 3,043 gold pesos as the king's share. Thus, in +the three first years the crown revenues from this source amounted to +14,663 gold pesos, and the total output to 73,315 gold pesos, which, +at three dollars of our money per peso, approximately represented a +total of $219,945 obtained from the rivers in the neighborhood of +Caparra alone. + +In 1515 a fresh discovery of gold-bearing earth in this locality was +reported to the king by Sancho Velasquez, the treasurer, who wrote on +April 27th: " ... At 4 leagues' distance from here rich gold deposits +have been found in certain rivers and streams. From Reyes (December +4th) to March 15th, with very few Indians, 25,000 pesos have been +taken out. It is expected that the output this season will be 100,000 +pesos." + +The streams in the neighborhood of San German, on the south coast, the +only other settlement in the island at the time, seem to have been +equally rich. The year after its foundation by Miguel del Toro the +settlers were able to smelt and deliver 6,147 pesos to the royal +treasurer. The next year the king's share amounted to 7,508 pesos, and +Treasurer Haro reported that the same operation for the years 1517 and +1518 had produced $186,000 in all--that is, 3,740 for the treasury. + +A good idea of the island's mineral and other resources at this period +may be formed from Treasurer Haro's extensive report to the +authorities in Madrid, dated January 21, 1518. + +" ... Your Highness's revenues," he says, "are: one-fifth of the gold +extracted and of the pearls brought by those who go (to the coast of +Venezuela) to purchase them, the salt produce and the duties on +imports and exports. Every one of the three smeltings that are +practised here every two years produces about 250,000 pesos, in San +German about 186,000 pesos. But the amounts fluctuate. + +"The product of pearls is uncertain. Since the advent of the Jerome +fathers the business has been suspended until the arrival of your +Highness. Two caravels have gone now, but few will go, because the +fathers say that the traffic in Indians is to cease and the greatest +profit is in that ... On your Highness's estates there are 400 Indians +who wash gold, work in the fields, build houses, etc.; ... they +produce from 1,500 to 2,000 pesos profit every gang (demora).... I +send in this ship, with Juan Viscaino, 8,000 pesos and 40 marks of +pearls. There remain in my possession 17,000 pesos and 70 marks of +pearls, which shall be sent by the next ship in obedience to your +Highness's orders, not to send more than 10,000 pesos at a time. The +pearls that go now are worth that amount. Until the present we sent +only 5,000 pesos' worth of pearls at one time." + +The yearly output of gold fluctuated, but it continued steadily, as +Velasquez wrote to the emperor in 1521, when he made a remittance of +5,000 pesos. Six or seven years later, the placers, for such they +were, were becoming exhausted. Castellanos, the treasurer, wrote in +1518 that only 429 pesos had been received as the king's share of the +last two years' smelting. Some new deposit was discovered in the river +Daguao, but it does not seem to have been of much importance. From the +year 1530 the reports of the crown officers are full of complaints of +the growing scarcity of gold; finally, in 1536, the last remittance +was made; not, it may be safely assumed, because there was no more +gold in the island, but because those who had labored and suffered in +its production, had succumbed to the unaccustomed hardships imposed on +them and to the cruel treatment received from their sordid masters. + +Besides the river mentioned, the majority of those which have their +sources in the mountains of Luquillo are more or less auriferous. +These are: the Rio Prieto, the Fajardo, the Espiritu Santo, the Rio +Grande, and, especially, the Mameyes. The river Loiza also contains +gold, but, judging from the traces of diggings still here and there +visible along the beds of the Mavilla, the Sibuco, the Congo, the Rio +Negro, and Carozal, in the north, it would seem that these rivers and +their affluents produced the coveted metal in largest quantities. The +Duey, the Yauco, and the Oromico, or Hormigueros, on the south coast +are supposed to be auriferous also, but do not seem to have been +worked. + +The metal was and is still found in seed-shaped grains, sometimes of +the weight of 2 or 3 pesos. Tradition speaks of a nugget found in the +Fajardo river weighing 4 ounces, and of another found in an affluent +of the Congo of 1 pound in weight. + +_Silver_.--In 1538 the crown officers in San Juan wrote to the Home +Government: " ... The gold is diminishing. Several veins of lead ore +have been discovered, from which some silver has been extracted. The +search would continue if the concession to work these veins were given +for ten years, with 1.20 or 1.15 royalty." On March 29th of the +following year the same officers reported: " ... Respecting the silver +ores discovered, we have smolten some, but no one here knows how to +do it. Veins of this ore have been discovered in many parts of the +island, but nobody works them. We are waiting for some one to come who +knows how to smelt them." + +The following extract from the memoirs and documents left by Juan +Bautista Munoz, gives the value in "gold pesos"[84] of the bullion and +pearls, corresponding to the king's one-fifth share of the total +produce remitted to Spain from this island from the year 1509 to 1536: + + + In 1509, gold pesos 8,975 + 1510, " 2,645 + 1511, " 10,000 + 1512, " 3,043 + 1513, " 27,291 + 1514, " 18,000 + 1515, " 17,000 + 1516, " 11,490 + 1517-18, " 38,497 + 1519, " 10,000 + 1520, " 35,733 + In 1521, " 10,000 + 1522, " 7,979 + 1523-29, " 40,000 + 1530, " 12,440 + 1531, " 6,500 + 1532, " 9,000 + 1533, " 4,000 + 1534, " 8,500 + 1535, " 1,848 + 1536, " 10,000 + ______ + Total, 15 share 277,941 + + + +The entire output for this period was 1,389,705 gold pesos, or +$4,169,115 Spanish coin of to-day, as the total produce in gold and +pearls of the island of San Juan de Puerto Rico during the first +twenty-seven years of its occupation by the Spaniards. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 84: Washington Irving estimates the value of the "gold peso" +of the sixteenth century at $3 Spanish money of our day.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +WEST INDIAN HURRICANES IN PUERTO RICO FROM + +1515 TO 1899 + +Whoever has witnessed the awful magnificence of what the primitive +inhabitants of the West Indian islands called _ou-ra-can,_ will never +forget the sense of his own utter nothingness and absolute +helplessness. With the wind rushing at the rate of 65 or more miles an +hour, amid the roar of waves lashed into furious rolling mountains of +water, the incessant flash of lightning, the dreadful roll of thunder, +the fierce beating of rain, one sees giant trees torn up by the roots +and man's proud constructions of stone and iron broken and scattered +like children's toys. + +The tropical latitudes to the east and north of the West Indian +Archipelago are the birthplace of these phenomena. According to Mr. +Redfield[85] they cover simultaneously an extent of surface from 100 +to 500 miles in diameter, acting with diminished violence toward the +circumference and with increased energy toward the center of this +space. + +In the Weather Bureau's bulletin cited, there is a description of the +most remarkable and destructive among the 355 hurricanes that have +swept over the West Indies from 1492 to 1899. Not a single island has +escaped the tempest's ravages. I have endeavored in vain to make an +approximate computation of the human life and property destroyed by +these visitations of Providence. Such a computation is impossible when +we read of entire towns destroyed not once but 6, 8, and 10 times; of +crops swept away by the tempest's fury, and the subsequent starvation +of untold thousands; of whole fleets of ships swallowed up by the sea +with every soul on board, and of hundreds of others cast on shore like +coco shards. + +To give an idea of the appalling disasters caused by these too oft +recurring phenomena, the above-mentioned bulletin gives Flammarion's +description of the great hurricane of 1780.[86] + +"The most terrible cyclone of modern times is probably that which +occurred on October 10, 1780, which has been specially called the +great hurricane, and which seems to have embodied all the horrible +scenes that attend a phenomenon of this kind. Starting from Barbados, +where trees and houses were all blown down, it engulfed an English +fleet anchored before St. Lucia, and then ravaged the whole of that +island, where 6,000 persons were buried beneath the ruins. From thence +it traveled to Martinique, overtook a French transport fleet and sunk +40 ships conveying 4,000 soldiers. The vessels _disappeared_." + +Such is the laconic language in which the governor reported the +disaster. Farther north, Santo Domingo, St. Vincent, St. Eustatius, +and Puerto Rico were devastated, and most of the vessels that were +sailing in the track of the cyclone were lost with all on board. +Beyond Puerto Rico the tempest turned northeast toward Bermuda, and +though its violence gradually decreased, it nevertheless sunk several +English vessels. This hurricane was quite as destructive inland. Nine +thousand persons perished in Martinique, and 1,000 in St. Pierre, +where not a single house was left standing, for the sea rose to a +height of 25 feet, and 150 houses that were built along the shore were +engulfed. At Port Royal the cathedral, 7 churches, and 1,400 houses +were blown down; 1,600 sick and wounded were buried beneath the ruins +of the hospital. At St. Eustatius, 7 vessels were dashed to pieces on +the rocks, and of the 19 which lifted their anchors and went out to +sea, only 1 returned. At St. Lucia the strongest buildings were torn +up from their foundations, a cannon was hurled a distance of more than +30 yards, and men as well as animals were lifted off their feet and +carried several yards. The sea rose so high that it destroyed the fort +and drove a vessel against the hospital with such force as to stave in +the walls of that building. Of the 600 houses at Kingston, on the +island of St. Vincent, 14 alone remained intact, and the French +frigate Junon was lost. Alarming consequences were feared from the +number of dead bodies which lay uninterred, and the quantity of fish +the sea threw up, but these alarms soon subsided...." + +"The aboriginal inhabitants," says Abbad, "foresaw these catastrophes +two or three days in advance. They were sure of their approach when +they perceived a hazy atmosphere, the red aspect of the sun, a dull, +rumbling, subterranean sound, the stars shining through a kind of mist +which made them look larger, the nor'west horizon heavily clouded, a +strong-smelling emanation from the sea, a heavy swell with calm +weather, and sudden changes of the wind from east to west." The +Spanish settlers also learned to foretell the approach of a hurricane +by the sulphurous exhalations of the earth, but especially by the +incessant neighing of horses, bellowing of cattle, and general +restlessness of these animals, who seem to acquire a presentiment of +the coming danger. + +"The physical features of hurricanes are well understood. The approach +of a hurricane is usually indicated by a long swell on the ocean, +propagated to great distances, and forewarning the observer by two or +three days. A faint rise in the barometer occurs before the gradual +fall, which becomes very pronounced at the center. Fine wisps of +cirrus-clouds are first seen, which surround the center to a distance +of 200 miles; the air is calm and sultry, but this is gradually +supplanted by a gentle breeze, and later the wind increases to a gale, +the clouds become matted, the sea rough, rain falls, and the winds are +gusty and dangerous as the vortex comes on. Then comes the +indescribable tempest, dealing destruction, impressing the imagination +with the wild exhibition of the forces of nature, the flashes of +lightning, the torrents of rain, the cold air, all the elements in an +uproar, which indicate the close approach of the center. In the midst +of this turmoil there is a sudden pause, the winds almost cease, the +sky clears, the waves, however, rage in great turbulence. This is the +eye of the storm, the core of the vortex, and it is, perhaps, 20 miles +in diameter, or one-thirtieth of the whole hurricane. The respite is +brief, and is soon followed by the abrupt renewal of the violent wind +and rain, but now coming from the opposite direction, and the storm +passes off with the several features following each other in the +reverse order." [87] + +The distribution over the months of the year of the 355 West Indian +hurricanes which occurred during the four hundred and six years +elapsed since the discovery, to the last on the list, is as follows: + + + Months. No of hurricanes. + + January 5 + February 7 + March 11 + April 6 + May 5 + June 10 + July 42 + August 96 + September 80 + October 69 + November 17 + December 7 + + 355 + + +Puerto Rico has been devastated by hurricanes more than 20 times since +its occupation by the Spaniards. But the records, beyond the mere +statement of the facts, are very incomplete. Four stand out +prominently as having committed terrible ravages. These are the +hurricanes of Santa Ana, on July 26, 1825; Los Angeles, on +August 2,1837; San Narciso, on October 29, 1867, and San Ciriaco, +on August 8, 1899. + +The first mention of the occurrence of a hurricane in this island we +find in a letter from the crown officers to the king, dated August 8, +1515, wherein they explain: " ... In these last smeltings there was +little gold, because many Indians died in consequence of sickness +caused by the tempest as well as from want of food ..." + +The next we read of was October 8, 1526, and is thus described by +licentiate Juan de Vadillo: + +"On the night of the 4th of October last there broke over this island +such a violent storm of wind and rain, which the natives call +'_ou-ra-can'_ that it destroyed the greater part of this city (San +Juan) with the church. In the country it caused such damage by the +overflow of rivers that many rich men have been made poor." + +On September 8, 1530, Governor Francisco Manuel de Lando reported to +the king: "During the last six weeks there have been three storms of +wind and rain in this island (July 26, August 23 and 31). They have +destroyed all the plantations, drowned many cattle, and caused much +hunger and misery in the land. In this city the half of the houses +were entirely destroyed, and of the other half the least injured is +without a roof. In the country and in the mines nothing has remained +standing. Everybody is ruined and thinking of going away." + +_1537_.--July and August. The town officers wrote to the king in +September: "In the last two months we have had three storms of wind +and rain, the greatest that have been seen in this island, and as the +plantations are along the banks of the rivers the floods have +destroyed them all. Many slaves and cattle have been drowned, and this +has caused much discouragement among the settlers, who before were +inclined to go away, and are now more so." + +_1575_.--September 21 (San Mateo), hurricane mentioned in the memoirs +of Father Torres Vargas. + +_1614_.--September 12, mentioned by the same chronicler in the +following words: "Fray Pedro de Solier came to his bishopric in the +year 1615, the same in which a great tempest occurred, after more than +forty years since the one called of San Mateo. This one happened on +the 12th of September. It did so much damage to the cathedral that it +was necessary partly to cover it with straw and write to his Majesty +asking for a donation to repair it. With his accustomed generosity he +gave 4,000 ducats." + +_1678_.--Abbad states that a certain Count or Duke Estren, an English +commander, with a fleet of 22 ships and a body of landing troops +appeared before San Juan and demanded its surrender, but that, before +the English had time to land, a violent hurricane occurred which +stranded every one of the British ships on Bird Island. Most of the +people on board perished, and the few who saved their lives were made +prisoners of war. + +_1740_.--Precise date unknown. Monsieur Moreau de Jonnes, in his +work,[88] says that this hurricane destroyed a coco-palm grove of 5 or +6 leagues in extent, which existed near Ponce. Other writers confirm +this. + +_1772, August 28_.--Friar Inigo Abbad, who was in the island at the +time, gives the following description of this tempest: "About a +quarter to eleven of the night of the 28th of August the storm began +to be felt in the capital of the island. A dull but continuous roll of +thunder filled the celestial hemisphere, the sound as of approaching +torrents of rain, the frightful sight of incessant lightning, and a +slow quaking of the earth accompanied the furious wind. The tearing up +of trees, the lifting of roofs, smashing of windows, and leveling of +everything added terror-striking noises to the scene. The tempest +raged with the same fury in the capital till after one o'clock in the +morning. In other parts of the island it began about the same hour, +but without any serious effect till later. In Aguada, where I was at +the time, nothing was felt till half-past two in the morning. It blew +violently till a quarter to four, and the wind continued, growing less +strong, till noon. During this time the wind came from all points of +the compass, and the storm visited every part of the island, causing +more damage in some places than others, according to their degree of +exposure." + +_1780, June 13, and 1788, August 16._--No details of these two +hurricanes are found in any of the Puerto Rican chronicles. + +_1804, September 4._--A great cyclone, a detailed description of +which is given in the work of Mr. Jonnes. + +_1818 and 1814_--Both hurricanes happened on the same date, that +is, the 23d of July. Yauco and San German suffered most. A description +of the effects of these storms was given in the Dario Economico of the +11th of August, 1814. + +_1819, September 21_.--(San Mateo.) This cyclone is mentioned by +Jonnes and by Cordova, who says that it caused extraordinary damages +on the plantations. + +_1825, July 26_.--(Santa Ana.) Cordova (vol. ii, p. 21 of his Memoirs) +says of this hurricane: "It destroyed the towns of Patillas, Maunabo, +Yabucoa, Humacao, Gurabo, and Caguas. In the north, east, and center +of the island it caused great damage. More than three hundred people +and a large number of cattle perished; 500 persons were badly wounded. +The rivers rose to an unheard of extent, and scarcely a house remained +standing. In the capital part of the San Antonio bridge was blown +down, and the city wall facing the Marina on Tanca Creek was cracked. +The royal Fortaleza (the present Executive Mansion) suffered much, +also the house of Ponce. The lightning-conductors of the +powder-magazine were blown down." + +_1837, August 2_.--(Los Angeles.) This cyclone was general over the +island and caused exceedingly grave losses of life and property. All +the ships in the harbor of San Juan were lost. + +_1840, September 16_.--No details. + +_1851, August 18_.--No details, except that this hurricane caused +considerable damage. + +_1867, October 29_.--(San Narciso.) No details. + + [Illustration: Casa Blanca and the sea wall, San Juan.] + + _1871, August 23_.--(San Felipe.) No details. _1899, August +8_.--(San Ciriaco.) When this hurricane occurred there was a +meteorological station in operation in San Juan, and we are therefore +enabled to present the following data from Mr. Geddings's report: "The +rainfall was excessive, as much as 23 inches falling at Adjuntas +during the course of twenty-four hours. This caused severe inundations +of rivers, and the deaths from drowning numbered 2,569 as compared +with 800 killed by injuries received from the effects of the wind. +This number does not include the thousands who have since died from +starvation. The total loss of property was 35,889,013 pesos." + +The United States Government and people promptly came to the +assistance of the starving population, and something like 32,000,000 +rations were distributed by the army during the ten months succeeding +the hurricane. + + * * * * * + +Such are the calamities that are suspended over the heads of the +inhabitants of the West Indian Islands. From July to October, at any +moment, the sapphire skies may turn black with thunder-clouds; the +Eden-like landscapes turned into scenes of ruin and desolation; the +rippling ocean that lovingly laves their shores becomes a roaring +monster trying to swallow them. The refreshing breezes that fan them +become a destructive blast. Yet, such is the fecundity of nature in +these regions that a year after a tempest has swept over an island, if +the debris be removed, not a trace of its passage is visible--the +fields are as green as ever, the earth, the trees, and plants that +were spared by the tempest double their productive powers as if to +indemnify the afflicted inhabitants for the losses they suffered. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 85: See Bulletin H, Weather Bureau, West Indian Hurricanes, +by E.B. Garriott, Washington, 1900.] + +[Footnote 86: L'Atmosphere, p. 377 and following.] + +[Footnote 87: Enrique del Monte, Havana University, On the Climate of +the West Indies and West Indian Hurricanes.] + +[Footnote 88: Histoire physique des Antilles Francaises.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE CARIBS + +The origin of the Caribs, their supposed cannibalism and other customs +have occasioned much controversy among West Indian chroniclers. The +first question is undecided, and probably will remain so forever. With +regard to cannibalism, in spite of the confirmative assurances of the +early Spanish chroniclers, we have the testimony of eminent +authorities to the contrary; and the writings of Jesuit missionaries +who have lived many years among the Caribs give us a not unfavorable +idea of their character and social institutions. + +The first European who became intimately acquainted with the people of +the West Indian Islands, on the return from his first voyage, wrote to +the Spanish princes: " ... In all these islands I did not observe much +difference in the faces and figures of the inhabitants, nor in their +customs, nor in their language, seeing that they all understand each +other, which is very singular." On the other hand the readiness with +which the inhabitants of Aye-Aye and the other Carib islands gave +asylum to the fugitive Boriquen Indians and joined them in their +retaliatory expeditions, also points to the existence of some bond of +kinship between them, so that there is ground for the opinion +entertained by some writers that all the inhabitants of all the +Antilles were of the race designated under the generic name of Caribs. + +The theory generally accepted at first was, that at the time of the +discovery two races of different origin occupied the West Indian +Archipelago. The larger Antilles with the groups of small islands to +the north of them were supposed to be inhabited by a race named +Guaycures, driven from the peninsula of Florida by the warlike +Seminoles; the Guaycures, it is said, could easily have reached the +Bahamas and traversed the short distance that separated them from Cuba +in their canoes, some of which could contain 100 men, and once there +they would naturally spread over the neighboring islands. It is +surmised that they occupied them at the time of the advent of the +Phoenicians in this hemisphere, and Dr. Calixto Romero, in an +interesting article on Lucuo, the god of the Boriquens,[89] mentions a +tradition referring to the arrival of these ancient navigators, and +traces some of the Boriquen religious customs to them. The Guaycures +were a peacefully disposed race, hospitable, indolent, fond of dancing +and singing, by means of which they transmitted their legends from +generation to generation. They fell an easy prey to the Spaniards. +Velasquez conquered Cuba without the loss of a man. Juan Esquivel made +himself master of Jamaica with scarcely any sacrifice, and if the +aborigines of the Espanola and Boriquen resisted, it was only after +patiently enduring insupportable oppression for several years. + +The other race which inhabited the Antilles were said to have come +from the south. They were supposed to have descended the Orinoco, +spreading along the shore of the continent to the west of the river's +mouths and thence to have invaded one after the other all the lesser +Antilles. They were in a fair way of occupying the larger Antilles +also when the discoveries of Columbus checked their career. + +In support of the theory of the south-continental origin of the Caribs +we have, in the first place, the work of Mr. Aristides Rojas on +Venezuelan hieroglyphics, wherein he treats of numerous Carib +characters on the rocks along the plains and rivers of that republic, +marking their itinerary from east to west. He states that the +Achaguas, the aboriginals of Columbia, gave to these wanderers, on +account of their ferocity, the name of Chabi-Nabi, that is, tiger-men +or descendants of tigers. + +In the classification of native tribes in Codazzi's geography of +Venezuela, he includes the Caribs, and describes them as "a very +numerous race, enterprising and warlike, which in former times +exercised great influence over the whole territory extending from +Ecuador to the Antilles. They were the tallest and most robust Indians +known on the continent; they traded in slaves, and though they were +cruel and ferocious in their incursions, they were not cannibals like +their kinsmen of the lesser Antilles, who were so addicted to the +custom of eating their prisoners that the names of cannibal and Carib +had become synonymous." [90] + +Another theory of the origin of the Caribs is that advanced by M. +d'Orbigny, who, after eight years of travel over the South American +continent, published the result of his researches in Paris in 1834. He +considers them to be a branch of the great Guarani family. And the +Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Raymond and Dutertre, who lived many +years among the Antillean Caribs, concluded from their traditions that +they were descended from a people on the continent named Galibis, who, +according to M. d'Orbigny, were a branch of the Guaranis. + +But the Guaranis, though a very wide-spread family of South American +aborigines, were neither a conquering nor a wandering race. They +occupied that part of the continent situated between the rivers +Paraguay and Parana, from where these two rivers join the river Plate, +northward, to about latitude 22 deg. south. This region was the home of +the Guaranis, a people indolent, sensual, and peaceful, among whom the +Jesuits, in the eighteenth century founded a religious republic, which +toward the end of that period counted 33 towns with a total population +of over one hundred thousand souls. A glance at the map will show the +improbability of any Indian tribe, no matter how warlike, making its +way from the heart of the continent to the Orinoco through 30 deg. of +primitive forests, mountains, and rivers, inhabited by hostile +tribes.[91] + +The French missionaries who lived many years with the Caribs of +Guadeloupe and the other French possessions, do not agree on the +subject of their origin. Fathers Dutertre and Raymond believe them to +be the descendants of the Galibis, a people inhabiting Guiana. Fathers +Rochefort, Labat, and Bristol maintain that they are descended from +the Apalaches who inhabited the northern part of Florida. Humboldt is +of the same opinion, and suggests that the name Carib may be derived +from Calina or Caripuna through transformation of the letters _l_ and +_p_ into _r_ and _b_, forming Caribi or Galibi.[92] Pedro Martyr +strongly opposes this opinion, the principal objection to which is +that a tribe from the North American continent invading the West +Indies by way of Florida would naturally occupy the larger Antilles +before traveling east and southward. Under this hypothesis, as we have +said, all the inhabitants of the Antilles would be Caribs, but in that +case the difference in the character of the inhabitants of the two +divisions of the archipelago would have to be accounted for. + +Most of the evidence we have been able to collect on this subject +points to a south-continental origin of the Caribs. On the maps of +America, published in 1587 by Abraham Ortellus, of Antwerp, in 1626 by +John Speed, of London, and in 1656 by Sanson d'Abbeville in Paris, the +whole region to the north of the Orinoco is marked Caribana. In the +history of the Dutch occupation of Guiana we read that hostile Caribs +occupied a shelter[93] constructed in 1684 by the governor on the +borders of the Barima, which shows that the vast region along the +Orinoco and its tributaries, as well as the lesser Antilles, was +inhabited by an ethnologically identical race. + + * * * * * + +Were the Caribs cannibals? This question has been controverted as much +as that of their origin, and with the same doubtful result. + +The only testimony upon which the assumption that the Caribs were +cannibals is founded is that of the companions of Columbus on his +second voyage, when, landing at Guadeloupe, they found human bones and +skulls in the deserted huts. No other evidence of cannibalism of a +positive character was ever after obtained, so that the belief in it +rests exclusively upon Chanca's narrative of what the Spaniards saw +and learned during the few days of their stay among the islands. Their +imagination could not but be much excited by the sight of what the +doctor describes as "infinite quantities" of bones of human +creatures, who, they took for granted, had been devoured, and of +skulls hanging on the walls by way of receptacles for curios. It was +the age of universal credulity, and for more than a century after the +most absurd tales with regard to the people and things of the +mysterious new continent found ready credence even among men of +science. Columbus, in his letter to Santangel (February, 1493), +describing the different islands and people, wrote: "I have not yet +seen any of the human monsters that are supposed to exist here." The +descriptions of the customs of the natives of the newly discovered +islands which Dr. Chanca sent to the town council of Seville were +unquestioned by them, and afterward by the Spanish chroniclers; but +there is reason to believe with Mr. Ignacio Armas, an erudite Cuban +author, who published a paper in 1884 entitled the Fable of the +Caribs, that the belief in their cannibalism originated in an error of +judgment, was an illusion afterward, and ended by being a +calumny[97]. Father Bartolome de las Casas was the first to contradict +this belief. "They [the Spaniards] saw skulls," he says, "and human +bones. These must have been of chiefs or other persons whom they held +in esteem, because, to say that they were the remains of people who +had been eaten, if the natives devoured as many as was supposed, the +houses could not contain the bones, and there is no reason why, after +eating them, they should preserve the relics. All this is but +guesswork." Washington Irving agrees with the reverend historian, and +describes the general belief in the cannibalism of the Caribs to the +Spaniards' fear of them. Two eminent authorities positively deny it. +Humboldt, in his before-cited work, in the chapter on Carib missions, +says: "All the missionaries of the Carony, of the lower Orinoco, and +of the plains of Cari, whom we have had occasion to consult, have +assured us that the Caribs were perhaps the least anthropophagous of +any tribes on the new continent, ..." and Sir Robert Schomburgh, who +was charged by the Royal Geographical Society with the survey of +Guiana in 1835, reported that among the Caribs he found peace and +contentment, simple family affections, and frank gratitude for +kindness shown.[94] + + * * * * * + +The narratives of the French, English, and Dutch conquerors of the +Guianas and the lesser Antilles accord with the observations of +Humboldt in describing the Caribs as an ambitious and intelligent +race, among whom there still existed traces of a superior social +organization, such as the hereditary power of chiefs, respect for the +priestly caste, and attachment to ancient customs. Employed only in +fishing and hunting, the Carib was accustomed to the use of arms from +childhood; war was the principal object of his existence, and the +proofs through which the young warrior had to pass before being +admitted to the ranks of the braves, remind us of the customs of +certain North American Indians. + +They were of a light yellow color with a sooty tint, small, black +eyes, white and well-formed teeth, straight, shining, black hair, +without a beard or hair on any other part of their bodies. The +expression of their face was sad, like that of all savage tribes in +tropical regions. They were of middle size, but strong and vigorous. +To protect their bodies from the stings of insects they anointed them +with the juice or oil of certain plants. They were polygamous. From +their women they exacted the most absolute submission. The females did +all the domestic labor, and were not permitted to eat in the presence +of the men. In case of infidelity the husband had the right to kill +his wife. Each family formed a village by itself (carbet) where the +oldest member ruled. + +Their industry, besides the manufacture of their arms and canoes, was +limited to the spinning and dyeing of cotton goods, notably their +hammocks, and the making of pottery for domestic uses. Though +possessing no temples, nor religious observances, they recognized two +principles or spirits, the spirit of good (boyee) and the spirit of +evil (maboya). The priests invoked the first or drove out the second +as occasion required. Each individual had his good spirit. + +Their language resembled in sound the Italian, the words being +sonorous, terminating in vowels. By the end of the eighteenth century +the missionaries had made vocabularies of 50 Carib dialects, and the +Bible had been translated into one of them, the Arawak. A remarkable +custom was the use of two distinct languages, one by the males, +another by the females. Tradition says that when the Caribs first +invaded the Antilles they put to death all the males but spared the +females. The women continued speaking their own tongue and taught it +to their daughters, but the sons learned their fathers' language. In +time, both males and females learned both languages. + +"It is true," says the Jesuit Father Rochefort, in his Histoire des +Antilles, "that the Caribs have degenerated from the virtues of their +ancestors, but it is also true that the Europeans, by their pernicious +examples, their ill-treatment of them, their villainous deceit, their +dastardly breaking of every promise, their pitiless plundering and +burning of their villages, their beastly violation of their girls and +women, have taught them, to the eternal infamy of the name of +Christian, to lie, to betray, to be licentious, and other vices which +they knew not before they came in contact with us." + +Father Dutertre declares that at the time of the arrival of the +Europeans the Caribs were contented, happy, and sociable. Physically +they were the best made and healthiest people of America. Theft was +unknown to them, nothing was hidden; their huts had neither doors nor +windows, and when, after the advent of the French, a Carib missed +anything in his hut, he used to say: "A Christian has been here!" +Dutertre says that in thirty-five years all the French missionaries +together, by taking the greatest pains, had not been able to convert +20 adults. Those who were thought to have embraced Christianity +returned to their practises as soon as they rejoined their fellows. +"The reason for this want of success," says the father, "is the bad +impression produced on the minds of these intelligent natives by the +cruelties and immoralities of the Christians, which are more barbarous +than those of the islanders themselves. They have inspired the Caribs +with such a horror of Christianity that the greatest reproach they can +think of for an enemy is to call him a Christian." + +The reason the Spaniards never attempted the conquest of the Caribs is +clear. There was no gold in their islands. They defended their homes +foot by foot, and if, by chance, they were taken prisoners, they +preferred suicide to slavery. Toward the end of the eighteenth century +there still existed a few hundred of the race in the island of St. +Vincent. They were known as the black Caribs, because they were +largely mixed with fugitive negro slaves from other islands and with +the people of a slave-ship wrecked on their coast in 1685. They lived +there tranquil and isolated till 1795, when the island was settled by +French colonists, and they were finally absorbed by them. They were +the last representatives in the Antilles of a race which, during five +centuries, had ruled both on land and sea. On the continent, along the +Esequibo and its affluents, they are numerous still; but in their +contact with the European settlers in those regions they have lost +the strength and the virtues of their former state without acquiring +those of the higher civilization. Like all aboriginals under similar +conditions, they are slowly disappearing. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 89: Revista Puertoriquena, Tomo I, Ano I, 1887.] + +[Footnote 90: The word "cannibal" is but a corruption of guaribo, is, +"brave or strong," changed into Caribo, Cariba, and finally that +Carib. The name Galibi, also applied to the Caribs, means equally +strong or brave.] + +[Footnote 91: The author visited this region and sketched some of the +ruins of these Jesuit-Guarani missions, of which scarcely one stone +has remained on the other. They were destroyed by the Brazilians after +the suppression of the Society of Jesus by Pope Clement XIV in 1773; +the defenseless Indians were cruelly butchered or carried off as +slaves. The sculptured remains of temples, of gardens and orchards +grown into jungles still attest the high degree of development +attained by these missions under the guidance of the Jesuit fathers.] + +[Footnote 92: Voyage aux Regions Equinoctiales du Nouveau Continent, +Paris, 1826.] + +[Footnote 93: "Kleyn pleysterhuisye," small plaster house.] + +[Footnote 94: As an example of the credulity of the people of the +period, see Theodore Bry's work in the library of Congress in +Washington, in which there is a map of Guiana, published in Frankfort +in 1599. On it are depicted with short descriptions the lake of Parmie +and the city of Manao, which represent El Dorado, in search of which +hundreds of Spaniards and thousands of Indians lost their lives. There +is a picture of one of the Amazons, with a short notice of their +habits and customs, and there is the portrait of one of the +inhabitants of the country Twai-Panoma, who were born without heads, +but had eyes, nose, and mouth conveniently located in their breast.] + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY The history of Puerto Rico has long since been a +subject of study and research by native writers and others, to whose +works we owe many of the data contained in this book. Their names, in +alphabetical order, are: + +ABBAD, FRAY INIGO.--Historia geografica, civil y natural de San Juan +Bautista de Puerto Rico. Madrid, 1788. + +AGOSTA, D. JOSE JULIAN.--New edition of Abbad's history, with notes +and commentaries. Puerto Rico, 1866. + +BRAU, D. SALVADOR.--Puerto Rico y su historia. (Critical +investigations.)Valencia, 1894. + +CEDO, D. SANTIAGO.--Compendio de geografia para instruccion de la +juventud portoriquena. Mayaguez, 1855. + +COELLO, D. FRANCISCO.--Mapa de la isla de Puerto Rico, ilustrado con +notas historicas y estadisticas escritas por Don Pascual Madoz. +Madrid, 1851. + +COLL Y TOSTE, D. CAYETANO.--Colon en Puerto Rico. (Disquisiciones +historico-filologicas.) Puerto Rico, 1894. Repertorio historico de +Puerto Rico. A monthly publication. + +CORDOVA, D. PEDRO TOMAS.--Memorias geograficas, historicas, economicas +y estadisticas de la isla de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, 1830. Memoria +sobre todos los ramos de la administracion de la isla de Puerto Rico. +Madrid, 1838. + +CORTON, D. ANTONIO.--La separacion de mandos en Puerto Rico. Discurso +escrito y comenzado a leer ante la Comision del Congreso de los +Diputados. Habana, 1890. + +FLINTER, COLONEL.--An Account of the Present State of the Island of +Puerto Rico. London, 1834. + +JIMENO AGIUS, J.--Puerto Rico. Madrid, 1890. LEDRU, ANDRE +PIERRE.--Voyage aux iles Teneriffe, la Trinite, St. Thomas, Ste. Croix +et Porto Rico, avec des notes et des additions par Sonnini, Paris, +1810. (A work full of fantastic and imaginary data, without any +historical value.) + +MELENDEZ Y BRUNA, D. SALVADOR.--Puerto Rico. Representation of the +Governor of the Island to the King. Cadiz, 1811. + +NAZARIO, D. JOSE MARIA.--Guayanilla y la historia de Puerto Rico. +Ponce, 1893. + +PEREZ MORIS, D. JOSE, Y CUETO, D. LUIS.--Historia de la insurreccion +de Lares. + +SAMA, D. MANUEL MARIA.--El desembarco de Colon en Puerto Rico y el +Monumento de Culebrinas, Mayaguez, 1895. + +STAHL, D. AGUSTIN.--Los Indios Borinquenos. Puerto Rico, 1887. + +TAPIA, D. ALEJANDRO.--Biblioteca historica de Puerto Rico. Puerto +Rico, 1854. + +TORRES, D. LUIS LLORENS.--America. Estudios historicos y filologicos. +Madrid y Barcelona, 1897. + +UBEDA Y DELGADO, D. MANUEL.--Isla de Puerto Rico, Estudio +historico-geografico. Puerto Rico, 1878. + +VIZCARRONDO, D. JULIO.--Elementos de historia y geografia de la isla +de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, 1863. + +There are other writings on subjects connected with the island's +history by native authors, some published in book or pamphlet form, +others, like those of Zeno Gandia, Neumann, Dr. Dominguez, and +Navarrete, have appeared in the columns of periodicals at different +times before the American occupation of the island. + + + + + INDEX + + Abbad, Friar Inigo, his history of + Puerto Rico; cited; on + state of agriculture in 1776. + + Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, attacks San + Juan. + + Aborigines, see Indians. + + Agriculture, inhabitants of Puerto + Rico forced to turn to; + condition of, in 1776. + + Aguada, its history. + + Albemarle, Earl of, captures + Havana. + + Alexander VI, Pope, divides the + world between Spain and + Portugal. + + American army, landing of; + recognized as liberators,; also + see preface v. + + Americans, interest of, in the + insurrection of Lares, 1868. + + Antigua, discovery of. + + Arecibo, town of. + + Armada, effects of destruction of. + + Autonomy granted to Puerto Rico. + + Bastidas, Bishop Rodrigo, charged + with liberating Indian slaves in + Puerto Rico. + + Beet-sugar, its injurious + competition with cane-sugar, 228. + + Bemini (Florida), island of, King + Ferdinand wants Ponce to explore + it, 59; Indian reports of, 60; + discovery of, 61. + + Blake, English admiral, captures + Spanish galleons, 136. + + Blasquez, Juan, judge-auditor of + Puerto Rico, 102. + + Boabdil, last of the Moorish kings. + + Boriquen, first known name of + Puerto Rico; seat of Guaybana; Boriquenos + restless; revolt in; last of the Boriquen + Indians; the republic of, proclaimed; falls; + native inhabitants of. + + Bowdoin, Hendrick, commands + Dutch fleet in attack on San Juan. + + Brau, his history of Puerto Rico quoted. + + Bruckman, an American, takes + active part in insurrection; + shot. + + Buccaneers, their origin. + + Cacao. + + Cannibals, supposed to be found among + the Caribs. + + Caparra, first settlement of Spaniards + in Puerto Rico; capital transferred + from, to San Juan; the old capital. + + Capital, transferred from Caparra to Sun Juan. + + Caribs, supposed by Columbus to be + on Guadeloupe; annoy Spaniards in Puerto + Rico; assist the Boriquen Indians; raids in + Puerto Rico; in Dominica punished by the + Spaniards; in the Windward Islands; their + extermination of aborigines of the West + Indies; origin of; characteristics; were they + cannibals?; disappearing. + + Castellano y Villaroya, Spanish Colonial + Minister, intercedes in behalf of Puerto + Rico. + + Castellanos, Juan, brings 75 colonists + to Puerto Rico; attorney for Puerto + Rico at the court of Spain. + + Castellanos, Juan de, treasurer of Puerto Rico. + + Castro, Baltazar, reports depredations of Caribs. + + Ceron, Juan, Governor of Puerto Rico; + arrested by Juan Ponce; + restored to office; + returns to Puerto Rico as governor. + + Cervantes de Loayza, governor. + + Charles V, King of Spain; + quarrels with Francis I of France; + orders the fortification of San German. + + Cholera, epidemic of. + + Church, in general. + + Cities, growth of. + + Clergy; + the island made a diocese; + Alonzo Manso, first prelate; + decree of Isabel II affecting clergy. + + Coco-palm introduced. + + Coffee. + + Columbus, Christopher, returns from his first + voyage; received by the court at Barcelona; + second expedition organized; his second + expedition sails from Cadiz; discovers the + Windward Islands; introduces system of + enslaving the Indians by "distribution" of + them among settlers. + + Columbus, Diego, with Christopher + Columbus's second expedition; viceroy and + admiral, in la Espanola; deposes Ponce; + authority of, suspended; deprived of the + power of appointing Governor of Puerto Rico. + + Commerce, its development; imports + and exports. + + Cortez, his conquest of Mexico. + + Cromwell, his alliance with France + against Spain. + + Cuba, influence of Cuban revolution on + Puerto Rico; reforms in, suggested by + Sagasta. + + De la Gama, Antonio, charged with executing + the royal decree against the "distribution" of Indians. + + Diaz, Bernal, de Pisa, with Columbus's + second expedition. + + Diego, Rafael, organizer of the revolution + of 1812. + + Distribution of Indians among the Spanish + conquerors as slaves; + system introduced by Columbus. + + Dominica, discovery of; + Caribs in, aid Puerto Rico Indians against + the Spaniards; Spanish expedition against + Caribs in. + + Dominicans, order of. + + Drake, Francis, his expeditions in the + Caribbean. + + Education; + illiteracy and general ignorance; in hands of + clergy; new interest in; first college; + schools. + + Elective system. + + England contracts to take slaves into + the Spanish-American colonies. + + English, ship visits Puerto Rico and + alarms inhabitants; war with, fleet sent + against Spaniards in West Indies; fleet + anchors off "Caleta del Cabron," and is fired + on by Spaniards; abandons the attack; + alliance with France against Spain; capture + Havana; attack San Juan. + + Espanola (Santo Domingo). + + Fajardo, town of. + + Ferdinand, King of Spain, his interest + in Puerto Rico. + + Fetichism in the religion of the peasantry. + + Filibusters, origin of. + + Finance. + + Florida, discovery of; + Ponce's last expedition to. + + Francis I, King of France, quarrel + with Charles V of Spain. + + Franciscans, order of. + + French, send privateers to attack the Antilles; + capture San German twice and destroy it; + attack Guayama; fail in an attack on Puerto + Rico; alliance with English against Spain; + pirates in the Caribbean. + + Fuente, Alonso la, his letters to the + Spanish Government. + + Ginger. + + Gold, in Puerto Rico; + early search for; first discovery; + gold-bearing streams; production of + gold. + + Government of Puerto Rico, instructions + by the King of Spain. + + Guadeloupe, discovery of; + Caribs in, aid Puerto Rico Indians + against the Spaniards. + + Guaybana, cacique in Puerto Rico; + death of. + + Guaybana second, heads revolt against + the Spaniards; massacres Spaniards; + is defeated; killed. + + Haro, Juan de, governor, defends San + Juan against the Dutch. + + Havana, captured by the English under + the Earl of Albemarle and Admiral + Pocock. + + Hawkyns, John, his freebooting + voyages among the Antilles; his fleet + captured; killed. + + Holland, Spain's war with; + sends fleet against Puerto Rico; + it is defeated. + + Hurricanes in the West Indies; + in Puerto Rico. + + Indians, system of "distribution" of, + introduced; in revolt; slaughter Spaniards; + defeated by Ponce; number of, in Puerto Rico; + "distribution" of; rapid decrease of; + condition of; efforts to prevent extinction + of; "distribution" of, among settlers + forbidden; the last 80 survivors liberated + from slavery; last report of the Boriquen + Indians. + + Inquisition, the, in Puerto Rico; + Nicolas Ramos, the last Inquisitor; + abolition of the Inquisition; + reestablished. + + Isabel II, her decree declaring property + of the secular clergy national property. + + Jews, property of, confiscated to supply + funds for Columbus's second expedition. + + Jibaro, the Puerto Rican peasant; + customs of. + + Lando, Governor of Puerto Rico, tries + to prevent persons leaving the island. + + Lares, the insurrection of. + + Las Casas, Bartolome de, his "Relations + of the Indies" cited; seeks to prevent + extinction of Indians; favors introduction of + negro slaves. + + Laws, reform, promised; + electoral. + + Leeward Islands, discovery of. + + Le Grand, Pierre, the French pirate. + + Libraries; since American occupation. + + Loiza, settlement of. + + l'Olonais, sobriquet of Sables d'Olone, + _q.v._ + + Macias, Manuel, governor-general, declares + the island in a state of war. + + Manso, Alonzo, first bishop of Puerto + Rico. + + Marie-Galante, discovery of. + + Mayor, Soto, forms a settlement at Guanica; + killed by Indians. + + McCormick, James, his report on Puerto + Rico in 1880. + + Mestizos, or mixed races. + + Military service, number of men in Puerto + Rico able to carry arms. + + Mixed races; + prejudice against. + + Montbras, French pirate. + + Morals in the island under Spanish rule. + + Morgan, Sir Henry, the pirate. + + Mulattoes in the Spanish colony. + + Napoleon, his influence over Spain. + + Natives, see Indians. + + Negroes, introduced into Santo Domingo + as slaves; into Puerto Rico; as slaves in + Puerto Rico; introduced to save the Indians + from extermination; intermix with Indians; + number of, in the island; severe laws + against. + + Newspapers. + + O'Daly, General, leads successful + revolution in Puerto Rico. + + Palm, coco-, introduced. + + Papers, see Newspapers. + + Peasants of Puerto Rico. + + Peru, gold discoveries there serve to + attract many settlers from Puerto + Rico. + + Philip I, his character. + + Philip II, death of. + + Pirates, see Buccaneers and Filibusters. + + Pocock, English admiral, and the Earl + of Albemarle, capture Havana. + + Political rights. + + Ponce, Juan, de Leon, with Columbus's + second expedition; lands on Puerto Rico; + appointed governor; deposed; restored; + arrests Ceron; recalled by the King of Spain; + defeats Guaybana with 5,000 to 6,000 Indians; + deprived of his privileges; retires to + Caparra; prepares for exploring the island of + Bemini; discovers Florida; honored by the + king; ordered to destroy the Caribs; accused + of fomenting discord in Puerto Rico; last + expedition to Florida, wounded, dies; + monument to him in San Juan. + + Population, growth of. + + Portugal, Alexander VI divides world + between Portugal and Spain. + + Press, the; + first printing-press. + + Prim, John, Count of Reus, his severe + proclamation against the negroes. + + Primitive inhabitants. + + Products. + + Puerto Rico, discovery of; + first settlement, at Caparra; made a + bishopric; name of Puerto Rico first used + October, 1514; divided into two departments; + capital transferred from Caparra to present + location, San Juan; disease and pestilence; + destructive storms; news of gold discoveries + in Peru causes many settlers to leave; + inhabitants try to leave the island for the + Peru gold fields; devastated by French and + Indians; the inhabitants turn to agriculture, + 100; expedition sent against the French in + Santa Cruz; English fleet, under the Earl of + Estren, appears off San Juan; used as a + "presidio," or place of banishment for + political prisoners for three centuries; + condition of, in 1765, described by Alexander + O'Reilly; revolution headed by Rafael Diego + and General O'Daly, 153; divided into seven + judicial districts; political rights in the + island; efforts of Spain to promote + development of the island; state of society, + 159; effects of Carlist troubles in Spain; + resources of, diminished; description of the + island in 1880; reform laws to relieve + financial distress; promise of reforms; the + new electoral law; conditions in the island + immediately before the American occupation; + becomes part of the United States; its + advantageous situation; soil and products; + harbors; climate; primitive inhabitants; + present inhabitants; era of greatest + prosperity under Spanish rule. + + Races in Puerto Rico. + + Ramirez, Francisco, President of the + "Republic of Boriquen,". + + Reforms, promise of, by Spanish + Government; granted too late. + + Religion of the peasantry. + + Republic of Boriquen proclaimed. + + Revolution, against Spanish oppression. + + Rodney, English admiral, attacks French + West Indies. + + Sables d'Olone, French pirate. + + Sagasta, suggests reforms in Puerto Rico + and Cuba. + + Sail. + + Salazar, Diego do, heroic conduct of; + defeats Indians. + + San German founded. + + San Juan, only settlement in Puerto + Rico not destroyed by the French; + the fort, "Fortaleza," still used as + governor's residence, built in 1540; + fortification and improvement of; + attacked by English fleet, under Drake; + captured by English, 120; evacuated by the + English; attacked by English; + history of; replaces Caparra as the + capital. + + San Juan Bautista, island of (Puerto + Rico). + + Santa Cruz taken and held by the French. + + Santo Domingo, discovery of. + + Schools, number and attendance of, in + 1889. + + Sedeno, Contador of Puerto Rico; his + peculations and death. + + Slavery, Indians placed in, through the + system of "distribution.". + + Slavery, negro, introduced into Santo + Domingo; favored by Church and State; first + negro slaves in Puerto Rico; discussion of + its abolition; abolition of; its history in + the island; introduced to replace lost labor + of the Indians; England contracts to take + 140,000 slaves into the Spanish-American + colonies in thirty years; slaves emancipated. + + Spain, Alexander VI divides the world + between Spain and Portugal; effects of her + disastrous wars; sends fleet against + pirates in the West Indies; abolishes + the slave-trade. + + Spaniards, number of, in Puerto Rico; + as colonists in Puerto Rico; no women + among early settlers. + + Storms, damages by. + + Sugar; + the industry injured by production of + beet-sugar. + + Tiedra, Vasco de, Governor of Puerto + Rico. + + Tobacco, its cultivation permitted by a + special law. + + Trade, its growth. + + United States sends army to Puerto Rico; + acquires the island. + + Weyler, General, his inhuman proceedings + in Cuba. + + Windward Islands, discovered by Columbus. + + Women, none among early Spanish settlers; + education of, neglected. + + Zambos, mixture of negro and Indian. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Puerto Rico, by R.A. 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