shed with the dead carcases assaulted the Spaniards,
who with much trouble hardly defended themselves from them. Sedenno was
buried within the precincts of the empire of the gilded king, and most
of his people perished likewise. Augustine Delgado came to an Indian
Cacique, who entertained him with kindness and gave him rich jewels, six
seemly pages, ten young slaves, and three nymphs very beautiful. To
requite these manifold courtesies he took all the gold he could get and
all the Indians he could lay hold on, to sell for slaves. He was
afterwards shot in the eye by an Indian, of which hurt he died.

And so we might go on to tell of the thousands of people murdered and
tens of thousands carried off as slaves; Every gold ornament was stolen,
provision grounds destroyed, and the forest tracks strewn with the
corpses of those who had been massacred, and marked out by the graves of
their murderers. Sometimes treasure and slaves were recaptured and no
one left to tell the tale, but more often a few escaped to fight over
the booty and perhaps be hanged as mutineers on their return.

The men of that age were undoubtedly great--great warriors, great
ruffians, great villains. Only here and there can we distinguish a good
man like Las Casas, who did his very best for the Indians against the
opposition of the settlers and the lukewarmness of the Spanish Court. He
was horrified at the atrocities in the Indies, but the kings wanted
their tithes and cared little how they were obtained. "Get it honestly
if you can, but get it," seems to have been their motto, and it was not
for many years that anything like humanity was shown, and then only by a
few priests.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

III.

"SINGEING THE SPANIARD'S BEARD."

On the discovery of the Indies, Ferdinand and Isabella at once applied
to Pope Alexander the Sixth to secure the rights of Spain in the new
countries against every other nation, but more especially against
Portugal. Accordingly, the celebrated "Bull of partition" was issued on
the 4th of May, 1493, giving, conceding, and assigning for ever, to them
and their successors, all the islands and mainlands already found or
that might be discovered in future, to the west of a line, stretching
from the north to the south poles, a hundred leagues from the Azores or
Cape de Verde Islands, provided they were not in the possession of any
other Christian prince. The sovereigns were commanded to appoint
upr