e state of slavery, or else to put us to death." Upon which he
took a box full of gold and valuable jewels which he had with him; and
exposing it to their view,--"Here is," says he, "the god of the
Spaniards, whom we must honor with our sports and dances, to see if we
can appease him, and render him propitious to us, that so he may
command the Spaniards not to offer us any injury." They all applauded
this speech, and fell a-leaping and dancing round the box, till they
had quite tired and spent themselves. After which the Cacique Hatbuey,
resuming his discourse, continued to speak to them in these terms: "If
we keep this God," says he, "till he's taken away from us, he'll
certainly cause our lives to be taken from us; and therefore I am of
the opinion 'twill be the best way to cast him into the river." They
all approved of this advice, and went all together with one accord to
throw this pretended god into the river.

The Spaniards were no sooner arrived in the Isle of Cuba but this
Cacique, who knew 'em too well, began to think of retreating to secure
himself from their fury, and resolved to defend himself by force of
arms if he should happen to meet with them; but he unfortunately fell
into their hands; and because he had taken all the precautions he
could to avoid the persecutions of so cruel and impious a people, and
had taken arms to defend his own life, as well as the lives of his
subjects, this was made a capital crime in him, for he was burned
alive. While he was in the midst of the flames, tied to a stake, a
certain Franciscan friar of great piety and virtue took upon him to
speak to him of God and our religion, and to explain to him some
articles of the Catholic faith, of which he had never heard a word
before; promising him eternal life if he would believe, and
threatening him with eternal torment if he continued obstinate in his
infidelity. Hatbuey, reflecting on the matter as much as the place and
condition in which he was would permit, asked the friar that
instructed him whether the gate of heaven was opened to the Spaniards;
and being answered that such of them as were good men might hope for
entrance there, the Cacique without any further deliberation told him
he had no mind to go to heaven, for fear of meeting with such cruel
and wicked company as they were; but would much rather choose to go to
hell, where he might be delivered from the troublesome sight of such
kind of people: to so great a degree have