e new King of the Christians in Spain, and that henceforth there
would be no more fighting, but all were to live together in peace and
friendship. In order to attract them, he made them presents from his
stores; but it was not unnatural that the diffidence of the Indians should
yield but slowly to these blandishments after the deceptions of which they
had been the victims, and besides, Las Casas could not trust his own
dependents, but had to keep a sharp eye continually on them, to prevent
them scandalising and offending the natives. Under such discouraging
circumstances, progress was inevitably slow.

Not only were the Spaniards under his own control in little harmony with
the spirit of his intentions and as refractory as they dared be to his
orders, but the pearl fishers on the island of Cubagua, who were a typical
lot of godless ruffians, frequently came to the mainland, with the valid
excuse that the absence of sweet water on their island obliged them to
fetch their supply from the Cumana River. These expeditions for water
were usually accompanied by some disturbances with the Indians, some of
whom were frequently captured and carried off to work in the pearl
fisheries.

To put a stop to these incursions into his territory, Las Casas contracted
with a mason, for eight dollars in gold per month, to build him a fort at
the mouth of the river; but the people at Cubagua, hearing of this project
which would interrupt and control their movements, contrived to so
influence the mason that he threw up his contract and abandoned the work,
thus leaving the country defenceless. The Cubaguans seduced and ruined
the Indians, chiefly by offering them liquors and spirits, which have
always proved the white man's most attractive and destructive products to
the savage and have ever gone in the vanguard of civilisation. The
Indians gave everything they possessed for alcohol even selling their
fellows as slaves, in exchange for wines; these they drank to inordinate
excess, and in the fury of their debauch quarrels broke out amongst them
which ended in murders and a state of the most riotous disorder, against
which Las Casas and the monks struggled in vain. The strongest
representations and protests were made to the alcalde of Cubagua, whither
Las Casas went in person, but, far from producing the desired result, his
efforts to protect his own territory only served to excite increased
resentment on the part of his lawless neighbours