to the amount of
the tribute. From the preceding account of the number of subordinate
caciques, and the large force opposed to Columbus, perhaps Hispaniola
might then contain 500,000 inhabitants of all ages, half of whom, or
250,000, might be liable to the tax. Supposing 50,000 of these
employed as gold finders, and to pay one ounce each annually, worth
L. 4 the ounce, this would produce L. 200,000. The remaining 200,000
paying 100 libs. of cotton each, would give twenty million of pounds;
and this rated at sixpence a pound would produce L. 500,000, making
the whole revenue L. 700,000 a-year, a prodigious sum in those days;
but out of which the expences of government and the admirals share
were to be defrayed. All this can only be considered as an
approximation or mere conjecture.--E.

[24] It is a singularly perverted devotion that praises the Almighty for
success in murder, rapine, and injustice; and doubtless a devout
Spaniard of those days would sing Te Deum for the comfortable
exhibition of an _auto de fe_, in which those who differed from the
dogmas of the holy Catholic church were burnt for the glory of GOD.
The ways of Providence are inscrutable, and are best viewed by human
ignorance in silent humility and reverential awe.--E.

[25] It is surely possible that a good Catholic, accustomed to the worship
of images, might not see idolatry in the ceremonies of the
Hispaniolans; but the sentiment seems darkly expressed.--E.

SECTION VII.

_Account of the Antiquities, Ceremonies, and Religion of the Natives of
Hispaniola, collected by F. Roman, by order of the Admiral_[1].

I, Father Roman, a poor anchorite of the order of St Jerome, by command of
the most illustrious lord admiral, viceroy and governor-general of the
islands and continent of the Indies, do here relate all that I could hear
and learn concerning the religious opinions and idolatry of the Indians,
and of the ceremonies they employ in the worship of their gods.

Every one observes some particular superstitious ceremonies in worshipping
their idols, which they name _cemis_. They believe that there is an
immortal being, invisible like Heaven, who had a mother, but no beginning,
whom they call Atabei, Jermaoguacar, Apito, and Zuimaco; which are all
several names of the Deity. They also pretend to know whence they came at
the first, to give an account of the origin o