ing their
appetites. Incapable of moderation in their acts of injustice, they
carried off the women of the islanders under the very eyes of their
brothers and their husbands; given over to violence and thieving, they
had profoundly vexed the natives. It had happened in many places that
when our men were surprised by the natives, the latter strangled them,
and offered them as sacrifices to their gods. Convinced that he should
put down a general insurrection by punishing the murderers of the
Spaniards, Columbus summoned the cacique of this valley, lying at the
foot off the Ciguano Mountains, which are described in the preceding
book. This cacique was called Guarionex. He had been pleased to give
his sister to be the wife of that Diego Columbus who had been from his
infancy brought up by the Admiral, and had served him as interpreter
during his occupation of Cuba. Guarionex had hoped by these means to
establish a more intimate friendship with the Admiral. He afterwards
sent one of his officers to Caunaboa, cacique of the mountains of
Cibao, which is the gold region. The people of this Caunaboa had
besieged Hojeda and fifty soldiers in the blockhouse of San Tomas and,
had they not heard of the approaching arrival of Columbus in person at
the head of imposing reinforcements, they would never have raised the
siege.[3] The Admiral chose Hojeda as his envoy, and while the latter
was engaged in his mission, several caciques[4] sent from different
parts to urge Caunaboa not to allow the Christians to settle in the
island, unless he wished to exchange independence for slavery; for if
the Christians were not expelled to the last man from the island, all
the natives would sooner or later become their slaves. Hojeda, on the
other hand, negotiated with Caunaboa, urging him to come in person to
visit the Admiral, and contract a firm alliance with him. The envoys
of the caciques promised Caunaboa their unlimited support for the
expulsion of the Spaniards, but Hojeda threatened to massacre him if
he chose war rather than peace with the Christians. Caunaboa was very
undecided. Besides, the consciousness of his crimes disturbed him, for
he had cut off the heads of twenty of our men whom he had surprised.
If, therefore, he desired peace on the one hand, on the other he
feared the interview with the Admiral. Having carefully planned his
treachery, he decided that under cover of peace he would seize the
first occasion to destroy Columbus and h