is men. He set out, escorted
by all his household and a large number of soldiers, armed after the
fashion of the country, to meet the Admiral. When asked why he took
such a numerous troop of men, he answered that it was not becoming
for such a great king as he to quit his house and journey without an
escort. In this event, however, things turned out differently from
what he had expected and he fell into the net that he had himself
prepared. Hardly had he left his house before he regretted his
decision, but Hojeda succeeded by flatteries and promises in bringing
him to Columbus, where he was at once seized and put in irons.[5] The
souls of our dead might rest in peace.

[Note 3: A cacique of the Vega, who was a vassal of Guarionex,
Juatinango by name, had succeeded in killing ten Spaniards and in
setting fire to a house which served as a hospital for forty others
who were confined there ill. After these exploits, he besieged the
blockhouse of Magdalena, which Luis de Arriaga only succeeded in
defending by the greatest efforts. Herrera, _Hist. Ind_., tom, i.,
lib. ii., cap. xvi.]

[Note 4: The principal caciques of Hayti at that time numbered
five. They were: Caunaboa, who was the most powerful of all;
Guarionex, Gauccanagari, Behechio, and Cotubanama.]

[Note 5: Hojeda tricked this cacique into allowing him to fasten
handcuffs on him; after which the helpless chief was carried sixty
leagues through the forests. Pizarro, in his _Varones Illustres_,
relates the story, as does likewise Herrera.]

After the capture of Caunaboa and all his household, the Admiral
resolved to march throughout the whole island. He was informed that
the natives suffered from such a severe famine that more than 50,000
men had already perished, and that people continued to die daily as do
cattle in time of pest.

This calamity was the consequence of their own folly; for when they
saw that the Spaniards wished to settle in their island, they thought
they might expel them by creating a scarcity of food. They, therefore,
decided not only to plant no more crops, but also to destroy and tear
up all the various kinds of cereals used for bread which had already
been sown, and which I have mentioned in the first book. This was
to be done by the people in each district, and especially in the
mountainous region of Cipangu and Cibao; that was the country where
gold was found in abundance, and the natives were aware that the
principal attraction which k