ecruiting agents, the islanders fly to the woods and mountains if
they can, and rather than submit to this labour they live on whatever
wild fruit they find. They are a docile people, and have completely
forgotten their old rites, complying without reasoning, and repeating
the mysteries they are taught. The Spanish gentlemen of position
educate sons of caciques in their own houses, and these lads easily
learn the elements of instruction and good manners. When they grow
up and especially if their fathers are dead, they are sent back to
Hispaniola, where they rule their compatriots. As they are devout
Christians, they keep both Spaniards and natives up to their duties,
and cheerfully bring their subjects to the mines. There are gold mines
found in two different districts, of which the first, called San
Cristobal, is about thirty miles from the town of Dominica. The other,
called Cibaua, is about ninety miles distant. Porto Real is situated
there.

Great revenues are drawn from these countries, for gold is found both
on the surface and in the rocks, either in the form of ingots or of
scales which are sometimes small but generally of considerable weight.
Ingots weigh 300 pounds, and sometimes even more, for one has been
found which weighed 310 pounds.[7] You have heard it said that this
one was brought, just as it was found, to the King of Spain, on board
the ship on which the governor Bobadilla embarked for Spain. The ship,
being overloaded with men and gold, was wrecked and sunk with all it
contained. More than a thousand witnesses saw and touched this ingot.
When I speak of pounds I do not mean precisely a pound, but a weight
equal to a golden ducat of four ounces, which is what the Spaniards
call a _peso_ or castellano of gold. All the gold found in the
mountains of Cibaua is transported to the blockhouse of La Concepcion,
where there are founderies for receiving and melting the metal. The
royal fifth is first separated, after which each one receives a share
according to his labour. The gold from the mines of San Cristobal goes
to the founderies of Bona Ventura; the amount of gold melted in these
founderies exceeds 300 pounds of metal. Any Spaniard who is convicted
of having fraudulently kept back a quantity of gold not declared to
the royal inspectors, suffers confiscation of all the gold in his
possession. Contentions frequently occur among them, and if the
magistrates of the island are unable to settle them, the case