them,
as is their wont_. We fear that they will attack the defenseless city
in greater force, and the fear is so great that the women and children
dare not sleep in their houses, but go to the church and the
monastery, which are built of stone. We men guard the city and the
roads, being unable to attend to our business.

"We insist that 2 brigantines be armed and equipped, as was ordered by
the Catholic king. No Caribs will then dare to come. Let the port be
fortified or the island will be deserted. The governor and the
officers know how great is the need, but they may make no outlays
without express orders."

As a result of the repeated requests for light-draft vessels, 2
brigantines were constructed in Seville in 1531 and shipped, in
sections, on board of a ship belonging to Master Juan de Leon, who
arrived in June, 1532. The crown officers immediately invited all who
wished to man the brigantines and make war on the Caribs, offering
them as pay half of the product of the sale of the slaves they should
make, the other half to be applied to the purchase of provisions.

The brigantines were unfit for service. In February, 1534, the emperor
was informed: "Of the brigantines which your Majesty sent for the
defense of this island only the timber came, and half of that was
unfit.... We have built brigantines with the money intended for
fortifications."

Governor Lando wrote about the same time: "We suffer a thousand
injuries from the Caribs of Guadeloupe and Dominica. They come every
year to assault us. Although the city is so poor, we have spent 4,000
pesos in fitting out an expedition of 130 men against them; but,
however much they are punished, the evil will not disappear till your
Majesty orders these islands to be settled." The expedition referred
to sailed under the orders of Joan de Ayucar, and reached Dominica in
May, 1534. Fifteen or 16 villages of about 20 houses each were burned,
103 natives were killed, and 70 prisoners were taken, the majority
women and boys. The Spaniards penetrated a distance of ten leagues
into the interior of the island, meeting with little resistance,
because the warrior population was absent. Eight or 10 pirogues and
more than 20 canoes were also burned. With this punishment the fears
of the people in San Juan were considerably allayed.

In 1536 Sedeno led an expedition against the Caribs of Trinidad and
Bartholome. Carreno fitted out another in 1539. He brought a number of
slave