minded of the obedience they
owed to the Admiral, and were instructed to obey him in all things under
the penalty of heavy fines. They invited Columbus to come back if he
could in order to be present at the convention which was to establish the
line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese possessions; or if he
could not come himself to send his brother Bartholomew. There were
reasons, however, which made this difficult. Columbus wished to despatch
the ships back again as speedily as possible, in order that news of him
might help to counteract the evil rumours that he knew Buil and Margarite
would be spreading. He himself was as yet (February 1494) too ill to
travel; and during his illness Bartholomew could not easily be spared.
It was therefore decided to send home James, who could most easily be
spared, and whose testimony as a member of the governing body during the
absence of the Admiral on his voyage to Cuba might be relied upon to
counteract the jealous accusations of Margarite and Buil.

Unfortunately there was no golden cargo to send back with him. As much
gold as possible was scraped together, but it was very little. The usual
assortment of samples of various island products was also sent; but still
the vessels were practically empty. Columbus must have been painfully
conscious that the time for sending samples had more than expired, and
that the people in Spain might reasonably expect some of the actual
riches of which there had been so many specimens and promises. In
something approaching desperation, he decided to fill the empty holds of
the ships with something which, if it was not actual money, could at
least be made to realise money. From their sunny dreaming life on the
island five hundred natives were taken and lodged in the dark holds of
the caravels, to be sent to Spain and sold there for what they would
fetch. Of course they were to be "freed" and converted to Christianity
in the process; that was always part of the programme, but it did not
interfere with business. They were not man-eating Caribs or fierce
marauding savages from neighbouring islands, but were of the mild and
peaceable race that peopled Espanola. The wheels of civilisation were
beginning to turn in the New World.

After the capture of Caonabo and the massacre of April 25th Columbus
marched through the island, receiving the surrender and submission of the
terrified natives. At the approach of his force the caciques c