hought it convenient and
proper that the people who had been brought from Spain under wages to work
in the mines and other public employments, should go by land to St Domingo;
because the winds and currents being adverse, the voyage there might
possibly occupy two or three months, during which these people would
consume a great deal of provisions, if they remained on board, and might
fall sick, and much time would be lost which they might otherwise have
devoted to the several employments for which they were sent out. Having
agreed upon this plan, it fell to the lot of John Anthony Columbus to
march with the men by land, who were forty in number; Arana was appointed
to conduct the ships from Xaragua to St. Domingo; and Caravajal remained
to endeavour to bring the rebels to an accommodation. John Anthony
Columbus set out with his people the second day after landing; but those
labourers and vagabonds who had been sent out to work deserted to the
rebels, and left him with only six or seven men who continued in their
duty. Upon this John Anthony went boldly to Roldan, to whom he represented,
that since he pretended to promote the service of their Catholic majesties,
it was not reasonable to suffer those men who had been sent out to people
and cultivate the country and who received wages for following their
callings, to remain and lose their time without performing their
engagements; that by turning them away he would make his words and actions
more conformable, and that his staying in this place evinced that he had
no inclination to forward the public service, but only to foment discord
and division with the lieutenant. But as the desertion of the labourers
was favourable to the views of Roldan and his followers, and they
considered that a crime committed by many is soonest connived at, he
pretended that he could not use violence towards these people, and that
his was a religious order which refused no man. Knowing that it was not
the part of a discreet person to expose himself to danger by pressing this
matter any farther, John Anthony determined to go on board again with
those few who still remained faithful; and that they might not be so
served by those who remained, he and Arana sailed immediately with their
two ships for St Domingo, with the wind as contrary as they feared; for
they spent many days at sea and spoiled all their provisions, and
Caravajals ship was much damaged upon certain sands, where she lost her
rudder a