the city of _de la Vega_, or the _Conception_, to
which the gold from _Cibao_ and the neighbouring districts was brought for
the same purpose. At each melting in Buena Ventura, the produce was from
11,000 to 12,000 pesos; and at La Vega between 125,000 and 130,000 pesos,
sometimes 140,000. Hence all the gold of the island amounted to 460,000
pesos yearly, equal to L.150,000 Sterling; which yielded 4,600 pesos, or
L.150 yearly to Alcacar, which was then thought a very considerable
revenue, insomuch that the grant was revoked by their Catholic majesties.
It seldom happened that the adventurers at the mines were gainers,
notwithstanding the vast quantities of gold procured, as they always lived
luxuriously and upon credit; so that their whole share of the gold was
often seized at melting times for their debts, and very frequently there
was not enough to satisfy their creditors.

SECTION II.

_Settlement of the Island of Porto Rico, under the command of Juan Ponce
de Leon_.

A war which took place in a province of Hispaniola, called _Higuey_, added
greatly to the power of the Spaniards, as Obando appointed Juan Ponce de
Leon to keep the Indians of that quarter under subjection. This man was
possessed of good sense and great courage, but was of an imperious and
cruel disposition, and soon formed projects of extending his authority
beyond the narrow bounds which had been assigned him. Learning from the
Indians of his province, that the island of _St Juan de Puerto Rico_,
called _Borriquen_ by the natives, was very rich in gold, he was anxious
to inquire into this circumstance personally. For this purpose, he
communicated the intelligence he had received to Obando, whose leave he
asked to go over to that island, to trade with the natives, to inquire
into the circumstance of its being rich in gold, and to endeavour to make
a settlement. Hitherto nothing more was known of that island than that it
appeared very beautiful and abundantly peopled to those who sailed along
its coasts. Having received authority from Obando, Juan Ponce went over to
Porto Rico in a small caravel, with a small number of Spaniards, and some
Indians who had been there. He landed in the territories of a cacique
named _Aguey Bana_, the most powerful chief of the island, by whom, and
the mother and father-in-law of the chief, he was received and entertained
in the most friendly manner. The cacique even exchanged names with him, by
a ceremony which