SPANISH POSSESSION AND IT S E F F E C T 53
came their headquarters. Among the forces of subjugation
was a pack of fierce bloodhounds, but they
were no more ruthless than the soldiers. Ferdinand
and Isabella had been much concerned for the conversion
of these poor heathen to the true faith, and
the pious Admiral who scattered holy names among
the islands so profusely wrote in one of his le tte rs :
“ Y ou r Highness ought to rejoice that they will soon
become Christians, and that they will be taught the
good customs of your kingdom ” ; and y e t the good
Christopher, overcome by his eagerness for golden
treasures to send to his sovereign— and to keep for
h i m s e l f — countenanced the atrocities b y which the
heathen were converted, not into Christians, but into
slaves or tenants of the tomb. T h e resistance of
the natives was not to the loss of their independence
or to the sovereignty of the Christian King, but to
forced labour in the mines, to a tribute which they
could not pay, and to the ravaging of their fields
and “ provision grounds,” to feed the Spanish soldiers.
T h e Spaniards sought to obtain the precious
gold by the toil of others, for while they would endure
hardships and dangers in war and adventure,
they would not work. T h e Indians did not like to
work except in their own quiet way and for their
own benefit, and under the galling servitude they
died by the thousands. Many perished from direct
acts of cruel violence, many were starved to death,
and multitudes committed deliberate suicide.
T h e result was that the labour force by which the
Spanish colonists strove to enrich themselves rapidly
died out, and the goose that laid the golden egg was