CHAP.
Il]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
147
CHAPTER II. ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHAIN OF MILITARY POSTS. — INSUR RECTION OF GUARIONEX, THE CACIQUE OF THE VEGA. [1496.]
ON arriving at Isabella, Don Bartholomew found it, as usual, a scene of misery and repining. Many had died during his absence ; most were ill. Those who were healthy complained of the scarcity of food, and those who were ill, of the want of medicines. The provisions distributed among them, from the supply brought out a few months before by Pedro Alonzo Nino, had been consumed. Partly from sickness, and partly from a repugnance to labor, they had neglected to cultivate the surround ing country, and the Indians, on whom they chiefly depended, outraged by their oppressions, had abandoned the vicinity, and fled to the mountains ; choosing rather to subsist on roots and herbs, in their rugged retreats, than remain in the luxuriant plains, subject to the wrongs and cruelties of the white men. The history of this island presents continual pictures of the mise ries, the actual want and poverty produced by the grasping avidity of gold. It had rendered the Spaniards heedless of all the less obvious, but more certain and salubrious sources of wealth. All labor seemed lost that was to produce profit by a