the voracious Caribs. In fleets of canoes they would swoop upon the coasts of Hispaniola, capture men and women by the score, and carry them off to be cooked and eaten. Now Columbus wished to win the friendship of the Indians about him by defending them against these enemies, and so he made raids against the Caribs, took some of them captive, and sent them as slaves to Spain, to be taught Spanish and converted to Christianity, so that they might come back to the islands as interpreters, and thus be useful aids in missionary work. It was really, said Columbus, a kindness to these cannibals to enslave them, and send them where they could be baptized and rescued from everlasting perdition; and then again they could be received in payment for the cargoes of cattle, seeds, wine, and other provisions which must be sent from Spain for the support of the colony. Thus quaintly did the great discoverer, like so many other good men before and since, mingle considerations of religion with those of domestic economy. It is apt to prove an unwholesome mixture. Columbus proposed such an arrangement to Ferdinand and Isabella, and it is to their credit that, straitened as they were for money, they for some time refused to accept it. Slavery, however, sprang up in Hispaniola before anyone could have fully realized the meaning of what was going on. As the Indians were unfriendly and food must be had, while foraging expeditions were apt to end in plunder and bloodshed, Columbus

THE BEGINNINGS OF TAXATION

tried to regulate matters by prohibiting such expeditions. and in lieu thereof imposing a light tribute or tax upon the entire population of Hispaniola above fourteen years of age. As this population was dense, a little from each person meant a good deal in the lump. The tribute might be a small piece of gold or of cotton, and was to be paid four times a year. Every time that an Indian paid this tax, a small brass token duly stamped was to be given him to hang about his neck as a voucher. If there were Indians who felt unable to pay the tribute, they might as an alternative render a certain amount of personal service in helping to plant seeds or tend cattle for the Spaniards. "No doubt these regulations were well meant, and if the two races had been more evenly matched, perhaps they might not so speedily have developed into tyranny. As it was, they were like rules for regulating the depredations of wolves upon sheep. Two years had not elapsed before the alternative of personal service was demanded from whole villages of Indians at once. By 1499 the island had begun to be divided into repartimientos, or shares. One or more villages would be ordered, under the direction of their native chiefs, to till the soil for the benefit of some specified Spaniard or partnership of Spaniards; and such a village or villages constituted the repartimiento of the person or persons to whom it was assigned. This arrangement put the Indians into a state somewhat resembling that of feudal villenage; and this

was as far as things had gone when the administration of Columbus came abruptly to an end. . . In 1502 the Spanish sovereigns sent to Hispaniola a governor selected with especial care, a knight of the religious order of Alcantara, named Nicolas de Ovando. He was a small, fairhaired man of mild and courteous manners, and had an excellent reputation for ability and integrity. We are assured on the most unimpeachable authority that he was a good governor for white men. As to what was most needed in that turbulent colony, he was a strict disciplinarian, and had his own summary way of dealing with insubordinate characters. When he wished to dispose of some such incipient Roldan he would choose a time to invite him to dinner, and then, after some polite and interesting talk, whereby the guest was apt to feel highly flattered, Ovando would all at once point down to the harbor and blandly inquire, In which of those ships, now ready to weigh anchor, would you like to go back to Spain?' Then the dumbfoundered man would stammer, My Lord, my Lord,' and would perhaps plead that he had not money to pay his passage. 'Pray do not let that trouble you,' said this well-bred little governor, 'it shall be my care to provide for that.' And so without further ceremony the guest was escorted straight from dinner-table to ship.

"But this mild-spoken Ovando was capable of strange deeds, and the seven years of his administration in His