with a few Spaniards and several Indian interpreters and guides. After an easy voyage he landed on the woody shores of the island, near the residence of the principal cacique, Agueybanà. He found the chieftain seated in patriarchal style under the shade of his native groves, and surrounded by his family, consisting of his mother, stepfather, brother, and sister, who vied with each other in paying homage to the strangers. Juan Ponce, in fact, was received into the bosom of the family, and the cacique exchanged names with him, which is the Indian pledge of perpetual amity. Juan Ponce also gave Christian names to the mother and step-father of the cacique, and would fain have baptized them, but they declined the ceremony, though they always took a pride in the names thus given them. In the zeal to gratify his guests the cacique took them to various parts of the island. They found the interior to correspond with the external appearance. It was wild and mountainous but magnificently wooded, with deep rich valleys fertilized by limpid streams. Juan Ponce requested the cacique to reveal to him the riches of the island. The simple Indian showed him his most productive fields of yucca, groves laden with delicious fruit, the sweetest and pur est fountains, and the coolest runs of water. Ponce de Leon heeded but little these real blessings, and demanded whether the island produced no gold. Upon this the cacique conducted him to two rivers, the Manatuabon and the Zebuco, where the very pebbles seemed richly veined with gold, and large grains shone among the sands through the limpid water. Some of the largest of these were gathered by the Indians and given to the Spaniards. The quantity thus procured confirmed the hopes of Juan Ponce; and leaving several of his companions in the house of the hospitable cacique, he returned to Hayti to report the success of his expedition. He presented the specimens of gold to the Governor Ovando, who assayed them in a crucible. The ore was not so fine as that of Hispaniola, but as it was supposed to exist in greater quantities, the Governor determined on the subjugation of the island, and confided the enterprise to Juan Ponce de Leon. Chapter 11. JUAN PONCE ASPIRES TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PORTO RICO. [1509.] THE natives of Boriquen were more warlike than those of Hispaniola, being accustomed to the use of arms from the necessity of repelling the frequent invasions of the Caribs. It was supposed therefore that the conquest of their island would be attended with some difficulty; and Juan Ponce de Leon made another, and as it were, a preparatory visit, to make himself acquainted with the country and with the nature and resources of the inhabitants. He found the companions whom he had left there on his former visit in good health and spirits, and full of gratitude towards the cacique Agueybanà, who had treated them with undiminished hospitality. There appeared to be no need of violence to win the island from such simple-hearted and confiding people. Juan de Ponce flattered himself with the hopes of being appointed to its government by Ovando, and of bringing it peacefully into subjection. After remaining some time on the island he returned to San Domingo to seek the desired appointment, but to his surprise found the whole face of affairs had changed during his absence. His patron, the Governor Ovando, had been recalled to Spain, and Don Diego Columbus, son of the renowned discoverer, appointed in his place to the command of San Domingo. To add to the perplexities of Juan Ponce, a cavalier had already arrived from Spain, em |