“7th.  This disposition reduces the king’s share in the produce of the gold-mines from one-fifth and one-ninth to one-fifth and one-tenth, and extends the privilege of working them from one to two years.

“8th.  Whosoever wishes to conquer any part of the continent or of the gulf of pearls, may apply to the officials in Seville, who will give him a license, etc.”

The construction of a smelting oven for the gold, of hospitals and churches for each new settlement, the making of roads and bridges and other dispositions, wise and good in themselves, were also decreed; but they became new causes of affliction for the Indians, inasmuch as they paid for them with their labor.  For example:  to the man who undertook to construct and maintain a hospital, 100 Indians were assigned.  He hired them out to work in the mines or on the plantations, and with the sums thus received often covered more than the expense of maintaining the hospital.

The curious medley of religious zeal, philanthropy, and gold-hunger, communicated the first governors under the title of “instructions” did not long keep them in doubt as to which of the three—­the observance of religious practises, the kind treatment of the natives, or the remittance of gold—­was most essential to secure the king’s favor.  It was not secret that the monarch, in his private instructions, went straight to the point and wasted no words on religious or humanitarian considerations, the proof of which is his letter to Ponce, dated November 11, 1509.  “I have seen your letter of August 16th.  Be very diligent in searching for gold.  Take out as much as you can, and having smolten it in la Espanola, send it at once.  Settle the island as best you can.  Write often and let Us know what happens and what may be necessary.”

It was but natural, therefore, that the royal recommendations of clemency remained a dead letter, and that, under the pressure of the incessant demand for gold, the Indians were reduced to the most abject state of misery.

[Illustration:  Columbus monument, near Aguadilla.]

Until the year 1512 the Indians remained restless and subordinate, and in July, 1513, the efforts of the rulers in Spain to ameliorate their condition were embodied in what are known as the Ordinances of Valladolid.

These ordinances, after enjoining a general kind treatment of the natives, recommend that small pieces of land be assigned to them on which to cultivate corn, yucca, cotton, etc., and raise fowls for their own maintenance.  The “encomendero,” or master, was to construct four rustic huts for every 50 Indians.  They were to be instructed in the doctrines of the Christian religion, the new-born babes were to be baptized, polygamy to be prohibited.  They were to attend mass with their masters, who were to teach one young man in every forty to read.  The boys who served as pages and domestic servants were to be taught by