[Footnote 29:  Small pieces of ordnance.]

[Footnote 30:  XII, p. 89.]

CHAPTER XI

CALAMITIES—­PONCE’S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA AND DEATH

1520-1537

Among the calamities referred to by Friar Abbad as visitations of Providence was one which the Spaniards had brought upon themselves.  Another epidemic raged principally among the Indians.  In January, 1519, the Jerome friars wrote to the Government from la Espanola:  " ...  It has pleased our Lord to send a pestilence of smallpox among the Indians here, and nearly one-third of them have died.  We are told that in the island of San Juan the Indians have begun to die of the same disease.”

Another scourge came in the form of ants.  “These insects,” says Abbad, quoting from Herrera, “destroyed the yucca or casabe, of which the natives made their bread, and killed the most robust trees by eating into their roots, so that they turned black, and became so infected that the birds would not alight on them.  The fields were left barren and waste as if fire from heaven had descended on them.  These insects invaded the houses and tormented the inmates night and day.  Their bite caused acute pains to adults and endangered the lives of children.  The affliction was general,” says Abbad, “but God heard the people’s vows and the pests disappeared.”  The means by which this happy result was obtained are described by Father Torres Vargas:  “Lots were drawn to see what saint should be chosen as the people’s advocate before God.  Saint Saturnine was returned, and the plague ceased at once.”

“Some time after there appeared a worm which also destroyed the yucca.  Lots were again drawn, and this time Saint Patrick came out; but the bishop and the ecclesiastical chapter were of opinion that this saint, being little venerated, had no great influence in heaven.  Therefore, lots were drawn again and again, three times, and each time the rejected saint’s name came out.  This was clearly a miracle, and Saint Patrick was chosen as advocate.  To atone for their unwillingness to accept him, the chapter voted the saint an annual mass, sermon, and procession, which was kept up for many years without ever anything happening again to the casabe ...”

To the above-described visitations, nature added others and more cruel ones.  These were the destructive tempests, called by the Indians Ouracan.

The first hurricane since the discovery of the island by Columbus of which there is any record happened in July, 1515, when the crown officers reported to the king that a great storm had caused the death of many Indians by sickness and starvation.  On October 4, 1526, there was another, which Juan de Vadillo described thus:  " ...  There was a great storm of wind and rain which lasted twenty-four hours and destroyed the greater part of the town, with the church.  The damage caused by the flooding of the plantations is greater than any one can estimate.  Many rich men have grown poor, among them Pedro Moreno, the lieutenant-governor.”