These latter, having come to the end of their endurance, had determined to follow the example of so many in the neighbourhood, and to do away with themselves in a body.  The Spaniard, however, received notice of the intention of these people in time.  Hastening to the spot, he came upon them just as they were preparing to effect their end.  He was undoubtedly a crafty being, this.  Proceeding into the midst of the distraught folk, he called for a rope.  This, he explained, was in order that he, too, might hang himself and thus accompany the Indians to the next world, where they would thus still remain his slaves.  The ruse proved entirely successful.  The credulous Indians became, as it were, horrified back to life at the idea; they abandoned the attempt upon their lives, and continued in sorrowful despair to serve their Spanish owner.

In 1509 Ovando sailed back to Spain, and some return was made to Columbus’s family for the part he had played in the discovery of the new Colonies.  His son, Diego, came out, having been endowed with the titles of Viceroy and Admiral.  Thus the Court of Spain had at last conceded some of the privileges which had been so effectually won by his father.  It is certain enough that the experiences of Diego’s generation were very different from those of his father’s.  The new Commander took up his residence in state in Haiti, where he lived with great pomp and style.  The Indians, however, it is said, suffered more under his Governorship than had been their lot under that of his predecessor.

The tide of conquest was flowing past the islands, and beginning to spend itself on the continent.  In 1508 began the actual colonization of the Spanish Main.  The first territories to which the Spaniards made their way were those which gave on the Gulf of Darien.  Here a companion of Columbus in his second voyage, Alonso de Ojeda, was given the district extending from the Cape de la Vela to the Gulf of Uraba, and this territory was termed the Land of New Andalusia.  Another adventurer, Nicuesa, came as his neighbour, holding the Governorship of the coast from the Gulf of Uraba to the Cape Gracias a Dios.  These two conquistadores, although as jealous of each other as was usual with almost all these pioneer explorers, joined forces against the Indians, whom they attempted to subdue by means of an iron hand rather than by a silk glove.  The Indians, however, proved themselves of a very warlike disposition, and the joint forces of the Spaniards were unable to crush the power of the aborigines.  After a while the leaders were obliged to withdraw their forces from the district they had occupied.

Some while afterwards Nunez de Balboa took charge of Uraba.  On his arrival he found that matters on the Gulf of Darien had reached a desperate pitch.  As the fortunes of the Spaniards had waned, the confidence of the Indians had increased.  There is no doubt that the majority of men would have recoiled from the task which faced Balboa when he found himself at the head of a number of starving Spaniards, scarcely able to maintain their precarious foothold in a hostile country.