Chapter CLXIX

Roldan took leave of Hojeda, believing that everything that glittered was gold, and Hojeda, having got the bread about which he had arranged, instead of taking the road to Santo Domingo to see the Admiral, and give an account to him of what he had done during his voyage, as he had promised to Roldan, and to report the news from Castille, went with his four ships towards the west, in the direction of the gulf and port of Xaragua. The Christians who were living there, in the villages of the Caciques, received him with joy, and gave him and his people all they needed, although not from the sweat of their own brows, but from that of the Indians, for of the latter the Spaniards are accustomed to be very liberal. As one of their caravels was very unseaworthy, and could no longer be kept above water, they made the Indians work, and they gave much help until she was repaired, assisting in every other way that was needed. While he was there he found that there were people who regretted the free life they had been so recently leading under Roldan, who were ill-disposed towards the affairs of the Admiral, and who were discontented because they could not now do as they pleased. One of their most common complaints was that their wages were not paid. Hojeda, moved either by the disposition he found in these people, or by the expectation of profit for himself, began to encourage the discontent, saying that he would join with them, and, uniting them with his own people, that he would go to the Admiral and demand payment in the name of the Sovereigns, and force him to pay, even if he did so unwillingly. He declared that he had powers from the Sovereigns to do this, and that he and Alonso de Carvajal had received them, when the Admiral returned in the year 1498, that they might come and constrain him to make the payments. He added many other arguments, according to what they said, in great prejudice of the Admiral, and to excite the people against him, to which the greater part inclined, being unprincipled men, friends of turbulence and unrest, and without fear either of God or of the mischief that would follow in that island, both to Christians and Indians.

There were some, however, who did not wish to join in the foolish and evil deeds of Hojeda. These were in a certain farm or village near Xaragua. For all were scattered among the Indian villages, to be fed and maintained by the natives, which could not be done if they all remained together. As these men refused their approval when they were incited, either by letters or by word of mouth, or because they had among them some one who was obnoxious to Hojeda in times past, he arranged one night, in concert with those who had joined him, to attack the loyal men and wreak his vengeance on them, or do them some other injury; and this was done, with the result that several men were killed and wounded on both sides.

This caused great scandal in the land, among Indians as well as Christians, so that disturbances even worse than those of Roldan, recently appeased, would have arisen if God, using the same Roldan as His instrument, had not obviated the danger. Roldan now returned from Santo Domingo to Xaragua. Either because the Admiral suspected that Hojeda would return and cause injury, both to Christians and Indians, and wished to be certain that he had left the island; or because he had received intelligence from the Christians who remained loyal of what was taking place, for they sent messages by Indians every eight days, he finally despatched Roldan to Xaragua, who heard on the road of the scandals and mischief done by Hojeda, and of the object he announced. Roldan then sent to one Diego de Escobar, a leading man among those who had always followed him, ordering him to collect as large a force as possible from among those who had not been influenced by Hojeda, and to come with them to Xaragua. He collected all he could from the villages in which the Christians were scattered, and both arrived at Xaragua on two successive days. Hojeda had by that time returned to his ships.

Francisco Roldan wrote a letter to Hojeda, pointing out the scandals, deaths, and mischief he had caused, the disservice that the Sovereigns would receive from such conduct, the disturbance caused in the colony, the good will which the Admiral entertained towards him, and urging him not to adopt a course which would cause loss to all. In order that the evils might be forgotten, as what was done could not be helped, he proposed that Hojeda should at least come and excuse himself. Hojeda would not place himself in such peril, for he knew Roldan to be an astute and resolute man, and with no small intelligence. Roldan then sent Diego de Escobar to confer with Hojeda, who was not less able than the other two. I knew him well during many years. Escobar set before Hojeda the heinous character of what he had done as strongly as he could, and urged him to come to Roldan. Hojeda replied that it was what he wished to do. Escobar returned without having been able to make a definite arrangement. But Roldan, believing that Hojeda would agree, sent one Diego de Truxillo, who, as soon as he came on board the ship, was seized and put in irons. Hojeda then landed and marched to Xaragua with twenty armed men. He found there one Toribio de Linares, whom I also knew well. He was seized and taken to the ships, where he was put in irons. These proceedings were reported by the Indians to Roldan, who was then at a distance of a league from Xaragua. Roldan quickly set out in pursuit with the men he had with him, well equipped, but Hojeda was already out of his reach. He then sent one Hernando de Estepa, whom I also knew well, to whom Hojeda said that unless one Juan Pintor, who had left the ship, was given up (a man whom I also knew, and who only had one hand), he swore he would hang the two prisoners he had in irons. What harm had these done to merit hanging, because Juan Pintor had deserted! Hojeda got under weigh with his ships, and proceeded along the coast to some villages and a province called Cahay, where there is a charming country and people, ten or twelve leagues from Xaragua. Here he landed with forty men, and seized all the provisions he wanted by force, especially yams and sweet potatoes, for here are the best and finest in the island, leaving both Christians and Indians in great want. Seeing that he had made sail, Roldan sent Diego de Escobar along the sea-shore in pursuit with twenty-five men. But as they arrived at night, Hojeda had already returned to his ships. Soon afterwards, Roldan followed in pursuit with twenty men, and, having arrived at Cahay, he found there a letter which Hojeda had written to Diego de Escobar, declaring that he would hang his two prisoners if his man, Juan Pintor, was not restored. Roldan then ordered Diego de Escobar to get into a canoe, manned, as the sailors say, by Indian rowers, and to go within hail of the ships. He was to tell Hojeda, on the part of Roldan, that as he would not trust him and come to speak with him, he was willing to come to the ships, trusting in his honour, and asking that he would send a boat with this object. Hojeda perceived that his game was now made; but another thought occurred to him, which was that Francisco Roldan had brought his drums on his back, as the saying is. Hojeda sent a very good boat, for he had only one such, with eight very valiant seamen, with their lances, swords, and shields. Coming within a stone's-throw of the beach, they called out that Roldan should embark. Roldan asked, "How many did the captain say were to come with me." They answered, "Five or six men." Roldan presently ordered that Diego de Escobar should get in first, then Pero Bello, Montoya, and Hernan Brabo, and Bolaños. They would not consent that any more should get into the boat. Then Roldan said to one Pedro de Illanes that he must take him to the boat on his back, and as he wanted some one else at his side, he took another man named Salvador. Having all got into the boat, Roldan dissimulated, saying to those who were rowing that they should row towards the land. They did not wish to do so. He and his men put their hands to their swords, and laid about them with such effect that some were killed, others jumped overboard, and all were made prisoners, as well as an Indian archer kidnapped from the islands, only one escaping by swimming. They were brought on shore, and thus Hojeda was left without his best boat, of which he had much need, and also without quite so much pride and insolence. Hojeda, seeing that his artifice had failed, and his intentions were frustrated, resolved to resume the negotiation with more humility. So he got into a small boat with Juan de la Cosa, his principal pilot, a gunner, and four more, and pulled towards the shore. Francisco Roldan, knowing him to be reckless and valiant, and even thinking that he might venture to attack, got ready the large boat with seven rowers and fifteen fighting men, and a good canoe capable of holding fifteen more, all "à pique", as the sailors say. Being on the water, as soon as they were within hailing distance, Hojeda said that he wished to speak with Francisco Roldan. Coming nearer, Francisco Roldan asked him why he had perpetrated those scandalous and culpable acts. He replied that it was because they told him that the Admiral had given orders to apprehend him. Roldan assured him that it was false, and that the Admiral had no intention of doing him harm, but rather to help him and do him honour, and that if he would come to Santo Domingo he would find this to be true by his own experience. Finally Hojeda asked that his boat and men might be restored, no longer caring about Juan Pintor, representing that he could not return to Spain without his boat. Francisco Roldan saw the difficulty in which Hojeda was placed—for there had been a terrible gale just before, and Hojeda's largest ship had dragged her anchors, and had been driven more than two cross-bow shots nearer the shore, where there was danger of ship and crew being lost; also because if Hojeda remained on the island there would be greater confusion caused by him than had previously been caused by Roldan himself. For these reasons Roldan decided to restore the boat with the men, if Hojeda would restore the two prisoners he had seized and ill-treated. This was arranged. He departed to make an incursion, which he said he had to make, and according to what a clergyman who was with him said, and two or three other honest men who were left, the raid that he sought to make was what he intended to do against the person and affairs of the Admiral, and I firmly believe that he had means of knowing that the Sovereigns were considering the removal of the Admiral from his place. For Hojeda was in favour with the Bishop Fonseca, and, on the other hand, the same Bishop always viewed the Admiral with disfavour, justly or unjustly, as to men I say, "God knows."

According to what I suspect, when Hojeda left Española he went to load his ships with Indians, either in some part of that island, or in the Island of San Juan, 154 or in some of the neighbouring islands, for he brought to Spain and sold at Cadiz 222 slaves, as Americo confessed in his first Navigation. This, with the other injuries and outrages perpetrated on Christians and Indians by Hojeda, was his cargo. From what has been seen in this chapter, the falsehoods of Americo are apparent, and the tyrannies committed in this his first voyage, when he accompanied Hojeda, as well as the way in which he confused the events of the two voyages, are now made as evident as that the sun shines. Americo says, respecting the scandals of Hojeda which took place during the first voyage, but which he places in the second, as follows:

"We departed, and, for the sake of obtaining many things of which we were in need, we shaped a course for the island of Antiglia, being that which Christopher Columbus discovered a few years ago. Here we took many supplies on board, and remained two months and 17 days. Here we endured many dangers and troubles from the same Christians who were in this island with Columbus. I believe this was caused by envy; but to avoid prolixity I will refrain from recounting what happened. We departed from the said island on the 22nd of July."

All this is false. He says that he does not describe the troubles they suffered, to avoid prolixity, giving to understand that they suffered unjustly; and he does not tell the cause, or what were the outrages that they committed. Moreover, to place these scandals in the second voyage is also false, as has already been sufficiently shown. To state that the date of departure was the 22nd of July is still more false. For that date was almost at the end of February in the year 1500, and I even believe in March, as appears from the letters which I saw and had in my possession. I know the handwriting of Francisco Roldan, who wrote every eight or fifteen days to the Admiral, when he went to watch Hojeda. The fact is that the date which should belong to the second he put in the first voyage; and the outrages and harm those who were with him did in the first, he referred to as injuries done to them, without provocation, in the second voyage.