supposed at first that the enmity of Roldan's party was chiefly directed
against his brother, the Adelantado, and the admiral hoped that, now he
had arrived, some agreement would speedily be concluded with Roldan, of
which he might inform the catholic sovereigns by the vessels which he
purposed to send back immediately to Spain. This was very far, however,
from being the case. These vessels, five in number, left the port of St.
Domingo bearing no good news of peace and amity amongst the Spaniards, but
laden with many hundreds of Indian slaves, which had been taken in the
following manner. Some cacique failed to perform the personal services
imposed upon him and his people, and fled to the forests; upon which,
orders were given to pursue him, and a large number of slaves were
captured and put into these ships. Columbus, in his letters to the
sovereigns, enters into an account of the pecuniary advantage that will
arise from these slave-dealing transactions, and from the sale of logwood.
He estimates, that "in the name of the sacred Trinity" there may be sent
as many slaves as sale could be found for in Spain, and that the value of
the slaves, for whom there would be a demand to the number of four
thousand, as he calculated from certain information, and of the logwood,
would amount to forty cuentos (i. e. forty million maravedis). The number
of slaves who were sent in these five ships was six hundred, of which two
hundred were given to the masters of the vessels in payment of freight. In
the course of these letters, throughout which Columbus speaks after the
fashion of a practised slave-dealer, he alludes to the intended adoption,
on behalf of private individuals, of a system of exchange of slaves for
goods wanted from the mother country. The proposed arrangement was as
follows:--The masters of vessels were to receive slaves from the
colonists, were to carry them to Spain, and to pay for their maintenance
during the voyage; they were then to allow the colonists so much money,
payable at Seville, in proportion to the number of slaves brought over.
This money they would expend according to the orders of the colonists, who