One of the powerful chiefs, however, still remained unsubdued at the
head of his forces in the interior of the island. This was the chief
Caonabo, already mentioned as the one who had avenged his wrongs on the
offenders at La Navidad. Soon he too was captured by Alonzo de Ojeda
through the clever ruse of sending him a present. Then came a little
more fighting, and the men who had come to convert the savages to
Christianity obtained absolute control of the island of Haiti. The
enslaved natives, we are told, wove their sorrows into mournful ballads
which they droned out desolately as they tilled the fields of their
harsh masters.
But even with the natives subjugated there was still much discontent
among Columbus's men. There being no gold to pick up and sell, by
tilling the land only could they live; and even to farm profitably takes
years of experience. For everything that went wrong, they blamed the man
who had brought them to the New World, and similarly his brothers who
had come to help him govern.
Whenever a ship returned to Spain the miserable colonists sent back
letters full of bitter upbraidings against the man who had led them into
poverty and hardship. Also one of the priests had gone home, and
straight to court, to make a thousand complaints.
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