Читать книгу The History of Cuba - Willis Fletcher Johnson - Страница 10

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For a considerable time after the last visit of Columbus, Cuba was strangely neglected by the enterprising explorers and conquistadors of Spain. Hispaniola, since known as Hayti or Santo Domingo, became the chief colony and centre of Spanish authority in the Antilles, and it for many years far outranked Cuba in interest and importance. It does not appear that for more than a dozen years after the last visit of Columbus any attempt whatever was made to colonize or to explore the great island, if indeed it was so much as voluntarily visited. Navigators doubtless frequently passed near its shores, on their way to and from Darien and the Venezuelan coast, and occasionally stress of weather on the "stormy Caribbean" or actual shipwreck compelled some to land upon it. Such involuntary landings were presumably made either in the neighborhood of the Zapata Peninsula or, still more probably, not exactly upon Cuba at all but upon the southern shore of the tributary Isle of Pines. In consequence, the voyagers carried back to Hispaniola or to Spain the not unnatural report that Cuba consisted of nothing but swamps; a report which of course did not inspire others with zeal to visit so unfavorable a place.

For a similar space of time, too, the delusion that Cuba was a part of the continent generally prevailed. It is true that on a map of Juan de la Cosa's, to which the date of 1500 is attributed, Cuba is indicated to be an island. But the date is not certain, by any means; and it is notorious that more than one early cartographer drew upon imagination as well as upon ascertained geographical facts. Somewhat more significant is the fact that Peter Martyr spoke of Cuba as an island, and said that some sailors pretended to have circumnavigated it. There is no proof, however, that this was more than rumor. What seems certain is that as late as 1508 the best authorities were ignorant whether Cuba was island or mainland, and that not until that time was the question settled.

Columbus had been succeeded in authority in Hispaniola by Francisco de Bobadilla, and the latter in turn had in 1501 given way to Nicholas de Ovando. It does not appear that Ovando sought to colonize Cuba. But he did wish to determine its extent, and whether it was insular or continental, and in a memorial to the King of Spain he broached a proposal for at least its littoral exploration. Ferdinand gave him, however, no encouragement. On the contrary, he forbade him to spend any public money on so needless and useless an enterprise. Ovando then decided to undertake the exploit at his own charge, and, according to Las Casas, commissioned Sebastian de Ocampo to explore the coasts of the country and, if he found it to be an island, to circumnavigate it. This Ocampo did, returning to Hispaniola in the fall of 1508 with the report that he had sailed completely round Cuba. On the way, he said, he had made occasional landings, and had found the whole island to be inhabited by a kindly and intelligent people, well disposed toward Spain.

Immediately following this expedition, various efforts were made to colonize Cuba, and to enter into relations with the natives. Conspicuous among these efforts was one which had for its object the introduction of Christianity into Cuba, and of which an interesting account is given by Martin Ferdinand de Enciso in his "Suma de Geografia," the first book ever published about America. Enciso, it will be remembered, was a partner of Alonzo de Ojeda, that brilliant and gallant cavalier of Spain who in 1508 was Governor of Nueva Andalusia, a region which we now know as the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was Enciso who in 1509 went to Uraba to the relief of Francisco Pizarro, who had been in command there but who had become discouraged, had suffered heavy losses from attacks by the natives, and who was about to abandon the place. It was on one of Enciso's ships, too, that his friend Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, concealed in a cask to avoid his creditors, escaped from Hispaniola and was conveyed to Darien, thus getting his opportunity to cross the isthmus and to discover the Pacific Ocean.

Enciso relates that a Spanish vessel, cruising off the southern coast of Cuba, somewhere near Cape de la Cruz, put ashore a young mariner who had fallen ill, so that he might have a better chance to recover from his illness than he would on shipboard. The identity of this young man is not assured, though it has been strongly suggested that he was no other than Ojeda himself. However that may be, he found himself in his convalescence the guest of a native chieftain or Cacique who professed Christianity. The chief had presumably been visited by Ocampo's expedition. He had been much impressed by the prowess and culture of the Spaniards, and had desired to become affiliated with the religion which they professed and to which he attributed their superiority to the natives of Cuba. Hearing from them that they had been sent thither by the Comendador Ovando—the Governor of Hispaniola was a Comendador of the Order of Knights of Alcantara—he chose that title for his own baptismal name, and was thenceforth known as the Cacique Comendador.

Pleased to find a Christian chief, and grateful for his own restoration to health, Ojeda—if it was indeed he—erected in Comendador's house an altar and placed thereon an image of the Holy Virgin, and instructed the people to bow before it every evening and to repeat the "Ave, Maria!" and "Salve, Regina!" This was pleasing to Comendador, but offensive to the neighboring Caciques, who worshipped an idol which they called Cemi. In consequence a primitive religious war arose among the natives, in which, according to Enciso, Comendador and his followers were pretty uniformly successful. His victories were attributed to the intervention and aid of "a beautiful woman, clad in white, and carrying a wand." Finally a test was agreed upon which reminds us of Elijah's Battle of the Gods on the scathed crest of Mount Carmel. A representative warrior of each party was to be bound securely, hand and foot, and be placed in an open field for the night, and if one of them was set free from his bonds, that would be proof of the superiority of his God. "The God who looses his servant's bonds, let him be the Lord!" This was done, and guards of both parties were placed about the field, to make sure that nobody should meddle with the experiment.

At midnight, says Enciso, Cemi came to unbind his follower. But before he could reach him or touch his bonds, the Holy Virgin appeared, clad in white and bearing a wand. At her approach, Cemi incontinently fled. At a touch of her wand the bonds fell from the limbs of the Christian champion, and were added to those already on the limbs of the other man. Despite the presence of the guards, the Caciques insisted that there had been trickery, and demanded another trial, to which Comendador, confident in his faith, agreed. The result was the same as before. Still they were unconvinced, and demanded a third trial, at which they themselves would be present as watchers and guards. This also was granted, and once more the same miracle was wrought. At that the Caciques all confessed their defeat and the defeat of Cemi, and declared that the Virgin was worthy to be worshipped.

This auspicious implanting of Christianity and of good relations between the natives and the Spaniards did not, unfortunately, endure. It was interfered with by the too common cause of trouble in those days, the auri sacra fames, the accursed lust for gold. We have seen that King Ferdinand was unwilling, in his niggardliness, for money to be spent from his treasury for the exploration of Cuba. But after that work had been done at Ovando's personal cost, Ferdinand desired to reap the gains, if any there were. The suggestion was revived that Cuba might be rich in gold. The King suspected that Ovando and others were deceiving him concerning the island, and were secretly planning to secure its riches for themselves. These suspicions were materially increased by the course of Diego Columbus which, while probably quite honest, was lacking in tact and worldly wisdom. For when Diego succeeded Ovando as Governor-General or Viceroy of the Indies, at Hispaniola, one of his first acts was to commission his uncle, Bartholomew Columbus, to lead an expedition for the exploration and settlement of Cuba. That was a legitimate and indeed praiseworthy enterprise. But unfortunately Diego did not secure in advance the King's authority for it, nor did he acquaint the King with his intentions. His enemies, however, of whom he had many, were quick to report the matter to the King, putting it in the light most unfavorable to both Diego and Bartholomew; and the result was that Ferdinand at once recalled Bartholomew Columbus to Spain, and compelled Diego to select another head for the expedition.

In 1510, then, the King directed Diego Columbus to send forth his proposed expedition to Cuba, to make a careful examination of the island, to ascertain the character of its resources, and above all to determine whether it contained gold. He took pains, moreover, to impress upon Diego and through him the actual members of the expedition, the eminent desirability of cultivating the most friendly and confidential relations with the natives, both as a matter of policy and for the sake of humanity and religion. The result was the sending, early in 1511, from Hispaniola, of an expedition in which were interested if not actually implicated a number of the most conspicuous men in the Indies, and which marked the actual and permanent opening of Cuba to Spanish settlement and civilization.

Diego Columbus was the son and heir of the Great Discoverer, who under the terms of the royal compact of 1492 was to inherit all his father's powers and dignities as Admiral and Viceroy of the Western Hemisphere. For a time Ferdinand on various pretexts refused to fulfil that compact and to recognize his rights, but appointed Ovando to rule in Hispaniola in his stead. But after Diego's marriage to Doña Maria de Toledo, the daughter of the Grand Commander of Leon and the niece of the King's favorite councillor and friend, the Duke of Alba, a combination of personal, social and political influence prevailed for the vindication of his claims, and he was invested with supreme authority in place of Ovando, who was provided for elsewhere. Diego seems to have been a man of integrity and engaging character, though perhaps more idealistic than practical, and not always a match in policy for the scheming politicians by whom he was surrounded.

Bartholomew Columbus was the brother of Christopher, was intimately associated with him in his great enterprises, and was named by him Adelantado, or Lieutenant Governor, of the Indies. He too was a man of character and fine parts, bold and enterprising, and possessed of more practical worldly wisdom than either his brother or his nephew.

These two stood alone, against a numerous company of personal and political enemies, both in Hispaniola and in Spain. Indeed, as Bartholomew was recalled to Spain and was kept there for some time, Diego was left solitary to contend with or to yield to his foes. It was therefore probably through necessity that he organized the Cuban expedition largely with men hostile to him.

Miguel Pasamonte was his chief foe. He had been the secretary of Queen Isabella, and had filled important Ambassadorships, but was now the royal treasurer in Hispaniola. He had been one of the bitterest enemies of Christopher Columbus, and had transferred a full measure of hostility to Diego; and it was he who reported to the King in its most unfavorable light Diego's plans for sending Bartholomew Columbus to Cuba. In his hostility to both Christopher and Diego Columbus he was greatly aided and abetted by Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Bishop of Seville; who had violently quarrelled with Christopher Columbus over the fitting out of his second voyage and who also had transferred his hatred to the Admiral's son.

DIEGO VELASQUEZ

Diego Velasquez was another of the faction hostile to the Columbuses, though at first he had been a friend and companion of the Admiral. It is probable that he had no personal enmity toward Diego Columbus, but joined himself to the other faction through motives not unconnected with personal pecuniary profit. He had gone from Spain to Hispaniola with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage, and had ever since been one of the most efficient administrators in that island and indeed in all the Indies. For a time he was a military leader in campaigns against hostile natives, and afterward he became Lieutenant Governor of the island. He was a man of high ability, of singularly handsome person, of engaging manners, of much popularity, and of abundant force of character for successful leadership and command of men. He was, however, not always scrupulous in his dealings, and it was not to his moral credit that he became the richest man in all the Indies. He was a close friend and partisan of Pasamonte, and associated with him in the same alliance were the royal secretary in Hispaniola, Conchillos, and also the royal accountant, Christopher de Cuellar, who was both the cousin and father-in-law of Velasquez.

Diego Columbus, then, either through policy or through compulsion, appointed Velasquez to be his lieutenant in Cuba, and commissioned him to organize and personally to lead the intended expedition to that island. He also promised that the King would refund whatever private expenditures Velasquez and his companions should make on account of it; a promise which was authorized by the King, but not fulfilled save in the indirect way of empowering the members of the expedition to recoup themselves at the expense of the people of the island; an arrangement decidedly at variance with Ferdinand's former solicitude for good treatment for the natives. Further than that, Diego had little or nothing to do with Cuba, and in a short time Velasquez was known not as Lieutenant but as Governor, as though he were entirely independent of the Viceroy in Hispaniola.

BARACOA First Capital of Cuba

Early in 1511 Velasquez assembled a flotilla of three or four vessels on the northwest coast of Hispaniola, at or near the place where Columbus had landed when he discovered that island and first visited it from Cuba. In the adjacent region he recruited a company of about three hundred men, and with that force set out for the conquest and colonization of Cuba. The precise date of his expedition is not to be ascertained, but it was probably in February or at latest March of that year. The place of his landing in Cuba, however, is known. It was at Baracoa, where also Columbus had landed before him. Following the practice of Columbus and the other explorers he promptly gave the place a new name of his own selection, calling it the City of Our Lady of the Assumption. There he established his seat of government and base of further operations, giving to the place in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs the technical rank and dignity of a city. But, as also frequently happened, the new name was unable to supplant the old one in popular usage; and when, in 1514, the insular capital was transferred to Santiago de Cuba, and in 1522 the cathedral of the diocese was similarly transferred, the new name was permitted to lapse, and the place became again universally known as Baracoa. Despite its vicissitudes of fortune, therefore, and its loss of its former high estate, Baracoa is entitled to the triple distinction of having been the site of the first permanent European settlement in Cuba, of the first civilized government, and of the first cathedral church.

At Baracoa, immediately upon his arrival, Velasquez built a fort, the exact site of which is now matter of conjecture, and various other edifices. These were all constructed of wood, probably of bamboo and thatch, and no trace of them remains to-day. Search was also promptly made for gold, and some seems to have been found in the beds of streams, though in no large quantities, and the attempt to operate mines was soon abandoned. Attention was then turned to further explorations and conquests, and to the quest for gold in other parts of the island.

Still more unfortunate than the failure to find much gold, and largely because of that fruitless quest, was the rise of bitter hostilities between the Spaniards and the natives. This was also a sequel to and in part a consequence of the Spanish administration in Hispaniola and particularly of the part which Velasquez had played therein. Shortly before coming to Cuba, Velasquez had waged several strenuous and probably somewhat ruthless campaigns against the natives of Hispaniola, chiefly in that part of the island which lay nearest to Cuba and in which he recruited his Cuban expedition. His chief opponent there was a native chief named Hatuey, who, finding himself unable to cope with the Spaniards, fled to Cuba with many of his followers and settled in the country near Baracoa. These refugees were of course quick to report to the natives of Cuba the cause of their migration, and to portray the conduct and character of the Spaniards, and of Velasquez personally, in the most unfavorable light. The natural result was to predispose the Cuban natives to regard the Spaniards with distrust and aversion. And when Velasquez himself presently appeared among the very people who had been thus prejudiced against him, trouble inevitably arose.

The leader in the trouble was Hatuey, who had a large following both of his own tribe from Hispaniola and also of Cubans. He had maintained a system of spying and communication through which he kept himself perfectly informed of the doings of Velasquez, whom he considered his chief foe, not only politically but personally, and when he learned that he was coming to Cuba he busied himself with preparations to resist him. He was foremost in spreading among the Cuban natives all manner of evil reports concerning the Spaniards, all of which, whether true or false, found ready credence.

Thus on one occasion, as related by Herrera, he gathered many of the natives together with a promise to reveal to them the God of the Spaniards, whom they worshipped and to whom they made human sacrifices of Indians' lives. When they were assembled and their anticipation was whetted, he placed before them a small basket filled with gold. "That," said he, "is the God which the Spaniards worship, and in quest of which they are following us hither. Let us, therefore, ourselves pay this God reverence and implore him to bid his Spanish worshippers not to harm us when they come hither!" The natives performed a religious dance and other rites about the gold, until they were exhausted, and then Hatuey further counselled them to cast the gold into the river, where the Spaniards could not find it; since if they found it they would continue their search for more, even to cutting out the hearts of the people in quest of it.

Whether true or fabricated, the story indicates the attitude of Hatuey toward the Spaniards and explains the intensity of the bitterness which prevailed between him and Velasquez. Of course, when the Spaniards arrived and immediately began to hunt for gold, Hatuey's words about their God seemed to be confirmed. War began, which soon resulted in the defeat and capture of Hatuey, who was put to death. Tradition has it that he was burned at the stake, as was the common custom in those times, and that just before the fire was lighted he was invited to accept Christianity and be baptized, but refused on the ground that he did not want to meet any Spaniards in the other world. He was succeeded in command of the hostile natives by Caguax, who had been his comrade in Hispaniola and who had come to Cuba with him; and the hostilities were continued with the usual result of conflicts between a higher and a lower civilization. In a short time the province of Maysi was conquered and partly pacified, and that of Bayamo was invaded.

PANFILO DE NARVAEZ

At this time and in these operations there appeared in Cuba two more men of commanding importance in the early history of the island, who were sent thither from Hispaniola to assist Velasquez soon after the defeat and death of Hatuey. One of these was Panfilo de Narvaez, a soldier and the leader of a company of thirty expert crossbow-men who had been serving in Jamaica but were no longer needed by the governor of that island, Esquivel. Narvaez was a native of Valladolid, Spain, near which city Velasquez also had been born. It is possible, indeed, that the two men were related, since there was a marked physical resemblance between them; both being tall, handsome, and of a pronounced blond complexion. At any rate, they had long been friends, and Velasquez was glad to make Narvaez his chief lieutenant and right-hand man. Narvaez appears to have been a man of high intelligence, honorable character, and much personal charm. He was, however, too much inclined toward fighting, was sometimes reckless in his leadership, and was no more scrupulous in his conduct toward the natives than were many other conquerors of various lands in those days of adventure and violence. At the head of a force of more than a hundred and fifty men, including a score of horsemen, he led the way in the conquest, first of Bayamo and finally of all the rest of the island. In his campaign he enjoyed immense advantage from the awe and terror which were caused among the natives by the appearance of the horses, which were the first ever seen in Cuba.

BARTHOLOMEW DE LAS CASAS

The other and more famous of these two men was Bartholomew de Las Casas, known to the world as the "Protector of the Indians" and as the "Apostle to the Indies." As a youth he had accompanied his father on Columbus's third voyage to America, and he had come to the Antilles a second time and permanently with Ovando, the Governor of Hispaniola, in 1502. In 1510 he was ordained to be a priest, and it was in that clerical capacity that he was sent over to Cuba to assist Velasquez in the conquest, pacification and settlement of the island. He appears at first to have had no important religious scruples against oppression of the natives, but joined with Velasquez and Narvaez in their sometimes ruthless policy. When the island was divided among the conquerors under the system of repartimientos, or allotments of natives as practical slaves of the Spaniards, he received and accepted without demur his encomienda or commandery, and held it for some time in partnership with his friend Pedro de Renteria. But a little later, realizing the injustice and cruelties which the natives suffered under this system, he became, as he himself described it, "converted," and thereafter was an earnest, zealous and almost fanatical champion of their rights. He visited Spain several times, to secure commissions of inquiry and other measures for their relief. Also, thinking thus to redeem them from enforced servitude, he secured royal sanction for the introduction of Negro slavery and the importation of Negro slaves into Cuba; a policy which he afterward deeply regretted.

After a brief campaign in Bayamo, which was not particularly successful, beyond the killing of Caguax and the final dispersion of the force which Hatuey had organized, Narvaez formed an expedition of perhaps five hundred men for more extended enterprises, in which he had as his principal companions Las Casas and a young nephew of Velasquez, Juan de Grijalva. The precise route of this expedition cannot now be stated. It certainly, however, traversed the Bayamo region, and went as far west as Camaguey. It also visited the neighborhood of Cape Cruz and there passed through the town of Cueyba, as Las Casas called it, where, as hitherto related, a Spanish mariner, presumably Ojeda, had landed and had established a Christian shrine with a statue of the Holy Virgin. Here and at other places amicable relations were maintained between the Spaniards and the natives.

Unhappily that was not always the rule. At the large town of Caonao, probably near Manzanillo, a number of Spanish soldiers, as if suddenly stricken with madness, began a massacre of the natives, killed a great number, and drove the rest into flight. Narvaez does not seem to have ordered nor to have taken part in the slaughter, but neither did he exert himself to prevent it or to stop it. Whereupon Las Casas, righteously wrathful, bade him to go to the Devil, and thereafter devoted himself to ministering to the sufferers and to reassuring the survivors.

From Caonao the expedition moved westward, through the southern part of the Province of Camaguey, where the natives were so frightened that they fled to the little islands off the coast which Columbus had named the Queen's Gardens. Thence it went across the island to the north coast, and probably in the region of Sagua la Grande, in Santa Clara Province, found some small deposits of gold. After stopping there for some time, it continued its progress into Havana Province, where more gold was found and where, unhappily, serious trouble with the natives was renewed.

On the way across the island Narvaez had heard of three Spaniards, a man and two women, who had been shipwrecked on the coast and were living with the Indians somewhere in the west. He sent word of this report back to Velasquez, who returned him orders to search for the castaways even in preference to gold, and who also dispatched a ship along the north coast to meet Narvaez and his party in the region to which they were going. In Santa Clara the two women were found, unharmed and well, and they presently married members of the expedition. Finally, in Havana the man also was found. He too was unharmed and well, though he had become in speech and habits more like an Indian than a Spaniard. According to his story, he and the two women were the sole survivors of a company of twenty-six. They had fled from Ojeda's ill-starred settlement at Uraba, on the Gulf of Darien, and were trying to make their way back to Hispaniola, but had been driven out of their course around the north coast of Cuba. Not far from Cape San Antonio they had been shipwrecked and thence had made their way by land, along the north coast. Most of them had been killed by natives while trying to cross an arm of the sea, which has been assumed to have been the Bay of Matanzas, which was so named on that account.

On the Havana coast the expedition met the vessel which Velasquez had sent. But leaving it in port there the expedition went across the island again to Xagua, or Cienfuegos, there to meet Velasquez himself and another expedition which he was leading, and there to spend with him the Christmas season of 1513. At the beginning of 1514 Narvaez and a hundred men returned to Havana and thence marched westward into Pinar del Rio, the vessel keeping in touch with them along the coast. How far they went in that province is not now certainly known. Some accounts have it that they stopped at Bahia Honda and there took ship back for Baracoa, while others insist that they got as far as Nombre de Dios. All that is certain is that Narvaez and his comrades visited on this expedition all parts of the island, and thus completed the nominal exploration and occupation of Cuba in the early part of 1514.