to see to it “that the Indians were employed in collecting gold and other metals for the Castilians, in cultivating their lands, in constructing their houses, and in obeying their commands.”  The pretext for these abuses was, that by thus bringing the natives into immediate contact with their masters they would be easier converted to Christianity.  It is true that the royal ordinances stipulated that the Indians should be well treated, and be paid for their work like free laborers, but the fact that they were forced to work and severely punished when they refused, constituted them slaves in reality.  The royal recommendations to treat them well, to pay them for their work, and to teach them the Christian doctrines, were ignored by the masters, whose only object was to grow rich.  The Indians were tasked far beyond their strength.  They were ill-fed, often not fed at all, brutally ill-treated, horribly punished for trying to escape from the hellish yoke, ruthlessly slaughtered at the slightest show of resistance, so that thousands of them perished miserably.  This had been the fate of the natives of la Espanola, and there can be no doubt that the Boriquenos had learned from fugitives of that island what was in store for them when Ponce ordered their distribution among the settlers.

The following list of Indians distributed in obedience to orders from the metropolis is taken from the work by Don Salvador Brau.[14] It was these first distributions, made in 1509-’10, which led to the rebellion of the Indians and the distributions that followed: 

         &nb
sp;                                                   Indians
   To the general treasurer, Pasamonte, a man described by
   Acosta as malevolent, insolent, deceitful, and sordid...... 300

To Juan Ponce de Leon...................................... 200

To Christopher Soto Mayor[15]...............................100

To Vicente Yanez Pinzon, on condition that he should settle
in the island.............................................. 100

To Lope de Conchillos, King Ferdinand’s Chief Secretary,
as bad a character as Pasamonte............................ 100

To Pedro Moreno and Jerome of Brussels, the delegate and
clerk of Conchillos in Boriquen, 100 each...................200

To the bachelor-at-law Villalobos........................... 80

To Francisco Alvarado.......................................80

A total of 1,060 defenseless Indians delivered into the ruthless hands of men steeped in greed, ambition, and selfishness.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 10:  The scanty remains of the first settlement were to be seen till lately in the Pueblo Viejo Ward, municipal district of Bayamon, along the road which loads from Catano to Gurabo.]

[Footnote 11:  He may have been the tenth or the twentieth if what the chroniclers tell us about the adoption of the defunct caciquess’ names by their successors be true.]