were landed at no great distance from the Indian town which Hojeda and Vespucius had seen in their first voyage, standing in the water, and which therefore they had named Venezuela or little Venice.  The fathers found the natives at this place very docile and tractable, and were in a fair way of making them converts to the Christian religion; when unluckily a Spanish pirate, whose only employment was to steal Indians to sell them as slaves to the colonists, anchored on the coast.  The poor natives, confident of being well treated by Christians, went freely on board along with their cacique, and the pirate immediately weighed anchor, and made all sail for Hispaniola, carrying them all away into slavery.  This naturally raised a great ferment among the remaining natives, who were on the point of sacrificing the two Dominicans to their resentment, when another Spanish ship arrived in the harbour, commanded by a man of honour.  He pacified the Indians for the present as well as he possibly could, and receiving letters from the Dominicans with a true statement of the transaction, he promised to send back their cacique and the rest of their countrymen in four months.  As he really intended to perform his promise, he immediately made application to the supreme tribunal at St Domingo, called the royal audience, setting forth the particulars of the case, and the imminent danger to which the two fathers were exposed, unless these Indians were sent back in due time.  But it so happened that these very people had been purchased as slaves by some of the members of the royal audience, and these members of the supreme tribunal were not so much in love with justice as to release them.  The consequence of this was, that at the end of the four months, the Indians murdered the two Dominicans, Francisco de Cordova and Juan Garcias, in revenge for the loss of their prince and relations.

SECTION XI.

Discoveries on the Continent of America by command of Velasquez, under the conduct of Francis Hernandez de Cordova.

After James de Velasquez had reduced the greatest part of the island of Cuba, and had settled colonies of Spaniards in many districts of the island, he became desirous of shaking off the authority of the Admiral James Columbus, by whom he was appointed to the command, and setting up for himself.  By this time the admiral had been recalled into Spain, and opposed this project of Velasquez to the utmost of his power; but his credit was now so low; that he could not fully succeed; as, though Velasquez was still ordered to give an account to Columbus of the exercise of his authority, the admiral was not allowed to recal him from the government of Cuba, unless with the concurrence of the crown.  This so far answered the purpose of Velasquez, that he resolved to fit out ships for discovery.  This project was no sooner made known, than numbers of rich Spanish planters embraced the