uprising against the Spaniards.  For the rest, Mr. Brau’s reasonings in support of his reduction to 16,000 of the number of aborigines, are undoubtedly correct.  They are:  First.  The improbability of a small island like this, in an uncultivated state, producing sufficient food for such large numbers.  Second.  The fact that at the first battle (that of Jacaguas), in which he supposes the whole available warrior force of the island to have taken part, there were 5,000 to 6,000 men only, which force would have been much stronger had the population been anything near the number given by Abbad; and, finally, the number of Indians distributed after the cessation of organized resistance was only 5,500, as certified by Sancho Velasquez, the judge appointed in 1515 to rectify the distributions made by Ceron and Moscoso, and by Captain Melarejo in his memorial drawn up in 1582 by order of the captain-general, which number would necessarily have been much larger if the total aboriginal population had been but 60,000, instead of 600,000.

* * * * *

The immediate consequence to the natives of the panic and partial submission that followed the death of their leader was another and more extensive distribution.  The first distributions of Indians had been but the extension to San Juan of the system as practised in la Espanola, which consisted in granting to the crown officers in recompense for services or as an inducement to settle in the island, a certain number of natives.[20] In this way 1,060 Boriquenos had been disposed of in 1509 to 9 persons.  The ill usage to which they saw them subjected drove the others to rebellion, and now, vae victis, the king, on hearing of the rebellion, wrote to Ceron and Diaz (July, 1511):  “To ‘pacify’ the Indians you must go well armed and terrorize them.  Take their canoes from them, and if they refuse to be reduced with reason, make war upon them by fire and sword, taking care not to kill more than necessary, and send 40 or 50 of them to ‘la Espanola’ to serve us as slaves, etc.”  To Ponce he wrote on October 10th:  “I give you credit for your labors in the ‘pacification’ and for having marked with an F on their foreheads all the Indians taken in war, making slaves of them and selling them to the highest bidders, separating the fifth part of the product for Us.”

This time not only the 120 companions of Ponce came in for their share of the living spoils of war, but the followers of Ceron claimed and obtained theirs also.

The following is the list of Indians distributed after the battle of Yacueeca (if battle it may be called) as given by Mr. Brau, who obtained the details from the unpublished documents of Juan Bautista Munoz: 

Indians