Columbus and his men.  He set out, escorted by all his household and a large number of soldiers, armed after the fashion of the country, to meet the Admiral.  When asked why he took such a numerous troop of men, he answered that it was not becoming for such a great king as he to quit his house and journey without an escort.  In this event, however, things turned out differently from what he had expected and he fell into the net that he had himself prepared.  Hardly had he left his house before he regretted his decision, but Hojeda succeeded by flatteries and promises in bringing him to Columbus, where he was at once seized and put in irons.[5] The souls of our dead might rest in peace.

[Note 3:  A cacique of the Vega, who was a vassal of Guarionex, Juatinango by name, had succeeded in killing ten Spaniards and in setting fire to a house which served as a hospital for forty others who were confined there ill.  After these exploits, he besieged the blockhouse of Magdalena, which Luis de Arriaga only succeeded in defending by the greatest efforts.  Herrera, Hist.  Ind., tom, i., lib. ii., cap. xvi.]

[Note 4:  The principal caciques of Hayti at that time numbered five.  They were:  Caunaboa, who was the most powerful of all; Guarionex, Gauccanagari, Behechio, and Cotubanama.]

[Note 5:  Hojeda tricked this cacique into allowing him to fasten handcuffs on him; after which the helpless chief was carried sixty leagues through the forests.  Pizarro, in his Varones Illustres, relates the story, as does likewise Herrera.]

After the capture of Caunaboa and all his household, the Admiral resolved to march throughout the whole island.  He was informed that the natives suffered from such a severe famine that more than 50,000 men had already perished, and that people continued to die daily as do cattle in time of pest.

This calamity was the consequence of their own folly; for when they saw that the Spaniards wished to settle in their island, they thought they might expel them by creating a scarcity of food.  They, therefore, decided not only to plant no more crops, but also to destroy and tear up all the various kinds of cereals used for bread which had already been sown, and which I have mentioned in the first book.  This was to be done by the people in each district, and especially in the mountainous region of Cipangu and Cibao; that was the country where gold was found in abundance, and the natives were aware that the principal attraction which kept the Spaniards in Hispaniola was gold.  At that time the Admiral sent an officer with a troop of armed men to reconnoitre the southern coast of the island, and this officer reported that the regions he had visited had suffered to such an extent from the famine, that during six days he and his men had eaten nothing but the roots of herbs and small plants, or such fruits as grow on the trees.  Guarionex, whose territory had suffered less than the others, distributed some provisions amongst our people.