I do not doubt but the discovery of America by Columbus was good in its results to mankind; but when we read the history of early Spanish colonisation, the predominant feeling is disgust at the barbarities and fanaticism recorded in almost every page. We generally overlook much of this, being dazzled by pictures of heroic deeds, as set forth in the works of Prescott and Robertson--heroic deeds of steel-clad warriors massacring crowds of gentle, almost unresisting natives, until despair, lending energy to their timid natures, forced them occasionally to turn on their savage persecutors. In no country were the Spaniards more notorious for their cruelty than in the first land in America on which Columbus established a settlement. The population was then variously estimated, the numbers given varying between 800,000 and 2,000,000, the former calculation being the more probable. They were indeed a primitive people, the men moving about entirely naked, the women wearing a short petticoat. They are said to have been good-looking, which, if true, would mark them as a people distinct from any other in America, as the Indians, who still remain by millions in South America and Mexico, are as a race the most ill-favoured natives I have seen in any portion of the globe. That was my impression when I travelled among them, though I have seen among the young women who followed the Indian regiments to Lima a few who might almost be considered handsome, but these by their appearance were probably of mixed breed. Columbus only stayed two months in Santo Domingo, but left behind him forty of his companions in an entrenched position. They now began to commit excesses; and hearing that a cacique in the interior had a large store of gold, they penetrated to his town and robbed him of his riches. This roused the population against them; they were pursued and killed in detail. In the meantime Columbus had revisited Spain, been received with honour, and seventeen vessels, laden with every kind of store and domestic animal, as well as a large force, were placed at his disposal. On his arrival his first thoughts were for gold, and he marched in search of the mines, which, being pointed out to him, were soon in full work, the Indians by force being compelled to this task. The conduct of these white men appears to have been so wantonly cruel, that the population rose _en masse_, and a hundred thousand Indians are said to have marched to attack the Spaniards, two hundred and twenty of whom put this crowd to flight without the loss of a single man. These are the heroic deeds we are called upon to admire. It has often been declared impossible that such, on one side, bloodless encounters could take place; but I am well assured that two hundred well-armed Englishmen could in the present day march through any number of the Land Dyaks of Borneo, and defeat them without loss.