The conduct of Ovando towards the natives of _Hispaniola_, and more particularly to those of _Xaragua_, is one of the many instances in question of the inhuman treatment of Indians by a Spaniard of the highest rank. It will be remembered that on one occasion some eighty _caciques_ were treacherously seized, and upon mere unfounded suspicion, bound to posts and committed to the flames. It was estimated that at the time of the advent of the Spaniards the unfortunate island of _Hayti_ contained about a million or twelve hundred thousand inhabitants--some writers place the population at a much larger amount,--yet in an incredibly short period, under the government of Ovando, it was reduced to twelve thousand, so reduced, indeed, that labourers had to be brought from other islands. And yet Ovando had been specially selected for his “prudence,” in order that he might redress the wrongs to which the Indians were said to be subjected under the government of Columbus and his brother, and the Indians were specially commended to his care by Queen Isabella. It may be said that the conduct of one tyrannical governor should not be charged to the discredit of a people. This would be a fair argument had Ovando been promptly recalled when the news of his atrocities at _Xaragua_ reached Spain, as was in our own day Governor Eyre, when the news of his high-handed proceedings in _Jamaica_ reached England. Ovando’s proceedings were indeed so repugnant to the humane heart of Isabella that with her dying breath she exacted a promise from Ferdinand that he should be recalled from his government. He was, later on, recalled, but only after the lapse of four years, and when _Don_ Diego Columbus had been declared by the courts of justice to be entitled to the government of _Hispaniola_. The long period which elapsed between the fate of Anacoana and the recall of Ovando showed that neither his king nor the public feeling of Spain in general was much shocked by the proceedings which have left an indelible stain upon his name.