The first such mission from Cuba to the King was that which has already been mentioned as consisting of Panfilo de Narvaez and Antonio Velasquez. It went to Spain in July, 1515, and it bore not alone the address of the council but also the king's share of the gold that had down to that time been mined in the island. The amount of that share was more than 12,000 "pieces of eight," which we must believe was most welcome to the money-loving King. As that was supposed to be twenty per cent of the whole output of gold, but was certainly not more than that proportion, it follows that in about three years more than 60,000 pesos of gold had been taken. It is not to be wondered at that Ferdinand welcomed them cordially, and promptly granted many of their requests; those which required expenditure of cash being paid for out of the insular tribute which the envoys had brought; and that he expressed profound satisfaction, as already mentioned, with the existing government of the island. One of the requests which these envoys bore was not, however, granted. That was, their request that the natives of Cuba be given to them in perpetuity as slaves. In consequence of the refusal to grant this, the Cuban gold-miners and planters suffered more and more from scarcity of labor, and more and more engaged in slave-hunting elsewhere to supply their needs. This pernicious traffic was resolutely opposed by Las Casas, but not with entire success. But it brought with it in a measure its own penalty. As a direct result of it there soon occurred an event mischievous to Cuba, but of transcendent interest to Spain and to all the world. The slave-hunters naturally sought new islands, which had not yet been depopulated, and where the Jeronimite Fathers had not yet established themselves to interfere with the trade in human flesh. Accordingly in 1516 a squadron of vessels from Cuba visited the Guanajes Islands, as they had been called by Columbus when he discovered them, off the coast of Yucatan. There they took many captives, loading all the vessels with them. Leaving twenty-five men to guard their landing place on the island, the squadron returned to Cuba with the slaves. Havana was the port to which they were taken; a port which from that time forward increased rapidly in importance. Before they could all be landed, the slaves on one vessel mutinied, overpowered the crew, took possession of the vessel, and sailed back to the Yucatan islands. There the vessel was run ashore and wrecked, but the slaves escaped from it and, going ashore, exterminated the Spanish garrison which had been left there. A relief expedition was hastily sent from Havana, but it arrived too late. It found only the wreck of the ship, and no trace of the Spanish garrison. However, it looted the islands and was thus enabled to carry back to Cuba some 20,000 pesos in gold.