CHAP, in.] WEST INDIES. 73 



positive institutions, was tempered into great mild- 

 ness, by that constitutional benevolence which predo- 

 minated throughout every part of their conduct, from 

 the highest to the lowest. The sympathy which they 

 manifested towards the distress of others, proves that 

 they were not wretched themselves; for in a state of 

 absolute slavery and misery, men are commonly de- 

 void both of virtue and pity. 



Their kings, as we have seen, were called caciques, 

 and their power was hereditary: But there were al- 

 so subordinate chieftains, or princes, who were tribu- 

 taries to the sovereign of each district. Thus the ter- 

 ritory in Hispaniola, anciently called Xaraguay, ex- 

 tending from the plain of Leogane to the westernmost 

 part of the island, was the kingdom of the cacique, 

 Behechio, whom I have mentioned above ; but it ap- 

 pears from Martyr, that no less than thirty-two infe- 

 rior chieftains or nobles had jurisdiction within that 

 space of country, who were accountable to the su- 

 preme authority of Behechio. || They seem to have 

 somewhat resembled the ancient barons and feudato- 

 ries of Europe; holding their possessions by the te- 

 nure of service. Oviedo relates, that they were un- ' 

 der the obligation of personally attending the sove- 

 reign, both in peace and war, whenever commanded 

 so to do.* It is to be lamented, that the Spanish 

 historians afford very little information concerning this 



|] P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. 

 * Oviedo, lib. iii. c. iv. 



Vol. I. K 



