INDIAN HUMANITY. 313 



red hot, an,d ordered a surgeon to apply them to each orifice of his wound. The 

 surgeon, fearful that should he die the death would be laid to his door, shudderingly 

 refused, whereupon Ojeda threatened to hang him if he did not obey, and he was 

 obliged to comply. Ojeda refused to be held or tied down, and endured the agony 

 without moving a muscle. This violent remedy so inflamed his system that he had 

 to be wrapped in sheets steeped in vinegar to allay the fever, and it is said that a 

 barrel of vinegar was consumed in this way. But he lived, and his wounds healed ; 

 "the cold poison," says Las Casas, "was consumed by the vivid fire." 



At this time their provisions were again becoming scarce, and the arrival of a 

 strange ship, commanded by one Bernardino de Talavera, a desperate pirate, was welcomed, 

 as it brought some relief, although supplies were only furnished for large prices in 

 gold. Some dissatisfaction was expressed at the division of the food, and shortly 

 afterwards serious factions arose. At last Ojeda volunteered to go himself to San Domingo 

 in quest of necessary supplies, to which his followers agreed, and he embarked on 

 board Talavera^s ship. They had scarcely put to sea when a serious quarrel arose between 

 the freebooter and Ojeda ; the latter, apparently, having acted on board as though he 

 were commander instead of passenger. He was actually put in irons, where "he reviled 

 Talavera and his gang as recreants, traitors, pirates, and offered to fight the whole of them 

 successively, provided they would give him a clear deck and come on two at a time." 

 They left him fuming and raging in his chains until a violent gale arose, and they 

 bethought themselves that Ojeda was a skilful navigator. They then parleyed, offering 

 him his liberty if he would pilot the ship, and he consented, but all his skill was 

 unavailing, and he was obliged to run her on the southern coast of Cuba then as 

 yet uncolonised, except by runaway slaves from Hayti. Here they made a toilsome 

 march through forests and morasses, crossing mountains and rivers, in a nearly starved 

 condition. One morass, entangled by roots and creeping vines, and cut up by sloughs and 

 creeks, occupied them thirty days to cross, at the end of which time only thirty-five men 

 survived out of seventy that had left the ship. At last they reached an Indian village. 

 "The Indians gathered round and gazed at them with wonder, but when they learnt 

 their story, they exhibited a humanity that would have done honour to the most pro- 

 fessing Christians. They bore them to their dwellings, set meat and drink before them, 

 and vied with each other in discharging the offices of the kindest humanity. Finding 

 that a number of their companions were still in the morass, the cacique sent a large party 

 of Indians with provisions for their relief, with orders to bring on their shoulders such 

 as were too feeble to walk. . . . The Spaniards were brought to the village, suc- 

 coured, cherished, consoled, and almost worshipped as if they had been angels." And 

 now Ojeda prepared to carry out a vow he had made on his journey, that if saved, 

 he would erect a little hermitage or oratory, with an altar, above which he would 

 place the picture to which he attributed his wonderful escape. The cacique listened 

 with attention to his explanations regarding the beneficence of the Virgin, whom he 

 represented as the mother of the Deity who reigned above, and acquired a profound 

 veneration for the picture. Long after, when the Bishop Las Casas, who lias 

 recorded these facts, arrived at the same village, he found the chapel preserved with 

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