and affable, yet suspicious and jealous, and withal easily influenced; so that when roused to anger, as was frequently the case, he was beside himself.
Chief assistant in his new pacification was Pánfilo de Narvaez, who brought from Jamaica thirty archers, and engaged in the customary butchering, while the governor, with three hundred men, quietly proceeded to found towns and settlements, such as Trinidad, Puerto del Príncipe, Matanzas, Santi Espíritu, San Salvador, Habana, and Santiago, making the seat of his government at the place last named, and appointing alcaldes in the several settlements. Other notable characters were likewise in attendance on this occasion, namely, Bartolomé de las Casas, Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva, and Hernan Cortés.
Discreet in his business, and burdened by no counteracting scruples, Velazquez and those who were with him prospered. Informed of this, above one hundred of the starving colonists at Darien obtained permission from Pedrarias in 1516 to pass over to Cuba, and were affably received by the governor. Most of them were well-born and possessed of means; for though provisions were scarce at Antigua, the South Sea expeditions of Vasco Nuñez, Badajoz, and Espinosa, had made gold plentiful there. Among this company was Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a soldier of fortune, who had come from Spain to Tierra Firme in 1514, and who now engages in the several expeditions to Mexico, and becomes, some years later, one of the chief historians of the conquest.
Ready for any exploit, and having failed to receive certain repartimientos promised them, the band from Tierra Firme cast glances toward the unknown west. The lesser isles had been almost depopulated by the slave-catchers, and from the shores of the adjoining mainland the affrighted natives had fled to the interior. It was still a profitable employment, however, for the colonists must have laborers, being themselves
