With the settlement barely established, Columbus himself organized a reconnaissance party to explore the interior of Hispaniola. 500 men marched off in military formation, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and banners displayed – a spectacle that soon was to become an all too familiar and usually ominous sight to all the Indians of Spanish America. Entering the Vega Real, the expedition pushed up the northern slope of Cordillera Central, and there, on a mesa overlooking the Rio Jamico, they began the construction of Fort Santo Tomas. Fifty men under Pedro Margarit were left there to complete the works, while Columbus and the main force set out to explore the region. “On this trip,” wrote Michele de Cueno, “we spent 29 days with terrible weather, bad food, and worse drink; nevertheless, out of covetousness for that gold, we all kept strong and lusty.”
The settlers at Isabela, meanwhile, were anything but strong and lusty. Besides having to do all the work they had not even the opportunity to look for gold. When Columbus and his force finally returned to the settlement, he found that the mood among the inhabitants had begun to grow dangerous. Almost all the provisions had been used up; many of the sick had died, and some of the survivors were close to starvation. Fights had broken out, and some of the worst troublemakers had already been chained up inside one of the houses. As a first precaution, Columbus had all arms and ammunitions put aboard the flagship, to be guarded by his brother Diego. The Viceroy of the Indies had already become convinced that he had been saddled with the very worst of Spanish society.
But at least one of the settlers recognized the real problems at Isabela. Michele de Cuneo wrote that, although the native soil was “black and excellent, we have not yet found the proper season and the right way to sow.” On the other hand, no one was trying very hard, as Cuneo admitted, and “the reason is that none of them wish to make their home in these lands.” That last remark was to prove prophetic for most Spanish settlements to come; it was to be true, in fact, of nearly all European pioneer outposts in America. Nearly all came as conquerors and as plunderers, unwilling to invest even the barest amount of physical work; as a result, the first Englishmen in Virginia starved to death in a country abundant with game, a fertile soil, and good weather, and so did many a French pioneer in Canada, a land teeming with game and fish. Not until America came to be considered home by at least some of the early pioneers did this situation improve.
Hoping to raise the morale of the settlers at Isabela, Columbus finally sent out another force under Alonso de Ojeda. Nearly four hundred men, “everyone who was more or less healthy and able to walk,” were sent out to Santo Tomas to relieve the garrison there. Ojeda once again received explicit orders; if the main objective of the expedition was the exploration of the country in order to find the gold mines or anything else of value, Ojeda was nevertheless to deal carefully with all the Indians of Hispaniola. Ferdinand and Isabella had made it very clear that they were anxious to make good Christians of these natives, even if they did lose their treasures in the process.
Despite his instructions, the first thing Ojeda did at Santo Tomas was to cut off the ears of an Indian whom he suspected of stealing some clothes, and from that point on relations with the natives of Hispaniola went steadily downhill. Pedro Margarit, relieved of his command at Santo Tomas, showed no inclination to return to the toil and problems of Isabela; instead he set out with his men to roam the Vega Real, robbing the Indians of what little gold they possessed, stealing their food supplies, carrying off boys as slaves and young girls as concubines. Within a short time, the situation was completely out of control and growing more dangerous each day. Worst of all, there was no longer anyone in all of Hispaniola with the power to put an end to it; the governor-general had already left Isabela to explore the neighboring islands. He had left in command the only person he really trusted, his brother Diego. Though “a virtuous person, discreet, peaceable and simple,” Diego Colon soon showed that he was no match for the likes of Ojeda and Margarit.