Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/527

501 SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY. 501 still further confirmed by the frequent representa- chapter tions of contemporary writers, that the expenses of '^" the colonies considerably exceeded the profits ; and may account for the very limited scale on which the Spanish government, at no time blind to its own interests, pursued its schemes of discovery, as com- pared with its Portuguese neighbours, who followed up theirs with a magnificent apparatus of fleets and armies, that could have been supported only by the teeming treasures of the Indies. ^^ While the colonial commerce failed to produce origin of ti.e venereal di»- immediately the splendid returns which were ex- «''^*- pected, it was generally believed to have introduced a physical evil into Europe, which, in the language of an eminent writer, " more than counterbalanced all the benefits that resulted from the discovery of the New World." I allude to the loathsome dis- ease, which Heaven has sent as the severest scourge of licentious intercourse between the sexes ; and 26 The estimates in the text, it will be noticed, apply only to the pe- riod antecedent to Ovando's admin- istration, in 1502. The operations under him were conducted on a far more extensive and efficient plan. The system of repartimientos being revived, the whole physical force of the island, aided by the best mechanical apparatus, was em- ployed in extorting from the soil all its hidden stores of wealth. The success was such that in 1506, within two years after Isabella's death, the four founderies estab- lished in the island yielded an an- nual amount, according to Herrera, of 450,000 ounces of gold. It must be remarked, however, that one fifth only of the gross sum obtained from the mines was at that time paid to the crown. It is a proof how far these returns exceeded the expectations at the time of Ovando's appointment, that the per- son then sent out, as marker of the gold, was to receive, as a reasona- ble compensation, one per cent, of all the gold assayed. The perqui- site, however, was found to be so excessive, that the functionary was recalled, and a new arrangement made with his successor. (See Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 18.) When Nava- giero visited Seville, in 1520, the royal fifth of the gold, which pass- ed through the mints, amounted to about 100,000 ducats annually. Viaggio, fol. 15.