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264 self-sufficient autocrat. His domains extended in a broad belt from the coast inward, under the name of Pénuco and Victoria Garayana, penetrating a region as yet almost unknown, and looked upon as rich in gold, so much so that the authorities had issued special reculations securing the crown dues thereon. All this had raised the hopes of Guzman, only to be brought low when he beheld the comparatively poverty-stricken expanse before him. He was resolved to make the most of it, however, and in particular to exercise the newly acquired dignity in a manner befitting his training as slave-owner on the Islands. Sweeping changes were made in offices and regulations, and agents were sent round to investigate the titles of all grants of land and natives, and to seize all that were not fully secured. As a partisan of Velazquez his efforts were directed with especial severity against the adherents of Cortés, who had assisted to conquer and settle the region. Of their repartimientos, indeed, almost every one was deprived on some pretence. The natives were treated with absolute disregard of justice. Their houses and lands were ravaged, and everything of value was carried away, including slaves, and even their scanty stuck of provisions, so that some of them were reduced to actual want. In his imperious cruelty he caused several natives to be hanged for omitting to sweep the roads before him.

These outrages were not prompted so much by avarice, which formed the main impulse with New World adventurers, as by egotism. Of a noble and