In 1503 the subjugation of the last remaining independent chieftain,
Cotubanama, lord of Higuey, in the extreme eastern part of the island,
was undertaken. Near this province a Spaniard wantonly set his hound
upon one of the principal natives, and the Indian was torn to pieces,
whereupon the chief, indignant at his friend's death, caused a
boatload of Spaniards to be killed, thus giving Ovando a welcome
excuse for the invasion. Four hundred Spaniards dealt death and
desolation throughout the region, pursuing the Indians into the
mountains and forests and sparing neither women nor children. When at
last they captured and hung an aged Indian woman revered as a
prophetess, the terrified aborigines sued for peace and agreed to pay
a heavy tribute. A fortress was erected at Higuey, but the conduct of
the Spanish garrison was so outrageous that the Indians in desperation
again rose, and killed every Spaniard in the district. Ovando then
began a war of extermination and the Indians were killed off by
thousands, Cotubanama resisted heroically but in vain, and after being
beaten in a number of desperate battles he withdrew to the island of
Saona, southeast of Santo Domingo.
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