[NEW WORLD, SPANISH EXPLORATION, PUERTO RICO]. Six autograph letters (five signed), to Ochoa de Isásaga of the Supreme Council of the Indies, from four different Spanish Conquistadores, two of whom had sailed on Columbus's 2nd Voyage: JUAN CERÓN. Autograph letter signed, Isla de San Juan [San Juan Bautista: Puerto Rico], November 25 [1511], 2 pp. -- MIGUEL DIAZ DE AUX. Autograph letter signed, San Juan, 14 November 1511, ½ p. -- MARTÍN DE ISÁSAGA. Autograph letter signed, San Juan [n.y., but 1511] March 25, 2¼ pp.; MARTÍN DE ISÁSAGA. Autograph letter signed, Ciudad de Puerto Rico de la Ysla de San Juan [n.y., but 1513] September, 3½ pp.; -- DIEGO DE ARCE. Autograph letter signed, Caparra [San Juan,] 15 October [1511], 2 pp.; -- DIEGO DE ARCE. Autograph letter (signature defective), San Juan, June [1513], 2pp., a few lines at bottom defective.; original cover sheet dated December 1511; all to "Noble e Virtuoso Comendador Ochoa de Isasaga, Factor de la casa de Contratacion en Sevilla." Together 12¼ pages, folio and 4to, scattered defects, occasionally catching a few letters text, some stains. In Spanish, all with a full transcript and translation. THE EARLIEST SURVIVING LETTERS FROM PUERTO RICO, SOME FROM COMPANIONS OF COLUMBUS'S SECOND VOYAGE (1493), WRITTEN DURING THE EARLY PERIOD OF PUERTO RICO'S CONQUEST, COLONIZATION AND PACIFICATION [1508-1514] UNDER JUAN PONCE DE LEÓN, DESCRIBING THE INDIAN REVOLTS OF 1511 AND 1513 Newly discovered and wholly unpublished letters constitute the only personal letters from the island at this date and contain some of the only first-hand accounts of critical post-foundation events there. (No documents of Juan Ponce de León during the conquest of the island are extant, and no historian cites any letter written on the island prior to 1515). Christobal Columbus landed on the Island of San Juan in November 1493 during his second voyage, and it was only in 1508 that Juan Ponce de León began exploration, conquest and pacification. During 1508-1514, it was under the governance of Friar Nicolás Ovando and Admiral Diego Columbus (son of the discoverer). The addressee of these letters, Ochoa de Isásaga, was at the time chief official of the Supreme Council of the Indies. Letter 1: Juan Cerón was on Columbus's 2nd voyage when Puerto Rico was discovered and, went with Ponce de León to San Juan in 1508 (see: E.Schafer, Índice de la Colección de Documentos Inéditos de Indias, Madrid, 1946, vol.1, p.11; Tesauro de Datos Históricos de Puerto Rico, 1992, vol.2, p.71; G.Cabrera, Puerto Rico y su Historia Íntima, 1997, vol.1, p.63). Cerón had been sent to replace Ponce de León; he reports on a rough voyage and A FATAL ENCOUNTER WITH HOSTILE CARIBS: "we dropped anchor at the island of Guadalupe, for we thought that there were Christians there...some Caribs set upon us...killed one of the French Friars...as well as a young barber, and in the island no Christian was found..." Cerón is critical of Ponce de León: "we came to this island of San Juan where we found very poor efforts to collect your Highness's treasure...after I took the office of Governor ("tomado las varas de la justicia"). In July 1511, the King, disappointed by the gold production of La Hispaniola, had instructed Cerón (still in Spain) that a third of the Indians must be sent to the mines (see E.Fernández, "Las Encomiendas y Esclavitud de los Indios de Puerto Rico 1508-1550," in Estudios Lascasianos, 1966, p.396). Mindful of these orders, he vows to "have as many people as possible taken to the mines"; blaming Ponce de León, he reports that only 13 of 1300 Indians were in the gold-mines, and so "very little gold has yet been extracted." He reports on the revolt of Cacique Agueybana II (January-June 1511): "the Indians...are unwilling to be at peace and have killed close to one hundred Christians....two Indians and two Christians were in a mine and the Indians murdered one and tried to kill the other." Cerón has tried to pacify them, assuring the caciques "that we will not take away what is theirs and that they will be reasonably treated as they were before." (The reference to the revolt confirms the date of 1511.) Letter 2: Miguel Díaz [de Aux], also on Columbus's 2nd voyage, discovered the mines of San Cristóbal, La Hispaniola and was co-founder of La Isabela (Santo Domingo); Governor and Mayor of San Juan in 1509, jailed by order of Ponce de León, then reinstated in 1511 (endorsement here terms him "Alguacil of San Juan"). Later in Mexico, he joined Francisco de Garay to oppose Hernán Cortés. Here, he reports that he is about to sail and prays for fair weather and a safe voyage. See Diccionario de Historia de España, 1952, vol.1, p.1204; C.O.Sauer, Descubrimiento y Dominacion Española en el Caribe, 1984, p.16; C.Varela, Cristóbal Colón, Textos y Documentos Completos, 1992, pp.514-516; C.Varela, Colón y los Florentinos, 1988, pp.119-120; P.Boyd-Boyman, Índice Geobiografico de cuarenta mil Pobladores Españoles de América, 1964, vol.1, p.70). Letter 3: Martín de Isásaga came to Puerto Rico in 1510 and played a key role in the two Carib rebellions (1511 and 1513), commanding the defense of Caparra; in 1515 he was Procurator of San Juan and Cristobal de Sotomayor's lieutenant (see A.Tapia, Biblioteca Histórica de Puerto Rico, 1945, p.153; A.Tió, Nuevas Fuentes para la Historia de Puerto Rico, 1961, p.175; Boyd-Bowman, op.cit., p.58). The letter gives first-hand reports on the uprising of Agueybana II and the murder of Don Christobal de Sotomayor: "his cacique beat him...to death and did the same with many others that arrived, because they were Christians...they were murdered in the middle of the night while sleeping in their beds..."; Isásaga adds that "the Indians rose in arms afterwards...and they have declared war and say that they do not want to serve the Christians." The killing of Sotomayor, noted by chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, was said to have occurred in February 1511 (Fernández, op.cit., p.392). Isásaga mentions Ponce de León and reports that the uprising there had kept him from administrative tasks: "there was no chance to inform the Governor [Ponce de León until November 1511] for he had gone to war, and so has not responded." He requests slaves and horses for the mines, since there as so few Indians: "if your worship believes the Indians do not perform well, a couple of horses can be sent to haul bread to the mines and with them two pair of negroes [bozales] for the mines..." Letter 4: Isásaga reports to his uncle on the second Carib rebellion. Diego Columbus had established Viceregal headquarters on the island (2 June 1513 to 1515), (Tió, op. cit., p.149) but was an ineffective administrator. Isásaga complains of a dispute over Indians with Governor Juan Cerón, and of the greed of Diego Columbus: "I am very well...but without the Indians I used to have, for it is my misfortune since coming to the island that I have been allotted no Indians, not because Juan Ponce de León did not give me any but because I fell into the hands of this devil Don Juan Ceron." Columbus "came to this island but it would have been better if he had not, for all he cares for is Indians and how to take them away from those to whom the King had given them. So he has left the island upside-down..." He reports Cerón's authority has been revoked, and describes an Indian attack in which 13 persons died from poisoned arrows. Letter 5: Diego de Arz[c]e, the first mining inspector sent to Puerto Rico was chosen by King Ferdinand to oversee the smelter at Caparra. Sworn in by Governor Juan Ponce de León on 9 May, he helped defend San Juan in the two rebellions of the Taino and Carib Indians (Fernández., op cit., p.15; A.Tanodi, Documentos de la Real Hacienda de Puerto Rico, 1971, vol.1, pp.20,23, 30,35-36). Here he is strongly critical of the rule of Ponce DeLeón, who "has been governing so long that he only serves his own interests"; Juan Cerón and Miguel Díaz are to succeed him, but Ponce de León "has collected for himself as much as possible," has "appropriated for himself some peaceful Indians and others to his relatives" and "refused to behave like an officer of the King or a man of honor." (The references to Governor Ponce de León and the arrival of Cerón and Díaz confirms that the letter was written in 1511.) Arce also criticizes Ponce de León for neglecting to send "Indians belonging to his Majesty to the mines, so that we get almost nothing." Meanwhile, the island has risen in arms. Arce offers detailed advice on the assignment of Indians to various caciques, promises to "take care of the business of the King" and mentions Juan Bono [de Quejo], who came with Christopher Columbus's 4th voyage (1502), resided on the island from 1510 and later went with Ponce de León on the exploration of Florida. Letter 6: Another report from Arce, on the Carib revolt of June 1513, while he and Diego Columbus were in San German: "on Saturday...the Indians that are at war had found out that most of the Christians in this town of San German were working in the smelter with the Admiral and they came and burnt down [the city of] Puerto Rico, setting eight houses on fire and killing and wounding more than 20 persons, and if it had not been for a stone house of Juan Ponce de León, I believe no one would have survived" (On this rising in June 1513, see Fernández., op. cit., p.407; R.Cassá, Indios de las Antillas, 1993, p.254). "Much property of many people was burnt, and we believe the King's books [ledgers?] were lost since the houses where they were kept were burnt." He deplores the Indians' use of poison "yerva" on arrows, explains that "the little men are very fierce" and asks for a negro kitchen slave to be sent to feed the miners, as most of the inhabitants are bearing arms. He adds that Martín de Isásaga has contracted a sexual disease (syphilis, known as Bubas), "is recovering ...but is now in dire straights since the Caribs have burned down his house." Closing, he tells Isásaga that he is sending tropical parrots "and will send some more when there is another ship." (6)