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 ( 193 > ' '^ ^* 
 
 Art. VIII. — Chronological History of the West Indies. By Capt. 
 Thomas Southey, Coniniander, lioyal JSavy. 3 vols. 1827. 
 
 'I'^HIS is the unpretending work of a seaman, collected, as lie 
 •*• tells us, ' out of authors both ancient and modern, with great 
 Care and diligence,' and arranged in the manner best suited to so 
 broken a subject — the plan comprehending * the whole of the 
 Columbian islands ; for, as they belong to different European 
 powers, and as some even of those, which are subject to the same 
 crown, have little or no connexion with each other, there is no other 
 natural or convenient order, wherein their history can be composed, 
 than that which a chronological series offers.' They are chronicles 
 which, it might be thought, neither Spaniard, nor French, nor Eng- 
 lishman, could contemplate without some euiotions of shame for his 
 country, and humiliation for his kinil : so much violence, so much 
 cruelty, so much injustice are recorded there, with so little to re- 
 lieve the melancholy register. Were the history of Spain, and 
 France, and (Jreat liritain to perish, as that of the great early 
 monarchies of the world has perished, and only these colonial 
 annals, for these three centuries which have elapsed since the dis- 
 covery of tlie islands, to be saved from the wreck, what opinion 
 could posterity form of the three nations, as to the degree of civi- 
 lization which they had attained, their policy, their religion, and 
 their arts ! But, how ever little there may be to ennoble this portion 
 of history, the subject is not without an interest of its own, and 
 more especially at this time. 
 
 The discovery of America was an event of which the great im- 
 portance w as inn>\ediately apprehended. A new world was opened 
 to imagination and enterprise ; the ambitious looked tliithei to 
 the conquest of kingdoms, and the rapacious to their plunder ; 
 science, imperfect as it was, had its votaries then as well as now, 
 who cheerfully encountered any diiViculties and dangers in the pur- 
 suit of knowledge ; and if, among the ministers of religion, there 
 were some who made their profession a cloak for cupidity and 
 cruelty, there were others who went and laboured faithfully in the 
 Ford's vineyard, with a Christian temper and a Christian heroism 
 which might more than compensate for the eirorsof their corrupted 
 faith. 'Fhoughtful uumi who, from their (piiet studies, regarded 
 the affairs t)f the world with a deeper interest than is felt by those 
 that are actively engaged in it, were moveil to tears * when they 
 looked to the indeliuite prospects that seemed opening upon nuin- 
 
 kind. 
 
 * IVtcr Martyr, writiiji,' to l'iiiii()(iniiH l^a'tiis, .-.ays: ' /'/•,-/■ lu'titia /irnit/tm.se /c, tuquv 
 
 a /lii/iri/ws jiriv ijaiiilw li-iiijjrnistc,i/i;<utilu /(terns aUsjivuhtt incus, ijuibus tie utili/juilmu 
 
 VOL. WWlll. >U. L\.XV. O <"'^« 
 
'•;' 
 
 l^n 
 
 '•■ i 
 
 194 Chronological History of the West Indies, 
 
 kind. Indefinite they might M'ell appear, for it was a world of 
 wonders that had been found, where veteran soldiers went in search 
 of a fountain Mhich should restore them to youth, and Columbus 
 himself believed that he had approached the terrestrial paradise — 
 that the body of fresh water in which he found himself, when in 
 the Bocas del Dragon, came from the garden of Eden (the river 
 Pison, he would suppose it to be, * whicli compasseth the whole 
 land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is 
 good'); and, although he despaired of ascending so high, was per- 
 haps not witliout a hope that he might come within sight of the 
 cherubim's flaming sword. 
 
 A very able and eloquent writer,* whose work we have already 
 recommended to the notice of our readers, has recently argued, that 
 the * work of planting the nations was not performed when the earth 
 was full of inhabitants, but, on the contrary, when it was a compa- 
 rative void ; not by nations whose numbers \\ere the greatest, but 
 the fewest and most scattered : in ages of ignorance or in times of 
 strife and oppression ; and that, as the population of the ditierent 
 nations has increased, the necessity of these wanderings has dimi- 
 nished.' There is some confusion here, both with regard to Scrip- 
 tural and later history. It is true that the earth was comparatively 
 a void, when it was divided in the days of Peleg ; but that was not 
 an age of ignorance, for primal truths retained the freshness of their 
 impress upon the heart of man, and the righteous lived in the light 
 and sunshine of a visible dispensation. * 'J'he visible characters of 
 this great book of natiue,' says Jackson of Newcastle, * were of 
 old more legible, the external significations of Divine Power more 
 sensible and apter to imprint their meaning — both purposely fitted 
 to the '-lisposition of the world's non-age.' And, in later times, the 
 author seems not to distinguish between the migratory movements 
 of barbarian hordes, or armed nations, and the colonial settlements 
 of civilized states. Whether Egypt sent out colonies to India, or 
 was itself colonized from thence, is a question which there seems 
 little hope that M. Cliampollion or Dr, Young will be enabled to 
 decide; but, in either case, the colonizers were not an ignorant race. 
 In a later age, when the history of colonization begins, colonies 
 
 orbe IntPitti haclenus, le cfrtiorrm feci, mi suavissime I'omponi, inihniimti. Ex luit ipte 
 /liens vii//ii/i) i/ui/(l srnsi't'is. Sensixli aulvm, tiitilii/iie rt'iii Jetmli, i/U(inli vinii/i m/miiid 
 ihjcliinii iiisii/iitti/iit (Irciiil. Quis hiiiik/iii' ciIiiih mih/iiiiilnis jiiastun fiutrst ini>i'iiiiii islo 
 siiavinr 'f (jiiod iiim/inu/i/u>/i ijraliiis ? a iiif /'(icni 1 miji'i luniiii, liiiiri .si niio sjnitliis 
 inros, ijiinn)/i) iiriitus a//iii/ntir pruilitiivs tmi/ ins r.r /iis i/iii ah rii rvilrtinl fitiiviiiiid. Ini- 
 p/icrnl animus peiiiniiinim iiniiii/is iiui/rnitm iiiisrn uiuri ; tilnilinilnis nlnia'iii ; iiustrui 
 tins tnnilrs. jjash/iiiim Drn /i/i-ni o/i'/iKiiidiu fiicrimns, ivtiUiiip/iiHilu, hiijtiscemudt reititn 
 notilid ilriiiuliTiimiis. — lipist. clii. 
 
 * Mr, Sadler, in liis treatise ii|)un ' Ireland: tin Ijlvilsaiid tli«ir Kuiiiedies.' 
 
 ure 
 
Chronological Hlsfonj of the West Indies, 
 
 195 
 
 are found, as might be expected, to have proceeded from the most 
 Hoiuisliing, and enterprising, and intelligent people — the Phoeni- 
 cians and the (J reeks. So, too, when the appointed time for the 
 discovery of America was come, it was not by Scandinavian or 
 Norman sea-rovers that the way was opened, but by the Spaniards, 
 in the age of their greatest prosperity and highest civilization — the 
 only peoi)]e in vhom heart, and will, and power, could have been 
 found for the work which was to be done, and during the only age 
 in which tliey were thus qualified, by their virtues, their vices, and 
 their political station. 
 
 No person, who contemplates history with a religious mind, can 
 fail to remark the striking resemblance between the condition of 
 the more civilized American nations at the time of the discovery, 
 and of the Canaanites when, in like manner, the measure of their 
 iniquities was full. The enormities to which the Spaniards put 
 an ewA in Mexico, and those other states wherein the Aztec my- 
 thology prevailed, were such, that even the victories of Cortes may 
 be regarded, with complacence, as a dispensation of mercy to the 
 people themselves. The superstitions which existed in the hierar- 
 chical despotisms of South America were not, at first sight, so re- 
 volting to humanity, because they did not exhibit a regular course 
 of human butchery upon so extensive a scale ; but there was the 
 same root of evil there, bringing forth fruits of death. Systems as 
 degrading to human nature as those of the great Asiatic kingdoms 
 had been firndy established there, and were rapidly increasing in 
 extent and power; and all these were connected wilh schemes of 
 priestcraft more or less inhuman. And throughout the whole con- 
 tinent, in every grade of society, from the rudest tribes on the Ori- 
 noco to the higldy artificial fabrics of polity under the Zippas, the 
 Zaques, and the Incas, such abominations were practised, not as acts 
 ol individual wickedness, but as belonging to the laws or customs of 
 the people and of the state, that even the Quesadas and the Pizar- 
 ros appear, when these things are considered, to have been minis- 
 ters of di\ine justice, while they themselves were monsters of 
 cruelty, deserving the execration of mankind. This is no extenua- 
 tion ol their guilt. As regards human suffering, the remedy, while 
 it continued, was worse than the disease ; the tyranny which they 
 substituted was more cruel than that which they subverted — it in- 
 flicted wider misery, and implied a greater degree of guilt in the 
 agents; for they siinied against knowledge. Long ere this, indeed, 
 the good would have immeasurably preponderated, if, in the great 
 struggle between good and evil at the time of the Reformation, 
 Spain had chosen the better part. But from the time when its 
 civil and religious liberties were destroyed, the root of its strength 
 began to decay, and the canker was fell in the remotest ramifica- 
 tions, o 'Ji There 
 
193 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 Tliere are some historians (M. Guizot may be instanced as the 
 ablest of the class) who carry the intluenee of general causes too 
 far, considering men as entirely the creatures of the circumstances 
 wherein they are placed, and regarding them rather as the puppets 
 of a fatal necessity, than as accountable beings, to whom it has 
 been free to choose between good and evil. Hopeless, as well as 
 helpless, would be the condition of humanity if this were true ; and 
 one consequence of a philosophy as false as it is injurious, would be 
 to render history useless for all purposes of example. But bless- 
 ings and curses are set before us, and nations, like individuals, are 
 judged according to their ways. 
 
 In the first age of their colonial history, the Spaniards appear 
 in their worst character, and the Spanish government in its best. 
 Neither good intentions, nor good laws, were wanting on its part: 
 both were frustrated by the rapacity of its agents, and by its own 
 insane pretensions to universal dominion — a scheme in which, for 
 half a century, it was zealously seconded by the most active, most 
 influential, most intriguing, and most mischievous order of men in 
 the Romish church. I^hey served it thus because it was to the 
 shaven and shorn head, and the triple crown, as much as to Castille 
 and Leon, that Columbus had given a new world. \Vhen he said 
 to the Catholic kings that there could not be a richer country, nor 
 a more cowardly people than he had discovered for them, and that 
 they were as much masters of it as they were of Xeres or Toledo, 
 and that the fountam of gold was there, he told them that, whoever 
 had gold might do with it whatever he wished in this world, and 
 open with it the gates of Paradise in the other : * — a passage which 
 the modern editor of his papers assures us, is in conformity with 
 many texts of Scripture. This most rich empire of the Indies, 
 God, says Oviedo, had reserved for our fortunate emperor Charles 
 v., that its wealth might be employed in liis Catholic designs and 
 armies, and that his holy intentions and aims against infidels and 
 heretics might be carried into efiect ; and that the flag of Spain 
 might be celebrated for the most victorious, respected for the most 
 glorious, feared for the most powerful, and loved as the most wor- 
 thy to be loved in the universe. 
 
 ' Such power and majesty in any Christian prince as is now manifest 
 in him, lias never till now been seen under lieaven. And, tlierefore, it 
 is to be expected that, in a sliort time, we sliall see brought under the 
 sceptre of our Ca?sar all that is wanting for attaining to the height of 
 universal monarchy. And that there shall be no kingdom, nor sect, 
 nor kind of false belief, which will not be humbled, and brouglit under 
 cbcdience to his yoke. And I say not this concerning unbelievers only» 
 
 " Kl uru rs rxrr/enlisimu ; del urn se htice (csoro ; y cun cl (jiiicii /o tienr, /lacc i/iik/i/o 
 fjutrri' rn el tniiii'lo, y //e(/(i u ^iie ccha /us (iniima u( jmraiao, Navarrcte, Colt'ccioii da 
 los Viages. 1. 309. 
 
 but 
 
Chronological IJistnry of the West Indies, 
 
 197 
 
 but of those also who call themselves Christians, for they vA\l not refuse 
 to acknowledge our Ctesar for their superior, as they ought, and as God 
 has ordained, seeing that he has valiant soldiers and people in abundance, 
 and wealth enough to distribute among them.' 
 
 Acting upon these pretensions, the Spaniards brought a host of 
 enemies against the colonies, and weakened their hold upon the 
 New World by extending it. In consequence of the latter cause, 
 the decline of their first colony was as rapid as its progress had 
 been. 
 
 Next to the paramount object of introducing the Romish faith, 
 the government was intent upon establishing in the colonies, with- 
 out delay, the laws and municipal institutions of the mother coun- 
 try. When a city was to be founded, the first form prescribed was, 
 w ith all solemnity, to erect a gallows, as the first thing needful ; and, 
 in laying out the ground, a site was marked for the prison as well 
 as for the church. Ample provision was made for churches and 
 convents ; and monks and friars, in the first age of the con- 
 quests, were some of the best colonists who could be sent out, 
 going to take up their permanent abode there, and, therefore, 
 making more provision for future comfort, than those who were 
 lot)king eagerly to return with their wealth to Europe. It is sur- 
 prising how soon St. Domingo was stocked with European ani- 
 mals, and M ith produce designed for the European market. 
 
 ' In what land,' says Oviedo, ' has it ever been known or heard of, 
 that in so short a time, and in countries so distant from our Europe, so 
 many cattle, and so many goods of the earth, should be produced, and 
 in such great abundance, as we with our own eyes have seen in these 
 Indies, brought liitlier over such wide seas? The which this land hath 
 not received as a stepmother, but even more like a true mother than 
 that which sent tliem forth ; for some of them are produced in greater 
 quantities, and of better kind, than in Spain itself, as well animals useful 
 for the service of nran, as corn and pulse, and fruits and sugar, and 
 canafistola. The beginning of these things came frcrii Spain in my 
 days ; and, in a little time, tliey have multiplied so g . ..'ly, that ships 
 return to Europe laden with sugar, and canalistola, and h des.' 
 
 Tiiis led him to observe, seeing the natural advantages of the 
 rountiy, that a king of llinpaniola might soon have greatly the 
 aih aniagr over a king of Sicily or of England ! The first cargoes 
 that the ships carried back to Spain consisted of sugar. In the 
 year 1^).^.), llurc had been, within three and twenty years, twenty 
 eij^ht sn;j,ar mills erected, exceeding anything that was then known 
 of the kind in ' any island or kingdom, whether of Christians or 
 unbelievers.' I'lie cano was introduced from the Canaries, whither 
 the Spaniiuds had carried it, probably from their own country, for 
 it was cultivated in (nanada and Valencia. The Canaries con- 
 tributed not a little to the discovery of the West Indies in the first 
 
 instance, 
 
198 
 
 Chronological History of the Wat Indies. 
 
 instance, and afterwards to their setdement. The plantain was 
 taken to St. Domingo from thence in 15l6, by Fr. Tomas de 
 Berlanga, a Dominican ; and it was found of such great utility, 
 that it was soon cultivated upon every Spanish property. Her- 
 langa is said to have been an excellent man ; and, for his merits, 
 Mas made Bishop of Castilla del Oro, without having solicited, or 
 expected, and perhaps, also, without desiring, any such promotion. 
 The Spaniards also introduced some Indian plants into their 
 own country. Indian corn was raised near Madrid, and in many 
 parts of Andalusia, and a few years after the discovery, potatoes 
 were carried to Spain at first as sweetmeats and delicacies. They 
 were held diere, ^;or muy singular y buena frufa; and Oviedo 
 says, de analiwier forma son buena frufa, y se puede presentar a 
 la Catholica magostad por muy preciado manjar, which is, being 
 interpreted, that they were a dainty dish to set before the king. 
 
 ' I take it,' says tlie physician Monardiis, in the words of his old 
 translator, ' fo/ a vittail of much substance, and that they are in the 
 midst between flesh and fruit. Truth it is that tliey be windy, but tliat 
 is taken from them by roasting, chiefly if they be put into line wine. 
 There is made of them conserva very excellent, as marmolade, and 
 small morselles; and they make potages and brotlis, and cakes of them, 
 very excellent. They are subject that there be made of them any man- 
 ner of conserva, and any manner of meat. There be so many in Spiiin, 
 that they bring from Velez Malaga, every year to Seville, ten or twelve 
 caravels laden with them,'* 
 
 Having been so successfully cultivated, and, as appears, in con- 
 siderable request, the question naturally occurs, wherefore so valu- 
 able a root should have fallen into disuse in that country: perhiips, 
 because properties were ascribed to it which must have made it 
 forbidden food for certain classes of the community, and disreput- 
 able for others. It is amusing to find Labat describing potatoes 
 a hundred years ago, as cultivated in Western Africa, an 1 saying 
 of them, * II y en a en Irlande, ct en Angletcrre/ and that he had 
 seen very good ones at Rochelle. 
 
 ' The Spaniards,' says this writer, ' are infinitely more careful than 
 French, and other nations, in planting trees, and in taking care of tlie 
 them ; for it rarely happens, when a Span-ard eats fruit in a wood, or 
 in the 0])en country, that lie does not set the stones or the pips ; and 
 thus, in the whole of their cour ry, an infinite number of fruit treo«, 
 of all kinds, are found, whereas, in ihe French quarters, you meet with 
 none.' 
 
 There is a pleasing example of this practice in the very inte- 
 resting History of Bcrnal Diaz; and it is valuable also, because 
 it shows die Mexican priests in their best point of view. 
 
 * Joyful News out of tlie New-found WurM, tnm^lati'J out ol Spaiiisii 
 Framplon. 1377. p. 101. 
 
 Jutiii 
 
 ' I will 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies, 
 
 199 
 
 * I will relate also,' says this brave and simple-hearterl old soldier, 
 * how 1 set some orange pips near the idol-houses, (in Grijaiva's expedi- 
 tion,) and it was in this manner. Because there were many mosquitoes 
 by that river, I went to sleep in a lofty idol-house ; and, by that house, 
 I set seven or eight pips of orange^, which I had brought from Cuba ; 
 and they came up well ; and it seems that the papas (or priests) of 
 those idols, took care of them, when they perceived that the plants were 
 unhke any of their own, and protected them from the ants, and watered 
 them, and kejjt the ground clean. I have delivered this to remem- 
 brance, in order tliat it may be known these were the first oranges which 
 were planted in New Spain ; for, after Mexico was conquered, and the 
 people subject to Guacacuako wei'e pacificated, this was held to be the 
 best province, and in the best estimation of all in New Spain, by reason 
 of its mines, and for its good port, the land also being rich with gold, 
 and pasture for flocks: and, therefore, it was settled l)y the principal 
 conquerors of Mexico, and I was one ; and then I went for my orange 
 trees, and transplanted them, and they throve well.' 
 
 It is tlic more remarkable that the Spaniards, who so carefully 
 introduced the products of their own country, and of the Canaries, 
 into' the new-found world, should not have attempted to naturalize 
 the American fruits in Spain, because this branch of horticulture 
 was pursued with great ardour at that time, and highly patronized, 
 both in Italy and Flanders, countries with which Spain was closely 
 coimectcd. Ferdinand the First, of Naples, prided himself upou 
 the vaiiety and excellence of the fruit produced in his royal gar- 
 dens, one of which was called Paradise. Duke Hercules, of 
 Ferrara, had a garden celebrated for its fruits in one of the islands 
 of the Po. The Duke of Milan, Lodovico, carried this kind of 
 luxury so far, that he had a travelling fruit-garden ; and the trees 
 were brought to his table, or into his chamber, that he might with 
 his own hands gather the living fruit. The members of our horti- 
 cultural society have not relined so far as this. 
 
 Dviedo extols the pine-apple above all the fruits which grew 
 in these, the famous gardens of his time, and above all that 
 he had tasted in his travels in Spain, I'rance, Fngland, Germany, 
 the whole of Italy, Si<ily, the Tyrol, and the whole of the Low 
 Countries. 
 
 ' No fruit,' says he, ' have I known or seen in all these parts, nor 
 do 1 think that in tlie world there is one better than it, or equal to it, 
 in all tiiosc points wliich 1 shall now mention, and wliich are, beauty 
 of appearance, sweetness of smell, taste of excellent savour ; so tliat 
 there being three senses out of the five which can be gratified by fruit, 
 isiicli is its excellenie above allotber fruits or dainties in the world, that 
 it gratifies those three, and even the fourth also; to uit the touch. As 
 for the fifth, that is to say, the hearing, fruit, indeed, can neither hear 
 nor listen, but in its place the reader may hear and attend to what is 
 
 said 
 
 I 
 
200 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies, 
 
 said of this fruit, and lie will perceive that I do not deceive myself in 
 what I shall say of it. For albeit fruit can as little be said to possess 
 any of the other four senses, in relation to the which I have, as above, 
 spoken, of these I am to be understood in the exercise and person of 
 him who eats, not of tlie fruit itself, which hath no life, save the vege- 
 tative one, and wants both the sensitive and rational, all three of which 
 exist in man. And he, looking at these pines, and smelling to them, 
 and tasting them, and feeling them, will justly, considering these four 
 parts or particularities, attribute to it the principality above all other 
 fruits.' 
 
 This is as whimsical, in its way, as what Christoval Acosta says 
 of the same fruit, in his Trcdado * c/e las DroMs y Medicinas de 
 las Indias Orientalcs ; he says, that no medicinal virtues have 
 been discovered in it, and it is good for nothing but to eat. 
 Our countryman, Ligon, expatiates upon this phuit with great 
 delight. 
 
 ' To close up all that can he said of fruits,* he says, ' I must name 
 the }>ine, for in tliat single name all that is excellent, in a superlative 
 degree, for beauty and taste, is totally and summarily included ; and, 
 if it were here to speak for itself, it Avould save me much labour, aud 
 do itself much right. Nothing of rare taste can be thought on, that is 
 not there, nor is it imaginable that so full a liarmony of tastes can be 
 raised out of so many parts, and all distinguishable.' 
 
 Then, after describing the phuit and its fruit, like a painter 
 whose eye was conversant with forms, and delighted in tiie colour- 
 ing of nature, he says, 
 
 ' When we gather them, Ave leave some of the stalk to take hold by; 
 and, when we come to cat them, we first cut oft" the crown, and send 
 that out to be planted ; and then, with a knife, pare off the rind, which 
 is so beautiful, as it grieves us to rob the fruit of such an ornament : 
 nor would we do it, Init to enjov the ])recious substance it contiiins, — like 
 a thief that breaks a beautiful cabinet, which he would forbear to do, 
 hut for the treasure he exj)ects to find within. The rind being taken 
 off, we lay the fruit in a dish, and cut it in slices, half an inch thick ; 
 and, as the knife goes in, there issues out of the pores of the fruit, a 
 liquor clear as rock water, near about six spoonfuUs, which is eaten 
 with a spoon ; and, as you taste it, you find it in a high degree deli- 
 cious, but so mild, as you can distinguish no taste at all: but when you 
 bite a piece of the fruit, it is so violently sharp as you would think it 
 would fetch all the skin off your mouth ; but, before your tongue have 
 made a second trial uj)on your j'alate, you shall perceive sucli a sweet- 
 ness to follow, as perfectly to cure that vigorous sharpness, and be- 
 tween tliese two extremes of sharp and sweet, lies the relish and fla- 
 vour of all fruits that are excellent; and those tastes will change and 
 flow so fast uj)on your j'alate, as your fancy ran hardly keep way with 
 
 
 * Buigos, 1578. 
 
 them 
 
Chronological Hklonj of the West Indies, 
 
 201 
 
 
 tlieni to distinguish the one from the other, and that at least to a tenth 
 examination, for so long the echo will last.' 
 
 Ovieilo was not successful in his attempts to carry this fruit to 
 Spain ; and it is related by some other writer, that when one 
 had been brougiit, with great care, in good condition, to Charles 
 v., the emperor, to the confusion of Oviedo's theory, did not like 
 its looks, or its odour, and would not be persuaded to try its eft'ect 
 upon the palate. This fruit might be raised in the south of 
 Spain, and of Portugal, with as little care as is required in this 
 country for melons and cucumbers ; but this has not yet been 
 attempted there. The banana was introduced into Algarve about 
 live and thirty years, by Mr. Lempriere, the English Consul at 
 I'aro, at that time. In his quinfu, near that city, we saw it 
 flourishing, and he expected that its culture would soon become 
 general ; but evil days have intervened, and thrown back all im- 
 provements of every kind in the ill-fated kingdoms of the pe- 
 ninsula. 
 
 15 ut the first fruit that ever found its way from the tropics to 
 Europe was eaten — before the voyage of Columbus, here in 
 England, and on a * Christmas-day in the morning,' according to 
 Master Olchod. That grave author of odd-looking name ha?, it 
 appears, related the fact in a treatise upon the sphere — and thus 
 it was : A certain holy man, in this kingdom, had caught a devil, 
 and kept him in durance. In what sort of trap he was taken, 
 and in what sort of cage or prison kept, are points concerning 
 which, curious as they are and worthy of inquiry, no information 
 is given. It appears only that the devil was uneasy in durance, 
 and that being a spirit, a writ of Habeas Corpus could not have 
 delivered him ; so he bargained with the holy man, who, holy as 
 he was, had a licorish tooth, and engaged, as the price of his 
 deliverance, to bring him that night, being the night of Cock 
 ^lass, fresh figs from the Indies. The holy mouth watered at 
 this proj)osal ; the prisoner was enlarged upon his parole, and 
 keeping it better than General Simon, or General Lefebvre 
 I^Lsnouettes, (for he was an honourable devil,) back he came 
 in Avhat is Hiberno-poetically called, no time at all, with figs fresh 
 from the tree. 'Whereat that holy man greatly marvailed, and 
 meditating u|)on the great nuhhiess of temj>eralure in the region 
 where that fruit hail grown, and comparing it with the rigoious 
 cold w hich at that time j)revailed in England, of which country 
 he was a native, he concluded that a land which was so temperate 
 at that season of the year, nuist needs be near the terrestrial 
 paradise;' — coming thus to the same conclusion as Columbus. 
 
 T(jba('co found its way slowly into use in Europe ; the intoxi- 
 cating effect of its smoke must have been accidentally discovered, 
 
 and 
 
0.01 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 and the same use was made of that discovery as of the deleterious 
 exhalations from the chasm at Delphi. * As the devil,' says 
 Monardus, 'is a deceiver, and hath the knowledge of the virtue 
 of herbs, so he did show the virtue of this iierb, that by the 
 means thereof they ujight see their imaginations and visions that 
 he hath represented unto them.' But this Avas not a secret which 
 the priests could keep to themselves ; what they did for theii craft, 
 the chiefs and people did for their gratification ; they snu>ked 
 to pass away time — to abate pain — to take away the sense of 
 hunger — to refresh themselves after fatigue — and as nuich, per- 
 haps, as for any or all these reasons, to nuike themselves drunk 
 wilhal, and to see visions and things that represent themselves, 
 * wherein they do ;lelight,' — a sort of intellectual sensualization. 
 The manner of taking the smoke was equally unlike the oriental 
 meth<>(l, \>hich is the most retined, and that which the 'I'hracians 
 are saiil to have used, which is the rudest, — for the Thracians 
 threw such seeds and leaves into the lire as produced an intoxicat- 
 ing smoke, and held their heads near enough to inhale the intoxi- 
 cation. In Hayti, a sort of pastil was formed of the leaves ; the 
 instrument for inhaling, from which the herb tlerived its nanu^, was 
 called fiihaco, — it was made cf wood, forkeil, and tubular, the shape 
 being that of the letter Y ; the single end was applied to the burunig 
 piistil, the other tw*) inserted up tlu^ nostrils, till the smoker was 
 stupilied to his heart's desire'. The negroes were the first to 
 learn the practice, and they, like the Indians, made plantations of 
 the herb. Their masters, also, took to it, those nu)re especially 
 who wcr(> pcrishiug piecemeal under that loathsome disease, 
 mIucIi, if they did not lind it in the island, assuuu'd there a new 
 and more deadly virulence. They did not feel their misery, tliey 
 said, while the tobacco affected ihem; which, as it did not heal 
 thenj, savx Oviedo, 1 hold for a worse thing than the pain which 
 it suspemled. ()\iedo had a wholesome and cleanly dislike to 
 the practice ; and he rckoned it among the vices of the Indians. 
 
 Hut alter Oviedo's time, it appears to h;'\e fallen into (lisus(>. 
 The negroes were forbidden to smoke, .or soiue unexplained 
 reason, but probably beciuise it was legarded as intendi d to jno- 
 duce intoxication, and, therefore, siulul ; they wer(> punished if 
 detected in it, and their plantations of the herb were destroytd. 
 Still, however, they smoked in secret pl;»ees. l*erhaps the m;inv 
 and (xtiaordinaiy medicinal \iitnes whi(h wrw. ascribed to the 
 herb, and its real utility as a spe<ific (which it seems to have been) 
 against the poison of the (.";nib arrows, made the Spaniards regard 
 it as having bei n intended lor other purposes than those of hick; 
 gr;itilic;ition ; for such :i feeling was in the spirit of those times. 
 Jleckman says, the seeds were brought to I'oitn^al in I.j!j!J; this 
 
 is 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 203 
 
 is probably an error * of tlie press here, for it obtained its once 
 well-known appellation of the Nicotian herb long before that 
 time, Nicot, the French ambassador at Lisbon, having carried it 
 from Portugal to France in 1561. 'Within these few years,' 
 says Monardus, ' there hath been brought into Spain of it, more 
 to adornate gardens with the fairness thereof, and to give a 
 pleasant sight, than that it was thought to have the marvellous 
 niedicinable virtues which it hath; but now we do use it more for 
 his virtues than for his fairness.' lie calls it an herb of much 
 antiquity ; meaning that its use, or abuse, had been known of old 
 time among the Indians. Accordiiig to iJeckman, il began to 
 be cultivated in the East Indies early in the sixteenth century. 
 But there is a curious fact stated in the very curious travels of 
 Evvlia Effeudi; he says, that in cutting through the wall of a 
 Grecian building at Constantinople, built btfore the birth of 
 ^lohammed, a tobacco pipe was found between the stones; it 
 still retained the smell of the smoke, and in the Efiendi's opinion, 
 incontestably proved the antiquity of that practice. The translator 
 conjectures upon this, that smoking having at lirst been prohibited 
 to the Mohammedans as ar liuiovation, anil contrary to the prin- 
 ciple of their law, the pij)e had probably b(>en inserted in (he wall 
 by some lover of lobacco, in order to furnish an argument for the 
 antiquity of the custom; and, therefore, of its lawfulness. The 
 probability of this conjecture depends upon the circumstances of 
 the alleged discovery, and of these Ewlia has said nothing; the 
 fact, however, is worthy of notice, though, even if there were no 
 deception in it, it stands singly and nnsu|)porled. 
 
 The best, and at the same time, the worst anecdote concerniiig 
 this * Indian weed,' is what I'ranklin has related of the Attornty- 
 General Seymour, in William and Mary's reign, who o|)posed a 
 grant of '2(KK)I. for a c<)llege in Virginia; and when he was re- 
 quested to <"()nsider that it was to educate young nu-n for the nu- 
 nistry of the (iospel, and that the people of Virginia had souls to 
 be saved as well as the people of Fngland, replieil, ' Souls! d — n 
 your Noids ! make tobnceo.' An attorney-geni^ral wi>rthy to ha\e 
 been initiated in the modern science of meta-politics, and in thai 
 juiisprudence which ought, in honom- of its egregious foimder, to 
 be eiilled ./r/n/spriuhint ! w(»rlhy also t(t have delivered lectuies 
 to the I tilitariausi Tobaec(» ijinini tw Bxkxco, .losuah SvIvcsUt 
 calls it, when he thumleied his volley of holy shot from Mount 
 ilelit'on, and shattered the pipes about tlir ears of those ' thai 
 idly iiloli/ed so base anil liai barons a weed.' In his davs 
 ' — |)i>ii 'roliucco liiiil an aiDjiler ri'ii;'!), 
 'J'luui Don I'liilipiiu, the urcat king of Spain.' 
 
 In the Kiiglii«h trHn*!Rlioii, 
 
 And 
 
204 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 And lie himself had once been ' demi-captive to his puffing pride.' 
 He questioned \vhctlier the devil had done more harm in latter 
 nges by means of fire and smoke, through the invention of guns, or 
 of tobacco-pipes ; and he conjecture that Satan introduced the 
 fashion, as a preparatory course of smoking for those who were 
 to be nuitriculuted in his own college, 
 
 * As roguing gipsies tan their little elves, 
 To make them tann'd and ugly, like themselves.' 
 
 Josuah propounds in this poem the query, whether more hurt 
 or good had resulted from the discovery of America : and he 
 delivers his opinion, that both to the new world and to the old 
 the hurt had prepond(>rated. We had taken out vice and brought 
 home disease : the whole returns which hc^ could enumerate were 
 gold, tobacco, scurvie, (fust known in the first long voyages,) and 
 another worse evil, the name of which, in his days, was not un- 
 preseutable, * in prose or rhvme.' Potatoes, which more than 
 balanced the account, had not come into use. Chocolate recom- 
 mended itself sooner ; being found peculiarly convenient on a 
 fast-day, in places where that fine fish, called the Solan (Joose, 
 was not procurable. The lianu)ck, also, had probably been by 
 that time adoptetl on shi))board. Ovi(Mlo recommended it for 
 soldiers ; and innumerable are tin' liv«'s which might have been 
 saved, if his advice had receivetl the attention which it nu-rited. 
 Syhester notici d noiu^ of the iucommodities which had be(>n in- 
 troduccHl iVom the old world iuto the n«nv, in the first interchange 
 of good and evil. At the luad ot th«^ last, small-pox is to be 
 placed. 'Ihc l-uropeans carried with them their v(rniin as well as 
 their vic« s : rats and mice have been imported wherever ships ha\e 
 touched : the C(immon-fly, which, in many parts of America is 
 one of the greatest pests of man and beast, was carried from 
 Spain to Hispaniola, an»l so was the cuck-roach, which the \\ « st 
 Indit's have n'turn«<t to us with increase, lint as it was only 
 known in Andalusia at the tinn' of the discovery, it had, pro- 
 bably been brought from some other country by the Moors: the 
 worst importation was that f)f the negroes. 
 
 \\ hen the Spaniards iutroduc<'<t a black race into the islands to 
 supply the place of th(> red pcopl(>, whom th(>y wi-re extirpating, 
 lliey pn-paied the way for all the evils which have arisen from the 
 slave tiade the horrors Mhieh ha\e takeu pla<"e, and tli«" letnlid 
 coiisequenc es which mav \et be appK liended. Las Casas has 
 been inconsiderately condemned upon this score, as if, in his 
 eniiiest desire of mitigating the sufVeiintis which he witnessed, and 
 r< '^enmg fiom d "strnction llie poor leninanl <»f the ishnideis, lie 
 a<ied williout loresiglit, ;nid ni(n ly sidtstitutt'd victims of a diller- 
 lul colour. J5nl the slave trailc was not so nefarious in ils 
 
 ongni 
 
Chronological History of the PFest Indies. 
 
 o 
 
 205 
 
 origin as ^his nouUl rej)iesent it. Las Casas was not introducing a 
 new evil ; he wii accustomed to it in his own country, where it 
 had grown i';.t eptibly out of the estabUshed usages of war. 
 Durinii' the Iom. strugsjle between the Moors and Christians in 
 the peuinsuhi, all prisoners who were unable to ransom them- 
 selves became slaves. When the Portuguese first, and the Spa- 
 niards afterwarils, in pursuit of that hereditary warfare, became 
 iuvailers in their turn, and assailed the Moors on the opposite 
 coast of Afiica, the same system was, of course, observed ; and 
 as the Portuguese, in the progress of their discoveries, advanced 
 along the coast of \\ est Africa, the negroes were subjected to the 
 same chance and contlition of war. Nicolas Clenard, writing in the 
 lifetime of Las Casas, says, that when he first entered Lvora, 
 he could have imaginetl himself in a city of cacodemons, so 
 great was the number of negroes there ; and he describes Lisbon 
 as swarming with slaves. * Manciinorum plena aunt omnia. 
 JEthiopes et Mauri cnptivi omnia oheunt munera, quo gencre 
 hominum tarn est referta Lusitania, vt credam f'/tjssipona! plurcs 
 esse hujusmodi servos cl servas, quam sint liberi Lusitani.' Tiiere 
 were many menial olfices which no white person would con- 
 descend to perform ; when, therefore. Las Casas proposed that 
 black slaves should be introduced into the islands, he thought it 
 )io greater evil to employ them in America than in Europe, where 
 their bondage was not severe ; and he might reasonably have ex- 
 pected that, being recognized as property by the laws, and having 
 been purchased by their owners, they would be more consider- 
 ately treated than the miserable Indians, for whom no price was 
 paid, and in whose death no loss was sustained. 
 
 lint even if Las Casas had not reconnnended this substitution, 
 it would certainly have taken place in the natural course of events. 
 No I'lmopeans went out to the conquest to earn a livelihood there 
 as labourers, and in the short space of one generation scarcely any 
 Indians were left. The introduction, in fad, began before it was 
 llionglit of as a substitution bv this enthusiastic but sincere phi- 
 hnillnopi.sl. The year after liis first voyag*; to llispaniola, and 
 wiliiin ten }ears after the disco\ery, so many negroes had been 
 intported into that island, that any fmtlier importation was prohi- 
 biU'd at Ovaudo's S(»h(ilalion, (he dangtr being t\i(lent. It is ic- 
 maikablf how soon that danger was apprehended, liou cleaily it 
 was perceived, and how distinctly aeknouledgeil ; yet the ini- 
 porlaticni was contimied, so great was the necessity for hdxuirers: 
 ill*' rc^tiictions were somi'lim* ^ h^sst'ued, and sometimes sus- 
 pendeil, or tiiey \\» re tlndcd. Ttrribh; as \\w Spaniards t cry 
 where were to the lonqueriul people, tlie\ nowhere appear to have 
 been cruel to their negroes ; and even, if the introduction of that 
 
 race 
 
006 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 race into the islands had been wholly the work of Las Casas, it 
 woidd be most unreasonable to condemn him for not having fore- 
 seen the enormous extension of the slave trade, which the commer- 
 cial system would one day occasion, and the consequent aggravation 
 of slavery. It should be remembered, too, for his honour in this 
 age, as it so often was for his reproach in his own, that he tried 
 the experiment of establishing a peaceful colony on the main 
 land, taking out husbandmen instead of soldiers. The experi- 
 ment was ill-planned, ill-placed, and ill-timed ; it exposed him 
 to obloquy and derision, but it made him a sadder and a wiser 
 man, and he has left on earth one of those good names which 
 will retain their fragrance through all time. History presents few 
 such, and of all histories that of these islands the fewest. 
 
 Captain Southey has resisted the temptation which his subject, 
 in its earlier parts, threw in his way, and when he was led to the 
 very borders of heroic history, has, with commendable self-denial, 
 abstained from passing beyond his prescribed limits. He fits out 
 the expeditions from Hispaniola and Cuba, accompanies them to 
 the mam land, and leaves them to pursue their marvellous fortunes, 
 while he keeps to his faithful task as annalist of the islands. The 
 series of events is, for the most part, such as there is little plea- 
 sure in tracing ; yet amid much that is revolting, much that is 
 bloody, and more that is base, sometimes a romantic incident 
 occurs, sometimes a generous one, to relieve the details, and 
 redeem liuman nature from the opprobrium to which such a his- 
 tory nii;^lit otherwise expose it. '1 hese are the more valuable, 
 mIkii tiiey ri late to nun \\ho, if they were judged of by some of 
 tlieu otliiM actions, might be deemed monsters of barbarity. There 
 was a certain Di( go de Salazar, among the lirst conquerors and 
 settlers of the island of l»ori(puii, now called l^uerto liico ; the 
 people of that island were a warlike race ; the Caribs, by their 
 liequeut iiua.sions, had nuide them so ; and they were a generous 
 race also, of \\hi<h remarkable proof was given with regard to this 
 Sala/ar. 'I'hey had taken a young Spamard, Xuarez by name, 
 and Kit him bound liaiul and foot in one of their dwellings, while 
 a game at ball was played between two parlies, to detidi' which 
 should have the pleasiue of slaughtering him, and the honour of 
 iriviii" iIr' feast at whieh he was to be eaten. An Indian slave 
 liiid 1)1 1 II taken wilh him, and fniding nuaiis to escape before the 
 gaiiu' bi gan, eanu' we( ping to Sala/ar, and lamenting for tlu; fate 
 of his nuister. Salazar, who is introduced fo the reader as a per- 
 ^on of good life and conversation, remarkable f(tr strength and 
 eouiajic, and for his devotion to llu' blessed V ir^iii, rrsolved at once 
 sMi^K to ady* iiluie iiis lilV for the (U liverame of the pour \outh ; 
 ihoujjh the Indian thought the attempt so desperate, that lie refused 
 
 to 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 207 
 
 to guide him, till Salazar, by the tliieat of itnmecliatc death, com- 
 pelled his obedience. To the place accordingly tiiey went, and 
 Avhile the party were eagerly engaged in iheir game, Salazar entered 
 the dwelling unperceived, cut ihe cords with which Xuarez was 
 bound, and bidding him follow his example like a man, advanced 
 toward the Indians widi swoid atui buckler, and cut his way through 
 tlieni. They were about three hundred, but they were taken by 
 surprise ; the two Spaniards laid on manfully to right and left, 
 smiting them, for ' the love of charity,' with such hearty good-will, 
 that they cleared the way, and presently got to a safe distance on 
 their return. One of the aidian chiefs was badly wounded in this 
 attack, and this nian sent messenger to request that Salazar would 
 turn back, because he admired him, and wished to become ac- 
 cpiainted with so brave a man, and to do him any pleasure or service 
 in his power. The story would tell well in Homeric times, or in 
 chivalrous romance ; for Salazar at once declared that he would 
 accept the invitation. Xuarez, having before his eyes the fear of 
 that dinner, at which he was to have been the principal dish, be- 
 sought him on his knees, for the love of Ciod, to thmk better of 
 it, and not to tempt Providence, which had so woiulerfully pre- 
 served them thus far, — for it was not possible that they could 
 escape if they perilled themselves again, being no more than two 
 against so many. * Look you, Xuarez,' said Diego de Salazar, 
 * if it like you not to turn back with me, go your way in good 
 hour, as you can now safely : but 1 shall go see what these 
 Indians would have with me, for they shall never think that I am 
 afraid of them ! ' Xuarez was too honourable a youth to forsake 
 the nuui who had delivered him at such inmiinent risk of his t)wn 
 life, and, therefore, with better heart than inclmulion, turned biu:k 
 with him. 'Ihe chief, whom they found very ill-wounded, in- 
 quired Salazar's nam(>, and recpusted that he might be allowed 
 to take that name himself, in token of esteem and friendshij) ; the 
 permission was readily accorded, and innnediatc^ly his country- 
 men saluted him w ilh acelainations by his new nanu', as if he were 
 at the same tinu' invi-stid with the resolution and good fortune 
 which so rennirkably distinguished his nanu'sake. In finther 
 
 1)ledge and pro')f of the friendship thus gallantly contracted, the 
 ndian presented him with four slaves, and with ornaments, va- 
 luable in Sala/in's eyes as well as in his own, golil being the 
 nniterial of whirli they wei«' made ; and then the two Spaniards 
 took tliiir leave and returned in peace. 
 
 On which side the greater <iallantrv was shown in this siiiijular 
 advinture is a (|uesti(Mi worlliv to lia\e been dibated between 
 king Meliadus and the good knight situs jxioiir, or between (lyron 
 the Courteous and I'jcl Danavn. Yet will it be believeil, that 
 
 this 
 
203 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 this very Diego He Salazar, who adventured liis life so generously 
 for a countryman, who is extolled for the general benevolence of 
 his character, and for his especial devotion to the blessed V^irgin, 
 should have had no more compunction in setting dogs upon the 
 Indians, to devour them alive, than is felt by huntsmen when the 
 hare is found, and the hounds are laid on ! The fact appears in- 
 cidentally in an anecdote, which may place beast nature in a better 
 point of view than human nature. The hero of the story figures 
 in Captain Southey's history with great propriety among the con- 
 querors of Puerto Rico, for, though only a dog, the full pay of 
 a cross-bowman and half as much more was received by his 
 owner for his services, and he was thought to have done as much 
 towards what is called the pacification of that island, as a third of 
 all die Spaniards who were emi)loyed in it. IJezerrillo was his name: 
 it is somewhat remarkable, Uiat the most noted dog in history, and 
 the most famous horse should have derived their names, the one 
 from his likeness to a bull, the other to a calf. Bezerrillo was of 
 a reddish colour, with a black face, not large of his kind, nor 
 finely made, * but of great understanding and courage, and, in- 
 ileeil, what he did was such, that sans doubt the Christians be- 
 lieved God had sent him for their succour.' lie would ' select 
 among two hundred Indians one who had escaped from the Chris- 
 tians, or who shouht have been pointetl out to him, and would 
 SL'ize him by the arm, and make him come back with him to the 
 cani}>, or wherever the Christians might be ; and if lit; attempted 
 to resist, or \\ould not come, he tore liiin to pi»'ces, and iliil other 
 tilings which were very remarkable, and worthy of admiration.' 
 j\l niiihiight, if a prisoner got loose, and were a league distant, it 
 was but to say, * the Jntlian is gone,' or * fetch him/ and away lie- 
 zeirillo went upon the scent and brouglit him back. Tiie tame 
 Indians he knt;w as well as a man could know them, anil never 
 did them hurt, and among many tame ones, he coukl distinguish 
 one wild one. Jt s«.'emed as if he had the Judgment and intelligence 
 of a nian, and that nol of a foolish one.' 
 
 Salazar hail one dav taken an old Indian woman, amon"; other 
 prisoners, alter a defeat of the natives, and for no assigned, or 
 assignable reason, but in mere wantonness of cruelty, he deter- 
 mined to sit this dog upon the poor wretch. Hut it was to be 
 made a sport of, a spectacle lor tlir Spaniards, or the Christians, 
 as their contem|)orary historian and fellow-Chrislian calls them, 
 evtn winle he is relalnig this story. The reader will Judge what 
 llif state of natural and general feeling nnist have been, when a 
 man of his extraordiiiaiy acipiiit'ments and lalenls, and who gives 
 evident proofs in his book of a sincere religious belief, could relate 
 diese circumstances, without the slightest expression of horror, and, 
 
 undoubtedly, 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 209 
 
 neiously 
 
 leiice of 
 
 Virgin, 
 
 I poll tlio 
 vlien the 
 )eais iu- 
 
 a better 
 y tig u res 
 the con- 
 
 II pay of 
 I by his 
 as much 
 
 third of 
 lis name: 
 tory, and 
 
 the one 
 o was of 
 Lind, nor 
 and, in- 
 tians be- 
 ll * select 
 le Chris- 
 nd would 
 m to the 
 ilteiupted 
 did other 
 miration.' 
 distant, it 
 luvay lie- 
 I'lie tame 
 ind never 
 istinguish 
 Lclligencc 
 
 :mg other 
 igiu-d, or 
 ln'. dcter- 
 aas to be 
 hristians, 
 lis them, 
 ilge what 
 , when a 
 \lio gives 
 iild relate 
 iror, anil, 
 oubtedly, 
 
 undoubtedly, without the slightest feeling that there was anything 
 unusual, anything unfitting, still less, that there was anything 
 devilish and damnable related. Salazar gave the woman an old 
 letter, and told her to go with it to the governor at Aymaco. The 
 poor creature went her way joyfully, expecting to be set at liberty 
 when she had j)erfornied her errand. The intent was merely to 
 get her away from the rest, that the dog might have a fair field, 
 and the beholders a full sight. Accordingly, when she had pro- 
 ceeded little farther than a stone's throw, Bezerrillo was set at her! 
 Hearing him come, the woman threw herself on the ground; and 
 her simple faith in Salazar's intention, and in the animal's saga- 
 city, saved her ; for she held out the letter to the dog, and said, 
 * O sir dog, sir dog ! 1 am carrying a letter to the lord go- 
 vernor — don't hurt me, sir dog.' The dog seemed to understand 
 her; and did understand her, in fact, sufficiently to know' that she 
 did not look uj)on herself as a condemned person, and that she 
 implored his mercy : and he came up to her gently, and did her 
 no harm.*' 
 
 ' The Christians lipid tliis for a thing of much mystery, kno\nng the 
 fierceness of the fli)g, and the captain, also, seeing the clemency which 
 the (log had shown, ordered him to be tied up ; and they called back 
 the poor Indian woman, and she came back to the Christians in dismay, 
 tliiiikiug that they Ju^d sent the dog to bring her, and trembling with 
 fear, she sate herself down. And after a little while the governor 
 .luaa Ponec arrived, and being informed of what had hapi)eiied, he 
 would not be less compassionate with the woman than the dog had 
 been, and lie gave orders that she should be set at hberty, and allowed 
 to go whither she would ; and accordingly so it was done.' 
 
 Hczcnillo was shot M'ith a poisoned arrow by a Carib, when 
 swimming after an Indian. The Spaniards could not have suf- 
 fered a greater loss. He left a numerous progeny, who are said 
 lo have proved m>nj cxi'cUcnfcs porros, and many of them to have 
 imitated him in his gieat and good (pialities. Only one of them 
 obtained a name in history, and this was Leoncico ; he was as 
 good a dog as his sire, and received even larger pay, even the 
 double pay of a man at arms ; but in this, perhai)s, some little 
 favour may have been shown to his mast.r, Vasco Nunez de I'al- 
 boa, the well-known and ill-re(piiteil Spaniard, who lirst set 
 eyes upon the South Sea. Leoncico's shares of booty sometimes 
 amounlnl lo more than live hundred castcUanos : fcro era miiij 
 i'sj)i'(i<t!, 
 
 \\ hat Uezerrillo was among dogs in the conquest of Puerto 
 
 * F./ fifrro HI' jxiro mmn In oyo hnh/ar ; >/ iiiiiij iiiitiina sc llfi/n a iltii, y uizo una 
 })iirii(t, 11 la mei, vonio I'us prrrds lo siirlc/i Imzar vn una isquina, o i^iiando quicren 
 ori/itir, silt Ic /uizcr ningun mal, — Ovicdo, 11. 120. 
 
 VOL. xxwiii. NO. i.xw. 1' Rico, 
 
210 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 Rico, Salazar was among men. The first thin"; which the In- 
 dians endeavoured to ascertain when they intended or exi)ected an 
 attack was, wheUier Sahi/arwas wiUi the Spaniards; if he were, they 
 gave up all hope of success. So greatly did this opinion act upon 
 his own countrymen as well as the Indians, Uiat he was carried to 
 the field, when all strength and power of exertion were gone, and 
 he Mas dying piecemeal, by that dreadful disease which avenged 
 the Indians upon so many of their oppressors. * In truUi,' says 
 Oviedo, * he was a man to be thought much of; not only by 
 reason of his great strength and courage, but because he was 
 right courteous in all his doings, and well-bred, and a pirson to 
 be esteemed wherever there are men ; and every one praised him 
 for being singularly devoted to Our Lady. He died of that 
 terrible complaint which I have mentioned, having manifested 
 signal and patient repentance under his sutierings.' These men 
 did not account their injustice, their rapacity, and their cruelty 
 among their crimes! It is one great advantage to be deriveil from 
 perusing Uie original historians; of any age, that you learn from 
 them in what degree the spirit of the age operated upon the com- 
 munity : later writers are equally in danger of allowing too little 
 for it and too much ; but when any porti(*u of history has been 
 carefully and extensively examined, the just and natural effect of 
 such a course of reading should be to make us more tolerant con- 
 cerning individuals, anil less tolerant of those institutions and usages 
 which corrupt the dispositions and pervert the consciences of men. 
 There was another hero (a biped) among the conquerors of 
 Puerto Kico, who, like Salazar, was as remarkable for gallantry 
 and generosity as for bodily strength. Sebastian Alonso de Nie- 
 bla was his name — a labouring man — who, in Spain, hatl never 
 done any thing but follow the plough, and dig, anil perform other 
 such works of husbandry ; but he was bold, brave, active, robust, 
 and, moreover, a tractable person, and of good conversation, lie 
 proved an excellent soldier for the Indian wars, having a tact in 
 discovering paths and passes, Mhereby he was enableil to accom- 
 plish expeditions which others would have deemed it hopeless to 
 undertake. His bodily strength was such, Uiat no Indian could 
 escape from his grasj). This Sebastian was on ill terms with his 
 neighbour Martin de Guiluz, a Jiiscayan hithilgo, one of ti.-) chief 
 settlers in Puerto Rico. One day he was told that, in his lU igli- 
 bour's absence, the Caribs had laniled upon a farui of his, and 
 were driving away his cattle, and plundering it. Sebastian ex- 
 claimed, * (iod forbid it shoidd be said that, because I was on bad 
 terms with Martin ile (Juiluz, I sutleri'd his property to be 
 spoiled !' And calling incontinently lor his horsi', off he set to 
 the rescue, with only two or three negroes, and one Ciiristian, on 
 
 foot, 
 
Chronological Ilislonj of the IVvnt Indies. 
 
 o 
 
 Gil 
 
 1 ihc Iii- 
 
 )cclc{l an 
 k'ere, they 
 act upon 
 ;anit'd to 
 ;oiie, antl 
 I avenged 
 ith,' says 
 t only by 
 : he was 
 person to 
 liseil hnii 
 1 of that 
 laJiifested 
 hcse men 
 r cruelty 
 iveil tVoni 
 •arn from 
 the eom- 
 too little 
 lias been 
 I effect of 
 rant con- 
 ul usnges 
 i of men. 
 iierois of 
 galhmtiy 
 tie Nie- 
 arl never 
 rni other 
 , robust, 
 ;)n. lie 
 a tact in 
 
 accom- 
 peless to 
 an could 
 with his 
 ti.-; chief 
 is luigli- 
 
 liis, tnid 
 sti;ni ex- 
 s on bad 
 y to be 
 le set to 
 stian, on 
 foot. 
 
 fiiot, in iiis company. The spoil was presently recovered; but 
 Sebastian, coniidini-; in his prodigious strength, chose rather to take 
 prisoners, than to kill, sucli Caribs as he could close with. His 
 way was to seize one by the hair, and, standing in his stirrups, lift 
 him fronj the ground and deliver him over to the negroes to be 
 secured. He liad taken four in this manner; the fifth, Mhom he 
 seized and suspended in the air, stabbed him in the groin with a 
 poisoned arrow. Sebastian took vengeance for his inevitable death 
 by slaying him and some seven or eight others whom he overtook. 
 He lived long enough to see that his neighbour's property was 
 restored, and to dispose of the whole of his own in charitable and 
 pious works ; and he left behind him a name which, if the old vein 
 of Spanish verse liad iu)t been worn out, might have taken its place 
 with ' tlic Infantes of Lara,' and * My Cid the Cani|)eador.' 
 
 The Spaniards planted their own institutions in their conquests 
 as carefully as the Romans. They were, in that age, an indus- 
 trious and a splendid people ; and the city of St. Domingo is de- 
 scribed, a few years after its foundation, as being better built than 
 any city in Spain, Barcelona excepted. There is, j)robably, no 
 other instance in colonial history of so rapid a growth. Francisco 
 de (iaray was the first person who built a house there of stone, 
 after the Spanish plan; and it is said, that Charles \'. was often 
 lodged in worse houses dian might be foimd in this capital of the 
 Spanish Jndies. Its prosperity soon received a sudden check: the 
 ])rilliant success of Cortes attracted to the continent not only those 
 who had their fortunes to seek, but those also who might have been 
 w( II content (if rapacity and ambition could ever be contented) 
 with mIkU they had obtained; and, by the year 1.52.5, the jxipula- 
 tion of the city had visibly diminished. Tiie mistaken policy of 
 the home government inllicted upon it a more lasting evil — its 
 l)roliibili()u of all intercourse with Europt ans of any other nation 
 than their own, at once provoked and invited piracy. The enter- 
 prise and the cajntal which would have been engaged in fair mer- 
 ciMilik" aiKentures, had the way been open, took this injurious 
 direction, antl a predatory warfare was eonnnenceil by the 1m\ nch, 
 and pursiu'd by the r'.uglish ; and, long before the dreadful asso- 
 ciation of the JJuccaneeis was formed, the ports of the Spanish 
 colonics were inft sted by (Ui^niies, as daring as the Scandinavian 
 \ ikingr, and hardly le.ss ferocious. The first contjuerors fouiMlcd 
 their to\Mis where a harbour or a na\igable river afforded facili- 
 ties for connnunicating with Europe ; in the next generation, when 
 a new s< ttlenient was to be t'ornied, the Spaniards looked for a 
 situation which .should be out of reach of a maiitime enemy; and, 
 in the third, many sea-ports were abandonetl by order of the go- 
 vernment. IJy a system, as short-sighted as it was selfish, the 
 
 1' 'I colonists 
 
212 
 
 Chronological Iliatory of the West Indies. 
 
 ci)loiiists were first precluded from the socialising and humanising 
 effects of a liberal conunerce with other nations, and that prohibi- 
 tion placed them in a state of hostility with all. Tiiis ill effect, 
 also, followed — that, having no intercourse with any other country 
 than Spain, the Spanish Americans were shut out from all the 
 improvements which were going on in the rest of Kurope. 
 
 No sooner had the age of enterprise passed away for the Spa- 
 niards, than the English began their career of maritime adventure, 
 which at one time rendered their name as odious, and as deservedly 
 so, to the Spanish Americans, as that of the Spaniards themselves 
 was to the original natives of the land. Captain SouUiey enters into 
 the details of these expeditions with the spirit of an English sailor, 
 but with the feeling, also, of one who, living in happier days, has 
 been trained in a better school of humanity, and in a more gene- 
 rous system of warfare. lie follows Hawkins, Drake, Lancaster, 
 and the other adventurers of that stamp, as far as is consistent with 
 the limits of his subject : they were men in whom Rollo and Has- 
 tings might have recognised their true and undegenerate descend- 
 ants. Of these adventurers, Drake has the most conspicuous place 
 in popular obloquy abroad, and in popular renown at home, as 
 well as in maritime history ; but the person who made the greatest 
 and most persevering efforts for breaking the power of Spain was 
 the Earl of Cumberland : — 
 
 ' If,' says his chaplain, ' men will take into consideration his Lord- 
 ship's expenses in his several jouruies, his prosperous attempts in some 
 of them, his breeding and employing men of worth and action, the many 
 and great spoils committed upon the enemy, and the riches won from 
 tlieni, they will find his Lordship underwent about half the burden of 
 the wars at sea ; and that, the Queen's actions excepted (and not many 
 of them to be excepted), his employments, charges, spoils, and profits, 
 (lid equal, or rather exceed, all other private actions undertaken and 
 performed by all the rest of her subjects during these wars.' 
 
 Elizabeth, who had every other quality that becomes a queen, 
 was w anting in generosity : therein she inherited the temper of the 
 iirst Tudor, not of her father. Relying confidently upon her 
 people's love, she did not rely upon their liberality so much as she 
 was entitled to do anil might have done ; and, when the Earl of 
 Cumberland end)arked his proj)erty and person, she would not 
 faiily risk her ships, in the fear of incurring expense. I'pon his 
 fifth voyage, ' the Earl having many times heretofore (says his chaplain) 
 had the choice of such of her Majesty's ships as should be fitting for 
 the performance of his intended vovages (though undertaken upon his 
 own adventure), finding that her iVIajesty's pr()hii)ition, in no wise to 
 lay an enemy's ship aboard with any of them, lest that both together 
 miglit come to be destroyed by fire, did bring with it much ineonve- 
 jiieuoe, in regard tliat he liad observed and found, by experience, that 
 
 the 
 
 i 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 213 
 
 ininnising 
 t piohibi- 
 ill effect, 
 r country 
 tn all the 
 e. 
 
 the Spa- 
 dveiitiue, 
 leservcdly 
 leinselves 
 liters into 
 ish sailor, 
 da}s, has 
 lore gcne- 
 iancaster, 
 stent with 
 and Has- 
 
 descend- 
 lous phice 
 home, as 
 e greatest 
 •pain was 
 
 his Lord- 
 ts in some 
 , the many 
 won from 
 burden of 
 [ not many 
 nd profits, 
 taken and 
 
 a queen, 
 per of the 
 upon her 
 ich as she 
 le Marl of 
 vould not 
 L'pon his 
 
 chaplain) 
 fitting for 
 1 upon his 
 lo wise to 
 1 together 
 
 inconve- 
 
 ience, tliat 
 
 the 
 
 the great and rich ships and carracks had taken to them more boldness 
 and courage of resistance tlian accustomed — who, heretofore, upon the 
 discharge of tlie first tyre of onhnancc, did usually strike sail and yield 
 — so as if lie shoukl encounter the said ships again his Lordship should 
 be enforced to transgress her Majesty's command, or else to lose so 
 great a purcliase (by good fortune fallen into his hands), to his great 
 grief and scorn ; these things considered, liis Lordship rather made 
 election to refuse her Majesty's ships, and to seek forth, amongst the 
 merchants and owners, some ships of Avar of the best choice for his hire 
 and wages.' 
 
 Tliis is a curious fact in the naval history of England, that our 
 ships should ever have been forbidden to lay an enemy aboard ! 
 The E;ul, rather than be fettered by such a prohibition, built for 
 himself a ship of nine hundred tons at Deptford, * who, for her 
 greatness and goodness, was the best shi}) that was ever before 
 built or employed by any subject.' The Queen was at her launch- 
 ing, and named her the Scourge of Malice. Elizabeth was, in- 
 deed, well pleased to encourage such a spirit — too much in that 
 temj)er which lets the free horse work itself to death. Anil of this 
 the i'^arl complained : * I have been,' he says, in a narrative ad- 
 dressed to his sister, * only a lire-maker for otlicrs to warm them- 
 selves at, when 1 was thrust out of doors to blow my fingers in 
 the cold : and I think was born, like Wat of Greenwich, to die car- 
 rying the coal basket.' 
 
 I'ew enterprises, even In that age, were more boldly undertaken, 
 or more successfully achieved, than the attack which this Earl 
 made upon Puerto Kico, in his twelfth voyage. He describes 
 the city as ' in circuit not so big as Oxford, but very much bigger 
 than I'oitsmouth, with the fortifications, and in my sight, much 
 fairer, whatsoever you respect.' Ati amusing example occurs in 
 his Chaplain Aglionby's account of the different light in which 
 oppt)site parties regard the same circumstance: speaking of the 
 w ay wiiich the Earl resolved to take when he proceeded to attack 
 the town, he says, ' truly it was God that put this constancy of 
 resuhilion into his mind, for he was not without apprehension of the 
 dirticultii's ; but this proved the very best course, insonmch that 
 I have heard the Spaniarils say, that except the devil had led us, wc 
 could ne\er have found that way.' If Cumberland could have 
 kept the island, as it was his intenti(jn to do, and an eflicient 
 government had been established there, (as it probably would, 
 when English statesmen were forming colonial projects, and look- 
 ing even as far as Madagascar,) many of the crimes and miseries 
 of which these islands, during the next hundred years, were destined 
 to become the theatre, might have been averted, lint the climate, 
 which has ever proved more destructive to the English than to 
 
 the 
 
I 
 
 o 
 
 14 
 
 Chronological IJistury of the West Indies. 
 
 the French or Spaniards, cut oil', in tlic course of a few weeks, 
 four hunched of liis men, and disabled so many more, that it made 
 it necessary for him to abandon his conquest. In twelve siu;h 
 expeditions he impaired his princely fortune, and past what should 
 liave been the best and happiest years of his life. Jiut he had 
 inherited the old, restle.->s, unconquerable high spirit of the 
 Clirtbi'ds, and, though ileeming himself ill-recpiited for his services, 
 looked with satisfaction upon the part Mhicli he had chosen, and 
 believed that he had spent his life worthily and well. * Disgraces,' 
 said he, * have been too heavily laid upon me, and, perhaps, Mould 
 have discouraged many from farther endeavouring ; yet shall it, 
 whilst 1 live, glad my heart, knowing that 1 have done unto her 
 ^lajesty an excellent service, and discharged that tlnty Avhich I 
 owe inito my country so far as that, whensoever (iiod shall call me 
 out of this wretched Morld, 1 shall die with assurance that 1 have 
 discharged a good j)art 1 was born for.' 
 
 ^\ hen Daniel addrest that line epistle to the widow, this l^arl's 
 wife, he had probably the course of his restless and undonusti. 
 life in nund. The following lines seem plainly to have this 
 reference, in which h<^ reminds her how well she understands, — 
 
 ' • that imlcss a1)ove himself lie can 
 
 Erect liimself, liow poor a thing is man ! 
 
 And how tunnoiled tliey are that level lie 
 
 AVitli earth, and cannot lift themselves from thence; 
 
 That never are at peace with their desires, 
 
 But work heyond their years ; and even deny 
 
 Potage her rest, and hardly will dispense 
 
 Witli deatli. Tiiit when al)ility expires, 
 
 Desire lives sti'l, — so much delight they have 
 
 To carry toil and travel to the grave. 
 
 Whose ends you see, and what can he the best 
 
 Tlu'y rea'-h unto, wlien they have cast tlie sum 
 
 And reck<jniiigs of tlieir glory. And you know 
 
 I'his floating life hatli luit this port of rest, 
 
 A heart prrjxired, that fears no ills to come ; 
 
 And that man's greatness rests but in his show, 
 
 1'lie best of all whose days consumed arc 
 
 Either in war, or peace, conceiving war.' 
 
 James's pacific system of policy put an end, u- 
 system of warfare from the barl)ari/ing cfV ; i ■ 
 Spanish colonies never recovered. In his iv-igu 
 Sonurs took possession of the IJernniihis, gave his own name to 
 them, and died there t>f a <leath which he might have escaped had 
 he been either Jew or Mahomedan, — for Captain Southey fells 
 u^ -t WHS *' a surfeit after eating pork.' Tive of the .settlers, be- 
 
 •' ume, to a 
 ' ' ich the 
 Sn- Ueorjrc 
 
 coiumg 
 
 i 
 
and 
 
 tiK 
 
 C'hronohtgicid IJistory oj'tliu IVest Indies. 
 
 '215 
 
 con)ing impatient of that tyrannical al)iisc of power vliich has 
 been tlie curse of all niotlern colonies in their infancy, and too 
 often throuj^liont their };ii)\\ili, built a decketl boat of two or three 
 tons, under pretence thai it was for iishinj; in rouf>h weather ; in 
 this they jnade sail for l^nglaml, and though plundered on the 
 way by a J'rc iich picaroon, who * lell dieni without a cross staff 
 to observe,' they were fortunalf enough to arrive safe in Inland. 
 The liarl of Thoniond lionourabl> entertained them there, * and 
 caused the boat to be hung up for a monument; and well she 
 might, for she had sailed iiKjre than three thousand three hundred 
 miU^s, in a right line, Uirough the main sea.' One of the crew was 
 born under a lucky planet ; after this marvellous escape he went 
 lo the J'.ast Indies, and there, for three or four shillings, bought 
 I'l old chest; after a while, not liking his bargain, he broke it up, 
 and found concealed in it a thousand gold pieces, with which he 
 returned to England, and purchased an estate. Whether he was 
 ever disturbed in the enjoyment of it, by a visit from the land of 
 spirits, is not related, — but the ghost of the hoardiM-, if he had any 
 regard for his heirs, was certainly in duty bound to walk. 
 
 Thus far in his history Captain Southey has found /ich materials 
 in the early Spanish historians, and in Hakluyt and J'urchas; not, 
 however, neglecting other sources, for he has seai lied widely, 
 and compiled diligently. Tor the next period his auihorities are 
 chiefly French. P. V. Jean Baptiste Du Tertre is the first of 
 these in order of time, a Donnnican Missionary in tlie French 
 islands. His work consists of four volumes, in small t.uarto, the 
 two llrst pultlisheil in 1(J()7, the two latter in l(i71. It i> a woeful 
 falling oti' in American history when the Si)anish relations end, 
 and those of any other nations, iMench, English, or Dutch, begin! 
 I'he maimer as well as the subject sinks at once. In passing 
 even from l^iiichas to Du Tertre there is a loss; for th'ie is a 
 ipiaintness, and liveliness, and frequently a poetical feelin_ in old 
 Purchas, who loved a pun as dearly as Fuller, and Cotton Mather, 
 and Achniral Burney. Nevertheless Du Tertre is an authentic and 
 valuabk: writ(>r, who has preserved many original papcr^, and 
 given a full and faithful account of the French colonies in their 
 miseral'ic beginnings. Our own began at the same time, in these 
 islands, and their beginning was not better. Milton conij ared 
 the wars of our Saxon ancestors, during the Heptarchy, t ■ the 
 battles of kites and crows ; if he had referred to the early one s of 
 the I'rench and i',nglish, in this part of the world, he must have 
 fomid some comparison that would have represented contests less 
 noble and nunc ferocious. jXdventurers of the two nations settled 
 upon St. Kitts, so nearly at the same time, that if occupancy of an 
 island, on which there were native inhabitants, might be admitted 
 
 to 
 
eiG 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 to confer a right of possession, it voukl be difficult to dctermiiic 
 in which that right was vested. Mr., afterwards Sir Tlionias 
 Warner, was the J .nglish commander, M. D'lMiambuc, the 
 French one ; they stood in need of each other's aid against tlie 
 natives, who not having invited such visiters, and being perfectly 
 aware that no better treatment was to be expected from them 
 than the Indians had experienced in those other islands from 
 uliich the race had been extirpated, formed a secret confedi racy 
 against them with the neighbouring islanders. The plot, as so 
 many others of the same kind hail been, was revealeil by an 
 Indian woman; the luiropeans lost no time in prevention, but 
 fell upon the natives that night, and killed (»ne hundred and 
 twenty of them, reserving only some of the women for slaves. 
 They prepared then for the conceali'd invasion at the next full 
 moon, and losing an hundred men themselves, who were wounded 
 uith poisoned arrows, defeated the Caribs, with the loss of two 
 thousand. ' The bodies were piled u|) in a s(iuare mounil.' 
 A\ arner and iJ'Enumbuc then divided the island between them ; 
 and both went to J'.urope for reinforcements. J)'Knambuc 
 sailed from France with three vessels, and more than live hundred 
 men. The ships were badly equipped, they were ten weeks 
 upon the passage, and never since the islands were discovered has 
 there been, beft>re or since, so miserable a vo>age. Of seventy 
 men, who were embarked in one of the ships, only sixteen sur- 
 vi\ed when they riaclud their destination; the rest were in such 
 a condition that more than half of those who landfd died in the 
 coursi' of a few d;i\s. Warner li:ul arrived not long before, with 
 foiu liundrt'd men, well provided, and in gooil health, and lie 
 rcciived liis allies villi hospitality and ( liaritable kindness. 
 
 'I'he J rencli appear to have been singulaily (lelleienl in their 
 arrangt'UU'Uls for bringing out colonists, and pro\iiliiig either lor 
 tluir subsistence, or health up(»n the vo\age. In the eirsuing \ear, 
 one hundred and i\([\ nun wtre sent out in one ship, th<- greater 
 pait died on the way, and the survivors were helpless when tlie> 
 were lanih'd. A moic miserable fate befell pait of another delat h- 
 iiient who » aine out the same year: one hmidred and twent\ iiad 
 sailed fioni I'rance ; thirty ol' these j)oor wretches reaelu d St. 
 kitts in sn(h a state thai they were not able to move wIk n thev 
 were landed. Their connades, with a recklessness wliieli is but 
 too (haracterislic of that people, hit them tlieic, taking no finlher 
 thought lor tin ni ; and jk rsmnii' tie s'(s(<iiil mis en jxiur tlr lis 
 all( r (jnirir Ir siilr, the land-crabs came down at night, and de- 
 vciiied tin m aliv»! Tin y ciune in su( h niiinbtr, as to stand in 
 heaps upon tin bodies, ;is high as tin- huts of the settlirs: • J/iilf 
 jours njtris i( u'lj cut jx rsonne qui nc fnl suisi {Vlntnvur vn loi/ant 
 
 li II la 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
Chronological History of the IVest Indies. 
 
 217 
 
 jc, the 
 
 hurs nit siir h; sable, ieUement nets, que les crnbbcs n'y avoient pas 
 Itiissd iin sevl morceau de chair ! ' 
 
 It was not likely that the Fiencli and Engllsli .should loiijj; coii- 
 tiniu' to iuiiabit the same little island in peace. The Englisli vere 
 th<! more numerous, but they veie regarded uith great contempt by 
 their less iiulustrious neighbours, as chiefly consisting of male and 
 fenude servants, bound for seven years, fitter, says Du Tertre, to 
 Meed gardens, to clean cotton, and to tie up tobacco, than to 
 handle arms. The Friar Predicant had forgotten that cultivation 
 was the pro})er business of a colonist, and that these were the ser- 
 vices for which they were brought out. 'The French always went 
 arnu'd with four or live pistols, and a fusee, and spread such terror 
 among their more industrious and prosperous neighbours, that they 
 declared they would rather have two devils than one Frenchman 
 for a neighbour.' In such circumstances, to be weak, is inde(>d to 
 be miserable. There was a dispute concerning the bouncUiry, the 
 line of which was to be drawn from a large lig-lree to the moun- 
 tain : of all landmarks a worse could not have been chosen, for 
 tiu' branches of this tree take root till one single tree becomes a 
 grove. This unhappy huuhnark continually extenikd itself on the 
 i'lt nch side, and the English were so unwise as to alter their 
 reckoning as it grew, ' still drawing their line from its western ex- 
 tremity.' 'J'hey connnitted the greater folly of building upon this 
 d('l)aleabl(> ground, so that they had two hundred and iifty houses 
 within what would have been the acknowledged French limits, if 
 the line had been drawn from a fixed jioint. No lawyer could 
 liav(; pleaded in their behalf, unless he thought himself Justilied in 
 defending any cause, howiver [)alpably unjust. JJiit I )'EiiamI)Uc 
 took the shortest iourse of redress; and, as soon as he had received 
 surticient reinforcements for tnabling him to dictate the law, en- 
 forced his rights at once by the iilllind rafio. lie s( nt some live 
 hinidred negroes, undn I'rench oHiceis, round b\ the mountain to 
 suipiise the Firj^li^h, set lire to their houses, and put the inhabi- 
 tants to the sword, \^llile he attacked lh< in on the other side. 'J'h(^ 
 negroes W(M"e to be rewarded w illi their tVeedoni, if they performed 
 thi.i s«'r\ice well. Tluy were arnud with a torch in one hand, and 
 a cutlass in the other. They looked terrible as demon<<', sa\s Du 
 Teitie,with their glilti ring <nthi>.se> and their bla/iiig llambiaiis: 
 but, in the >aine bieath, the n\ereii(l I iiar tells us, that the(';ipu- 
 <'hines would ivit abaiulon their dear lloi k ; they inarched with llu> 
 troops, one (aii\iiig a great cross, and others aiiinialing them to 
 ligiil l)ia\el\ against the heretii's, who luited llieiii (inly out of anti- 
 paths lo till ir religion ! 
 
 The I'aiglish, ;ie( ordiiig t<» the IK nch account, would not |ia\e 
 submitted, as they did, to let i) T.nambuc draw his own line of 
 
 sej»aralion, 
 
118 
 
 Chronological History of the Went Indies, 
 
 separation, and take in more than he had pretended to claim, if 
 the crie.s of women, and the (head of the negroes, had not com- 
 pelled them to accept of peace upon any terms. But the English 
 statement is, that the negroes obeyed their instructions, and that 
 women and young girls were seized, dragged into the Trench quar- 
 ters, and there violatetl. Father Du Tertre, being professionally ac- 
 (juainted with all the gradations and (puditications of wickedness, 
 eiideavoius to divide the sin which followed between both j)artieH. 
 Union being restored, he says, the French and English began to 
 lrad(> together again, to intervisit, and conununicate so familiarly, 
 that our French, who had at that time very fe\\ women in their 
 (piarters, carried thither freely the women of the English. ' On a 
 pdrli' fort diffi'rvmment dc cc dctestaldc. commerce' Some atlirm 
 that the French em|)l(t\r(l violence; that they went armed to carry 
 oil the wives and ilaiigliters of their neighbours, and sent them 
 back when they had satiated their brutal passions. Others, says 
 the Friar, have assured me, that tlu' F^nglish were so base as te let 
 out their wi\es and wf)nu'n servants, for a good meal, or for a price 
 in goods; my own opinion is, that there was as niuch fault on 
 one side as on the t)tlier ; the ardeni disposition of the F'rench 
 made them son^times use force, but the scandalous lubricity of 
 the Fjigli>h wonun was the ])rincipal cause of this irregularity: 
 they canu' with effrontery to the iMench, and, after remaining some 
 fortnight or three weeks with the orticer, returned honu; with impu- 
 nity, impiulenlly declaring that their husbands were nuan fellows, 
 and would be too liapp\ to n cciN*' them again, without daring to 
 reproach them. 'I hat morals were in llu' worst slatt; among the 
 English settlers, maybe believed, — indeed, they wer»' so bad, that 
 they pre\enl(il an English clerg\man, who wint to the island with 
 till' intention of settling, fiom n maiuing theie. I>ut Father Du 
 Tcitre has himself prcMluctd a sutlicic ut relutation of his own toul 
 slandir. These dis»>rders, lie sa\s, would undoubtedly have 
 lir<uight on another war, if i)'Fuand>uc, on the rt presentations of 
 the Capuehiues, to whom the liuglish complained, had not for- 
 biddrn any i'reuchman to sei^e or detain an Eiigbsh woman in his 
 house, on pain of d* ath. 
 
 setlU'iucnts ni I luadalounc wit 
 Ikieheliiu procuud a l)ri( f 
 pope I rbau \ III. to ,uitli(u i-^i this » xpt dition : thus tacitly revok- 
 ing that part of pope Alexander's famous bull which assigned the 
 \\li<»le ol these regions to llu' S|(ani^li crow n, and cxcoiminmicated 
 all mtiilopeis. I'wt'uU-fiNe lumdred srtlUrs were taken (Ult ; in 
 less than two mouths iIkn wt re put upon short allowiuice : their 
 Hour was consumed, and more than half died. Jnsullicient n li( f 
 was obtained from St. Kilts. 
 
 ' The 
 
 Tilt' i rent 1 1 connnt nceil their sett lemtiits in (iuadalt>unt> with the 
 sauK' kinti ol improsiilt iie«'. Ikichelitu prticuud a l)ri( f lioin 
 
 i 
 
Chronologiml History of the West Indies. 
 
 219 
 
 Tl 
 
 10 
 
 ' The allowance Avas now five ounces of dough every clay, hut this 
 was not served out till after mid-day ; they were to work till then 
 btfore it was distril)uted. Some souglit refuge among the savages, 
 who received them with great kindness ; those who remained devoured 
 the most loathsome substances — the surgeons' ointments ; their own 
 hrlts hoilcd down to a glue ; excrement ; and the graves were in. the 
 morning found open, and the carcases dismembered ; others desperately 
 sought death, rather than endure their misery. One who had l)een 
 twice burnt on tlie shoulders witli the fleur-de-lis, and reprieved 
 from tlu! gallows i)y the intercession of Father Raymond, i)referred 
 stealing a fifth time that he might be promptly hung, to living any 
 longer exposed to such insupportable famine.' — vol. i., pp. 274, 275. 
 
 Five years later Da Tertre fonnecl j)art of the spiritual succours 
 who were sent lo this ishuul : all the insolvent debtors of St. Kitts 
 liati been a little before deeUued frei- from their engagements, ou 
 condition of going to serve there against the Caribs, and three- 
 fourths of them had died in consequence of the climate, dtrstitu- 
 tion, and despair. J-)u Tertre found about an hundred of these 
 >vi etched men in the house of their conunander, l}ing on the 
 ground, or, those Nvlio were best acconnnoilated, uj)on some 
 reeds — many of them in the last stage of disease, in tilth inde- 
 scribable, and without assistance froui any one. * I had hardly 
 linishccl with one,' says he, * when 1 was obliged to hurry to 
 another. Sometimes when 1 was burying one, rolled up in banana 
 leaves (for there was no talking t)f a winding-sheet then), I heard 
 nothing from all ))arts of the house but il}ing voices, which said, 
 " Slay a nK)n\ent, father — do not lill u[) the grave; you will not 
 have more Ironble for two or three than for one ;" anil for the most 
 part so it provt <l, for I connnonly l)urieil two or three in the same 
 •irave! ' The histurv is an unrtliexcd scries «)f miserit's and crimes. 
 Jhe I'rench govennncnl, at a tinu' wlun it ciuh avoured to lay the 
 moral and religions foimdalions of society, accorilmg to its own 
 views, carcfullv, and il may evi n b<; said conscientiously, in Ca- 
 nada, allowed its sclilinnnts in the West Indies to i)e managed 
 In any men, in any maniu r, and supported by any means. J'rom 
 l)u 'rertri!'is accrumt of tluse settlements it is that S(»uthern h;is 
 tirawn his picture of cn|oni:d society in the (rageil\ (»f Orooncdvo. 
 Ddlcient as was the condilittu oi the I'^urope.m settlers, the free 
 Caribs, and lht> negro sla\cs -while, copper-eoldiucd, and black 
 wen; subject to llic >nmv capru-esof absolule and insolent tyramiy. 
 We n ad ol' nuiid( rs, domestic as>assinalioiis, ami executions with 
 or withoiil tlu loini of law, and sonuitimcs almost without the 
 pretext of a crnne. The Caribs were esterminaled from most of 
 tlic islands b\ a merciless system of warfare, in which, when other 
 means of destruction aeenied loo slow, poison was employed. The 
 
 peoj)le 
 
 i 
 
> 
 
 220 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 people appear to liave been as bad as their ruler; their treat- 
 ment of the engage's, or bond-servants, Mas indeed so inhuman, 
 that even such governors found it necessary to interfere ; and 
 some masters were, for their notorious cruelty, prohibited from 
 purchasing the services of the poor wretches who had been en- 
 trapped from their own country. ' I knew one person at Guada- 
 loupe,' says Dii 'IVrtre, * who buried more than fifty upon his 
 plantation, whom he had killed by hard work, or by neglect when 
 they were sick. This cruelty proceeded from their having them 
 for thiec years only, which made them spare the negroes rather 
 than these poor creatures.' 
 
 A set of freebooters, many of whom were the outcasts wf these 
 outcasts, the outlaws of this lawless society, desperadoes who could 
 live in no country where there were gibbets or wheels, had taken 
 possession ofTortuga, expelling from thence a handful of Spaniards 
 who had been placed there to garrison it, and considered themselves 
 as in a kinil of banishment from which they rejoiced to be thus set 
 free. A colony grew up thus, composed of four sorts of persons, 
 bueraneers, wlio employed themselves in hunting ; freebooters, or 
 pirates, who phinilered by sea; the inhabitants, who cultivated the 
 ground — some of whom raised tobacco; aiul bond-servants, a class 
 of pel sons lor whom, in latter times, the barbarous appellation of 
 Jivdnnpdiiucrs has been used. They lived together upon very 
 good terms, under a soit of democratic government, which Cai)tain 
 Southey happily describes as one wherein * every free person had 
 despotic power in his lious(\ and every capti.iu on bonrd his vessel.' 
 Altera feu years, the Spaniards of St. Domingo, disliking this 
 neiglil)()urlioo{|, and anntned by those buccanet is, who were leail- 
 ing a w«)rse than savage life in St. Domingo itsell", hoped to rid 
 theins(>lves of the lalttr by taking Tortuga, which they looked ujxm 
 as th( irnest. 'J'imiiig their ( xpedilion well, when the freebooters 
 were at sea, and the himteis had crossed to the larger island, they 
 made tluir attack, put to the sword all whom they could seize, 
 ami hung thos(^ who suriendeK(l in vain hope of nu-rcy. Then 
 they altt liipled to clear St. Domingo ot its unwelcome \isiters: these 
 rutlians, limling tht insehes hotly pursued, chose an I'.nglisliman, 
 by name \N illis, for their ( aptaiii, and he took possession again of 
 'I'oitMga. There were aliont three linndied ii(l\entureis with him ; 
 the i'rench aei ust d him of being jtartial to his eountiyineii, and 
 lindiug themselves tt)o weak to set liiin asidi- and to appoint another 
 captain in St. Kitts, a|>plii (I to the i'rench govi-rnor-general at St. 
 Kills to aid tli( 111. A(»oi(lingly a liiigiieiiot, whose name v\as 
 J-e \ ;iss( Ml, n ceived a coiiimissioii as go\eriior ol Ttuliiga, with 
 orders to expel tin- English — which he had no dillienlly in doing; 
 for, as soon as he laiuh'd, the I'reneli in W illis's company revolted. 
 
 Willis, 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies, 
 
 221 
 
 Willis, in conseqiiouce, consented to withdraw inniiediately with 
 all his countrymen, and J^c Vasseur established himself in the 
 island. 
 
 * At five or six hnmlrcfl paces from the sea, there Is a mountain, 
 the summit of which is level, and in the centre of this platform a rock 
 rises thirty-feet high, and steep all round ; at the foot of this rock 
 issues a clear spring of sv/eet water, of the size of a man's arm, which 
 spring could not be cut oif. Round the summit of the mountain, Le 
 Vasseur made a terrace, with lodging -rooms for four hinidrcd soldiers, 
 and he had stejis cut half-way up the rock, that rose in the middle of 
 the platform, and an inm ladder to moiuit tiie rest, which ladder was 
 drawn up when the governor retired to tiie rock; he had also a tunnel 
 cut, hy which, with a rope ladder, they nn'ght descend to t'le i)latform. 
 Tpon this rock Le Vasseur had his magazine, and several pieces of 
 camion, and upon the platform a great numl)er more. 
 
 ' He soon cstal>lished good order in the colony. The Buccaneers 
 Avere received with attention, and the freeijooters brought their prizes 
 there, and got their commissions from the governor, hy paying a tenth 
 of their profits : these plundered the Spaniards both by sea and land; 
 and the Spainards, in return, put them to cruel deaths, whenever they 
 caught tliem. The port was open to all nations, aufl it became the 
 dejjut from whence tlie Buccaneers and freebooters got their arms, 
 annnunition, brandy, and clothes, in exchange for their hides and fish.' 
 —vol. i., pp. L\S7, 2SS. 
 
 Le Vasseur obtained great reputation by defeating the Spaniards 
 in a formidable attack which they juade upon the island. Some 
 proof of ability, also, he gave in baftiing a scheme which the 
 go\ernor-gencral had laid for entrapping liim to St. Kitts, and 
 then dispossessing him of his coninunid — j)arlly for jealousy, and 
 partly in fear t)f being reprimanded for having given such a com- 
 mission to a Huguenot, and by a secret article granted liberty of 
 conscience to him and all of his persuasion. 15ut this treatment 
 provoked Le \ asseur to exercise intolerance toward an intolerant 
 religion; he burnt the lloniish chapel, and shipped olVa capuchin, 
 who was the only Uomish priest upon the island, 'ihcn, also, he 
 began to play the (\rant: and, in tlu> worst mood of tyramiy, to be 
 niirthfid in his cruelties. A dungeon in the fort he called his 
 |nn'gatoi\ ,and he had an iron cap made which he called his hell, into 
 whith he put the (liminal's head, arms, and legs, and thus ke[)t 
 iiim constantly bent. Ilillieilo hi' had manifchted no disobedience 
 tf) the governor-gi'ueral ; but, having taken a silver image of the 
 A irgin in a Spanish vess«d, the governor applied for it, sayiiig, that 
 it would more properly be in possession of a lionian Cathohc and 
 a knight of Malta ihan of a Huguenot : J^e \ asseur sent him a 
 copy in wood, saying, he admirjd the workmanship of the original 
 too nmcli to part with ii, and thai the Komun Catholics wire too 
 
 spiritual 
 
 J 
 
f 
 
 nnn 
 
 Chronological Hidory of the West Indies. 
 
 spiritnul to re<var(l the nialerials of whicli tlieir IniagL's were made. 
 'I'lie eoiicliisioii of this man's hi.storv is characteristic of the state 
 of niaiiiiers and morals. I'eiiiy unmarried, and without ehihhen, 
 he adopted two nepliews and named them as his lieirs. Thibault, 
 the one, had a liandsome woman for his mistress : Le V^asseur was 
 not too ohl to ri\al his nephew in this woman's favour. The in- 
 trij^ue was iliseovered, anil Thibault consulted with iNfartin his 
 brother iiow to be revenged. Murder was so little regarded in their 
 accursed state of soci(4y, that they maile no attempt to conceal 
 their venf>eanc(>, but e\«cuted it openly : the one brother tiring at 
 liiiii, and the other despatching him with a dagger. Tluy then 
 took possession of the government. An expedition soon arrived 
 which had been sent from St. Kitts against the uncle ; and the two 
 assassins, linding themselves unsup})orted by the people, surren- 
 dered, on condition of indemnity, and security for their property. 
 Attempting afterwards to recover the islaiul from the Spaniards, 
 who had again taken it, they were lost at sea, Avith some tinee 
 hundred followers ; most, or all of theuj, m) doubt well nigh as 
 deserving as themselves of a drier death. 
 
 Yet, from such men and such beginnings the French colojiy of 
 St. Domingo arose ; in its conunencement, perhaps, the most 
 llagitions of all these colonies ; in its prosperity certainly the most 
 lionrishing ; and in its catastrophe, it may be hoped, the most dis- 
 astrous. Hut even tlu; buccaneers, wicked and inhuman above all 
 men as they were, laid the same kind of unction to their souls as 
 the Spaniards had done, and persuaded themselves that, in llnMr 
 career of cruelty, they were exacting vengeance lor the wrongs of 
 the Indians. 'J'his is curiously shown in the engraved title-page 
 to their history, in the original Dutch; on the one side, a Spaniard 
 is represented treading on an Indian, on the othi r, a buccaneer 
 treading on a Spaniard ; Innorrntor is written under the lirst com- 
 jtartment — Pro pcccafis under the other. 
 
 'Ihe Sj)ani ils, after keepitig possessirm of "^Portnga about 
 eighteen montris, blew up the fort, burnt all the buildings, laid the 
 plantations waste, and withdrew their garrison, in conse([uence ol 
 the alarm occasioned in St. Domingo by the appearance of an 
 I'lnglish ll»'( t. This was the e\|>editi(>n iindt i Peini and V'eiiables 
 vvliu h Cromwell had sent out : it failed disgracefully in it,^ main 
 object; the Spaniards routed half the army before the rest c(»mI<I 
 tome up, sliw six hundred, droM' two hundred more into iIk 
 Woods, wiiere they wire hunted down and slaughtered bv the ne- 
 groes, and wounded \hvvv hundrrd, most of them in the back- 
 so shameful was the panic. General Haines, endeavoming in vain 
 to rally his men, begged for (Jod's sake that only ten would slay 
 by him and make a stand — but not one was found; andlie, pre- 
 
 feiring 
 
 'i 
 
 I 
 
Clu'onohgiml History of the West Indies. 
 
 
 ferring dcalli to disgiiice, fell like a brave man, soiling his life 
 dearly. V enables inij)utcd this villainous behaviour not to the 
 men who were brought from England, some three thousand in 
 number, but to the live thousand adventurers whom he eollected 
 from liarbadoes and St. Kitts ; and who, he says, were * found 
 most f(,arful, being oidy bold to do mischief; not to be commanded 
 as soldiers, not to be kept in any civil order, being the most pro- 
 fane, debauched persons that he ever saw — scorners of religion, 
 and, indeeil, so loose as not to be kept under discipline, and so 
 cowartlly as not to be made to tight ; so that, had we known what 
 they would have proved, we should rather have chose to have gone 
 ourselves, as we came from England, than to have such for cm- 
 assistants, who, we fear, with some others put upon us in England, 
 have drawn heavy afllictions upon us, dishonour upon our nation 
 and religion.' It is said that the Spaniards, by whom they were 
 thus scandalously routed, did not exceed iifty men, exchisive of 
 negroes and nudattoes, and, by this handful of enemies, seven iMig- 
 lish colours were carried to the city of St. Domingo as sure tro- 
 j)hies of victory. Another extraordinary memorial of the preserva- 
 tion of the island, at that time, was preserved in the cathedral there 
 till our own days. The troops were so thoroughly intimiilated that, 
 when they were seeking food, the very aj)preliensioii of an enemy 
 put them to tlight ; * and, at some times, when neither men nor 
 beasts Mere near, only the leaves of trees making some little noise, 
 and the sound of crabs stirritig in the woods, possessed thent with 
 such eminent f« ars, that they, leaving their weapons behind, ran 
 over clefts into the sea.' 'J'he Spaniards, retaining only traditio)ud 
 accounts of ihe expedition, believe that the clattering of the land- 
 crabs, over the dry leaves, was mistaken by the JMiglish for the 
 march of cavalry, and that, under that belief, they hastily re-em- 
 barked, and abandoned dieir disastrous entt>rprise. In remem- 
 brance of this they had the image of a land-crab wrought in solid 
 gold, the M/.e of a drum-heatl, and appointed an anniversary 
 festival, on which day the crab was carried in procession. W hen 
 the French took possession of the city, they transferred the crab 
 from the cathedral to the crucible, and from the crucible — those 
 in authority annHig them b(!st know where. 
 
 Sailing iVom St. J)omingo widi the loss of seventeen hundred 
 men, they appointed a day of humiliation ; and, ' in consefpu'uce 
 of tlu' great cowardice which had been shown, il was proclaimed 
 to the whole armv, that whosoever should bi' found to tuin his 
 back to the enemy and run away, the next ollicer should innne- 
 diately rim him through, which, if he failed to perform, himself was 
 to sutier death without mercy.' An Englishman, m these days, 
 
 can 
 
 i 
 
224 
 
 Chronological Hldory of the West Indies. 
 
 can scarcely believe that m hat he thus reads can have rehited to his 
 own couutrvmen, and in an age, too, \\\\e\\ the name of English- 
 man was never more respected thronghout Christendom. To this 
 very force, however, Jamaica was surrendered without resistance. 
 Tile expedition had been undertaken upon the information given 
 respecting the Spanish colonies by Thomas Gage, an luiprincipled 
 and worthless fellow, who having been a J)ominican friar in New 
 Spain, had thrown off his frock, and designated himself at this time 
 as * preacher of the M'ord of (lod at J)eal, in the county of Kent.' 
 This man published what he called a * JSew Survey of the West 
 Indies, or the English American his travels by sea aiul land;' in 
 which, without acknowledgment, he transcribed largely from the 
 old translation of (lomara. In a second edition of this book, 
 published after the Restoration, its dedication to Eaiifax was altered 
 into an address to the reader, and the concluding chapter was 
 oinilted ; a circumstance noticed by that good, honest, blunder- 
 headed, thorough-paceil bigot, Ihonuis llollis: * that chapter,' he 
 said, ' contaiuetl several particulars concerning the hopes the 
 papalins had of Laud's favourable intentions toward them.' It 
 contains an assertion that the uniortunute ser\ ice-book, which was 
 coni})()sed for the church of Scotland, had been sent by J^aud to 
 Rome, ' to l)c first viewed aiul apjuoved of l)y the poi^; and cardinals. 
 This Gage says lie heard at Rome, from father Fitzherl)ert, rec-tor of 
 tlie EiigUsli college there, and diis most true relation lie had often 
 spoken of in private dLscoiirse, and publicly preached it at the lectures 
 of W'ingham in Kent; and when lie printed his liook, he says, " I could 
 not in my eonseienee omit it liore, both to vindicate the just censure of 
 Deatli, which the now sitting parliament have formerly given against 
 liim for such like practices aiul compliances with l{ome ; ami, secondly, 
 to reprove tlu- ungrounded opinion and error of some ignorant and 
 niidigiiant siiirits who, to my knowledge, have since his death higlily 
 exalted liiin, and cried hiui up for a martyr."" 
 
 Tliis impudent and absnrtl falsehood uiade tlie lirsl edition of 
 Gage's book precious in the e\es of Thomas llollis, who conki 
 believe any thing, exct^pl what was good, of an archbishop or u 
 king; and forgi\e any thing, ev< n Christianity itself, in a repub- 
 lican or a usuijiir! Gage accompanied the expedition, aiul lell 
 in it — recei\ing fidin the Spaniards his death, but not exactly that 
 which, as a trailer to tlu in, he had dcserviul. 
 
 A book, ii'laling to the \\ C.-t Indies, in the same small, thin 
 fo!i(» form, but of a very dill'erent character, was published two 
 ve;'..,> after (iage's rascally coinpilalion by Uichard Ligon. To 
 this hook it is that we aie b* holdeii for the sad -toiy of Varico in 
 the Spectator; and for the pleasant comedy which the younger 
 
 Colniau 
 
 4 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 225 
 
 ;lated to his 
 )f English- 
 1. To this 
 resistance, 
 ition given 
 ipiincipled 
 :»r in Now 
 it this time 
 y of Kent.' 
 tlie West 
 1 hnid;' in 
 ' iVoni tlie 
 this book, 
 vvas altered 
 apter was 
 , bhluder- 
 hapter,' he 
 hopes the 
 leni.' It 
 uhich Mas 
 " Jjaiid to 
 
 I cardinals, 
 rertor of 
 had often 
 lie Icctiiros 
 s, " 1 could 
 censurt! of 
 on against 
 ', socoudij-, 
 lorant and 
 Uh 
 
 hig-Iily 
 
 .'dition of 
 iho could 
 shop or a 
 a rcpnh- 
 , and fcH 
 ;actly that 
 
 mall, thin 
 >>licd two 
 on. To 
 i arico in 
 younger 
 Cohnau 
 
 Colnian has built upon that foundation. Few books have ever 
 been written with a kindlier spirit, or in a livelier and more cha- 
 racteristic manner, than his * True and Exact History of the Island 
 ot IJarbadoes.' liy history, he means simply an a'xount. It was 
 drawn up, because his convci-sation upon the subject had in sted 
 Bishop Duppa, whom he addresses as his most honoured and Highly 
 esteemed friend ; and that he should have been so permitted to 
 address such a person, is sufiicient proof that IJgon was himself the 
 simple-hearted, right-minded, good, amiable man that he appears 
 to be in his book. In better times, poor Ligon would have found, 
 from this excellent prelate, the patronage which he deserved. 
 
 ' You can best tell,' said tlie bishop to him in a letter written after 
 he had perused tlie book, and before it was published, ' Yon can 
 best tell with v.'liat i)leasure you past over your voyage to the Barba- 
 does. But, whatsoever it was, your dangers at sea, and your long* 
 sickneso on land, had been enough to sour it, had not the condition of 
 tht! times made any ])laee more acceptable than your native country. 
 But tlie pleasure which you liave given me in reading this narrative 
 is without all these mixtures: for, without any hardship at all, I have 
 in a few days gone tiie same voyage, viewed the island, weighed all 
 the commodities and incommodities of it, and all this with, so much 
 jdeasure that I cannot, without great injustice, forbear telling you, that 
 tliough I have read formerly many relations of other parts of the world, 
 I never yet met with so exact a piece as this of yours. Your diligence 
 hath been great in so short a time to make these observations ; but 
 your ex|)ressi()ns of them are such as show that no ingenious art hath 
 scap't you. You say that, in your yoimger time, you acquainted 
 yourself with music and painting ; and, had you not said so, the read- 
 ing of this book would have made me say it for you; for it is so musi- 
 cally made up, and all the <lescriptions so drawn to the life, that I know 
 no painting Iieyond it. And for the (piestion you put to me, whether 
 you should publish it or no, I desire you would make no doubt of it ; 
 for, fu'st, I know none that liath written of this argument before ; and, 
 next, 1 am persuade d that, having read this description of yours, none 
 that come after will venture upon it. Only, 1 have one re(piest to 
 y<iu, tl at your kindness to me (wlio, without any design, gave you the 
 occasion of doing it) may not lead you into such an insufferable error 
 as to choose mc out a> a lit person to inscribe it to, who am so much 
 in the shade, that i must not own myself. I am willing to believe, 
 that, tliough honour be at this time at a very h)W ebb, and, by the 
 iui<piitv (<f the times, is much fallen within the banks, yet the channel 
 is not so ilrv lint vou may meet there with some noble person that 
 may, with more advantage, take you and your book into the same cock- 
 boat with him, and keep you this winter both from cold and hunger. 
 And, tlierelorc, in great earnestness, I desire you to look over your 
 catalogue of friends ; and, tlumgii you cannot find one that loves you 
 better, y<'t make choice of him that can protect you better. And so 
 
 VOL. xxxvni. NO. Lxxv. <i, with 
 
22G 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 with my prayers for you, that your afflictions here may be so manapjed 
 by you as to lead you to joys hereafter, 1 rest your most affectionate 
 friend, 
 
 Br. Sar. 
 
 Ligon, though confined to wliat was tlieu called the Upper 
 Bench Prison, when he received the letter, was not so poor in 
 spirit as in fortune, and the book apj)eared accordingly with the 
 epistle dedicatory to J)uppa as Lord Hisho|) of Salisbiuy. Love- 
 lace's noble prison-verses are not written in a more cheerful 
 spirit. Throughout the book the good old man never utters a 
 complaint, nor expresses the slightest feeling of discontent ; anil 
 though this resignation to misfortune, broiiglit u[)on him by 
 the general misery which the civil war occasioned, nnist have been 
 common to him with thousands ami tens of thousands of his fel- 
 low-sutilerers, the elasticity and cheerfuhuiss oi mind which he 
 discovered were his own. He had intended, he said, to have 
 painted * a piece of landscape, and one of story, wherein to 
 express the postures of the negroes in their several kinds of sports 
 and labours, and with it the beauties of the vegetables that do 
 adorn that place, in the best jierfection he could ;' but ^)/eseutly 
 after, (says he,) ' being cast into prisim, I was di'prived Itoth of 
 light and loneliness — two main helpers in that art : and s), being 
 disabled to discern or judge of colours, 1 was compelled to 
 express my design in black and white.' He makes no more com- 
 plaint than this, and expresses a confident hope that (lod, who 
 had delivered him from sickness and death on land, and from ship- 
 wrecks and hazards at sea, would also deliver him ' from that 
 uncircumcised Philistine, the Lpper IJench : duni which neitiier 
 the burning tire of a lever, nor the raging \\a\es of the sea are 
 more formidable.' * But (said lie) we have seen and sutlered 
 greater things — and when the great leveller of the woild, Death, 
 shall run his progress, all estates will be laiil even. A'lors srcpfra 
 Ligonihiis (Equut.' V\ ith this puii the happy-minded old man 
 concludes his volume. 
 
 IJarbadoes was in a state of great prosperity during Ligon's 
 residence there — using the word pros[)erity in the sense attached 
 to it by political economists, l^roperty \\as rapidly increasing 
 in \alue, and the planters were making great, even ambitious for- 
 tunes, according to the precept in iloraci', (/iiociimjiif modi). 
 This was owing to the sugar plantations. Tin y had l)i(»ui:Iil canes 
 Ironi J'l rnambuco, then in possession of die Dutch, and had gone 
 thither to learn the whole prticess <if ixtracting and lefniiiig the 
 sugar ; ami this with such success, that 7()<j()/. wire paid ior the 
 the moiety of a plantation, <'onsisting of Ji\e hundred acus, the 
 whole of which, a very few years before, might have been purchased 
 
 for 
 
3 tnanaj^ed 
 ffectionate 
 
 Sar. 
 
 he Upper 
 > poor ill 
 ' \\\i\\ the 
 y. Love- 
 ; cliccrfiil 
 r litters a 
 tctit ; ami 
 I liim by 
 lavc been 
 f his lel- 
 wliicli he 
 , to have 
 heieiii to 
 ol sports 
 i that do 
 
 p/eseiitly 
 \ liotli of 
 so, beiiij^ 
 )eih'd to 
 ore coiii- 
 iod, who 
 oni ship- 
 roni that 
 I neither 
 e seu are 
 sntl'ered 
 , Death, 
 '.v srcplni 
 old man 
 
 Ligon's 
 attached 
 K'leasiiig 
 ions ior- 
 r modii. 
 :hl canes 
 lad gone 
 ning the 
 d lor the 
 [ K s, the 
 mehased 
 
 Chronological History of the Wed In ies. 
 
 J27 
 
 lor 400?. The purchaser, Mho went out with Ligon, h;i • resolved 
 not to return to England, till he should have realised '»,()00/., 
 * all by the sugar-plant ;' and Colonel Drax, who began with 
 300/., had raised his fortune to such a height, that he expected in 
 u few years to purchase, in his own country, an estate of 10,000/. 
 a-year, with less than which he would not be contented, lie was 
 not able, he said, to say of the planters half what they deserved. 
 Th(!y were men of great abilities and parts, ' otherwise they 
 would not go through with such great works as they undertook,' 
 — a j)lantation being a work of such latitude as required ' a very 
 got)d head-piece to put in order and continue so. ' lie found thein,' 
 he says, *as to their nature and disposition, conipliable in a high 
 degri^e to all virtues that those of the best sort of gentlemen call 
 excellent. They were kind and hospitable to strangers, and uj)on 
 the best terms widi each other.' Ditierent persuasions were not 
 allowed to occasion any dissensions there : the words Roundhead 
 and Cavalier were by common consent prohibited; whoever used 
 eitlier,was to give to all who heard him ' a shot and a turkey to be eaten 
 at his house,' In this respect, Little England, as it was afterwards 
 calleil, was happier than the mother-country ; but he tells us, that 
 after lie left the island it was otherwise- Prosperous, however, as 
 the settlers were, he thought there were feu of them that would 
 not gladly ' sell good pennyworths, to settle themselves quietly in 
 i'lnghmd.' Sicknesses were more grievous there ; there was a 
 ' plentiful want' of such remedies as were to be found in their own 
 (ouiitry, and the mortality was of course far greater. Indeed, 
 among the articles which he recommends to be taken out for sale, 
 is black ribbon for mourning, as being much worn there, by 
 reason of frecjiuMit death. W hen he arrivi'd there, [the sickness 
 was so prevalent and fatal, that the living could hardly bury die 
 dead ; they threw the bodies (i. e., of the slaves and bond-servants 
 no doubt) into the morass close to Bridgetown, and tims infected 
 the water, so tin.!: many were supposed to have died in conse- 
 (|iit>nce of drinking it. 
 
 The climate was not the only discomfort to which they M'ere sub- 
 j«"cted. 'i'he state of domestic insecurity in which they lived was 
 a greater e\il; their houses were always stored with water, 'to 
 .serve for drink in case they should be besieged either by Christian 
 servant" or negro slaves, and also to throw down upon the naked 
 bodi« s of the negroes scalding hot, which is as good a defence 
 against the undermining as any otlur weapons.' The danger was 
 greater from the bondsmen than from the negrot's, because they 
 were worse treated, for the same reason which Du Tertre assigns 
 for the same wickedness in the l^'rench islands. * The slaves and 
 their posterity (sa}s Ligon) beiug subject to their masters for ever, 
 
 Q 
 
 are 
 
2-28 Chronological Uisfonj of the West Indiex. 
 
 art! kept and ])icscrvcd with <xrc;itor care tliiui the servants who are 
 there but i(jr live years, aeeoriling to the law of the ishuid ; so that, 
 for the time, the servants have the worser lives, for they are put to 
 very hard labour, ill-lodging, and their diet very slight. Truly I 
 have seen such cruelty there done to servants, as I did not think 
 one Christian could have done to another.' This had occasioned 
 a plot for murdering the planters ; it was discovered ; and eighteen 
 of the persons concerned in it were found ' so haughty in their 
 resolutions and so incorrigible,' that it was deemed necessary to put 
 tluin to death, lest they should become actors in a second plot. 
 The value that was set upon] the bond-servants is curiously ex- 
 emplified in an anecdote, which has not escaped Captain 
 Southey : — • 
 
 ' There was a planter in the island that came to liis neighbour, and 
 said to him, " Neiglibour, I hear you have lately brought good store 
 of servants out of the last ship that came from England ; and I liear 
 withal that you want provisions. I have great want of a Avoman- 
 servant, and would be glad to make an exchange. If you will let nie 
 liave some of your woman's flesli, you shall luive some of my hog's 
 flesh." So the price was set, a groat a-pound for the hog's flesh 
 and sixpence for the woman's. The scales were set up, and the 
 planter had a maid that was extremely fat, lazy, and good for nothing ; 
 lier name was Honour. The man brought a great fat sow, and put 
 it in one scale, and Honour was put in the otlier. But when he saw 
 how much the maid outweighed his sow, he broke otf the bargain and 
 would not go on.' 
 
 A kinder treatment began to prevail as discreeter and better- 
 natured men hail conu' to rule there. A certain Colonel Wal- 
 rond, by merely providing his bond-servants with rug gowns, such 
 as poor people wear in hospitals, that they might sleep in these 
 instead of lying down in their hammocks, in shirt and drawers, 
 (which was their only clothing,) when soaked in perspiration, ' got 
 such love of his servants, as they thought all too little they could 
 do for him.' Thirty pounds was the price of a good negro, from 
 twenty-live to twenty-seven of a negress; and care was then taken 
 that the sexes might be equal. Indeed, the planters, who in some 
 things discovered a great tendency to ' liberal opinions,' denied not 
 a slave, who was * a brave fellow and had extraordinary qualities, 
 two or three wives. IJut no woman was allowed above one hus- 
 band.' Ligon, whose good nature led him always to regard all 
 men and everything in the most favourable point of view, thought 
 well of the negroes, and says that there were nu;n anu)ng them 'as 
 morally honest, as conscionable, as luunble, as loving to their 
 friends, and as loyal to their masters, as any that live under tlui 
 sun.' The description of a negro-mother, at work in the liehl 
 
 with 
 
tog, 
 
 servants who are 
 
 island ; so that, 
 
 they arc put to 
 
 slight. Truly I 
 
 I did not tliink 
 
 had occasioned 
 
 !d ; and eighteen 
 
 laughty in tlieir 
 
 necessary to put 
 
 n a second plot. 
 
 is curiously ex- 
 
 icaped Captain 
 
 is neighbour, and 
 •light good store 
 and ; and I liear 
 it of a wonian- 
 f you will let me 
 ne of my hog's 
 the liog's flesh 
 ^et up, and the 
 )od for nothing ; 
 at sow, and put 
 ut when lie saw 
 the bargain and 
 
 :ter and better- 
 i Colonel Wal- 
 ng gowns, such 
 t sleep in these 
 "t and drawers, 
 ispiration, < got 
 ittle they cotdd 
 od negro, from 
 was then taken 
 rs, wlu) in some 
 ons,' denied not 
 iiuary qiudities, 
 ibove one hirs- 
 ■s to regard ali 
 f view, thought 
 niong theu> ' as 
 loviug to their 
 live under tlui 
 rk in the iieUl 
 with 
 
 Chronological II idory oflhc JVcst Indies. 
 
 229 
 
 with her child, is worthy of a painter : — ' Time (he says) they 
 have of suckling their children in the fields, and refreshing them- 
 selves; and uood reason, for tlu-y carry burdens on their backs 
 and yet \\()ik too. Some women, whose pickaniimies are three 
 years old, w ill, as they work at weeding, which is a stooping work, 
 sufl'er the he pickaninnie to sit astride upon their backs, like St. 
 George a-horseback, and there spur his mother with his heels, and 
 sing and crow on her back, clapping his hands as if he meant to 
 fly ; which the mother is so pleased m ith, as she continues her 
 painful stooping posture, longer than she would do, rather than 
 discompose her jovial pickaninnie of his pleasure, so glad she is 
 to see him merry.' This subject might tempt a painter, if paint- 
 ing could expres; the moral feeling which is so happily brought 
 out in the lively language of this simple-hearted happy old man. 
 
 There was one poor fellow, who, having had the compass ex- 
 plained to him, as well as Ligon could explain the cause of its 
 movement, requested that he might be made a Christian, * for he 
 thought to be a Christian was to be endued with all those know- 
 ledges he wanted.' The story is what our old writers would have 
 called considerable. * I promised (says JJgon) to do my best 
 endeavours, and when 1 came home, spoke to the nuister of the 
 plantation, and told him that poor Sambo desired much to be a 
 Christian ; but his answer was, that the people of that island were 
 governed by the laws of England, and by those laws we could not 
 make a Christiana slave. 1 told him my request was far different 
 from that, for I desired him to make a slave a Christian. His 
 answer was, that it was true, there was a great difference i that; 
 but being once a Christian, he could no more account hiui slave, 
 and so should lose the hold they had of them as slaves, by making 
 lluun Christians ; and by that means should open such a gap, as 
 all the planters in the island would curse him. So I was struck 
 mute, and poor Sambo kept out of the church, as ingenious, as 
 honest, and as good-a-natured poor soul as ever wore black or eat 
 green.' This was in the days of Mayhew, and I'llliot, and Roger 
 Williams; and the difference between IJarbadoes and New Kng- 
 laiul Will shows the difference between connnercial colonies, and 
 those to which the adventurers have gone with an intention of 
 taking up their rest ; — in a word, the difference between jdanters 
 and settlers. Cotton Mather gave too lofty a title to his most 
 ♦Muious and characteristic history of New h^ngland, when he called 
 it Magnalia Christi ; for the people, of whom he treats, must be 
 regarded, xara TravTic us Ssjuioaj/xovas-epi. lint for the early 
 annals of the Spanish conquests, Mm^nalia Martis woidd be u 
 fitting title, and for those of the sugar islands, Magnalia Mam- 
 monis. 
 
 Barbadocs 
 

 230 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 
 Barbadocs soon became the most flourishing of ihe English 
 islands. More capital vas invested there, and with more confi- 
 dence, because the English iiad it to themselves. Du 'I'ertre de- 
 scribed it, in !().')(), as having two regidar cities, and in each more 
 than an hundred taverns, as well furnished as in Europe ; but this 
 was most certainly an exaggerated report ; for elsewhere he has re- 
 marked the difference between the French, and liUglish, and Spa- 
 nish islands. In the latter, there were regular cities, well-built 
 and well-fortified, and populous enough to contain cathedral 
 churches, and convents belonging to different orders as in lunopc; 
 whereas in none of the former, J^arbadoes alone excepted, was 
 there, as yet, either town or village, not even, he says, among the 
 English at St. Christopher, Antigua, Nevis, or Montserrat, 
 though their islands were incomparably better peopled than those 
 of his own coimtrymen. No money had at that time been intro- 
 duced into the French islands, all busini'ss bi-ing by barter, at a 
 fixed value. In those islands, no person might marry without a 
 license from the governor, Anu)ng the few circumstances which 
 are found to relieve the dark picture of this early colonial society, 
 the administration of justice, when there was any, nuiy be in- 
 stanced. Once a wet'k, the ['nMich governors heard causes under 
 the great fig-tree at IJasse Terre, in tlie island of (Juadaloupe, 
 and uiidtM' a <-alabasli-lrt>e, at I'ort St. J*ierre, at Martinico; and 
 the parti* N were never dismissed till they had «i)iue to an agree- 
 ment, and been reconciled with each other. The picture would 
 lose something of its patriarchal character, if a negro were intro- 
 diici'd in it, nailid by the ear to one of these trees, or the ear 
 Mithoul the negro, alter the man had been released by cutting it 
 off! This was the ordinary mode of punishment for ci-rtaiii 
 offences. A poor fellow, who had previously left one of his ears 
 as a lixtiuc upon the lig-tree, was (ondennied to lose tht> other in 
 like mainu'r. Me declared that he would not submit to the sen- 
 tence, till he was permitted to seethe govtrnor, M. Dc i'oincy, 
 and intreat from him a remission of the punishment. \\ ith some 
 humanity, this wa^ allowed ; he threw himself at the governor's 
 feet, and bi'gged that his ear might he spint'd, because it was his 
 only one, and if it were cut oil', he should not know where to put 
 his ( igar. The plea was successful for its oddity, like; a more 
 memorable one, sonu-what ofthe same kind, which the reader will 
 recollect as ha\ing been advanced «)n the side of mercy, by the 
 Dnke (if Lauderdale -wh(» was not the most nu-rtiful of men. 
 
 The < (MUM il of slate, in I'^iglaud, on the con(|uesl of.laniaiea, 
 voted that a thousand girls should be enlisted in lielaud, an*l sent 
 thither, \\ith an eipial number of voi ig uu n. At the sauu' lime, 
 Cromwell ordeiLii the Scotch govcrmntul to a[)prelieiul all known, 
 
 idh', 
 
 1 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 231 
 
 English 
 
 idle, mastorloss robbers, and vagabonds, male and female, and 
 without Judge or jury, transport them to die same place. For the 
 women, it i* nrobable that this was a beneticial measure. Of 
 those who went out in the ship with Ligon, the greater number 
 were ' taken from iJridewell, 'J^unbull-street, and sucii like places 
 of education.' If wretchedness and the desire of turning from a 
 miserabU' and sinful course of life might be considered as en- 
 titling such women to the benefit of transportation, without the 
 coiiuuission of a statutable offence, there could be no truer act of 
 compaft'iion than in supplying, at this time, by such means, the 
 waJJt of women in New South Wales. The disproportion of the 
 sexes which exists there, at present, as it is above all other causes 
 destructive to the morals of the colony, so is it the most extra- 
 ordinary |)roof of thoughtless, reckless, senseless, scandalous mis- 
 nuniagenuMit in the whole annals of colonial history, abounding as 
 such history does, above all others, in examples of error, folly, and 
 disregard of all that ought to be regarded. Such wives as could 
 be enlisted in Ireland, or recruited from Hridewell and TurnbuU- 
 street, were good enough for the settlers whom Sedgwick, the go- 
 vernor of Jamaica, describes in a despatch to Thurlow : — * 1 be- 
 lieve, (said he,) they are not to be paralleled in the whole world, a 
 people St) la/y and idle, as it cannot enter into the heart of any 
 I'jiglishinan that such blood should run in the veins of any born in 
 Kngland, so unwo.thy, slothful, and basely secure.' 
 
 Where the great body of settlers were of such a description, it 
 may seem strange that, from the beginning the pride of caste and 
 colour shoidd have prevailed — a pride which hiv been the curse of 
 all colonies, where variety of colour exists, the l^ortuguese alone 
 excepted ; and their exception has been owing, not to any sounder 
 and mori'eidargi-d views of policy than their neighbours possess(!d, 
 but to the compiir;itivi' paucity of their own popidation. The 
 conse«pieiiee of this fet ling was manifested in the family of Sir 
 Thoniii>< Warner, the iirst I'lnglish governor of St. Kitts. lie had 
 a Carib mistress, a native of Dominica, remarkable in youth for 
 her beaulv, and for the extraordinary age which she attained. 
 Labat saw her whin slu; was, in his opinion, oni' of the oldest crea- 
 tures in the world ; she was then bald, entirely naked, and her 
 skin icsenddiug old parchment sluivt lied and smoked ; but she had 
 still m(»>turhei (eetli, and biighl and li\(lv eyes. Madam Warner 
 was Ntill the name by which she was known, and she was mistress 
 <if a \eiy large vnrhct, or human hive, which was thickly peopled 
 w ith lui (It srendaiits to the third and fourth generation. She was 
 a shne when \N ainev, though a married man, look her for his mis- 
 lre>i ; and mif of die son- whom she bore him, he ealled by his 
 own name, and cducaletl with his legitimate children in his own 
 
 huusc, 
 
 J 
 
\ 
 
 232 
 
 Chronological History of fhe West Indies. 
 
 house, treating liim, in all respects, upon the same footing. The 
 boy had been remarkably favoured by nature, iiaviug nothing of 
 the Indian in his outward appiaraiu-e, except his complexion, anil 
 perhaps a certain gravity, w Inch gave a strength anil dignity of cha- 
 racter to his European features ; he was of middle stature, linely 
 formed: just as he was growing up, his father ched, and the widow, 
 Lady \\ aruer, who had till then behaved towards him according to 
 her husband's j)leasure, degrach-d him to the condition of a slave, 
 and compelled him to work with other sla\es in the held. The 
 youth was of too high a spirit to brook this. The Curib blood 
 rose in him, and he joined a j>arty of Maroons; but he was caught, 
 heavily ironed by this hard-hearted woman, and nr.ule to work in 
 liis irons. In this contlitiou he was found bv one of his half- 
 
 broll 
 
 then (i 
 
 )f Mont,'- 
 
 UMs, men viovernor ol .Monlscrrat, who, conung 
 
 to St. Kitts, 
 interfered, as it became him ; had him released from his fetters ; and 
 prevailed on Lady Warner to give him sonu' oHice of authority and 
 trust over her other servants. This better treatment continued only 
 till the governor (k'parted ; and young Warner, as the only nu'ans of 
 escaping from this woman's tyranny, listened to the advice of his 
 nu)ther, who had been sent back to her countrynun in Donunica, 
 made his way thither, and, for his motiier's sake, was received by the 
 Caribs as oiu' of their own nation. i'hey were then at war wiUi 
 the English; he brought about a peace, and soon accpiireil by his 
 abilities ami intrepidity an ascenduuv o\er them, whiih nuuU' him 
 a considerable person in the eslimation both of the I'reneh and 
 I'jiglish ; but with tin ICnglish il was that he thuught himself natu- 
 rally allied. According to I )u Tertre, he proposed to himself no 
 nu'aner object of andjition than that of making himself king of all 
 the savages, though, at the sanu' time, he spoke of tliem as dm 
 hrstcs, dcs i'lnjuins, drs (j^iKiii, if dis inlstrcdjh's, iiidigncs dr hnj. 
 He accuses him also of insti<iatin<i the Caribs to exercise the 
 greatest <'ruelties upon the I'rencii ; they <'ould not have lueded 
 nuu h instigation, sonu> <tf the governors having used, by Du 
 'J'ertre's own statement, to give themsiKi s ' Ir divcrtis.sdniid df hs 
 fairr huttrr vu dm I h nwjts dc Jli'ihis m hitr prcsmcf.' Lord 
 Willoughby, the better to engage llii> Warner in tlu" Liiglish in- 
 terest, took him to Lngland, wliei«- he was introduced at (ouit, and 
 mingled in society like one who had been educated in (i\ili/ed 
 and Christian habits ; but on his return, he threw oH' his <-loak, 
 and rt'sunu'd th«' sa\age costnuu- and way of life, i-onfming him- 
 sell, however, al\\a\s to one wife. Me received, al this tune, a 
 conunission iron) Lord W dloughb\ , appointing linn ( lovt rnor of 
 Dominica, and giving him the title of caplaiii' — thus recognising 
 him foi a Miitisli subject and as in the Hiilish service. 
 
 Jt is nut likelv that Warner ever enteilaim d the andiilions pro- 
 
 1 
 
1 
 
 n 
 
 Chronological Hklory of the fVest Indies, 
 
 235 
 
 ject for vliich Du Teitu has given him credit : he must liave 
 understood the instability ol the Curib character, and the infinite 
 superiority of the French and English too well, to have dreamt of 
 crcclini];aninilependent sovereignty with such materials and between 
 such neighbours. Tlie Caribs, like the odier native islanders, 
 were a people ripe for destruction : their greater courage and more 
 adventurous spirit delayed their extinction for some generations, 
 but could not finally avert it ; and their destruction, like tiiat of 
 every American nation, was facilitated by their international en- 
 mity. Those who were in the French interest mortally hated 
 Warner and his people. The latter are accused of eating their 
 enemies ; and, by some of those enemies, \\ arncr would certainly, 
 says Du 'l\jtre, have been roasted, buccaneered, and eaten him- 
 self, if he had not escaped on board an F^nglish vessel. That ship 
 Mas taken by the French; and F. Beaumont, a friar predicant, and, 
 like his brethren, militant also, recognised Warner on board, as 
 the bird of whom they were in pursuit. They returned, therefore, 
 to (iuadaloupe joyfully with their prize, where ilie I'rench governor, 
 M. dn Leon accommodated him, in the friar-like phrase of the 
 reverend father anti apostolical missionary, Jean liaptisttj on lertre, 
 * with his bt'st pair of fetters, and a heavy pair of liandcuiTs for 
 l)racel(>ts ;' then threw him into a tlnngeon from which it was not 
 possible for him to escape unless by a miracle; and miracles, says 
 lie, n<' sr Jhnf point pour dc tillcs gens. Shortly afterwards a party 
 of French Caribs airivccl there, after a successful ex])cdition against 
 Antigua, where they had killed, roasted, and eaten many of the 
 I'-nglish. They brought with them, as memorials of their success, 
 a pair of I'.nglish hands, dried and hardened on the boucan ; and, 
 '. isiting \\ arner in hi>s prison for the sake of »;xulting ov»"r him, one 
 of the savages struck him so violent a blow on the head with one 
 of tl'! 'se hands, that the blood gushed forth. ' There,' said he, ' take 
 llu.t token from the hand of one of your friends.' l)n 'I'ertre here 
 renders justice to the man whom lu> elsewhere viliiies. Warner, he 
 says, received the blow like a stoic ; and looking disdainlully at 
 the Card), snid lu him, * ^ on ar»' a base wretch; if yon have any 
 tpiarrel with me, you should seek me in m\ own carbet, not strike 
 me in the condition in which I now am.' Then it was that he 
 expressed to a IVenclnnan his sense of superiority o\erthe Caribs, 
 sa\ing, that he had n tired among them, only because he had been 
 driven to that rourse by the persecution t»f l..ad\ W arner. ' An 
 rcsti',' he continued, ' i am a governor — I have a commission ; 
 and M. du Leon is not jnstilied in using me thus, who am a pri- 
 soner of war.' Ilewasask(d, from no compassionate motives, 
 if Ills irons (hd not iiicommotle him : to which he k plied, ' I am 
 used to them ; here 1 have worn them, and for a long lime at St. 
 
 Kitts : 
 
 1 
 
G34 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies, 
 
 Kitt^ ; but I shall soon be out of tlieui, anrl sliall then know how 
 to revenge nivseUV M. (hi Leon lived in fear of this. Co. drole- 
 ICt, dl-fil, est cause quo jr no dors pas unhnn soinmoil ; and he wished 
 to siMid him to I'ranee, then; to be sent to (lie gallics for life. IJut 
 another governor arrived, and at the end of the M'ar, Warner being 
 claimed by the Fjiglish, M'as released, on condition that he should 
 live like an Englishman and not as a Carib. Jle fell at last by 
 hlnglish hanils, and by fraternal treachery. There was some dis- 
 j)nte Mith the Caribs, and one of Sir Thomas \\ arner's sons (not 
 the one, it may be hoped, who had fornii riy interfered with proper 
 feeling in his belialf) went with an expedition to suppress them. 
 The Carib W arn<'r received iiim as a brother, and i'utertained him 
 — during the repast a sign-al was given, and he and all the Indians 
 were massacred. 
 
 The lawless lici-nse, for which such scope is given in all coun- 
 tries that are governed from a distance, was favoured in this part 
 of till' world, during the middle of the seventeenth centmy, by the 
 lionbles in I'rance and llnglaud ; for, if either govermnent had 
 bt^en at leisure to attend to their colonies, it is not credible that 
 (hey should hav(> sufttMed the biu'caueering system to have pro- 
 ce«Mlrd so long w.tliout a check. The exclusive ])retensions of 
 (lie Spaniards, at thi' very coniinenc«'inent of (heir discoveri(\s, 
 provoked that sort of contraband trade which wants oiilv oppor- 
 tunity to associate itsjlf with piracv. Drake, and Cavendi>h, and 
 the I'arl of Cumberland, and the adventurers of their times, were 
 under some restranit o|' respoiisibilitv and jiouour ; thevwtie in 
 the (^U( en's s(M\ ice, and stiiled under the national llag ; but the 
 buccaneers were men of all (<»milrics, who had brokin loose from 
 all ties of allegiance, 'tligion, honour, conscience, and humanity; 
 and, during tlieir career, the Spanish si'ltlenieii(s siitlered as much 
 as I'landers, I'lance, and I'.nglaiid had lormerly done troni (he 
 l);uies. Writers upon the West Indies have observed, tlia( (he 
 hrencli and l'!iiglish colonies were beiK fi(ed doubly by (he course 
 w Iiicli (lie*^e i idliaiis pursued : (irs(, b\ benig rid of (hem ; secondly, 
 b\ the wealth which, when disposing of tin ir booty, they put ill 
 circulation. I'or a West Indian, this might be a consolatory con- 
 sideration, iKtt (o those who, being uiK'onceriU'd in the good or evil 
 of (he (raii«iier, p( i(ei\e (hat (he guil( and miserv was removed 
 from <Hie placi- only to be brough( into :iction, with aggravat«'d 
 effect, in otlieis. Nations, like individuals, are but too willing to 
 suppose that they throw o(V their inheritance of national guilt, when 
 (liev can show that otiiei nations have incurred guill of the same 
 kind, and in the same degne. Now, there is no mode of delence 
 wliieh so surely betravs the consciousness of weakness, as that 
 which rests upuiMecriminali\e ac( iisatioii. IJnt it is just as w«ll 
 
 UUll 
 
 4 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 C35 
 
 know liow 
 Cc (hole- 
 lie wished 
 life. But 
 rner beinof 
 le .sliould 
 It lust by 
 !^«)iiio clis- 
 soiis (not 
 til proper 
 'ss them, 
 aiiied him 
 indiiins 
 
 all roiin- 
 
 this j)art 
 ly, by the 
 neiit had 
 il)le that 
 ave pro- 
 iisioiis of 
 icovi'iies, 
 
 <)|>por- 
 
 tli>h, and 
 
 <'s, were 
 
 wtie in 
 
 but the 
 ose from 
 nnnnity ; 
 as nnirh 
 rom (ii(! 
 thai the 
 I' <oiirse 
 ■eondly, 
 
 pnt in 
 >ry con- 
 I or evil 
 vnioxfd 
 iia\;iJrd 
 illiiiU' to 
 It, when 
 le s.inie 
 defence 
 as that 
 as well 
 
 uud 
 
 and as charitable to bear in mind, that no I'luropcan nation is en- 
 titled to reproach another on tiie score of its colonial history, each 
 having incurred a fearful share of sin : the consolation is, that in 
 all cases it has proceeded less froin the national character tiian 
 from the character of the times. And, in the case of the bucca- 
 neers, all nations — except, perhaps, the Spanish Americans, who 
 wi're the objects of tli(;ir enmity — have their full share. If the bulk 
 of them were Frenc'i and Knglish, Dutch and I'lemin^s in <vreat 
 numbers, antl not a few Spaniarils and Portuguese, ar(^ found 
 among them : the ruffians and outcasts, and the unfortunates and 
 the castaways, also, of all nations. 
 
 ]n that singular book of the liobinson Crusoe class, Penrose's 
 •lournal, (the history of which, or rather of its author, is and is likely 
 to remain a mystery,) there is a frightful superstition imputed to 
 the buccaneers, which is more likely to have been actually known 
 to the author, than imagined by him. It was an old custom among 
 them, he says, when chance threw any large l)ooty in the way, to 
 hide it, till a convenient occasion, on islands, quays, and secret 
 places along the coasts, using a n\ost diabolical ceremoiiy at the in- 
 terment of their riches; for such men stuck at no i-ruelty which they 
 fancied necessary to their purpose. After signing a round-robin, 
 and administering an oath of secrecy, they bm ied the treasure, and 
 WiWY it sonu^ unfortunate Spaniard, negro, or mulatto, whom they 
 put to d( ath, under a superstitious notion that his spirit would b(^ 
 coini)elle(l to watch over the treasure, and keep it safely till they 
 could remove it ; a paper was generally (le|)osite(l in a bottle near, 
 containing, in words and hieroglyi)hics, inlelligilile only to those 
 \\h<im it conc(>rned, instructions in what direction to dig. 'I'here 
 is the reprt'sentalion of such a paper in the book, bearing with it 
 strong marks of authenticity. The suptMstition itself is likely to 
 have been of negro origin. 
 
 As the buccani'ers rivalled the Spanish con(|uerors in intr(>pidity 
 and in cruelt\, they resend)led them, als(», in having among them 
 iiuli\iduals wlio, though engaged in such lellowship and involved 
 in such pursuits, retained their sensi' of right and wioiig, and their 
 love of betti'i things. It is remarkable that their hateful history is 
 chiellv derived from themselves ; and in their school it was that 
 Dajnpier was trained — on(> of our best seamen, and most observant 
 as well as faithful travellers. Captain SonlhcN has not pursued 
 then' adventures beyond the limits of his own subject: w itinii those 
 limits (hev have atVorded him nuuli < urious matter, but, |>eihaps, 
 nothing more singidar than what was once the w( ll-knov\ii story 
 of Anne llonny and Maiy Head. Where l)u 'I'erire and the 
 buccaneers fail, I'ather l.abal supplies materials, Labat, like l)u 
 'IVrlre, was a Dominitan, and reminds }oii himself that he was a 
 
 misHonnain; 
 
<23G 
 
 Clironological History of the IVeM Indies. 
 
 missionnairn apostoliqiic, when lie gives a receipt for making fouls 
 tender by skinning them alive ! JUit no one, after seeing his por- 
 trait, can be surprised either at the receipt or the remark that ac- 
 companies it. It is prefixed to his Nouvcau J'^ofjagc nitx Isles 
 de VAmeriquc, the most valuable of his numerous publications ; 
 a negro is represented kneeling and holding it in a frame, and 
 underneath are these verses : 
 
 ' Ec.rivain cvricitx dcspais, dcs mccitrs, 
 II erne srs t'crils des graces dc S(i)i sli/c ; 
 Corriyc m amiisant L Itomme dc scs (rrcurs 
 lit suit mC'lcr jmrtout rajreablc ct utile! 
 
 The praise is not overcharged ; but Labat's character is as truly 
 set forth in his portrait as in his writings. Tlu; face is so much 
 that of a satyr that, if the cowl were up, it might surely be sup- 
 posed there were horns under it, as well as a goat's tail and goatish 
 feet below ; but then it is the face Ok' a Fniuch satyr, and of an 
 educated one, — intelligent, clever, lively, mirthful, malicious, self- 
 ish, sensual, unfe» lino-. A more entertaining and instructive book 
 conce'-iing the \\ est Indies has not been written. The matter is 
 always good — the manner always agreeable. He never fails to 
 amuse the reader; and as little does he fail to disgust hiiu when- 
 ever his own character appears. There is good sense everywhere 
 in the volumes, good feeling nowhere. His intellectual nature 
 seems never to have slumbered, and his moral sense never to have 
 been awakened. He was a jovial friar, a pleasant companion, a 
 tolerable engineer, an able politician, a good writer, an excellent 
 cook, and a true iMenchman. He had the interest of France 
 always in view ; and when he was hospitably entertained at Jiar- 
 badoes, contrived to bring away a i)lau of the island and of its 
 fortilications, for use when opportunity might oiler. 
 
 H(* found the island very much improved since Ligon's time : 
 excellent roads had been made; for want of which, half a century 
 before, camels had been used as beasts of burden; sixteen hundred 
 weight was not too great a burden lor one, and hogsheads, whether 
 of sugar or of liijuor, coidd then be conveyed in no other manner; 
 but they soon died, which I Jgon supposi'd to be because there were 
 few who knew how to diet tluni. Labat might have found, in 
 the necessity for good roads, a suflicient reason for making tlnin ; 
 but, according to him, they were rendered necessary by the jovial 
 habits of the people, who considered it a point of honour that no 
 guest should depart sober from a dinnerparty. 'I he dinner hour, 
 lie says, was \t ly late, for they did not sit down at table till two 
 o'clock ; but then they remained there far into the night. The 
 friars, who were grtat authorities in such matters, pronounced a 
 most favourable opinion upon their way of life in this resj)eet — 
 
 • Imrs 
 
wr 
 
 Chronological History of iho. Wcsl Indies. 
 
 237 
 
 iking- fowls 
 ig his por- 
 rk that ac- 
 aux Isles 
 jlicatioiis ; 
 ranic, and 
 
 s as truly 
 so much 
 ► he siip- 
 tl goatish 
 ihI of an 
 xis, self- 
 ivc book 
 matter is 
 • fiiils to 
 11 Avlicn- 
 !ry\vlieio 
 1 nature 
 
 to liave 
 anion, :i 
 xccllent 
 
 I'Vancc 
 at JJar- 
 d of its 
 
 s time : 
 
 century 
 
 lunched 
 
 iliether 
 
 iann(!r; 
 
 10 were; 
 
 lUl 
 
 ni 
 
 llieni ; 
 ! jovial 
 lat no 
 ■ lioin-, 
 11 two 
 'Ihe 
 iced a 
 lecl— 
 
 It'll rx 
 
 ' Iciirs tables sont trh hien servies, ils ont (Vnsser. bans culsiniers, 
 dc trbsbe.au Hn(r(;, bean<'fnij> d'ordre. et de prnpreti^.^ Partridges 
 hail been brouglit from I'lngland, and were reared as poultry there 
 — ar.d, indectl, no cost was spared in bringing delicacies for the 
 table from all parts of the world. Labat gives them credit, also, for 
 excelling other nations in the preparation of delicious drink — 
 ' f)arc(>(/tie s'ctant fait line etude partiadibre de ce rpii regarde line 
 chose (piilcs fouche de si prt's, ils ont act/uis la-dessus des connois- 
 snnccs merreilleuses et dune efendue infinie. As one of these dis- 
 coveries. In conr.iiunicates to his countrymen the receipt for making 
 what he calls salibolc, which is, being interpreted, a syllabub. 
 lie describes punch, also ; but the mixture to which he gives that 
 name is altogether unlike Uio * beloved beverage ' of our faUiers ; 
 for there was neither lime nor lemon juice in it ; the proportions 
 were two j)arts of spirit to one of water or of milk, and it was 
 thickened with yolk of eggs to the consistence of porridge. His 
 own countrymen used to measure time, in their common speech, not 
 by the clock, or the sun, or, as in old books, by the hour of prayers, 
 but by eau-de-vie time, and chocolate time ; and distance they es- 
 timated as the Dutch used to Hog their slaves — by pipes of tobacco. 
 He speaks of corking wine as if the practice were new to him and 
 his countrymen. The iMiglish had also taught the French to mix 
 eggs and Madeira with their chocolate ; a mode of preparation 
 which induced Labat to maintain, contrary to the prevailing prac- 
 tice and opinion, that chocolate was not allowable on tlie meagre 
 days, and that no one could take it wiUiout breaking his fast. 
 
 Labat may be suspected of opining upon this point according 
 to his taste, inasnmch as he made no scruple of eating upon fast 
 days the bird which the JMench call Diahle or Diablotin, from its 
 colour and its nocturnal habits. These devilets are of the size of a 
 full-grown pullet, and when dressed as the friar tells you they 
 shoulil be, they were dainty food. 'J'he Sienr Thuillier, a mer- 
 chant captain, who had settled at (luadaloupe, and whom l^abat 
 describes as * ban Huguenot, liomme de hien et fort sage,' used to 
 rally him ujkmi this subject — which he might safely do there, and 
 with perfect coniidince, knowing the man. They had eaten these 
 birds together, and Th'iillier insisted that the Homanists coidd not 
 consistently regard it as a crime in the Protestants to eat meat everv 
 <lay without distinction, when they made no scruple themselves of 
 dining upon devilets even in Lent. 'I'o this the friar replied, 
 ' that the ecclesiastical superior in the islands had after consulta- 
 tion with physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, deciiled that these 
 birtis were riandes ina.igres, not properly tlesh, but partaking of 
 fish natiuc ; and, therefore, fooil for fast days, which might be 
 eaten with a safe conscience' This did not satisfy the Husruenot 
 
 —'^liirds, 
 
0,38 
 
 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 it- 
 
 I 
 
 — ' Birds, (lie said,) which paired, laid eggs, sat upon their eggs, 
 and hatched them, were certaiidy not tisli ; it coiikl not be more 
 allowable lo eat them as meagre food, than on the same ])retext to 
 dine upon goose, duck, widgeon, teal, and other birds of this 
 class, who were lar more aquatic in their habits ; for, though the 
 devilits preyed upon fish, they lived in dry places, burrowing in 
 the ground.' ' Uut (said Labal) they are more fishy in smell and 
 tiavour than the birds you mention, and, therefore, they ought to 
 be classed among lish.' ' Nay, (replied the Huguenot) that pro- 
 ceeds entirely from their food, and they are not to be deemed tish 
 becaus(! they resent of iheir diet. l'\)r, if we reason thus, look at 
 tiie conse(]uences. There are the Friar Minims, who iiiciX upon 
 lish and oil, never touching flesh ; their skins are continually coxered 
 with a iishy and unctuous excretion ; tiie oldi'r they grosv, and the 
 It ss <are thv'v take to keep themselves clean, the stronger do they 
 smell of iish ; \et 1 am sure yon wonkl argue vehemently against 
 my conclusion, were 1 to insist that the friars are actually lish, and 
 ought to be accounted so.' J/ibat was then driven to lake the 
 S.>lan goose for an argument; but his antagonist, though he also 
 believed what was ihen the received notion of their vegetable origin, 
 insists dial the Barnacle was neither lish, flesh, nor fowl, but u 
 certain sport of nature. And the merry Dominican, lau'j;hing at 
 the weakness of his own cause, continueil to eat devilets on fast 
 days, ami no iloubt to take care that they were dresseil according to 
 rul(> — die organ of cookery being magnilicently developed upon his 
 shaven and shorn heail. 
 
 Jiahal, who obs(>r\ed everything, witnessed a fact relating to 
 electricity, wlii( h is leniaikable enough t(» be noticed here. '1 here 
 were about twenty pounds of gunpowdt;r in his chamber, in several 
 packets of paper, and in each of these packets, the powder, during 
 a violent tliunder-storni which broke over the convent, and ilid con- 
 siderable damage t<» the building, was formed into a mass, such, 
 he says, as might be made of pounded charcoal and gum-w aler. 
 Jt was like a black stone, dry, hard, not easily broken, retaining 
 \ery little smell of siil[)hur, and not kindling more readily than a 
 lump of furnace-coal. 
 
 I'!\t!n in the lifetinie of Columbus, the evil which in our own 
 da\s has been experieiiceil in Si. Domingo, was appiclunded b\ 
 the Spaniartis, from tlu' mnl'iiplicalion ol the negroes. A like 
 e\il was feared from the nuilli|)licalion of mulattos in Du Terlie's 
 time; and thedreadful tragedii's, of which St. Domingo has been 
 the sceni , may be traced for one of its causes to an I'dicl wliich 
 was issued by Louis \IV. in the vain intent of eliecking tin- 
 giowlh of the mixed race. At fust, by the law >»r custom of 
 the rreuth islands, mulattos became fiee at the age of twint}- 
 
 four, 
 
 I 
 

 Chronological History of the West Indies. 
 
 231) 
 
 again.sl 
 
 ibnr, provided they Imd cunliiiucd till tliat age to live Avith the 
 owner of the mother; the service ol the hist eigiit years being 
 deemed an adequate return for their support in ini'ancy and chihi- 
 hood. The human principle ot" tlie civil hivv, iiiat partus scqnitiir 
 vcnfrem, was now perverted to an inhunum end ; a iine of two 
 thousand pounds of sugar was exacted from any person upon whom 
 a mulatto child should be lili- *ed ; and if he were liie proprietor 
 of tlie negress, in addition t(» that tine, he forfeited both mother 
 and child, who were thereby escheated to the hospital, and not to 
 be redeemed from that slavery. Labat, wht) relates the tragic, as 
 Avell as sonje comic, conse(|uences of such an edict, was too saga- 
 cious a man not to perceive its gross impolicy ; but he touches 
 lightly on the subject, and duit too in his character of missionary, 
 as if he thought some apology was necessary for the freedom of 
 liis remarks. He had known but two instances of marriage 
 between white men and negresses ; the one appears to have been 
 for('ed n[)on a scrupulous man by an injudicious priest, under 
 most im|)roper circumstances, and it endecl accordingly ; the other 
 was the effect of choice, gratitude, and a sense of duty. Had 
 Labat allowed himself to pursue the subject, he would have se<Mi that 
 in those n'gioiis the only proper coursi' of policy was indicated by 
 the course of nature ; that in the mixed breed, the European mind 
 is engraftetl up(»n the African constitution; and that if tlu^ I'rencli 
 government had understood its own int<'rest, it should have encou- 
 raged the gro^^ th of that race, capable by Jialure, as they are, of 
 hibouring under a tropical sky, and educated, as they might, and 
 ought to have been, in those artiliciiil wants, which are the whole- 
 some and needful incentives to industry, and in those moral and 
 religious principles, which are the oidy safeguard of society. 
 Upon this subject and others connected with it, the author of this 
 Clironological History manifests a strong feeling. 
 
 In the amials of the last century, military and naval operations 
 occupy a large space ; they ar(^ melanciu)ly details of lives sacri- 
 ficed by thousands to a fatal climate, anil of tixpeiiitions, pro- 
 ducing nothing but evil in their course, and with no otlu^r conse- 
 ipu'iice in tin ir results than that of making con(|uests, mIucIi at the 
 next general peace were to be restored, il' FraiU'e antl Juigland 
 had agreed at I tr«'cht or at Miineguen upon a neutrality for these 
 unfortiniate islands, the fate of future wars would not have been in 
 the slightest ilegree influenced by it — neither power would at tiiis 
 day ha\e been in a wor,,e condition, and all tlie intermediate ex- 
 pense to both countries, and all thi' misi'ry to tlu^ colonies of 
 both, nwglit have been sj)ared. A veteran statesman, who was him- 
 self distinguished for his capacity, once sadly remarked by how little 
 >vibdom the political atlairs of the worhl wcie directed. It wouhl 
 
 be 
 
II 
 
 240 
 
 Chronological Hialory of the West Indies, 
 
 
 ,ii *' 
 
 
 u- 
 
 be as mournful, as it is liumiliating, to reflect by how little, even 
 of that little, niucli of the evil that is under the sun, might have 
 been averted, if there were not some consolation in the hope, that 
 the days which speak will at length be heard, and the multitude of 
 vears brins:; wisdom. 
 
 New colonies are now rising in the remotest part of the Morld ; 
 and under whatever form of government they may settle when 
 the foundations are firmly laid, the language, at least, of England 
 will be retained there. Great Britain, which njay truly be called 
 the hive of nations, is sending, and must continue to send, forth 
 its swarms. Do what we will at home; (our readers know that vve 
 entirely agree with Mr. Sadler — as in other momentous points — so 
 also in the opinion, that there is much which may and ought to be 
 done in providing employment for the able and industrious ;) let 
 what maybe done, new countries will always otfer an inviting field 
 for hope and enterprise ; and it is desirable that hope and entc^rprise 
 should take that direction. Reasonable apprehensions must be felt 
 concerning the future character of society in these colonies if they 
 are to be formeil only with the worst materials, — the refuse of the 
 parent state, — its criminals, its runaways, and its paupers, Nor 
 is the evil, which may be looked for from this cause, to be coun- 
 teracted by the temporary abode of j)ersons who go thither to 
 pursue their commercial speculations, meaning to return to Jilng- 
 hmd with the fortune which they may accumulate. The best 
 colonists are those who are influenced by the best motives ; who 
 go with the intent of taking up their fmal abode in a new country, 
 because they can there secure a certain independence in all re- 
 spectability and comfort for their children to the third and fourth 
 generation. To such a course, the settlers in New England were 
 led by a principle of religious zeal ; and the contrast which New 
 England at this day presents to the new States of the American 
 Union, and to all colonies which have been founded either by 
 (•()n(pierors or mere traders, may teach us that as the root is, so 
 will the tree prove. 
 
 There are some things in whidi our Australian colonies have 
 an advantage overall others in their beginning. The natives are 
 so few that any danger arising from them is too trilling to be taken 
 into the account of inconveniences ; our right in the land is that of 
 occupancy, not of <onquest. It is an open ountry — man has 
 only lo break the ground, not to clear it. It is a good climate, 
 perhaps the best that could be named, though not as sanguine men 
 were at one time ready from our short experience to infer, ex- 
 empted frou) all febrile diseases : within these two }ears, it has 
 sutVered from what may be called a pestilence : still, in no other 
 countrv, have new settlers been so free from sickness. The curse 
 
 of 
 
Chronological History of the West Indies. 241 
 
 of slavery has not been carried thither, and at so great a distance 
 from Europe, it may be hoped, that tlie evil of our wars will not 
 be felt there. New England suffered severely from that cause. 
 Founded upon better principles than any colonies, some of the 
 American states alone excepted, and in a better age than those, 
 it may be hoped that, after the expiration of three centuries, the 
 annals of Australia may be more honourable to religion and 
 human nature than those of the West Indies have proved during 
 an equal course of time ; that it may be the task of the annalist, 
 instead of relating a melancholy series of crimes and sufferings, 
 the desperate achievements of wicked men in guilty enterprises, or 
 the unproductive exertions of honourable courag<; in lawful wars, 
 to record the uninteirupted progress of improvemenl among a 
 peaceful and happy people.