^hcvc arc yet new Worlds; to find ^ / l^oUndlDcnms Hu^^eij fj^^^^-^^f^^ ^*:^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY WEST INDIES. VOL. I. London: Printed by A & R. Spotliswoodc, New- Street -Square. Cijronoloiffiral ?^ifitory OF THE must Sntufs. BY CAPTAIN THOMAS SOUTHEY, C0M3IANDER, ROYAL NAVY. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: FRIMTED FOK LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, PATERNOST£R-ROW. 1827. LIBRARY .UNIVERSITY OF rAT.TFORNTA SANTA BAEBAKA TO ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. LL.D. POET LAUREATE; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY; OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY OF HISTORY; OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF THE NETHERLANDS; OF THE CYMMRODORION ; OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY; OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY; OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY; OF THE BRISTOL PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY ; OF THE METROPOLITAN INSTITUTION; OF THE PHILOMATHIC INSTITUTION, ETC. THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, IN MEMORIAL OF ADMIRATION FOR HIS TALENTS, RESPECT FOR HIS VIRTUES, AND GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS, BY HIS AFFECTIONATE BROTHER, THOMAS SOUTHEY. PREFACE. "One single matter of fact, faithfully and honestly delivered, is worth a thousand comments and flourishes." This work is a register of events relating to the West Indies, arranged in the only manner suited to the subject, for the plan comprehends the whole of the Columbian islands, and as they belong to different European powers, and 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 his- tory can be composed, than that which a chronological series offers. The materials are presented in an unpretending form, but it is hoped and believed that the work contains more Much confusion lias arisen from the Juan. Its proximity to St. John's in- sarae name being given to different creases the confusion. There is Caria- islands in the West Indies, and from cou, one of the Grenadines, and Cura- the same island having different names. 90a. The Bahamas were the Lucayos. There is Barbadoes, Barbudo, and Espaniola, St. Domingo, and Hayti, the Saints were at one time called Bar- are all names for one island j and St. bata. Domingo is the name of the principal Columbus named Isla Larga St. Per- city in the Spanish part of the same nandina, which name was afterwards island. given to Cuba, although Columbus had There are two islands called Anguila, named that island Juana. one to windward of St. Martin's, the St. Christopher's is familiarly called other among the Bahamas in the Canal St. Kitt's. de Santaren. St. Salvador's is also called Cat Old Providence was called St. Catha- Island. rines j and there is New Providence. Puerto Rico was often called San There is the island of Samana to the PREFACE. information tlian can be found in any other, concerning that part of the world. "If in some places I be found to set down whole pas- sages as they are already set down by others, and may seem rather to transcribe than to write, yet this, I sup- pose, may be excused, as being all of one common stock, and no matter from whence the water comes, so it comes clear to the reader's use. Lastly, for the work itself, I dare be bold to say, that it hath been collected out of authors both ancient and modern, with great care and diligence." " If the reader will inform me of any mistake, I will thankfully mend it, and add what I have unwarily omitted ; what I have been too dark in explaining, I will explain better, when I have a clearer light to guide me." " Thus hoping the courteous and discreet will mildly excuse, if not approve what I have rudely done, I submit myself to every humour, and expect differing censures answerable to the dissonant inclinations of every reader." Epistle to the Reader, Baker's Chronicle. Camden's Britannia, 1695. Life by Gibson. Lok's Translation of Peter Martyr, 1612. north of Crooked Island, and the penin- rita ; and the Tortugas, about 100 miles sula of Samana in Espaniola. to the northward of the Havana, which Two islands are called Santa Cruz, Peter Heylyn, in his Cosmographie, one near the Virgin Islands, the other thus quaintly describes, " well known near Yucatan ; exclusive of Cozumel, among the sailors, because much which was also called Santa Cruz. avoided, or rather avoided because There is the island of Tortuga, the known ; the danger of their company first grand rendezvous of the pirates off making their further acquaintance Espaniola J Las Tortugas, near Marga- shunned." CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES. 1 HAT the new World would soon have been discovered by other na\ngators is no diminution of Columbus's fame. He alone sailed with the intention of crossing that ocean whose limits it was sup- posed impious to attempt to pass, because they were the boundaries of the habitable world. Other illustrious men have suffered equal physical hardships, shewn equal skill, and possessed equal science ; but none had ever this awful feeling to contend with. In addition to the reasons which Columbus, as a cosmoo-rapher had for supposing that he should find land by steerino- to the west- ward, he had the following testimonies to strengthen them : Four hundred and fifty leagues to the westward of Cape St. Vin- cent, after a long continuance of westerly winds, Martin Vicente found a piece of wood curiously wi'ought. Pedro Correa, the hus- band of the sister of Columbus's wife, had found a similar piece off" Puerto Santo, and some large canes, each joint of which would hold a gallon and a half, similar to those which Ptolemy describes as growing in India. At the if^res the west winds had driven trees on shore, unlike any which grow in Europe. And at Flores the sea had thrown up the bodies of two men whose features and complexion were neither those of Europeans, Moors or Negroes ; and two canoes had been found there. Antonio Leme also thought that he had seen three islands when he was driven far to the westward ; others had thought the same ; and Jasper and.Miguel de Corte Real, the sons of the discoverer of Ter- cera, had perished in seeking them. Columbus's first proposals were to the Genoese government, his second to the King, D. Joam the Second, of Portugal, who referred him to D. Diego Ortiz, Bishop of Ceuta, and the Jewish doctors Herrera, D. 1. L. I. C. 2. B ,^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1492. Ilodrigo and Joseph ; diey pretending to treat his plans as visionary, advised that a vessel shoidd be sent secredy to anticipate his disco- veries. The dishonourable attempt was made, and failed. Dis- gusted with this duplicity, and having lost his wife, Columbus se- credy embarked for Spain, and at the same time sent his brother Bartholomew to England. Columbus landed at Palos, and leaving his son in die monastery of Rabida, under the care of Juan Perez de Marchena, proceeded to die court at Cordova. Alonzo de Quinta- nilla (Contador Mayor), in whose house he was entertained, procured attention to his offers. The Queen's confessor, Hernando de Tala- vera, was desired to form a junta of cosmographers, to confer about it ; but there were not many of that profession in Spain, nor were they the best in the world, neither would Columbus open out his plans so fully as he had done, lest the same thing which had hap- pened in Portugal might occur here. One said so many years had passed since the creation of the world, and there had been so many wise men, conversant in maritime affairs, who had taken no notice of those lands which Columbus thought he could find, that it was not to be supposed he was wiser than all who had lived before him. Others said, the world was so large that three years sailing would not be sufficient to reach the end of the east in the way Co- lumbus intended to steer ; in confirmation of wliich they quoted Seneca, who said that many learned men disagreed in their opinions whether the sea was infinite or not, and doubted if it could be navi- gated, and if it could, whether they would find an inhabited country, or whether they could get to it. They also said that no part of the sphere was inhabited below the land and the water ; but that our he- misphere was a small crown or girdle upon the water, and all the rest sea. Nevertheless, they conceded that it was possible to get to the end of the east, and also from Spain to the extremity of the west. Others said, that if Columbus steered directly to the west he would never be able to return, because of the roundness of the sphere. Whosoever should quit this hemisphere known by Ptolemy, would get so much lower that it would be impossible to return, it would be like getting up a steep mountain. Columbus's answers to these objections were not satisfactory, because they were not" understood. The junta declared the enterprise to be vain and impossible, and that it was inconsistent with the dignity of such great princes to de- termine upon such loose information. After a long delay their majesties ordered Columbus to be told that they were engaged in so many wars, and particularly in die conquest of Granada, that they could not enter into new expences at that time, but when these wars were finished tliey would order his pretensions to be better cxaniijied ; and so they dismissed him. Columbus was at Seville when lie received this answer ; it wiis a melancholy reward for five years attendance upon the court. He now proposed his plans to the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, and Medina Cell : these also declined Ilcmia, D. 1. L. 1. C. 7, 8. 1492.] OF THE WEST INDIES. S the enterprise ; and Columbus then wrote to the King of France for permission to pass to England in search of his brother. With this intention he went to the monastery of Rabida for his son D. Diego, lo place him at Cordova, and told Juan Perez de Marchena v.hat he was about to do. Upon his advice Columbus consented to defer his departure. Juan called in Garci Hernandez to confer about his plans. Garci Hernandez, as a philosopher, was quite satisfied with them ; and as Juan was known to the Queen, having been her con- fessor, he wrote to her, and received orders to repair to the court at Santa Fe. He left Columbus at Palos, and having seen the Queen, sent him 20,000 maravedis, to pay his expences to court ; and upon his arrival the negotiations recommenced. Tlie Prior de Prado and others were against the enterprise : the titles of admiral and viceroy, which Columbus asked, were too mucl?, they said, if he succeeded ; and if not, it was foolish :o .grau- them. Tlie conference was broken off, and he determined to go to Cordova, and from thence to France. Alonzo de QuintJinilla, and I uys de Santangel, " escrivano de raciones" to the crown of Arragon, were grieved at the failure of the undertaking. At the ^eques^, of Juan and Quintanilla, the Cardinal D. Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza heard Columbus, and thought favourably of him; and as Columbus's enemies said that he offered nothing on liis part for the discovery, but to go as captain-general of a squadron belonging to their majesties, to satisfy them, Columbus offered to bear one-eighth part of the expense ; notwithstanding this, nothing was done. While the Spanish court were celebrating festivals for the con- quest of Granada, Columbus, oppressed with the thoughts of having lost seven years in applications, determined to quit Spain, and in January 1492 set out for Cordova; he had scarce departed, when Luis de Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical rents in Arragon, energetically represented to the Queen the loss it would be if any other power should gain tliis prize ; that 2500 piastres, the whole amount of what Columbus wanted, was a paltry sum ; that the honours and rewards demanded by him were not vmreasonable, as he took upon himself a share in the expense, and risked his honour and his life. Quintillana, minister of finance, who had entered during this ad- dress, seconded and confirmed Santangel's opinions; the Queen thanked them for their advice, and promised to undertake the whole affair herself for the crown of Castile ; she added, that it would be necessary to delay the expedition till she had recovered somewhat from the war ; but if this delay should not fall in with their wishes, she was ready to mortgage her jewels for the sum. Santangel offered to advance the money, and begged the royal commands might be immediately given to fit out the fleet without delay. A messenger was dispatched in pursuit of Columbus : he was overtaken on the bridge of Pinas, two miles from Granada ; and on his return to Santa Fe received with such kindness, that lie Munoz, B. 2. sect. 30. B 2 % CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1492. forgot all his vexations. An order was issued to Juan de Coloma, secretary of state, to draw out the contract. Upon the ITth of April 1492, at Santa Fe, the Spanish sove- reigns signed their grant to Columbus ; what follows is the substance thereof. By the Ist^ He is appointed admiral in all the islands and con- tinents which he shall discover, during his life, andhis heirs and suc- cessors after him, with all the pre-eminences and prerogatives which belong to the High Admiral of Castile. By the 2nd, He is appointed viceroy and governor-general over the said islands and continents, with power to select three persons for the government of each and any of them, of whom their high- nesses shall elect one. By the 3rd, The tenth part of all things and merchandize what- soever, found within the limits of his admiralty, after all expences have been deducted that may have been incun-ed, is gi'anted to him ; and the power to take cognizance, and decide upon all commercial disputes, is also granted to him or his substitute. By the 4th, If he chooses to contribute the eighth part of the expence of equipping all vessels that shall be employed in that trade, he may take the eighth part of the profits. Upon the 30th of April Columbus's charter of privileges was signed by the King and Queen in the city of Granada. The preamble declares at great length the right divine of kings, and then the hope that Columbus will discover and conquer certain islands and main land in the ocean ; over which they say, " you shall be our admiral, viceroy, and governor, and from this time forward may style yourself Don Christopher Columbus ; likewise your children and successors in the said office may call themselves don, admiral, viceroy, and governor of them ; you and your lieutenants may hear and determine all suits and causes in the same manner as the admirals of our kingdoms exercise their authority, and punish de- linquents, and receive the fees annexed to the said offices." All persons are ordered to observe towards him all the honours, gi'aces, favours, liberties, pre-eminences, prerogatives, exemptions, and immunities, and all and every other thing, which by right of the said offices of admiral, viceroy, and governor, he was to have and enjoy, and which the patent grants " now and for ever." Tlie document also orders that the patent of privilege, " folded up in the form of a roll" in the strongest manner, shall be given to Cohinibus if lie demands it, under the penalty of 10,000 maravedis, and cites him to appear at court within fifteen days, under the same penalty. Their majesties commanded that every thing necessaiy for the voyage should be immediately procured ; an order was sent to the town of Seville, that aruis, provisions, and all other necessaries for the voyage, should pass duty free ; the town of Palos was bound to Munoz, B.2. scct.30,31. Mcmorialsof Columbus, 2d Doc. Munoz, vol. 1 . sect. .32. B.2. 1492.] OF THE WEST INDIES. ^ furnish the crown with two caravels for three month's every year, and these two vessels were appointed for the expedition. The care of finding a third vessel to complete the number stipulated by Colimibus, and the arrangements for the whole, were left to himself, for wliich purpose the sum of 17,000 florins was advanced, and paid into his hands by Santangel ; and as a mark of royal favour, at the request of Columbus, the liberties and privi- leges of the mariners of Seville were confirmed and extended to tliese vessels. He left the court on the 12 th of May, with instructions not to infringe by any means on the possessions and islands of the Portu- guese in Africa. Most of the crews were natives of Palos, Moguer, Huelva, and the neighbouring places. The largest vessel, a carack, was named Santa Maria, on board of which Columbus, as admiral, hoisted his flag; to command the second, called the Pinta, he appointed Martin Alonzo Pinzon, whose brother, Francisco Martin, was steersman ; the third was called the Nina, and was rigged with latteen sails ; she was commanded by Yanez Pinzon, the third bro- ther.^ Sancho Ruiz, Pero Alonso Mino, and Bartholomew Roldan, went as pilots ; Rodrigo Sanchez, of Segovia, as superintendant of the fleet ; Diego de Arana, of Cordova, as alguazil-mayor ; Rodrigo de Escobedo as notary royal, Alonzo as physician, and Juan as surgeon, and a few servants, in all 120 persons, (Herrera says 90. ID. 1 L. c. 10.)^ They all took the sacrament before they embarked, and on Friday August 3d sailed from Palos towards the Canary Islands. On the Monday following the Pinta broke her rudder^ ; Martin Alonzo, the best seaman among them, could only render it serviceable four days longer. They got with difficulty to the great Canary Island on the 9th of August, and remained there ^ month, during which time they rigged the Nina with square sails'* instead of latteen, and fitted a new rudder to the Pinta, previous to which it was deliberated whether it would not be better to take a vessel of forty tons burthen (wliich was about her tonnage) in her stead. On Thursday the 6th of September Columbus sailed again, and shaped his course due west from Gomera. At the last sight of the islands many of the crew began to lament, and gave over all hope of ever seeing land again. The admiral, foreseeing their despondency would increase with the distance, kept two journals, a secret and accurate one, and a public one in which the distance was shortened. Two hundred leagues from Ferro, to his surprise, he found tlie needle did not Munoz, vol. i. B. 2. sect. 33. 1. 1 Of the which one was a great carack " Peter Martyr says 220. 1 D. 1 B. with decks, and the other two were light ^ Columbus suspected that Gomez Rus merchant ships without decks, which the cen and Christovel Caniten did it wilfully Spaniards call Carauclas.— Peter Martyr, — MS. Journal, J Decade, 1 Buok. - , ■• (Redondo.) — MS. Journal. B 3 5 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1492. point as usual td the north, but varied to the westward; this vari- ation, hitherto unknown, he marked down. The officers and pilots were terrified and amazed, convinced that if the compass became useless all hopes must vanish ; but Columbus dispelled their fears, by attributing it to the diurnal motion of the polar star round the pole, which he supposed to be the true solution. On the 14th of September the Nina saw a great bird, and the next day a sui^prising flame descend at a distance, and soon after- wards large fields of sea weed, which some of the crew were fearful would impede their course ; one of the men found a Hving crab in the supposed grass. These signs much increased their hopes of seeing land. They soon saw more sea fowl, and several tunnies. When they had sailed upwards of 400 leagues, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, declared he had seen many birds to the west, and marks of land, hid by thick fogs, to the north. Columbus thought it might be a cluster of small islands ; but as he was firmly persuaded the Indian counti'ies must be farther off, he continued standing to the westward. The fears .of the crew now burst out in open murmurings ; they had sailed so far into the boundless deep that the boldest sailor was affrighted ; the fine weather they considered the forerunner of de- struction; and, from the continued easterly winds, they judged it would be impossible to return. More birds were seen, and even Columbus began to think that the land was not far off; he there- fore tried for soundings, but, with 200 fathoms, found no bottom. The following days more objects induced him to keep the lead going. The wind now shifted to the S.W., but with very light airs. Columbus in vain attempted to persuade the men that this calm arose from the shelter of some neighbouring land ; he was neither believed nor respected : he now almost despaired of insm'ing suffi- cient obedience to continue the voyage. On the 22d, the admiral says, " this contrary wind was very needful for me, because my people, who thought that it would never blow fair in these seas for returning to Spain, were very discontented." But this was a transient joy, the crew thought of the vast ocean v/hicli lay between them and their native country, and a dreadful fear had seized on all ; they cursed the author of their misfortunes ^ and declared that to go farther was impious temerity, which would call down the severest punishment. The general determination was to return ; and some added, that if the admiral did not immediately accede to this, they would throw him overboard, and give out that he had fallen into the sea as he was consulting the stars. Columbus still kept on ; some he intimidated, and appealed to the honour of others. On the 23d, a heavy swell came on without any wind; the admiral say?-, <' it appears to me that a high sea never was more Munoz, B. 2. sect. 2, 3, 4, 5. 1492.] OF THE WEST INDIES. , 7 necessary, except when they came out of Egypt against Moses, who dehvered the Jews from captivity." On the 25th, by the advice of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who thought he saw land in the S. W., Columbus steered that way ; it proved a cloud, and to the great mortification of the crew, the admiral kept again to the westward. ^ In the admiral's public journal he had marked the distance run from the Isle of Ferro at 584 leagues, on the 1st of October; but in his private journal it was 707. The different captains and pilots, as well as the admiral, concealed the true distance, lest it should dishearten the men ; but the journals differed very much from each other : in the Nina's the distance was marked at 650 leagues, and in the Pima's 634. On the 2d October, the admiral says, " the sea is smooth and fine, and constantly so : many thanks be given to God for this." The King had promised a pension of 10,000 maravedis to tha first who saw the land ; this added to the men's impatience ; and to prevent the frequent disappointments which depressed their spirits, Columbus ordered that the first person who should cry out " Land" should be excluded from the bounty, if the land were not discovered within thi'ee days afterwards. On the 6th, Martin Alonzo Pinzon hailed the admiral again to keep more to the southward for the Isle Cipango"; the admiral said, " if they should be mistaken, they should be longer in making the land, and that it was better at once to go to terra firm a, and afterwards to the islands." On the 7th October, the Nina, which, from being the best sailor, was usually a-head, believing she had discovered land, hoisted her. flag and fired a gun. ^ This was soon proved to be an illusion ; it increased the agitation in the minds of the crews, and produced such insubordination, that on the following day, October the 8th, Columbus and the Pinzones were obliged to enter into an agree- ment with the men, that, in case land was not discovered in three days, they would return. As they had sailed 750 leagues west from the Canaries, Colmnbus hoped to find the IsleCipango; he therefore kept two points more to the southward, according to the flight the birds took now constantly seen. On the morning of the 9 th they thought the air breathed fresh and odoriferous, such as they had felt at Seville in April ; eA^ery moment gave fresh hopes ; the soundings, the variable winds, revived their Munoz, B. 2. sect. 6, 7. MS. Journal. ' The 27th. — They killed a Dolphin. agujas nornestean une quarta y en amene- 28th Two were killed in the other vessels. ciendo estan con la estrella justo." From 30th The admiral says, " nota que les this he says, it appears that the star moves estrellas que se llaman les guardias quando like the others, and the needles always point anochece estan junto al brazo de la parte true MS. Journal. del poniente y quando amanece estan en la " It may here be remarked, that Pinzon linea debaxo del brazo del sordeste que was so far right, that if they had steered to perece que en toda la noche no andan salvo the southward they would have made the tres lincas que son 9 horas y esto cada land sooner, noche," " tambien en anocheciendo les ^ (^A Lombarda.) B 4 8 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1492. spirits ; but there was still a menacing murmur kept up by the dis- contented. The admiral, now certain of success, in a firm and authoritative tone, upbraided them with cowardice. He said that he had sailed for the Indies, and with God's help he would proceed until he found them. On the 11th they steered west with a much heavier sea than any they had had during the voyage. In the evening all was joy ; they had found a green rush, a fish generally found among rocks, a small plank, a cane, a carved stick, a turf of grass, appa- rently fresh fi*om the shore, and a thorn bush with red berries. As night approached, Columbus, persuaded that they were near land, assembled all the ci'ews, and reminded them of the unspeakable obligations they were under to Almighty God, who had granted them such fine weather. He also reminded them of the first article of the instructions he had given ; that, when they had sailed about 700 leagues, it would not be prudent to sail after midnight. He said he was certain they would soon be blest with the sight of some land ; tliat it was necessary to keep a very good look out, and he would give a silk waistcoat to the first that discovered land, over and above the royal pension. They ran towards the setting sun, twenty-seven leagues after sun- set, at the rate of eleven knots an hour. About ten, Columbus from the poop observed a light like a torch carried from one place to another. He called Pedro Gutierrez (Repostero de estrados del Rey) to observe it, who did so, and saw it ; the admiral then desired Rodrigo Sanchez to look, wha could not see it fi-om where he was; afterwards he told the admiral that he saw it once or twice like a candle. ' At two in the morning land was seen from the Pinta, then a-head of the rest, by Rodrigo de Triana, and the signal for it was imme- diately made. At day-light, a level pleasant island, full of rivulets, with an abund- ance of green shrubs, was seen, about two leagues from the ships. ^ Munoz, B.2. sect. 8. MS. Journal. Munoz, New World, i. p. 178* MS. Journal, Conde's Library. * ' In all probability this light was upon They saw three hamlets, a capacious har- Watling's Island, tlie east end of which is hour, and a spot of land which formed a fifty-two miles to the eastward of St. Sal- peninsula, joined to the island by so narrow "^^^^or. a neck of land, that it seemed only t« re- Thcy were therefore in great danger, quire two days labour to cut it away. — running past it at the rate of eleven miles Munoz, Hist. New World, vol. i. p. 185. an liour. « Lucayos," the Indian name for the In latitude 24° upon the II th of October, Bahamas.-^May I venture to suggest this the sun would set at I'.V after six, after as the origin of our word " Keys," in the which hour they ran twenty-seven leagues West Indies; it is always applied to small Q ^ rate. sand islands, and seems an easy corruption 2 The natives called the island Guana- of " Lucayos," Cayos, Keys. There does ham ; m my oiiinion, Munoz says, it is the not appear to be any English reason for same now called Watlin, surroundwl with calling a small sandy island a Key ; and the i' c* 11'^' "^ probable Columbus landed at Bahamas, " Lucayos," are in general smaH tlic S. \V . point of It, and rowed from thence sandy islands. to the W. N. E, along the western coast. 1492.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 9 The admiral, in grateful joy, began to sing " Te Deum laudamiis," the whole crew joined, the other vessels caught the sound, and all began the same hymn. The crew then saluted Columbus as viceroy and admiral, and requested his forgiveness. As the vessels approached the shore the beach was croAvded with naked Indians. Columbus was the first who landed in the New World, which his own genius and science had convinced him was in existence, — which his own perseverence and courage had discovered ; he was followed by the captains and an armed band; before the admiral was borne the royal standard, and before the captains the standards of the expe- dition ; on one was a green cross, with the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella ; and on the other several Fs, surmounted with a crown. After having returned thanks, Columbus rose and pronounced the word " Salvador" as the name of the island, and as a testimony that he dedicated the first of his discoveries to our Saviour. They then erected a crucifix and took possession for the crown of Castile. All then took the oath of allegiance to Columbus, as viceroy and admiral. At fu-st the natives fled, but by degrees they found courage to return, and Columbus gave them glass beads, small bells, and other trifles ; they were olive coloured, with black straight hair, and naked, except that their bodies were painted with different colours.^ The onl}' articles they had to barter were bottoms of well spim cotton, parrots, and lances pointed with bone. Their largest canoe would carry forty-five men ; but what most excited the attention of the Spaniards, were pieces of gold which some wore suspended from the nose ; by signs they gave the Spaniards to understand, this metal was to be found in abundance in the south, also that savage men came to their island from the N.W. to plunder, and many show^ed their scars. Columbus remained three days at St. Salvador's, and then took seven of the natives away with him, as interpreters. The next island he took possession of he named " Santa Maria de la Concepcion." From thence he stood to the westward, to a larger, which he named Fernandino, and was there upon the 17 th of October ; he thought the inhabitants were more civilized ; they wore cotton mantles, and the women a cotton band round the waist ; they slept in hammocks, and had dogs, mastiffs, " y branchetas." There, Columbus says, he saw in one of their noses a piece of gold about the size of half a castellano, with letters upon it, which he could not persuade them to part with : he gave them what they asked to look at it, that he might see what they w^ere, and what their money w as ; but they told him that they dared not part with it on any account. They pointed to the south for a great country, which they called Cuba, where they gave the Spaniards to mider- jNIS. Journal. ' Their foreheads were uncommonly by the edge, and wounded themselves by broad, they particularly admired the naked so doing Mimox, 181- swords of the Spaniard?, laid hold of them 10 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1492. Stand gold and pearls abounded. Columbus says, " your high- nesses may be assured that this land is the best, and most fertile, and ' temperate,' and level, and good, that there is in the world." It is now called " Isle Larga." ' On the 19 th they went to an island which the natives called Samoete ; Columbus named it Isabella. On the 21st the Spaniards killed a snake seven palms in length, and sailed for another much larger island, which the Spaniards thought must be Cipango, because the natives they had on board said there were many large vessels, and numerous merchants there. Colmnbus says, "I am determined to go to ' tierra firma,' and to the city of ' Quisay,' give your highnesses letters to tlie gi'and ' Can,' beg an answer, and come back with it." Upon the 27th October they left the " Yslas de Arena," Sandy Islands, and got sight of Cuba'^ and the next morning, the 28th, anchored in the mouth of a fine river, in twelve fathoms. The admiral landed, and named the river and port San Salvador ;- but the land he called Juan a, in honour of the Prince Don Juan. Higher up they found from five to eight fathoms water. Columbus says, " every thing invited me to settle there : the beauty- of the stream, the clearness of the water, through which I could see the sandy bottom; the multitude of palm trees of different kinds, the tallest and finest I had ever seen, and an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees ; the birds, and the verdure of the plains, are so wonderfully beautiful, that this country exceeds all others as far as the day surpasses the night in brightness and splendour, so that I have often said it would be in vain for me to attempt to give your highnesses a full account of it, for neither my tongue nor my pen could come up to the truth ; and indeed I am so much amazed at the sight of such beauty, that I know not how to describe it." ^ MS. Journal. Life of Columbus. S Columbus's Signature. 3 Nevertheless the most valuable present that the islands have received from Africa is the manioc. The greater part of the his- torians have regarded this plant as originally J. M. J. from America. One does not very certainly XSo l^FRl^NS know upon what foundation this opinion ^ * rests, although it is pretty generally re- Don Ferdinand states that his father ceived. But if the truth was known, the never tried his pen without first writing. Antilles received the manioc from the Euro- " Jesus cum IVIaria sit nobis in via." peansas well as the Africans, who fed them- The signature may be read thus : Salva selves with it. Before our invasions, the mc Christus, Maria, Josephus. communication from the continent of Ame- The letters s. a. s. are much smaller than rica with the islands was so confined, that J. M. J. and must be considered as the final a production of terra firma might have been ones of the words — Memorials of Columbus, imknown in the archipelago of the Antilles. p. 133. Thus much is certain, that the savages who 2 By the description of the cosmogra- ofFered to our first navigators bananas, ig- phers, well considered, itseemeth that both names, and i)otatoes, did not offer them ma- these, (Cubaand Hispaniola,) and the other nioc ; that it was the Caribs collected toge- islands adjoining, are the islands of Antilia. thcr at Dominica and St. Vincent that — Peter Martyr, 1 Book, 1 Dec. received it from us ; that tlic character of 149^^.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 11 On the 29th they passed two rivers, one Columbus named " De la Luna," and the largest " Rio de Mares," with an indifferent har- bour, in which the ships anchored ; but the inhabitants quitted their houses when the boats landed ; Columbus says, " they were beautifully built with palm branches, and we found several statues of women, and many heads, and dogs that never bark." They stood to the westward, but put back Avith a strong breeze from the north. On the 1st of November, Martin Alonzo Pinzon told the admiral that he understood Cuba was a city, and that that land was " tierra firma ;" that the king of it was at war with the grand Can, whom they called Cani, and his country Saba. Columbus agreed with the captain of the Pinta, in thinking they had found the continent of India, and that he was about 100 miles from its capital. He therefore resolved to send the King's letter by Rodrigo de Xerez, and Luis de Torres, a converted Jew, who understood the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Arabic languages. They returned, after having gone twelve miles into the country, when they found a village containing fifty houses and 1000 inha- bitants, who received them with joy, as beings descended from heaven ; in the house assigned for their residence were two benches, each of one piece, shaped like a quadruped, with short legs, and a tail curled over die back, and eyes and ears of solid gold. They saw fields of a plant called yuca, of the roots of which they made bread, and called it cazabi; the natives also rolled up leaves of a plant which they called tobacco, and setting fire to one end inhaled the smoke from the other ; occasionally they would eat spiders and worms, and half raw fish, but the eyes they devoured raw. The natives brought the Spaniards nets, " Jamacas," in which they slept ; they called gold " nucagr ;" and in answer to all the Spaniards enquiries for that metal and for pearls, they pointed to the east, repeating the words " Babeque" and " Bohio." Columbus therefore resolved to stand back to the eastward, and on the 12th of November left the " Rio de Mares." When they had gone eighteen leagues he saw a cape, which he named Cabo de Cuba ; two leagues further a bay, and five leagues S.S.W. from the bay, at the distance of about five leagues, an opening between two mountains, MS. Journal. Munoz, p. 195. P. Martyr, D. 1. B. 1. Munoz, vol. i. p. 204. the savages was unfit for such a continued described by the first historians of the culture ; that the sort of culture required conquest. very open fields, and that in the forests, " They have also another kind of root, with which these islands were covered, no which they call Jucca, whereof they make spaces were found cleared of greater extent bread." Eut they never eat Jucca, except than twenty-five fathoms square. Finally, it be first sliced and pressed, (for it is full it is certain, that they did not see the of liquor,) and then baked or sodden. But manioc used until after the arrival of the this is to be marvelled at, that the juice of blacks, and that from time immemorial it this root is a poison as strong as aconitum, formed the principal nourishment of a great so that if it be drunk it causeth present part of Africa Raynal, t. 4. p. 177. death, and yet the bread made thereof is The Abbe Raynal, positive as he is, is of good taste and wholesome, as they all plainly wrong, for this root is particularly have proved. — P. Mar tire s Decade, \D.\B. 12 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY £1492. tliat seemed the entrance of the sea. Violent gales drove him fifty- six leagues to the N.E. He returned to the coast, and having sailed along it sixty-fovu- leagues, he put into a large harbour with innumerable islands, which he named Del Principe ; they left it on the 19th of November, and on the 22nd the Pinta (Martin Alonzo Pinzon) unexpectedly parted company; he had some of the natives of St. Salvador on board, and six from Cuba, from Port Mares; these had given him particular accounts of the situation and size of Bohio, and in order to secure this rich discovery for himself, he availed himself of the Pinta's being a fast sailer, and left Columbus in the night. Columbus's vessel was a didl sailer, and he stayed to examine the coast of Cuba more minutely. In one place they found a canoe capable of carrying fifty men (Munoz says 150), and a mass of wax, and a man's head hanging in a basket upon a post. Cape Maysi Columbus considered the eastern part of the con- tinent of Asia. He had sailed upwards of 700 miles along the coast: a little to the east of Cape Maysi he saw land, which he made for with impatience, though the Indians, and particularly those of Cuba, endeavoured to dissuade him from it, repeating " Boliio ! Bohio !" and by gestures giving him to understand the inhabitants were monsters and cannibals. In a few hours they reached the nearest cape, and Columbus ordered Vicente Yanez, in the Nina, a-head, to look out for an anchorage ; and the next morning, December the 6th, entered a harbour, which, in honour of the saint's birth-day, he named St. Nicholas. Leaving this, he coasted along to the eastward, and on the 8th anchored in another, with an island in front ; from its shape, which was supposed to resemble a tortoise, he named the island Tortuga, and the harbour De la Concepcion : stress of weather detained them here some days. From the beauty of the large island to the southward, and a fancied similarity to Spain, he named it Espanola, though some said it would be more proper to call it Castellana, because only the kingdoms of Castile and Leon were concerned in the discovery. Tlie natives gave it several names : Hayti, or high country, from the mountains ; Quisqueya, or tlie whole, from its size; and Bohio, or house, from the number and size of the houses. They did not see any of the inhabitants till the 12th of December; on that day, after erecting a crucifix on a prominent point, as usual, they caught a j'oung woman, who wore a gold plate in her nose. Cohmibus had her dressed, gave her beads and brass rings, and sent three of the islanders, and some Spaniards with her, to bring about an inter- course with the natives ; the messengers came back late at night, and in consequence of their report, nine armed Spaniards and one islander were sent off. About four miles from the shore they found a village in a spacious valley, with about 4000 inhabitants, who at first ran away ; the islanders soon persuaded them that the strangers JMunoz, vol. i. p. 207. 209. Ilcrrcra, D. 1. L. 1. C. 15. Martire, D. I. 13. 1. Munoz, p. 212. 214, 215. 217. 1492.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 13 came from Heaven, and their fear was succeeded by admiration and respect. Tlie woman whom Cohimbus had dressed was carried about in triumph on their shoulders with her husband. The next day, the 14th, Cohmibus examined Tortuga, and intended standing to the eastward, but was unable to work to windward. On the 15th they made a little progress, and anchored near a river, which they named Guadalquiver ; they rowed up this some distance, and were so delighted with the beauty of the place, that they called it Val Paraiso, (the Vale of Paradise.) On the 16th they anchored near a villaiye at the entrance of the streio;ht between Tortuo;a and Espanola ; as they were sailing through, they stopped an Indian in his canoe, whose report of the kindness shown him, and his presents, induced the natives to venture on board. Here the Spaniards found more gold, wi'ought into plates, and hung as ornaments to the nose and ears, and some in grains, which they readily exchanged for baubles. A cazique with 200 followers came on board, and taking two of the eldest with him, entered the cabin where the admiral was at dinner, and sat down by his side, uttering several words in a grave tone ; the two men lay at his feet. Columbus ordered several kinds of food and some liquors to be given the cazique, who tasted a little of each, and sent the rest to his followers. After this, the flags, and the portrait of the king on a gold coin, were shewn him ; and a carpet, a pair of red shoes, some amber beads, and a bottle of orange essence given him. The cazique, carried on a kind of palanquin, returned home highly gratified; his son followed at some distance, carried in the same manner; his brother, leaning on the arms of two persons of distinction, followed on foot ; the presents were carried before the chief, and each by a separate person. In the afternoon the cazique came again to the shore ; and a canoe with forty men came from Tortuga, which seemed to displease him, for he threw stones and water at them, and wished the Spaniards to do the same ; the canoe returned immediately to Tortuga. The alacrity with which the natives assisted in erecting a cru- cifix Columbus considered an omen of their speedy conversion to Christianity- On the 19th the ships tried to gain another harbour, formed by a small island six leagues off, where they anchored on the 20th, and named it St. Thomas's. " Here," Columbus says, " there were well cultivated and fruitful fields, and such a crowd of people that the ground was hid, all expressing their joy in every possible manner." Six Spaniards accepted their invitation, and went to their village, where they got a considerable quantity of gold. From their report, and the presents, Columbus was so rejoiced, that he exclaimed, " Oh ! Heavenly Lord, who hast all things in thy hands, be my help, and give me according to thy pleasure." Ambassadors from the cazique Guacanagari presented Columbus with a girdle four fingei-s broad, trimmed with bones like pearls, interspersed with red Muiioz, p. 221. Hencia, D. 1. L. 1. C. 16. Munoz, 226. 14 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1492. beads ; and a mask, with the ears, tongue, and nose of gold. They brought an invitation from their cazique, a word which puzzled the Spaniards, to visit his countr}', where he would give them all he had : he was one of the five sovereigns who governed the island, and possessed the greater part of that side where they were. Some Spaniards were accordingly sent, who returned the same day with still more favourable reports. Next day, the 24th, the ships stood to the eastward, with a light land breeze and smooth water. The admiral, who had been four leagues into the country to visit Guacanagari, and who had not slept for forty-eight hours, threw himself on his bed ; the crew also went to sleep ; and the man at the helm, contrary to express orders, gave the helm to an inexperienced boy, and did the same : in an hour the ship, driven by the current, struck on a sand bank. The cries of the boy awakened Columbus, who ordered an anchor out astern; — instead of obeying the order, the ship's master and several sailors took the long boat and went to the Nina, then two miles off. The ship lay athwart the swell, and soon filled with water, and fell on her broadside ; her masts were cut away, and stores thrown out, and aU hopes of saving her given over ; but had the master obeyed the admiral's orders, she might have been saved. Fortunately the calm continued, and Vicente Yanez sent the chso- bedient hands back to assist the admiral — no lives were lost. On the 25th Columbus sent Pedro Gutierez to Guacanagari with the intelligence. ' The hospitable reception, and prospect of an abundance of gold from Cibao, a place at no great distance, which Columbus sup- posed to be Cipango, the name by which Marco Polo called the Islands of Japan, soon effaced all grief for their loss, wliich he now began to think a favourable accident. Munoz, p. 232. Herrera, D. 1. L. 1. C. If • " Tlieking," says Columbus, in a letter men, who watched during the whole night, to Ferdinand and Isabella, "having been in. and those on shore lamented as if they had formed of our misfortune, expressed great been much interested in our loss. Tlie peo- gricf for our loss, and immediately sent on pie are so affectionate, so tractable, and so board all tlie ])cople in the place, in many peaceable, that I swear to your highnesses large canoes. We soon unloaded the ship of tliat there is not abetter race of men, nor a every thing tliat was upon deck, as the king better country, in the world. They love gave us great assistance; he himself, with his their neighbours as themselves ; their con- brothers and relations, took all possible care versation is the sweetest and mildest in the that every thing shoidd be properly done world, cheerful, and always accompanied both aboard and on sliore ; and from time with a smile. And although it is true, that to time he sent some of his relations, weep- they go naked, yet your highnesses may be ing, to beg of me not to be dejected, for he assured that they have many commendable would give me all that he had. I can assure customs. The king is served with great your highnesses, that so much care would not state, and his behaviour is so decent, that liave been taken in securing our effects in it is pleasant to see liim, as it is likewise to any part of Spain, as all our property was observe the wonderful memory which these jiiit together in one ])lace near his i)alace, jieople have, and their desire of knowing initil tlie liouses wliicli lie wanted to jirc- every thing which leads them to inquire pare for the cu:>tody of it were emjitied. into its causes and effects." — Life of Cohan. lie immediately placed a guard of armed C. 32. 1492.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 15 Wlien Columbus visited the cazique, he was treated with veni- son, a variety of roots, and dehcious fish ; and after the repast, con- ducted by winding paths, through fragrant groves, to shady arbours ; and at his departure had a mask, with pieces of fine gold hanging from the ears, nose, eyes, and neck, given him. The inconvenience of returning to Spain all in one caravel was a welcome difficulty ; so many wished to remain with the natives, and Columbus thinking a settlement desirable, agreed to leave one; and says, in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, " I trust in God, that after my return from Spain I shall find a ton of gold gained by exchange, the gold mine discovered, and spices, and such abund- ance of both, that before the expiration of three years the conquest of Jerusalem may be undertaken, for which piu'pose the profits of my enterprize, as I did protest to your highness, shall be employed." On the 2*7 th Guacanagari visited the admiral on board the caravel, and tried to persuade him to stop, partly from motives of personal attachment, and partly because he hoped the Spaniards would pro- tect liim from the Caribs, a fierce and cannibal race, who inhabited some islands to the S.E. Columbus promised to leave some Spaniards to protect him, and to return with more; and in order to impress upon the natives an idea of the superior power of the Spaniards, sham fights were exliibited, and, to the great terror and astonishment of the Indians, who all fell flat upon the ground, a shot was fired into the hull of the stranded vessel. With the Avood of the Santa Maria the Spaniards built a tower, and dug a fosse round it; the natives, by the command of their cazique, assisting. It was finished in a few days, and Columbus named the tower and the harbour Navidad, in memory of the day in which the crew had landed and escaped the danger of the sea. Upon the 28th Columbus visited Guacanagari, who, before his departure, hung a large plate of gold about the admiral's neck. Upon the 30th Guacanagari, with five caziques of inferior rank, each wearing a golden crown, came down to the shore to receive Columbus as he landed to dine with Guacanagari, and conducted him with great ceremony to the house appropriated for enter- taining the Spaniards; then Guacanagari took off his crown and placed it upon the admiral's head, who in return threw a cloak over him, put a string of glass beads round his neck, a silver ring on his finger, and ordered half-boots to be drawn on his legs, a present the cazique highly valued. Columbus determined to return to Spain without delay, and Guacanagari liberally stowed the vessel with every thing for the voyage. Thirty-nine colonists were selected to remain ; among them were a carpenter, cooper, artillery man, tailor, and surgeon. Diego de Arana was appointed governor, and Pedro Gutierrez his lieute- nant, and successor in case of his death ; in the event of the demise of the latter, the command was to devolve upon Rodrigo de Escobedo. Muiioz, p. 237. 240. 244. 16 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1493. The arms and ammunition of the Santa Maria, all that could be spared of the European provisions, all the remaining trinkets, and the long boat, were left with them. 1493. Upon the 2d January Columbus dined with Guacanagari and his caziques, and took his leave; he recommended the Christians to him, and said he had commanded them to defend him against the Caribs, then, giving him a fine shirt, promised to return soon with presents from the King of Spain. Guacanagari answered with expressions of great sorrow, and wished him to remain till the return of some canoes, which were sent for more gold. But the absence of Martin Alonzo, in the Pinta, weighed heavy upon the spirits of Columbus, who by no means wished that she should get to Spain before him ; he therefore was resolved to sail as soon as possible. On the 4th of January Columbus left Port Navidad (now Cape Francois) ; he ordered those who remained behind to seek for a more convenient harbour — to learn the language — to search for the gold mines, and to set European seeds, and above all things enjoined them to live together in friendship — to cultivate the good will of the natives — to behave like true Christians — to be thankful to the Almighty for the blessings they had received, and to consider them as so many earnests of future favour ; he promised to return as soon as possible with whatever they might want, and with distin- guished rewards, which he thought he might confidently promise them from their majesties. The farewell scene was an affecting one, and Guacanagari participated in it. Columbus stood to the eastward, towards a high mountain with- out trees, covered with grass, and shaped like a tent, which he named Monte Christo, and that night anchored six leagues from it. On Saturday the 5th he anchored within a small island, near some good salt pits. On Sunday the 6th the Pinta joined him, and he returned with her to Monte Christo. Martin Alonzo said he had been driven by a gale of wind to the eastward — had discovered seven islands — had returned three weeks ago to Espariola, and had been sixteen days at the mouth of a river trading with the natives. The time spent, and his having navigated against the prevailing winds, proved the falsehood of this excuse ; Columbus, however, thought it prudent to receive him with kindness. His crew said that he had collected a considerable quantity of gold, and kept half of it for himself, as captain ; four men and two young women, whom he had seized by force, Columbus obliged him to release. Upon the 9th they arrived off Punta Roxa, and caught some turtle as large as bucklers, and Columbus said that he saw three mermaids. Friday the 11th they named Cape Belforado, and from its bright Hcrrcra, I). 1. L. 1. C. 20. Miinoz, p. 24G. 248. Ilencia, D. 1. L. 2. C. 1. 1493.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 17 appearance, Monte del Plata, and the harbour at its base, Puerto del Plata. Standing to the eastward, he named several capes in succession. Angel, Punta del Hierro, el Redondo, el Frances, Cabo de Buen Tiempo, el Tajado, &c. ; the 12th, he named Cape El Padre y Hijo, Puerto Sacro, and Cabo de los Enamorados, round which was a large bay with an island in the middle, now called the Gulph of Samana ; here he stayed to make some astro- nomical observations, and found inhabitants quite different in aspect and form from those whom they had left ; they were blacker, their long hair tied behind with parrot's feathers ; each was anned with a bow and arrows and a club, and they stood prepared for battle : these Columbus supposed to be Caribs. By his orders two bows were purchased from them, but so little inclined were tJiey to part with any more, tliat they tried to seize one of tlie seven Spaniards with whom they were trafficking ; the Spaniards wounded two of them, upon which they fled. This was the first Indian blood which the Spaniards shed, and although the achniral was sorry for it, he was not unwilling that the natives should know what formidable weapons they used» On the 14th several Indians came to the shore, as if nothing had happened, and a cazique came on board with the Indian who had been on board the Pinta ; biscuits and honey, red caps, and beads, were given him ; and the next day a gold crown and some provisions were sent in return. While trafficking, four young men gave such proofs of quickness, that Columbus resolved to carry them with him, in addition to the six he had on board from the other islands. On the 16th of January Columbus set sail to return to Spain. Both his vessels required constant pumping. He wished to steer E.N.E., but the winds obliged him to make moi'e northing. On the 31st of January he had gone about 460 leagues, and they had no provisions left, except wine, bread, and " ages" (cazaba) ; now and then a tunny or shark was caught, which was some relief to the crew. The sight of several birds, the mildness of the air, and calmness of the sea, often made the pious admiral burst forth in thanks to Almighty God. On the 5th of February the sight of some storm birds excited hopes of soon seeing land, but Columbus did not expect it till the 11th. When they had sailed 200 leagues farther, Vicente Yanez Pinzon, and die pilots Ruiz, Nino, and Roldan, reckoned they were eight degrees more to the eastward. On the 12th a violent storm came on; it lasted three days; both caravels were expected to founder; they parted company, and each thought the other lost. Having resigned all hope from human exertions, they implored the assistance of the Almighty. Those on board the Nina, as well as the admiral himself, vowed to walk a pilgrimage, as the lot should fall ; one to our Lady of Loretto, another to her of Guadalupe, Peter Martyr, D. 1. B. I. Miuioz, B. 4. sect, 5, 6, 7. C 18 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1493. and a third to pass a whole night in prayer in Santa Clara de: Moguer ; in addition to the vow, they promised to walk barefooted in procession with penitential garments to any church dedicated to the Holy Virgin, on the first land they should reach. The ad- miral's ship was without ballast ; they had neglected to take it in lest they should lose the favourable wind ; this was remedied in part by filling empty casks with salt water. On the night of the 15th the gale increased ; Colimibus thought that Providence had decreed to put an end here to his mortal existence, and to bury his deeds in oblivion ; but the lamentations and reproaches of his crew distressed him more than the thoughts of death. Conscious of his weakness, and trusting in the mercy of Divine Providence, he wrote this in liis journal : " God Almighty inspii-ed me with the idea of the voyage, his goodness alone removed infinite difficulties and obstacles, he filled me with courage and fortitude to contend vnth my com- panions, who, on being resolved to return, rose up in insurrection against me, and at last he made me find what I sought and desired. He will finish this work, — what have I to fear? — but weakness and anxiety weigh down my soul." In a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, he says, " I should have been less concerned for this mis- fortune had I alone been in danger, both because my life is a debt which I owe to my Supreme Creator, and because I have at other times been exposed to the most imminent hazard. But what gave me an infinite grief and vexation was, that after it had pleased our Lord to give me faith to undertake this enterprize, in wliich I had now been so successful, that my opponents would have been convinced, and the glory of your highnesses, and the extent of your territory increased by me, it should please the Divine Majesty to stop all by my death. All this would have been more tolerable, had it not been attended with the loss of those men whom I had carried with me upon promise of the greatest prosperity, who, seeing themselves in such distress, cursed not only their coming with me, but that fear and awe of me, which prevented their re- turning, as they often had resolved to do. But besides all this, my sorrow was greatly increased by recollecting that I had left my two sons, at school at Cordova, destitute of friends, in a foreign country, when it could not in all probability be known that I had done such services as might induce your highnesses to remember them. And though I comforted myself with the faith that our Lord would not permit that which tended so much to the glory of his church, and which I had brought about with so much ti'ouble, to remain imperfect ; yet I considered, that on account of my sins it was his will to deprive me of that glory which I might have attained in this world. While in this confused state, I thought on the good fortune which accompanies your highnesses, and imagined that aUliough I siiould perish, and the vessel be lost, it was possible that you might somehow come to the knowledge of my voyage, and the Miinoz, B. 1. sett. 8. 1493. J OF THE WEST INDIES. IQ success with which it was attended. For that reason I wrote upon parchment, with the brevity which the situation required, that I liad discovered the lands which I promised, in how many days I had done it, and what course I had followed. I mentioned the goodness of the country, the character of the inhabitants, and that your highnesses subjects were left in possession of all that I had disco- vered. Having sealed this writing, I addressed it to your highnesses, and pi'omised a thousand ducats to any person who should deliver it sealed, so that if any foreigners found it, the promised reward might prevail on them not to give the information to another. I wrapped up the parchment in an oiled cloth, and afterwards in a cake of wax, I put it into the cask, and having stopped the cask well, I cast it into the sea. All the men believed that it was some act of devotion. Imagining that this might never chance to be taken up, as the ships approached nearer to Spain I made another packet like the first, and placed it at the top of the poop, so that if the ship sank, the cask, remaining above water, might be committed to the guidance of fortune." The wind shifted to the west with heavy rain, and the gale abated. On the 15 th, in the morning, they made the Island of Santa Maria, one of the Azores, and came to an anchor on the 17 th, but parted their cable, and were driven to sea again with the loss of the anchor. At daylight they landed on the north side; the inhabitants were astonished so small a vessel should have weathered so heavy a gale, and still more surprised when the Spaniards related their wonderful voyage. Juan de Castaneda, the governor of the island, under the pretext of hearing their narrative, detained the boat's crew, and sent three men off with refreshments, and his respects to the admiral. Next day Columbus ordered, according to the vow, half the crew to walk barefooted to an ermida consecrated to the Holy Virgin. Castaneda being informed of the pilgrimage, whilst the Spaniards were at their prayers surprised them with armed men, and made them all prisoners. Columbus awaited their return with anxiety, that he might, with the rest of the crew, perform his vow ; liis mind foreboded some misfortune, and at eleven he steered to the nearest point, from whence he could see the chapel, and saw some armed Portugueze get into the boat and row towards the ship; but sus- pecting what they were conscious of deserving, they kept at a considerable distance from the caravel. Tlie admiral, disappointed in the hopes of getting his men back, upbraided Castaneda with his treachery, threatened him with disgrace from his sovereign, and with vengeance from the Castilians; declaring upon oath that he would not quit the caravel till he had carried away 100 Por- tugueze as a reprisal. His menaces were slighted in insulting lan- guage, and the governor declared he acted in obedience to the will of the king his master ; from this Columbus supposed that hostilities liad broken out between the two powers, and returned to the place Munoz, B. 4. st'ct. 8, 9. go CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1493. where he first anchored. Another gale came on, and the vessel was driven to sea with the loss of a second anchor* On the 21st the storm abated, and the admiral returned to purchase his anchors, and, if possible, regain his men and boat. He was fortunate enough to succeed; five seamen and two priests came on board with a notary, under a promise of safety, requesting a sight of the royal order by which he was authorized to undertake the voyage; the admiral suppressed liis resentment, shewed his order, and got back his men and boat. He sailed again on the 24th, destitute of wood and ballast, neither of which he was able to procure. The wind was fair for three days ; during the two next it was contraiy, and blew hard. March 1st it came fair again, but increased in violence as they Cleared the long-wished-for shore. Their sails were all split, and every moment they expected the vessel to founder ; in this situation they betook them_selves to prayers and supplications, but at midnight they saw the land ; at day-light they knew it to be the Rock of Lisbon, and got safe into the Tagus. From Cascaes to the harbour they were welcomed with reiterated congratulations from crowds of people who, when they first saw the vessel in the morning, did not expect she would be able to gain the harbour. A pilgrimage, which had been vowed in the last gale, fell by lot upon the admiral, and two of his companions had made a similar vow in the Azores. Columbus sent to request permission to come to Lisbon for neces- saries. He said he did not come from any of the Portugueze colo- nies, but from Cipango, and the Indian frontiers, which he had dis- covered towards the west. He was summoned on board the guard- ship off Belen ; but, as admiral to the King of Castile, he refused to comply, or to depute any person for that purpose ; but he trans- mitted his letters patent, upon which Captain D. Alvaro de Acunha, with great pomp, with drums, pipes and trumpets, hailed his arrival. Orders soon arrived to furnish Columbus with every necessary at the expense of the treasury, and the king honoured him with a letter of congratulation, and an invitation to court. Columbus obeyed immediately, notwithstanding his distrust, and was received with peculiar distinction, and allowed to sit covered before the king. He spoke of his success, and of the countries he had discovered, in tlie highest terms. The coiu'tiers declared that he was bold and proud, and wilfully exaggerated his success to throw blame on the monarch who had rejected his proposals. But the king granted him several interviews, spoke with him in a friendly manner, and caused him to be treated in every respect like a grandee — still his majesty was evidently moi'tified, and some of his courtiers offered to j)ick a quarrel with Columbus, and to dispatch him ; but the king, instead of hsteniug to the proposition, parted with him in the same manner in which he had received him, and offered liim a guard ta Miinoz, 13. 4. sfct. 11. Munoz, 270. 1493.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 2l the frontiers of Portugal, if he wished to go by land to Spain. The queen also treated him with great distinction. He sailed on the morning of the 13th of March, and about noon on the 15th entered the harbour of Palos. The joy of the inhabit- ants is not to be expressed ; the whole town made a solemn proces- sion, in which they povu'ed forth praise and thanksgiving to Heaven. In the evening the joy was increased by the unexpected arrival of the Pinta ; she had been driven into Bayona in Galicia. When Martin Alonzo saw the Nina in the harbour, he began to fear that the admiral would call him to an account, and absented himself, re- questing permission from the court to be allowed to give a private report of his voyage ; but he died soon afterwards of chagrin. Columbus set out for Seville, and sent an express to their Majesties at Barcelona. Upon the 30th of March 1493 the King and Queen wrote to Columbus, from Barcelona, to express their satisfac^- tion at the information, contained in his letters. They say, " May it please God to reward }'ou for what you have done for his service ! As for us, you may be assured of receiving many favours, such as your labours and services have so well entitled you to from us." They then ordered him not to delay his coming, and to give directions that every thing be got ready for his return to the land which he had disco- vered, so that by his return from court every thing might be prepared. Columbus made a triumphant entry into Barcelona, surrounded by courtiers, knights, and an immense multitude. The King and Queen received him in a splendid saloon, seated on the throne, with the Prince Don Juan on their right hand in the midst of a brilliant court. He approached A\ith a serene and joyful countenance. Their Majesties rose, held out their hands for him to kiss, without permitting him to kneel, and desired him to speak sitting, the highest honour which the grandees could aspire to. Having related the favours which Providence had showered on their Majesties through bis humble means, he displayed the articles which he had brought. Gold in grain, as well as in dust — amber — cotton — branches and roots of aromatic, and medicinal plants — several animals, and forty parrots. He then ch'ew the attention of the court to the six natives who were present ; exhibited their dress, ornaments, arrns and uten- sils ; and added, that, notwithstanding their great ignorance, he had not observed any trace of idolatory amongst them ; but on the con- trary, that they all seemed to be convinced of the existence of a Supreme Being, who dwelt in Heaven, and that they considered the Spaniards as descended from that celestial abode. Tliey possessed, he said, much plain sense, docility, and inclination to adopt the Christian faith. This last circumstance furnished him with an opportunity of concluding his speech with this observation — " That God had reserved for the Spanish monarchs, not only all the trea- sures of the New World, but a still gi-eater treasure of inestimable value, in the infinite number of souls destined to be brought over into ^Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 31. c 3 22 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1493. the bosom of the Christian Church." When he had done speaking, Te Deum was sung by the choristers of the Chapel Royal, whilst the whole assembly remained on their knees. Pope Alexander the Sixth's bull is dated the 4th of May 1493, and addressed to Ferdinand and Isabella, his very dear son and daughter in Christ, who by their holy baptism have subjected them- selves to the Apostolic commands : it enjoins them to proceed and complete the expedition, and convert the inhabitants of the islands and continents to the Christian religion ; and in order that they may do it freely and boldly, it says, " We of our own motion, and not at your solicitation, do give, concede, and assign for ever to you and your successors, all the islands, and main lands, discovered ; and which may hereafter, be discovered, towards the west and south ; whe- ther they be situated towards India, or towards any other part what- soever, and give you absolute power in them ; drawing, however, and affixing a line from the arctic pole, viz. from the north, to the antarctic pole, \az. to the south ; which line must be distant from any one of the islands whatsoever, vulgarly called the Azores and Cape de Verd Islands, a hundred leagues towards the west and south ; upon condition that no other Christian king, or prince, has actual possession of any of the islands and main lands found." It com- mands that upright men, and fearing God, learned and skilful, be appointed to instruct the natives and inhabitants in the Catholic faith ; and forbids, under the pain of excommunication, which they will incvu* by the very act of transgression, all persons from traf- ficking or approaching, without their leave, the lands towards the west and south, beyond the line to be drawn by this bull. " Let no person, therefore," (it says) "presume to infringe, or, with rash bold- ness, to contravene this page of our commendation, exhortation, requisition, donation, concession, assignation, constitution, deputation, decree, mandate, inhibition and will. For if any person does, he will incur the indignation of Almighty God, and the blessed apostles , Peter and Paul." Upon the 8th of May, the King and Queen of Spain, at Barcelona, signed a grant to Columbus, confirming to him and to his chikh'en, descendants and successors, the offices of admiral, viceroy, and governor in the ocean, islands, and main land which he had discovered, or should thenceforward discover ; the office of admiral of the said ocean, "w/i/cA/^awrs," (they say) "commences by aline which we have ordered to be marked, which passes from the Azores to the Cape de Verd Islands, from the north to the south, fi-om pole to pole ; so that all which is beyond the aforesaid line to the west is ours, and be- longs to us; and of all this we make and create our achniral, you and your children." As viceroy, he was empowered to appoint all officers, civil and criminal, and to remove and suppress, and substitute others in their place, whenever he judged it proper for their Majesties' ser- vice ; and to take the same fees, and salaries, as belonged, to the same Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 3. 1493.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 23 offices in Castile and Leon. He was to decide upon all civil and criminal causes; and all persons were ordered to obey him as viceroy and governor, under the penalties which he shoidd impose upon them, which the patent states, — "we now impose upon them, aiul regai'd as imposed, and we give you the power to execute them upon their persons and property". And he might order any person what- soever, who should be in the said Indies or main land, " to depart from it, or not enter or stop there." The patent of privilege was ordered to be delivered, folded in a roll, in the strongest and most efficient form, and no person was to act contrary to it under the penalty of the royal displeasure, and payment of ten thousand niaravedis. Columbus was cited to appear at court within fifteen days after he received the patent. " Fees of the seal and register, nihil." Upon the 24th of May 1493, an order was signed, empowering Columbus and Don Juan de Fonseca to equip a fleet for the Indies ; and for that service to seize any vessels in any of the ports of Spain, although they might be freighted to any person whatsoever, paying the owners such reasonable prices as they ought to receive for them ; and to constrain any officer, of any office whatsoever, who may be suited to go in the fleet, paying them reasonable salaries. And all persons are called upon to aid in removing any opposition that may be made. At Barcelona, upon the 28th of May 1493, a proclamation was signed, ordering all the officers and men who should sail to the Indies to hold Columbus as admiral, viceroy, and governor of the ocean, and obey him as the royal captain-general, under the penalties which he should order in the royal name ; and directing him to govern the vessels, and to execute upon their crews whatever pvmishment they might incur by not obeying his commands ; cautioning the admiral and all others not to go to the mines belonging to the king of Por- tugal, and to observe, all that had been capitulated, and agreed upon, with that king, respecting the mines, under the penalty of the royal displeasure, and confiscation of property to the treasury. Upon the same day another proclamation was issued, empower- ing Columbus, whilst prosecuting his discoveries, to appoint a person in the lands he should find, to act during his absence, with his powers. And the proclamation gives power, and authority, to the per*- son whom he shall appoint ; to dispatch, and expedite, the affairs and causes that may happen, and to grant commissions in the royal name, and seal them with the royal seal, the same as Columbus would do were he present. The same day another order states, that it being impossible to observe that article of the convention, by which Columbus is to nominate three persons for each office in the Indies, and the sovereigns to choose one ofthem, they, therefore, being fully satisfied with the admiral, authorise him to appoint to the Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 36. 27. c 4 <2^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [|1493. offices of the government of the islands and main land, such persons as shall be agreeable to him. And, by this order, the power and faculty of executing the offices, is granted in the form, and manner, that shall be contained, in the commissions granted by Columbus. At Barcelona, upon the 5th of September, the Queen wrote to Columbus, to say that she returned the book which he had left there, and that she had had it privately copied, so that neither the Portugueze nor any person there might know any thing of it. Her Majesty says, *' Certainly, according to what has been here seen and treated of respecting this affiiir, we perceive every day inore and more its greater weight and importance ; and that in this you have rendered us notable service, and we acknowledge ourselves greatly indebted to you. We therefore trust in God, that besides what has been agreed upon with you, (which shall be done and fulfilled most exactly,) you shall receive from u^, many more honours, favours, and privileges, as is but right, and as your services and merits deserve. If the sailing chart, which you were to prepare is finished, send it to me immediately ; and for my service hasten your departure 9,s much as possible, in order that, with the blessing of God, you may proceed without any delay, as you see of what importance it is for the success of the undertaking. And write to us concerning every thing, and continue to write regularly ; and we on our side will take care to acquaint you of all that passes here. Respecting the treaty with Portugal, no determination has yet been come to with those who are here, although I think the King will be induced to act reasonably in this affair. I would wish you, however, to be of a contrary opi- nion, in order that you may be more vigilant and attentive in doing what is necessary, so as not to be deceived in any manner whatever." On Sunday morning the 3d of November, after a passage of twenty-one days from Fierro, the last of the Canary Islands, Colum- bus, with a fleet of seventeen sail, (three caracks of 1000 tons and fourteen caravals,) 1500 men and twenty horses, with every thing it was supposed the colony could want, ammunition, provisions, trinkets for barter, medicines, domestic animals, seeds, vine cuttings, and sugar cane^ discovered an island, " so covered with trees, that they could not see so much as an ell space of bare earth or stony ground," which he named Dominica, because it was Sunday. Next day he anchored with the fleet at one a little to the north, which he named after his own ship Marigalante. From this they went to another then in sight, which he named Guadalupe, in fulfilment of his promise to the monks of the sanctuary of our Lady of Guada- lupe, where they anchored and went on shore. ' Here they found innumerable villages, of twenty houses, or thirty at the most, set round about in order, making the street, in compass like a market Mem. of Columbus, Doc. 33. Munoz, 1. p. 315. P. Martyr, D. 1. B. 2, 1 Tlie Indian name Ibv Guadaloupe was Carucueria or Qucraquiera. — Peter Marlyr, p. 1. li. 2. 1493.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 25 place. " And forasmuch," Peter Martyr says, " as I have made men- tion of their houses, it shall not be greatly from my purpose to de- scribe in what manner they were builded ; they were made round like bells or round pavilions, their frame is raised of exceeding high trees, set close together and fast rampired in the ground, so standing aslope, and bending inward, that the tops of the trees join together, and bear one against another, having also within the house certain strong and short props or posts, which sustain the trees from falling. They cover them with the leaves of date trees, and other trees strongly compact and hardened, wherewith they make them close from wind and weather. At the short posts or props within the house, they tie ropes of the cotton of gossampine trees, or other ropes made of certain long and tough roots much like vmto the shrub called spartum, whereof in old time, they used to make bands for vines, and cables and ropes for ships. These they tie overthwart the house from post to post, on these they lay, as it were, certain mat- tresses made of the cotton of gossampine trees, which grow plentifully in these islands. This cotton the Spaniards call algodon, and the Italians bombazine, and thus they sleep in hanging beds." At the entrance of one of the houses they found two wooden statues, with serpents wreathing round their feet ; they also found looms, in which the natives wove a sort of carpet ; and all kinds of earthern vessels. " They found also in their kitchens man's flesh, duck's flesh, and goose flesh, all in one pot, and others on the spits ready to be laid to the fire. Entering into their inner lodgings, they found faggots of the bones of men's arms and legs, which they reserve to make heads for their arrows, because they lack iron ; the other bones, they cast away, when they have eaten the flesh. They found likewise the head of a young man, fastened to a post, and yet bleeding ;" and drinking vessels made of skulls. ' Next day, the admiral, sent some men on shore again ; they took tvvo youths, who by signs gave them to understand that they belonged to another island, and that those of Guadalupe were Caribs, who had taken them prisoners, and intended to eat them. The boat afterwards brought off six women that had fled to them from the Caribs; but the admiral, not believing it, to avoid offending the inhabitants, gave them bells and glass beads, and sent them on shore ; they returned, stript of their baubles, and by signs begged to accompany the fleet. It was found from the interpreters that the Caribs ruled over many of the neighbouring islands; that they cruized in large canoes, harassed the peaceable inhabitants, eat the men, slept with the women, emasculated the boys whom they seized, and diose who were born of their captives, fed them fat, and at Herrcra, D. 1 . B. 2. C. 7. ' They alsoibund " a plate of iron, and the cross timber of the poop of an European ship," — Munox, p. 318. 26 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1493. their festivals devoured them. Both sexes wore two light cotton bandages on each leg, one above and the other below the calf. Diego Marque, one of the captains, and six or seven of his crew, lost their way in the woods, and after wandering about almost in despair for four days, when quite worn out with fatigue, by chance got to the landing place ; the admiral was so much displeased at the delay occasioned by this accident, and the trouble it had given him, in sending different parties of men to look for them, that he ordered Marque to be placed under an arrest. From some of the rescued females Columbus had the satisfaction to receive a good account of the colony at Navidad. *' As soon as they had broken the cannibals boats or lighters (which they call canoes), they loosed their anchors, the day before the ides of November, and departed from Guadalupe. Columbus, the admiral, for the desire he had to see his companions, which at his first voyage he left the year before in Hispaniola to search the country, passed many islands both on his right hand and left, and sailed directly thither. By the way there appeared from the north a great island, which the captives that were taken in Hispaniola called Madanino, or Matinino, affirming it to be inhabited only with women, to whom the cannibals, have access at certain times of the year, as in old time the Thracians had to the Amazons in the Island of Lesbos ; the men-chikhen they send to their fathers, but the women they keep with themselves. They have great and strong caves or dens in the ground, to the which they flee for safeguard if any men resort unto them at any other time than is appointed, and there defend themselves with bows and arrows against the violence of such as attempt to invade them. ' " They could not at this time approach to this island, by reason of the north-north-east wind, which blew so vehemently from the same, whereas they now followed the east-south-east. After they departed from Madanino, and sailed by the space of forty miles, they passed not far from another island, which the captives said was very populous, and replenished with all tilings necessary for the life of man. This they called Montserrat, because it was full of mountains. The captives further declared, that the cannibals are wont to go from their own coasts above a thousand miles, to hunt for men. The day following they saw another island, the wliich, because it was round, they called Sancta Maria Redonda. The next day they found another, which they called St. Martin, which they passed also, because they had no leisure to tarry. Likewise, the third day, they espied another, whose diametrical side, extending Herrera, D. 1. L. 2. C. 7. P. Martyr, D. 1. B. 2. • " When the men go forth of the land a ocean inhabited only with women, as Co- man hunting, the women manfully defend lumbus the admiral himself persuaded me, their coasts against such as attemi)t to in- as I have said in the 1st Decade," — Pclcr vade the same. And hereby I suppose it Murti/r, D. 3. C. 9. p. 145. was thought, that there were islands in the 1493.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 27 from the east to the west, they judged to be 150 miles. They affirm all these islands to be marvellous fair and fruitful ; this last they called Sancta Maria Antigua. Sailing forward, and leaving many other islands, after they had sailed about forty miles they chanced upon another, much bigger than any of the rest, which the inha- bitants call Ay- Ay, but they named it Ilha de la Santa Cruz ; here they cast anchor, to fetch fresh water. The admiral also commanded thirty men to go a-land out of his own ship, and to search the island ; here they found four dogs on the shore. The inhabitants are cannibals, and marvellous expert in shooting, as well women as men, and used to infect their arrows with poison. When they had tarried there two days, they saw afar off' a canoe, in the which were eight men and as many women, having with them bows and arrows. They fearlessly and fiercely assailed our men, and hurt some of them with their venomous arrows. Among these there was a certain woman, to whom the others gave reverence, and obeyed, as though she were their queen. Her son waited upon her, being a young man, strongly made, of ten'ible and frowning countenance, and a lion's face. Our men, lest they should take the more hurt by being wounded afar off", thought it best to join with them. Therefore, with all speed, setting forward with their oars the brigadine in which they were set a-land ; they overturned their canoe with great violence, which being overwhelmed, they notwithstanding, as well the women as the men, swimming, cast their darts at our men thick and threefold. At the length, gathering themselves upon a rock covered with the water, they fought manfully until they were overcome and taken, one being slain, and the queen's son sore wounded. MTien they were brought into the admiral's ship, they did no more put off their fierceness, and cruel countenance, than do the lions of Lybia, when they perceive themselves to be bound in chains. There is no man able to behold them, but he shall feel his bowels grate with a certain horror ; nature hath endued them with so terribly menacing and cruel aspect. This conjecture, says P. Martyr, I make of myself, and others, which oftentimes went with me to see them at Medina del Campo ; but now to return to the voyage." The admiral next discovered a cluster of small islands, the laro-est of which he named St. Ursula, and the rest the Eleven Thousand Virgins. To the island of Boriquen, the native country of almost all the prisoners released from the Caribs, he gave the name of Puerto Rico. Columbus coasted along the south, and anchored on the west side of it. The fleet remained here two days, without seeing an inhabitant. There was a spacious walk froni the shore, formed with trees, intei-wo\'en at the top like an arbour, which led to a village of twelve houses, placed in a circle ; one of the houses was remarkable for its size ; and at the end of the walk there was a balcony, covered with beautiful plants. On the 22d the fleet stood for Espanola, and the admiral landed at Samana, one of the Indians, whom he had brought back, from Spain. 3Iunozj p. 32J. Herrei a, D. 1 . L. 2. C. S. 28 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1493. On the 25th the fleet anchored in the harbour of Monte Christi. Cohimbus, sent persons on shore, to look for a good situation to found a colony, near the River del Oro. They had not gone far, before they saw two dead bodies ; one with a knot round his neck, his arms stretched across, and tied to a post ; and next day, at a little dis- tance, two more carcasses, one with a beard, the certain sign of a Spaniard, for the Indians had no beards. These alarming circum- stances subsided a little when the natives came in a peaceful and confident manner, and touched their clothes, saying " jubon" and *'camisa," to shew that they knew the names of the doublet and shirt. On Monday the 27th, late in the evening, the fleet arrived at Cape Santo ; some guns were fired, but no answer returned from the fort. About midnight some messengers from Guacanagari arrived in a canoe, with a present of two golden masks for the admiral. When they were asked about the colonists, they intimated, that they had quarrelled with each other — seized on women — separated, and that some of them were dead. When Columbus saw the fort he had assisted in erecting, burnt to the ground ; all the dwellings de- stroyed, eleven dead bodies in their cloathes, at a little distance from each other, and the ground covered with fi-agments of chests, and garments, he concluded all were killed. Vollies of guns and mus- ketry were discharged at once, in hopes the sound might reach the ear of any one that might have fled for safety to the bushes, but in vain. They next, with great labour, dug a channel to let the water out of the well he had before made in the fort, in hopes of find- ing any gold that might have been concealed in it, but none was found. The entire district was deserted by the inhabitants, except some stragglers lying in wait. The messengers were treated with kindness, and presents given to those that ventured to approach. By degrees many of them lost all distrust; they mianimously agreed in stating, the outrageous conduct of the colonists, with respect to the women : their insatiable thirst for gold, and their frequent disputes and quarrels: in one of these Gutierrez and Escovedo killed a man caUed Jacome. Some fled into the interior, and others to the villages. Arana, with a few men, mostly sick, had been unexpectedly assaulted in the fort by CiU)nabo, a powerful cazique of Cibao, with an innumerable body of people who had set fire to the fortresses, and the dwellings, of the Christians. Guacanagari tried to assist, the Spaniards, but was de- feated ; his residence was Ijurnt to the ground, and many of his men wounded. These were the only particulars Columbus could learn. Five of the Indians he had brought from Seville died on the passage out ; one he had put on shore at Samana, to tell his countrymen what he had seen, and to persuade them to love the Spaniards; the only Indian diat remained was a Lucayan, who but imperfectly un^ derstood the language of the Haytians. Col ambus having resolved to seek abetter harbour, Captain Melchor Maldonado was sent with his caravel to the eastward. He had got ::\Iuiioz, p. 328, 329, 330, 331. 1493.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 29 about thi'ee leagues, when a messenger from Guacanagari begged him to come on shore and visit him. Melchor found him in his ham- mock, apparently sick, surrounded by seven women in as many beds. He confirmed the accounts already given with respect to Coanabo, shewed his thigh wrapped up in a cotton bandage, and said he received that wound, in assisting the Spaniards. He presented Melchor, and the principal persons who accompanied him, with several pieces of gold, and expressed an anxious wish to see the admiral ; who, as soon as he was informed of his wish, waited on him with a splendid retinue. Guacanagari with tears lamented the fate of the Spaniai'ds ; and as a proof of friendship, gave the admiral, several curiously wrought girdles, a cup set with jewels, and three gourds filled with grains of gold, worth about five marks. The admiral, however, suspected him of duplicity ; the surgeon of the fleet, in the presence of Doctor Chanca, examined the leg, but not the least trace of wound or bruise was visible. Columbus con- cealed his suspicions, had him on board, and gave him several presents, and dismissed him the same day ; the sight of the horses very much surprised him. Many of the Spaniards thought he ought to have been kept prisoner ; and what happened the following night confirmed them in this opinion. Among others that came to traffic was Guacanagari's brother ; he was seen speaking to ten of the women rescued from the Caribs, who soon after secretly attempted to swim on shore ; the boats could only retake four of them, and next day the district was deserted. This increased their suspicions, and many insisted that Guacanagari should be pursued, and if possible punished ; but the admiral chose conciliatory measures ; and dispatched Captain Maldonado, with 300 men after the cazique, and to examine the comitry ; as he wanted to land the men and live stock. Maldonado travelled by the shore to Port Royal. At a little distance from the harbour they found about thirty well built houses, in a circle round one larger than the rest; it was circular, and thirty paces in diameter, the ceiling wainscotted, and ornamented, with coloured reeds taste- fully interwoven. As they approached, an old Indian, with 100 warriors drawn up in order of battle, were ready to receive them ; signals of peace were exchanged, and then the Spaniards learned that the Indian was cazique of the chstrict, and that Guacanagari had gone to the mountains. Maldonado returned with this intel- ligence to the fleet, which on the 7th of December sailed from Navidad to Monte Christi, intending to establish a colony at the harbour of Plata; here he found the river too shallow, and he therefore stood to the westward back again, to a deeper river that fell into the sea, on the west side of a tongue of land, forming a spacious port, sheltered from the prevailing winds, but open to the N.W. The latter end of December the fleet anchored in this place ; they found it well calculated for a colony, the country level, a village within gun-shot of the river, and plenty of stones ; the back Munoz; p, 333, 334. 338. 30 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1494. was guarded with impenetrable woods, and a rock below the harbour was well calculated to be made into a fortress ; fish were in abun- dance, the soil was fruitful, and, according to the Indians' account, the valley along the banks of the river reached to Cibao. 1494. Here Columbus, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, laid the foundation of a town, and, in honour of liis patron Queen, called it Isabella; Pedro Fernandez Coronel was appointed Chief Justice; Antonio de Torres, brother to the Prince Don Juan's nurse, had the command of the fort ; and on the 6th January 1494, the festival of the Epiphany, mass was celebrated by thirteen priests in the new chapel. All the pviblic buildings were of stone ; the private ones of wood, covered with leaves and grass ; the whole were built with the greatest dispatch. Several sorts of seeds were sown, that grew rapidly and luxuriantiy. The Indians were filled with admiration, and obeyed the Spaniards with the greatest willingness and respect. Peter Martyr says, " Upon a high hill on the north side of the island he builded a city, because tliis place was most apt for that purpose, by reason of a mine of stones which was near unto the same, ser\ang well both to build with, and also to make lime. At the bottom of this hill there is a great plain, of threescore miles in length, and in breadth somewhere twelve, somewhere twenty miles where it is broadest, and six miles where it is narrowest ; through this plain run divers fair rivers of wholesome waters ; but the greatest of them, which is navigable, falleth into the haven of the city for the space of half a furlong. How fertile and fruitful this valley is, you shall understand by these things which follow. On the shore of this river they have limited and enclosed certain gi-ovmd, to make gardens and orchards, in the which all kind of bigger herbs, as radish, lettuce, coleworts, borage and such other, wax ripe, within sixteen days after the seed is sown; likewise melons, gourds, cucumbers, and such other, within the space of thirty six days : these garden herbs they have fresh and green all the whole year. Also the roots of tJie canes or reeds, of the liquor whereof sugar is made, grow a cubit high within the space of fifteen days ; but the liquor is not yet hardened. The like they affirm of plants or shrouds of young vines ; and that they have the second year gathered ripe and sweet grapes of the same ; but by reason of too much rankness, they bear but few clusters. Furthermore, a man of the country sowed a little wheat about the calends of February, and brought with him to the city a handful of the ripe ears of the same, the third day before the calends of April, which Avas that year the vigil of the Resurrection of our Lord. Also, all kinds of pulse, as beans, pease, fitches, tares, and such other, are ripe twice in the year ; as all they Munoz, vol. i. p. 339. V. Martyr, D, 1. B. I'l-O-!'*] OF THE WEST INDIES. 31 which come from thence affirm with one voice : yet the ground is not universally apt to bear wheat. • In the meantime, while these things were doing, the admiral sent out a company of thirty men, to search the region of Cipanga, otherwise called Cibana," which it was understood lay three days march in the interior. The com- mand was given to Gorvalon and Ojeda. In six days they had tra- velled about twenty leagues to the southward ; the two first through an uninhabited district, afterwards through a very difficult pass; they then crossed the Yaque, which flows to the westward, through a luxuriant valley, and found themselves at the foot of a high chain of mountains, which run across the island, through the middle of the province of Cibao, which signifies stony, and abounds with flint. Rivers flow in all directions from these mountains, through fertile rallies ; and gold is found in the sands of all. The report of the commanders, on their return, raised the spirits of the colonists ; and the admiral resolved, as soon as the wall round the town should be finished, to go in person to Cibao, and establish a settlement there. But first he sent thirteen sail, under the com- mand of Torres, to Spain, with a report of the colony, and a list of things wanted for its maintenance. From the rapid vegetation of the wheat, vines, and sugar canes, he stated the climate as rivalling that of Sicily and Andalusia : he was persuaded spices would be found in abundance. The second bai"k of the aromatic laurel, he fancied was cinnamon: and from the gold mines, he hoped soon to gain im- mense treasures. He sent what gold he had gained by barter, and specimens of fruits ; also some Caribbean men and women, to be instructed in Spain, and afterwards employed as interpreters. The language, in all the islands hitherto found, was alike, though with a considerable diversity of dialect. Tlie Caribs were the best ac- quainted with all, and therefore best calculated for interpreters ; but as a punishment for their camiibalism, he intended to employ them as slaves : he thought them more useful, than any that could be brought from Africa ; and it would be a popular thing with the more pacific tribes. He represented the necessity of a speedy sup- ply of horses ; particularly recommended some of his officers, and made strong complaints of the disobedience and negligence of others. The fleet sailed the 2d of February. Columbus was soon afterwards taken ill ; and a party of muti- neers, headed by Bernal Diaz de Pisa (the chief accountant), formed a plot to set off for Spain, with five ships which the admiral kept in Munoz, p. 341. 344. ' Wheat in Hispaniola — " The like in- than a span in length, bearing also more crease cometh of wheat if it be sown upon than a thousand grains, as tliey all confess the mountains, where the cold is of some with one voice, and earnestly affirm the strength; but not in the same plains, by same with others." — Fcter Martyr, D.3. reason of too much fatness and rankness of C. 7. p. 134. the ground. It is in manner incredible to P. Martyr confounds here the maize with hear, that an ear of wheat should be bigger the common wheat, tlian a man's arm in the brawn, and more 32 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [14P4. the harbour, and a Hst of grievances as charges against him. Cokmibus discovered the plot, arrested Diaz, punished his chief accomphces, ordered every thing out of the ships into one under the care of persons upon whom he could depend, and, having thus nipped the evil in the bud, upon the 12th of March, with 400 men und the horses, with a number of Inchans, set out for the gold mines. After travelling about four leagues, they arrived at the difficult pass through the momitains, which Columbus named Puerto de los Hidalgos, because the gentry led the way. From the summit they had a view of the vale, which extends from the bay of Samana to Monte Christi, watered by numberless rivulets, that form several rivers. The admiral named this delightful plain Vega Real (the Royal Vale), and marched his troops through it in squadrons, with colours flying, and to the sound of trumpets. Most of the inhabitants fled ; but many offered presents, in awe and admiration. When they reached the mountains, they marched with difficulty over barren ground, covered with blue stones. The Cibaos brought provisions and grains of gold, some weighing more than an ounce, and told them, that half a day's journey off" pieces were often found weighing twenty-five pounds. Juan de Lujan, whom he had sent with some soldiers to explore the country, confirmed this. Columbus determined to take possession of this province ; and upon an eminence, eighteen leagues from Isabella, on the River Xanique, he ordered a fort to be built ; and, because the men would not believe there was gold in the island before they saw it, he named it St. Thomas. Upon the side where it was not encompassed by the river they dug a ditch. Pedro Margarita, with fifty-six men, and some horses, were left here ; and on the 29th of March Columbus returned to Isabella.' Soon afterwards a messenger arrived with the intelligence, that the Indians had withdrawn from the Munoz, vol. i. p. 353. * Pedro IVIaro-arita, with about thirty adjacent lands, those that could, had escaped men in the fortress of San Thomas, near from the famine, in such a manner that the mines of Cibao, suffered the same mise- the alcaide and his men were in a hard case, ries with those in Isabella, because they also One day an Indian came to the castle, be- were in want of provisions and had many cause, as he said, the alcaide, " Mossen sick and endured those labours which the Pedro Margarite," appeared to him a truly first settlers in such distant lands are obliged good man, that neither did or consented to encounter, and so rude and difficult for that others should do any violence or ill to those who have been far otherwise brought the Indians or natives of that land ; and this up, and for these reasons those that were in Indian brought a pair of live doves as a pre- this fortress died, and every day decreased sent for the alcaide, for wliich Pedro Mar- their numbers, because tliey were too few garite paid him with glass beads, which the to sally from the fortress, and to leave the Indians i)rized very much to wear round kni"-ht alone was a bad proof of the attach- their necks. The alcaide then said to the ment thev owed him. The admiral was out Christians with liim in tlie castle, that those of the island upon discoveries, as has been doves were too little for all of them to eat of. said. Those that were in Isabella with the They all replied, that for tlie whole of them Adelantado Don Eartholomew had so that present was nothing, but he might pass much hard work, tliat they were not worth that day upon those doves, and had most much. The Indians that had been in the need, bccavisj he was more lutwell than any 1494'.] * OF THE WEST INDIES. 8S countiy, and that Caonabo intended to attack the fort. Sixty men, with ammunition and provisions, wei"e sent to reinforce it. To spread the terror of tlie Spanisli arms, and accustom the men to hve upon tlie pix)duce of the country ; every disposable person was sent about the island ; and, because the labovn'ers were sick, tlie admiral ordered that the Hidalgos, should grind, their scanty allow- ances of wheat themselves ; provisions were grovni so scarce, that the allowance for the sick was sometimes only an egg and some boiled garvanzos. There was a want of medicines too ; and many persons of rank, unaccustomed to, and not anticipating, hardships, died in consequence thereof. All faults were punished by a diminution of rations; and this occasioned discontent. On the 9th of April, Ojeda, with 400 men and sixteen horses was sent to St. Thomas's ; and Pedro Margarita, with his troops, was ordered to seize Caonabo and his brother, of whase ferocity every day brought fresh accounts. Under the pretext of carrj'-ing the clothes of three Spaniards across the Gold River, some Indians stole them. Upon the refusal of their cazique either to punish the men or give back the clothes, Ojeda ordered the ears of an Indian to be cut off, seized the cazique, and his brother, tind cousin, and sent them to the admiral, who condenuied them to death; but, at the intercession of a friendly cazique, pardoned them. On the 24th of April, the admiral sailed with the Nina, San Juan, and Caixlera; leaving his brother as governor; and Boil, Pedro Fernandez, Coronal, Alonzo Sanchez de Carvajal, and Juan de Luxan, counsellors. At Navidad he inquired for Guacanagari, but did not see him. Off Tortuga the wind became fovd, and obliged him to anchor in the river Guadalquiver. On the 29di he was off Cape Nicholas, and crossed over to Bayortiquiri, or Cuba, keeping along its south side. He anchored in Puerto Grande, or Guantanamo, where the inhabitants ran away: but Diego Colon, a Lucayan, persuaded tliem to return. Presents were given them ; and in answer to the inquiries for gold, they pointed south. Upon the 2d of May, he discovered Jamaica ; and, on the 5th, anchored on its north side, in a port which, from its beautiful appearance, he named Santa Gloria, now Santa Anna. Four leagues to the westward, he an- chored for tlu'ee days, and named the place Puerto Bueno. Here, Munoz, vol. i. p. 353. ofthem;"Never,pleaseGod,"saidthealcaide, everyone of them given the birds OviedOf " will I do what you say. I have partaken of L. 2. C. 1 3. all your wants and fatigues from the time I Charlevoix gives a very different account joined you, and will do so living or dying, of Margarita's conduct at this time; he saj-s, till these days shall be passed, when all of " Se retira dans le Fort St. Thomas, et laissa us shall die of hunger or all shall be sue- a ses gens une libert^> enticre de se procurer coured ;" and, saying these words, he untied par toutes sortes des voycs des seeours contre the doves, and from a window of the tower le faim que les pressoit." — Charlevoix, t i. let them go. With this they all remained p. 166. as contented and satisfied, as if he had to 34 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1494. as at Santa Gloria, many canoes came off : the men, with menaces, endeavoured to prevent their landing; but were pacified, by the Lrucavan interpreter, with some trinkets. Columbus, liowever, thinking it necessary to make them feel his power, wounded seven of them with grape shot, and sent a large dog after the fugitives. The next day, they came with signs of peace, dressed with palm leaves and feathers, and painted with various colours : they were black. The admiral named the island Santiago ; and stood to the west- ward, to a large bay, which he named Gulfo Buentiempo. An Indian boy concealed himself in the hold, that he might go with the ship. Columbus now altered his course for Cuba, intending to ascertain if it was an island or not. The 1 8th of May, they made and named Cabo de Cruz. The archipelago, which Columbus called the Queen's Garden, he supposed to be the 5000 islands, which Marco Polo and Mandeville described as the extreme of India. Pursuing his dangerous course to the westward, he made constant inquiries whether Cuba was an island or not: and though several of the natives said it was, and a very large one, their account of the inhabitants at the west end was so absurd, that Columbus, after coasting it for 335 leagues from the east point, ordered Fernan Perez de Luna, and four witnesses, to declare upon oath, upon the 12th of June, on board each ship, that it was the beginning of India, and the country which he intended to find. Had he stood to the westward one day longer, he would have discovered his error. Piedra's Point was seen from his mast head ; but he fancied himself in the Chinese Ocean, and thought of sailing round the world, and returning to Europe by the Red Sea. His ships were leaky, and short of provisions : he therefore stood back for Espanola. The Nina got on shore, and was with great difficulty saved. Upon the 6fch of July, the admiral landed near Cape Santa Cruz, and heard mass in the presence of several Indians ; one of whom, an old cazique of great gravity, presented the admiral with a calabash full of fruit ; then seating himself upon his hams, made the following speech to the admiral : " Thou hast come here with a great power, and hast terrified the inhabitants very much. Dost thou know that there are two places in tlie world whither souls go : the one dark and bad, for those that do evil ; the other pleasant and good, where those rest who have loved peace ? Therefore, if thou knowest that thou liast to die, and that every one will be rewarded according to his deeds, thou wilt not do evil unto those who do none to thee. I see it is your custom to give thanks to God — we do so here." The aduiiral desired the interpreter to say, that he was glad to find they believed in the immortality of the soul ; that his sovereign had sent him to discover those lands, to protect the inhabitants from the cannibals, and make every body live in peace. The old man em- braced iiis knees, with great respect; and asked repeatedly, where Muiioz, \i)I. i. ]). :i7.'1. 1494.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 35 such men came from ? declaring he woukl go with them were it not for his family. Upon the 16th, a violent hiu-ricane occasioned the admiral to declare, that nothing but the service of God and the extension of the monarchy should induce him to expose himself to such dangers. On the 18th, they anchored to the eastward of Cape Cruz, and remained foin* days. The natives supplied them with fruits, fish, , birds, and rabbits. Upon Tuesday, the 22d of July, contrary winds obliged him to bear up for Jamaica ; many canoes came off with provisions, although it rained constantly. The Spaniards were delighted with the beauty of the island. When the weather moderated, they worked to wind- ward again ; but so slowly, that it was the 20th of August before they saw the S.W. end of Espanola. The admiral named it Cabo de San Miguel (now Cape Tiburon.) Upon the 23d, a cazique came off, calling Almirante ! Almirante ! from which they knew it was Espanola, and continued working to windward along its south side. Upon the 30th, the admiral anchored off a high rock, which he named Alto Velo — because it looked like a vessel — to wait for the Cardera and San Juan, who had parted company. On the 1st of September, they hove in sight ; and the squadron, off the mouth of the Neiva, learnt from the inhabitants, that some Spaniards had been there. The admiral landed nine men, with orders to visit the forts St. Thomas, and Magdalena, and then proceed to Isabella. The squadron stood to the eastward. On September the 14th, they were separated again by a gale of M^ind. Columbus remained eight days at an anchor within the Island of Saona, waiting for them : here he observed a lunar eclipse, antl estimated the distance from Saona to Cape St. Vincent at more than five hours and twenty- three minutes. September 14th, they were off Cape del Engano, which the admiral named San Rafael : they touched at the Isle of Mona, and got some fine melons. It was the admiral's intention to stand to the eastward ; but bodily and mental exertions had quite exhausted him : he became lethargic, and lost the use of his senses. The. crew, fearful of his death, bore up for Isabella, and arrived there on the 29th of September. The admiral recovered slowly: the joy of meeting his brother Bartholomew very much contributed to it. He was an old com- panion and a faithful friend: a man of undaunted courage and sound judgment. The information he brought was most consolatory. The King of England had resolved to undertake the discovery. The King of France, informed of the admiral's success, had received him with kindness, and given him 100 dollars. Their Spanish Herrcra, D. 1. L. '2. C. 1'. :Munoz, vol, i. p. 383. D 2 36 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1494. Majesties had appointed the admiral's sons pages to the Prince, and the title of Don had been given to himself: he was also commodore of three caravels, which were laden with the things that the admiral had sent for by Antonio de Torres, who had arrived in Spain a month before he sailed, which was in April. Colimibus received the following letter from their Majesties : — The King and Queen's Letter to Columbus. Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean, and our Viceroy and Governor of the Islands newly discovered in the Indies. We have seen the letters which you sent us by Antonio de Torres, from which we received great pleasure ; and we return many thanks to our Lord God for having executed it so well, and for having guided you so well throughout all. We acknowledge ourselves obliged and indebted to you for what you have performed in those parts, and arranged in the best order and foresight imaginable. We have likewise given audience to the said Anthony de Torres, and received all that you sent us by him ; nor was this the less expected from you, in consequence of the earnestness and great affection we have found and do find in you, for whatever regards our service. You may be certain that we consider ourselves exceedingly well served by you, and that we feel it our duty to confer favours, and honours, and privileges, upon you, such as your great services demand and entitle you to expect. And as the said Antonio de Torres delayed coming here until now, and we had not seen your letters, which he had not sent to us, wishing to deliver them himself safely ; and in order to hasten the departure of the ships, now about to sail, which, immediately we were informed of it, we ordered to be dispatched, with a complement of the things you sent for in your memorial, and as completely as possible, without detaining them ; and thus, also, every thing shall be done and executed, mentioned in the other memorial brought by him, and at the time and in the manner he shall direct. We cannot now answer you as we wished : nevertheless, when he departs, if it please God, we will answer you fully ; and we will give orders to provide whatever may be requisite. We have heard, with displeasure, of the circumstances which have taken place in those parts contrary to our will ; for which we shall order proper remedy, as well as punishment. In the first vessel that returns to Spain, send home Bernal de Pisa, to whom we have sent an order to that effect ; and let the person whom you and Father Boyl may judge proper fill his office, until we have provided another for it here ; as, in order to hasten the departure of the said ships, no steps till now have been taken upon it ; but in the next voyage, if it please God, a proper person shall be sent out for the said office. From Medina del Campo, the \Zth of April, 94. I, the King. I, the Queen. By command of the King and Queen, Juan de la Parra. IMcmoiials of Culumbus, Doc. 34. 1494.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 37 Four ships soon arrived, under the command of Torres, and brought the admiral the following letter : — The King and tJie Queen, Don Christopher Columbus, our High Admiral of the Islands of the Indies : We have seen your letters and memorials, sent to us by Torres ; and have felt great pleasure in being made acquainted with all that you have written to us in them ; and we return many thanks to the Lord for all, hoping that, with his assistance, your undertaking will be the cause of our holy Catholic faith being still more widely spread ; and one of the principal things which pleased us so much in this affair is, its having been invented, commenced, and obtained through your means, labour, and industry. It appears to us, that of all that you told us from the beginning would happen almost the whole has been verified ; as if you had seen it before mentioning it to us ; and we trust in God, that what yet remains to be known will be verified in like manner ; for all which things we are bound in duty to confer favours upon you, such as you shall be perfectly satisfied with. And having reflected upon all that you have written to us, although you express yourself minutely upon every thing, which upon reading, gives us great pleasure and joy, nevertheless, we should feel greater satisfaction by your writing to inform us how many islands have been discovered up to the present time, and what is the name you have given to each of them ; for although you name some of them in your letters, they are not all named ; and also the name given to the others by the Indians ; and the distance between them ; and whatever you have found in each of them ; and what is said to be produced in them ; and what has been sown since you were there ; and what has been obtained, the time being already elapsed in which whatever has been sown should be reaped. And, more especially, we wish to know all the seasons of the year, such as they take place there in each month separately ; it appearing to us, from what you say, that there is a great difference in the seasons from what we have here : some wish to know if there are two winters and two summers in the same year. Inform us of every thing for our ser- vice ; and send us the greatest number possible of falcons, and of all the other birds that are produced there, and that can be had ; because we are desirous of seeing them all. And as for the things of which you have sent us a memorial, to be provided here, and forwarded to you, we have given orders for them all to be provided, as you will learn from the foresaid Torres, and as you will see by what he brings with him. We should wish, if you approve of it, that in order to receive news from you, and from the people who are with you, as well as that you may be provided constantly with all- necessary things, a caravel should sail every month from thence, and another depart from hence ; as, the affairs of Portugal being now arranged, vessels may pass and repass in security. Reflect ujion this ; and if it appears to you proper to be done, do it, and write to us in what manner you think it would be proper to expedite the vessel from hence. As to what relates to the forms you have established, we entirely approve of those you have hitherto commenced, and desire them to be continued ; recommending to you to keep the people as much satisfied as possible, but at the same time not allowing them to transgress in any thing in what they are to do, or you order them to do, on our part. Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 35. D 3 SS CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1494^. And with respect to the town which you have founded, there is no one here who can lay down certain rules for it, nor correct any thing; for if we ourselves were there present in person, we should take your counsel and opinion in this respect ; how much more so, being absent ? Wherefore we refer the whole of it to you. To all other points contained in the memorial brought by the said Torres, the answer has been written in the margin of the same, to what was proper you should know : to which we refer you. With respect to the disputes with Portugal, a convention has been entered into here with their ambassadors, which appeared to us less subject to inconveniences; and in order that you may be fully and dis- tinctly informed of it, we send you a copy of the articles agreed upon : so that it is not necessary for us to dilate here upon the said subject, except to order and charge you to observe them fully, and cause them to be observed by every one, according to the tenor of the said convention. With respect to the boundary which is to be determined, it appearing to us a very difficult thing, and an affair which requires nmch knowledge and confidence, we would wish, if it were possible, that you were present there, to assist in its determination, along with the commissioners on the part of the King of Portugal. And if your going upon this affair should be attended with difficulty, or your absence be productive of inconvenience, see whether your brother, or any other of the persons about you, be fit for the trust : give them the fullest information in writing, and verbally, and by picture, and every other means proper to instruct them ; and send them immediately to us, by the first caravels that sail, in order that we may send other persons from hence with them, within the period of time agreed upon. And whether you are to go yourself upon this affair or not, write to us fully respecting all you know of it, and which may appear to you proper to be done, for our information, and that our interests may be in all points attended to ; and take care that your letters, and the persons whom you have to send, may arrive soon, that they may proceed to the place Avhere the line is to be determined, before the time agreed upon with the King of Portugal be elapsed, as you will see by the capitulation. jFVom Segovia, on the 16th of Attgust, 94. I, the King. I, the Queen. Upon the 16th of August 1494, in the city of Segovia, the Knig and Queen of Spain signed an order, directed to all persons then, or that thereafter might be, in the Indies; conunanding them to do and perform whatever Columbus, in their name, should command them, as if they in person had commanded it to be done; under the penalties which he should impose in the royal name : which, by the order, the sovereigns declare that they impose, and look upon as imposed. Father Boyl, displeased with Columbus for his severity, placed the island uiuler an interdict, and ordered all religious ceremonies to cease. Columbus, in return, ordered tliat no rations should be supplied to him or his household. The Indians, before they went to seek for gold, abstained from their women twenty days, aiul said that those who disregarded this, Memoriab of Columbus, Poc. 26. Ovicdo, L. 2. C. 13. 1495.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 39 observance could not find it. Columbus had ordered that every Spaniard should confess and communicate before he went : this order occasioned much discontent. Father 13oyl, although exhorted by their Majesties to prosecute the holy design for which he had sailed, returned to Spain. Mai'garita, as general of the ti'oopsj had permitted them to indidge in every excess. The Indians, no longer able to endure their enormities, passed from fear to despair^ and killed every straggler. Caonobo invested St. Thomas's, and reconnoitered Isabella, with the hope of repeating his exploits at Navidad. Guatignada, cazique of Macoriz, where Fort Magdalena wjis built, killed ten soldiers, and set fire to a house where forty sick men were in bed. The illness of Columbus, for more than a month, prevented his taking any measures to check the evil. Guacanagari told him, that Guarionex, Bohechio, and Caonabo, with several petty caziques, had combined to drive the Spaniards off' the island, or destroy them ; and that himself had been persecuted for not joining the confederacy. The temerity of Guatignana, who had advanced within two days march of the town, roused the admiral : he marched to Fort Magdalena, which was besieged ; and the captain, Luis de Arriga, in the utmost distress. The assailants were soon dispersed, and many prisoners taken. 1495. The admiral hastened to the dominions of Guarionex; who, alarmed at the fate of his neighbours, sued for peace. Having ordered Fort Concepcion to be built in his territory, the admiral, upon the 24th of February, returned to Isabella. Torres was sent to Spain with the prisoners : some were to be instructed in the Spanish language ; the rest were to be sold as slaves. A quantity of gold, samples of other minerals, fruits, and woods for dyeing, A^ere sent also. Don Diego Cc^umbus accompanied Torres, perhaps to defend his brother from the machinations of Fray Bojd and his party. The admiral would have gone hunself^ but his presence was indispensable in Espariola. The severities which had terrified Guarionex, made Caonabo fiercer. Two hundred infantry, twenty cavalry, and twenty large dogs, were sent upon the 24th of March, to attack him. Guacanagari accom- panied the Spaniards : on the evening of the 26th, they came in sight of 100,000 Indians, under King Manicatix, in the Vega Real. The admiral commanded one division of the Spaniards, and his brother Bartholomew the other. At the first fire, the Indians fled, and the cavalry and dogs made a terrible slaughter t the pri-^. soners were condemned to skivery. Caonabo raised the siege of St. Thomas's, and retired to Maguana^ a province adjoining Cibao. Oviedo, p. 49. Munoz, vol. i. p. 393. Herrcra, D. K L. 2. C. 17 D 4 40 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1495. Whether the scheme for getting this brave prince into their power originated with the admiral, or with Ojeda, is not mentioned. Taking only nine horsemen with him, Ojeda proceeded to Maguana, and requested an audience of the cazique. After kissing his hand, Ojeda produced a pair of pohshed fetters and handcuffs, as a present. *' These," he said, " came from Heaven; the Kings of Spain always wear such ; but before I can have the honour of investing your highness with them, it is fitting that you bathe in the river Yaque ; fi*om which place, if you will return on horseback with them on, your appearance will be like the Kings of Spain." Caonabo ordered his army to keep at some distance whilst he bathed, and was quite impatient to be adorned with the present. After he had bathed, the Spaniards placed him on horseback, behind Ojeda, and put them on. Ojeda paraded three times rovmd, to conceal his design, and the last time made off, with the Spaniards ai'ound him, till they were out of sight of the Indians : then they lashed the indignant chief to Ojeda, and carried him to Isabella. Wlien he was brought before the admiral, Caonabo paid his respects to Ojeda, instead of to the admiral ; and gave as his reason, that Ojeda had seized him where the admiral durst not venture to go. The cazique was im- prisoned, and a process made out against him ; but, in consequence of his rank, the cause was referred to the King of Spain. Ojeda was sent to subjugate the provinces of Cibao and Maguana: in the latter, Caonabo's brother, with 5000 Indians, in foiu- columns, endeavoured to surround him. Ojeda, with the cavalry, attacked the front, and put them to flight ; the other divisions caught the alarm : some fled to the mountains, and others offered to enter into the service of the Spaniards. The soldiers returned to Isabella with Caonabo's brother. The Indians were now broken-spirited. A cazique recently de- ceased had prophesied their subjugation; a belief in this helped to produce its fulfilment. Columbus went through the provinces, and received the homage of the caziques.' Upon every Indian above fifteen years of age, in Cibao and the adjoining districts, a poll tax was imposed, of as much gold dust, every three months, as would fill a hawk's bell. The cazique Manicatex was to pay every month Munoz, vol. i. p. 400. 1 M. Don'o-Soulastrc says, " we follow- natives, retired to return thanks to God. ed the iiath, which conducted us to the her- Here he had mass celebrated and a cross mitage, situated upon the summit of a hill, planted; which tradition assures us is the at the foot of wliich are some nen^ros luits, same which is still there, and had been Wc ascended regularly for some time a steep made with the branches of the sapotillier ascent, but rendered easy by a very winding which at this moment lent us its hospitable path which conducted us to the top of the shade. Further on to the left is an Eiu-o- mountain, upon which is a cross. Here we pean olive tree, planted, they say, at the same halted, less to enjoy the beauties of tlie situ- time, in memory of a treaty which was made ation, than to indulge in one of those revc- between the Indians and Europeans. This rics which the name of a great man always olive tree is double in height and size to the occasions. In fact, it was on this spot and Eurojican ones, but it does not produce any under the sliade of a " sapotillier," (soap fruit." p. G9. Voi/age par Icrrc de Santo Bo- tree,) whicii still exists, that Christopher uihign an Cap-Franqais, par Bm-vo-Soulas- Columbus, after a decisive battle against the (re. An 6. Pari.'!, 1806. 1496.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 41 the weight of 150 pesos. In the other districts, the tax was twenty- five pounds of cotton. Guarionex offered to sow with corn all the country from Isabella to San Domingo, if the admiral would exempt his subjects from a tax, which was levied with a severity that drove them to despair. But gold, the admiral knew, was his best advocate at court ; and therefore, though he moderated the impost, he still pressed for gold. 1496. The first proof of the success of his enemies was the arrival of Juan Aguado, as commissioner, to inquire into his conduct. Columbus was absent when he arrived and published his orders by sound of trumpet. Tliey were dated Madrid, April 9th, 1495 ; and to this effect : — " Gentlemen, Esqrs. and others, who by our command are in the Indies ! we send to you Juan Aguado, our steward (repostero), and we command you to give entire credit to what he shall in our name say to you." Having done tliis, he set out to meet the admiral, who was on his return to Isabella. The commission was again published by sound of trumpet : and Columbus assured Aguado, that every order he might issue in their Highnesses' name should be obeyed without reply. Aguada proceeded to collect informations against him. Most of the Spaniards rejoiced at the prospect of ruining the strangers, whom they hated, and whom the court appeared to have abandoned. The admiral conducted liimself with dignity, and suffered Aguada to trespass on his pri\ileges without rebuking him. Wlien Aguada was ready to return to Spain, a hurricane wi'ecked his four sliips, and two others, in the harbour. Bartholomew Columbus, with a detachment of soldiers, was sent in search of gold, to the banks of the Haigua, a river which falls into the sea on the southern coast. About eight leagues from its mouth, and forty-five fi-om Isabella, with moderate industry, one person might collect three drachms a-day. Excavations were dis- covered, that appeared like ancient mines. A piece of electrum, or gold, mixed with one-fifth of silver, weighing 300lbs. weight, (eight ounces to the pound), a cazique said his ancestors found in one of the caves, which he pointed out to the Spaniards. As soon as the Nina and the Cruz (a new ship built out of the wrecks), were ready, the admiral embarked in one, and Aguada in the other, for Spain, with 225 Spaniards and thirty Indians. Caonabo and liis relatives were among them : they sailed upon the 10th of March, and were a mondi in beating up to Guadalupe. The admiral thought this island was inhabited solely by women no men were to be seen : they opposed the Spaniards' landing, but fled when the ships fired. A party whicli went into the country returned with ten women, one of whom would have strangled her pursuer, a stout Canarian, if his comrades had not ran to his Oviedo, L. 2. C. 13. Mmioz, vol.i. p. 412. P. Martyr, p. 29. Munoz, vol. i. p. 416- 42 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1496. assistance ; she chose to remain on board with Caonabo : the rest were sent on shore. The admiral remained here ten days, and arrived at Cadiz upon the 11th of June. Bartholomew Columbus, the Adelantado, went for three months to the mines, and erected Fort St. Chi'istoval : then passing through the chfFerent provinces, he levied the taxes. In the interim, Peralonso Nino arrived from Spain, with three ships, men, stores, and 100 sheep, from Gomera. He brought a letter from the achniral to his brother, with directions to send to Spain such caziques and Indians as had been found guilty of killing a Spaniard ; to establish the mines at the Hayne ; and to plant a colony on the southern coast. Three hundred Indians were sent to Spain in Nino's squadron. The Adelantado crossed the Island ; and vipon a hill on the eastern shore, near the mouth of the Ozama, laid the foundation of St. Domi- nic's Tower, leaving twenty men to complete and to garrison it, he proceeded to the western provinces, as yet known only by report. Upon the banks of the Neyba, he found an army of Indians under the command of Bohechio ; who, without resistance, con- sented to pay any quantity of cazaba and cotton which should be desired — his dominions did not yield gold. This being settled, he dismissed his troops, and conducted the Spaniards to his residence at Xaragua. The inferior caziques followed the example. The Spaniards were welcomed to the palace by thirty of Bohechio's women, with palm branches in their hands, dancing and singing. The young women wore a cotton bandeau round their brows, and their long hair loose : the married women wore short aprons. At night a hammock was provided for every Spaniard. The next day Bohechio entertained them with the representation of a battle : four men were killed, and several wounded ; and the loss would have been greater, but the Adelantado requested that the martial show might cease. Bohechio's sister was Caonabo's wife. Anacoana possessed great influence ; and she hoped that her brother would avoid her husband's fate, by svibmission. The Adelantado, upon his return to Isabella, found most of the colonists sick, Avilhout medicines, without provisions, and the land uncultivated. He inmiediately removed them to five villages, which he built on the road from Concepcion to Ozama. From the latter place, Esperanza was nine leagues ; Santa Catharina fifteen ; Santiago nineteen and a half; and Concepcion twenty-four. Concepcion was better fortified than the others : it lay in a popu- lous plain, at the foot of the mountains, near the dwelling-place of Ciuarionex, and was the residence of the Adelantado. The first Indian who received baptism was Guarionex's friend, Guaycavana. V IVIunoz, vol. i. p. 429. P. Martyr, p. 30. Munoz, vol. i. p. 431. I1WII ■iiiiiiriiTrrrrr— n"irr Ti^nv¥'"i i * ' " ]\Iii^uel Diaz, one of Don Bartholo- don his countrymen. Six others went with mow's servants, in a (|iiarrel with another him ; some because they were parties con- Spaniard, wounded him dangerously; and, cerncd in the (|uanel, and others because to avoid punishment, determined to aban- they were his friends. Tlicy crossed the 1497.1 OF THE WEST INDIES. 43 1497. Upon May 30, 1497, at Medina del Campo, tlie Spanish sove- reigns signed a grant to Columbus, empowering him to appoint a person to attend in Spain, to the commerce of the Indies, in conjunction with those appointed by their Majesties — that the expences and profits resulting from that traffick might be better un- derstood: so that he might receive that part which belonged to him according to the convention, and the stipulations made in his favour be more effectually preserved and executed. And instructions were given to Columbus and to the Bishop of Badajoz, to provide and diligently endeavour that the Indians should live quietly under subjection ; and, above all, that they should be converted to the Catholic faith, and have the sacraments administered to them. And to provide 330 persons for the different offices of the government, with power to change them, and to increase the number to 500, provided their pay and maintenance was taken from merchandize found in the Indies, without their Majesties having to provide for it elsewhere. Also, orders were given to found another town in Hispaniola, on the other side of the island, near the gold mines. And to have a farm prepared, that the colonists might be better maintained, and with less expense. For this purpose, the labourers were to have, as a loan, fifty bushels of wheat and corn, from the government stores, for seed ; and twenty coviple of cows, mares, and other beasts of burthen : the seed corn to be repaid at the harvest, and a tenth of the crop; and if they asked too much for the Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 5, 6. island, and arrived at a village, where the Spaniards were delighted with his report ; city of Santo Domingo now stands. The he gave orders for them to accompany him, cazica (who was afterwards called Catalina), and for tlieir goods to be sent round in two received Diaz with great kindness, and told caravels which were there. They arrived him the gold mines were about seven leagues as some say, in August 1494, the anniver- ofF; and that she wislied all the Christians at sary of St. Domingo ; which was tlie reason Isabella would come and settle in her neigh- why he gave that name to the citv, and also bourhood, which was fertile and beautiful, because both his father and the admiral had and she would supply them with whatever been named Domingo." they wanted. To oblige the cazica, and This is Oviedo's account of the founding also to inform the Adelantado of the advant- of the city, which differs two years from ages of the place, for which good news he IMunoz, who is more minute in" his dates : expected to obtain his pardon, he, with his and Herrera, D. 1. L. 3. C. 5., savs the companions, and some Indian guides, cross- admiral wrote fiom Cadiz to his brother, to ed the island again to Isabella ; and having, examine the soutli side of the island, for a by secret inquiry, found out that the convenient place to build a city, because, wounded man was well, they went to the upon his passage back, from his voyao-e of Adelantado, who pardoned tliem, and set discovery, to Jamaica, that side appeared to out himself to ascertain the truth of their him beautiful, to have many good harbours report. He descended the River 09ama, and could not be far from the mines. This in an Indian canoe, found that the place new city the admiral always called " La more than answered his expectations, and Isabella Nueva," Tl;e New" Isabella. He stopping two days at the mines, collected did not arrive at Cadiz until the 1 1 th of some gold, and returned to Isabella. The June, 1496. 4>4f CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [14'97, remainder, so as, in the admiral's opinion, to be oppressive to the pm'chasers, he was to tax and moderate the price. The 330 persons were to have each a fanega of wheat per month, and twelve maravedis a day. Such persons as had no engagement were to be paid for their services, as the admiral thought right. The fees, salaries, and pay of the alcaldes and principal officers were to be increased and paid to them, as the admiral judged proper. Besides which their Majesties say, " When it pleases God that there shall be a means of conferring a favour upon them in the said Indies, we shall not be unmindful of doing so." The settlement of the effects of those who die in the Indies was to be under the direction of Escoba and Juan de Leon, who were to pay the debts, if the executors had not, and remit their property, which was to be put into a box with three keys, one of which they were to keep, a priest another, and the admiral the third : in this box the money was to remain three years, that the heirs might have time to come or send for it ; and if it were not demanded witliin that time, then to be distributed for the relief of souls. The gold which might be found the admiral was empowered to coin into pieces like the "excelentes" of Grenada; and all the money coined in the Indies was to be conformable to the regulations obsei-ved in the Mint. The Indians were to have a piece or mark of brass or lead coin, which they were ordered to wear on the neck ; and tliis was to be changed every payment they made, in order that it might be known who had paid : and all persons changing the mark were to be sub- iected to some slight punishment. The collector of the tribute was to have five weights, measures, or pounds per cent, for himself; that is, the twentieth part of whatever he might collect. June 15th, another order was signed at Medina del Campo, by the Spanish Sovereigns, containing a list of the things which, in their opinion, ought to be sent to the Indies. Tliree hundred and thirty persons were to be sent out, reckoning those already there in that number, and they were to be divided as follows: — forty arquebusiers, 100 foot soldiers, thirty seamen, thirty midshipmen, twenty gold-workers, fifty husbandmen and «Tardeners, twenty officers of every description, and thirty women — who were to reside in the Indies as long as they chose : the admiral might change the persons, but not increase the number. For the maintenance of the colonists, 550 bushels of wheat and fifty bushels of corn were ordered to be sent, and such iron tools as the admiral thought necessary : and the number of cows and mares were to be completed to twenty couple of cows, mares, and asses. Their Majesties also recommend that the stores should be sent out in an old vessel ; because her timbers, wood, and iron-work would be of great service in the colony, which was ordered to be established near the mines: " However (their Majesties say) if it ^Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 6. 1497'] OF THE WEST INDIES. ' 45 appears to you, the said admiral, not to be desii'able to take the said vessel, let it not be taken." Fifty bushels of flour, and as many thousand of biscuit, were were ordered to be sent, and mill-stones and mill-utensils : mills were ordered to be erected. Two field tents, of the value of 20,000 mai-avedis, were to be sent. Trusty persons were to be selected to freight and transport the provisions, &c. to the Indies. Money was to be given them to make the purchase, they giving security for it, and being at the expense of transporting the stores, which were to go at the Sovereign's risk, and, when arrived, to be sold ; the wine at fifteen maravedis a jug, a pound of dried pork and salt meat eight maravedis ; and the other provisions and vegetables at such prices as the admiral thought right : so that they might obtain some profit and not lose by it, and the people not be oppressed. Some respectable friars and priests were to go, in the hope of converting the Indians ; and to take with them the requisites for celebrating divine service. A physician, an apothecary, and an herbalist, were to be sent out ; and some music and musical instruments, for the amusement of the settlers. In Burgos, upon the 23d of April 1497, the Spanish Sovereigns signed a grant to Columbus, giving him authority, whenever he wished to constitute one or more " Majorats" in favour of Don Diego Columbus, his eldest legitimate son, or of any of liis heirs ; which majorat or majorats he was permitted to make to his wish, in order that, inviolably, of his goods, there might be made a majorat in Don Diego, and those in whom he wished to make the majorat, with all the conditions, penalties, &c. which he might think proper : all of which, by the grant, the Sovereigns declare that they confirm, in every part of it, by the royal absolute power of which in this respect they make use. And they command, that it be observed by all, although each thing and every part thereof were against express law, and against all form and order of law : and that the property which he thus disposes of shall be inalienable and indivisible for ever, and not to be forfeited for any crime, exceptino- treason or heresy ; and all officers and persons are commanded to observe, and not to proceed against the grant. April 3d, in the city of Burgos, Columbus's patent of privileges was confirmed again by the King and Queen, and all the privileges contained in it ordered to be in force, and observed towards him and his children and descendants inviolably, and for ever. June 12di, in Medina del Campo, the Spanish Sovereigns signed an explanation of their agreement with Columbus; which orders, that of the disbursements made relative to the Indies, and which may be made in the voyage dien preparing by their orders, until the arrival at Isabella, in Hispaniola, no part whatsoever shall be demanded from him, neither is he to be obliged to contribute any thing more than what he employed in the first voyage, upon condition that lie Memorials of ColiunbiiS; Doc. 30. 3, 4, 46 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY []1497« does "not demand or take any tiling of what till now has been drawn from the islands, by right of the tenth, or of the eighth, which, as admiral, he was to have." It also states, " We make a grant to you of , what you have had until now. And as you, the foresaid admiral, say, that first an eighth ought to be taken from whatever may here- after be drawn from the abovesaid islands, and from what remains deduct the expenses, and then the tenths ; and as, accorchng to the tenor of the said capitulation, it appears, that first the expenses should be deducted, and then the tenth, and afterwards the eighth, and it is not yet ascertained what is to be observed in such respect ; it is our pleasure, in order to confer a favour upon you, that for three years there be first deducted the eighth part for you, clear of all expenses, and afterwards the expenses shall be deducted, and from the remainder a tenth be paid for you, the admiral : but after the three years, the tenth, the expenses, and the eighth shall be de- ducted, in conformity to the capitulation." The document then states : " By this favour, which we confer upon you for the foresaid time, thei'e is not given to you, nor taken from you, any right be- longing to you in that respect, beyond what you enjoy in virtue of the foresaid capitulation : on the contrary, that shall remain in its force and vigour, when the time above fixed shall be elapsed." April 23d, 1497, an order was issued to the custom-house officers at Seville and Cadiz, that all the stores embarked by the royal orders, or by Columbus's orders, for the Indies, were to be exported duty free. May 9, 1497, in Burgos, their Spanish Majesties issued an order to their accountants, to pay Columbus, out of the monies due as pay to the persons in debt to him, such sums as he could prove were due to him from such persons — he having lent money to several in the Indies, v/hich was to be so repaid. June 2d, in Medina del Campo, Columbus obtained a proclama- tion from the King and Queen of Spain ; which states, that in con- sequence of his representing that an order of theirs, dated the 10th of April, 1495, prejudiced his privileges, they revoke it, and com- mand, that it have no force nor effect, at any time or in any manner whatsoever, so as to be prejudicial to the admiral : and that it is not their intention to allow the admiral's privileges to be violated ; but, on the contrary, that they intend to confer still greater favours upon him. June 22d, 1497, in Medina del Campo, Ferdinand and Isabella issued a proclamation, stating, that as the persons which they had ordered to embark for the Indies were not sufficient to form a colony, " such as it behoves for the service of God and our service," unless other persons go and live there at their ovm expence ; they order, that all and every person, men and women, who may have conunitted any murders and offences whatsoever (except heresy, treason, disloyalty, coining, sodom}', or smuggling), who shall go and serve in Hispaniola at their own expense for two years, if they MMiioiials of ('olu)iil)u<;. Doc. 10. 20, 9. 12. 1497«] OF THE WEST INDIES. 47 have incurred tlie punishment of death ; and for one, if tliey have incurred any other punishment, ahhough it may be the loss of a hmb, shall receive a pardon for every crime they may have com- mitted, up to the day of the publication of the proclamation. Events soon proved that it was neither for the service of God nor of their Majesties that such subjects should be sent. The same day, an order was issued to the magistrates and officers of justice, to make banishment to Hispaniola the punislunent for all crimes which they justly could. July 22d, 1497, at Medina del Campo, Ferdinand and Isabella signed a proclamation, authorising Cokmibus to give to such persons as were in Hispaniola, or should go there, such lands, mountains, and waters as he should think their quality and their services deserved ; he was to fix the boundaries of each, that the owners might hold and possess, and plant and cultivate, and draw profit from them, with the power of alienating them as things of their own : the said persons obliging themselves to keep and maintain a dwelling, with an inhabited house in the island, for the four years following the date of the grant ; and to build houses, and plant vineyards and gardeiis, in the manner and quantity which Columbus should judge requisite. They were not, however, to have any civil or criminal jurisdiction upon their grants, nor any habitation wit'n plantations or pasture lands, which were not inclosed with a high earthen wall : and all beyond the walls, after the harvest was gathered in, was ordered to be common pasturage for all. The Brazil wood, and every sort of metal, were reserved, as royal property ; and the colonists were forbid to load or unload them, or any thing belonging to the Sovereigns. They were only to sow, gather, take away, and enjoy the fruits, corn, grain, seeds, trees, vines and cotton. Upon the same day, the Spanish Sovereigns signed Don Bartho- lomew Columbus's grant, as Prefect of the Indies — giving him all the honours, pre-eminences, prerogatives, immunities, fees, and emoluments annexed to the office of Prefect; and ordering all persons to have and hold him as such. December 23d, 1497, at Alcala de Henares, an order was seiitto Columbus and the Bishop of Badajos, to seek some trust-worthy persons to freight the provisions to the Indies, at a price which they thought right, as the price fixed by a former order was too low : and if no such persons could be found, then such steps were to be taken as appeared best, that the achuiral's departure might be no fin-ther delayed. Whilst the missionaries, Ramon Pane and Juan Borgonon, with their converts, were absent, Guarionex ordered the images to be taken from their chapel, broken and buried. The Adelantado had the six unfortunate offenders burnt alive: but, justly dreading the consequences, he strengthened the fortifications; and between the INIemorials of Cohimlnis, Doc. 13. 22, 23. 25. Munoz, vol. i. p. 438. 48 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1497. mountains, on the frontiers of Bonao, built another : a general massacre of the Spaniards was planned. An old Indian escaped the vigilance of his countrymen, by pretending to be dumb and lame, and carried in his staff a letter with the news, which he delivered to the Adelantado, at Ozama. By forced marches, the Adelantado got back to Concepcion unperceived ; and so prompt and successful were his plans, that fourteen caziques were made prisoners in one night : he himself seized Guarionex. Two were beheaded: the rest were restored to their afflicted subjects, who, with tears and lamentations, implored their release. The Spaniards also were dissatisfied : want of clothes, insufficient provisions, hard duty, and strict discipline, disgusted them. More- over, they hated the Adelantado, because he was a foreigner. Bohechio having collected his tribute, the Adelantado divided the malcontents, and set off to receive it. That cazique, with his sister, and thirty-two caziques, came to welcome the Spaniards; and so much maize and cazaba was collected, that the Adelantado sent for a vessel to transport it to Isabella. Among other Indian luxuries, the Adelantado was persuaded by Anacoana to taste the iguana : and the Spaniards soon preferred this unsightly animal to the pheasant or turkey. The caravel astonished the Indians : her guns, and her moving without oars, raised their opinion of the Spaniards' power. Bohechio and his sister were entertained on board with music and a dance ; and, in return, Anacoana feasted the Spaniards. Her furniture was made of ebony, finely polished, and ornamented with figures of men and animals, admirably carved in mezzo relievo, the whole of which were made in the island of Guanaba, (Gonave). Fourteen duhos, or chairs, and sixty other articles of furniture, were sent on board the caravel, for the Adelantado : and the Spaniards quitted their admirable hosts with oreat rejji'et. Don Diego Columbus had been unable to keep the mutineers quiet during the Adelantado's absence. Francisco Roldan, the chief alcalde, was their leader ; a man of mean birth, whom the admiral had raised from being his servant. He said the admiral had abandoned them to starvation ; and demanded the vessel then almost ready for sea, to carry himself and followers to Spain. The progress of the rebellion was stopped by the necessity of providing for the general safety: the Indians threatened the de- struction of the fortress and garrison of Concepcion. To remove two dangers, Don Diego sent Roldan, with forty soldiers, to their assistance. Upon their return, the mutiny broke out again, and the Adelan- tado discovered a plot for his assassination. When Roldan found himself betrayed, he marched with his adherents to the Vega, promising exemption from taxation to the natives, and a free and unrestrained life to the soldiers. He plundered the military depot, r. Martyr, D. 1. B. 5. 11970 OF THE WEST INDIES. 49 near the residence of Guarionex, and summoned M. Ballester to surrender Fort Concepcion : but, on the approach of the adelantado, he advanced into the dominions of Guarionex. The adelantado tried the effect of remonstrance; then cited lloldan before a tribunal, and demanded his staff" of chief justice. Roldan disregarded both: with increased numbers he marched to Isabella, and made an unsuccessful attempt to launch the caravel : he plundered the magazines, and obliged the governor to take refuge in the fort ; who was so doubtful of the fidelity of the rest of his troops, that, among other rewards, he gave every man two Indians for slaves. Roldan was unable to seize the adelantado ; but he took the beasts of burthen and cattle from the royal herd, and marched for Xarague. The only faithful troops were the garrisons of Isabella, Concepcion, and La Vega. The Indians, profiting by these disputes, and seduced by Roldan, no longer carried them supplies : they therefore fed themselves by plunder ; and the governor was obliged to connive at an evil which he could not prevent. The arrival of two ships, with provisions and reinforcements, saved them from destruction.' Peter Martyr, D. 3. chap. 6. London, 1612. ' The following is Peter Martyr's account of Sebastian Cabot's voyage to America : — " These North Seas have been searched by one Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian born ; whom, being yet but in manner an infant, his parents carried with them into England, having occasion to resort thither for trade of merchandize ; as is the manner of the Venetians, to leave no part of the world unsearched to obtain riches. He therefore furnished two ships in England at his own charges, and first, with three hundred men, directed his course so far toward the North Pole, that, even in the month of July, he found monstrous heaps of ice swimming on the sea, and, in manner, continual day- light. Yet saw he the land in that tract free fi-om ice, which had been moulten by heat of the sun. Thus, seeing such heaps of ice before him, he was enforced to turn his sails, and follow the west ; so coasting still by the shore, that he was thereby brought so far into the south, by reason of the land bending so much southward, that it was there almost equal in latitude vidth the sea called Fretum Herculeum, having the North Pole elevate in manner in the same degree. He sailed, likewise, in this tract so far toward the west, that he had the Island of Cuba on his left hand, in manner in the same degree of longitude. As he travelled by the coasts of this great land, (which he named Baccallaos,) he saith that he found the like course of the waters toward the west, but the same to run more softly and gently, than the swift waters which the Spaniards found in their naviga- tions southward. Whereof it is not only more like to be true, but ought also of neces- sity to be concludtd, that between both the lands hitherto unknown, there should be certain great open j)laces, whereby the water should thus continually pass from the east into the west ; which waters I sup- pose to be driven about the globe of the earth by the incessant inoving and impul- sion of the heavens, and not to be swallowed up and cast out again by the breathing of Demogorgon, as some have imagined, be- cause they see the seas, by increase and de- crease, to flow and reflow. Sebastian Cabot himself named those lands Baccallaos, be- cause that in the seas thereabout he found so great inultitudes of certain big fishes, much like unto tunnies, (which the inha- bitants call baccallaos,) that tl;ey sometimes staid their ships. He found, also, the peo- ple of those regions covered with beast skins, yet not without the use of reason. He also saith, there is great plenty of bears in those regions, which use to eat fish • for, plunging themselves into the water, where they perceive a multitude of these fishes to lie, they fasten their claws in their scales, and so draw them to land, and eat them. So that (as he saith,) the bears being thus satisfied with fish, are not noisome to men. He declareth, further, that in many places of these regions, he saw great plenty of laton among the inhabitants. Cabot is my very friend, whom I use familiarly, and delight to have him sometimes keep me company in E 50 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1498. 1498. May 30th, Columbus sailed from St. Lucar in bad heakh, when he would rather have remained on shore. To avoid a French fleet Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 190. MS. Conde's Library. my own house ; for being called out of England, by the commandment of the Catholic King of Castile, after the death of Henry King of England, the Seventh of that name, he was made one of our council and assistance, as touching the affairs of the New Indies, looking daily for ships to be furnished for him to discover this hid secret of nature. This voyage is appointed to be begun in March, in the year next following, being the year of Christ 1516. What shall succeed, your holiness shall be advertised by my letters, if God grant me life. Some of the Spaniards deni/ thai Cabot was the first jinder of the land of Baccallaos, and affirm that he ti'ent not so far westward. But it shall suffice to have said thus much of the gulfs and straights, and of Sebastian Cabot. " ' The following extract, relative to Sebas- tian Cabot's voyage, is from Harris's Voy- ages, vol. ii. p. 190. " The next voyage made for discovery was by Sebastian Cabot, the son of John, concerning wliich all our writers have fallen into great mistakes, for want of com- paring the several accounts we have of this voyage, and making proper allowances for the manner in which they were written ; since I cannot find there was ever any dis- tinct and clear account of this voyage pub- lished, though it was of so great consequence. On the contrary, I believe that Cabot him- self ke]it no journal of it by him ; since, in a letter he wrote on this subject, he speaks doubtfully of the very year in which it was undertaken ; though, from the circum- stances he relates, that may be very cei- tainly fixed. On the 3d of February, in the 13th year of the reign of King Henry the Vllth., a new grant was made to John Cabot, by wliich he had leave given liim to take ships out of any of the ports of Eng- land, of the burden of 200 tons, to sail upon tliscoveries; but before this could be effected, John Cabot died ; and Sebastian, his son, applied liiinself to the King, proposing to discover a North-West Passage, as he him- self tells us : and for this purpose lie Iiad a sliip manned and victualled at tlie King's expense, at IJristol ; and three or four other sliips were fitted out at the expense of some merchants of that city, particularly Mr. Tliorne and Mr. Hugli Elliot. lUit MJiereas Sebastian Cabot hiuiself savs that he made this voyage in the summer of 1 496, he must be mistaken ; and he very well might, speaking from his memory only ; and to prove this, I need only ob- serve, that this date will not at all agree, even with his own account of the voyage ; for he says expressly, it was undertaken after his father's death ; who, as we have shewn, was alive in the February following: so that it was the summer of the year 1 497 in which he made this voyage, and what he afterwards relates of his return, proves this likewise. " But we have a direct and clear autho- rity as to this fact, which is that of Robert Fabian, who fixes this voyage of Sebastian Cabot's to the month of May, 1497. And on the 1 1 th of June, tlie same year, he sailed as l\igh as 67° 30', finding the sea still open ; and he thought that he might this way liave passed througli into the South Seas, but liis crew mutinied ; which forced him to return into tlie latitude of 56°, and from thence he ran down to 38°, along the coast of the Continent of America; which, as he expressly says, was afterwards called Florida ; where provisions growing short, he returned into England, touching by the way at Newfoundland. On his return, he says, he found the nation in much confusionj and great preparations making for a war in Scotland ; which agrees exactly with Graf- ton's Chronicle, who places these prepar- ations under the mayoralty of William Purchase ; that is, to the year before men- tioned: and Robert Fabian says farther, that in the 14tli year of King Henry the Vllth., tliere were three men brought to the King, taken in the new-found island, which he before mentioned, who were clothed in beasts' skins, ate raw flesh, spoke a strange uncouth tongue, and were very brutish in tlieir behaviour ; but he afterwards adds, that he saw these people himself two years afterwards, and that they were then clothed like Englishmen, and he could not have known tliem to be otherwise, if he had not been informed that these were the men brought over by Sebastian Cabot. " Thus, with the utmost exactness I could use, I have set this matter in its true light, and have thereby shewn, that he was not only the first person who attempted a North- West I'assage, and shewed, theieby, that ho 1498.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 51 wliich was cruising for him off Cape St. "V'^incent, he did not sliape a direct course for Madeira. From the Canaries he sent part of his fleet, h^,^ the nearest route, to Espafiola ; and with one ship and two caravelas stood to the sovithward, intending to reach the equator, and then steer west. He said the Cape de Verd Islands were falsely named, for he did not see a green thing upon them : his crews being sickly, he dared not remain there. Four hundred and eighty miles to the S.W., he found the altitude of the north star to be 5°. Here, in a calm, he expected the heat would set the vessels on fii*e : the men were alarmed, and dared not go below, though the stores were spoiling. This weather lasted eight daj's ; the first only was clear, the seven following it rained : had all been as hot as the first, Columbus says, nothing could have saved them ; he, therefore, got to the westward as fast as he could. For seventeen days they had a fair wind; and upon Tuesday, July 31st, Alonzo Perez saw the land, three mountains, from the mast-head. Hymns were immediately sung by the crews ; and Colunibus per- formed his vow, by naming the island Trinidad. At the hour of complines, they were off a cape, which Columbus named Galera, from a small island near it, which resembles a ship. They saw houses and inhabitants, and a country green and beautiful, Columbus said, as the prospects of Valencia in March. Not finding anchorage, he ran five leagues to the westward, and then came-to, in good ground. On the 1st of August he sailed farther west, in search of fresh water; and near a cape, which he called " Playa," the crew filled some casks with water, " probably from the river Meruga :" but as Munoz, vol. i. p. 472. understood Columbus's principles, but was to great knowledge of tbese matters, and likewise the first discoverer of the Continent very often impose upon such as wU not of America, which Columbus did not see rake into their old musty antiquities, but till a year after, as well as the first disco- pay an implicit regard to the bold assertions verer of Florida, which country was not so of modern authors. By taking the contrary called till the year 1512 ; when, as we have method, and resolving to be satisfied even before shewn, it was visited by John Ponce in trifles, we come to judge accurately and de Leon, who took possession of it for the truly of the deserts both of om- own and of King of Spain, and usually passes for the foreign nations ; so as to yield the prefer- first discoverer. It may not be amiss to ence to some, and maintain our just rights observe, that Sebastian Cabot clearly affirms, against others. As, for instance, though that his voyage was made to discover a we cannot dispute with the Spaniards the North- West Passage ; which notion of his actual discovery of America ; yet we may gave light, as is acknowledged even by fairly deny, what the present geographer of foreign authors, to Ferdinand Magellan ; his Catholic Majesty asserts, that we re- and induced him confidently to affirm, that jected Coliunbus's proposal ; and we may such a passage might be found to the south, likewise call him to a severe account for which he happily effected, twenty-two years pbicing the voyages of Sebastian Cabot to after this attempt made to the north by Florida, twenty-six years later than he Sebastian Cabot. should have placed them, from tlie accounts " I cannot say that any great use can be given by RamiLsio, Gomara, Peter INJar, made of this kind of knowledge ; but there tyr, and other authors, wliom he either seems to be no reason why we should not had read, or ought to have read, before he pique ourselves upon knowing these mat- took upon him to write upon this subject ; ters with as much exactness as strangers ; of which, though he writes sensibly, yeX who, bv dipping into our accounts, pretend this will not excuse his writing untrutJiS," j: 2 52 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1498. the place was inconvenient, and without inhabitants, he sailed to the S.W. point, which sheltered them from the eastward, and where there was good anchorage : here they came-to ; and upon the 1st of August, Europeans landed, for the first time, upon the Continent of the New World. They took in wood and water, caulked the vessels, and refreshed the men. Columbus named the cape " Punto del Arenal." The next day, a large canoe, with twenty-four fine young men, armed with bows and arrows, came within hail : they were whiter than any inhabitants Columbus had seen in the Indies, very well shaped, and with long black hair, cut in the Spanish fashion. During two hours signs were made for them to come on board ; then Columbus ordered some boys to dance upon the poop, to the sound of a tambourin : this the Indians mistook for the signal for battle, let go their oars, seized their bows and arrows, and square shields (" tablachina"), and discharged a volley of arrows. The Spaniards left off dancing and fired some cross- bow shot at them : the Indians ran under the stern of the other caravel, whose pilot jumped into the canoe, and gave the prin- cipal man a doublet and a bonnet, and thought he had succeeded in making them understand that he would go on shore with them ; but when they saw him go on board the admiral's ship, to ask leave, they all got into their canoe, and rowed off as fast as they could. Columbus named the land La Tierra de Gracia; from the whirlpools and the roaring of the waters, which, he supposed, were occasioned by the sea breaking over rocks, he thought it impos- sible to proceed; and, against a current as furious as the Guadalquiver in a flood, equally so to return. As he was walking the deck about midnight, he heard a loud noise, and saw the sea to the westward like a hill as high as the ship, with a curling edge and terrific roaring, gradually approaching. Columbus expected it would upset the ship : she floated safe, and it passed on to the boca. The next day the boats sounded, and found six and seven fathoms in the boca. It pleased God, Columbus said, to give him a fair wind, as he stood to the northward, towards a high mountain, twenty-six leagues from Punta del Arenal : in crossing, he tasted the water, and found it fresh. Opposite this mountain there was a higher one, on the Tierra de Gracia, and between them another boca, which he named La Boca del Drago, narrower than that by Punta del Arenal, which he called Boca de la Sierpe, with the same whirlpools and roarings of the sea. Not having obtained any information from the inhabitants, and in hopes of finding a better channel to the north, Columbus stood to the westward. The farther they went, the less salt they found the water ; he anchored off' some cultivated lands, and sent a party on shore : they saw innumerable monkeys, but" no inhabitants. Columbus was too unwell to go himself, therefore Pedro de Terreros performed the ceremony of taking possession of the country. When the boats MS. Coiulc's IJhrarv, 14<98.J OF THE WEST IXDIES. 53 returned, the ships stood along shore, and anchored again in a river, where several natives came on board; they called the country Paria, and said the inhabitants were more numerous to the west- ward. Columbus detained four of them ; and, eight leagues to the westward, anchored off a point, which he named " De la Aguja." Multitudes of canoes came off, large and well made, and each with a cabin a-midships. The natives were a fine race of people. When the Spaniards landed, two chiefs, who appeared like father and son, received and conducted them to a large house, with several seats : the men sat at one end of the house, and the women at the other. Bread was brought, and a variety of fruits and wines, of two colours, red and white, not made of grapes, but of different fruits. Some of the natives wore beautifully-wrought cloths round their heads, and larger ones round their waists; pieces of gold about their necks , and, because many wore pearls on their arms, the admiral called the bay " Golfo de Perlas ;" he called the country " Jardines ;" for it deserved the name, he said. All the natives agreed in stating, that the gold came from the west, where the men were cannibals ; and the pearls from the N.W. Columbus complains that his vessel was too large for such service. After vespers they stood to the westward : the next day, at high water, they were in three fathoms water. Columbus, expecting the land was an island, sent the " Sotil" (caravel) to find the channel : she stood into the gulf; and instead of a channel, found a large fresh-water river. On the 11th she returned. Columbus was much disappointed : he could neither get out to the southward or to the westward; and therefore stood back to the " Boca del Drago." The fresh-water current carried him rapidly, and he came to an anchor off Cape Lapa. For thirty-three days Columbus had been without sleep, and the complaint in his eyes distressed him. The next day they sailed into the Boca, and were becalmed ; but the impetuous current carried them through : all the men expected the vessels would be dashed to pieces against the rocks. The following day, which was that of Our Lady in August, fi'om the hour of mass to " Complines," the vessels ran sixty-five leagues, four miles to each league, though there was not much wind. Columbus said, that the north star described a circle of 5° diameter : he observed it for many nights with a quadrant, and the plumb-line always fell to the same point. In the Boca del Sierpe, the altitude of the star was 5° ; and in the Boca del Drago, 7°, he said. An island twenty-six leagues to the north, Columbus named Ascencion (Grenada), and another, Concepcion. He pursued his course to Cape Tres-puntas, supposing Paria was part of the continent of Asia, and wishing to coast it farther ; but concern for the colony, the turbulence of the crews, and the complaint in his eyes, obliged him to alter his course : he passec] between the 3Iunoz, vol. i. p. -ISl. E 3 54 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1498. Testlgos and Margarita', naming them, and Romero, Les Guardas, Martinete, Cubague, and Cochon. Columbus supposed that Trinidad once joined the " Tierra de Gracia," where the bocas are : the loud roarings he attributed to the conflict between the fresh water rushing out and the salt water flowing in. The earth, he thought, was shaped like a pear, and was higher under the equinoctial line, but rose in one part, " Como una teta de Muger :" upon the summit of this he supposed Paradise stood ; and from thence those mighty streams of fresh water came, wliich he found off" the " Tierra de Gracia." In support of his theory, he quotes tlie Holy Bible, St. Isidore, Bede, Strabo, " el Maestro de la Historia Scolastica," St. Ambrose, and Scotus. When in the open sea, in five days, Columbus sailed 200 leagues to the N.W. On the night of the 19th, they made Espanola, fifty leagues to leeward of tlie Ozama ; and the next morning he anchored at Beata. On the third day of the calends of September, seven days after they first anchored, Columbus landed at Santo Domingo : he was pleased with its situation and its harbour, and delighted to meet his brother.2 But Roldan's rebellion had desolated whole provinces. Upon the 1st of September, Pedro de Arana arrived with three Vessels at Xaragua. Roldan, and some of his adherents, went on board, and gave out that the adelantado had stationed him there : he contrived to procure a supply of swords and cross-bows before the real state of affairs was discovered. Carvajal, with the hope of coming to some terms with Roldan, remained behind, and sent Juan Antonio Colombo, with the artificers, to go by land to Santo Domingo. The next day, thirty-four of them deserted to Roldan, and Colombo returned on board with the remaining six. Carvajal succeeded so far as to induce the insurgents to consider him as a mediator, and to approach San Domingo: he himself arrived there soon after Arana. The mischiefs this disorderly gang committed in the dominions of Bohechio, were not so soon perceived; where the Indians were Herrcra, 1. 3. 11. Munoz, vol. i. p. 484. Peter Martyr, 39. Munoz, vol. i. p. 495. ' " The denomination of Guayquerias, palm-tree, answered, guaike, guaike, which like those of Peru and Peruvian, owes its signifies pointed pole." — Hiimboldl's Per- origin to a mere mistake. The companions sonal Karraiice, vol. ii. p. 199. of C. Columbus, coasting along the island J Peter Ileylyn, in his Co.wiograp/iia, of Margarita, where still, on tlie northern 3d edition, London, 1665, folio, p. 1001, coast, resides the noblest portion of the has made a mistake in considering the city Guayqueria nation, met a few natives, who of St. Domingo as the same place as the %yerc harpooning fish, by throwing a pole city of Isabella. Speaking of Columbus, tied to a cord, and terminated by an ex- he says, " In this second voyage, he disco- tremely Miarp point. They asked them, in vered the Islands of Cuba and JaiTiaica, and the Ilayti language, their name ; and the built the town of Isabella, (afterwards Indians, thinking tliat the question of the better known by the name of Domingo,) in ntrangcrs related to their harpoons, formed Hispaniola." cf the hard and heavy wood of the Macana 11<98.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 55 obliged to give up tlieir wives and daughters to their lusts, and where they plundered the gold and taxes against which they clamoured, as in the Vega ; where the chief caziques united themselves once more with Guarionex, to kill all the straggling Spaniards, and with col- lected force desti'oy the fortress of Concepcion. The day of full moon was destined for the execution of this plan. One of the caziques attacked the fortress an hour before the appointed time, and was repulsed with considerable loss. Guarionex, to whom he fled, was so enraged at the rashness which frustrated his plans, that he ordered him to be killed ; and, as he now saw the conspiracv was discovered, and dreaded the vengeance of the Spaniards, he resolved to seek his safety in flight. The other caziques, however, invested Concepcion ; and the gai-rison, though weak, repelled their first assaults, till the adelantado, who was sent by his brother the admiral, arrived with ninety foot soldiers, some horsemen, and 3000 islanders, mortal enemies to the Ciguayans. He dispersed the besiegers with ease, made a great number of prisoners, then marched to the mountains after Guarionex. When they came to the banks of a great river, he found two of the enemy's scouts lurking in the bushes : one escaped by jumping into the water, the other was taken; and in- formed the adelantado, that in the wood, on the opposite side of the river, 6000 Ciguayans lay concealed, ready to attack the Spaniards when they passed. When they saw the Spaniards were fording the river, they issued from the wood, with loud yells, all painted and spotted, black and red, with the juice of fruits cultivated for this purpose ; their hair was \\*i'eathed and rolled in various fashions : *' so that they looked like devils lately broke fi'om hell." Several of the Spaniards, notwithstanding their shields, were wounded with their darts. Having driven the Indians into the wood, the Spaniards halted for the night ; and next morning, conducted by his Indian allies, the adelantado marched towards Cabron, a village among the mountains, the chief residence of the cazique Mayobanex. Having marched twelve miles, they captured two Ciguayans, from whom they learnt, that Mayobanex had with him, at Cabron, ten caziques and 8000 Ciguayans. As the adelantado approached, he contented liimself with skirmishing, till he had reconnoitered the countrv, and at midnight he sent four scouts and some Indians as guides, before the army. The Ciguayans saw them coming, and prepared for battle ; but, supposing the whole army were near, dared not attack them. The next day, the adelantado came up with the army : the Ciguayans attacked them tv»'ice, and wounded many, but were defeated with gi'eat loss. Many were killed, and many taken : the rest fled to the woods. The adelantado sent one of the prisoners, with an Indian ally, to Mayobanex, with this message: — " The adelantado does not bring his army hither, Mayobanex ! to make war against 3'ou or your people, for he greatly desireth your friendship ; but his intent is, 3Iiinoz, vol. i. p. ■196, 497. Peter Maitvi, 41. El S6 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1498. that Guarionex, who hath persuaded you to be his aid, to the great destruction of your people, and ruin of your country, may have due correction. Wherefore, he requireth and exhorteth you to deliver Guarionex into his hands ; which if you will do, the admiral, his brother, will not only gladly admit you to his friendship, but also enlarge and defend your dominions. But if you refuse to comply with his request, your kingdom shall be wasted with fire and sword, and shall abide the fortune of war, whereof you have had experience with favour, but you shall know hereafter to your pain, if you pro- voke him to shew the uttermost of his power." When the messenger had finished, Mayobanex answered, that " Guarionex was a good man, indued with many virtues, as all men knew, and therefore he thought him worthy of his aid, especially as he had fled to him for succour; and that he had made him such a promise — whom also he had proved to be his faithful friend ; and that the Spaniards were wicked men, violent and cruel, desiring other men's goods : in fine, that he would not enter into friendship with them." W^hen the report was made to the adelantado, he ordered the village to be burnt where he was encamped, and all the other villages round about. As he drew nearer the retreat of Mayobanex, he sent messengers to him again, to persuade him to send some faithful friend to negociate a peace. Mayobanex accordingly sent one of his chief men, and with him two others as his attendants. When they were introduced to the adelantado, he wished them to persuade their eazique, and to admonish him, in his name, not to suffer his king- dom to be ruined, or himself to abide the hazard of war, for Guarionex's sake, but to deliver him up to save himself, his people, and his coimtry, from destruction. When the messenger returned, Mayobanex assembled his people, and told them what he had done ; but they cried out to him to deliver Guarionex, and began to curse the day that ever they had received him, thus to disturb their quiet. Mayobanex answered, that " Guarionex was a good man, and deserved well of him ; that he had given him many princely presents, and had also taught his wife and himself to sing and dance ' ; and therefore he was fully resolved in no case to forsake him, or against all humanity betray his friend, who had fled to him for succour ; but that he would abide all extre^ Peter Martyr, 42. ' Among tlie Indians dancing ought not " appeased, or their beneficence to be cele- to be denominated an amusement. It is a brated, if they rejoice at the birth of a child serious and important occupation which or mourn the death of a friend, they have mingles iu every occurrence of public or dances appropriated to each of these situ- ])rivate life. If any intercourse be neces- ations, and suited to the different sentiments sary between two American tribes, the with which they are then animated. If a ambassadorsof the one approach in a solemn person is indisposed, a dance is prescribed dance, and present the calumel or emblem as the most effectual means of restoring him of peace ; the sachems of the other receive to health, and if he himself cannot endure it with the same ceremony. If war is de- the fatigue of such an exercise, the physi- nounccd against an enemy, it is by a dance ci.an or conjin-er performs it in his name, as expressive of flie resentment whicli they if tlie virtue of his activity could be trans- feel, and of the vengeance which tliey medi- ferred to his ]iaticnt. — Roberlsons History late If the wrath of their Gods is to be of Aincrkn, vol. ii. p. 199. 1498.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 57 Tiiities with him, rather than have it said he had betrayed liis guest, after he had taken him into his house with promises of protection." Then dismissing the sorrowful crowd, he called Guarionex, and pi'omised him again, that he would partake of his fortune while life lasted. He therefore determined not to send any more messengers to the adelantado ; but appointed the one he had sent before, with a party of men to guard the road, and stop any messengers that the adelantado might send, and not to admit any to further conference. In the mean time, the adelantado sent two : one was a captive Ciguayan, and the other a friendly islander ; they were both taken and slain. The adelantado followed them, with only ten foot soldiers and four horsemen ; and finding his messengers dead on the road, he was determined to punish Mayobanex most severely : he therefore, with his whole army, marched to Cabron to his chief palace, where he yet lay incamped. At his approach, all the caziques fled different ways, and left their chief, Mayobanex ; who, with all his family, fled to the mountains. Some of the Ciguayans sought for Guarionex to slay him, as the cause of all this misery' ; but he had fled to the mountains. The war had now lasted three months, and the adelantado's soldiers were weary with watching and labour and hunger. Many desired leave to go to Concepcion : he gave them passports, and an allowance of provisions, and remained himself, Avith only thirty followers, determined to search the mountains, dens, and caves for Mayobanex and Guarionex. Some of his men, as they were hunting for rabbits, caught two of Mayobanex's followers, sent by him in search of bread : these he forced to declare where their lord was concealed, and also to act as guides, to shew the Spaniards the way to the place. Twelve Spaniards painted themselves like Ciguayans, and undertook the enterprize : by this stratagem, they came suddenly upon Mayobanex, and took him prisoner, and his wife, children, and family, and sent them to Concepcion, to the adelantado. Hunger having compelled Guarionex to quit his den, some of the Indians betrayed him to the hunters. The adelantado being informed of this, sent a party of soldiers to lie in ambush for Guarionex, as lie went from the valley to the mountains, they succeeded in seizing him ; and thus these regions were pacified. A relative of Mayobanex, wife to a cazique whose dominions were as yet untouched, followed him in all his adversities : she was the feirest and most beautiful woman ever seen upon the island. When the cazique, her husband, heard she was taken prisoner, he was like a man distracted : he came to the adelantado, and promised most faidifully that he would submit himself, and all under his power, so that he might have his \\ife. The adelantado accepted the conditions, and restored the woman, with several other of the principal prisoners, binding them with an oath, to be ready at his Peter Martyr, 43. Hcrrcra. 58 ' CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1498. command. Soon after, tliis cazique came again to the adelantado, with 5000 men, with instruments for tillage, and with seeds, asking him to mark out the land he wished to have cultivated : these were sown and many large and fruitful fields yielded a plentiful crop ; a service which, with hired labourers, would have cost 30,000 ducats. The adelantado rewarded him with presents, and he departed joyfully. When the Ciguayans heard the report of this, their caziques came to the adelantado, promising submission, and to be for ever under his orders. At their request, Mayobanex's wife and children were set at liberty ; but he himself was kept prisoner, carried to the capital, tried for rebellion, and hung. The admiral had flattered himself with the hopes of speedily quelling the mutiny, because he was assured that the hatred of Roldan and his adherents was levelled against his brother, Don Bartholomew. To win the hearts of the people, whose spirits were almost broken, and whose common oath was, " As true as God conduct me to Castile ;" he ordered it to be promulgated, that whoever wished shovild be permitted to return to Spain, and five ships fitted for that purpose. He wi'ote to Miguel Ballester, com- mander at Concepcion, to take care of that fortress, because Roldan would approach it ; ordered him to offer Roldan, in his name, a pardon for all that had passed ; and, if he should demand it, to give it him in writing, that he might come as a friend to San Domingo. Ballester was soon informed the rebels were at Bonao: he executed his orders with fidelity. Roldan declared he despised the proffered amnesty ; that he was sufficiently powerful either to ruin or support the government ; and therefore, that he would not listen to any pro- position until the Indians who had been made slaves at Concepcion were delivered up to him : finally, that he would not negociate with any person except Alonso Sanchez de Carvajal, whose prudence he knew from experience. This, with Carvajal's having kept Roldan two days on board his ship, caused his fidelity to be suspected. The admiral, however, authorized him to begin the negociation. At first, the rebels refused to listen to Carvajal, because he came without the slaves tliey demanded : at last he persuaded Roldan and Gomez to visit the admiral, and treat with him. But their followers opposed this, and declared, if any conciliation took place, the whole ought to be done in writing, with the general consent. This opinion pre- vailed, and terms were delivered in, that made it evident they were determined to push matters to the last extremity. Ballester accompanied Carvajal to Bonao, and staid with the rebels ; whilst Carvajal went with the proposed articles. In consequence of what he saw, he v^rote to the admiral, and advised him to settle the dispute in any way, telling him, that the rebellion every day blazed stronger; that already eight soldiers of his escort had joined them, ;uul that he feared others would follow the pernicious example; Charlevoix, vol. i. p. 205. 230. Munoz, vol. i. p. 51.".. 510, 511. 513. 1498.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 59 and that, as the rebels unanimously demanded to be sent to Spain, he exliorted him to consent to their request, because otherwise his person and authority would be equally in danger. Columbus, accordingly, suspended the departure of the five ships, that were to sail in the latter end of September, imtil the 18th of October, and allowed the malcontents that wished to go to embark. By this conveyance Columbus sent charts of his new discovery, pearls and pieces of gold, as samples of the productions of the Continent. He requested their Majesties' attention to the pearls, as the first from the Western World : he described Paria as the very country the ancients had mentioned as the depository of immense wealth, and the theatre of wonders ; and promised to realize these splendid hopes in a short time, as tliree ships were prepared for that purpose, and only delayed in consequence of the negociation with Roldan. He would, he said, crush this rebel, with his horde, if he did not return to submission, or repair to San Juan, till the decision of the court arrived. He said the tribute was no longer paid — the country was insecure — the licentious Spaniards set the laws at defiance : they robbed the Inchans ; abused the women in the most shocking manner ; and, lest their hands should get out of practice, used, for pastime, to try who could most dexterously strike off the head of an Indian, so that it should fly clean from the body to the ground. That the loyal Spaniards, tainted by bad example, were restrained only by persuasion and promises : — That those who came there as miners, labourers, and scullions, would not now go a furlong from their houses, except they were borne on palanquins : — That they kept Indian concubines, and each had two or three Indians in their service. But he hoped all would be remedied when the mutineers were quelled, if their Majesties favoured his designs, and the officers of the court in Seville would cease to retard the supplies. One only evil, he said, must be borne for some years — that the Spaniards should be permitted to use the Indians made prisoners of war as slaves. Accordingly, he sent the ships freighted with slaves and Brazil wood : both would yield, he estimated, a yearly profit to the crown of two millions of maravedis : — That Spain ought to furnish wine and cloathing, as before; but that the colony would supply all the other wants of life in abundance : — That the cazabe bread was nutritive, wholesome and agreeable to the Spaniards ; there was also plenty of batatas and other roots : — That the country abounded in rivers, stored with fish, as well as the sea-shores : — That there were an immense number of swine and poultry, and the utias, more pleasant to the taste : the rabbits were so numerous, an Indian in one day could catch fifteen or more : — Tliat nothing was wanting, but for Christians to lead a Christian life. For this purpose, he tliought it necessary to send by every conveyance fifty or sixty of the refractory idlers, and to receive industrious workmen in exchange; he also Munoz, vol. i. p. 515, 516, 517- I'eter Martyr, 40. CO CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [H-QS. invited over virtuous clergjTmen, to correct the Spaniards' morals, and an upright judge, for tiie administration of justice. Finally, he hoped the contributions would revive again ; and that the Supreme Being would aid an undertaking begun in his holy name. The malcontents complained that the admiral and his brother were unjust men, cruel enemies, and shedders of Spanish blood; declaring upon every light occasion, they would rack them, hang them, head them ; and that they took pleasure therein ; and that they departed from them, as from cruel tyrants and wild beasts rejoicing in blood, and as the King's enemies : affirming, likewise, that they perceived their intent to be no other than to usurp the empire of the islands, which they suspected by a thousand con- jectures, especially because they would not permit any but their own friends to have access to the gold mines. After the ships were gone, the admiral wrote to Roldan, that, out of affection for him, he had delayed the sailing of the fleet aS long as possible, lest their Majesties should be informed of his guilty conduct before they heard of his return to duty : he reminded him of his duty to his sovereign, and exliorted him to come to reasonable terms. Roldan, in answer, expressed his willingness to comply with his desire, and requested another safe-conduct. He obtained it, and came to San Domingo : here he again proposed high terms, and agreed to none — it was supposed he only came for the purpose of bribery. After his return to Bonao, he wrote a letter dated Tuesday, November the 6th, saying, he could not prevail on his men to consent to any more ; that, for want of food, he should march to Concepcion, where he would wait till the Monday following for the admiral's answer. The admiral, to avoid a civil war, and partly from want of adherents, previous to the day named, sent Carvajal, accompanied by Diego de Salamanca, his steward, to Concepcion, with full power to conclude a treaty. At the same time, he transmitted a general pardon to all who had taken up arms against his authority, who should, in a month's time, submit to the legal government; and offered them permission to return to Castile, and assignments for the payment of their salaries : declaring, in the event of non-compliance, he would proceed against them with the utmost rigour of the law. The deputies found Roldan blockading the fortress ; under the pretext of getting a criminal out, to put him to death. Carvajal appeased him ; and, after a short negociation, concluded an agree- ment. The proclamation, with a general pardon, was affixed to the gates of the fortress, the rebels only ridiculed it. However, they at last resolved that Roldan, and his partizans, should within fifty days embark in the harbour of Jaragua for Spain, in two sliips, properly victualled ; and that they should be furnished with cer- tificates of their good services, and assignments for the payment of Munoz, vol. i. p. 51S, 5]9, 520. 1499.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 6 1 their wages. It was also stipulated, that they should be at liberty to take a number of slaves with them, or an equal number of Indian women, either pregnant, or lately delivered of children : also, that satisfaction should be given for their sequestered goods, especially to Roldan, for 350 swine. After the admiral had signed and sent back the treaty to the Vega, he published a declaration, stating, that any of Roldan's party that chose might remain on the island, either in the pay of the King, or as proprietors of land, and have slaves sufficient for cultivation. They all, however, seemed ready to leave the island, and went to Jaragua. To facilitate their departure, the expedition for the further discovery of Paria and the pearl trade was sus- pended : there were only three ships fit for the voyage, and scarcely sufficient provisions. 1499. The admiral now, for the purpose of arranging the affairs of the colony, went with his eldest brother into the interior, and com- mitted the care of San Domingo to his brother Don Diego : he went first to Isabella, then to Vega, and through the other provinces. In the month of May, when he expected the ships would sail, he addressed an ample detail of the state of the island to the King and Queen, in which he advised them to punish Roldan and his adherents, especially those under sentence of transportation ; who, instead of serving out their time, had joined the rebels, and com- mitted every act of atrocity and depredation. He also advised their Majesties to seize the stores and Indian concubines, some of whom were daughters of caziques. But he was now suddenly apprized that Roldan's adherents had altered their minds, and determined to remain on the island. As a justification of their breachof the treaty, they pleaded the long delay of the caravels, which did not arrive at Jaragua till three months after the contract. For this they blamed the admiral ; though the ships had put to sea two months before, and been driven back, disabled, by a gale of wind. Carvajal, who commanded the ex- pedition, explained this to Roldan : but in vain. The admiral wrote again to the principal mutineers ; but they treated his letter with scorn and derision. Carvajal, however, by his cogent remon- strances, worked on the mind of Roldan ; and when he took his leave, Roldan offered to accompany him half-way. When they were alone, Roldan testified his wish to put an end to the contest, and said if the admiral would consent to another safe-conduct, he would be glad to visit him, and make an agreement that should be satisfactory to both ; but it would be necessary to keep the terms secret, till they were ratified. Munoz, vol. i. p. 521, 522, 523, 524. 526. 62 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1499. Carvajal made his report to the admh-al on the 15th of May; and Cokimbus, anxious to restore the pubhc tranquilhty, hastened in person to the harbour of Jaragua, previously dispatching the safe-conduct. Carvajal, Coronel, Pedro de Terreros, Alonso Mai aver, Diego Alvarado, and Rafael Cataneo, also signed a deed, in which they bound themselves to defend, to the utmost of their power, the person and property of Roldan and his men during the negociation, provided they did not undertake anything prejudicial to the King or governor. While Columbus was with two caravels in the harbour of Azua, Roldan came on board, and a treaty was signed, by which he \-o and Rodrigo Perez the keys of the prison; Don Diego replied, that the prisoners had been confided to liis charge by his brother the admiral, and that he could not dispose of them without his orders. Bovadilla then ordered two other edicts to be read ; one enjoining all persons to obey him ; the other, that the soldiers and artizans were to be paid : these immediately joined him. Thus reinforced, he marched to the citadel, to liberate Hernando de Guevara and the other condemned rebels. Diaz and Diego de Alvarado defended the battlements for some time ; but BovacUUa entered without much resistance. When Columbus heard of these proceedings, he thought it liis duty to oppose what he supposed must be unlavi^ul proceedings : he therefore appointed Bonao as the rendezvous for his friends, and sum- moned the Indians to join him. At Bonao, a courier gave him authen- ticated copies of Bovadilla's commissions : still he was incredulous ; that their Highnesses should have deprived liim of a charge, to which they had fiven him irrevocable and perpetual patents, without trial or hearino- his defence, was impossible, he said ; but he would write to the court : and in the interim he summoned all their Majesties' subjects to obey him as viceroy, and to oppose by force of arms, all attempts against his authority. Every thing indicated a civil war — when Juan Velasquez and F. Juan de Tressierra, a Franciscan, arrived with a letter for the admiral, which had been trusted to their care by their majesties : it was as follows : — Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean ! we have ordered the Commander Francisco de Bovadilla to communicate several things to you from us, and we enjoin you to beheve and to obey what he shall declare to you in our name. (Signed) I, the King. I, the Queen. At Madrid, this 26th May 1499. Ilerrcrn, 1. 4. 9. Charlevoix, vol. i. p. 256. 1500.3 ^1^ '^HE WEST INDIES. 65 The admiral remarked diat his tide of viceroy was omitted ; and set off immediately for the capital, to acknowledge Bovadilla as Governor-General. He found Bovadilla livmg in his house, his papers seized, his goods and treasure confiscated, and his brother in irons on board a caravel, without ajiy forms having been observed, or any reasons assigned. Without aliowijig Columbus an audience, Bovadilla confined him in irons in the citadel : his own cook put the irons upon the admiral's legs. Columbus suffered these indignities with calmness, and, by the orders of Bovadilla, wrote to his brother Bartholomew, to desire that he would not put any of the prisoners to death : and conjured him, in the name of God, and of their Majesties, iind by the tender love there liad always been between them, to come and surrender himself. " Our only resource is in our innocence (he said), and nothing can be more desirable for us than to be sent to Spain, where it will be easy to justify ourselves." Don Bartholomew obeyed ; and was sent in chains-, on board the vessel with Don Diego. The charges against the admiral were, that he had delayed sending an account of the pearl fishery, for the purpose of gaining new rights and prerogatives for the discovery ; that he intended making himself sovereign of the Indies, was cruel in the achninistration of criminal justice, and did not pay the soldiers and artificers ; that he prevented them from working in the mines, opposed baptising the Indians, and made war upon them solely to make slaves ; that he ill- treated the King's subjects, and refused to obey the orders of the court. The admiral replied, that he did not pretend to be without sin ; but that they could not prove him guilty of any faults, except what arose from want of experience, and the state of the colony. He de- clared he never had been guilty of the least infidelity towards their Majesties, his sovereign lords; and for the rest, that he replied to the charges only to prevent their drawing any advantage from liLs silence. He would not condescend to justify himself any where but at the tribunal of their Highnesses, to which he appealed for justice, and whither he demanded to be sent. His brothers were implicated in most of the charges. Bovadilla dared not follow his inclinations and execute his prisoners, but sent their sentence, to suffer death, with them to Spain. When Alphonso de Vallego came to carry the admiral on board his caravel, Columbus thought they were going to kill him, and said, " Vallego, where are you going to carry me?" — " To Spain, my lord." — " Is that really true?" replied the admiral : " are you not concealing something from me?" — " My lord, I swear my orders are to conduct your excellency to Spain." By these assurances the noble prisoner was calmed. Before the admiral sailed, Bovadilla published an amnesty in favour of all the rebels, and Roldan and Guevara were pardoned Hfrrcra, I. i. II. 1- 66 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1500. by name. Vallego was ordered to land at Cadiz, and place the prisoners, and the proceedings against them, in the hands of their declared enemies, the Bishop of Cordova, and Gonzalo Gomez de Cervantes. He sailed the beginning of October ; and when at sea, offered to take off the irons from his prisoners : but the admiral declared that should never be done but by an order from their Majesties. After the departure of the admiral, Bovadilla tried to satisfy the Spaniards, of whom there were but 300, because the admiral had told their Majesties that number was sufficient to keep the island in subjection ; for one Spaniard travelled as securely with a dog as if he took 100 men with him. Bovadilla released all the mutineers, and bestowed honours and places upon them, to the great dissa- tisfaction of the well-disposed inhabitants ; these he won to his interests by reducing the royal share of gold to one part out of eleven, and granting them Indians to collect it. As they expected these liberties would not last long, the Indians were worked to death by their task-masters. Upon arriving at Cadiz, Columbus sent Master Andres Martin secretly on shore, with letters for the court; where he arrived before the news of Columbus's imprisonment, or his process, were known by any other channel. Their Majesties were much grieved — ordered him to be released immediately, and 1000 ducats to be given him, to pay his expences in travelHng to them at Grenada. He arrived at court upon the 17th December, and was most gra- ciously received, with many expressions of sorrow for his adversities, assurances that his imprisonment was not by their orders, and promises that his grievances should be redressed, and that all his privileges should be observed. The Queen, particularly, consoled him. Columbus was a greater favourite with her than with the King, and it was on her that he principally relied. Kneeling before her, it was some time before his sobs and tears allowed him to speak : he was ordered to rise, and sorrowfully, declared, that it was always his desire to serve their Highnesses faithfully ; that he never did, nor intended to do, any thing which was not for their service ; and that if any of his actions were considered as errors, he had only committed them to avoid greater evils, Columbus s Letter to the Prince Don Johns Nurse, on his Arrival from the Indies, as a Prisoner. ' Most Honourable Madam, ♦' If my complaint against the world is new, its custom of ill-treating me is old. A thousand combats I have had with it, and in all have Hcrrera, 1. 4. 10. Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 44. ' This letter appears to have been very badly translated, but I do not feel justified in altering it more than to make it intelligible. 1500.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 67 resisted successfully, until the present, in which neither arms nor prudence have availed me : it keeps me cruelly overwhelmed. My trust in Him who created all, alone supports me : His assistance I have ever found near at hand. It is not long since, feeling myself very much depressed. He raised me with his divine hand, saying, " Arise, thou man of little faith ! it is I : fear not." I entered with the most sincere affection into the service of their Highnesses, and I have rendered them such service as was never seen or heard of before. Of the new firmament and land which the Lord made, as St. John writes in the Apocalypse (after what had been said by the mouth of Isaiah), He made me His messenger, and pointed out the way to me. All were incredulous : He inspired the Queen, my Lady, His dearly beloved daughter, with the spirit of intelligence, and great strength of mind, to give credit to me : I was to take possession of the whole in her royal name. The ignorance of all of them led them to display their lack of knowledge, in magnifying the dangers and expences of the undertaking : her Highness, on the contrary, approved of it, and supported it with all her might. Seven years were passed in treaty, and nine in execution. Most extraordinary and memorable events took place during that time, of which you can have no conception. I declare, upon my honour, that there is not one being, however low, who has not tried to insult and degrade me. Thank Heaven, there are some persons who disapprove of iL Had I robbed the Indies, or the land contiguous to it, and which is now talked of at the altar of St. Peter, and given them to the Moors, they could not have shewn greater enmity in Spain against me ? Who would have believed this of a country which has always been so renowned for its generosity ? I could have wished much to have freed myself from this affair, if I could have done it with honour towards the Queen. My confidence in God and her Highness enabled me to persevere : and to alleviate, in some measure, the grief into which she was plunged by the death of her son, I undertook another voyage to the new heaven and earth, which had till then remained concealed ; and if here the same im- portance is not attached to it as to my former voyages to the Indies, it is not to be wondered at, as it served to make my exertions more conspicuous. The Holy Ghost inflamed St. Peter and twelve others with him : all fought there ; our sufferings and fatigues were great ; at last, however, we were victorious over every- thing. This voyage to Paria, I think, might somewhat appease them, on account of the discovery of pearls and gold in Hispaniola. The pearls which were collected by the people whom I ordered to go and fish for them, and with whom I agreed to return, may, I think, amount to half a bushel : the reason of my not writing to their Highnesses about it was, that I wished to have done the same previously with respect to the gold. As I was equally successful in this as in many other things, I ought not to lose them, nor my honours, if my privileges and agreements were preserved : even if I had consulted my own advantage, (or were to suffer Hispaniola to be abandoned,) and the same remark applies to the gold I have collected there — all which, at the expence of many lives and great Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 44, F 2 68 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1500. sufferings, I have, through Divine Providence, brought to a happy issue. On my return from Paria, I found almost half the people in Hispaniola in a state of insurrection : they have vi^aged war against me even till now, as if I were a Moor ; and for other causes the Indians were a grievous source of annoyance. Just then came Fojeda, and attempted to crown all. He pretended that their Highnesses had sent him with promises of gifts, franchises and liberal pay : he collected together a numerous band, as in the island of Hispaniola there are few who ara not vagabonds, and not one with a wife and children. This Fojede gave me much uneasiness. He was obliged to depart ; and he left word, that he would soon return with several vessels and people; and that he had left the Queen on her death-bed. Shortly afterwards, Vincent Agnes arrived, with four caravels, which occasioned some tumult and alarm, but no mischief. The Indians reported that several others were arrived at the Cannibals and in Paria ; and afterwards, that six more caravels, bringing a brother of the alcalde, were arrived. But this was with a malicious intention. This, at last, took place, when almost all hope was abandoned of their Highnesses sending any more vessels to the Indies, nor did we any longer expect it ; and it was commonly reported that her Highness was dead. At this time, a man named Adrian endeavoured to excite another insurrection ; but, by the blessing of God, he did not succeed in his wicked intention. I had resolved within myself never to deprive any one of his life ; but with respect to this man, his ingratitude made it impossible for me (and I declare it with tears !) to keep my resolution. I would not have acted otherwise with my own brother, had he con- spired to murder me, and deprive me of the government which the King and Queen had confided to my charge. This Adrian, as it appears, had sent Don Ferdinand to Xaragua, in order to collect together some of his followers ; and there he had a quarrel with the alcalde, which was likely to have been attended with fatal consequences. The alcalde seized him and some of his followers, and would have tried and put him to death, had I not prevented it : they were kept in prison, ex- pecting the arrival of some caravel, in which they might have been sent off. The news which I published respecting Fojeda made them abandon all hopes of his ever coming back. For six months, I was proposing to return to their Highnesses, with a good account of the gold, and to withdraw myself from the govern- ment of such an abandoned race, who neither fear God, the King, nor the Queen, and are wholly given up to wickedness and violence. I should have finished by paying the people with 600,000 maravedis: for which purpose I had collected together more than four millions of the tenths, besides the third of the gold. Before my departure, I several times requested their Highnesses to send out, at my expence, a person entrusted with the administration of justice ; and when I found the alcalde in insurrection, I renewed my supplications to have either some more persons, oi an officer of theirs, with letters-patent ; for such is now my reputation, that although I were to build churches and hospitals, they would always be called dens of robbers. At last, an appointment was made, but it was very different to what the occasion demanded. Memorials of Cohimbiis, Doc. 44. 1500.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 69 In God's name, let it pass, as it was their pleasure ! I remained there two years without being able to gain the amount of a bushel, either for myself, or for those who were there ; whilst he has carried away a coffer-full. God knows whether all will terminate to his service. Even from the beginning, exemptions were granted for twenty years, which is the life of a man ; and the collection of gold was such, that a person has been known to pay five marks within four hours : of which I shall speak more particularly hereafter. Having experienced greater mischief from the calumnies of indi- viduals, than advantage from my lolig services, and the privileges granted to me, it would be an act of charity if their Highnesses would be pleased to dismiss a number of those who have occasioned my suf- ferings ; and my honour would be re-established, and made manifest to the whole world ; for such is the quality of the undertaking, that it increases daily in fame and reputation. In the mean time, the commander Bovadilla arrived in St. Domingo. I was then at Vega, and the Prefect in Xaragua, where Adrian had made himself the head of a party, but where now all was quiet, the country abundant, and in peace. The day after his arrival he caused himself to be proclaimed governor — appointed his officers and courts of justice — and published exemptions from the payments of gold and of tenths, and in general from every thing else for the space of twenty years, which, as I say, is the life of a man ; and that he was come to pay every body, although they had not fully served out their time up to that day : and he gave out publicly, that he was to send me and my brothers back in irons, as he has done ; and that neither I nor any of my family would ever return there again — circulating a thousand unbecoming and disgraceful reports against me. All this he did on the very day after his arrival, as I have said ; I being then absent and at a distance, knowing nothing either of him or of his arrival. Having brought over with him a considerable number of blank letters signed by their Highnesses, he filled up some of them to the alcalde and his consorts, full of favours and commendations ; but he never sent either letter or message to me, nor has he ever exchanged a word with me till now. You, madam, may well imagine what any one in my situation would feel at seeing him thus honour and favour a person who had endeavoured to deprive their Highnesses of their dominion, and who had done so much injury and mischief; and trying t& degrade him who has maintained it in the midst of so many dangei's. When I was made acquainted with this, I fancied that he was only doing the same then which Fojeda and some others had done ; but I became easier when informed by the friars, that he had been sent out by their Highnesses. I wrote to him, to welcome him, and to inform him that I was preparing to return to Spain, having sent all my property to be sold by auction. Respecting the exemptions, I requested him not to be in a hurry, as I would very soon furnish him with the most complete information respecting them and the government. The same I likewise wrote to the friars. But neither he nor they ever returned any answer. On the contrary, he placed himself upon a hostile footing, and obliged all persons who arrived there to take an oath to him as governor — some said for twenty years. No sooner was I informed of Memorials of Columlms, Doc 44, F 3 70 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1500. his having granted these exemptions, which were wholly unnecessary, and would have been excessive, even to persons having wives and children, much more to a set of vagabonds, than, with a view to remedy so great an error (and which I thought he would have been satisfied to do), I made verbal and written declarations, that his powers were incompetent to do so, as mine were the strongest ; and I exhibited the exemptions which were brought by Juan Aguado. This I did to gain time, in order that their Highnesses might be better informed of the state of the country, and have an opportunity of repeat- ing their orders, as to what might be most beneficial for their service. It is useless to publish such exemptions in the Indies. To the colonists who have had grants of lands they are complete gain, because the best lands were given to them, which, at a low valuation, will be worth 200,000 dollars at the end of four years, when the grant of the land will expire, without their ever having stuck a spade into it. I should not say this, if the colonists were married ; but there are not five among them all, who would not be ready to collect all they could, and depart at a moment's notice. It would be advisable to have Castilians, and also to know who and what they are ; and that the country should be peopled by respectable persons. I had made an agreement with the colonists to whom these grants were made, that they should pay the third of the gold, and the tenths : this was at their own request, and they received it as an especial favour of their Highnesses. As I learned, however, that they did not perform their agreement, I revoked the grants ; and I did hope that the commander would have concurred with me in that measure ; but he did quite the contrary. He irritated them against ine, by saying that I wanted to deprive them of what their High- nesses had granted to them ; and endeavoured to set them at variance with me, in which he has succeeded, and induced them to write to their Highnesses, never to send me back again to my government (I must make the same supplication for myself, and for all my family, unless there be a different kind of people sent out). He, along with them, caused such wicked inquisitions regarding me, as nothing similar was ever known, even in hell. But the Lord, who saved Daniel and the three youths by His wisdom and His power, watches over us ; and in like manner, if such be His will, He can deliver us ! I could remedy all this, and all that I have stated to have happened since my arrival in the Indies, if I were merely seeking my own advantage, or considered it honourable. But I have been hitherto restrained by my desire of maintaining justice, and increasing the dominions of their Highnesses. Now, that so much gold is found, there is a difference of opinion whether it is not more profitable to go about robbing, than to go to the mines. They will as readily pay 100 castillanoes for a woman as for a farm ; and it is now very common to see dealers going prowling about for girls of nine and ten years of age : now, women of all ages are in request. In saying that the commander could not grant exemptions, I assert that I did what was proper ; as I informed him it was for the purpose of creating delay, in order to allow their Highnesses to receive inform- ation from thence, to reconsider and give such orders as might be bene- ficial to their service. He excited universal enmity against me ; and Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 44. 1.500.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 7 1 it would appear, from what has happened, and from liis behaviour, that he came out as my determined enemy; or it may be true what is reported, that he put himself to great expense to obtain this employment. The truth I know not ; but this I know, that nobody ever heard of an inqui- sitor bringing forward rebels, and admitting them as witnesses against their governor ; and not them only, but others totally unworthy of the least credit. If their Highnesses were to give orders for a general inquiry here, I assure you it would discover such things as to make it wonderful that the island was not swallowed up. I think you will remember, madam, that when I was driven by a storm into Lisbon, with not a sail remaining, I was falsely accused of going there to the King, in order to deliver up the Indies to him. Their Highnesses soon knew the contrary, and that it was all said through malice. However ignorant I may be, nobody can suppose me so ignorant as not to know, that if the Indies were mine, I should not be able to keep possession of them without the assistance of a prince. Such being the case, where could I find greater support, and more certainty of not being entirely driven from them, than in the King and Queen our lords, who from nothing have raised me to such high honour, and who, by sea and land, are the greatest princes in the world ; who look upon them-. selves as indebted to me, and preserve to me the privileges and favours they have granted me ; and if any one seeks to diminish them, their Highnesses enlarge them still more, (as may be seen in the affair of Juan Aguado,) and order great honour to be shewn to me, and, as I have already told you, madam, acknowledge my services, and have made my children their servants : none of which things I could expect from any other prince ; for where there is no affection, all the rest is as nothing ? What I now unwillingly stated, is merely to refute a malicious calumny, which I should rather wish to banish from my memory, as the behaviour and actions of the commander Bovadilla would maliciously give another colour to it ; but I shall be able to prove, that his ignorance, extreme cowardice, and immoderate cupidity, have been the causes of all that has happened. I have already mentioned that I wrote to him and to the friars : I immediately departed alone, as I had written to him, as the troops were with the Prefect, and likewise to remove his suspicions. As soon as he heard of that, he seized Don Diego, and sent him on board a caravel, loaded with fetters ; he did the same to me on my arrival, as well as to the Prefect when he came. He neither spoke to me himself, nor per- mitted any one else to speak to me, until now ; and upon my oath I declare to you, that I have no idea why I am imprisoned. His first step was to take all the gold that was found, without either measuring or weighing it ; and as I was absent, he said that he would pay the people with it ; and according to what I have heard, he took the first part for himself, and appointed new collectors for the ransoms. I had put aside, as specimens of the gold, a number of pieces, some as large as a goose's egg, others as a hen's or pullet's egg, and of various other shapes, collected by different persons in a short time, in order to please their Highnesses, and to enable them thereby to judge of the Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 44. F 4 72 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1500. value of the enterprize ; together with a considerable quantity of large stones full of gold. These were the first things he gave away mali- ciously, in order that their Highnesses might look upon the matter as of trifling importance, until he had feathered his nest, which he takes every method of doing quickly. The gold which has to be melted loses in the process : chains which Aveigh as much as twenty marks are no longer to be seen. I have suf- fered greater loss with respect to the gold than the pearls, because I have not brought it with me to their Highnesses. The commander immediately employed every means that he could think of to injure me. I have already mentioned, that with 600,000 mara- vedis I would have paid every body, without injuring any person; and tbat I possessed more than 4,000,000 of tenths in the Alguazilat, with- out touching the gold. He bestowed such largesses as excited the laughter of every body ; although I believe he began by taking the best part for himself. Their Higlinesses will be satisfied of this, when they order an account to be taken, and especially if I should be present. He is continually reporting that there is a large debt owing, but it is not so great as I said it was. I have suffered great injury by their having sent out an inquisitor over me, who knows that if he could substantiate any heavy charge against me, the government would be conferred upon him. Would to God tlvat their Highnesses had sent out him, or any other person, two years ago ; because I should now be freed from this scandal and infamy, nor should I lose or be deprived of my honour. God is just, and will make manifest the why and the wherefore. There, they judge me as if I were a governor of Sicily, or of a city or town placed under regular government, and where the laws could be strictly executed, without fear of the consequences. This I consider as very unfair towards me. I ought to be judged as a captain who went from Spain to the Indies, to conquer a numerous and warlike people, whose customs and ideas are entirely different from ours, inhabiting a rugged and mountainous country, without any regular towns like our own. By God's blessing, I have already brought under the dominion of the King and Queen, our lords, another world, by which Spain, which was looked upon as poor, is become very rich. I ought to be judged as a captain who has for a length of time, up to this very day, borne arms without ever quitting them ; and by real warriors, such as myself, of such there are many great and noble ones in Spain, .and not by lawyers. To be judged in any other way is doing me great injustice, as there are no towns nor regular community in the Indies. The road to the country of gold and pearls is now open, and abund- ance of them may be firmly expected, as well as precious stones, spices, and a thousand other articles ; and may nothing worse ever happen to me, than what, if it please God, the first voyage would give me, as well as what would be produced by the commerce of Arabia Felix as far as Mecca ; as I wrote to their Highnesses, through Anthony de Torres, in my answer respecting the division of the land and sea with the Portuguese ; and afterwards I would go as far as Calicut, as I also mentioned and represented to them in writing in the monastery of La Mejorada. Memorials ol" Columbus, Doc. 44. 1500.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 7'^ The news of the gold which I said I would give them are, that on the day of the Nativity, being very much afflicted, harassed by wicked Christians and the Indians, and on the point of abandoning every thing, to save, if it were possible, my life, our Lord miraculously comforted me, and said, " Be of good cheer, and not disheartened nor afraid: I will remedy all. The seven years of the term of the gold are not elapsed ; for this, and for the rest, I will provide for you." On the very same day I learnt that eighty leagues of land, and mines at every cape, had been discovered ; at present it is believed that they form but one. Some persons collect 120 castellanos in one day, others 110, and some have obtained as many as 250 ; several others from fifty to seventy ; many from twenty up to fifty, which is looked upon as a good day's work, and many continue to do so regularly. The average is from six to twelve, and whoever gathers less is dissatisfied. Wherefore it seems that these mines are like the others, which do not every day make an equal return. But the mines and the collectors are new. It is the general opinion, that if even the whole population of Castile were to flock there, however lazy a person might be, he would not gain less than one or two castellanos a day ; and it is to be considered that this is only the beginning. You may form, then, an idea of Bovadilla's discretion, in giving away all for nothing, and four millions of tenths, without any motive, without being requested to do it, and without even informing their Highnesses of it ! Nor is this the only mischief. I know that whatever errors I may have committed were not done with a bad intention, and I think that their Highnesses give me that credit ; and as I know and perceive that they shew mercy even to those who have wickedly rendered them a disservice, so I regard it as certain that they will shew greater com- passion to me, who have fallen into those errors through ignorance, and, as it were, by force, as they will hereafter be fully informed ; and that they will perceive daily the great advantages of them. They will place all in the balance, as the Holy Scripture declares will be done to the good and bad on the day of judgment. If, nevertheless, they should give orders for me to be judged by others, which I hope will not be the case, and impeach me respecting the affair of the Indies, I most humbly supplicate them to send out at my expence, two conscientious and honourable persons, who, I hope will be easily met with, now that gold to the amount of five marks may be found in the space of four hours. At all events, it is necessary that such be appointed. The commander, on his arrival at St. Domingo, took up his abode in my house, and possessed himself of whatever he found in it : be it so in God's name ! for perhaps he was in want of it ; but never did a pirate behave worse towards merchants whom he had captured. I am grieved still more for my papers, which he also took from me : he kept those diligently concealed which were most necessary for my justification. "What a just and upright inquisitor ! Whatever he has done, they assure me, has been executed within the bounds of justice 1 but verily God our Lord is present, in His goodness and wisdom, and according to His custom, punishes especially all ingratitude and injustice." Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 44. 74< CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY, &C. [1500. Petrus Alphonsus left Curiana in January, to return to Spain ; and carried with him seventy-six pounds weight of pearls (eight ounces to the pound), obtained in exchange for trifles, which cost him about five shillings : many of the pearls were as large as hazle nuts, but not so good as the Oriental pearls, because they were not so neatly bored. Alphonsus was sixty days upon his passage to Gallicia, where Fernando de Vega imprisoned liim, in consequence of his crew accusing him of defi'auding the King of his fifth. P. Martyr, D. 1. L. 8. Herrera, 1. 4. 11. CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES. 1501. IxoDRiGO Bastidas and Juan de la Cosa sailed widi a licence from Cadiz the beginning of January : diey followed Columbus's track in his third voyage — went 100 leagues farther west — discovered and named Carthagena and Nombre de Dios ; but were obliged to abandon their leaky vessels, leave them on the beach at Xaragua, and march to San Domingo. Bovadilla accused Bastidas of having; trafficked for gold, and imprisoned him. Ojeda, with his former associate Amerigo Vespucci, without knowing it, followed Bastidas, and touched at the same places. In the bay of Uraba Ojeda built a timber fort. His crews, assisted by Vespucci, mutinied about their provisions, put Ojeda in ii'ons, and carried the sliips to port Yaquimo, or Brazil, in Espanola ; where Ojeda tried to swim on shore in the night with his irons, and would have been drowned, had he not been promptly assisted. Ferdinand and Isabella, by a Royal edict, dated the 5th October 1501, established tithes in all their American possessions : their product was to be devoted to building churches, and paying those who officiated. 1502. February 3d, 1502, Nicholas de Ovando sailed from San Lucar with thirty-two sail, commanded by Antonio de Torres. On the 11th they were dispersed by a gale of wind, and La Rabida, with 120 persons on board, foundered. At Gomera, Ovando hired a vessel to transport volunteers from that island ; and leaving the dull sailors to follow, arrived at San Domingo the 15th April, with fifteen sail : he was welcomed with joyful acclamations, and informed of the success of Garay and Diaz. An Indian girl amusing herself in a brook near the Hayna, about nine leagues from Santo Domingo, discovered a Imnp of gold, worth three thousand six hundred pesos. The miners to express their joy, roasted a pig, whole, and exultingly carved it upon the gold, as a Depon's South America, vol. ii. p. 118, Heneia, 1, 5. 1, 2. MS, Conde's Library. 76 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1502. finei' dish than ever 'any king had possessed. Bovadilla bought it for the King. May 9th, Columbus, with four vessels, and provisions for two years, sailed in search of a passage to the South Sea, which he expected to find near " Puerto del Retrete :" his brother the adelantado went with him. He was forbidden to enter the port of San Domingo. Ovando had orders to i*estore to the admiral and his brothers the value of the effects which Bovadilla had taken, but not to let him land. Columbus resolved to assist the Portuguese in Arzilla : some relations of his fii-st wife, Filipa Muniz, were there. The Moors had raised the siege before he arrived. He sailed again the same day, and reached " Canaria" May 20th ; took in wood and water, and proceeded upon his voyage the 25th. Fine weather enabled them to make Martinico, June 15th,. without altering a sail. The men were landed to refresh themselves and wash their clothes : the ships were " wooded and watered," and sailed the 18th. The largest vessel was seventy tons burthen, the smallest fifty ; one was so low she would not carry sail " on a wind." He therefore went to Santo Domingo, arrived there June 29 th, and sent Pedro de Terreros to request permission to enter the harbour, not only to exchange his vessel, but for shelter from the hurricane which, Columbus said, he foresaw was coming on. Ovando would not grant it. A fleet of tliirty-two vessels were to sail ; the admiral sent to recommend Ovando to detain them. " I" (he said) " am going to seek shelter in the first port I can find." Ovando did not believe, and the sailors laughed at the "prophet !" Bovadilla, Roldan, and their party, were embarked ; Guarionex was on board the " Capi- tana," and 100,000 " castellanos" for the King, 100,000 belonging to the passengers, and the large lump of gold which had been Garay's dish. The fleet sailed the 1st of July ; and witliin twenty- four hours, twenty sail, with all on board, perished ! Columbus says, " The gale was terrible, and in that night my vessels parted company, every one expecting death, and each consi- dering it as certain that the others were lost. Witli the exception of Job, there never was a man who would not have died in despair ! When, to save my life, and that of my son, brother, and friends, I was at such a time forbidden the harbours, which, by God's permission, I had gained for Spain, sweating blood. The vessel in which I was, weathered the gale marvellously : it pleased God that she received no damage whatever. My brother was in the unsafe vessel, and, next to God, was the means of saving her. In this gale we made Jamaica." The smallest vessel was the first which arrived in Spain : she had the admiral's effects on board, and 400 "pesos." Rodrigo de Bastidas arrived in " El Aguja." The loss of the fleet was severely felt by the Spanish Sovereigns : they would not believe the " Capitana" was lost, and sent vessels to seek her. The King signified to Ovando his disapprobation of his IliTiera, 1. 5. 2. 19. ?.. 150^^.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 77 conduct, in forbidding Columbus to enter the harbour wlien he was in distress, and not taking his advice, and detaining the fleet a few days. In Espanola, notwithstanding the people had paid one-eleventh of the gold, Ovando ordered them to pay a thuxl ; and for all which should be found afterwards, one-half was to be paid. All the persons who accompanied Ovando, young and old, went to the mines. Ignorant of the labour which was necessary, unpro- vided with tools (a spade cost seventeen castellanos), and unaccus- tomed to work, they soon returned to Santo Domingo, discontented and distressed ; in this state of mind and body, they were attacked by the fever, and a thousand of them died. Luis de Arriaga contracted to carry out 200 married colonists to Espanola, upon the following conditions : — They were to be allowed their passage out, and lands proper for cidtivation to be given them. The civil and criminal jurisdiction was reserved for the King, and the tenths and first-fruits for the clergy. From all other charges they were to be exempt for five years. The King reserving to himself all mines of every sort of metal which should be discovered, the Brazil wood, the salt lakes and sea-ports, and all other royalties. The colonists were not to purchase gold of the Indians, and were to give half of what they should find to the King, and one-third of what cotton or other goods they should get from the Indians, except provisions. If they should chscover any mines, of all tiie gold found, after the expences were paid, one-half was to be given to the King, and the mines were to belong to his Majesty. If any islands or lands were discovered, one-half of all the gold and pearls were to be given to the King, and one-fifth of every thing else. The King gave them a free passage out, but only for their persons, and not for their effects. He also promised that no person banished from Spain should be sent to their tOA\7is, neither any who had been Jews or Moors. The colonists were to reside five years in the island, and to comply with whatsoever the governor, on the part of his Majesty, should command them to do, without pay : especially, if any Spaniards disobeyed the royal orders, or any province rebelled, they were to make war at their own expence. And if, before the ex- piration of the five years, any of them wished to return to Spain, they might do so ; but they were not to be allowed to sell any thing which had been given to them as colonists. All subsequent grants were made upon these terms ; and Arriaga, though he could only raise forty colonists, had the same terms allowed him. The Spanish miners soon petitioned the King for a diminution of the imposts : that upon gold was lowered, fu-st to one-third, and then Juan de Esquibel was sent to supplicate that it might be reduced to one- fifth. The duty upon cotton and other articles, not metals, was lowered to one-fourth. The first town Ovando peopled was Puerto de Plata. Eight Spaniards going there, landed at Saona witii a dog, which the owner IltTicni, 1 . .; 1. 78 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1502. had some difficulty in keeping from seizing a cazique; another Spaniard seeing this, in joke cried (" tomalo") seize him ! The dog broke from his master, fastened upon and tore out the unfortu- nate cazique's bowels. Cotubanama, cazique of Higuay, armed his countrymen, and massacred the eight Spaniards. Ovando sent Juan de Esquibel, with 400 men, to make peace, with instructions to abstain from hostilities if possible ; but he found the Indians in arms, and proceeded to quell them by force. Two Spanish knights, Valdenebro and Pontevedi'o, pursued an Indian. Valdenebro came up at first, and wounded liim in the body with a lance, which the Indian held, and seized the horse's reins. The Spaniard then ran his sword up to the hilt in his body : this also the Indian wrested from him, and a poniard, with which Valdenebro had likewise stabbed him. Pontevedro attacked the Indian with the same success, wounding him in three places, and losing his three weapons : both were thus disarmed before the Indian died. Juan de Esquibel divided his force into four squadrons, and scoured the country. In Saona, the Indians attempted to face them, but were entirely defeated, and the island, the " Granary of Espanola," was laid waste. Cotubanama sued for peace, and agreed to supply the Spaniards with a certain quantity of provisions : he exchanged names with Juan de Esquibel, in token of friendship. The Spaniards erected a wooden fortress, left Martin de Villaman, with nine Spaniards, to garrison it, and returned to Espanola. Ovando rebuilt the city on the other side the river, that the inhabitants might not have to cross the river to go to the other towns. The former situation was better. Bartolomew Columbus had placed it to windward of the river, the exlialations from which were now driven over the city, instead of from it. It was also better supplied with water : there was a fine spring in the old city, and only tanks in the new one. Columbus, after refitting his vessel in " Puerto Hermoso," or *' Puerto Escondido," stood to the westward for Puerto de Yaquimo, which the admiral named " Del Brasil," from whence he sailed the I4th of July : he was becalmed, and driven by the current near " El Jardin de la Reyna." Here the calm changed to a storm, and for seventy days they never saw sun or star. The vessels were leaky, the crews worn out with fatigue, and the admiral almost dead, when they discovered a small island, which the Indians called Guanaja. The admiral ordered his bi*other to land, with two boats full of men ; they found the natives peaceably disposed ; and the admiral named it the " Isla de Pinos," from the number of pines which grew there. Here Don Bartolomew met a large boat, eight feet broad, with an awning made of palm leaves, under which the women and children and goods were safe from rain or spray : she was from Yucatan, laden with cotton mantles, finely painted in different colours, swords made of wood, with sharp flints fastened into the Ilcncici, 1. 5. 5, 6. 1502.J OF THE WEST INDIES. 79 edges ; small copper axes for cutting wood, bells, and plates ; crucibles for melting the copper, and cacao, which served them for money. There were twenty-five men on board the vessel. The Spaniards carried her to the admiral. The women, when they got on board, covered their faces and bodies with their mantles, like the Moors of Grenada ; and all the men behaved respectfully. The admiral treated them kindly, taking specimens of their cargo, and giving them Em-opean articles in exchange ; and then dismissed them all but one old man, fi-om whom he hoped to gain information. To the inquiry for gold, the old man, by signs, gave them to under- stand diat it was to be had to the eastward. From the information which the admiral received, he thought they were within ten days' journey of the East Indies : he stood to the eastward, and named a Point " de Casinas," because it was wooded with trees which bore a fruit so called by the natives. When the admiral came to that part of the coast where the old man did not understand the language, he dismissed him. August 14th, the adelantado landed, with most of the crews, to hear mass. Wednesday the 17th he landed again, to take possession of the country for the Kings of Castile: about 100 of the natives were upon the beach, with maize, poultry, fish, and fruit, which they placed before the adelantado, who ordered European trinkets to be given them in exchange. The next day, upwards of 200 natives, with similar presents, were ready to receive the Spaniards when they landed : some were quite naked ; others had their bodies marked with the figures of wild beasts, and their chiefs wore white and red cotton bonnets ; some wore their hair like a fringe upon their fore- heads ; others had their ears gilt, and holes in them large enough to hold a hen's egg. The Spaniards therefore named it " La Costa de Oreja." The admiral steered to the eastward from Casinas, beating up against wind and current, standing four or five hours upon one tack, and then as much upon the other. With much labour they rounded Cape " Gracias a Dios" upon the 12th of September, the admiral naming it so because of the difficulties they had overcome. The boats were sent to a great river, to procure wood and water ; one of them was upset by the current, and her crew lost : it was therefore named " El Rio del Desastre." Sunday, September 17th, they anchored off a small island called Quiribiri, near a village upon the main called Cariari. " When they landed, two girls highly adorned were sent to them ; the oldest could not be more than eleven, and the other than seven years old ; no prostitutes could be more impudent than they were. They brought powders which were supposed to be for some purposes of witchcraft. Columbus ordered them to be decorated widi baubles, and sent them away." This fact is strikingly indicative of the morals of the natives. The Spaniards considered this the finest and most populous country they had seen : the men were armed Hcncra, 1, 5. 7. MS. Conde's Library j Columbus'? Letter irt'in Jamaica. 80 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY £1502. with bows and arrows, darts, and clubs, but answered the pacific signals of the Spaniards, and shewed a willingness to barter, and swam off to the ships with their cotton cloaks, and eagles of base gold. The admiral, to shew that he did not value such articles, would not suffer any to be taken. He says, " They are great con- jurers, and very cowardly." The Inchans when they found that the Spaniards would not accept their presents, placed every thing they had received upon the shore, and there the Spaniards found them the next day. The refusal was considered a sign of distrust : and an old man was sent by the natives with two girls, one about fourteen years old and the other about eight, with some gold trinkets round their necks. These he put into the boat, and made signs that they were to be taken on board the vessels ; which, as soon as the boats had com- pleted their water, was done. The girls did not express the least signs of fear. The admiral clothed them and fed them, and sent them back. There was not any person to receive them that even- ing ; but the next morning, September 29th, about fifty men were with the old man : they received the girls with great satisfaction. When the boats landed again in the evening, the natives returned every thing which had been given them by the Spaniards. Another day the adelantado landed, with his secretary, to take minutes of his conversation with some of the chiefs. After they were all seated upon the ground, some questions were asked by the Spaniards, by signs, and the secretary was ordered to note the answer. The Indians mistook the process for some charm to bewitch them, and fled in all directions, throwing dust and smoke towards the Spaniards. The ships being repaired, the provisions completed, and the sick recruited, the admiral ordered his brother to examine the village and bring off some of the natives. The adelantado found some dead bodies wrapped in cotton sheets, in tombs, which were housed over : there were tables over the tombs, upon which the figure of the deceased and of animals were carved, and the most precious jewels which he had possessed were laid. Seven of the natives were taken off to the admiral, who kept two of them, whom their countrymen vainly endeavoured to rtuisom by offering four others in their stead. October 5th the admiral left Cariari, and steered to the eastward to Caravarti, where he had been told the natives had gold. The vessels anchored among some islands : the boats landed and found twenty canoes, and the men naked, with golden mirrors round their necks, and some with an eagle. The Indians of Cariari soon quieted their fears, and a mirror which weighed ten ducats was given for three small bells. At the same time information was gained, that upon the main land there was plenty of gold. The next day, Octoljer 7th, the Spaniards landed again, and took two canoes with men on board, each of whom had a golden min'or Jlcnfi.i, 1. .'). 7. Io0'2.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 81 round his neck : one of the mirrors weighed fourteen ducats, and one of tlie eagles twenty-two. The men affirmed that there was plenty of gold to be had, two days journey inland. There was abundance of fish in the bay, and the Indians were well supplied with such provisions as they commonly used. The men went quite naked ; the women in the same manner as those at Cariari. From Caravara the Spaniards went to Aburena, from whence they stood out to sea ; and two leagues further on they came to a river, where the natives at first opposed the men's landing, but the inter- preters pacified them, and the Spaniards procured seventeen golden mirrors, worth 150 ducats, for two and three hawks' bells each. The next day the Indians assumed a more warlike appearance, threaten- ing the Spaniards with their darts and warlike noises. The Spaniards thought it prudent to give a specimen of their power — first discharging a cross-bow, then a great gim» to the utter astonish- ment and dismay of the Indians, who fled in all directions. Four Spaniards then landed, who v>'ere received as though nothing had happened, and brought off four mirrors. From hence the admiral proceeded to Catiba, and came to an anchor in the mouth of a great river. The natives here also, by their warlike gestures and noises, opposed the landing. A canoe with two Indians came on board the admiral, to see who the strangers were, and what they wanted. They talked with the two Indians whom Columbus had on board, and gave him the mirrors from off their necks, i-eceiving trinkets in return. After they were gone, another canoe with three men came on board, with their mirrors round their necks, which they exchanged as the others had done. The Spaniards landed, and found the natives assembled in great numbers, with their King, to receive them : it rained, and the King was covered with a large leaf This was the only difference, except the great reverence which all the rest seemed to have for him. He was the first to exchange his mirror : eighteen others followed his example. From hence the admiral proceeded to Huriran ; where, for three dozen hawks' bells, the Spaniards gained ninety marks of gold. They passed a village called Cubiga ; where, according to the report of the Indians, the country for trafficking ended, which, from its beginning, at Caravero, to Cubiga, was about fifty leagues. Upon the 2d November the admiral entered into a harbour, which he named " Porto Belo." The land appeared well cultivated and fully peopled; " the cazique was painted black, but all his subjects red ; they all wore small golden ornaments in dieir nostrils; and the men a shell, and the women a fillet of cotton tied round their loins." The houses were built of stone, and about a bow shot apart. Here the admiral lay seven days, on account of the bad weather ; during which lime he procured a good supply of provisions and fruit. Ilcrrera, D. 1. ,5. 8. P. :Maityr, p. II,). 82 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1503. Tlie admiral left Porto Belo upon the 9th of November, but was driven into the Port of Nombre de Dios, wliich he named de Bastimientos, fi'om the quantity of maize which was gi*own there- abouts. The Spaniards sent a boat after a canoe which they saw : the Indians endeavoured to escape ; but finding that impossible, they leaped overboard, and diving whenever the Spaniards came near, escaped, laughing, although they were followed for more than half a league. The vessels remained here until the 23d, when they stood again to the eastward, and landed at Guiaga, where they were received by 300 persons, who were desirous of exchanging provisions and golden ornaments for European baubles. Upon the 26th the admiral put into a harbour, which he named " El Retrete," because it was only capable of holding five or six ships ; the entrance was about fifteen or twenty yards broad, rocky on both sides, with deep water close to, and soundings only in part of the harbour. The admiral was much surprised at this, as he had not observed such deep water before ; and the vessels were in some danger before they could be secured. He remained here nine days. At first the natives were friendly ; but the sailors getting secretly on shore, without leave, gaA^e some offence, and several skirmishes took place. Every day their numbers increased : at last they attempted to board the vessels, as they lay with their broadsides to the shore. The admiral ordered some guns to be fired ; the noise failed to produce its usual effect : they ridiculed it, and continued their warlike shouts and gestures : it therefore became necessary to convince them that they had bolts as well as thunder. A shot was fired at a party squatted upon a small eminence : it passed through the midst of them. None dared shew themselves afterwards. Strong easterly winds prevented the admiral getting to windward. December 5th, he determined to bear up, to ascertain where the rich gold mines were of which he had heard. The same day they came off Puerto Belo, with calms and variable winds : this was soon followed by a hurricane, which lasted nine days. The oldest sea- man had never seen such weather : every one gave themselves up for lost ; and worn out with fatigue, sought protection by prayers. A water-spout biu'st near them, and they attributed their safety to the interposition of St. John the Evangelist. The storm was followed by a calm which lasted two days, during which the sailors caught several fish ; which, as the biscuit was spoilt and the other provisions stinking, was a seasonable relief. The calm was succeeded by sudden and violent squalls of winds from opposite quarters. The admiral, therefore, named the coast from Porto Belo to Veragua, " La Costa de los Contrastes." He himself was afflicted with the gout, and all the men were sick ; and in this miserable state the new year found them. ITcrrcrn, 1. .'i. 9. 1.503.] OF THE WEST INDIES. SS 1503. January the 6th, the admiral entered a river, which the Indians called Yebra, and the admiral named " Belen," in honour of the day when the three wise men went to Bethlehem ; and passing on, he found another, which the natives called Veragua. The admiral ordered both rivers to be sounded. The barks ascended the Belen, to a village, where they were told that the gold mines were in Veragua. The next day they went up the Veragua : at first the natives opposed the landing ; but the Indians which the admiral had on board speaking to them, they soon began to exchange their golden ornaments for Spanish trinkets. They said that the gold was found in some high mountains a great way off; and that when they went in search of it, they fasted and abstained from their women. The admiral resolved to anchor the vessels in the river Belen, and send the boats up the Veragua. The quantity of fish wliich came up the Veragua was incredible ; and the adelantado went up it widi the barks, as far as a village belonging to a cazique called Quibia. The natives came off in their canoes to meet the Spaniards, and received them like brothers. Quibia gave the adelantado all his golden ornaments, receiving Spanish trinkets in return. " Quibia was naked, but painted, and surrounded by a multitude of unarmed Indians. When he began to speak to the adelantado, his at- tendants brought a large stone from the river, wiped it quite clean, and placed it for him to sit upon, with marks of great respect ; he then appeared to give the Spaniards leave to examine all the rivers in his dominions ;" and they parted with mutual expressions of satisfaction. The next day Quibia went on board to see the admiral, who gave him more trinkets in exchange for golden orna- ments, and dismissed him. Upon the 24th of January, there came down the river such a sudden and violent fresh, that Columbus's ship broke adrift, drove on board one of the other vessels, carried away her foremast, and both vessels were nearly lost. This was followed by a heavy gale of wind, and such a violent sea upon the bar, that it was the 6th of February before the adelantado could get out to examine the coast. Upon that day, with eighty men, he went up the Veragua to Quibia's village, where he remained one day getting information of the road to the mines, and then set off, with three Indians as guides, in search of them. When they arrived at the mines, the guides made signs that further to the westward gold might be had in abundance. Each of the Spaniards, however, in about two hours, found a small quantity among the roots of the trees, which quite satisfied them as to the feasibility of getting more : so that tliey Ilcrrcra, D. 1. L. 5. C. 9, 10. P. Martyr, p. 115. 84 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1503. returned in high spirits to the village, and the next day returned to the admiral with the news. They afterwards found that the mines of Veragua were nearer Quibia's village, and that, to save his own, he had sent the adelantado to those of Urira, which belonged to a cazique with whom he was at war. February 16th, the admiral sent his brother, with fifty men, to examine the coast to leeward. He got to a river called Urira, six or seven leagues to the westward; where a cazique, with twenty followers, came off to receive the Spaniards, and gave them a great quantity of provisions, and exchanged some gold plates : they then went together to the village, where the whole population came out to meet them. A large house was allotted for the Spaniards, and a quantity of divers sorts of food given to them. A neighbouring cazique, the lord of Dururi, with several followers, came to exchange their mirroi-s with the Spaniards, and advised them to go further on, to get more gold : this they did, to get rid of them. Tlie adelantado seeing the pacific disposition of the Indians, took thirty men, and went to explore the country : he came to a village, Zobrada, where the natives had more than six leagues of land cultivated and sown with maize. He passed on to Cateba, where he was well received, and got some plates in exchange for baubles ; they were about the size of the plate of a chalice, some bigger, some less, and weighing from ten to twelve crowns: the Indians wore them hanging by a cord round the neck. The adelantado returned to his brother with a considerable quantity of gold, and recommended the river Belen as the best place to establish a colon3\ From these favourable appearances, the admiral determined to leave his brother in that country, with the greater part of the men, and to return himself to Castile, and send out reinforcements. Eighty men were selected to remain, and they began to erect their huts in a bay of the river near the mouth, beyond a little creek, upon the right hand side as you enter the river. The huts were of wood, covered with leaves, and one larger than the rest for a store-house ; but the principal part was kept on board one of the vessels which was to remain : and this was the first settlement made upon the main ; it lasted but a short time. The Indians were expert fishers, and very dexterous in making nets, lines, and hooks. They had a fermented drink, both red and white, made from maize, and flavoured with spices ; and another made from pine apples. The huts were built, and the admiral ready to sail ; but the river was so low, that there was not water enough over the bar for the ships : they required a depth of fourteen " palmos," and there were only ten upon the bar. They were therefore obliged to wait imtil another heavy rain should swell the river again, and now prayed for the recurrence of an event which had nearly destroyed them before. The Indians observing the Spaniards' preparations for remaining llerrcra, 1.0'. I . 1503.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 85 in their country, began to alter their behaviour so much, that the adelantado determined to seize the cazique Quibia. March 30th, he went with seventy-four men to the village of Veragua. Quibia, when he heard the adelantado was so near, sent to forbid his coming to his hut, which was upon a height over the river. The adelantado went with only five soldiers; ordering the others to get as near the hut, secretly, two and two together, as they could ; and when they heard him fire his musket, to surround the house, and seize all who attempted to escape. When the adelantado got near the place, Quibia sent another messenger, to request him to stay where he was, and proposed to come out to meet him, although he was wounded. Quibia was jealous, and did not choose the Spaniards to see his wives. Accordingly, he seated hmiself at his door, and said that the adelantado only was to come to him. The Spaniards were directed to come up when the adelantado should take Quibia by the arm, which was to be the signal. The adelantado began by inquiring after his health and affairs, through the medimn of an interpreter, and then requested to look at the wound, that he might assist the king with some dressings. He gave the signal ; the four men came up, and the other fired off his musket : upon which the rest, who were concealed in the woods, rushed out, and made the gi'eater part of fifty persons who were in the hut prisoners; among whom were Quibia's women and childi'en, and other persons, who offered great riches, which they said they had concealed in the mountains, for their liberty. The adelantado sent off Quibia and the prisoners to the vessels, but remained behind himself, mth some part of the men, to pursue the fugitives. The pilot who had the charge of carrying Quibia on board was particularly cautioned to prevent his leaping overboard. The cazique was bound, and so secure was the prisoner considered, that the pilot offered to suffer his beard to be pulled out if he escaped. "Wlien they got within half a league of the mouth of the river, it was dark. Quibia watched a favourable opportunity, threw himself overboard, and escaped. Upon the 1st of March, the adelantado, finding it hopeless to follow the fugitives throuiih the woods, resolved to return with his plunder to the admiral, it consisted of golden plates, eagles, and crowns, and was worth 300 ducats. The royal fifth was deducted, and the rest divided, by the admiral's directions, amongst the captors. The rains had now swoln the river, and the admiral took leave of his brother, and with three vessels stood out to sea. When he was over the bar, he sent a boat to his brother, with some things which he thought might be useful. She got near the new settlement at the moment that Quibia was attacking it by surprise. The adelantado behaved most gallantly : the assailants were repulsed, with the loss of several arms and legs, and pursued by a blood- hound, who did his masters good service that night. One Spaniard Herrera, 1. 6. 1, G 3 gg CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY £1503. was killed and eight wounded, among whom was the adelantado by a dart in the breast. The men in the boat never offered the least assistance to their counti-ymen, but stood up the river for fresh water, where they met with an unhappy fate. The natives surrounded her with their canoes : the captain was killed by a dart striking him in his right eye, and all the crew but one were killed — that one escaped by diving, and got on shore unseen by the Indians : he carried the melancholy news to his dispirited countrymen, who determined to quit the place without the adelantado's leave. Accordingly, they attempted to get off in the vessel, but soon found that they could not get over the bar, upon which the sea broke with great violence ; neither could they send any intelligence to the admiral of their distressed situation. He was at an anchor on the outside without a boat, and very anxious about the fate of the boats and of the colonists, who saw the swoln carcases of those who had been killed in the bark and on shore, float by, covered with carrion birds. The Indians, emboldened by success, became every day more troublesome; and the adelantado found it necessary to shift the colony to a clearer place upon the east side of the river, where they made a fort with the provision casks, and placed their artillery — the Indians being afraid to leave the woods, and come near the guns in an open place. The admiral, after waiting ten days, hoped the surf would enable him to send to his brother. Quibia's sons and kinsmen contrived to break open the hatchway and jump overboard, although the ship was a league off the shore : some that were prevented ft-om escaping destroyed themselves. Some Spaniards now offered to swim on shore to their countrjmien, if they were taken as near the breakers as possible. This gallant offer was accepted by the admiral ; and Pedro de Ledesma, a pilot, a native of Seville, made the attempt : the stirf rolled over him frequently? but he landed at last in safety, and found his countrymen unanimous in their request to be taken off, and in a state of mutiny. With this news Pedro de Ledesmo swam across the bar back again to the vessel, which was waiting for him. The admiral resolved to withdraw the colony ; by lashing two canoes together, and their own boat, and taking the opportunity of a calmer day, they got safely over the bar, with all their stores, leaving only the worm-eaten hull of the vessel for the Indians. The admiral went to Porto Belo, where he was obliged to abandon one of his vessels, she was so leaky : he then worked to windward, until he got ten leagues to windward of the " Golfo de San Bias ;" and then, upon the 1st of May, he stood to the northward for Espanola, and in ten days came in sight of two islands, which he called " les Tortugas," because the sea all around them was covered with turtle, whicli gave it the appearance of being rocky. From Hcncra, 1 . .'>. '_', 1503.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 8^ hence he stood on to the coast of Cuba, and anchored in the " Jardin de la Repia ;" his men suffering from hunger, and working day and night at the pumps. In addition to this, in a heavj' gale of wind, the other vessel, in the night, drove foul of the admiral, stove in her own stern, carried away his stem, broke him adrift, and placed both in gi'eat danger. They afterwards landed at Macaca, in Cuba, where the Indians supplied them with refreshments ; and then, finding their vessels too leaky to work up against wind and current to Espanola, they put into Puerto Bueno in Jamaica ; but finding neither fresh water or provisions, stood the following day into Porto " Santa Gloria," and run their worm-eaten vessels on shore, about cross-bow shot from the land, and close alongside each other ; then shored them up securely : and, as the water was almost up to the deck, they covered the vessels over from stem to stern, and lived upon deck. The Indians came off in canoes to sell provisions ; and the admiral, that there might not be any disputes, appointed two persons to traffic with them, who were every evening to divide among the men what had been gained, because there were no other pro\'isions on board. To prevent the possibility of giving offence to the natives, upon whose supplies they were thus obliged to depend, the admiral ordered that nobody should go on shore without leave. Ten canoes were purchased from the Indians for the service of the vessels : and it was determined upon, as the only way of getting off the island, that intelligence of their situation should be sent to Ovando, and to Alonso Sanchez de Carvajal, Colmnbus's agent, and to procure a vessel to take them away. This was a difficult undertaking, as the messengers had to cross from Jamaica to Espanola, in an open canoe. Diego Mendez de Segui'a and Barto- lome Fiesco Ginoves were chosen for this service : each took six Spaniards and ten Indians in the canoe with him. The admiral ordered Diego Mendez, after his landing in Espanola, to proceed to Castile with dispatches for the King, and with his jovn-nal of the voyage. Bartolomew Fiesco was ordered to return to Jamaica, to report how Diego Mendez got on. In this dispatch, the admiral gave their Majesties an account of his voyage — of the misfortunes and dangers w4iich he had suffered — of the new lands which he had discovered — and of the rich mines of Veragua ; repeating the services which he had performed in the discovery of the New World, and the sufferings he had endured in it ; he lamented the imprisonment of hmiself and his brothers, the loss of his property, and the disgrace of being deprived of the honours and state gained by such services, as no man had ever rendered to any King before. He implored the restitution of his honours, satisfaction for his wi'ongs, and the punishment of those who unjustly had been his enemies. He invoked heaven and earth, and .all who po&sessed charity, virtue, or justice, to pity him ; he declared, Heiiera, 1. 6, SS CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1,505. that after twenty years of most dangerous service, he had not a shed to house himself, and was obliged to go to an inn to eat and to sleep. He was infirm and full of gout ; and if at that time he was to die, it would be without the Holy Sacraments. He affirmed that he had not made that voyage to gain honours or riches, but to serve their Majesties, and supplicated permission to go from Spain to Rome, and on other pilgrimages. He wrote to the governor at Espanola also, informing him of his necessitous situation, recom- mending his messengers, and begging him to advise and favour them, that at his own expense a vessel might be sent for him. July 7th, the canoes set off; the Spaniards carrying their provi- sions, swords, and shields, the Indians their calabashes of water, axi, and cazabi, as much as the canoes would hold, which was but little. The adelantado, with a party of soldiers, accompanied the canoes to the end of the island, where they waited some days for calm weather ; and then, taking leave of the adelantado, and commending them- selves to God, they set off in a calm night ; the Indians rowing, and bathing occasionally, to refi-esh themselves. At night-fall they lost sight of the land. The next day the whole were very tired ; but the two captains encouraged them by their example, rowing occasionally. At noon, the heat of the sun, and the fatigue of rowing, had quite exhausted the Indians, who had drank all their water. The Spaniards sup- plied them occasionally with water, and thus supported them until the cool of the evening. Their greatest fear, after rowing one night and two days, was, that they had mistaken their course, which was for the island of Nevasa, where they expected to have arrived before that night. One of the Indians died of thirst, others were dis- mayed, and the most vigorous of them were quite disheartened, expecting death every moment. But it pleased God to console them. Diego Mendez saw the moon set behind the island ; the land covering half the moon, as though it was eclipsed. But for its setting in that direction, they could not have seen the land. The Indians recovered their spirits at the joyful sight, pulled lustily, and they landed to refresh themselves. Some of the Indians died from drinking to excess, and others were very ill. They remained until evening upon the island, catching shell-fish. They made a fire, with the hope that it would be seen at Cape " St. Miguel," now called Tiburon. At sun-set they embarked again, and by day- light of the fourth day, landed in Espanola. After they had rested two days, Bartolomew Fiesco wished to return, as the admiral had ordered ; but neither Spaniards or Indians would go with him : they did not choose to undergo a repetition of such hardships, and therefore determined to remain in Espanola. Diego Mendez coasted in his canoe to Xaragua, where he found Ovando, who received Columbus's dispatch with expressions of satisfaction ; but doubting the admiral's sincerity, he ■ i ll I I II ■■ ■ l iwi— — ■■— i— *t Jlerrcra, 1. 6, li. IJO-J.] OF THE WEST INDIES!. 89 with great difficulty gave Diego Mendez and his companions per- mission to proceed to St. Domingo, to purchase a vessel for Columbus. Soon after the canoes left Jamaica, the men who were left behind began to murmur ; they had no other provisions but such as the island supplied ; and some were sick, and all were idle. They said the admiral was a banished man, who dared not go either to Castile or Espanola ; that Bartolomew Fiesco had other orders, or else he would have returned ; that he was gone about Columbus's business, and not for succours for them. If he had perished on the voj'age, there was no hope. As the admiral was sick of the gout, they talked of leaving him, and making the best of their way to Espa- nola, where they expected to be well received by Ovando, because he was on bad terms with Columbus. If they got to Spain, the Bishop of Badajoz would protect them from Columbus's anger. They might do as Roldan had done — throw all the blame upon Columbus, and tiie King would be glad of the excuse for annulling the terms which he had granted him. The two principal mutineers were named Porras,* natives of Seville : one had been a captain of one of the vessels, the other " Contador de la armada." Tliese, with forty others, the most turbulent and mutinous, determined to declare themselves, and put their plans in execution upon the 2d of January. At Espaiiola, the natives being by the royal orders declared free, left the Spaniards ; no daily pay would induce them to labour, neither would they attend to be instructed in religion. When their Majesties were informed of this, they replied, that forasmuch as they desired that the Indians should be converted, which would be easier effected by their communicating with the Spaniards, and trading with them, and mutually assisting each other, so that the land might be cultivated and the gold collected ; they directed Ovando to force the Indians to work for the Spaniards, and oblige them to pay the natives as labourers. Each cazique was to have charge of a certain number of Indians, and compel them to work where they were wanted ; and upon festival days to hear mass and receive religious instructions. The persons for whom the cazique was ordered to work, were to pay him and his men daily, like free labourers as they were, and not as slaves ; and to treat them well. Those who became Christians were to be better treated than the others ; but Ovando was not to suffer any of them to be unjustly or cruelly used. ITiis was a melancholy order for the natives. Ovando distributed them among his favourites, giving fifty to some, and a hundred to others ; and this was called, a " Repartimiento :" a writing was delivered with them, which said, " To you (such a one) we entrust so many Indians under such a cazique ; and you are to have them instructed in our holy Catholic Faith." At first they were to work in the mines for six months, afterwards it was ordered to be eight Herrera, 1. 6. 5, — I. 5. 11. 90 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1505. months. All the gold which they found was to be carried to the royal smelting-house, for the officers to collect the King's dues, and return the rest to the owners. But very little went there ; the miners dressed and lived extravagantly, they were constantly in debt, and their gold went to the merchants. The Indians soon began to decrease in numbers ; and Ovando supplied his favourites, from time to time, with more to keep up their complement, instead of giving repartimientos to others. This plan he pursued all the time he remained governor of the island, and it was afterwards adopted throughout the Indies. Both natives and Spaniards suffered severely from famine, in consequence of the neglect of cultivation. They were also afflicted with various diseases ; some tm'ned quite yellow ; others, from their intercourse with the women, contracted a contagious disease, till then unknown, attended with painful swellings ; no remedy was known for it; many died raving, and many returned to Spain, taking the disease with them, hoping their native air might cure them. But it pleased God, that where the evil was found, the remedy should also be discovered. An Indian woman belonging to a Spaniard, showed him the " palo santo," which she called " Guayacan ;" many were relieved by it. They were also plagued with a minute insect called " niguas :" these, by breeding under the skin in the feet, multiplied so fast, that many lost their toes, and some their feet. Ovando was zealous in augmenting the royal revenues, but not sufficiently strict upon the colonists. He built another smelting- house, within a league of the mines of St. Christoval, and gave a salary of 100 ducats to each clergyman for administering the sacra- ments. He particularly favoured the Franciscans in building their monastery at St. Domingo, and another in the Vega, where some Indian boys were taught to read and wi'ite. He deprived some bad subjects of the possessions which Bovadilla had given them, and procured an order that no more Negro-slaves should be sent to Espanola, because they ran away to the Indians, and taught them to resist the Spaniards. He farmed out the chasing of the wild hogs at 2000 " pesos de oro," a-year. There were none in the island when it was discovered ; but the domesticated animals brought out by the Spaniards had run wild, and multiplied exceedingly. He farmed out the salt lakes, and taxed fishing, forbidding all fish- ing boats ; but he was commanded to revoke this order. All vessels going upon discoveiy, at his request, were directed to call at Espa- nola, that he might see they obeyed the royal orders. He built an hospital, giving it his own name ; and requested that the pope might be applied to for indulgencies for it. He also requested that no more Spaniards might be sent out, as there were more already than could support themselves. A variety of different reports respecting the Indians having beep Hcrrcia, 1. 5. 12, 1503.3 OF THE WEST INDIES. Ql forwarded to Spain, orders were now sent to Ovando, lo collect tliem into villages near the Spanish towns, allotting to each suffi- cient land for their maintenance, that they might cultivate it. In each village a person was to reside, to protect them from injury, and administer justice. If the Indians volunteered it, they might work for the Spaniards, and be paid for it ; but they were not to be forced to do so ; neither were they to be allowed to dispose of their lands for trifles, as they had done ; but whatever things they had to sell, were to be paid for according to their worth. The superintendants of the villages were to induce them to wear clothes, and to have them taught the common arts of life. A church was to be built in each village, and particular care taken to convert the natives to Christianity. A scliool-room was to be built, and the children of each village, twice every day, to be instructed in reading, vvriting, and the doctrines of the church. The caziques were not to be allowed to oppress the Indians, and the Indians were to obey the laws against swearing and blaspheming. Their drunken festivals were to be prohibited ; and they were not to use such frequent bathings, paintings, and purgings ; but their festivals were to be properly regulated, upon the days kept by the church ; and every care was to be taken to remove the errors of their belief. Hospitals were to be built for the Indians, as well as for the Spa- niards, and the clergy were to inform them of the tenths which they owed to God, and of the tribute due to the King. He was also to make them marry according to the orders of the church, and to encourage intermarriages between the natives and the Spaniards, that they might be more speedily civilized. The governor was to render every assistance to the clergy, that divine service might be properly performed, and the inhabitants comply with the regulations of the church. The royal officers were ordered to build a chamber of commerce where all the merchandize sent upon their Highnesses' account was to be deposited. The officers were to consult with the governor every day about these afi'airs, and the best way of procuring the gold. And as it was advisable that the Spaniards should have Indian servants, the governor was to consult with the officers, how it was to be done, that the Indians might not be ill-treated, as they had been in Bovadilla's time, nor forced to serve against their will ; but if he found it necessary that they should work for the Spaniards, he was to ascertain if it would be better to pay them with provisions than with money, and to determine what they ought to have. He was also to see, if, instead of the Indians paying tribute, it would not be better for them to work a certain number of days in the mines, and pay a proportion of the gold they might find to the King. The governor was also to settle what fees the officers of justice and the lawj^ers were to have, and cases of appeal were to be Hencra, I. 5, 12. (y2 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1503, decided by the alcalde ; and another lawyer, if the governor thought it advisable, should be sent out. Every person was to pay taxes ; and the lands of the villages were to be divided, that every one might support himself, without the governor's giving them repartimientos. The governor was directed to give orders for cultivating mul- berry-trees, that the silk manufactory might be introduced. And as there was plenty of " pastel " (indigo) and madder upon the island, he was to encourage the cultivation of both. In a letter dated Segovia, November 27th, 1503, the governor of Espariola was directed to see if any remedy could be applied to the evils which the wild dogs occasioned. The Spaniards had given some dogs to the Indians, who, not understanding how to manage them or feed them, were unable to keep them in their huts : the dogs therefore ran wild about the mountains, and did great mischief. ' In this year, " The Casa de Contratation" was established at Seville, for Indian affairs. Bohechio having died without issue, his sister Anacoana became Queen of Xaragua. Acts of hostility had taken place between the Indians and Roldan's adherents. Ovando knew how scandalously the Spaniards had been living ; and went himself, with 300 infantry, and seventy cavalry, to receive the tribute, and to wait upon a princess who had always been, he said, a friend to the Spanish nation. Anacoana made every preparation for receiving her treacherous guest in the most splendid manner. Three hundred caziques went with her, and an infinite number of Indians, dancing and singing, according to the custom of their country. The meeting took place near the city of Xaraguay ; and Ovando was conducted to the palace, where a magnificent repast was prepared, and dances and sports exhibited. The fete continued several days, with great magnificence and variety. Ovando either believed or affected to believe, that Anacoana had treacherous designs. Upon Sunday, he invited her and the nobility to an entertainment. After dinner, the Spaniards ap- proached in order of batde. Anacoana and her court were admiring the shew, as the infantry took possession of the avenues, and the cavalry surrounded the tent, looking to Ovando for the signal for assault : he gave it, by covering his insignia of the order of Alcantara with his hand, and the massacre began. Ovando asserts, that the caziques confessed their guilt when fastened to the pillars before the tent, and all within were burnt to ashes, except the miserable Queen ; she was sent to San Domingo, and publicly Herrera, 1. 6. 4. ' " The Spaniards at this time first saw the boys ; it was pleased ivith music, and tlie manati ; the cazique Carametex had kept carried ten men at a time across the lake one twenty-six years ; it would come when without any difficulty."— iferr^ra, D. I. called, eat out of the hand, and pipy with B. 5, C 5, 1504.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 93 executed. The number of Indians murdered is not stated. Guaorocuya, Anacoana's nephew, escaped to the mountains, and some few escaped in canoes. Some infants that the officers wished to save, and had placed upon their hoi'ses, were stabbed in that situation. Roderick Mexia was sent to subdue the province of Guahaba, and Diego Velasquez the province of Haniguyaga. Ovando ordered a town to be built in Xaragua, which he named " Villa de la vera Paz." " Aceldama" woidd have been more appropriate. Velasquez founded Salvatierra, in Haniguyaga. A colony was planted, and a castle built at " Brasil," or, as the Indians called it, Yaguimo. San Juan de Maguana was built where Coanabo had reigned. Fourteen leagues nearer San Domingo, another town was built, and named Azua. Velasquez was appointed governor of these five towns. On the other side of the island, Mexia founded Puerto Real and Lares de Guahaba, and was Ovando's lieutenant in them. 1504. January 2d, 1504, the mutineers took arms. Francisco de Porras went to the admiral, and in the most disrespectful manner said : " It appears to us. Sir, that your Lordship does not wish to go to Castile, and that you intend to keep us here to perish." The admiral mildly replied, that the impossibility of their all getting away before those who were gone in the canoes should send vessels for them, was well known. That God knew how much he desired it, more than any of them, upon his own account as well as for theirs. That they knew how many consultations had been held about it, and that he had done what all had advised : if any other plans had occurred, he would caU another council and examine them. Porras replied, that now there was no occasion for so many con- sultations : he must either embark then or stay with God, and, turning his back, said, " For me I am going to Castile with those who choose to follow me." The mutineers, hearing these words, shouted " I'll go with him — I'll go with him;" and dividing into parties, some seized the fore-castles, others the tops, calling out " Castile and our captain." The achiiiral got out of bed, crippled as he was with the gout, attempted to get out, but was carried back by his servants. The adelantado seizing ahalbard, placedhimself near the pumps; and called upon Porras, in God's name, not to cause mischief, by which all must suffer ; it was sufficient that nobody opposed his Herrera, I). 1 . I^. G. L'. 5, 9i CHUONGLOGICAL HISTORY [1.504. going. This somewhat appeased the tumuh. The mutineers seized ten of those canoes which the admiral had bought of the Indians, and embarked with as much exultation as though they had been landing at Seville. This increased the misery of the sick, who, fearful of remaining without protection, seized their clothes and got into the canoes, as if they could only be saved by so doing. The admiral came limping out of his cabin, and told them, he trusted in God that in a few days they would be relieved. He promised to throw himself at the feet of the Queen, to supplicate rewards for their labours, especially for the perseverance which they had shown. Porras, with those who followed him in the canoes, pulled towards the east end of Jamaica, from whence Mendez and Fiesco had set off, landing occasionally and plundering the Indians, telling them that the admiral would pay them for the things they took ; if he did not they might kill him, and pi*event his killing them, as he had the Indians of Cuba and Veragua, and that he staid among them to get their lands. When the mutineers got to the east end, they set off' the first calm day with such Indians as they could get to row ; but a breeze springing up, and the canoes being deeply laden, after they got about four leagues they were obliged to lighten them by throwing their provisions overboard, and to turn back. The wind increasing, they threw the Indians overboard. The poor wretches swam by the side of the boats, until their strength was exhausted, then some of them attempted to hold on by the side of the canoes ; but the Spaniards cut their hands with their swords. When the mutineers landed again, some proposed crossing over to Cuba, and getting from the east end of that island to Espaik>la ; others were for plundering the admiral ; others for waiting for better weather, and in the mean time to plunder the Indians. They made two more unsuccessful attempts in the canoes, and then gave up all hope of getting off" that way. The admiral, after their departure, took greater pains to keep upon friendly terms with the natives, and was very attentive to his own sick men. The Indians were not in the habit of raising more provisions than was sufficient for their own consumption ; the Spaniards eat more in one day than they did in fifteen ; the supplying them was therefore a difficult task. They saw also that many of the admiral's men had risen against him, and they themselves were consulting how to destroy him. For this purpose the supplies were diminished daily, to the great distress of the Spaniards, who, if they determined to seize the provisions by force, would be obliged to leave the admiral alone to the mercy of the natives. In this critical situation it occurred to the admiral to avail himself of an approaching eclipse of the moon to frighten the Indians. He there- fore sent for the caziques and principal men, the day before the IIc'iTPra, 1, (>. f>. 1504-.J OF THE WEST INDIES. 9^^ eclipse, and told them that the Spaniards were Christians, servants and children of that God, who lived in Heaven, the Lord and Maker of all things, who rewarded the good and punished the guilty. He had seen, that some of their nation consulted together, and determined not to aid the Spaniards in getting to Espanola, (as some whom he had sent had done,) except they were visited with great dangers and losses. Therefore God was angry with the people of that island, and had determined to punish them. And because possibly they might not believe what he said, God would give them a certain sign, which they would see that night in the Heavens, which was, that after the moon rose they would see it look angry, and red as blood. Some were appalled at the threat, others laughed ; but when the eclipse began, and they saw that the higher the moon rose the darker it became, they began to be dreadfully alarmed, and ran, crying, laden with provisions, to the vessels, begging the admiral to inter- cede for them with his God, and promising to supply him, from thenceforward, with as much provisions as the Spaniards wanted. The admiral told them that he M'ould go and pray to God for them, and shut himself up in his cabin. In the interim the darkness increased, and the shouts and fears of the natives grew greater. When the eclipse began to decrease, the admiral came out, and told them that he had prayed to God not to punish them, because they had promised to behave kindly to the Spaniards, and to supply them with provisions, and that God had forgiven them, in token of which lie would withdraw his anger from the moon, which they might see he was now doing. The Indians watched the passing shadow with deep attention ; and when the eclipse was over thanked the admiral, and marvelled at the power of his God, and returned to their huts with loud rejoicings. ' Herreva, 1. 6. 6. ' There is a similar instance related in a sang ; et de I'autre des offres de servir Anna Comnena's history of her father the avee line arinee de trente mille hommes de Emperor, Alexis Comnenas I., who died cavalerie dans toiites les guerres qu'il lui in 1118. plairoit d'entreprendre. Quand les Scythes virent George Euphor- L'Empereur aiant aiscment decouvert bene qui venoit contre eux avec line puis- leiir fourberie, et etant fort persuade qu'ils sante flote sur le Danube, qui tirant sa source ne demandoient la paix que par I'appre- d' Occident, se decharge par cinq embou- hension de ses amies, et qii' aussi-tot qu'ils chures dans le Pont-Euxin, et qui portant en seroient delivrez ils feroient paroitre les plus grans vaisseaux proche de ces em- leurs mauvaises intentions, rejetta leur bouchures, change son nom et s'appele demande. Istre ; et qu'ils apprirent que mon pere Sur ces entrefaites, un secretaire d'etat venoit par terre a grand journees, a la tete nomme Nicolas, lui vint dire a I'oreille qu'il d'une puissante armee, ils ne crurent pas y auroit bien-tot ime eclipse de soleil, et pouvoir resister a des forces si considerables, pour se faire croire, il Ten assura avec ser- et ils se resolurent de cherclier des expediens ment. Alors ce Prince qui avoit I'esprit pour evitcr le danger qui les mena9oit. Ils naturellement fort vif et fort penetrant, se envoierent a ce dessein cent cinquante am- tourna vers les Scythes et leiu- dit, " Je bassadeurs a I'Empereur pour lui demander remets a Dieu le jiigement de cette affair, la paix et pour ineler a cette demande, d'un ct s'il faitparoitre incontinent quelque signc cote des menaces de mettre ses etats a feu et extraordinaire dans le cicl ce sera une preuvc 9f> CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l,>()k Eight months had now elapsed since the departure of Fiesco and Mendez, and no intelligence of their fate had arrived. The Indians said that there was a vessel, bottom up, on the lee side of the island ; this information seemed to deprive the Spaniards of all hopes. A second conspiracy was formed ; Bernal, an apothecary, and two of his friends, Zamora and Villatoro, were the leaders ; they proposed to do as Porras had done. From this danger, the admiral, his brother, and his servants were saved, by the arrival of a vessel (a " caravelon") from Ovando; she was seen one evening off the harbour. Diego de Escobar, one of Roldan's adherents, was captain of her ; he had orders not to land, nor to have any conversation with the admiral, or with those who were with him, neither to give or receive any letter ; he was only to see in what state the admiral and liis followers were. That this ungracious service might be properly performed, Diego de Escobar was appointed by Ovando to command the vessel. Escobar came in his boat, delivered a letter from Ovando, and said that the " comendador mayor" had sent him to pay his respects to the admiral, that he was sorry for his misfortunes, and as it was not possible to send a vessel with provisions so soon for him, he pre- sented him with a barrel of wine and a flitch of bacon; having said this, he returned to his ship. The admiral answered Ovando's letter ; he gave an account of his sufferings, of the rich country he had discovered, and what he had done there, and of the rebellion of the Povras'; he thanked Ovando for his good intentions, and recommended Bartolome Fiesco and Diego Mendez to his protection ; he said that they lived constantly on board the vessels, waiting for assistance from the Almighty and from him, to get away. ^^^ith this answer Escobar returned ; leaving Colmnbus's followers full of suspicion at his extraordinary behaviour. The admiral made the best of it ; he told the men, that the " caravelon" had been sent away in a hurry, that other vessels might be sent to take them all off without delay ; he being resolved not to go without them, and that vessel being too small for all. He then sent to the mutineers to tell them the news, and offered them forgiveness if they would return to their duty ; to this they replied, that they did not choose to trust to the admiral, but that they would abstain from hostilities, if the admiral would promise to let them have one vessel if two were sent, and the half if there was only one ; in the mean time, as thev had lost all their stores in the Herrera, 1. 6. 7, 8. tnanifeste que j'ai raison de me defier de la de la lune. Ce qui jetta ces ambassadeurs sincerite de vos offres. Que s'il n'en fait dans un profoiid ctonnement. point paroitre, ce sera une marque de Tin- Alexis commanda a un Eunuque nommc justice de mes defiances." II n'y avoit pas Leon Nicerite, de les conduire sous seure ". P. Martyr, D. 2. C. 1 , 2. 1.511.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 113 Immediately upon Nicuessa's arrival, he accused Olanus of treason, and determined to quit the place ; refusing the men's petition, that they might remain till they could reap their corn. He left half his men, almost perishing with hunger, at Puerto Bello, and with the rest stood to the eastward, to build a Fort on Point " Marmor :" he named the tower " Nombre de Dios." Here his followers were reduced to the last extremity by hunger : the most loathsome food was sold at the most extravagant price, and even the dead bodies of their companions were devoured. At Uraba, Vasco Nunez proposed that the men should elect a governor ; but upon the arrival of Colmenar with two large ships, with provisions and sixty men, his officers sent Colmenar for Nicuessa, at ]Marmor. Peter INIartyr says, '' He found Nicuessaj of all living men most unfortunate — in a manner dried up with extreme liunger, filthy and horrible to behold, with only threescore men in his company left of seven hundred !" Colmenar embarked the whole, and made sail for Ui'aba. The sudden change produced no good on Nicuessa's disposition ; he quarrelled with Colmenar before he got to Uraba, and blamed all there for presuming to gather gold without orders, either from him or from Ojeda. This conduct, and Vasco Nunez' intrigues, induced the men to send Nicuessa, ^\ith seventeen men, away in the brigantine. \'incent Yannez Pinzon sailed from Espanola round Cuba, which he did not before know to he an island : he stood over to the Spanish INIain, and worked up along shore to Paria ; where the natives, in a multitude of canoes, attacked the vessel. The slaughter occasioned by the great guns induced the survivors to solicit peace, with a present of gold weighing 3000 pesos, a barrel of frankin- cense, a number of peacocks, and some beautifully-wrought cotton cloths. Five caziques came with the presents, with whom Vincent made a league, and then sailed to the eastward, " until he came to the point or cape of that most long land." 1511. In Porto Rico, .Juan Ponce revenged the death of the Spaniards. In several battles, a large dog called Bezerrillo did more execution than any soldier, he was allowed the pay of a cross-bow man, and a share and half of prize money. Bezerrillo was killed in battle by an arrow. The Indians mistook the fresh supplies of soldiers for the resur- rection of those whom they had slain ; they therefore surrendered at discretion, and were sent to the mines. In this war, Diego de Salazar rescued the son of Pietro Xuarez, a boy of sixteen, from the cazique Amamon, when he was surrounded bv 300 Indians at a festival. Salazar attacked them singlv, and P. Martyr, D. ii. C. 7. Hcrrcni, 1. 7. 4.— 1. 8. 4. 1 114^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1511, wounded the cazique ; who, astonished at the bravery of the attempt, sent Salazar four slaves and other valuables, and requested leave to take his name, and be his friend. Salazar's name became pro- verbial for gallantry among the Indians. In Espanola, the wearing brocades, rich silks or embroidery, was prohibited by proclamation. In November, Velazquez sailed from St. Domingo to colonize Cuba, with 300 volunteers and seventy regulars, in four vessels. Bartholomew de las Casas went with him, and Hernan Cortes as secretary. They landed at Puerto de Palmas, in the dominions of Hatuey, a cazique who had emigrated from Espanola : he had persuaded the other caziques that gold Avas the Spaniard's god, and got them to throw all that could be found into the sea. From the fancied security thus procured, they were aroused by the arrival of Velazquez. The multitudes collected to oppose his landing fled at the first fire, and Velazquez got possession of Hatuey without loss. To strike the rest with terror, he was burnt alive. At the stake, a Franciscan exhorted him to take pity upon his soul, and not expose it to eternal burnings, when he might procure it the happiness of dwelling in Paradise for ever. Hatuey asked if any Spaniards were in that delightful country : the Franciscan said only the good ones. " The best are good for nothing," replied the cazique, " and I will not ffo where there is a chance of meetino; one of them." The other caziques surrendered, and the conquest was achieved without the loss of a Spaniard. In Espanola, Antonio Montesino, the Dominican, preached before the admiral and all the officers, against the cruelties prac- tised upon the Indians. The officers complained to the vicar, Pedro de Cordova, and threatened to banish all the order : they wfere told, F. Anthony would explain himself on the next Sunday. Then, instead of the expected recantation, he repeated his censures, and affirmed that by so doing he did God and the King good service. Complaints against the order were sent to the King by Alphonso de Espinas, a Franciscan. The Dominicans sent Montesino to defend their cavise. In consequence of these appeals, the Indians were declared free, and ordered to be treated as such ; they were not to be forced to carry burthens, nor to be flogged, nor obliged to work upon Sundays or holidays. Women with child were not to work at all. But the repartimientos were to remain. St. Juan, in Porto Rico, was erected into a bishoprick, with the same rights as the bishops of Castile. In March " 1511," Nicuessa left Uraba for Hispaniola, intending to complain of Vasco Nunez and Ancisus. The vessel was sup- posed to have foundered, and all on board perished. It was said an inscription was found upon a tree in Cuba, purporting that there Nicuessa had finished his miseries and his life. Ilerrcra, 1. 7. 4 1. 9. 2. Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 112. 105. P. Martyr, D. 2. C. 3. 1511.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 115 Wlien the provisions which Colmenar had brought were con- sumed, Vasco Nunez, with 130 followers, proceeded to Coiba. The cazique's name was Careta; he declared his inability to supply the Spaniards with provisions; but Vasco brought him and his family to Darien, and plundered his village. With Careta they found three Spaniards, who had deserted from Nicuessa, and been kindly entertained by Careta for eighteen months. Vasco Nunez now imprisoned Ancisus, to prevent all disputes about the command : however, by the advice of some of his adherents, Vasco released Ancisus, and he proceeded to Espanola ; but a messenger named Valdivia was sent in the vessel to state the case to the viceroy ; and another called Zamudius, to proceed to Old Spain. After the vessel was gone, Vasco Nunez released Careta, upon condition of his assisting them in war against King Poncha, whose dominions joined Careta's. The proposal was gladly accepted, and the allies marched to Poncha's palace, who fled at their approach. They plundered the village ; but were unable to carry away the provisions, because of the distance, which was more than 100 miles from Darien : they found also some golden ornaments. Vasco Nunez now re-embarked, intending to confine his operations more upon the coast: he therefore pi'oceeded to Comogra, where they were quietly received by the King Comagras.' " His palace was framed of posts or props, made of trees fastened together after a strange sort, and of so strono; building, that it is of no less strength than walls of stone. They which measured the length of the floor thereof, found it to be a hundred and fifty paces, and in breadth foui'score feet, being roofed and paved with marvelous art. They found his storehouse furnished with abundance of delicate victuals, after the manner of their country, and his v.ine-cellar replenished with great vessels of earth, and also of wood, filled with their kind of wine and cider ; for they have no grapes : but, like as they make their bread of those three kinds of roots, called Jucca, Agis and Maizium, so make they their wine of the fruits of date-trees, and cider of other fruits and seeds." The wines were both white and black. In the palace, " they were brought into a chamber hanged about with the carcasses of men, tied with ropes of gossampine cotton. Being demanded what they meant by that superstition, they an- swered, that those wei'e the carcasses of the father, grand-ilither, and great-grand-father, with other ancestors of their King Comogras ; declaring that they had the same in great reverence, and that they took it for a godly thing to honour them religiously, and therefore appareled every of the same sumptuously with gold and precious stones." P. :Martyr, D. 2. C. 3. ' " The palace of this Commogras is This plain they call Zauana." —P. Jl/ar/yr, situate at the foot of a steep hill, well cul- D. 3. C. 3. p. 109. 11. Eden's Trandalion. tured, having toward the south a plain of Londoi, 1612. twelve leagues in breadth, and very fruitful. I 2 116 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1512. Comogras's eldest son gave Vascus Nunez 4000 ounces of gold curiously wroviglit. The Spaniards weighed it in the porch of the palace, to put by the royal fifth, and then proceeded to share the remainder : about this they quarrelled ; and Comogras's son struck the scales with his fist, and scattered all the gold about the porch — telling the Spaniards, that if wrought gold was all they wanted, and for it they suffered so much hardship, he would show them a region where they might satisfy their ravenous appetites ; but that they must come with more men, and overcome King Tumanana, of great power, whose kingdom lays six days' march from thence : — " and when you are passing over those mountains," pointing to the south, " you shall see another sea, where they sail with ships as big as yours, using both sails and oars, as you do : although the men be naked as we ai*e." All the furniture in King Tumanama's jiouse, he affirmed, was made of gold ; and to confirm the truth of what he said, he offered to go as a guide to the Spaniards, if they would come with a thousand men — and they might hang him, if they found he told them lies. The Spaniards' hopes were greatly raised : they baptized Comogras by the name of Charles, in honour of the King of Spain, and returned to Darien, where they found Valdivia, who had returned in a small vessel, and a promise that plenty of provisions should be sent them very soon, and a supply of men. In November, the heavy rains occasioned floods which destroyed great part of the seed which the Spaniards had sown. Valdivia was appointed to return again to Espanola, with the royal fifth of the gold, which amounted to 300 pounds weight, eight ounces to the pound, to solicit a reinforcement of 1000 men, and. to communicate the intelligence which Comogras had given relative to the country to the southward. Valdivia arrived at Espanola, the ides of January, 1512. 1512. March 1st, Juan Ponce de Leon left Porto Rico with two vessels, in search of the Island of Bimini, and a spring whose waters would make old people young. The Indians in Cuba and Hispaniola believed in its existence. It was Easter when Juan Ponce discovered a level' land with pleasant groves, and named it Florida — he named Cape Corrientes and Los Martires : these rocks appear like suffering men. The Isle of Mona was given to Don Bartholomew Columbus, and a grant of 200 more Indians, with permission to work any mines that might be discovered in Cuba: he carried out 100 jackets stuffed with cotton, 100 fire-arms, and as many cross-bows. Pedro de Cordova followed Montesino to Spain ; and, hopeless P. Martyr, D.2. C. 4, Ilerrera, 1, 9. C — 1. 9. 2. Cliarlevoix, vol, ii. p. 127. 1512.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 117 of doing good where the Spaniards hved, obtained permission to settle in an uncolonized province : the admiral had directions to furnish them with supphes. Montesino was taken ill, and left at Porto Rico ; Francisco de Cordova and Juan Garciaz were landed in Venezuela : the Indians received them joyfully. Christopher Serrano, with 150 men, sailed fi-om Espanola to join the colonists at Darien. Several of Esquibel's followers obtained leave to serve under Velasquez in Cuba : among others, Panfilo de Narvaez, whom Velasquez appointed second in command. The first settlement was at Baracoa. Narvaez was dispatched with thirty men to Bayamo, fifty leagues distant. One night, 7000 Indians attacked the Spaniards by surprise. A stone struck Narvaez on the breast, and knocked him down : he recovered, Snd mounted his horse almost naked. The Indians, who had never seen a horse before, left off plundering, as he gallopped about with bells upon his crupper, and fled in all directions : firebrands were lighted that they might see him. The victory was complete. Velasquez suspected Morales, his second in command, of dis- affection, and sent him prisoner to Espanola. Morales' adlierents drew up a list of grievances, and sent Cortes with them. Cortes had been Velasquez's secretary, but was dismissed for being too fond of sarcastic remarks : he was to go in a canoe. " Just as he was about to embark, he was seized, and the papers found upon him. Velasquez, at first, was about to hang him ; but, upon intercession, contented himself mth putting him in irons, and embarking him on board ship, to send him to Espanola. He con- trived to rid himself of his fetters; and, while the ci*ew were asleep, got overboard, and trusted himself upon a log of wood, for he could not swim : it was ebb-tide, and he was carried a league out from the ship. The flood carried him on shore ; but he was so exhausted, that he was on the point of letting loose his hold, and resigning himself to his fate. It was not yet day : he hid himself, knowing search would be made for him as soon as he was missed on board ; and when the church doors were open he took sanctuary. " Near this church there dwelt one Juan Xuares, who had a handsome sister of ejccellent character. Cortes liked her, and found means to let her know it. Whoever has seen Vertue's print of Cortes from Titian's picture, will know that of all men he must have been one of the most beautiful. One day he was slipping out of the church to visit her, an alguazil watched him, slipped in at another door, came out behind him, caught him beliind, and carried him to prison. " Velasquez was about to proceed against him with extreme rigour ; but this governor was of a generous nature, and was per- suaded to forgive him. Cortes married the girl, and said he was as well contented with her as if she had been the daughter of a duchess. Herrera, 1. 9. 6.— 1. 9. 4, Southey's Omniana, vol. i. p. l-'JS. J 3 118 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1513. The alguazil Juan Escudero, who had entrapped him, was one of the conspirators whom he afterwards hung in New Spain." Velasquez afterwards forgave Cortes, appointed him alcalde of the new town of Santiago, gave him a considerable number of Indians, and stood god-father to his son. When Narvaez returned from the pursuit of the Indians, Velasquez was celebrating his marriage with a lady from Spain : he was married on Sunday, and she died the following Saturday. After the departure of Valdivia, Vasco Nunez, with 100 men, in one brigantine and several open boats, coasted to the bottom of the gidf to Culata, plundering the villages as they passed. Bats as large as doves came from the marshes in the night, and wounded the men. On their return up the gulf, a gale of wind swamped some of the boats, and obliged the rest to throw their plunder overboard. Wliilst Nunez was exploring to the southward, Colmenar with sixty men did the same to the eastward — when Nunez joined him again, they disco^'ered and named Canna fistula Island, and the Rio Negro ; twelve boats rowed seventy miles up the river. Upon its banks, the natives built their houses in trees, some of wliich were so large, that *' eight men holding hand in hand, with their arms stretched forth, were scarcely able to fathom about it." These marauders returned to Darien with some slaves ; but left thirty men, under the command of Furatado, at Rio Negro, the greater part of whom were killed by the natives. Vasco Nunez had a remarkably beautiful woman among his cap- tives to whom he was much attached, called Fulvia; from her he learnt, that 5000 men were coming in canoes to attack the Spaniards. Taking seventy men, he proceeded in one direction, and sent Col- menar with sixty, guided by Fulvia's brother, in another; they attacked the confederates unexpectedly, and hung their four caziques on gibbets. Vasco Nunez wished to go to Espanola and Spain with the news of his discoveries ; but his followers would not let him leave them. Quicedus and Colmenar were selected for that pui*pose. Quicedus was to leave his wife behind, and Colmenar had tilled and sown a great deal of ground. For these reasons their comrades thought there was some chance of their return ; they sailed in November. 1513. Vasco Nunez, fearing he might be superseded, left Darien with 190 men, in a brigantine and ten canoes. He landed in the domi- nions of Cereta, King of Coiba; and leaving his vessels, set forward to the mountains. As they passed. King Poncha made a league with the Spaniards, and gave Vasco Nvmez 110 pounds weight of Hcrrera, 1. 9. 4. T. Martyr, D. 2. C. 4 D. 3. C. 1. 1513.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 119 gold : he accepted some axes as a princely return, and supplied the Spaniards with guides and labourers. Passing through the territories of Quarequa, Vasco Nunez was attacked by a great army ; the fire- arms put them to flight, and 600, with their king, were slain. Vasco Nunez found in this king's palace several young men in women's apparel ; forty of these he ordered to be thrown to his dogs, to the great satisfaction of the natives, who brought othei's to be put to death. This abomination was only practised by the higher orders. Two days journey from "Quarequa, they came to a tribe of blacks, who waged continual war against the Quarequatons : these blacks were supposed to have been shipwrecked upon the coast. In Qua- requa, Vasco Nunez left several of his men sick, and after a march of twenty-five days, " He beheld with wondering eyes the tops of the high mountains, shewed unto him by the guides of Quarequa, from the which he might see the other sea, so long looked for, and never seen before, of any man coming out of our world. Approaching, therefore, to the tops of the mountains, he commanded his army to stay, and went himself alone to the top, as it were to take the first possession thereof; where, falling prostrate upon the ground, and raising himself again upon his knees, as the manner of the Christians is to pray, lifting up his eyes and hands toward heaven, and directing his face toward the new-found South Sea, he poured forth his hum- ble and devout prayers before Almighty God." He then called his companions, shewed them the sea, and all of them " praised God, with loud voices, for joy." He raised several heaps of stones, instead of altars, for a token of possession, and carved the King's name on the ti'ees on both sides of his road, until he came to the territories of King Chiapes, who attempted to oppose his passage. The conflict was short, and Vasco entered his palace victorious ; here he released the prisoners, and by means of the Quarequans, made a perpetual league of friendship with Chiapes, who gave the Spaniards 400 pounds weight of wrought gold, of those pounds which they call pesos. When the soldiers who were left behind in Quarequa had joined Vasco, he departed from the top of the mountains, accompanied by Chiapes himself, and in four days arrived at the South Sea. After a voyage of three months from Darien, Colmenar and Qui- cedus were cast upon the west coast of Cuba, in a gale of wind, almost starving with hunger : here they found the wreck of Valdivia's caravel. When Quicedus and Colmenar arrived at Spain, the King was delighted with their report, and with the presents which they brought. Peter Martyr says, " They all sojourned with me oftentimes. Their countenances do declare the intemperateness of the air and region of Darien ; for they are yellow, like unto them that have the yellow jaundice, and also swoln ; but they ascribe the cause hereof to the hunger which they sustained in times past. I have been, advertised of the afFau's of this New World, not only by these procurators of P. Martyr, D. 2. C. 6, 7. I 4 120 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1514. Darien, Ancisus and Zamudius, but also by conference with Baccia the lawyer, who ran over a great part of these coasts ; likewise by relation of Vincentius Annez, the patron of the ships, and Alphon- sus Nignus, both being men of great experience, and well travelled in those parts : besides many other of whom we have made mention in other places ; for there came never any from thence to the court, but took great pleasure to certify me of all things, either by word of mouth, or by writing." The Indians of Venezuela threatened F. Cordova and Garcias Avith death, if a boat full of their kidnapped countrymen were not returned within four months. The fathers, unable to get the wrong redressed, were murdered. The colonists at Cubagua got their water from this part of the coast, and great outrages w^ere committed. 1514. Pedro Arias, with fifteen vessels and 1200 soldiers, sailed from St. Lucar to supersede Vasco Nunez in the government of Darien ; the fleet arrived at Dominica the 3d of June, were four days taking in wood and water, but did not see any inhabitants. At Santa Martha the natives killed two Spaniards with poisoned arrows, the country was skilfully irrigated and highly cultivated. Arias pro- claimed that the inhabitants must either obey the Christian King and embrace the Catholic religion, or else quit the country ; the answer wiis a shower of poisoned arrows. Some prisoners were clothed and sent back to report the power and goodness of the Spaniards, the trumpets blew a retreat and the army re-embarked, dressed in the feather cloaks and caps which they had carried off at the island of Fortes ; the governor's ship was left to be repaired, the rest of the fleet arrived in July at Darien. Vasco Nunez received the governor singing " Te Deum." Arias found correct all that Vasco Nunez had reported, and determined to erect fortresses in the dominions of Comogra, Pocchorrosa, and Tumanama. Juan Aiora, with 400 men, sailed for the harbour of Comogras, about twenty-five leagues from Darien, from whence he was to send 150 men to the southward, and remain with the rest to assist " all such as shall journey to and fro ;" 300 men were also to be sent against King Dabaiba : consultations were held about removing the colony. Santa JMaria Antiqua was situated on the banks of the river Darien, in a deep valley, surrounded on every side with high hills, and encompassed by muddy and stinking marshes. It was believed that " of the drops falling from the hands of the bondmen while they water the pavements of their houses, toads were engen- dered immediately;" another great inconvenience was, that the plate was destitute of a good harbour. Roderick de Albuquerque arrived at San Domingo with powers Ilcirera, ]. 9. 6. T. 3Iartyr, D. 3. C. 5. Cliarlevoix, vol. ii, p. 135. 1J1<5.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 121 tliat enabled him to revoke all the admiral's grants of repartimientos, and to sell them to the highest bidder. The admiral immediately returned to Spain. About this time Don Bartholomew the adelantado died; liis Indians were given to the vice-cpieen, and the island of Mona reverted back to the King. The affairs of Cuba, under the government of Velasquez, were going on well. Las Casas had gained such influence over the natives, that the threat of his anger never failed to produce obedi- ence ; he now resolved to resign all his Indians to Velasquez, alledg- ing {IS a reason, that his conscience would not allow him to keep them ; he proceeded to Espanola on his passage to Spain, whei'e he was going to request the King to protect the Indians, the colonists at Cuba had begun to fit out ships, and to trade for slaves and goods. 1515. Upon the 19th of October, 1515, a treaty of peace, league, and friendship, was concluded at London between King Henry VIII., King of England ; Ferdinand, King of Arragon ; and his daughter, Johanna, Queen of Castile, in which no exception is made of any part of the Spanish dominions; and it contains the following- article : — " Item, concordatimi et conclusum est, quod vasalli, homines, et subditi praefatorum principum, tam mercatores, quam carter! alii, hinc, inde, tute, libere, absque alicujus licentia salvive conductus gene- ralis vel specialis petitione vel impretatione, in et ad praefatorum dominormn, utriusque principum et reginag eorumque heeredum et successorum portus, dominia, castra, civitates, fortalitia, oppida, jurisdictiones et districtus quoscunque, cimr suis conductis vel accommodatis navibus, plaustris vehiculis, equis, armaturis, merci- moniis, bonis, et rebus quibuscunque, tam per terram, quam per mare et aquas dulces atque omnem locum quotienscmique et quan- docunque id faciendum esse duxerint, navigare, equitare, ire et dis- cedere, et in eisdem quamdiu voluerint omnis generis merces et mercimonia emere et vendere mercari, negotiari, morari atque per- hendinare, necnon ab eisdem cum suis rebus, mercibus et merci- moniis et bonis quibuscunque salvo et secure per terram, mare, et aquas dulces abire et recedere, et in omnibus et ubique ita juste et honeste tractabuntur ac si essent originarii et subditi proprii ; juri- bus, statutis et consuetudinibus locorum in omnibus semper salvis." The Caribs, in their canoes and piraguas, did great damage in the islands and on the main land, limiting men to eat them : they attacked Cubagua ; but a ship arriving at the time, with the assist- Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 136. Herrera, i. lO. 3. Du Mont, T. 4. Partic l. p. 214. Herrera, 2. l. S, 122 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY ' [1515. ance of the Spaniards, the natives were victorious. A ship from Espaiiola captured 140 Caribs; and Captain Gil, in another place, took twenty-seven and the cazique Huey, a famous Carib captain. In consequence of the depredations of these savages, and the suppli- cations of the inhabitants of Espafiola and San Juan, the King declared that the Indians of Guadaloupe were enemies, and also those of Carthagena and the islands in its neighbourhood ; but he would not issue a general declaration against all that were called Caribs, fearing the Spaniards would abuse the power. He also ordered that those which were taken should be proved to be Caribs, and those that were not adjudged to be so, should be sent back to their own country. With these orders Juan Ponce sailed from Spain upon the 1st of May with his fleet, and proceeded to Guadaloupe, (whose ancient name was Guacana,) where he sent some men to wood and water, and the women to wash, and soldiers to defend them. The Caribs attacked the party, killed the greater part, and took the women pri- soners. This accident vexed Juan Ponce de Leon, who proceeded with the fleet to the island of San Juan ; and there, either from sickness, or, as some say, affronted with what had happened, he sent the fleet to Tierra Firma, under the command of Captain Curiiga. Juan Ponce took with him his authority as governor of that island, and orders to assist at the repartimientos. From the bad success of this- fleet, a general license was issued for all to arm against the Caribs, and leave to take them for slaves, under pain of death, if they took any that were not Caribs. Pedro Hernandez Hevero, of Palos, sailed from Puerto de Plata, in Espariola, for Spain ; after they had gone 300 leagues, the vessel was so leaky, that the crew, consisting of twenty-five persons, had only time to jump into their boat, as the ship was sinking. They had neither provisions nor water, nor chart nor compass. A boy took with him his hands full of biscuit : they made sails with shirts. Discovering the biscuit which the boy had, they divided it ; it did not amount to two ounces per man. For want of water, they wetted their hands and face with sea water, and drank their own urine. They recommended themselves to the protection of Our Lady the Ancient of Seville, and at the end of eleven days found themselves three leagues from the port they had sailed from — where they landed with pious thankfulness. This vessel was one of Pedra- rias' fleet, who was sent to see if the Indians where the Portugueze landed were Caribs. Peter Martyr says, that the cannibals " have in our time vio- lently taken out of the said island of Sancti Johannis (Puerto Rico) more than 5000 men to be eaten." The licentiate Ibarra was recommended to the King, and sent to succeed Albuquerque at Espahola: he had orders to give repar- timientos of Indians to certain persons, particularly that 150 should Herrera, 2. 1. 8.-2. I. 11. P. Martyr, U. 3, C. 5. p. 123. 1515.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 123 be given to Alonso Hernandez Porto Carrero, upon the express condition that those Spaniards who had them should have them instructed, and use them conformably to the ordinances made respecting them. Ibarra carried out dispatches to Velazquez and Francisco de Garay, in which the King stated, that, for the discharge of his and the Queen's conscience, he had ordered the Indians to be converted ; and as, from the information of the best-informed persons, this could not be done without they associated constantly with Christians, he had ordered that they should be divided among the settlers, that, by their conversation and doctrine, they might be converted, and kept from returning to their wicked customs. When Ibarra arrived at Espanola, Bartolome de las Casas, who had preached against Albuquerque's repartimientos, opposed the plan ; but, from the opposition of the royal officers, he determined to go to Spain, to plead the cause of tlie Indians. Ibarra took possession of his office, but died soon afterwards : it was supposetl he was poisoned. The licentiate Lebron succeeded him, with orders to take care that no impediments were thrown in the way of the Spaniards marrying Inchan women, because it would assist in converting the Indians. He was also ordered to inform the other islands to observe the royal laws respecting dress, because, as in Espanola, he knew they also dressed to excess : and he was not to allow any Spaniards to quit Espanola — since, from the riches of Cuba and Tierra Firma, all of them were going to those parts ; and because some of the numerous Indians in Cuba had been ordered to be removed to Espanola, the King directed that it was not to be done without the consent of the Governor Diego Velazquez, of whom he had a high opinion, from his so speedily conquering that island, and establishing villages ; and because he had sent home a quantity of gold. The treasurer, Passamonte, obtained leave to return to Spain : he was fearfid that the admiral would injure him in the King's opinion : he carried with him a plan of Cuba, with all the mountains, rivers, vallies, and harbours in it, which Velazquez had drawn and sent to the King, and was to procure for him permission to trade to the south of the island, for which he was building vessels. The King received him graciously, and granted Bei'enguel Doms, captain of the gallies, leave to send a vessel of eighty tons to make discoveries further on in Tierra Firma, where it was expected he would find a great quantity of pearls and gold ; and if he did not, he was to bring back a cargo of Brazil. This grant was contrary to law, because Doms was not a native of Spain. At the same time the King granted a licence to Lope Hurtado de Mendoca, to go to those parts of the Indies not yet discovered, in two vessels arrned at his own expence, upon condition of his bringing back his cargo to sell it in Spain. Ilerrcra, 2. 1 . 11, 124 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1,5 16. Vessels from various parts were now constantly going to the Indies ; and to prevent the damage which the French corsairs did, the King ordered the officers of Seville to take great care to secure them. Some Portugueze who were caught at the Island of San Juan were sent to Spain : they had coasted from Brazil to Golden Castile, and run from thence to San Juan, where they were taken. They acknowledged that they had passed the line of demarcation of Castile; but said that Cape San Augustin did not fall within it, but was on the Portugueze side. To settle this point, the King ordered all the most able cosmographers and pilots to meet at Seville. Bartholomew de las Casas returned to Spain, to plead the cause of the Indians, whom he declared the Spaniards had destroyed with wanton cruelty. He says they laid wagers which could with one thrust of a sword rip open an Indian's bowels, or cut off his head with the greatest dexterity : they made long low gibbets of such a height, that the feet of those that were hanging just touched the ground ; upon these they hung thirteen in honour and worship of our Saviour and his twelve apostles, as they said ; and maldng a great fire under, burnt them alive : they made grates of " pearches laid on pitchforks," and with a little fire underneath, they, by little and little, roasted them alive. Las Casas says he saw at one time four or five of the principal lords broiled upon these gridirons ; and that a serjeant whose friends he knew at Seville, when a captain ordered some poor wretches that were roasting to be strangled, because he could not sleep for their noise, the Serjeant would not let them be strangled, but filled their mouths with bullets to prevent their cries : and as the Indians sometimes killed a Spaniard, the latter made a law among themselves, that for every Spaniard they would kill 100 Indians. 1516. In consequence of Las Casas's representations. Cardinal Ximenes sent three fathers of the order of St. Jerome with almost absolute powers, to regulate the laws respecting the Indians. The Domini- cans and Franciscans were at variance upon the subject ; therefore Jeromites were selected as commissioners : Louis de Figuero was appointed first commissioner — Bernandino de Manzanedo, and the prior of San Juan de Ortega of Burgos, his coadjutors. Their instructions were, to confirm the grants made to the ministers and lords of the court — to remedy abuses — and to pro- tect the Indians. All persons were requested to communicate their opinions upon the subject, that a system might be established which Henera, 2. 1.12. Las Casas Purclias, Tart 4. Lib. 8. C. 4. p. 1570. Hcrrcra, 2. 2. 3—2. 2. 6. 1510.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 125 should unite all interests. The principal caziques were to be assembled, and told they were free : that their oppressors should be punished; and that their Majesties had their interests at heart. Friars were to be sent to all parts of the island, to report how the Indians were treated, and to ascertain if they could be collected into villages. The plan proposed was to form them into villages of 300 Indians ; in each there was to be a church and an hospital, and a cazique to regidate the labour of those not in the mines; for whom each Indian was to work fifteen days in the year. Royal visitors were to be appointed to the charge of a certain number of these villages, where nothing was to be done without the consent of the missionary and cazique. The visitor was alwaj's to be a Spaniard, appointed by the King : and without his and the missionary's consent, no Indian was to be scourged. Heavier offences were to be reserved for the cognizance of the judges. No Indian was to carry arms, or go naked. They were to be allowed one wife, and her they were not to change. Tlie missionary was to have the tenths, the masses and offerings ; but he was not to receive any fee for baptism, confession, marriage, or bm*ial ; and he was to see that the children were taught to read Spanish. The last article related to the gold. The hours of labom* for the Indians in the mines were to be fixed ; and under twenty or above fifty years of age, none employed. Never more than one-third of a village were to be in the mines at one time, and these to be relieved every two months. Women might volunteer, but not be forced to go. Wlien the ore was to be melted, the visitor and cazique were to accompany the miners to the melting-houses, and there the produce divided into three equal parts, one for the King, and two between the cazique, the miner, and the village. Las Casas had the title of Protector-general of the Indians, with a salary of 100 pesos. The commissioners took upon themselves the duties of Royal Auditors, superseding the persons whom thev found in that office, for having abused their trust. The Spaniards formed companies : some traded with provisions to Tierra Firma, others carried cattle from Jamaica to Cuba; some went upon discovery and to seize Indians ; for which purpose Diego Velazquez granted licences. A ship and a brig, with 70 Spaniards, from Santiago, arrived at the Guanajas, supposed tliem now first discovered, loaded the ship with the unsuspicious inhabitants, and leaving twenty-five Spaniards with the brigantine, to claun the rest, in case any other vessel arrived whilst they were away, got to the Havaiia, and went on shore, leaving eight men to take care of tlie ship. The Indians not hearing so many persons on deck, forced the hatches, got on deck, killed all the Spaniards, weighed the anchor, and made sail, to the great dismay of the Spaniards on the beach. They got to their own islands as though skilled in naviga- Heneia. 2. 2, 4.-1. 2. 7. 126 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [15l6. tion, and attacked the twenty-five Spaniards with Spanish weapons : after a hard battle, a parley was held, and the Indian chief suifered the brigantine to go away, and to leave a memorial on a tree near the water, where the Spaniards cut a cross and these words — " Vamos al Darien," (we are gone to Darien). Velasquez sent two vessels after the ship : they saw the engraving on the tree — proceeded in search of their countrymen, and found the burnt wreck of the " caravela" upon some rocks, which they named " Arricifes ;" they named the Islands of Santa Catalina and Utila, seized 500 of their inhabitants, fastened them below, and went on shore. The Indians forced their way up — killed half the Spaniards left on board, and drove the rest overboard ; those on shore went on board and brought the other vessel alongside their old one ; and after two hours' fighting, took her again. Many of the Indians jumped overboard, but the Spaniards stopped 400 ; and with these, and more than 20,000 pesos of base gold, returned to the Havana. Gonzalo de Badajoz, with forty others, fighting their way along the coast of Tierra Firma, passed over in the night to the Isle of Pearls, and seized the cazique : the natives mistook them for Indians, but fled when they felt the Spaniards' swords. The cazique was ransomed with a quantity of gold, and Badajos returned to his wounded men on Tierra Firma. From Almejas Bay he crossed to the Island of Taboga, and seized the cazique by surprise. Although attacked several times, he remained thirty days, and having refreshed his men, and cured his wounded, returned to the Main with 7000 pesos of gold and some pearls, and proceeded to Darien. Thomas de Berlanga, a Dominican, carried the plantain plant from the Canary Islands to Hispaniola. Among other Franciscans that went to Espanola this year, were fourteen from Picardy, one of whom was brother to the King of Scotland (Escocia), an old grey-headed man, of great authority. Cardinal Ximenes forbade any ships sailing upon discovery without a priest, to prevent the crews from stealing Indian slaves. He also forbade the importation of Negro slaves into the islands. As one Negro was known to do more work than four Indians, he expected the demand would increase, and that government might raise a revenue from the traffic. Ximenes sent out armorial bearings for Cuba. The Geronimite fathers sailed from Seville the 11th November: they excused themselves from taking Las Casas on board, upon the plea of want of accommodations for a person of his rank. Las Casas sailed at the same time in another vessel, and at San Juan made another effort to sail with the fathers: they knew he was disliked at Espanola, and to avoid imputations of partiality, refused. Las Casas arrived at Espanola thirteen days before the fathers. Herrera, 2. 2. 2 2. 2. 6 2. 2. 8. — 2. 2. 12. Humboldt's New Spain, vol. ii. p. 415. cjuoting Oviedo. Edwards, vol. i. p. 255. quoting Oviedo. 1517.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 12J whose vessel had to refit at Puerto Rico ; where they found Juan Bono, with a cargo of Indians, from Trinidad : he had been hos- pitably received there, and had a house built according to his own plan, for securing his victims, whom he invited to see him ; when the house was full, he attacked his guests with seventy men. The Indians made a desperate push for the door — more than half of them were killed, but 185 were taken prisoners and carried away. The natives of Trinidad were enemies to the Caribs. The Geronimite fathers arrived at Santo Domingo, December 20th : they staid three days at the Franciscan monastery, and then went to the custom-house. The alcaide, Tapia, had spread injurious reports of their intentions, and said they were going to take all the Indians from the Spaniards. The fathers, therefore, fined him ten pesos of gold, and suspended him from his office of regidor. Sir Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert, with two ships, visited the coast of Brazil, and touched at the islands of Espahola and Puerto Rico. This voyage extended the sphere of English navigation, and added to the stock of nautical knowledge. " The faint heart" of Sir Thomas Pert is affirmed to have been the cause that the voyage " took none effect." Sir Thomas Pert was vice- admiral of England, and made this voyage in a vessel of 250 tons burthen, fitted out at the expence of King Henry VIII., in com- pany with another vessel of the same size. 1517. The Geronimites ordered all repartimientos belonging to ab- sentees to be taken away, and residents were enjoined to treat their Indians well. The judges and royal officers were not deprived of theirs. Las Casas exclaimed vehemently against this : his life was threatened ; and for safety, he was obliged to sleep in the monastery of St. Domingo. The Geronimites, anxious to convert the Indians, ordered them to be collected into villages, where the small pox broke out among them. The moment they felt the disease coming on, their spirits failed ; this, and their natural weakness, occasioned the death of an incredible number. They were established in twenty-six settlements, and were content with the fathers' protection, who forbid their being obliged to work for the Spaniards. The licentiate Zuazo arrived at St. Domingo, and began his administration to the satisfaction of all parties. The Geronimites ordered more Dominicans and Franciscans to the pearl coast, to continue the conversion of the Indians, and that the Indians of Tierra Firma should not be ill-treated; and as the Herrera, 2. 2. 12.— 2. 3. 15 — 2. 2. 22 — 2. 2. 15. Hackluyt, 1, 512. 3. 498. Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 191i 128 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY U'^^^7' population of Cubagua and the pearl trade increased, they sent a person to look after the royal fifths : and they wrote to Pedrarias Davila not to make any more excursions into the country, and to send an account of what gold and slaves he had procured. Las Casas disliked the proceedings of the Geroniuiites, and blamed the judges for all the murders committed upon the Lacayos, and for causing the death of the Dominican fathers, Juan Garces and his companions, by being parties concerned in the armaments that stole the Indians. The Geronimites declared the question belonged to the King and his ministers, not to a Juez de Residencia. This increased the odium against Las Casas, who determined to return to Spain. He left St. Domingo in May. On his arrival in Europe, Cardinal Ximenes was unwell at Aranda, and could not attend to business. Las Casas proceeded to meet the King at Valladolid. The Geronimites sent Bernardino de Manzenedo to answer the complaints of Las Casas, who they said was a violent man. The Cardinal of Toledo (the Liquisitor-General) sent to the bishops at Espanola commissions as inquisitors. At the request of the Geronimites, orders were sent out, that none of the judges or officers in the Indies should have repartimientos. Ximenes dying, the young King of Spain appointed Doc. Juan Selvagio to the government of Castile and the Indies, and made several grants of Indians : he also gave several licences to carry slaves to the Indies, notwithstanding that prohibition. From the want of provisions at Darien, the governor, Pedrarias Davila, gave permission to the Spaniards to go elsewhere. Allured by the fame of Diego Velazquez, and the prosperity of the inhabit- ants of Cuba, 100 Spaniards, most of them noble, went, and were well received there by Velazquez ; he thought the best way of employing such men was to send them upon discovery ; and there- fore persuaded them to go on that service, under the command of Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, who sailed from the Havana the 8th of February, with two ships, a brigantine, and 110 soldiers. On the 12th, they doubled Cape Antonio. By the advice of their pilot, Antonio de Alaminos, who had sailed as a boy with Columbus, they kept to the westward, to make discovei'ies in that direction. At the end of the 21st day's saiHng, during which time they had lowered their sails every night, and gone with great caution, they discovered land; they were soon surrounded by 100 canoes, and thirty of the natives went on board the Commodore : diey were well received, and promised by signs to come again next day. Next morning, twelve canoes came off, in one of which was a cazique, who cried out, " conez cotoche !" which they understood as an invitation to his house, and therefore named the Cape, Punta de Cotoche. The Spaniards accepted the invitation, and landed among a multitude. The cazique insisted upon their going to his house ; and the Spa- niards, seeing such demonstrations of friendship, consented. Wlien Herrcra; 2. 2. 16.— 2. 2. 17. I'. .Mailyi-, I). 4, C. 1, 5117«] OF THE WEST INDIES. 129 they arrived at a wood, the cazique eried out, and a number of men, with defensive coats of cotton, round shields, swords with sharp flint stones, lances and slings, and their faces painted of various colours, attacked them desperately ; but finding the effect of the Spaniards' swords, they fled leaving seventeen killed: the Spaniards had fifteen wounded. There were three places of worship hei-e, built with stone and lime; and Alonzo Gonzalez took some small boxes filled with clay and wooden idols, with jewels and crowns of base gold : the other idols in the houses were of clay, with hideous faces of women and devils, and some of them in beastly attitudes. The Spaniards brought off with them two boys, who were afterwards converted, and called Julian and Melchoi\ The discovery of a race so far civilized, delighted the Spaniards, who until now had not found any houses built with stone and lime. They continued standing along the coast, lying to every night, for fifteen days — when they discovered a large town, and near it a great bay. Domingo de La9aro jumped oji shore, and for this reason they gave his name to the town : the Indians called it Quimpech, and from thence the Spaniards Campeche. They found a pond of good water, of which the Indians drank, because there are no I'ivers in Jucatan. The Spaniards having taken what they wanted, were returning on boa,rd, when fifty Indians, dressed in jackets and cotton mantles, by signs asked what they wanted — if they came from where the sun rises, and invited them to the town. The Spaniards recol- lecting what had happened at Cotoche, prepared themselves and went into some well-bviilt places of worship, similar to tliose they had before seen, in which were fresh signs of blood and crosses painted, at which they were much surprised. Out of one of the temples came ten men, with lai'ge white mantles, and long black hair flowing behind, matted together ; they held small earthen pans, into wliicli they threw gum, called by them copal ; and, fumigating the Spaniaixls, told them they were of the earth, because they killed men ; and then the warriors began to sound sea shells, whistles, little trumpets (" Trompetillas"), and kettle-drums. The Spaniards retreated in good order, followed by two squadrons of warriors, and embarked without loss : and having sailed on for six days, they had a gale from the north, and for four days gave themselves up for lost. When the gale abated, they stood for the land : their vessels were disabled and leaky, and they had only a few days' water on board. They anchored after noon, one league from a town called Potonchan, and completed tlieir water from pools, which they found near some temples, built like those they had seen before. When they were about to return, a number of men, in good order, and armed as the others had been, came fi-om the town, and asked if they came from where the sun rose. The Spaniards answered yes, and the natives retired to some houses because it was almost dark ; Hcrrcra, 2. 2. 17. K 130 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l«^17. and the Spaniards, for the same reason, determined to remain where they were. Some hours afterwards, they heard warhke shouts, and dehberated what to do ; some were for embarking, others thought it dangerous as there were more than 300 Indians to one Spaniard. Day broke, and they saw that the squadrons of the pre- ceding day had been joined by others, who, having surrounded the Spaniards, attacked them with a great volley of arrows, stones from slings, and darts thrown with a line : this wounded eighty of the Spaniards, with whom the Inchans closed, fighting with swords and lances; and although the Spaniards plied well their cross-bows, muskets, and swords, they were in great danger, until the Indians, beginning to feel the effect of the swords, separated to discharge their arrows better, crying out every time, " Calachuni ! Calachuni !"- meaning that they were aiming at the captain Hernandez, whom they succeeded in piercing with twelve arrows. Finding himself thus wounded, and seeing that many of his men were wounded also, and that two, Alonso Bote and an old Portuguese, were taken prisoners, he made a desperate push, and opened a road through his enemies, who followed him with frightful cries. When they got to their boats, the men rushed into and sunk them : it was with great diffi- culty they were got off. The Indians following into the water with their lances, forty-seven Spaniards were killed and five died on board ; the others, whose wounds were made more painful by the water, abused the pilot Alaminos and his discovery : he always persisted that that land was an island. They named the bay, " Baia de Mala Pelea," Bad Batde Bay. There was only one Spaniard unwounded, they therefore resolved to destroy their smallest vessel, as they could not work them all ; and because the others were leaky, and they could not work the pimips, they kept close to the shore. Three days afterwards, eighteen of tlie best able landed, in hopes of getting water, of which they were in dreadful want: they found the water in the creek salt, and therefore dug in the sand for some, which was brackish, and made them very ill. They named it Alligator Creek, from the number of those animals there. While they were getting the water, a gale came on from the N.E. : the vessels drove ; but letting go more anchors, brought up, and held on for two days — when the gale abating, they made sail for the coast of Florida, by Alaminos' advice, as the best course for Cuba. In four days' time they made the land, and Alaminos landed with twenty soldiers — Hernandez requesting them to make all possible haste in getting the water, as he was dying. They landed near a creek : Alaminos said he had been there with Juan Ponce, and knew the place ; and that they must be on their guard, and place centinels. They dug wells, found good water, and were drinking and washing the linen for the sick, for near an hour, in high spirits. When they were about Herreia, 2. 2. 1 8. 15170 ^^ '^^^ WEST INDIES. xSi to embark, one of theii* centinels came running to them, crying out, " To the sea ! To the sea ! a multitude of armed Indians are coming !" At the same time, several canoes came do\vm the creek, and arrived simultaneously with the warriors, who were large men, dressed in deer-skins, and armed with very long bows and arrows, lances and swords. Their first volley wounded six Spaniards, but feel- ing the superiority of their arms, the Indians soon gave way, and fled to those in the canoes, who had taken one of the boats, and wounded Alaminos in the throat. The Spaniards followed tliem up to their waists in the w^ater, drove them from the lx)at they had taken, and took three of their wounded, who died on board the ships. When the Spaniards were going off", they enquired of the Sentry for his companion " Berrio ;" who said that he was cutting down a palm-tree in the direction from whence the Indians came, and that he had heard him cry out, which was the reason of his coming to them with the alarm. Berrio, at Potonchan, was the only one who escaped unwounded. They looked for him for more than an hour — found the tree which he had begim to cut — and observed that near it there were more marks of feet than elsewhere, but no signs of blood : from which they concluded that the Indians had taken him alive. They returned on board; where one of the men was so thirsty, that he threw himself into the boat, caught up a jar, and drank to that excess, that he swelled and died two days afterwards. They made sail, and in two days and nights got into four fathoms water, among some small islands which they called the Martyrs. One of their vessels struck on the rocks and made a good deal of water; but they got to Puerto de Carenas (the Havana), from whence Francisco Hernandez de Cordova wrote to Velazquez an account of his discoveries — went home to his house at Sancti Espiritus, and died in ten days. Three of the soldiers died at the Havana — which made fifty-six that were killed this voyage. When Velazquez saw the Indians, Julian and Melchor, and the boxes, with the idols and jewels, and pieces of plate and golden crowns, which Gonzalez had taken from the temples, he was greatly rejoiced. He asked the Indians if they found the gold in grains : they told him yes; which increased his desire to prosecute the discovery. But this was not true: there were no mines in Jucatan. Bernal Diaz, who was in this expedition, and in those that were made afterwards, says that he asked the Indians if they had any of the roots called " Yuca," of which the " ca^abi," bread, was made in their country. To which they replied, " ilatli ;" for the land where it was planted. Yuca joined with ilatli makes yucatla, and from thence comes Yucatan. Others say, that the Indians said toloquitan to the first discoverers ; thinking that they asked for some town. The Spaniards understood they said lucatan, and fi-om tliis named Herrera, 2. 2. 18. K 2 132 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY L^'^^^. the province Yucatan — which had no general name; because, luitil the arrival of the Spaniards, it was divided among several caziques, who were independent sovereigns. Pedrarias having executed Vasco Nunez and four others, the Geronimites forbid him to act in any case by himself as a judge, and ordered all the gold he got fi'om the cazique Paris, to be sent to Espanola. The details of Pedrarias' actions do not belong to this worko Las Casas finding his plans for benefitting the Indians met with difficulties from all parts, adopted other expedients. He proposed that the Spaniards might have Negroes, and that labourers with certain privileges might be sent them. Adrian, the Cardinal of Toledo, approved of these expedients, and the officers of the India- house at Seville were applied to, to say how many Negroes would suffice for the four islands, Espanola, Cuba, San Juan, and Jamaica : they replied, 4000. The traffic in slaves was known to be a lucra- tive concern {see 1516), and a Fleming who was major domo to the King, begged and obtained a licence to supply the islands : he sold it to some Genoese, for 25,000 ducats, for eight years. The King was not to grant any other licence. The Genoese afterwards sold it for a great deal more. Francisco de San Roman, a Franciscan, stated so powerfully the evils that Pedrarias' captains occasioned, that the King determined to deprive him of his command : and as the Geronimites had been sent to Espanola by Cardinal Ximenes, against the consent of Hernando de Vega, Bishop of Burgos, who now presided at the council of the Indies, they were recalled. He was also against Las Casas' plan of sending out labourers to the islands, who, in conse- quence, was only able to raise 200 men, and those were from Antequera. The Fathers adopted Las Casas' plans, and recommended labourers to be sent from Spain, and that Negro slaves might be imported, to ease the labour of the Indians. They examined the accounts of the judges and royal officers, and thereby made them all their enemies, especially the treasurer Passamonte. They ordered all miners to be paid salaries instead of sharing the produce — to prevent their overworking the Indians. They removed the prohi- bition to traffic on the Pearl Coast; but only persons of good character were to have licences, who were allowed to receive slaves from the Indians, but not to seize any themselves — and those were to be treated well. The duties upon melting gold were moderated- No traders were to interfere with the Caribs, who had not studied the laws of the Audience, to know what was legal. Two vessels were fitted at the public expence, which returned with cargoes of slaves and pearls. The population of Espanola was estimated at 18,410 souls. Herrera, 2. 2. 22 — 2. 2. 20 — 2. 2. 21. Coke's West Indies, vol. iii. p. 341. 1518.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 133 1518. Tlie mission of Dominicans and Franciscans, with some religious men from Picardy, was sent to the Pearl Coast on Tierra Firma, where they built a monastery, and with a holy and exemplary life attended and preached to the Indians. The Geronimites carefully supplied all their wants from Espanola : they also ordered that great care might be taken to find out the cazique and the " cacica," who, with seventeen other persons, had been betrayed and robbed in Cumana, and sent to Espanola, from which had resulted the death of the Fathers Francisco de Cordova and Juan Garces — that they might be returned to their lands : and a royal order was sent to Zuago to find out the offenders, that they might be punished. And the officers at Seville also ordered that every year six Dominicans sliould be sent out, provided with every thing. When it was known at Espanola that the King had arrived in Castile, meetings were held to appoint a deputy to kiss his hand, and in the name of the island tender their obedience. Upon this occa- sion party disputes ran high ; and the Geronimites thinking them- selves treated with disrespect, ordered the licenciate Zuago to take the warrant from the licenciate Ayllon, who had been voted to go, and to prevent his embarkation. This act of authority occasioned several letters to be written to the King, which were so far successful that a reprimand was sent out to the Fathers and Zua^o, and orders that neither he or the licenciate Ayllon should be sent, but an accoimt of what had passed, and that the licenciate Rodrigo de Figueroa, who M-as appointed " Juez de Residencia," should make haste out to supersede Zuaco. The young King also made other grants to export slaves, in addition to that of the 4000. He gave permission to the Marquis of Astorga for 400 — to Francisco de los Cobos, and the Secretary Villegas fifty each — to others for twenty, and some for ten. To Carlos Puper, Lord of Laxao, he granted three parts of the royal fifth of the spoils taken by Vasco Nunez in Tieri'a Firma ; and he ordered the officers of the Seville house to give Madame de Xebres 274 marks of pearls and seed pearls. He also ordered the Geronimite Fathers to allow captain Diego de Albitez to raise 200 men in Espanola, to colonize Nombre de Dios and Panama : thus diminishing the number of Spaniards in Espaiaola. The small-pox, which had broken out among the Indians last year, continued its ravages, and occasioned a great mortality. Rodrigo de Figueroa had orders to suffer the Indians to live by themselves in their own villages, and that all who requested it should be set at liberty. Each that was married was to pay for fifteen Hen-era. 2. 3. 7. K 3 134^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1518. years to come a certain tribvite, equal to what Las Casas thought they were able, for themselves and their children ; but Figueroa had discretionary powers to continue the plans of the Geronimites, if he found the others impracticable. And as the Indians from Trinidad had been taken for slaves, upon pretence of their being Caribs, the evil was to be remedied, and all that had been brought to Espailola from the Barbadoes and " Gigantes" were to be treated as natives — and he was to punish with rigour those who, under, colour of trading on the Pearl Coast, ill-treated the Indians, and supplied them with arms and wine, because they got drunk, and endangered the safety of the Fathers who were preaching among them. Figueroa was to carry out letters to the Fathers, with thanks for what they had done, and permission for them to return ; but they were to remain some days, to give him all the information they could about the Indians. He had one also to Las Casas from the King, which contained his opinion, that Las Casas was right in his statements about the capacity of the Indians, approving of liis plans, and directing Figueroa to apply to him for assistance about the Indians. Upon Cordova's report, Velasquez sent four caravals, with 300 men, to the coast of Yucatan, under the command of his nephew, Juan Grijalva Alphonso Davila; Francisco Montegria and Pedro Alva- rados were the captains, and Antonio Alaminos pilot, Grijalva's orders were to collect gold, but not to leave a colony. They sailed from St. Jago, April 8th, and landed at Cozumel upon the feast of the crass, which they therefore named Santa Cruz. They found brick or stone houses, but only two Indians ; who, being too old for flight, had concealed themselves. Grijalva sent them to desire their chief to come ; they never returned : but a young woman came, who spoke the Jamaica dialect. She had been driven two years before, by a gale of wind, in a canoe, upon Cozumel ; and her husband, and nine men who were with them, had been sacrificed. Grijalva sent her to invite the natives to traffic: he was afraid Melchor and Julian, his interpreters, would run away. She returned in about forty-eight hours, unsuccessful, and implored to be taken back to Jamaica, which she was. The Spaniards found upon the island several hives of good honey, potatoes, and peccarys. They saw several places of worship ; one was a square tower, the ascent to which v/as by eighteen steps, hollow at the top, with four large windows and a balcony : in the hollow were marble idols, and earthen images of bears, which they worshipped with songs and incense ; and, surrounded by a wall with battlements, they found a white-washed cross three yards high, worshipped as the god of rain. The natives were circumcised, and at last entertained the Spaniards courteously. Their king, or high priest, wore a curiously wrought cotton garment, and had lost the toes of one foot, by the bite of a fish. P. Martvf. D. J. (' '">. Uiuicra, 'J. iJ. 1. Las CaK- 1518.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 135 After three clays the Spaniards stood to the westward, and landed whei-e Cordova did the year before, at Campeche. When within a stone's throw of the town, the natives ordered them to depart ; and when asked for water, pointed to a well behind the Spaniards. At night 3000 Indians remained close to them ; at day-light the natives lighted a torch of fi'ankin cense between the armies, and said unless the strangers departed before that burnt out, they should be put to death. The Spaniards retired behind their guns near the well, and repelled the attack with some discharges of shot, which dispersed the astonished assailants. One Spaniard was killed and seventy wounded — Grijalva in three places : an arrow broke two of his teeth. The Spaniards embarked, and stood to the westward, to a gulf which Alaminos named " Boca de Terminos," he thought the land was an island, and this the end of it. They landed, and found temples with idols of clay and wood, figures of men, women, and serpents. They killed several deer and rabbits, and staid three days, but lost their greyhounds. The Spaniards coasted along by day, and " lay-to" every night. They went up a river which freshened the water two leagues from its mouth ; the natives called it Tobasco. Six thousand of them, with wooden swords and spears, and broad golden shields, were upon the shore, to prevent the Spaniards landing. About 100 canoes filled with armed men, came off; but peace being offered by the interpreter, one with a chief on board came near, and asked what the strangers wanted, and being answered, " gold in exchange for other things," he rowed back to the cazique, who came to the Spaniards, and ordered his men to bring some of his treasures. He gave Grijalva, and had them put upon him, golden shoes find boots ; a complete suit of armour, all of gold curiously wrought ; four masks, covered with stones like emeralds, in Mosaick work ; some beautiful coverings for shields ; and dresses of feathers. Grijalva, in retvu'n, made the cazique a present of his crimson velvet coat and a linen shirt. Francisco de Garay, the Governor of Jamaica, hearing of the riches of Yucatan, sent Diego de Camargo, with two vessels, upon discovery ; who, from the point where Grijalva had returned, discovered 100 leagues more towards Florida. Garay, claiming the merit of this, sent to Spain, offei'ing to people and conquer those provinces at his own expence, and requesting the title of adelantado. Velazquez also determined to send another messenger to Spain, and appointed Gonzalo de Guzman for that purpose. The Bishop of Burgos presided in the Council of the Indies ; and Velazquez had requested his niece, Doria Maior de Fonseca, in marriage. The bishop thought highly of him, and sent him a licence to discover, at his own expence, any islands or lands that were not previously Heircra, 2. ft. 4 2. 3. 11, K 4 136 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY (^1518. known, and which were not contained within the line of demarcation of the Kino- of Portugal. He might conquer those lands as the Kino-'s captain, and have for his life the title of adelantado of all he should discover, and a fifteenth of their produce, as the royal revenue, for his life and his successors; and that, when he had peopled and conquered four islands, he might have the twentieth pai-t of the royal rents of any one of them he chose, for himself and heirs for ever. He might export from Spain, duty free, for his life, any necessaries for the new countries ; and permission was given him to raise men in Espafiola for the new colonies, with several other privileo-es. This grant was signed at Barcelona the 13th of Novem- ber, and Cortez sailed with his fleet the 18th of the same month. An inhabitant of La Vega, named Aguilon, in 1506, brought some plants of the sugar-cane, from the Canaries, which had flourished and increased so much, that the Bachelor Bellosa, a suro-eon in San Domingo, a native of " Verlinga," erected a sucrai'-mill. The Geronimite fathers, seeing it answered, ordered that 500 pesos de oro should be lent to every inhabitant who wished to erect an " ingenio" for sugar : in a short time there were forty water and horse-mills upon the island. And it is to be remembered, Herrera says, that formerly there was no sugar but in Valencia — aftei'w^ards they had it in Grenada ; from thence it was taken to the Canaries, and from them to the Indies — where, for the service of the mills, great pains were taken to procure Negroes. This rovised the Portuguese to seek for them in Guinea ; and as the exportation was great, and the duties increasing, the King applied them to the building of the " Alca9ar" (Palace) in Madrid and in Toledo. The Spaniards were beginning to enjoy the fruit of their labours in Espafiola, when that, and particularly San Juan's Island, were so overrun with ants, that it was feared they would be totally depopu- lated. Those in Espafiola did great damage to the trees, those in San Juan stung as severely as bees. The inhabitants, to keep them away at night, placed their bed-posts in four large troughs filled with water. Those in Espafiola began to eat the tree at the root; and, as though fire had fallen from heaven and burnt them, they appeared black and dry — whole orcliards together, every orange and " cafiafistola" tree was destroyed. As a remedy to cure this plague, some dug a deep trench round the trees, and killed the ants in the water, and others tried to burn them : their young were found four palms deep in the ground, in white clusters. The Franciscan fathers in La Vega placed three or four pounds of sublimat of mercury upon the rails of their gallery — all the ants in the neigh bourhpod went to it : they died immediately upon tasting it ; but for half a leao-ue round they repaired to this deadly banquet, till the gallery was black with their bodies, and the fathers determined to remove the bait. The inhabitants, that they might have an acceptable Ileiror;!, 'i. :?. M. 1518.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 137 mediator, and that God might signify whom lie liked, made a solemn procession, the bishop, clergy, and all the city, and cast lots for all the Saints in the litany : it fell upon St. Saturnino, who was received with great joy as the patron, and his festival celebrated with great solemnity then and always afterwards ; and from that day they say the plague began to diminish. The licenciate Rodrigo de Figueroa arrived at Espanola, and the Geronimite fathers returned to Spain : they waited upon the King at Barcelona, and stated to him, that the treasurer Passa- monte was the leader of the discontented party in Espanola, and that he had calumniated the licenciate Zuazo, under the pretence of his having been partial in the affairs of the admiral Don Diego Columbus. The traffic for slaves upon the Main near Cubagua having been forbidden, the Indians, who had adopted the trade of selling them to the Spaniards, finding that market closed, sold their captives to the Caribs, who bought them for the purpose of eating them. Juan de Grijalva continued his voyage, and in two days arrived at a town called Aqualunco, which the Spaniards named " La Rambla." The natives appeared on the beach with menacing gestures, armed with shields made of turtle shells, which, in the sun- shine, some of the Spaniards mistook for gold. Further on they discovered a bay and a river, which they named San Anton, and then a large river called Guacacoalco ; but bad weather prevented their going into it. They then discovered the snowy mountains of New Spain, and those of San Martin ; and gave them that name, because the soldier who saw them first was so called. Coasting along, captain Pedi'o de Alvarado separated fi'om the others, and welit into a river, which the Indians called Papaloava, and he named Alvarado. The Indians came off, and gave him some fish : the rest of the squadron waited for him ; and Grijalva, on his return, gave him a reprimand. Coasting along, they came to another river, which they named " De Vanderas," because they saw a gi*eat number of Indians with white mantles at the end of their long lances, which looked like flags. Here Grijalva sent captain Francisco de Montego on shore, with two boats, with all the musketeers and cross-bow-men, and twenty more soldiers. The interpreters did not understand the language, be- cause it was Mexican. The natives burnt copal before the Spaniards; and upon this Montego sent to Grijalva for more men — he himself landed ; and the governor, who was one of Montezuma's officers, received him with great courtesy. The Spaniards remained six days, during which time they obtained by traffic more than 15,000 pesos worth of base gold. This was the first lanchng of the Spaniards in New Spain, and Montego was the first man on shore. Herrera, 2. 3, 14 2. 3. 9. P. Martvr. 138 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1518. Grijalva took possession of the country in the name of the King and Diego Velazquez, and proceeded to an island, which he called " Isla Blanca," because the sand was white ; and about four leagues from the coast he saw another, which he named " Isla Verde," because it was covered with trees. Further on they saw another, about a league and a half from the shore : here Grijalva anchored, and went on shore. They found two houses well built with lime and stone, with several steps, by which they ascended as to an altar ; here they found idols, and saw that that night five men had been sacrificed, whose breasts had been opened and their arms and thighs cut off; the walls were covered with blood. The Spaniards named it the " Isla de Sacrificios." One of the idcls, resembling a lion, had a hole through its neck, into which they poured the blood of the victims, and from thence it ran into a trough of marble : another idol, shaped like a man, stooping down, appeared to be looking into the trough, as it were accepting the oblation. The Spaniards landed upon the main opposite the island, where with their oars and sails they made huts, for the men to traffic in with the Indians, but they were fearful, and brought but little gold. The Spaniards, therefore, went to some small islands, and built huts on the highest spots they could find, to avoid the mosquitos. With the boats they sounded the harbour, and found that there was good anchorage, and shelter from the north wind. Juan de Grijalva, with thirty soldiers, went to the island, he found a temple with idols, and four men dressed in very large black mantles, with hoods like friars : they were the priests of that temple, and that same day had sacrificed two boys, who were seen with their breasts opened and their hearts taken out. Grijalva asked why tliis was done ? and an Indian, whom he had brought from the river " De Vanderas," interpreted the answer to be, that the orders to do so came from Ulua. It being St. John's Day, and Grijalva's name being " Juan," he named the island " San Juan de Ulua." The Indian made a mistake — he was told Culua, not Ulua. The Spaniards staid seven days : they were greatly annoyed by the mosquitos, and got but little gold. Having ascertained that the land was the continent, and that there were large cities, the name of New Spain was finally determined upon. Captain Pedro de Alvarado, who commanded the San Sebastian, was chosen to go to Velazquez, with the dispatches, and to take the gold and the sick to Cuba : the others continued their navigation, and in the province of Panuco discovered a river, which they named Cancas. While at anchor here, ten canoes, with armed men, surrounded Alonso Davila's vessel, which was the smallest, and wounded five Spaniards with a volley of arrows. They also cut one of the vessel's cables ; but two of their canoes being upset, the rest fled. The Spaniards made sail, and came to a high cape, where the P. Martyr, D. 4. C. 4. L. 160. Herrera, 2. 3. 10. 1518.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 189 current ran so strong, that, by the advice of Alaminos the pilot, they gave up the attempt to get round it. A council was held, as to what was to be done ; some, that were for making a settlement, among whom was Grijalva, proposed going back to seek for a proper place ; but the captains Francisco de Montejo and Alonso JDavila, with some others, opposed it, alleging that winter was coming ; that there was a scarcity of provisions, and one of the ships was leaky ; it was better therefore, to return to Cuba ; for, in addition to these reasons, the country was populous and the men warlike, and the Spaniards too sickly to defend themselves. Grijalva's instructions were, not to leave a colony : this, and the opposition of his captains, and the obstacles they threw in the way, determined hun to return : they went to the great river of Guacacoalco, but bad weather prevented their getting in. They passed on to the river San Anton, where they careened the leaky vessel ; many of the Indians came to traffic; some with bright copper hatchets, which the Spaniards mistook for base gold, and bought in great numbers. Bernal Diaz had brought some orange seeds with him from Cuba : these he planted near one of the places of worship, in which he had sought shelter from the attacks of the mosquitos : they grew and flourished, and bore very fine oranges, which were the first that ever were seen in New Spain. The ship being repaired, they made sail for Cuba, and arrived there in 45 days, with 4000 pesos in addition to what Alvarado had carried, besides the hatchets, which, to the great mortification of the purchasers, were found to be copper. They landed at Puerto de Matangas, where Grijalva found a letter from the governor, order- ing him to repair to Santiago, and leave liis men to prepare another expedition to return and colonize New Spain. P. Martyr says, D.4. C.4. that at one of the places Grijalva was presented with a golden image of a man, a cubit long, and several breastplates and ornaments and precious stones. Velazquez received Grijalva very ungraciously, and blamed him for not leaving a colony, although his own orders had been obeyed in not doing it. A fresh fleet was immediately ordered to be fitted out for this purpose, which, with those that returned with Grijalva, amounted to ten sail. To give all possible authority to it, Juan de Salcedo was sent to Espahola, to request a licence from the Gero- nimite fathers, and with some specimens of what had been found. Benito Martin, his chaplain, Velazquez sent to Spain, with the account of the discovery, samples of the gold, and other things : he was to request a higher title for Velazquez, and a grant to colonize this and the future discoveries he should make. Velazquez expended 20,000 ducats in fitting out the fleet, and intended sending Baltasar Bermudez as general ; but that officer demanding higher terms than the governor would grant, he applied K-n-tra, _'. 140 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1518. to Amador tie Lares, the Royal Auditor, who recommended Hernan Cortez. The appointment gave Cortez great delight : he expended his own money, to the amount of 2000 castellanos, in equipping the fleet. One day walking down to the ships with Velazquez and other officers, Francisquillo, a fool belonging to the governor, turned round to Velasquez, and said, " Mind what you are about — that we have not to go hunting after Cortez." Velaz- quez laughed heartily, and said to Cortez, " Comrade, do you hear what that knave, Francisquillo, says ?" Cortez replied, " What, Sir ?" pretending he had not. Velasquez said, " Que si os hemos de ir a montear ?" Cortez replied, " Don't mind him, Sir — he is a knavish fool." — " I tell thee, fool, that if I catch thee, I will make thee pay for it" — there was a general laugh ; but the caution made an impression upon Velazquez, and Cortez' enemies increased the governor's suspicions ; so that he resolved to supersede Cortez, and told Amador de Lares his intention, who informed Cortez. That same night, when every body was in bed, Cortez called up all his friends, and sent them on board : then taking a few to defend his person, he went to the shambles, seized all the meat, and sent it on board his ships, gave a gold chain, which he wore, in payment, and embarked. The men went to Velazquez, who immediately got up ; all the city was alarmed, and were with him at the water-side by day-light. Cortez armed a boat with his best friends, and rowed towards Velasquez, who asked if that was a proper way tQ take leave. Cortez replied, " I beg your lordship's pardon : these sort of things are to be done before they are thought about. Have you any orders for me ?" Velasquez was at a loss for an answer. Cortez returned to the ships, and got under weigh, the 18th of November, with more than 300 soldiers on board, and with very little provisions : he proceeded to Puerto de Macana, fifteen leagues, where he had an establishment. In eight days he made the Indians supply him with 300 loads of Cac^abi bread, each load being a month's provision for one man : he got live stock also, which he took as being lent to the King. From hence he went to the city of Trinidad, more than 200 leagues from Santiago. On his passage he met a vessel from Jamaica, with a cargo of live stock bound to Cuba — he detained her, took her cargo, and got information of another vessel loaded with provisions. He sent Diego de Ordas, with a caraval, to wait for him off Cape San Anton. Ordas was attached to Velazquez, and Cortez wanted him out of the way. In the city of Trinidad, Cortez ordered his standard to be hoisted before his house, and proclaimed his intended expedition, as he had done at Santiago: and partly by force, and partly by persuasion, he got provisions and some horses, giving acknowledg- ments of having received them to their owners as payment. Here Ilcncra, 2. 3. 12. 1518.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 141 he embai'ked 100 sokliei's, who had been with Grijalva, and were waiting for the fleet — and also the five brothers, Pedro, Jorge, Gon^alo, Gomez and Juan Ah'arado, with others. Cortez wrote to the town of Espirito Santo, eighteen leagues off, inviting the principal persons to accompany him ; and succeeded in inducing Juan Velazquez de Leon, a relation of the governor's, Alonzo, Hernandez Puertocarrero, Goncalo de Sandoval, Rodrigo Ranjel, Juan Sedefio, Goncalo Lopez de Ximena, and Juan Lopez, his brother, to join him with their Indian servants. From hence he went to St. Christoval, and afterwards to the Havaria, where he collected all the pi'ovisions he could, and paid for them in the same manner. Diego Velazquez, by the advice of his friends, sent two messengers to Francisco Verdugo, his brother-in-law, the " Alcalde" of the city of Trinidad, with orders to detain the fleet, because he had revoked Cortez' powers, and he was no longer the commander. Velazquez wrote also to Diego de Ordas and Francisco de Morla, and to others, to assist Verdugo in executing the orders. Cortez, who knew what was going on, spoke privately to Diego de Ordas, who was returned from Cape Anton, and to all the others whom he suspected of favouring Velazquez' designs, and persuaded them that Ordas himself should speak to Verdugo, and represent the danger there would be of the soldiers mutinying, and of the town being destroyed, if anything was attempted against Cortez. One of Velazquez' messengers volunteered to go with the fleet — by the other Cortez WTOte to him, expressing his surprise at what he had done, and stating that his desire was to serve the King and him in his name : he also wrote to his friends Amador de Lares and others. As soon as the messenger was gone, Cortez embarked, and made sail for the Havana : he sent Pedro de Alvarado, with those that chose to go across by land, that they might collect more soldiers on the road. The horses were also sent by land ; and Escalante, a great friend of Cortez, to coast along the north side. All the fleet, men and horses, arrived at the Havana, except Cortez' ship, the Capitana. At the end of seven days three vessels were sent to look after her. The Capitana was the largest of the fleet, and had run agromid on the " Jai'dines," but was got off" by being lightened. As soon as she was laden again, Cortez proceeded to the Havana : he had exerted himself very much in getting her afloat, and was joj'fully received : he lodged with Velazquez' lieute- nant, Pedro Barba, hoisted his standard, and issued proclamations of his expedition : several persons of consequence joined him here. Consultations had been held during the absence of Cortez, to settle who should command in the event of his not joining the fleet again ; Diego de Orgas had made himself conspicuous in them. Herrera. 2. 3. 13. 142 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1519. Cortez, therefore, sent him out of the way, to the Indian village Guaniguanigo, for a cargo of Cazabi, and attended himself in ex- pediting the completing the fleet. He gave the charge of cleaning the artillery, consisting of ten small brass pieces and some falconets, to Mesa, and as there was plenty of cotton in that district, he ordered quilted dresses to be made, as a defence against the Indians' arrows and lances. Another messenger (Gasparde Garnica) arrived from Velazquez, with orders to Pedro Barba to seize Cortez ; he also brought letters for Diego de Ordas and Juan Velazquez de Leon, to assist Pedro Barba. Cortez sent for Juan Velazquez, and convinced him of the impolicy of the attempt ; and Pedro Barba wi'ote to Velazquez, stating that the soldiers were so attached to Cortez, no attempt to remove him could be made with safety. Cortez wrote at the same time to Velazquez, declaring that he was his faithful servant, and intreating him not to believe any body who said to the contrary. He then ordered the horses to be embarked, and sent Alvarado, in the St. Sebastian, off Cape Anton, to tell Diego Ordas to hold himself in readiness, as the fleet would join them very shortly. 1519. In February, Hernan Cortez left Cuba, with 508 soldiers, 110 sailors, sixteen horses, thirty-two cross-bow-men, thirteen musketeers, and ten pieces of artillery, on that expedition which ended in the conquest of Mexico. The licenciate Figueroa began his administration in Espailola with great caution; he got what information he could from the Geronimite fathers and others, and then began to execute the King's orders relative to the Indians — he sent for several of the caziques, treated with them, and set them at liberty, as an expe- riment. The treasurer Passamonte was interested in opposing these plans, and procured the signatures of several officers to a statement, shewing that they would be prejudicial to the royal revenue, and to add weight to the representation, he collected a great quantity of gold from all the islands, and sent it to the King — requesting at the same time, a licence to import a great number of Negroes, as the only way of rendering the islands pro- ductive. In Cuba Diego Velazquez had peopled eight places, six of which were supported by getting gold; but it was only at the Havana that there were any farms or herds of cattle. In Jamaica there were two villages, Sevilla and Oristan ; and though little gold was found there, they had sugar mills, and some of Herrera, 2. 4. 6 2. 5. 2. — 2. 5. 3- 15190 or THE WEST INDIES. 143 the Spanish inhabitants had planted vineSj and made several casks of good claret. The Royal Audience stated this to the King, and requested him to settle with the King of Portugal about a supply of Negi'oes for the islands, which, if not obtained speedily, the islands would be ruined. Alonzo Alvarez Pineda was sent from Jamaica by Francisco de Garay to New Spain. Cortez being informed of the arrival of the ship, marched to know who came in her, and met a notary and two witnesses, who required him to part the country with Garay, who claimed it as having discovered it, and intended to settle a colony twenty leagues to the westward, near Nautlam. Cortez desired, before they notified any thing, they would return on board and desire the captain to repair to Vera Cruz, where they would dis- course upon the subject. Cortez afterwards secured the notary and his witnesses, and made some of his men change clothes with them, and make signs for a boat. When the boat came, he seized five of the crew that landed. The rest escaped, and returned to the ship, which sailed away, without troubling Cortez any further. The first English vessel ever seen in the West Indies arrived at Porto Rico this year. A Spanish caraval from St. Domingo was there for a cargo of cassada, and her captain, Ginez Navarro, was told the following story by the English : — " They had a licence from the King of England to seek for the territories of the Great Cham. Another vessel sailed in company with them, from whom they were separated by a violent gale of wind, which had driven them into a sea covered with ice, and from thence into a strait, where the sea appeared like water boiling in a pot. From this they got to the Baccalaos, where they saw fifty sail of Spanish, French, and Portu- guese vessels, fishing. They had also landed upon an island, where the natives had killed their pilot, and then they coasted along to the Rio Chico — from whence they had crossed to Porto Rico, for a cargo of Brazil wood, and for information, for their King, of the state of those islands, of which there was so much talk in Europe :" this was the last thing the Spaniards wished them to obtain. The vessel was 250 tons burthen, had two guns mounted upon her fore- castle, and seventy men : she was laden with wine, flour, cloth, and linen — had artillery on board, and a forge and an oven, and was going to San Domingo. Captain Ginez was asked to tell the course and distance to the city. When the English arrived at San Domingo, they asked permis- sion to trade. After waiting two days for an answer, the batteries fired upon them, and they returned to Porto Rico, and sold part of their cargo to the inhabitants of St. Germain. The Royal Audience disapproved of the governor's conduct, and wjote to Spain upon the subject, and upon the necessity of strength- Herrera, 2. 4. 1 2. 5. 3. Edwards, vol, i. p. 168, 144 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1519. ening the citadel. The Spanish government were equally alarmed, blamed the governor for not seizing the vessel, instead of driving her away, and thus preventing her taking home information about the islands. It is probable that Oviedo was Herrera's authority for this fact ; and Oviedo says it occurred in 1527.' In San Juan de la Maguafia, Valen^uela had a department of Indians, whose cazique had been educated by the Franciscans in La Vera Paz, and whose ancestors had reigned in the mountains of Baoruco. " Enrique" was high-spirited and very pious. Valen9uela treated him with indignity, seized his horse, and attempted to seduce Donna Mencia, his wife. Enrique's complaints were treated with contempt by Badillo, the royal lieutenant : he therefore applied to the Royal Audience, but only obtained a letter of recommendation to Badillo. This failure inci'eased his misfortunes, for Valenc^uela redoubled his ill usage. Enrique, therefore, with several of his countrymen, collected what arms they could, and sought refuge in the mountains of Baoruca. Valen^uela, with twelve Spaniards, pursued the fugitives, and attempted to seize Enrique: but he was obliged to retreat, with the loss of two men killed, and himself and most of the others wounded. Enrique told them to " go, and thank God that they had spared his life — and never come there again, for neither himself or his followers would ever work for the Spaniards." Upon receiving the intelligence, the Royal Audience sent a party of eighty men to seize the cazique. Enrique, apprised of their approach, attacked them in a wood by surprise, killed several, and wounded almost all the others ; but would not suffer them to be pursued. This action produced very different effects upon the spirits of the Indians and Spaniards : Enrique soon found himself at the head of 300 followers. His plan was only to act upon the defensive, and to keep his men upon the alert. Various parties were sent to subdue him, but they were always defeated. He had repulsed a considerable body of troops with great slaughter, and seventy-one of the fugitives sought shelter in a cavern. The Indians surrounded the cavern, and filled the entrances with wood and other combustibles, and were preparing to set them on fire, Herrera, 2. 5. 1. ^ Tliis vessel Hakluyt supposes to have whereas it is, in the copy of Oviedo now been that in which Sir Thomas Pert and before me, which was printed at Seville, Sebastian Cabot sailed on a voyage of dis- 1 535, distinctly written, " El ano de 1 527, covery, about the eighth year of the reign of anos un cossario Inglis," &c. Henry VIII., and which took none eifect, Purchashascopied the same error, Part 3. on account of the faint heart of Sir Thomas Lib. 5. Chap. 3. p. 999. Pert. Hakluyt grounds his supposition In Harris's Collection of Voyages there' upon the translation of Oviedo, by Ramii- is the same error also, vol. ii. sect. 1 7. sio, nhcrc the date is mis-printed 1517, p. 191. Oviedo, L. 19. C. 13. 1520.] OF THE WEST INDIES- 145 when Enrique arrived : he had the entrance opened, and gave the Spaniards their hberty, contenting himself with disarming them. The conqueror's vigilance increased with his success. He lived in the most inaccessible places. The women and children culti- vated the soil, and reared live stock — they had hounds, also, for hunting the wild boar. None of his absent partizans ever knew where he was ; therefore, when taken, were unable to betray him. This war cost the government 40,000 ducats : several towns were abandoned in consequence of it ; and the parties sent against him went very unwillingly. Remigio, a Franciscan from Picardy, who had educated Enrique, volunteered, and was sent to make peace with him ; Remigio was surrounded, soon after he landed, by Indians : they said he was come to deceive them — the Spaniards were all wicked, and always told lies : and they stripped him. When Enrique heard it was a Franciscan, he went to him. Remigio embraced, and intreated him to make peace; Enrique said there was nothing he more desired ; but the Spaniards had murdered his father and his grand- father, and all the nobles of Xaragua : and, to avoid being killed himself, he had fled to his own mountains, where he would defend himself, do no injury to others, but never be a slave again — nor did he wish ever again to see a Spaniard. He was sorry, from his soul, that the Indians had torn Remigio's clothes : and seeing- the boat approach, he kissed the father's hand, and disappeared. Remigio returned to San Domingo, 1320. Alonzo de Ojeda of Cubagua, in an armed vessel, went man- stealing among the friendly Indians on the Main, near where the Dominicans had a monastery — who, being seen to lend him a sheet of writing paper, were considered as participators in his plans. At Maracapana, Ojeda persuaded the cazique, who had been in Espanola, and taken the name of Gil Gon9alez, that he wanted to purchase maize from the Tageres, mountaineers in that neighbour- hood, and bargained for fifty loads, to be brought by as many men. They arrived late, and were resting themselves, when the Spaniards attacked, seized and carried thirty-seven on board, the rest escaped. Next day, Ojeda landed as though he had done no wTong, and was received with apparent cheerfulness; but suddenly, armed men attacked the Spaniards on all sides, and killed Ojeda and six others; some saved themselves by swimming. The Indians then massacred the fathers, and burnt their monastery. Three armed vessels were sent from Cubagua ; but they dared not land — the inhabitants were all in arms. At Espanola, the intelligence created such indigna- Ilcncra, 2. 9. f. L X46 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1520. tion, that the admiral ordered a squadron of five sail, and 300 men, under the command of Gon9alo de Ocampo, to lay waste that country, and bring its inhabitants to Espaiiola. At this time. Las Casas arrived at San Juan de Puerto-Rico, on his passage to take charge of his grant of 260 leagues of coast, from the province of Paria to Santa Marta — where he hoped, by preaching the gospel, and by acts of peace and love, without war or slavery, to convert the Indians. His grant was dated the 19th of May. At Puerto Rico, he heard that the Indians had murdered eighty Spaniards, and that the inhabitants of Cubagua had sent to Espa- hola for assistance. This was grievous intelligence for Las Casas : all his hopes had been upon the monasteries, and the exertions of its inmates. He now determined to wait at San Juan for the arrival of the expedition under Ocampo : in a few days it arrived. Las Casas immediately shewed Ocampo his full powers, and ordered him not to proceed to the main land. Gon9alo de Ocampo expressed his reverence and obedience to the royal orders, but said that he could not disobey the admiral and the Royal Audience, who had ordered him to make the Indians peaceable ; he proceeded on his voyage ; and Las Casas, leaving his labourers, divided in small parties at the different farms, at San Juan, proceeded to Espanola, to shew the admiral and the Audience his powers. Gon9alo de Ocampo left three of his ships at Cubagua, and pro- ceeded with the two others, with all his men, except four or five sailors, concealed below. The Indians were deceived by seeing so few men, and many came off to the ships with Gil Gonzalez, who would not go on board. When the sokhers rushed up from below, a sailor jumped into the canoe, and in catching hold of Gil Gonzalez, both fell overboard. The sailor stabbed him in several places with a dagger, and others coming to his assistance, the cazique was killed. Ocampo sent for the other ships, and hung up his prisoners at the yard arms, that they might be seen fi'om the shore ; he then landed, took their village, hung some of the inhabitants, impaled others, and sent liis ships laden with slaves to Espaiiola. The adjoining pro- vinces sent to implore peace, and Ocampo founded a village, half a league up the river of Cumana, which he named Toledo. Las Casas presented his powers to the admiral and the judges at Espanola, and required them to cause them to be executed. They ordered them to be proclaimed by sound of trumpet in the four principal streets, especially the order which directed, " That no one should dare to do any thing to the inhabitants of those pro- vinces, within the limits of the licentiate Las Casas' grant, which might be an impediment to the pacification and conversion which he went to effect ; but that those who should pass that coast, and wished to traffic, should do it peaceably and friendly, as with sub- Herrcra. 2. 9. 9. — 2. 9. 16. 1520.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 1 1,7 jects of the King of Castile, under pain of forfeiting all tlieir goods, and their persons to be at the King's mercy." Las Casas' vessel was surveyed, and declared to be not sea- worthy; he was therefore delayed until she was repaired ; " le mandaron hechar el Rio abaxo." Velazquez, enraged at the conduct of Cortez, whose success had exceeded all expectations, determined to go in person and reduce him to obedience. The Royal Audience at Espanola dreading the consequences, sent the licentiate Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon, who was so far successful, that Velazquez appointed Panfilo de Narvaez, with the title of governor of New Spain, to go in his stead. The expedition consisted of " eighteen ships, both beaked cara- velas and brigantines, of two ranges of oars, furnished with 800 foot- men, and eighty horsemen and seventeen pieces of ordnance." Narvaez had positive orders to send Cortez a prisoner to Cuba. The Royal Audience sent orders to stop the expedition. Narvaez declared that he went in the service of God and the King, and by the adelantado's orders, and that he should embark within two hours. Lucas Vazquez, seeing remonstrances were ineffectual, declared his determination to go with the expedition, and Narvaez did not refuse. Off the mountains of San Martin, one of the fleet foundered in a gale from the north ; the rest arrived at the Isle of Sacrifices, in April. Narvaez' proceedings in New Spain, and subsequent capture by Cortez, do not belong to this work. The licentiate Rodrigo de Figueroa, having with great labour ascertained what Indians eat human flesh, and in what lands they were to be found, for under pretence of taking these, others were seized, declared by a decree, that all the Indians in the islands which were not peopled by Christians were Caribs, except those of Trini- dad, Lucayos, Barbudos, Gigantes, and Margarita ; and that per- sons having a licence, might invade and seize and make war upon the Carib Indians, but in no other places than those expressly named, as being inhabited by Caribs, was any violence to be offered to the natives, though permission was given to go and trade with them. This declaration names all the places upon the coast that were to be considered as belonging to the Caribs. At this time the cul- tivation of sugar had succeeded so well, that the search for gold was much diminished. The two hundred labourers from Antequera were so distressed, that flour and wine was sent from Spain for them ; but when the supply arrived, nobody could be found to receive it: some were dead, others gone, and some were occupied in another way of life ; so that no good resulted from the experiment. Francisco de Garay sent Diego de Comargo, with three cara- velas, 150 men, and seven horses, from Jamaica, to plant a Henera, 2. 9. 18 'J. 10. 5. — '2. 9. 8 2. 10. 18. P. Maitvr. U. 5. C. 4. L 2 148 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1521, colony on the banks of the Panuco. They landed seven leagues up the river, near some villages, vehose inhabitants had promised obedience to Cortez, and were kindly treated ; but abusing that kindness, the Indians watched an opportunity, and killed eighteen men, and all the horses. The survivors were chaced out of the river by a multitude of canoes, and driven to sea without provi- sions : they afterwards joined Cortez' men at Villa Rica. The licenciate Antonio Serrano had authority to people the Island of Guadaloupe, upon very advantageous conditions ; and with the ?ower of governor of the Islands of Monserrat, Barbada, Antigua, )eseada, Dominica, and Martinico. UntD governors were ap- pointed to them, they belonged to the Caribs. He was supplied with every thing he asked, even to the ornaments and dresses for the church, and bells ; but he never did anything " pero nunca hizo nada." The admiral, Don Diego Columbus, sailed from Seville Septem- ber the 1st, stopped a few days at San Juan, to settle disputes between the officers, and arrived at Espanola the 1st of November. By his patent, he was viceroy and governor in all the islands his father had discovered. He had orders to reduce the tax in gold from a fifth to a tenth. But as the small-pox had reduced the number of Indians, the order for tlieir voluntary service was revoked.' The King refused to let men of all nations be imported : there were already so many negroes, that he feared some disturbance in Espaiiola and San Juan. The manufactory of sugar was very successful. The admiral was to supply the monasteries at Cumana with every thing they wanted ; and to give a passage to twenty Franciscans ; and he was particularly ordered to attend to the rebel cazique Enrique, 1521. In July, Las Casas, with 120 chosen men, sailed from Espanola for Cumana. At the Isle of Mona, he was to take on board 1100 loads of cazabe, from the royal stores. At San Juan he had the mortification of finding that his labourers had dispersed, and therefore proceeded without them, and found Ocampo in his new town of Toledo. The soldiers disUking Las Casas' plans, refused to remain. Ocampo condoled with Las Casas, but returned with his soldiers to Espanola, and Las Casas was left with only his servants and a few friends. At the back of what had been the monastery's Herrera, 2. 9. 7 — 3. 2. 3. ' The small-pox was first carried into one-lialf of the people that were afflicted New Spain, by a negro slave wlio attended with this disorder died. — P. Torribiu de Narvacz in his expedition against Cortes ; Bcnevente. — liohinson, vol. iii. note 40. 1521.] OF THE AVEST INDIES. 149 orchard, Las Casas built a storehouse; and, through the medium of an Indian female of rank, informed the Indians that he was come to instruct and live among them in peace. At the mouth of the river he began to build a fortress, to protect himself from the Indians, and repress the insolencies of the inhabitants of Cubagua, who came there for water and slaves. These traders persuaded the person who had contracted to build the fort, not to go on with the work. The Indians kidnapped children, and sold them to the Spaniards for wine : this nefarious traffic occasioned wars, drunkenness, and misery. Las Casas went to Cubagua, but was unable to stop the trade, therefore sailed for Espanola, to request the interference of the Royal Audience, — leaving Francisco de Soto to command during his absence, with strict orders not to suffer the two vessels to leave the river. One was a fast sailer, and the other, from pulling so many oars, a great terror to the Indians, and called by them " Cienpies." These De Soto was to keep for the purpose of retreating to Cubagua, in case of necessity. As soon as Las Casas was gone, Soto sent both vessels to trade for gold, pearls, and slaves ; and, fifteen days after Las Casas left him, the Indians attacked the Spaniards, all of whom, except one friar, escaped, whilst the Indians were burning the store-house. Flushed with success, the Indians proceeded to Cubagua, where the " alcalde mayor," Antonio Flores, found his men so frightened, that he fled with 300 of them to Espanola, leaving all the stores to the Indians. Las Casas' vessel mistook the land, and ran eighty leagues to lee- ward of Santo Domingo. After trying for two months to beat to windward. Las Casas landed at Yaguana, and went by land to the city — where learning the fate of his colony, by the persuasion of Domingo de Betan90s, he entered the Dominican convent, and was afterwards appointed Bishop of Cliiapa. The admiral Don Diego Columbus having made several com- plaints against the conduct of the licentiate Figueroa, he was ordered to deprive him of his office, and give it to the licentiate Christoval Lebron. And the Royal Audience were ordered to take cognizance of all the acts upon Tierra Firma, as a court of appeal. In the beginning of April, five piraguas of Caribs landed on the island of San Juan — attacked some Spanish houses — found the inhabitants imprepared, and killed several : they then returned to their boats with a great many Indian captives. To prevent similar incursions, a brigantine of twenty banks was ordered to be kept at the city of Puerto Rico, at the government expence. A royal order was also sent out, that no person was to be pre- vented by the royal ministers from returning to Spain whenever they wished so to do, neither were they to prevent the inhabitants Henera, 3. 1. 14. L 3 150 CHRONOLOCxICAL HISTORY [1521. from having the entire liberty of writing what they chose, upon pain of suffering exemplary punishment. At this time there was annually imported into Spain, from the island of Espanola, from 4 to 500,000 ducats in gold. The admiral, Don Diego Columbus, sent Jacome de Castellon with an expedition to Cubagua, with orders to leave some men on the island, and proceed and chastise the Indians on the Main. He landed in the river Cumana, and sent his men in detachments after the Indians, several of whom they killed, and sent more away as slaves. Where Las Casas wished a fort, there Castellon made one, and began to build store houses. So many concerned in the pearl fishery joined the colony, that a large town was built, which they called " Nueva Cadiz." ^ Juan Ponce de Leon, who in the year 1512 discovered the Floridas, and went in search of the holy fountain, so celebrated among the Indians, and the river whose waters made old people young again, had, since his defeat by the Caribs in Guadaloupe, lived retired : he now expended the greater part of his fortune in fitting out two ships at Puerto Rico, to ascertain whether Florida was an island or part of the main-land. After a dangerous naviga- tion, he landed in Florida, fought a desperate battle with the Indians, in which several of his men were killed, and he himself wounded in the thigh : he then retvu'ned to Cuba, and died. As a reward for his services, the King gave the title of adelantado, and all the other grants which Juan Ponce held, to Luis Ponce de Leon, his son. Rodrigo de Bastidas, an inhabitant of Santo Domingo, made a contract on the 1 5th of December, with the Spanish government, to settle a colony of fifty inhabitants at Santa Martha, on Tierra Firma, within two years. Some of the colonists were to have wives with them. Of the first fortification which he built, he was to have the lieutenancy — and permission was given him to raise men and get live stock in Espanola, Jamaica, and San Juan. Orders were sent out to the admiral, Don Diego Columbus, and the Royal Audience at Espanola, not to proceed against Panfilo de Narvaez for what he had done in New Spain against the licentiate Vazquez de Ayllon ; but that he was to be liberated from his con- finement at Vera Cruz — and Diego Velazquez was to be reim- bursed the 4000 ducats which he had expended upon that expedi- tion. And the comptroller, Christopher de Tapia, was to be sent from Espanola to New Spain, and take the government of it for the king : and, to satisfy the demands of Diego Velazquez and the other claimants, his orders were dated at Burgos, the 11th of April. He proceeded to put them in execution immediately upon receiving them ; Herrera, 3. 2. 5 3. 1. 14 3. 1. 15. ' Herrera, D. 3. L. 2. C. 5. relates a Indian's companions baited for the monster story of an Indian diver for oysters being with a dog, caught it, opened the belly, and swallowed by a fisli called " Marrajo." The restored their countryman to life ! 152'-2.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 151 but as the admiral and the Audience foresaw the confusion that must follow in New Spain, they advised Tapia to defer his voyage, and some of the magistrates recommended that he might be detained by force. 1522. The admiral, Don Diego Columbus, wrote to Cortez to claim his rights, but Cortez refused to admit them. Francisco de Garay also wrote to him, to say, that the King had granted him the government of Panuco, and that he was preparing an armament at Jamaica, with the admiral's permission, to come and take possession of the country. Cortez was determined he should not, and went in person to the River Panuco to prevent it — first of all sending Alonzo Davila and Antonio de Quinones to Spain with an account of his successes. They carried with them 27,000 " pesos de oro," as the royal fifth of the gold that had been taken : and as a present, Cortez sent the King an emerald as large as the fourth part of the palm of the hand, that ended in a pyramidal form, and a grand service of gold and silver plate, in cups, pitchers, and dishes ; small shields and pots, and a variety of curiosities ; masks of mosaic work in precious stones, with golden ears ; ornaments made with feathers and cotton ; some giants' bones, which were found in " Cuioacan;" and two tigers, one of whom, after killing two men, and wounding eight more, jumped overboard, and the other was killed, to prevent his doing the same. Two of these vessels were taken by a French corsair, named Florinus, off the A9ores: the other arrived at the Isle of Santa Maria. Christoval de Tapia, regardless of the advice of the admiral, Don Diego Columbus, and the Royal Audience, proceeded to Vera Cruz, to take the command from Cortez, in obedience to his commission from Spain. He was received with civility by the officers Cortez had left at Vera Cruz ; but Gongalo de Sandoval, the " alguazil maior, was sent to state, that for the good of his Majesty's service," and for the sake of peace, he must quit the country : if he did not, they would seize and send him to Spain. He protested against this ; but they said his commission must be a forged one, he was incapable of such an important command. He therefore thought it best to return to Espanola, where the admiral and Royal Audience blamed him for having made the attempt. The Spanish government sent orders to Francisco de Garay not to land in the district under Cortez' government. They also said that Cortez had done right in refusing the claims of Don Diego Columbus. Henera, 3. 3. 18 3. 3. I 3. 4. 1 3. 3. 16.— 3. 4. 3, P. Maitvr, D. 8. C. G. L 4 15^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1523. Twenty Negroes belonging to the adniiral's sugar mill, joined by twenty others of the same nation, murdered several Spaniards, and ran away to A^ua. The admiral went himself to reduce the rebels, who opposed the eight horsemen sent in advance, but were soon defeated — five wei'e killed and several wounded ; in five days the survivors were all taken, and the majority hung. The Spanish government sent out information, that six French vessels had sailed for the Indies, and were expected to rendezvous at the Isle of Mona. All the armed vessels in the islands were to be collected to protect the trade. 1523. Orders were sent out to Velazquez, to appropriate a third of the royal tenths to building churches. And as the town of " Asuncion" Avas not a healthy or a convenient place for the cathedral, it was now ordered, by permission of Pope Adrian the Sixth, to be built in the city of Santiago, the principal place in the island. And as the manufactory of sugar was advantageous to the coun- try, and many of the inhabitants, from want of capital, could not erect the necessary works, his Majesty directed that 4000 pesos of the royal revenue might be lent to the most respectable persons who wished to erect mills — taking security that the money should be repaid within two years. As a remvmeration to the magistrates of the Royal Audience for the loss of their allotments of Indians, their salary was increased from 150,000 " maravedis" to 300,000 : and all marriedmen were directed to have their wives with them, under very severe penalties. Complaints were made against the licentiate Figueroa for vio- lating the royal privileges — and the Audience were directed to collect the particulars, and send them to Spain : he himself returned to Spain, to defend his conduct. The admiral, Don Diego Columbus, was also recalled from his government, for having infringed upon the jvn-isdiction of the Royal Audience. And Luis de Figueroa, prior of the mejorada of Olmedo, of the order of San Geronimo, was appointed president of the Royal Audience. June the 27th, Francisco de Garay, with nine ships, two brigan- tines, 144 horses, and 850 Spaniards, exclusive of Indians, sailed from Jamaica, to establish a colony on the banks of the river Panuco. He did not know that Cortez had a royal order not to allow him to do this ; for it was not known in Spain, when Garay's dispatches were made out, that Panuco was so near Mexico, and that Cortez had already subdued that country. Garay put into Xaragua, in Cuba, where he was informed of the Ileircra, C. 4. 9 3. 4. 13 3. 4. 21.— 3. 5. 4 — 3. 15'2i-5.'] OF THE WEST INDIES. 153 true situation of affairs ; and sent to the licentiate Alonzo Zuazo, to come with him to assist in making an agreement with Cortez, Garay landed, upon St. John's Day, in the River of Palms — his men soon deserted, and joined those under Cortez, to whose mercy Garay was glad to entrust his life and honour, and was honourably treated by him. 1524. The King of Spain ordered 2,000 ducats to be given to the monastery of Santo Domingo, in Espanola, and obtained from the Pope a jubilee for all those who should die in the hospital of Santiago in Cuba. As the King, it was said, had aided with such temporal forces the propagation of the Gospel, it was but just that his holiness should favour the catholics with spiritual ones. The King also granted 10,000 maravedis every year, for ten years, to the hospital in the city of Seville, in Jamaica. He ordered, that for the future the third part only of the Negroes imported in the West Indies should be women, and that all the gold and silver collected in all the provinces, as well that belonging to the King as to individuals, should be carried to Espanola ; because from thence the fleets could carry it to Europe with greater safety. Fifty falcons were to be sent every year from Espanola for the King. Gil Gonzalez arrived at Espariola, from the Spanish Main, with 112,000 drachms of gold. At this time the Spaniards had planted three colonies in the Gulph of Uraba — "one called Sancta Maria Antigua, twenty leagues from Darien; Ada; and the third, called Nombre de Dios, in the dominions of King Careta, thirty-seven leagues distant from Ada." The " Right of Soil," in the island of Margarita, was ceded by Charles the Fifth to Marceau Villalobos. 1525. The King of Spain ordered that a sum fi'om the royal revenues should be expended upon the church in Jamaica, equal to that which the abbot Pedro Martir de Angleria should expend. The Royal Audience at Espanola had directions not to suffer the Pope's nuncio to receive the revenues of the bishopricks of Santo Domingo and Concepcion, while they were vacant ; and money to purchase iron tools was ordered to be given to the inhabitants of the island of Santiago, who were working the newly-discovei'ed mines. Hcrrera, 3. 6. 3 — 3. 7. 1 . P. Martyr, D. 6. C. 1 . Dcpon's South Ameritajvol. ii. p. 270. 154 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1.525. And the docks at Santo Domingo were ordered to be completed, that ships might be built there. The adelantado Diego Velazquez died, and the Royal Avidience appointed Manuel de Roxas to succeed him as governor of Cuba. The King of Spain granted a contract to the licenciate Marcelo de Villabos, one of the Royal Auchence, at Espahola, to colonize the Island of Margarita (which was inhabited by Caribs and Guatiaos Indians) : he was to employ there at least twenty colonists, with their wives, and to begin within eight months. He was to send two priests for divine service, with all the necessary ornaments, at his own expence ; he was also to build a fort as a defence against the Caribs ; but his expences were to be repaid out of the duties that should be levied on the island. He was to have the lieutenancy of the fort for his life, and his heir after him. The Indians of the island were to be treated as free men, and subjects of the King of Castile. Estevan Gomez, upon his return from an vmsuccessful attempt to discover a north-west passage to " Catayo," put into the port of Santiago in Cuba, and returned to Coruha with a cargo of slaves, ten months after he had sailed from that port. The licenciate Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon fitted out two ships in the city of Santo Domingo, and sent them on a voyage of discovery to Florida with orders, if the voyage succeeded, to fix a colony, and send him an account of their proceedings. The vessels soon returned with some gold and silver, and a few pearls, and recommended that a stronger force should be sent to establish a colony. But another member of the Royal Audience interposed, Juan Ortiz de Matiengo, and claimed that country as his, because it had been discovered by one of his vessels. Ayllon, however, went with three vessels to Point " Elena," 100 leagues more to the north of Florida, where he discovered and named the River Jordan. Ayllon and several of his followers, were killed, and the survivors returned to Santo Domingo, with so bad a report of the country, that the general hopes of success in that quarter were given up. Roderick Bastidas sailed with a squadron from San Domingo, to colonize the coast of Santa Martha : the government had given him the title of adelantado. His troops mutinied upon his arrival, and he was stabbed in bed by his lieutenant Villafuerte. He embarked to return to Espanola, but was driven to Cuba, and there died of his wound. After his departure, the soldiers chose Roderick Alvarez Palomino for their governor : he had defended Bastidas against Villa- fuerte and the assassins, and now sent him and Porras to Espahola, where they were both hanged. Peter de Badillo was by the council appointed governor of Santa Martha : he sailed with 200 men ; but Palomino refused to resign the government, and they agreed to govern jointly. The Emperor Charles the Fifth wrote to the superiors of the Do- Herrcia, 3. 7. 2. — 3. S. 8. — 3. 2. 6. Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 277. 257. 1526.] OF THE WEST INDIES. l55 minicans and Franciscans at Espanola, that the diversity of opinions did not permit him to make a fixed resokition as to the manner in which the Indians should be treated ; but that he gave them full authority to impose upon the Indians such labour and tribute as they should judge proper, and discharged his conscience upon theirs, as to the responsibility of their being taken care of. And as the colony of Espanola was much diminished, whoever would go and settle at Concepcion, besides the free passage, should have permission to keep six Negro slaves — in contradiction to a former order, which forbade there being in any house more blacks than whites. 1526. Diego Lopez de Salcedo, nephew of Nicolas de Ovando, was appointed Governor of Honduras; his jurisdiction was to extend from the Gulf " de las Ybuertas" to Cape Honduras. Upon his arrival at Truxillo, Hernando de Saavedra, with the majority of the Spaniards who were dependants upon Cortez, prepared to oppose his landing, pretending that he had not the royal authority for taking the command. He however landed, produced his letters fi'om the King, seized Hernando de Saavedra and his adherents, sequestered their property, and confined them in prison. Francisco de Montejo, of Salamanca, and Panfilo de Narvaez, of Cuellar, contracted with the King to discover and colonize the Islands of Co9umel and Yucatan (for as yet it was not known that Yucatan was part of Tierra Firma) : they were to build forti- fications, and enjoy the usual privileges of discoverers. Montejo was induced to undertake this speculation by Geronimo de Aguilar, Cortez' interpreter, who had been some time in that country, and gave a very favourable report of it. Orders were sent out to the West Indies, to build castles and strong houses upon the shore, as well as in the interior, not only as a defence against the Indians, but because the French corsairs already committed depredations in the Indies. Miguel de Pasamonte, the treasurer at Santo Domingo, died this year. Under pretence of serving his Majesty, he had totally ruined all the affairs of the admiral Don Diego Columbus in the West Indies. His, nephew was appointed to the office, but had not the same influence as his uncle. The King gave 100,000 " maravedis" to the hospital at Seville, in Jamaica ; but being informed there were no sick in it, he ordered the money to be appropriated to building the chiu'ch in that city. The city of Santiago, in Cuba, was burnt by accident : it had Charlevoix, vo]. ii. p. 258. Herrera, 3. 10, 1. — 3. 10. 9. 156 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [152G. contained 12,000 inhabitants. The King gave several contributions for their rehef, and for rebuilding the churches. He also directed the cathedral church at Santo Domingo to be built of stone. Instructions were sent out to Gon9alo de Guzman, the governor of Cuba, to take particular care that the Indians were instructed in the catholic faith ; and wherever it could be done with safety, they were to be considered as free men and Christians. In October, a violent hurricane did great damage at Espanola : the rivers overflowed their banks. No such storm had been seen in that island for many years. The fleet from Espanola, this year, carried to Spain 501,082 *' pesos de oro" for the King's fifth, 350 marks of ordinaiy pearls, and 183 choice Cubagua pearls, five gold stones in their natural state, of a considerable size, and one very fine pearl from " Jaccion," with which the King was much pleased; and sent orders to the Audience, whenever they fovmd any thing remarkable of any kind, to buy it for his Majesty. Twelve very fine falcons were also sent to the Emperor from Espanola, which were highly acceptable. Fresh injunctions were issued for the ships to rendezvous at Epanola, and to be better armed, and sail together — to prevent the increasing depredations of the French corsairs. Columbus's son, Don Hernando, was ordered to correct the charts of the West Indies : he was an expert cosmographer, and was to be assisted by all the pilots. The Audience at Espanola were ordered not to make any grants of Indians in " Fernandina" or the other islands, but to leave that to the several governors. And no inhabitant of any sort, from Espanola, Fernandina, San Juan, or Jamaica, upon pain of death, and forfeiture of property, was to go and settle in any other province or island, because those islands had been so depopulated by emigrations to the newly- discovered countries. And from the date of the order, the 17th of November, 1526, if any person going upon discovery touched at either of those islands, he must leave as many upon the island as he took off" it ; for in that case the inhabitants were allowed to go. And a general licence was issued for any of his Majesty's subjects to settle in the West Indies, with the sam6 privileges as the natives of Castile and Leon. The bachelor Moreno was ordered to be punished, for having betrayed some Indians, and carried them to Espanola ; and they were to be taken from him, and treated kindly, until it was deter- mined what was to be done with them. And every exertion was to be made to reduce the cazique Don Enrique, and the Indians that were with him. Juan Lopez de Archuleta was allowed to people the small island of " Coche," three leagues from Cubagua, and to breed stock there Herrera, 3. 10. 10 — 3. 10. 11. 1,527'] ^^'' THE WEST INDIES. 157 during the King's pleasure, provided no person was injured by his so doing. The admiral, Don Diego Columbus, died at Montalvan, six leagues from Toledo, upon Friday, the 23d of February : he was following the Emperor to Seville, to repeat his claims, and had left his family, consisting of three sons and two daughters, Louis, Diego, and Christopher, and Phillippa and Isabella, at San Domingo : the girls were the eldest, Louis was only six years old when he was saluted admiral of the Indies ; but he remained without any authority in the island. ITie Vice-Queen, Donna Maria de Toledo, thinking her presence necessary at court, embarked for Spain, taking with her her second son and second daughter. She got the revenues of the young admiral augmented, but he never obtained permission to take the title of Viceroy. Mr. Thomas Tison, an Englishman, had found his way to the West Indies, and resided there. Mr. Nicholas Thome, a Bristol merchant, sent out to him armour and other commodities for sale. 1527. ITie limits of the jurisdiction of the Royal Audience at San Domingo were confined to the islands, and from the River Oronooko to the River Magdelina, on the continent, in consequence of a Royal Audience being established for Mexico. The bishoprics of San Domingo and Concepcion, established at San Domingo, were united, because their revenues were separately too small, and Don Sebastian Ramirez de Fuente Leal appointed to it, and declared President of the Royal Audience, with the same authority as his deceased predecessor Figueroa — also with the powers before given to the superiors of the Dominicans and Fran- ciscans. And the same powers were given to the abbot of Sant Jago in Cuba, Pedro Mexia de Trillo, who upon the death of Pedro Martir of Angleria, received that appointment : and as these prelates had little experience in Indian affairs, his Majesty gave them, for assistants in this commission, Gonzalez de Guzman, governor of Cuba, and Father Peter Mexia, superior of the order of San Francisco. The grant which the licentiate Marcelo de Villalobos had ob- tained of peopling the island of Margarita, as he had began to execute it, was, upon his death, confirmed to his daughter Donna Aldon^a; and as the population upon Cubagua had very much increased, the King, as a mark of favour to the inhabitants, and that they might be oetter governed, ordered that from among Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 278. Ilakluyt, vol. ii. p. 2. Herrera, 4. 2. 1 I. 2. .T.— 4. I. 9. J58 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1527. themselves, during the King's pleasure, they should annually elect an alcalde. He could not be chosen from among the royal officers that they might be more at liberty to act for the good of his service. Eight " regidores" were also appointed, and a comp- troller—" Vador." Luis Lampunano, son of the Count Andres Lampunano, offered to make a machine for fishing for pearls, that should save the Indians and slaves from the necessity of diving for them ; it was to be towed by one or two " caravelas." The King granted him the exclusive right of using this machine, for six years, off Cubagua ; but he was not to go into more than five fathoms water with it, and to pay the King one-third of all the pearls he found. At the end of the six years, he was to be at liberty to use the machine in any part of the Indies. Tlie colonists sent him back with this bold answer, " That the Emperor, too liberal of what was not his own, had not the right to dispose of the oysters wliich live at the bottom of the sea !" Lampunano died at Cubagua, in a fit of insanity. The adelantado, Diego Velazquez, by his will left 2000 ducats for pious works, which the King of Spain requested the Pope would allow to be expended in building the cathedral church in Cuba. The Audience at Espanola sent twelve Indian boys to be educated in Europe. The King ordered that they should be distributed among the monasteries at Seville, two to each ; and he begged the generals of the orders of San Francisco and Santo Domingo to allow as many of their brotherhood to go to the Indies as might be willing to go. And directions were sent out to the magistrates of the Royal Audience, that they should in rotation, every two years, act as judges; and that the Bachelor Moreno should be severely punished, and the Indians sent back to their country. Permission was given for 1000 Negroes to be imported into " Fernandina" (Cuba) ; but all those which should be imported into any part of the Indies without his Majesty's licence, were to be confiscated : and all the Indians from Fernandina were to be re- turned to that island, if they requested it. The Audience had sent an expedition against the cazique Enrique, and the inhabitants of Espanola were discontented with its bad success. The rebels were increased in numbers, and had been joined by some runaway Negroes fi*om San Juan. The King, therefore, ordered fortresses to be built, for the protection of the inhabitants. No person was allowed to go as pilot to the West Indies witliout having passed an examination at San Lucar, and produced proofs that he had navigated to the Indies six years — understood navi- gation — was a pilot for that country — and was provided with Mvmibol«lf's Personal Nanativc. vol. ii. p. 280. Hciicra, 4. y. 5. 1528.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 159 proper instruments and charts : these were to be examined every voyage. The Vice Queen, Donna Maria de Toledo, claimed permission from the Royal Audience to people the province of Veragua, which the admiral, Christopher Columbus, had discovered in 1503. Her claims were forwarded to Spain, and orders sent out, that until her privileges were settled by the different judges, permission was not to be given her. Hernando Camelo, a Portuguese, an inhabitant of San Miguel, one of the Azores, contracted with the King of Spain to colonize the island of Bermuda. He was to convey the settlers there within four years, and they were for twenty years to be exempt from all taxes except the tenths, which were God's right — and these tenths, for those twenty years, were to be divided into five parts, one for the King, one for the clergymen upon the island, one for building a church, and the two others for Hernando Camelo. After the twenty years, the tenth part of the tenth was to belong to Camelo and his heirs for ever. The title of Governor and Captain General of the island he was to have for his life. This island was by some called Bermuda, and by others La Garga — because the captain who discovered them, a native of the city of Palos, was called Juan Bermudez, and the ship that carried him La Garga. To prevent the depredations upon the Main, which the different squadrons committed, the Audience sent the " Factor," Juan de Ampues, with seventy men, to Coro (called by the Indians Coriana) : he succeeded in making peace with Manaure, a pow- erful cazique, who governed all that country — and the Spaniards settled in that town. Upon the 20th of May, 1527, the Dominus Vobiscum, and another vessel, fitted out at King Henry the Eighth's expence, sailed from London, on a voyage of discovery to the coast of America. A canon of St. Paul's, a great mathematician, and several " cunning men," were on board them : one of these vessels was wrecked in a very large gulf to the northward; the other coasted along to the southward, and returned to England in the October following. Hackluyt could obtain no other information relative to this voyage. 1528. The Royal Audience ordered that no person from the islands, or from any other part, should send any vessels to Santa Marta, or any part of the coast granted to the Germans, without the King's express permission : their grant extended from Cabo de la Vela to Cabo de la Maracapana, and across to the South Sea. The Audience Heriera, 4. 2. G.—4. 6. 1. — 4. 4. 8. Harris's Voyaprc, vol. ii. p. 292. 160 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [_\5^2S. also ordered, that 100 pesos de oro should be given to Garcia de Lerma, to purchase ornaments for divine worship. The inhabitants of the island of Cubagua, which the King of Spain ordered should be called New Cadiz, petitioned against the grant which Luis Lampunano had obtained for fishing for pearls. The King declared that their petition was just, and that the licence he had given was with the intent that Lampunano should not enter within the limits where the inhabitants of the island fished : and he would not consent that Luis Lampunano should use his machine within them. The King also gi-anted 500 pesos de oro to rebuild the church at Cubagua, which had been burnt. Orders were given to expedite the departure of Don Sebastian Ramirez, who w as appointed President of the Audience : he had particular instructions to attend to the Indians, who were to be treated as Christians and free men. And as various opinions had been given of the propriety of establishing a mint at Espanola, Ramirez was to collect all the information he could upon that subject, and send his Majesty the arguments on both sides. He was also to stay a month at the island of " San Juan" (Puerto Rico), to settle the affairs of that island. And as great injustice had been committed in seizing peaceable Indians for slaves, vmder the pretence that they were Caribs, no person without a licence, was to make war upon them. Neither the president or any of the magistrates of the Audience were to have any share in expeditions sent for that purpose. Panfilo de Narvaez, with 400 men and eighty horses, in four ships and a brigantine, sailed from Puerto de Xagua for the coast of Florida: they had stormy weather, and were unskilfully piloted, but anchored there upon the 12th of April. The details of this unfortunate expedition do not belong to this work. Twenty thousand ducats had been expended in expeditions against the cazique Don Enrique, who still continued to alarm the inha- bitants of Espanola. The King therefore ordered that greater exertions should be made to suppress that rebellion. And as the population of Espariola daily decreased, from the diminution of the Indians, and the emigrations to the new conquest, the King granted that the payment of all the royal debts might be suspended : and he gave Enrique Ciguar and Geronimo Sayller, Germans, permission to export to the Indies, within a certain time, 4000 slaves, and to carry 500 of the idle and worthless fellows, who induced others to rebel, securely ironed, off the island ; but, without permission, no Negroes were to be among that number. And they were not to carry any Negroes from Espanola to Cuba, because they escaped from thence. No officer was to hold more than one office, upon pain of losing both, and being incapable of holding others. And as inconveniences Ilerreia, 4. 4. lO.— 4. 4. 4.-4. 4. 1 1 . 1528.] OF THE WEST INDIES. l6l had resulted from silversmiths being prohibited, leave was given them to exercise their trades, but not to use any bellows, forge, or crucible, or any other implement for melting, except those in the royal houses, upon pain of death. Canafistola had fallen so much in value, that the cultivation of those trees in Espahola was no longer attended to. As the only means to prevent the public fi-om losing so necessary an article, the Kinaj ordered his agents to receive his fifths in that article, that it might be sold at a moderate price in Castille. The Indians in Cuba who had revolted, were, without bloodshed, but by mildness, pacified, and had returned to tlieir dwellings. The King, therefore, repeated his orders, that they should be considered as free men, seeing that by kind treatment they were sooner brought to acknowledge the Catholic faith. And for the satisfaction of those inhabitants of Cuba who had repartimientos, he ordered that tlieir wives should succeed to their repartimientos, and their sons, even though they were not legitimate. A fountain, from which pitch flowed, had been discovered in Cuba, and a bottle of it was sent to the royal office at Seville, to ascertain if it would answer for ships. In the River Bayamo, in the same island, a great quantity of round stones of different sizes were found which would answer for artillery. The King ordered a quantity of all sizes, for different guns, to be sent as ballast in the ships : he considered it a great convenience, which would save both time and money. There were few of the inhabitants of San Juan ( Puerto Rico) married. To remedy this evil, and prevent the island from being more depopulated, the King ordered the governor to cause, within two years, every Spaniard on the island to marry, and live there with his wife : and those who would not were to have their grant of Indians taken from them. The inhabitants of the city of San German did not reside upon their grants of lands. The governor was therefore to fix a time for their doing so, and take away their grants, if they disobeyed the order. Don Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, Bishop of Santo Domingo and Concepcion, arrived at Santo Domingo, as President of the Royal Audience. The Caribs continued to molest the island of San Juan and Cubagua, and other places, killing and stealing the people to eat them. In October they attacked the fortress of Cumana, and killed several persons : and 100 of them, in three canoes, landed in the night at San Juan (Puerto Rico), and murdered and robbed, and did great mischief in the mines. The King being informed that their boldness proceeded from his restrictions against sending expe- ditions against them, issued orders, that, with permission from the Ilerrcra, 4. 5. 2 4. 5. S. — 4. G. 6. M l62 CHUONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1.529. Royal Audience at Espanola, the inhabitants of the islands might make war upon the Caribs, who were declared slaves, and might be kept as sucii. And, for the protection of the island of San Juan, the inhabitants were ordered to select a spot in the city of Puerto Rico, upon which a fortress might be built, to defend them from the Caribs and corsairs : the work was to be immediately com- menced : the King would pay for the materials and the salaries of the engineers — the inhabitants to pay the labourers, at the rate of one for every twelve Indians or slaves they had ; and all the inha- bitants were to be armed, to defend the island. The children of all the Indians, under the charge of the crown, from the age of six to twelve, were to be sent every morning to church, to receive religious instruction. Other regulations respecting their health and morals, were issued at the same time. A French vessel, with a Spanish pilot on board, called Diego Ingenio, pretending to be from Seville, and to trade for pearls, arrived at Margarita with a Portuguese ship and caraval, which they had taken on the coast of Brazil. The ship Zarco, whose name the French had taken, arrived about eight days before them : they were thus discovered and attacked ; but, with the loss of thirty-five men in killed and prisoners, tlie French succeeded in plundering the island of goods to the amount of 150 ducats. They proceeded to San Juan, and burnt the village of San German, and from thence they went to the isle of Mona, to refit. Here the Portu- guese ran away with the caraval, and carried her to the city of Santo Domingo, from whence they sent a ship and a caraval to attack the French. After two days fighting, and two days chasing, the Spaniards lost sight of, and concluded they had sunk their opponent. 1529. Remigio was sent again to Enrique, with offers of pardon and security. Enrique's success gave great uneasiness to the govern- ment : his example had produced imitators, who were without either his judgment or his humanity. Ziquayo, Avith twelve followers, committed so many murders, and roamed over so large a portion of the island, that even in towns the inhabitants lived in terror. Several detachments were sent : one traced him to a ravine ; he fought desperately, and fell transfixed by a lance. Tamayo succeeded Ziquayo. Enrique sent Tamayo's nephew, Romero, 100 leagues, to persuade his vmcle to desist from his depredations, and join them. Tamayo became one of Enrique's captains, to the great advantage of the Spaniards. Hernando de San Miguel, an inhabitant of Bonao, who came Ovicdo, T.. 19. C. 13. TTcnera, -1. G. 1. l^^O.] OF THE MEST INDIES. 16.^ there a boy with the first admiral, Columbus, and was well accus- tomed to the Indian manner of warfare, was sent with 150 men against Enrique. After a harassing and dangerous march for several days, both parties met on the points of two mountains, very high and very close together, but separated by a ravine, througli which ran a deep and rapid river 500 fathoms below them. A truce was made, and a conference held. San Miguel proposed peace, as being better for both parties. Enrique said he thought so too, and had for a long time wished for peace ; but that it rested A^ith the Spaniards, and not with him. San Miguel said he had powers to conclude a peace with him and his followers, who might live at liberty in any part of the island they chose, quite independent of the Spaniards, provided he and his followers abstained from hostilities, and gave up the gold they had taken from the Spaniards from Tierra Firma. San Miguel then displayed his commission from the Audi- ence. Enrique acceded to the terms, and proposed to meet San Miguel at a certain place near the sea, with only eight men each, to conclude it. Upon the day appointed, San Miguel brought his ship too near, and landed with military music, prepared to celebrate the peace. He found the gold placed ready for him in a hut : but Enrique sent to say San Miguel had broken the contract, and he would not come ; but that he had sent Indians to deliver the gold, and entertain the Spaniards hospitably. San Miguel expressed his great regret — thanked the Indians — and desired them to tell their gallant chief, that no more expeditions should be sent against him, if he did no injury to the Spaniards ; and that he embraced him, and was his friend. This peace lasted four years, and then another arrangement was peaceably settled. Upon the arrival of Garcia de Lerma, with 300 men and eighty horses, at Santa Marta, Juan de Ampues, although he governed in peace great part of that country, thought it best to retire, because the Bel 9 ares, Lerma's principals, were great friends of the emperor : and thus nothing remained to Ampues for his labours, but the three Islands of Cora^ao, Oruba, and Bonayre. At midnight, October the 18th, eight piraguas of Caribs entered the Puerto at San Juan, (Puerto Rico), and captured a bark, with five negroes and some other people : but the shoi'e being alarmed, and some guns fired, the Caribs did not land. They sunk the bark, and three Negroes were found killed with arrows. The inhabitants of the city petitioned that the fortress which had been ordered might be built, and the president gave permission for two brigs to be armed, to cruize against the Caribs. Upon the 5th of August, 1529, there was a treaty of peace, amit}', league, and confederation, by land, sea, and fresh water, concluded at Cambray, between the Emperor Charles V. and Heniy VIII. of England ; it was ratified by King Henry on the 27th of November, Herrwa, 4. 4. 1 4. G. 7. Dii INIont, t. iv. parllp 2. p. 4;?. M 2 164- CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1529. snd Margaret, Arch-Duchess of Austria, acceded to it on tlie 6th of December. In this treaty, Hkewise, there is no exception made of any part of the Spanish dominions : it contains the following article : — " In primis, conventum, concordatum et conclusum est, quod ab hac die sit bona, sincera, vera, Integra, perfecta et firma amicitia, lega, confederatio, pax, et unio, per teiTam, mare, et aqvias dulces futuris temporibus perpetuo duratura, inter dictos dominos impera- torem et regem eorumque heredes et successores, regna, patrias, dominia, terras, vassallos et subditos quoscumque, praesentes et futures, tarn ecclesiasticos quam seculares cujuscumque gradus seu conditionis existant, etiam si archiepiscopali, ducali vel minori dig- nitate, statu aut gradu praefulgeant ; ita quod preedicti vassalli et subditi hiiic inde ubique locorum sibi invicem favere, seque mutuis prosequi officiis, et honesta affeetione pretractare teneantur, passim- qne tam per terram, quam per mare et aquas dulces ad dicta regna, patrias, dominia et terras, civitates, opida, villas munitas aut non firmatas, portus et districtus quoscumque et eorum quemlibet hinc inde libera ct secure accedere, intrare et in eisdem quamdiu voluerint morarr et conversari, ac ibidem victualia, ac alia eis necessaria sine quacumque contradictione emere et vendere nee non ab eisdem regnis, patriis, dominiis, terris, civitatibus, opidis, villis, portubus, et districtibus et eorum quolib^t, toties quoties eis libuerit, ad partes proprias vel ahenas quascunxjue cum suis aut conductis vel accom- modatis navigiis, pkiustris vehiculis, equis, armaturis, mercimoniis, sarciunculis, bonis et rebus quibuscumque ire, recedere ac remittere quemadmodum propriis in patriis hsec omnia eis facere liceret et sicut proprii subditi locorum et patriarum illarum facere possent ita quod nullo salvo-conductu aut licentia, generali vel speciale, indi- geant, neque in aliquo locorum prgedictorum salvum-conductum vel Hcentiam petere teneantur." A French squadron, of three sail and 170 men, arrived at Cuba- gua in October, and sent an armed boat on shore, which the inhabit- ants beat off: some of the French were wounded with poisoned arrows, and died raving mad. Their commander then offered to desist from any further hostilities, if the inhabitants would give him a thousand marks of pearls : they returned for answer, that they required no ransoming ; but if the French wished to land their mer- chandize for sale, they might do so. Two of the inhabitants were sent as hostages, and the French landed the greater part of their cargo, and twelve or thirteen persons. In the night a Negroe swam off to the largest ship ; and said, that the Cubaguans had captured the patache and seized the Frenchmen, and had planned to come with fifteen or twenty canoes in the night, to cut the ship's cable, and bore holes in her bottom, to sink her. Upon tliis the French weighed, and went to Margarita, and from thence to Saona, to H.I ICDf, I. (>. I'J 1529'2 ^^ 'TH^ WEST INDIES. 165 wait for the ships from Santo Domingo, boimd to Spain with bullion. Near Saona, they took a patache with five men, and putting eighty men into her, sent her to San German (in Puerto Rico). The inhabitants being informed of their approach, fled to the moun- tains with their property, leaving ten horsemen to protect the town : they were unable to resist the French, who brought some " versos" (small guns), and burnt the town. They then went to the island of Mona, where they took two Spaniards and an Indian ; and leaving a Portuguese caraval, which they had tiiken at the Canaries, with tlie Portuguese and the two Spaniards, and the four from the patache, they sent them with a letter to the Royal Audience, in which the French captain complained of tlie inhabitants of -Cubagua for having broken the truce, and threatened, that if the Frenclmien who were left there were not well treated, he would revenge them ten for one, he said they were going to France for a greater force to destroy tliose parts, aiul should carry the hostages they had on board from Cubagua with them. The president, without delay, sent 250 men in four vessels, with oi'ders to board the Frenchmen : and in case they were gone, to proceed to San Christopher's and Dominica, to apprise the ships coming from Spain of the French being in those seas, and accompany them to port. One of the " caravelas" returned to Santo Domingo, and said that they had found the French at anchor off the Mona, who expected tbc}^ were the vessels with gold and pearls for which they had been waiting. Another of the Spanish caravelas got near the largest French vessel, which made sail, and in the hurry sunk the boat. One of the Spaniard's shot was a stone ball from Cubagua, which set fire to some fireworks in the after-part of the French vessel. One of the hostages from Cubagua swam to the Spanish vessel, and said that the French had twenty-five men killed. Night coming on, the vessels separated. The next day the combat was renewed ; the Spaniards expended all their powder, and then made sail for Saona, chased by die French. The president of Santo Domingo sent another squadron after the French, but they were gone. A petition was sent to the King, for a supply of warlike stores to defend the island — for as yet poisoned arrows were the only weapons used. Information was sent to the King, that another fishery for pearls had been discovered at the Island of Coche, four leagues from Cubagua ; in the month of January, more than 1500 marks of pearls had been foiuid there. To prevent the Indians from being over- worked at the new fishery, the King ordered that they should only fish in the summer and in fine v/eather, and then only for four hours in a day, and not in more than five fathoms water ; and when they Herrera, 4. 6'. I'i. M 3 166 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1529. went for the rich oysters, which are found in from five to eight fathoms, they were not to work more than three hours : and neither on those days or festival days were they do any other work. The Indians were to be well fed, and have an allowance of wine given them ; and they were to have clothes found them, and "a hammock, and to be encouraged to marry. The arrival of the English vessel at Santo Domingo, and of the French squadron at Cubagua, induced the president of Santo Domingo to call a meeting of the estates of the island, to consider of what was best to be done. They determined to inform the King of the true situation of affairs, and what they judged to be the best remedy. They said that the Islands of San Juan and Espanola were the principal entrances into those parts, and had a great quantity of provisions : — That the masters and sailors who navigated those regions had lost all fear of justice, and no other corsairs than them- selves were necessary, because they not only robbed the Spaniards on board their ships, but the gold belonging to the King, of which some instances were given : and that the said masters disquieted the country, because, without any dread of the royal punishment, they carried away whole houses and their inhabitants, wherever they chose, in such a manner, that in all those parts there were no secure settlements except in Santo Domingo : — That the delin- quents could neither be caught or punished, from the diversity of jurisdictions in that country, and because the sailors concealed themselves in their ships, from whence they followed their atrocious customs; killing the governors, disobeying the King's orders, and losing all fear of God. And the trading vessels were so bad, that the King's gold, as well as individual's, ran great risks of being lost in them. That the governors in those parts had but little respect for the King's orders, or those issued by the Royal Audience in his name. And all the provinces being in confusion, every body did as they chose, and sent their ships to and from Spain, in disobedience of the orders of the Royal Audience, who could not apply a remedy, because the vessels did not rendezvous at the island. For these inconveniences, and because the English and French had reconnoitred that country with so much diligence, it appeared to the Audience proper that his Majesty should be informed of what remedy could be applied. In the first place, they recommended that all persons and mer- chandise should sail from and come to one port in that country, which should be securely fortified; and that a Royal Audience should reside there. And that every master of a vessel should enter ijito a bond, at Hcncni, 4. 6, 10. 1.530.] OF THE WEST INDIES. iGj the custom-house in Spain, to appear before the Audience, and answer for his conduct upon the passage. They recommended Espanola as the most proper place for the general rendezvous, and answered the objections which tliey thought likely, that the new Audience at Mexico might make to the plan. 1530. In the beginning of this year, tlie Royal Audience remitted to Spain, as the King's fifth, 10,000 pesos of fine gold, and 250 marks of pearls. Sebastian Ramirez, the president, reported also, that a silver mine had been discovered in Espaiiola, and some mines of iron, which produced superior metal to those in Biscay : a sample of it was sent to Spain. And that the fortress at the mouth of the river of Cumana, where the pearl fishermen got their water, had been thrown down by an earthquake, and should be rebuilt. Several Spaniards had made complaints of Garcia de Lerma, the governor of Santa Marta, who disregarded the royal orders, and did great mischief to the natives. Ramirez reported, that the Audience had done what they could to remedy these inconveniences. Dona Maria de Toledo, wife of Don Diego Columbus, the vice- queen, sailed from Espanola in March; but she could not obtain per- mission to freight some vessels for Flanders, with hei* property. The inhabitants of San Juan were in great distress. The storms which had followed the hurricanes had made the rivers overflow their banks, and crops, trees, and herds had been washed away; so that the works at the gold ^mines, and other undertakings, were sus- pended. But the war waged by the Caribs, distressed them most : 500 of these savages, in eleven canoes, landed at Daguao, the best cultivated part of the island : they plimdered the house of Christoval de Guz- man, killed him and all the Spaniards, Negroes, and Indians upon the estate, and all the horses and dogs ; and they carried away alive twenty-five Indians and Negroes to eat, as was their custom. These depredations spread so much consternation in the island, tliat the women and children slept every night in the monasteries and churches, and the men kept constant watch. Ramirez, therefore, begged arms for the inhabitants, and that two brigantines might be armed, which as yet had not been done ; and that permission might be given to act offensively against the Caribs in their islands, that those fleets which touched at them might biu'n their villages and destroy their plantations, because, when this was done before, it had made them quiet for twelve years : and that the fortress at Puerto Rico might be built, otherwise the island would be abandoned by the iiiliabitants. Ikricra, 4. 7. 168 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1531. 1531. A general order was issued this year to all the provinces in the Indies, that neither by war, exchange, or purchase, nor for any other reason, should the Indians be made slaves, under the heaviest penalties. And although the king lost a great revenue in his fifth of the slaves, yet, that those people might have more liberty, he approved of its being done. And, that this law might be inviolably kept, he ordered it to he published in all the provinces of the Indies, not only in the principal cities, but in every particular place — and all the irons and marks that were kept for marking them were to be broken. Herrera says this was a holy ordinance, which prevented an infinity of abuses and sins ; and it would have prevented much more if it had been established from the first, especially in Cubagua, Santa Marta, and Margarita, where incalculable mischief had been done — overrunning the main land, and seizing the people, without any distinction of good or bad. All possible means were vised to ameliorate the situation of the Indians, as well for their souls as for their bodies. The emperor did not cease to solicit liberty for the Indians : and, to obtain a true account of their capacity, he ordered Gon^alo de Guzman, the governor of Cuba, to try the experiment in this manner. The " repartimiento" of Pedro de Moron, in the province of San Salva- dor, had fallen vacant, and the King ordered the principal men among them to be called, and the interpreter, Pedro de Rivadeneyra, to tell them, the King ordered, that if they had capacity for it, he would give them liberty, different from what till then they had had, to live as Spanish labourers, without being entrusted to the care of any Spaniard- And that this might be the better done, and they live like Christians, and adopt their customs, they were to settle near San Salvador, or some other Spanish town, there to work for themselves, and keep their people separate, with a chaplain to instruct them in the faith : and that they were to cultivate the land, breed live stock, and dig gold, paying the King the same tribute as his other subjects ; and with what tliey gained, they were to clothe their women and children, and maintain them : and that in the interim, while they were making their farms, the governor would provide them with necessaries ; and if they did not comply with this, they were to return to the same situation they were in before, under the care of a Spaniard. A day was given them to consider of their answer. The next day, the Indians went to the governor; and Diego Ramirez, an Indian native from Guaminico, said, that all the Indians in his village wished to go to Bayamo, near the Spaniards, Hcrrcia, 1. 10. 5. 1.532.] OF THE WEST INDIES. l69 and settle there, and serve God and his Holy Mother, and pay tenths, and dig gold for the King's service. San Juan, a cazique from the village of San Lucar, said the same. One of the chiefs from the village of Man9anilla said, that seeing this was all fair, he should wish to remain in company with the Spaniards, that he might entertain them. The governor said this was not required of them ; but that they were to live in their vicinity, working freely for the sei'vice of God and the King, and main- taining their families, without being subjected to any other person. The Indians said, so they understood it. The governor then gave orders for their maintenance, and appointed Francisco Guerrero to instruct and oversee them. The city of New Cadiz (in Cubagua) began to decline, from the time the prohibition against slavery was published. Antonio Sedeno, the governor of Trinidad, carried some Indians to San Juan de Puerto Rico, and distributed them among the inha- bitants. The King, although he was informed that they were not held as slaves, ordered they should all be returned to the countries from which they had been brought. . Sedeno sent a colony to Paria, and built a fortified house in the territory of the cazique Yuripari. Diego de Ordas, who arrived there this year, to tiike possession of his grant of 200 leagues of coast between the Maranon and Cape de la Vela, seized this fortifi- cation, and made complaints against Sedeno for having infringed upon his government. The King of Spain ordered Ordas to restore all the property he had taken from Sedeho's men, and to pay him for the fortification ; and directed Ordas to determine whether he would have his 200 leagues of coast, to begin from the Maraiion or Cape de la Vela, and take them, and no more, as those places were more than 400 leagues apart. 1532. Diego de Ordas returned to Espanola, but few of his followers had survived the expedition up the Oronoco. Notwithstanding the per- suasions of the Audience, that he should persevere in trying to colonize his grant, Ordas sailed for Europe, and died upon the passage. As one of Cortez' captains, he went nearer the volcano at Tlascala than any man had ever done before, to the great astonishment of the Indians. Antonio Sedeno, with two caravelas and some piraguas, sailed from Espanola for Trinidad : his men were armed only wdth swords and shields, except a few cross-bow-men. The Indians, when opposing tlieir landing, lost their cazique, and retired with the body, Hen-era, 4. 10. 7 — 1. 10. 9 — 5. 1. 11 — 5. 2. 1. 170 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [lo32. making great lamentations, but returned next day in greater numbers, painted red and black, aiid fought till dark. In these -two actions the Spaniards had fifty men killed. Sederio sailed with the survivors for Paria, and persuaded Agustin Delgado, whom Ordas had left there, to return with him to Trini- dad. The Indians pretended to make peace, and a few Spaniards were left upon the island ; the Indians murdered them all the first opportunity. The King of Spain, therefore, issued an order, that they should be treated like Caribs, inhuman and beastly traitors, and seized for slaves. Sedeno returned to the island ; and knowing the disadvantage of fighting in the open field, built a fort. Some of the natives were for peace : their cazique carried a present of provisions to Sederio, and told him of tire difference of opinion among his countrymen. But disputes took place among the Spaniards. Sedeno accused Alonzo de Herrera of persuading the men to desert M'ith him. Reinforcements were procured with great difficulty. The Caribs kept the island of Puerto Rico in constant alarm. Two large row gallies were fitted out to prevent their depredations. De Roxas, governor of Cuba, requested that the inhabitants who caught run-away Indians might have them for slaves : the King would not consent. He represented that the taxes amounted to half the produce : the King ordered them to be lowered to a tenth ; and instead of a fifth, the royal share of gold was lowered to a tenth. Most of the Spanish settlers were bachelors : those who died upon the island were persuaded by their confessors to appoint the monas- teries their heirs. The destruction of the towns and villages was in part attributed to this. The Audience requested a general licence might be granted to import Negroes upon paying the duty ; that labourers might be sent from Spain, and that the islands might export their produce direct to Flanders. They represented, that the inhabitants of Espanola were much distressed by the rebel Indians. The Maroons had increased in number : in April they killed a Spaniard, his wife, two sons, and fourteen Indians, in a house near Puerto Real. The Audience begged the King to put an end to this war, as the only means of preserving the inhabitants. Enrique had not been seen for a long time ; but it was known that if he were taken, the .others would submit. In compliance with these solicitations, the King sent out 200 ■soldiers, under the command of Francisco de Barrio Nuevo, and In his reply said, it was but just that the inhabitants should assist with their persons, servants and property ; and that, as soon as the reinforcements were refreshed after their voyage, all should go with Barrio Nuevo, and attack the rebels. As soon as he arrived, con- HciriTy, .5. '2. .5. — J- -• 0'- 1532.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 171 sultHtions were held how the war should be carried on : such different opinions were given, that four persons, Alonzo Davila, Lope de Berdici, Jacome de Castellon, and Francisco Davila, wex'e appointed to propose a plan, and send it in writing to the Audience. Their report stated, that the Indians took refuge in a ridge of mountains seventy leagues long, and more than twenty broad, where neither horses or cattle could get, and where there was neither water or provisions of any kind ; and shifted their residence so quickly and secretly, that parties might travel for six months in search of them, and never find the slightest trace. When the Indians were found, or, to speak more properly, when they chose to shew themselves, it was from the summit of high rocks, that required two or three days to ascend, even when no opposition was made to the attempt ; and from these they passed to others, like magpies from tree to tree. Their -numbers v^ere estimated at fifty ; but these covdd maintain themselves, and keep concealed, where larger bodies could not — as had been proved when Captain Pedro de Badillo went to Bauruco with 300 soldiers, well supplied with every thing; and when Captain Inigo Ortiz, with 300 men, went over the mountains in small parties ; and when Captain Hernando S. Miguel travelled two or three years among the mountains, penetrating them by various roads ; and by Pedi'o Ortiz de Matienza, Pedro de Soria, Juan Munoz, and the licen- tiane Gua90, magistrate of the Royal Audience, who went to live at San Juan de la Maguano, the nearest village to the mountains, to attend to the war ; and with all this it never had been finished, from the reasons assigned, and principally because provisions could neither be carried, or placed in security, to be near at hand. The Royal Audience, therefore, by the advice of these four persons, determined to place detachments of twenty soldiers at all the different passes by which the Indians descended into the flat country, to prevent them from procuring provisions, or, if they made the attempt, to have a prospect of catching them. And as the reinforcements lately arrived were iniaccustomed to the country, it was proposed that two or three detachments should penetrate, with Barrio Nuevo and some friars, into the mountains, give the King's letter to Enrique, and try to conclude a treaty of peace with him, the soldiers remaining at the different houses in lieu of the inhabitants, who went upon duty. Thirty of the best soldiers in the island, with four detachments of inhabitants, well acquainted with the mountains, and thirty Indians to carry provisions ; some relations of Enrique, who had been employed before; and two Franciscan friars, were to go with Barrio Nuevo by water, to the nearest part of the mountains. All disputes among the Spanish inhabitants in the islands used to be settled by arbitration — now, the lawyers prevented these ITcncia, 5. 1, 7 5. 1. 8. 172 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1533. arrangements as much as lay in their power. The King, therefore, issued orders, that all arbitrations, given conformable to the Madrid law of 1449, should hold good. And the King being informed that in criminal cases before the governors and alcaldes, where the parties had a right to appeal to the Audience, sentences of loss of limb and death had been arbitrarily executed, without the appeal being allowed — he therefore ordered, that whenever those officers sentenced any person to death or loss of limb, and the sentence was appealed against, that the right should be granted, and the sentence not executed, under the penalty of loss of office and half their property. Great injury had resulted to the public from the churches affording sanctuary. The King, therefore, wrote to the prelates of all the orders, not to receive criminals into their monasteries ; that they ought not to enjoy the immunities of the church, nor ought justice to be impeded. The King ordered, that no Indians should be marked in the face with irons, even though they were slaves. No more " Gelofes," Negroes, were to be imported into any part of the Indies without an express licence, because the insur- rections at San Juan and other islands had been occasioned by that incon'igible race. Don Pedro de Heredia obtained fi'om the King of Spain the government of Cartagena, and the country between the rivers Magdalena and Darien, and as far inland as the Equator : he arrived at Santo Domingo with one " galeon," two caravelas, and 100 men, and called at A^ua, in the same island, where he took on board provisions, horses, and some more men, and proceeded to Tierra Firma. He landed at Calamari, which, from its similarity to the port in Spain, - he named Cartagena. His proceedings do not belong to this work. 1533. Captain Francisco de Barrio Nuevo, with his party, sailed from Santo Domingo in the middle of April, in a caravela, attended by a large canoe : they stood to the westward, the canoe keeping close in shore, and landing occasionally, until they got to Yaquimo, the nearest place to the mountains of Bauruco. After two months search, they found an Indian house up the river, and further on, some grain, which Barrio Nuevo would not suffer to be touched. . An Indian from San Juan de la Maguana, who said he knew where to find Enrique, was sent to him with a letter. Barrio Nuevo waited twenty days for the Indian's retui-n, and then, with another guide, and twenty soldiers, with provisions for seven days, Herrera, 5- 2. 8 5. 'J. 3 — 5. .'5. 4. 1.553. J OF THE WEST INDIES. 173 set off himself. After travelling tliree days, they surprised and took prisoners four Indians, who said that Enrique was in the lake called Comendador, (after Ovando) ; but the road was difficult, over mountains and through woods. Before tliey got to the lake, which was twelve leagues off, they came to a village of neatlv-built cottages, well supplied with provisions and necessaries, but without any inhabitants. Barrio Nuevo would not allow any thing to be taken, except some calabashes to carry water. The road to the lake was now a very narrow path, cut through the woods, where they heard some Indians cutting timber. The Spaniards advanced with great caution, and succeeded in taking a prisoner, from whom they learnt that Enrique was about half a league from them, on th*^ other side of the lake, and that he went backwards and forwai'ds in canoes, which were kept for the purpose, without which they must wade up to their waists in water, and the road, after that, was over very difficult mountains. Barrio Nuevo kept near the lake, in the most concealed places ; but some Indians from a canoe called out for him to come to the lake : he sent to ask them where Enrique was, to whom he said he had something to communicate in the King's name, and that he supposed an Indian had delivered his letter to Enrique. They replied, that no Indian had been seen ; but they knew very well that a captain, sent by the King to speak to Enrique, had arrived. Barrio Nuevo now requested the Indians to take Enrique's cousin in their canoe : they were fearful that Enrique would be angry, but at last consented to receive her. She waded up to her breast in water to get into the canoe : they refused to come any nearer the shore for her. The next day, two canoes came, with the Indian and one of Enrique's captains, called Martin de Alfaro, and some companions armed with lances and Spanish swords: they all landed ; and Barrio Nuevo and the chief left their followers. The chief said, that Enrique wished Barrio Nuevo to come to him; and, as a proof of" his friendly dispositions, had sent to kiss his hands. Contrary to the advice of his followers, Barrio Nuevo determined to go ; and with only five attendants, proceeded through the most difficult roads towards Enrique's residence. The soldiers murmured at their dangerous situation; and Barrio Nuevo, in the Indians' presence, told them, " That whoever did not follow with a good will might return — he gave him leave to do so : he knew when he accepted that commission from the King, that he had to run great risks, to bring it to a happy termination : he only carried one sword and his ' gineta' (a small cane with a spear at the end, carried only by commanders), because he went to treat for peace ; and no larger a company, because he was certain of a successfiil termination : he expected to find Enrique a person in whom he could confide — if mistaken, he should die doing his duty. Where Ilerieva, .). 5. 4. \J4> CHRONOLOGICAL HLSTORY [1.533. nothing was hazarded, nothing was gained ; it was better to run some risks than proceed too cautiously : he had done so at the beginning, and found it answer; and therefore expected it would do the same in the middle and at the end." When they arrived near Enrique's abode. Barrio Nuevo was so fatigued that he could go no further : he therefore sent Alfaro to tell Enrique, that the difficulties of the road had obliged him very often to crawl upon all fours like a cat, and that Enrique might converse with perfect security, he had only brought a few fol- lowers : he wished to negociate a peace, and give him the King's letter. Enrique blamed Alfaro for not clearing the road, and sent to request Barrio Nuevo would come to him, where he could be better accommodated. They met with great civility; five of Enrique's captains also paid their compliments to him. About seventy Indians were with them, armed with swords, shields, and morrions (head pieces), and they had large red cords, rolled round their bodies. Barrio Nuevo ordered his men to keep at a distance, Enrique did the same : both then sat under a tree ; and Barrio Nuevo said, " That the King, as a merciful prince, and the father of his subjects, considering the number of years that Enrique had lived wandering among the mountains with the greatest inquietude to himself, and to the other subjects in that island, and having heard that he was a Christian, and a man of sense and education, had judged that, for the salvation of Enrique's soul, and those of his followers, and for the general welfare, it was better to finish the war with clemency than with blood ; that he pardoned all past offences, and received them into his favour and service ; and that to tell him this, and to give him the King's letter, was the reason of his embassy. And that this being a pious work, and worthy of his Majesty, he had not hesitated, contrary to the advice of many of his followers, to come and see him ; trusting, as he was a knight and a Christian, that he knew the times when to treat him as a friend, and when as an enemy." Enrique received the letter with great joy, and begged Barrio Nuevo to read it — his eyes were so weak he could not. Barrio Nuevo read it aloud, that all might hear : it was in substance the same as Barrio Nuevo's speech, with this addition, that the King had ordered the Royal Audience to give Enrique sufficient lands to maintain himself and his followers, and that it was certain this promise would be perfoiTned. Enrique took the letter, kissed it, and placed it on his head. A dispatch from the Royal Audience, to the same effect, was also given him. He replied, " That he never had desired any thing but peace : he knew the favour which God and the King had granted him ; and if peace had not taken place before, it was from the bad faith which had been used, from Hevrera, 5. 5, 4. 1.53.3.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 175 the beginning of the rebelhon." He then withdrew with his captains, and shewed them the King's letter : they declared their willingness to obey the King; and the following treaty was concluded : — That Enrique should recal all his Indians who were away making war, and tell them that from henceforward they were to be friends with the Spaniards. Second, That he should appoint two of his captains to go over the island after the runaway Negroes, and that a reward should be given for every Negroe. Thirdly, That he should oblige those he had, as well as the fugitives, to return to their owners. Fourthly, That when, confiding in the peace, he should quit the mountains and come to the plains, live stock from the royal property should be given for his maintenance. All supped together except Enrique, who always did so with his wife. The Spaniards treated the Indians with confidence, exchang- ing their different articles. Peace being concluded, and the faith and word pledged from one to the other, the Indians left their arms and took their leave of Enrique : he embraced all the Spaniards, and sent some Indians to accompany Barrio Nuevo to the sea, and a chief to go to Santo Domingo, to pay his respects to the admiral and the magistrates. Barrio Nue^'o entertained the Indians on board, and sent some handsome presents to Enrique and his captains. Barrio Nuevo was received at Santo Domingo with great joy — Peace was proclaimed, and the Indian captain dismissed, with several valuable presents for Enrique, and for his wife; Pedro Romero went with him, the Audience sent him with their approba- tion of the terms. Enrique requested some images, and said that nothing had distressed him more than the children dying unbap- tized ; he begged Romero to baptize those he had : and thus was finished a war which for thirteen years had occasioned the greatest distress to the island. Enrique waited some months for the return of his captain ; but growing impatient at the delay, with about 300 followers, including women and children, he descended from the movmtain, and went to the woods, near the city of Agiia, from whence he sent a messenger to ask the inhabitants if the p?ace was ratified : he received an affirmative answer, and 100 men, prepared for war, went out to meet him. The meeting was cordial on both sides; and Don Enrique (for so the King had named him,) was much gratified when he heard that Captain Gon^alo, his messenger, had left Santo Domingo four days before, in a vessel with some Spaniards. The next day Don Enrique went to meet her, and sent back in her some runaway Negroes, with a promise to return all he should find according to the treaty. Bartolome de Las Casas, with the permission of the superior of Ilerrora, 5. 5. 5.. 176 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1533. his order, went to Don Enrique, with all the requisites for saying mass, and at A9ua baptized all who needed it. This was a great consolation to Enrique, who affirmed that every day during the rebellion he had said his Pater Noster and Ave Maria, and had fasted every Friday. The Royal Audience at first were dissatisfied with Las Casas; but when they heard what he had done, they approved instead of blaming him. After considerable delay, Don Enrique arrived at San Domingo ; he was received with great ceremony, selected Boya for his residence, a place about fourteen leagues to the N.E., and soon repaired thither with 4000 Indians. Antonio Sedefio, at Trinidad, had confined Captain Alonzo de Herrera, to prevent his deserting to Paria. Augustin Delgado requested that a captain of such valour as Herrera might be released, to assist in the expected battle, because he had been confined upon false charges. Delgado was unsuccessful, and pretending that he was wounded, went to Paria. An alguazil an-ived from the Royal Audience, with orders for the release of Captain Alonzo de Herrera, and an appointment for him to command in Paria. The orders were obeyed, and Herrera superseded Delgado. The Indians having made their arrangements, attacked Sedeno^s fortress on different sides : they fought furiously, but without success. As they were retreating, Alonso de Orellana and some others on horseback charged the fugitives, followed them, burnt their houses, and returned to the fort laden with plunder. This victory was some consolation to the soldiers ; but their numbers were so diminished by continual skirmishings, that the majority of the survivors deserted to Paria, and joined Herrera : the others persuaded Sedefio to go there also. Herrera, in revenge, seized and imprisoned Sedeno. After six months' confinement, his followers released him, and he returned to Puerto Rico, to levy more troops for the subju- gation of Trinidad. With these he returned, and found the Indians so panic stricken with their last defeat, and the arrival of new enemies, that they consented to supply the Spaniards with provi- sions in exchange for other articles. Tlie Supreme Council of the Indies had declared it lawful to make slaves of the Indians at Trinidad, on account of their perfidy and inhuman sins. The King, to ease his conscience upon this point, ordered a junta of the ministers and principal theologians to decide upon the justice of the measure. They declared that he might make rigorous war upon them with a good conscience, because they were idolaters, enemies to Christians, and had killed several, and that to extend the Holy Faith, and freely preach the Holy Gospel, was the principal end of the war. Ilcircra, 5. 5. G 5. 5. 7. 1535-2 O^ THE WEST INDIES. 177 Seventy labourers, with their wives, arrived at San Domingo from Spain. The King luid granted them certain privileges, in a contract granted to an inhabitant of that city called Bolanos, to settle a colony at Monte-Christo and Puerto Real. The licenciate Gil Gon9alez Davila an-ived at the same time, with a commission to visit the Royal Audience and all the royal offices ; experience having shewn that it was necessary. By an order of the Royal Council of the Indies, the pearl fishery was laid open, every trader paying a fifth to the King. The value of the fishery at Cubagua had considerably diminished, from the scarcity of oysters. The inhabitants of that island were considered by the Royal Audi- ence so disobedient, that the licentiate Prado was sent to regulate the administration of justice there, and at " Nuestra Seiiora de la Asumpcion," in Margarita: he was directed to visit the Indian villages in the neighbourhood, and, in company with all the Domi- nican and Franciscan fi'iars, to sign a declaration of their opinion concerning the propriety of making war upon the Indians, for in that case the King would permit it to be done. Constant complaints were made to the Audience at Espanola, of the friars and clergymen inducing sick people to bequeath their property to the churches and monasteries, to the great injury of the heir at law. Orders were therefore given, that the wills should be made according to the inclination of the sick person, and no oppres- sion used to make them alter it. The licentiate Fuenmaior was appointed president of the Royal AutUence : he ordered the proclamation which had been issued in Castile to be published, forbidding any persons to ride upon mules, except clergjTiien and pensons who were above sixty years of age, or under fourteen. 1535. In August, Juan Mori arrived at San Domingo, in an open boat, with the remains of the crew of the Capitana, that had sailed in company with the San Pedro, under the command of Alcazaba, from Cadiz, the 21st September, 1534, upon a voyage of discovery to the Straits of Magallanes. In the Straits the crews mutinied, and killed Alcazaba, with a determination to turn pirates. Another mutiny against the murderers was lieaded by Juan Mori : all con- cerned in the death of Alcazaba were put to death, and Mori chosen captain. After suffering great hardships from hunger, the Capitana was wrecked off the coast of Brazil, upon the Teneron shoals, and ninety of the crew were killed by the Indians : twenty escaped ; and Herrera, 5. 5. 5,-5. 5. 11. — 5. 5. 12. Relacion del ultimo Viage Al, Magalk^ nes, &e. p. 21G. 178 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1536-S. with these and a pipe of wine, and some other things, Mori made sail for San Domingo. Several died in the boat, and the survivors were sent to prison by the Royal Audience. From prison Mori wrote the account of his voyage to a friend at Seville. Tlie San Pedro, coimnanded by Juan de Echearcaguana, arrived also at San Domingo. Felipe Gutierrez, with more than 400 soldiei-s, and some horses, sailed from Espahola to take possession of his new govermiient at Veragua. This was a disastrous expedition. As two Franciscans, with forty Spaniards, were in a vessel passing Marguarita, some Caribs in piraguas attacked and made diem all prisoners, with the exception of one Indian, who gave the informa- tion. Tlie King sent orders to the Franciscans and magistrates at Cubagua, to ascertain what Indians they were, and make war upon them by sea and land — and make slaves of them, and mark them as such, with tlie iron kept by the protector. 1536. A French pirate landed at the Havannah, and raised 700 ducats from the inhabitants to save the town from being burnt. The next day he was chased by three Spanish ship j from Mexico, that arrived at the Havannah : all these three the pirate captured, and returning again to the Havannah, obliged the inhabitants to pay him 700 ducats more. 1538. Hernando de Soto, with his expedition for the conquest of Florida, arrived at Santiago, in Cuba, the 21st of April. Since the miser- able fate of Panfilo de Narvaez, no attempt had been made to colonize that country. To facilitate Hernando de Soto's plans, he was appointed governor of Cuba. Immediately upon his arrival at that island, he sent over and had the town of " San Christoval de Habana" rebuilt: some French corsairs had burnt it a short time before. Hernando de Soto ordered Matheo Aceituno to build a fort there ; and this was the first fortification ever made at that place : the command of it was given to Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa. Juan de Anasco was sent with two brigantines to survey the coast of Florida, and find out the best place for landing the troops : he returned with two Indians, after an absence of two months ; but so unsatisfactory was his report, tliat Hernando de Soto sent him again to fulfil his orders. Herrera. 5. 8. S — 5. 9. 11. — 6. 7. 9. Univ. Hist, vol, xxxvi. ji. 330'. 1538.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 179 The licenciate Frias had been sent by the Royal Audience to enquire into the conduct of Antonio Sedeno, who, by his extortions, had driven the whole country near Cubagua into war. Sedeno imprisoned Frias ; and then the Audience sent the licenciate Fran- cisco de Castaneda to settle the dispute. To add weight to his representations, Castaneda collected thirty cavalry and seventy infanty in Margarita and Cubagua, and with these landed at Ma- racapana, from whence he dispatched an alguazil to Sedeno. The alguazil joined Sedeno's followers four days after his death, who all submitted to the orders from the Royal Audience. The licenciate Castaneda seeing that the pearl fishery at Cubagua had failed, as well as the traffic of the inhabitants with the main-land, sent to seek for other oyster beds : some were found about twenty leagues from Cape de la Vela, which proved very productive ; others were discovered in the harbour of Espiritu Santo, in Margarita, from which very fine pearls were taken ; and another bed, half a league long, was found to windward of the harbour, in nine fathoms water : another was discovered in the islands " Los Frailes,'' and in " Los Testigos," twelve leagues to the eastward of Margarita ; and a great quantity of oysters were found at the head of the Margarita. The magistrates of the Royal Audience were reprimanded for having issued reals at forty-four maravedis each, contrary to the Spanish laws : they were ordered to issue them at the common price, and to proclaim them at that value. Gasper Roche, an inhabitant of Puerto Rico, in San Juan, having complained to the Supreme Council of the Indies of the arrogance of the judges in the Indies, the Council, referring to the law, published by the King Don Alonso, at " Alcala de Henares," in 1386, ordered that no " Hijodalgo" should be seized or imprisoned for any debt he might owe, unless he was a farmer or collector of taxes, because in that case the person lost his pri\alege : and at the same time, the Council ordered, that no Hijodalgo should be put to the torture, because it was an ancient privilege granted to them. In April, 1538, Peter de Cifuentes sailed from San Domingo, with a cargo of warlike stores for Margarita. At Puerto Rico, two large canoes filled with Caribs attacked his vessel : he escaped by superior sailing — was driven to leeward of his port, and the pilot, not knowing the land, stood still farther to the westward, and anchored in a creek near Puerto Cavello. The natives came off in eleven canoes — a Genoese sailor jumped into one, which rowed off with him : the crew fired and killed three Indians, but were unable to save their shipmate. At one of the islands belonging to Juan de Ampues, the pilot ran away. Cifuentes and his crew, all equally ignorant of navigation, made sail for San Domingo, were dismasted in a gale of wind, and Herrcra, 5. 5. 8 G. 5. 9 — C. 7, 6 — G. 3. 21. N 2 180 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1538. driven in the night upon the " Serrana" shoals : the crew, a flask of powder and steel, were saved, but nothing else. They found sea- calves and birds upon the island, and were obliged to eat them raw, and drink their blood, for there was no water. After some weeks, they made a raft with fragments of the wreck, lashed together with calf-skin thongs : three men went off upon it, and were lost. Two, and a boy, staid upon the island — one of whom, Moreno, died four days afterwards raving mad, having gnawed the flesh off his arms : the survivors, Master John and the boy, dug holes in the sand with tortoise-shells, and lined them with calf-skins to catch the rain. Where the vessel was wrecked, they found a stone which served them for a flint : this invaluable prize enabled them to make a fii'e. Two men had been living vipon another island two leagues from them, in similar distress, for five years : these saw the fire, and upon a raft joined their fellow-sufferers. They now built a boat with the fragments of the v^n-eck — made sails of calves-skins, and caulked her with their fat, mixed with charcoal : one man and the boy went away in her : Master John, and one whose name has not been pre- served, would not venture in her : they made themselves coracles with skins, and coasted round the shoals, which they estimated at twelve leagues long. At low water there were seventeen islands, but only five which were not sometimes overflowed. Fish, turtle, sea-calves, birds, and a root like purslane, was their food. The whites of turtle-eggs, when dried and bui'ied for a fortnight, turned to water, which they found good drink : five months in the year these eggs were their chief food. They clothed themselves and covered their hut witli calves-skins, and made an enclosure to catch fish, twenty-two fatlioms long, with stones brought out of the sea — and raised two towers Iti the same laborious way, sixteen fathoms in circumference at the base, and four in height, at the north and south extremities of the island : upon these they made fires as signals. To avoid the crabs and snails which tormented them at night, they slept in the day time. Three years after the others went away, John's sufferings began to affect his reason : in a fit of despair, he applied to the devil for that relief his prayers had failed to bring ; and rising in the dark, he fancied the devil was close to the hut. John awaked his companion, and taking a crucifix for protection, ran praying to the other end of the island. About a fortnight afterwards, John thought he heard his visitor again, but did not see him. And now it pleased God to relii2ve them : they saw a ship, and made a great smoke upon their tower, which was seen. John and his companion were carried to the Havannah, where their appearance and story attracted great attention. John was twice sick during the eight years, both times in August, and both times bled himself . Herrera, 6. 3. 21. 1538.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 181 This year the King of Spain ordered all the gold and silver that arrived from the Indies belonging to individuals, to be seized, and interest paid for it. Some were of opinion that he did this to increase the population of the Indies, as many would remain there when they could not have their money sent over. Ten days before the arrival of Hernando de Soto at Santiago in Cuba, upon his passage to attempt the conquest of Florida, a beautiful vessel, commanded by Diego Perez, a native of Seville, had anchored there. Though Diego Perez went among the islands as a merchant, he was a good soldier by sea and land, and had his vessel well manned and armed, to fight, if it should be neces- sary, with the pirates with which those seas abounded. Three days after Diego Perez arrived in the port, a French corsair, upon a cruise, entered it, and an engagement between the two vessels immediately commenced, which lasted until night. When the battle ceased, the two captains sent messengers to each other, with presents of wine, and preserves, and dried fresh fruits, as if they had been two great friends, and mutually agreed that there should be no fighting in the night but only by day, and then only with swords and lances, and not with artillery, which, they agreed, was an invention for cowardly minds ; but that their men should fight and conquer by force of arms and individual bravery, and the conqueror have the ship for his prize. This truce was inviolably kept — though each ship kept proper watch, to prevent surprise. Tlie second day they fought obstinately, till hunger and fatigue parted them; and having eaten and refreshed themselves, they fought again till sunset : then they retired, and placed their watches, and visited and made presents, inquiring for each other's health, as upon the former evening, and offering for the wounded the medicines that each of them had. That night, Diego Perez sent a letter to the inhabitants of the city, saying, that they must have plainly seen what he had done for the last two days to conquer the enemy, and how their gallant resistance had rendered it impossible : he therefore requested of them (since it was of such consequence to the city, that their coasts should be cleared of such a corsair) to give him their word, that if he should lose the battle, they would reimbui'se him, or his heirs, to within 1000 pesos of the value of the ship ; that he then would offer to fight the enemy till he conquered him, or perished in the attempt — and that he begged this recompence because he was poor, and had no other property than that vessel ; that if he was rich, he would have risked it freely in their service ; and that if he conquered her, he did not wish for any premium from them. The city replied, that Diego Perez must do as he pleased ; that they did not choose to pledge themselves to any thing- Seeing the bad success of his Herrera, 6. 5. 4. Historia de la Florida del Inca, por Garcilaso de la Vega. Madrid, 172S. Fol. p. 1?. N 3 Jg^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1538. petition, he determined to fight for his honour, hfe, and property ; saying, he that could serve himself did wrong in serving another. At daybreak of the third day of the battle, Diego Perez was ready for action ; and attacking his enemy with the same spirit and gallantry as upon the two preceding days, to shew those in the city that he did not fight confiding in them, but in God, and his own good courage and strength. The French came out to receive him, with no less desire to conquer or die that day than the others : and it certainly appeared that obstinacy and the point of honour induced them to fight more than interest; because, except the ships, what either had on board would be of little value. They now made fast to each other, fighting all that day as they had the two days before, only separating to eat and rest, when they felt the necessity of doing so; and having rested, they returned to the battle as though they were then beginning, and always with greater anger and rage at not being able to conquer. Want of daylight separated them again, with many killed and wounded upon both sides ; but when they drew off, they visited and made presents to each other, as if nothing injurious had passed between them. So passed the night — all the inhabitants of the city admiring their gallantry. Upon the fourth day, having first hailed each other, they began the battle again, with the same spirit as upon the three preceding days, but with less strength, because they were very weary, and many of them badly wounded. They fought all this day as before, only separating to eat and rest, and dress the wounded, and then returned to the battle again, till night placed them in peace : they then separated, but did not neglect to visit with presents and good words, to show that they were not less courteous and affable in peace, than valiant and ferocious in war.^ The Spaniard that day found his enemy weakened, and he sent with his presents to say, that he extremely desired that a battle which had lasted so lono- should not cease till one of the two had gained the victory — and he prayed him to wait the following day, and promised him rewards if he did so; and, to bind him by military laws, he challenged him again to fight the next day, and relied upon not being refused, since, in all the other battles, he had proved himself so valiant a captain. The Frenclnnan making ostentatious shows of rejoicing at the new defiance, replied that he accepted it. and that he would wait the following day, and many more which would be necessary to accomplish their wish, and finish that battle, whose end he desired no less than his enemy : that of this he might be certain, and securely rest all night, and take vigour and strength for the fol- lowing day ; and begged him not to make the defiance false, and, with labour artfully done to make him secure and careless, try to Hist, de la Florida, p. 1 i. 1539-40.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 183 save himself the approaching night ; but that he would be certain and true, for he desired to shew in his person the valour of his natioiK But, with all these vaunts, when he saw the time suited, he weighed his anchors as silently as he could, and made sail. Tlie Spanish sentinels, although they heard a noise on board the Frenclmian, did not beat to arms, or give the alarm, supposing they were getting ready for the approaching battle, ai;id not to fly. When the day broke, they found themselves deceived. Diego Perez was much grieved that his enemy had done so — because, from their weakness, which he had observed the day before, he held it for certain he should have had the victory : and with this hope, getting from the city what he wanted for his men, he sailed in search of his enemy. The city of Havannah was sacked and burnt by French corsairs, without any respect for the chm'ches, or reverence for the images that were in them. In consequence of the great demand for horses, for the conquest of Peru and Mexico, they were bred with great care, and in great quantities, in Cuba; many individuals having in their stables twenty and thirty horses, and some rich persons from fifty to seventy: die breed was famous for strength, and for shape, and colour. The Indians in Cuba, to avoid working in the mines for gold, destroyed themselves in numbers, notwithstanding all that the Spaniards could do to prevent it. The inhabitants, men, women, and children, of a village containing fifty houses, were found, at daylight, all hanging to the trees — so that scarce one man re- mained alive. ' 1539. May the 12th, Hernando de Soto sailed from the Havannah, with ten ships, 900 men, exclusive of seamen, and 350 horses, for the conquest of Florida ; he left his lady governess of Cuba. 1540. In consequence of the great miracles worked by the most holy cross " de la Vega" in Espariola, the King of Spain issued an Hist, de la Florida, p. 15, IG, 17. Herrera, 6. 9. 7. « The Negroes «mve the name of Criollos tlicy were born there, and not brought from to the children of Spaniards and of Negroes Spain : and tlus word, with its signification, that were born in the Indies, to signify that the Spaniards adopted, N '1 184 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1541. order that a chapel should be built over it at the royal expence (if the inhabitauts did not chuse to do it at their own charge), because the cross was not held in that veneration which it ought to be. The admiral Don Louis Colon returned to Espanola, with the title of Captain General of the island : but whenever there was occasion for him to exercise his authority, the Audience were to give him instructions how it was to be done. Many Portuguese vessels trading to the West Indies having landed their cargoes at the Azores, from whence they were imr ported into Portugal without passing through the custom-house at Seville, orders were now issued, that all such vessels should, before they sailed from the islands wliere they got their cargoes, give security that they would proceed direct to the custom-house at Seville, under the penalty of being punished according to the laws. Diego de Maldonado arrived at the Havannah from Florida : he was sent by Ferdinand de Soto with dispatches for his wife, whom Soto had left to govern in Cuba — and to spread favourable reports of the country, that adventurers might be tempted to come and join him ; all which Maldonado punctually performed. 1541. The English and French corsairs did great injury to the Spanish trade in the West Indies. Captain Robert Val was fitting out a fleet of ten sail at St. Maloes, to cruise in the West Indies. In answer to a complaint made by the Portuguese ambassador to Francis the First of France, against the equipment of those squadrons, some of whom had gone to the countries belonging to the crown of Portugal, Francis replied, that he intended to follow those conquests and navigations which belonged by right to him, as "Well as to the other Christian princes; and that he wished to preserve friendship and a good understanding with some of the Indian princes. Christopher Vaca de Castro arrived at Espanola the 15th January, upon his passage out to Peru, to inquire into the mis- management of the Marquis Pizarro. Vaca de Castro was afterwards very near pei'ishing in a gale of wind. Upon the 11th September, Francisco de Orellana arrived at Cubagua, without knowing where he was. After his memorable voyage down the Maranham, or River of Amazons, the old bi'igan- tine that he built first parted company with him in the Gulf of Paria, and had arrived at the same place two days before. Herrcra, 4. 7. Z — 7. 1. 9.-6. 7. 9 4. 7. 1 6. 9. 6. Humboldt, vol. ii. p. 247. 1542-3.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 185 1542. " Girolano BenzonI of Milan, who, at the age of twenty-two years, had gone over to Tierra Firma, took part in some expedi- tions made in 1542 to the coasts of Bordones, Cariaco, and Paria, to carry off the unfortunate natives. He relates, with simplicity, and often with a sensibility not common in the historians of that time, the examples of cruelty of which he was a witness. He saw the slaves dragged to New Cadiz, to be marked on the forehead and on the arms, and to pay the quint to the officers of the crown. From this port the Indians were sent to the island of Hayti, after having often changed masters, not by way of sale, but because the soldiers played for them at dice." The Dutch carried on a lucrative trade in salt, which they pro- cured at the peninsula of Araya, from " the salt marshes which stretch away in the form of a mere, to the north of Cerro de la Vela." 1543. In this year, several laws were L'^sued relating to the West Indies. All criminal causes that should come before any of the Four Audiences, after the sentence had been revised once by the same Audience, was to be executed without any further appeal. In all civil causes their decision was also to be final, except the sum was above 10,000 pesos of gold: in which case an appeal might be made to the Kinsr. All letters issued by the Audiences were to have the royal seal affixed, and be obeyed as letters signed by the King. In places where there was no Audience, the decisions of the governor to be considered as final. The Audiences were to take particular care that the Indians were well treated, and the ordinances respecting them punctually obeyed. No Indian was for any reason to be made a slave, but always to be treated as a royal vassal to the crown of Castile. No officer or clergyman was to have any grant of Indians. No persons were to go upon discovery, either by sea or land, without a licence ; and then they were only to take with them three or four Indians as interpreters. No viceroy or governor was to be concerned in any discoveries. Several other laws were issued at the same time, which applied only to Tierra Firma. Hiiniboldt, vol. ii. p. 255. Hen era, 7. 6. 5. — 7. 6. 6. 186 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1544. The Indians in San Juan, Cuba, and Espanola were not to pay any ti'ibute, either royal or personal, during the King's pleasure ; and religious persons were to instruct them in the Catholic Faith. The licenciate Alonso Lopez Cerrato was appointed president of the Audience at San Domingo. For four successive years Diego Maldonado and Gomez Arias sailed from the Havannah with supplies for Hernando de Soto, without being able to learn the least account of him or his army. In the month of October of this year, after an unsuccessful search of several months, they put into Vera Cruz, where they heard of the death of that officer, and the arrival of the remains of his army at Mexico. With this information they returned to Cuba, where the death of Hernando de Soto occasioned great grief to his friends and his widow. 1544. The widow of Orellana arrived at Margarita, after his unsuc- cessful attempt to settle upon the banks of the River of Amazons, or Orellana, as it was named after him. They had sailed from St. Lucar, the 11th of May, 1544, with four ships and 400 men. He stopped three months at Teneriffe, and two at the Cape de Verds, where ninety-eight of his people died, and fifty were left behind. They proceeded with three sliips, and were detained by contrary winds, till their water was expended ; and had it not been for heavy rains, all must have perished. In this disti*ess, one ship put back, with seventy men and eleven horses on board, and was never heard of afterwards. The remaining two went a hundred leagues up the river, where they built a brigantine : here fifty-seven more of the party died, and one of the vessels was broken up for the materials. Twenty leagues higher up the river, the other ship parted lier cable with the strength of the current, was driven on shore and lost : they broke her up, and built a bark with the materials — a labour of two months and a half. Orellana afterwards was thirty days in seeking the main branch of the river. Returning unsuccessful, he declared he was sick, and resolved to return into a Cln-istian country. Tlie Indians killed seventeen of his men, and 100 resolved to stay in the country : he soon afterwards died of grief and disease. The rest, with his widow, who always went with liim, made for the West Indies, and arrived at Margarita. Five sail of French corsairs took possession of Santa Martha, remained eight days in the town, and burnt it upon their departure : they proceeded to Cartagena, kept possession of that city for eight days, and carried away 45,000 pesos from the royal chest : they Herrera, 7. 7. 13—7. ?. V. 1*545-70 ■ OF THE WEST INDIES. 187 then proceeded to the Havana, where they were driven back to their vessels with the loss of fifteen men : they then stood off through the Bahama Channel. 1545. Five French ships and a tender arrived at the pearl fishery, and seized all the shipping in the port. The next day the Spaniards ransomed some of the vessels, and bought seventy blacks of the French, who proceeded to Santa Martha, and received 1000 ducats to forbear burning the place. The inhabitants of Santa Martha finding themselves exposed to these predatory incursions, removed to the River de la Hacha. The Spaniards remaining upon the island of Espanola did not in this year exceed eleven hundred souls. " The island was almost brought to a desert." ' The alcalde of the castle at the Havannah having complained that no respect was shown to the royal banner which that fortress hoisted, the King ordered that every ship of his navy which arrived there should salute, in the same way they did to the fortress at Santo Uomingo, in Espariola. 1547. Tlie Caribs continued to molest Espanola, Jamaica, the coast of Tierra Firma, and particularly the island of San Juan, the inha- bitants of which island complained, that from Trinidad, " Guada- lupe," Dominica, Santa Cruz, " Martinino," and other islands, there sallied numbers of Caribs, who did them the greatest injury. The King, notwithstanding his laws to the contrary, gave permission to the inhabitants of San Juan to make war upon the Caribs, and take them for slaves, as devourers of hiunan flesh : he directed the officers of justice to see that no others were deprived of their liberty upon this pretence. Tlie see of San Domingo was made an archbishopric. Herrera, 7. 10. 18 — 8. 4. 13. Jerom Benzo. Purchas, part. 4. lib. 7. c, 12. p.l448. Charlevoix, vol. ii. p. 324. ' Mr. Brougham, in his Colonial Policy the improvements of the whole colonies, &;<< of the European Powers, vol. i. book], sect. 3. particitlarli/ of the islands, have been keep- p. 451., speaking of the Spanish colonies, ing pace with the necessities under which states, " That the population has been ra- Spain is laid, both in America and Europe, pidly increasing in every quarter since the of extending and drawing forth her whole conquest, though not so rapidly as in the imperial resources." North American settlements;" and, " That 188 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [^1549-00. 1549. Chance having led some vessels to Borburata (now Porto Cavallo), the governor, Villegas, sent there, as a germ for the population of the city, twenty-four men, of whom four were nomi- nated aldermen, and two magistrates, as the constituent parts of the common council : but it became a nest of smugglers ; and three or four times successfully resisted, by force of arms, the efforts of the Spanish government to root them out. The Dutch frequented the port. 1551. Orders were sent from Spain to the governor of Cuba, that from henceforward no debtor should be confined in prison, or deprived of his clothes, after he had sworn that he was poor, and had it not in his power to pay : neither shovild he be detained in prison for the costs, after he had paid the sum for which he was cast. The King of Spain had ordered an university to be founded at San Domingo in Espanola, with a professor of scholastic theology, and one for the sacred writings. 1554. An order was this year sent from Spain, directing, that upon the founding of any new town or colony, there should, in the first place, be marked out proper places for a council-house, chapter-house, custom-house and store-houses near the church and harbovn- ; so that, in case of attack, they might mutually support each other : and also, that an hospital for the poor and sick, who had no conta- gious disorder, should be erected close to the church, as a cloister to it ; but that it should be so placed, that the prevailing winds should not blow through it upon the town — and, if possible, upon an eminence. 1560. December 8th, 1560, the King of Spain granted permission to the inhabitants of Venezuela, at the solicitation of a provincial Depon's South America, vol. ii. pp. 205. S. Herrera, 8. 7. 13. — 8, 9. 6. 1563-4.] OF THE WEST INDIES. ' 189 named Sanclio Biizeno, for the annual arrival at the port of Borbu- rata, of a vessel from Spain, the, cargo of which should pay only half of the enormous duties then imposed on the commerce with America. After the port of Borburata was abandoned, the vessel went to Guayra, " mitil an epoch wliich history has neglected to record." 1563. Sir John Hawkins having procured 300 Negroes upon the coast of Guinea, " partly by the sworde, and partly by other meanes," carried them to Espafiola, and sold them at the ports of Isabella, Puerta de la Plata, and Monte Christi ; receiving in exchange for them hides, ginger, sugars, and pearls. This seems to have been the first attempt from England for any Negro trade. Captain Hawkins went himself in the Salomon of 120 tons, and had with him the Swallow of 100 tons, Captain Thomas Hampton, and the Jonas, a bark of forty tons ; they sailed from England in October, 1562, and returned in September, 1563. 1564. April the 22d, Captain Rene Laudonniere sailed from Newhaven, upon his second voyage to Florida, with three sail, the largest 120 tons burthen : they touched at Martinico and at Dominica. Two Indians came off in two canoes with ananas ; but one of the Indians, when he got near the ships, pulled off again as hard as he could. They sent after him : he had been emasculated by the Spaniards, and was fearful of falling into their hands again. Lau- donniere gave him a shirt and other things, and let him go. While they were watering, the men killed a snake, nine feet long, and as large as a man's leg : and, contrary to the particular request of the Indians, v/ent to their huts and gardens, and carried away the pine-apples. The Indians attacked them, and either killed or carried away as their prisoner Martine Chaueau, and drove the rest to their boats. Next morning M. Laudonniere left the island, and passing between Anguilla and Anegada, arrived on the coast of Florida on Thursday the 22d of June. November the 13th, part of Laudonniere's men ran away with his two barks from the coast of Florida, and in them went pirating off tlie coast of Cuba. After seizing one vessel, out of which they took Hakluyt, vo]. iii. pp. 500. 319. 333. , Lescarbot, p. 60. 190 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1565. some gold and silver, they became so distressed for want of provi- sions, that they put into the Havannah. After the loss of these vessels, Laudonniere began to build two other barks, of about thirty-five feet long : these were no sooner built than another mutiny broke out, the leaders of which were Fourneaux, La Croix, and Steven le Genevois : these persuaded sixty- three others to join them ; and on the 8th of December they left Florida, having named Bertrand Conferrent to command in one vessel, and De Orange in another. The latter, off " Archaha," captured a brig laden with cassava, which proving a finer vessel than their own, they shifted into her : in taking her they lost two men, Stephen Gondeau and Grand Pre, who were taken prisoners by the inabitants of Archaha — and two others were killed. In this vessel they proceeded to Baracou, in Jamaica, where they captured a caraval of sixty tons, and shifting again into her, they left their old vessel, and went to cruize off Cape Tiburon : here, after a long engagement, they captured a " pitach," very richly laden, and having on board the governor of Jamaica. In this vessel they cruized off Jamaica, and suffered the governor to send two boys on shore to bring off provisions — instead of which, there came out at day-break two well-armed vessels of 100 tons burthen, and a " malgualire," or vessel that sailed " forward and backwai'd." The brigantine cut her cable and escaped, but the Spaniards retook their own vessel. Those who escaped went to the Bahama Channel, where Trenchant the pilot, and some others who had been taken away by force on this voyage, took an opportunity of a favourable breeze, while the principal mutineers were asleep, and ran across upon the coast of Florida, where they arrived on the 25th March, 1565, and delivered themselves up to M. Laudonniere, who executed four of the ringleaders. The town of Concepcion de la Vega was almost destroyed by an earthquake. 1565. March the 9th, Captain John Hawkins, with the Jesus, a ship of Lubeck, of 700 tons; the Salomon, of 140; the Tiger, a bark of fifty, and the Swallow, of tliirty, arrived at Dominica : they left Plymouth the 18th of October, 1564 — touched at Ferrol and Madeira, Teneriffe, Cape de Verdes, and Africa, where they seized some Negroes, and in the attempt lost Captain Field of the Salomon, and several men. After watering at Dominica, they went to Margarita, where the governor sent them some provisions, but would not allow them to traffic. At Santo Domingo they met Hakluyt, vol, iii. pp. 334, 335. 507. 1565.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 191 with the same difficuhies, and proceeded to Cumana, and from thence to Santa Fe, where they got water and refreshments, and then went to Burboroata, where they disposed of part of their Negroes. Here they were joined by a French ship, called the Green Dragon, of Newhaven, Captain Bon Temps ; tliis ship they left at Burbo- roata, and went to Cura9oa, where they found abundance of catde, as they supposed more than 100,000 head, all of v/hom had been bred in the island in twenty-five years, from a dozen of each sort : here they disposed of more of their Negroes, and pro- ceeded to Rio de la Hacha, where he landed 100 men in armour. After dispersing the troops brought down to oppose them, with a discharge of small ordnance from the boats ', a parley ensued, and Captain Hawkins got permission to trade. From hence, on the 31st of May, they made Jamaica, instead of Espanola, as they expected and intended — and rounding the west end of the island, after an ineffectual attempt to get to the Havaniiah, tliey stood over to the coast of Florida. riakluyt, vol. iii. p. 510. • HoUnshed' s Description of England, vol. i. p. 334. Tlie names of our greatest ordnance are commonly these : — Kobinet, whose weight is SOOlbs., and it hath l^- inch within the mouth. Falconet, weigheth 500lbs., and his wideness is 2 inches within the raouth.- Falcon hath SOOlbs., and 2h inches within the mouth. Minion poiseth llOOlbs., and hath 3:j inches within the mouth. Sacre hath 1500lbs., and is 3|^ inches wide in the mouth. Demie Culuerin weigheth SOOOlbs., and hath 4^ inches within the mouth, - Culuerijn hath 4000lbs., and 5i inches witliin the mouth. Demie Canon, GOOOlbs., and 6^" inches within the mouth. Canon, 7000lbs., and 8 inches within the mouth. E. Canon, SOOOlbs., and seauen inches within the mouth. Basiliske, 9000lbs., 8 J inches within the mouth. By which proportions, also, it is easie to come by the weight of euerie shot, how many' scores it doth flee at point blanke, how much pouder is to be had to the same, and finallie, how many inches in height each bidlet ought to carrie. Tlie Names of the greatest Ordnance. Robin et ^ Falconet ., Falcon Minion Sacre ^ Demie Culuerijn Culuerijn ^.^^.^.^.^ Demie Canon «^«, Canon .™™,™^ — . E. Canon Basiliske^ Hath Weight of the Shot. lbs. I 2 5 9 18 30 CO 42 GO Scores of Cariage. 14 16 17 18 20 25 38 20 20 21 Pounds of Pouder. 4i 5 9 18 28 44 20 60 Height of Bullet. Inches. 1 H H 3 H 4 H H n 6| 84- 192 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1567-8. 1567. The Spaniards, following the information they had received from those of Laudonniere's crew, who were driven into the Ha- vannah, had sent an expedition to Florida, and either drove away or massacred all the French. To revenge this act. Captain Gourgues, with three sail, 150 soldiers, and eighty sailors, under Captain Cazenoue, sailed from Bourdeaux the 22d of August, and after landing for a short time on the island of Cuba, they proceeded to Florida, and succeeded in destroying all the Spaniards there. Lescarbot believes that these piratical attempts of Laudonniere's men occasioned the ruin of the French in Florida, by provoking the Spaniards to search them out and destroy them. 1568. March the 27th, M. John Hawkins, in the Jesus, in company with the Mynion, Captain John Hampton, the William and John, Captain Thomas Bolton, the Judith, Captain Francis Drake, and the Angel, arrived at Dominica : they left Plymouth on the 2d of October, 1567 — touched at Gomera and the Cape de Verde, and proceeded to the coast of Africa, where, by trading and force, he pi'ocured 500 Negroes ; but the William and John parted com- pany in a heavy gale of wind, and never joined them afterwards. At Dominica, Margarita, and Cora9ao, they trafficked with the inhabitants ; but at Rio de Hacha they were obliged to land 200 men, and obtain water, &c. by force. After they gained possession of the town, the Spaniards came by night, and bought 200 of the Neo-roes. When the trade was over, Hawkins stood for the coast of Florida; but, on the 12th of August, a violent tempest rose, in consequence of which they put into Vera Cruz, where they arrived the 16 th of September, and were mistaken by the Spaniards for their own fleet. Several of the principal persons going on board, Captain Hawkins courteously received them, and only detained two as hostages, while he sent to the viceroy at Mexico for per- mission to victual and refit his ships. The next day, the Spanish fleet of thirteen sail of large ships arrived off" the harbour : in this fleet was Don Martin de Henriques, the new viceroy, and with him Captain Hawkins setded. That the Eno-lish might buy provisions, and sell as much wares as would pay for them ; that they might peaceably repair their ships ; and, for the better safety of his men, that Captain Hawkins might keep the Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 356. 469, 470, 471, 472. Miles Philip's Voyage. Lescarbot,p. 86. 1568.] • OF THE WEST INDIES. 193 island of San Juan de Ullua, and that no Spaniard should land upon it with any kind of weapon about him : and, for the due performance of these articles, twelve hostages were to be delivered. The Spaniards secretly assembled about 1000 men ; and on the 24th of September, notwithstanding Captain Hawkins' repre- sentations of its injustice, they attacked the English, got possession of the island, upon which Captain Hawkins had placed eleven guns, and turning them upon the English ships, burnt and sunk them all except the Minion and Judith, and cruelly used the men they found alive on board, hanging some up by the arms, until the blood burst out at their finger ends. Two of the largest Spanish ships were sunk, and one burnt — " so that with their shippes they were not able to harme us, but from the shore they beat us cruelly with our owne ordinance, in such sort that the Jesus was very sore spoyled ; and suddenly, the Spaniards having fired two great ships of their owne, they came directly against us, which bred among our men a marvellous feare." Captain Hawkins and part of his crew escaped in their boats on board the Minion, which was very leaky, so many being now on board, with very little provisions; at their own request, ninety- six of the men were landed twenty-five leagues to the north of Panuco, upon the 8th of October, Captain Hawkins promising either to come or send for them the next year; but they were all taken by the Spaniards, and sent prisoners to Mexico, where they were cruelly used. Captain Hawkins was blamed for putting so many Englishmen on shore, and keeping Negroes on board. Job Hortop, who was one that went on shore, excuses him thus : " But the reason is this — for them he might have had victuals, or any other thing needfull, if by foul weather he had been driven upon the islands, which for gold nor silver he could not have had." May 15th, 1568, the King of Spain signed the commission of Don Pedro Malava de Silva, as governor of all the lands he might be able to conquer from the Omegas, Omaguas, and Quinacos Indians. He landed with 600 followers at Margarita, where he left the malcontents of his force, and then crossed over to Bor- burata, where more of his men became disheartened and were left behind. At Valencia he experienced a new defection, which reduced his followers to 140 men : with these he directed his course to the south, and struggled five months against every species of privation, lost almost all his men, and then returned. Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 473. 491. Job Hortop. Depon's South America, vol. ii. p. .SOS. 1 91' CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1,570-2. 1570. Papal bulls were sold in the West Indies for the first time. Every Indian above twelve years of age paid four reals for his bull : other pardons were also sold, for such as had died even 100 years before the Spaniards came into the country. Every Christian paid fourteen reals for his bvdl ; added to which, there were certain bulls which served for pardoning all faults against the King, by keeping back his customs. *' For every 100 crowns whereof a man's con- science doth accuse him that he hath deceived the King, or any other, he must give ten for a bull ; and so, after that rate, for every 100 which he hath any way stolen — and so is pardoned the faidt." The yearly revenue from the sale of bulls was above 3,000,000 of gold. In the course of a few years, the Indians, instead of taking one for each person in their house, took one for the whole, which they broke into as many parts as there were persons, and stuck the pieces up against the wall — " saying, that they need now no more, seeing, in that which they bought the year before, they had above 10,000 yeres pardon." 1572. About this year Francis Drake, with four pinnaces, entered the port of Nombre de Dios in the night, and landed 150 men. Pro- ceeding to the market-place, he sounded his trumpet and chscharged his guns. The inhabitants were all in their beds, but alarmed by the noise, they fled to the mountains, except fourteen or fifteen men, who went into the market-place, and seeing only a few Englislmien in one corner of it, they fired at them, killed the trumpeter, and wounded the commanding officer : the rest retreated towards a fort they had taken when they landed. Those in the fort hearing the firing, and not having their signal answered, concluded the rest of their countrymen were killed, and went off to their ships. Francis Drake and the rest coming to the fort soon afterwards, and finding it abandoned, stripped themselves and swam to the vessels : — thus quitting Nombre de Dios with the loss of only his trumpeter killed, and having killed only one of the Spaniards. From hence he proceeded to the Gulf of Darien, and by the information of some Negroes, stopped two convoys of mules, laden with gold and silver from Panama, going to Nombre de Dios. The English were only able to carry away the gold over the mountains. Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 461. 525, 526. John Chilton's Voyages. 157^^.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 19.5 On their road back, they set fire to a warehouse, and burnt mer- chandize to the vahie of two hundred tliousand ducats, and got on board in safety with their gold. On the 24th of May, 1572, Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth in the Pascha of seventy tons, accompanied by the Swan of twenty- five tons, commanded by his brother John Drake, having in both vessels seventy-three men and boys, with a year's provisions. On the 29th of June they passed between Guadaloupe and Dominica ; and on the 6th of July saw the high land of Santa Martha. Drake proceeded to a port to the eastward of Nombre de Dios, which he had named in a former voyage Port Pheasant : here he proposed to build his pinnaces, which he had brought out in frames, and was going ashore with a few men unarmed ; but discovering a smoke at a distance, he ordered an armed boat to follow them. The fire " was in the top of a high tree," and near it nailed to another tree, was a plate of lead, with an inscription on it, engraved by one Garret, an Englishman, who had left the place five days before, and had taken this method of informing Drake, that the Spaniards had been advertised of his intention to anchor at that place. Not- withstanding this, Drake determined to stay there ; and ordered a palisade to be made, by felling large trees, and laying the trunks and branches one upon another by the side of the river. Here he was joined by Captain "Rause," with a bark and fifty men ; and on the 20th of July, their pinnaces being built, they sailed for Nombre de Dios. At the Isle of Pines they captured two frigates, and were informed by the Negroes on board, that the " Symerons" (Maroons) had chosen two kings, and on each side of the way between Nombre de Dios and Panama waged war against the Spaniards, who were in great consternation at Nombre de Dios. Drake landed the Negroes upon the Main, and with seventy-three picked men he embarked in the pinnaces, and made sail for Nombre de Dios. July the 28th, at night, he anchored close under the shore, intending, after his men wei*e refreshed, to begin the attack; but finding that they wei'e terrifying each other with formidable accounts of the strength of the place and the multitude of the inhabitants, he determined to lead them immediately into action : he landed without any opposition, near a battery of six brass cannons of the largest size — but there was only one man near them, who ran away and alarmed the town. Drake dismounted the guns, and leaving twelve men to guard the pinnaces, marched round the towTi, " with no great opposition, the men being more hurt by treading on the weapons left on the ground by the flying enemy than by the resist- ance which they encountered." At length, having taken some prisoners, Drake commanded them to shew him the governor's house : they found the door open : and entering the room, found silver bars heaped up in such quantities " as almost exceed belief — Gent. Mag. \u^. 1740. p. 390. O 2 196 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1572. the pile being, they conjectured, seventy feet in length, ten in breadth, and twelve in height ; each bar weighing between thirty and forty- five pounds." The men were for loadingT themselves with the silver : to prevent this, which might have retarded their march, Drake proposed leading them to the royal treasure-house, where there was gold and jewels, which were not only more valuable and portable, but nearer the boats. In the market-place he rejoined his brother, with the main body of the men, who were alarmed for fear the Spaniards should gain possession of the pinnaces. Drake imme- diately sent to the boats to see if there was any foundation for the alarm: but finding all safe, he led the troops to the treasure- house. On their way a violent shower of rain wetted some of their bow-strings, and put out several of their matches : this spread alarm among the men, who were for retreating with what they had got. Drake perceived this with indignation ; and told them, " that if, after having had the chief treasure of the world within their reach, they should go home and languish in poverty, they could blame nothing but their own cowardice : that he had performed his part, and was still desirous to lead them on to riches and to honour." He then ordered the treasure-house to be forced, and leaving his brother and Oxenham to take charge of it ; he was returning to the market- place, to prevent the Spaniards from uniting into one body — when his strength suddenly failed him and he fell down speechless. , Then it was that his companions perceived a wound in his leg, which he had hitherto concealed, for fear of discouraging the men. Some cordials revived him, and he still exhorted them to finish the enter- prize ; but in vain : they carried him back to the boats, in which they were all embarked by day-break, and took with them, out of the harbour, a ship laden with wines : they then proceeded to the Bastimentos, to repose the wounded men. During their stay here, the governor sent to offer Drake refreshments, and to inquire if his men used poisoned arrows. Drake, although he suspected the messenger was a spy, assured him, that he was the same Drake with whose character they were before acquainted ; that he was a rigid observer of the laws of war, and never permitted his arrows to be poisoned : he then dismissed him with considerable presents. Drake, on the 1st of August, returned to his ships at the Isle of Pines, where Captain Rouse, who judged it unsafe to stay any longer on the coast, parted company. Drake now resolved to attack Carthagena. August the 13 th he anchored between two islands, at a little distance from the harbour's mouth, where he left his vessels, and with the boats went into the harbour. At the entrance he found a frigate, with only an old man on board : from him he heard that the alarm was given, which other circumstances corroborating, he contented himself with taking away a ship from Seville of 240 tons, and two small frigates. Gent. Mag. Aug. 1740. p. ri92. 157^.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 197 Not having men enough to man his pinnaces and his vessels, Drake was desirous of destroying the Swan ; but she had been a lucky ship, and he knew her crew would be unwilling to destroy her : he therefore sent for the carpenter, and ordered him, in the middle of the night, secretly to bore three holes through her bottom; the carpenter reluctantly obeyed. The next morning, August the 15th, Drake went alongside in his pinnace, and with a negligent air enquired why the ship was so deep in the water. The alarm now spread; and having laboured till three in the afternoon at the pumps, without gaining much upon the water, they followed Drake's advice, set her on fire, and went on board the pinnaces. Drake now determined to lie concealed till the Spaniards should remit their vigilance: he therefore stood down into the " Sound of Darien," where he stayed fifteen days to clean his vessels and refresh his men. On the 5th of September he set out with two pinnaces for the Rio Grande, leaving his brother, with the ship, at Darien. With the pinnaces he collected such a quantity of provisions, that in different parts of the coast they built fom- magazines, which they filled with necessaries for their voyage : they were at such a distance from each other, that if the Spaniards discovered one, the rest might be safe. In the mean time. Captain John Drake was cultivating a friend- ship with the Symerons, whom Drake found most valuable allies. By their advice the ship was shifted into a secret bay, among beauti- ful islands covered with trees, where the channel was so narrow and rocky, that it was impossible to enter it by night : here they entered into engagements, which mutual interests preserved from violation. From hence Drake, with three pinnaces, set out for Carthagena, and anchored, upon the 16th October, within sight of the town. On the 17th, he took a Spanish bark, with which they entered the harbour, where a boat came alongside them, with a message from the governor, professing esteem, and promising refreshments: for these Drake waited till the next morning. October the 20th, Drake captured, at the mouth of the harbour, two frigates without lading from Carthagena, A few hours after- wards, two well-manned frigates came out : these were soon forced to return. Finding nothing was to be done, Drake resolved to return to his brothers. When he arrived at Port Diego (so named fi'om the Negro who had procured them their intercourse with the Symerons, he found Captain John Drake had been killed in an unsuccessful attack upon a frigate. A malignant fever soon after- wards carried off several of the men, and among others Joseph Drake, another brother of the commander. In this harbour Drake remained till February of the year following. Gent. Mag. Aug. I740. p- 393. o 3 198 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [Id^S. 1573. February the 3d, Drake, with only eighteen English and thirty " Synierons," left Port Diego to intercept the mules with the treasure, on their road from Panama to Nombre de Dios, where he knew the Spanish fleet were arrived to ship it. Twenty-eight of Drake's men had died of the fever, and some were obliged to be left to guard the ship — so that, on this expedition, he was accompanied by only eighteen Englishmen. Upon the march the Symerons proved themselves invaluable allies — supplied the provisions, carried the sick, and brought accurate information of the Spaniards' approach. On the 11th of February they arrived at the top of a high hill, on the summit of which grew a very large tree, in which the Sjone- rons had cut steps for the more easy ascent to the top, which served them as a watch-tower — to which they invited Drake, and from thence shewed him the two great seas, on one of which no English vessel had ever sailed. Drake lifted his hands to God, and implored his blessing upon the resolution which he then formed, of sailing in an English ship upon that sea. Near Venta Cruz he received certain information of the approach of the treasure. Drake therefore ordered his men to lie down in the grass, half on each side of the road: and Oxenham, with the captain of the Symerons, so much behind, that one company might seize the foremost " Recoe" (Recuero), and the other the last — as these drovers tie their mules together, and travel in a line a-head. In about an hour the bells of the mules were heard on each hand : orders were therefore given, that the droves from Venta Cruz should pass unmolested, and those only which were travelling thither to be stopped — and that every man should lie close till the signal was given ; but one Robert Pike, in his impatience to signalize him- self, got up to see what was passing : the passenger was observed immediately to change his pace from a trot into a gallop. Soon afterwards, the drove passing towards Venta Cruz came up, and were eagerly seized by the English, who, to their great mortification, found only two mules laden with silver — the rest carried provisions. The driver was carried to Drake, and informed him, that the horse- man whom he had observed pass had informed the treasurer of what he had seen, and advised him to send back the mules which carried the gold and jewels, and ascertain by the rest whether there was any ambush or not. Drake immediately saw the difficulties of his situation, and deter- mined to pass forward to Venta Cruz, as on that road he should only have to fear open attacks. Near the town they defeated a body of Spaniards, and entered the place with the fugitives : some plunder Gent. Mag. Aiifr. 1.740, jip. r,91. I-n. Dr. Johnson's Life of Sir F. Drake. 1573.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 199 was found, but the inhabitants were treated with great clemency, Drake himself going to the Spanish ladies, to assure them that no injuries should be offered them. From hence he returned to his ship, as fast as his men could travel, and the whole got safely back on the 23d of February. Drake now planned another expedition : he sent Oxenham with the Bear (a pinnace) to procure provisions near Tolon, and went himself in the Minion, the other pinnace, to the Cabezas, where he captured a frigate of Nicaragua, the pilot of which informed him, that there was in the harbour of Veragua a ship with more than a million of gold on board, to which he offered to conduct him. When they arrived at the harbour, Drake found that they were discovered : he therefore determined to return to his ship, where he found Oxenham with his prize, a stout frigate, laden with hogs, hens, and maize. March the 21st, Drake sailed with the new frigate and the Bear pinnace for the Cabezas, where he found Tetu, a Frenchman, with a ship of war, who requested that he might join company. Drake consented to admit him to accompany them with twenty men, stipu- lating to allow them an equal share of whatever booty they should gain. At the Cabezas they left the frigate, and with two pinnaces proceeded to the Rio Francisco : here they landed, and having ordered the pinnaces to return to the same place for them on the fourth day following, travelled through the woods towards Nombre de Dios, to the great alarm of the French, who doubted the fidelity of the Symerons — who, in their turn, did not treat them with the same respect that they did the English. At length, after a laborious march of seven leagues, they heard the hammers of the carpenters on board the Spanish ships, and in a short time saw three droves of mules coming from Panama : the three droves consisted of 109 mules, each of which carried SOOlbs. weight of silver. It was to little purpose that the soldiers ordered to guard the treasure attempted resistance. After a short combat, in which the French captain and one of the SjTnerons were wounded, the whole were taken. Only a small part of the treasure could be canned away : they therefore hid the rest in shallow water and in holes, and determined to return by the same way : they entered the woods without being pursued, where the French captain's wound obliged him to stay, two of his men staying with him. April the 3d, Drake arrived at the Rio Francisco ; but, instead of their pinnaces, he was surprised with the sight of seven Spanish shallops : the men immediately concluded that their own pinnaces were destroyed, and the crew tortured to discover where the frigate and ship were. Drake persuaded them that better things were to be hoped ; and ordering a raft to be made out of the floating trees that were in the river, offered himself to put off to sea upon it, and Gent. Mag. Aug. 1740. pp. '145,446. O 4. 200 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1573. chearfully asked who would accompany him. John Owen, John Smith, and two Frenchmen volunteered to share his fortune, and embarked with him on the raft, which was fitted out with a biscuit- bag for a sail, and an oar instead of a rudder. Drake having com- forted the rest with assurances of his regard for them, and his deter- mination to leave nothing unattempted for their deliverance, put off; and after having with much difficulty sailed three leagues, he saw his two pinnaces at anchor behind a point that jutted out into the sea: he crossed the isthmus on foot, and was received by his company with that satisfaction which is only known to those acquainted with dangers and distress. The same night they rowed to Rio Francisco, and took on board the rest, with what treasure they had brought : they then returned to the frigate, and soon afterwards to the ship, where Drake divided the gold and silver equally between the French and English. Twelve English and sixteen Symerons went for the French captain, and the rest of the treasure. Drake went with them to the Rio Francisco, but his men would not suffer him to hazard his person in another land expedition : here they found one of the Frenclmien who had staid to attend their captain ; from whom they learnt, that half an hour after their separation, the Spaniards came upon them, and easily seized the wounded captain ; but that his companion might have escaped had he not preferred money to life : for seeing him throw away a box of jewels that retarded him, he could not forbear taking it up, and with that and the gold which he had before was so loaded, he could not escape. With regard to the buried bars, 2000 men had been employed in digging for them. The men, however, determined to pursue their journey; but, upon their arrival at the place, found the ground turned up for two miles round, and were able to recover no more than thirteen bars of silver and a small quantity of gold. They discovered afterwards that the Frenchman who was taken in the woods was tortured till he confessed where Drake had concealed his plunder. Drake now dismissed the French, and soon afterwards captured a frigate laden with honey and provisions : he then steered for the Cabezas, where the vessels were refitted to return to England. The pinnaces were broken up, and the iron given to the faithful Syme- rons, who considered it the most valuable thing in the world. Pedro, their captain, being desired by Drake to go round the ship, and choose what he most desired, fixed his eye upon a scimitar set with diamonds, which the French captain had presented to Drake; and being unwilling to ask for so valuable a present, offei'ed for it four large quoits or thick plates of gold : but Drake gave it him, with the highest professions of satisfaction and esteem. Pedro intended to present it to his King, and expected to obtain the highest rank among the Symerons : he, however, persisted in his Gfiit. Mag. Aug. 1V40, p. ,394. 1575.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 201 resolution of leaving the gold, which Drake threw into the common stock. They now quitted the coast of America, which for many months they had kept in perpetual alarm, having taken more than 200 vessels, of all sizes, between Carthagena and Nombre de Dios, of which they never destroyed any unless they were fitted out against them, nor ever detained the prisoners longer than was necessary for their own security. They arrived at Plymouth on the 9th of August, 1573, on Sunday in the afternoon : and so much were the inhabitants de- lighted with the news of his arrival, that they left the church, and ran in crowds to the quay to welcome him. 1575. The success of Francis Drake induced John Oxnam, of Ply- mouth, to undertake a similar expedition : he proceeded, in a vessel of 140 tons, with seventy men, to tlie same place where Drake had landed, and being joined by the natives, he hauled his vessel on shore, covered her with boughs, and buried his great guns, taking only two smaller ones with him. After marching twelve leagues inland, guided by the Negroes, they got to a river that ran into the South Sea. Here Oxnam built a pinnace of forty-five feet keel ; and taking six Negroes with him, went down the river to the Island of Pearls, twenty-five leagues from Panama. After concealing themselves ten days, they captured a bark fi^om Quito, with provisions, and 60,000 pesos of gold on board. Not content with this, he staid six days longer, and captured another bark fi'om Lima, with 100,000 pesos in silver on board. In one of these vessels was a table of massy gold set with emeralds, intended as a present for the King, and a very beautiful Spanish lady, vdth whom Oxnam fell desperately in love, at whose request he liberated all his prisoners, one of whom was either her son or nephew, and let them go to Panama, from whence they soon returned with a superior force in search of the English. Before Oxnam could make up his mind to leave such good cruizing ground, he went to the islands for pearls, and foimd a few : with these he returned to the river which he had descended. Juan de Ortega, with four vessels and 100 men, followed Oxnam up the river, which had three mouths : and while Ortega was hesitating which to take, one of his soldiers observed some feathers floating down, which it was concluded had been thrown over by Oxnam's party : this decided their choice, and Ortega came upon Dr. Johnson's Life of Sir F. Drake. Hakhijl, vol. iii, pp. 526, 527. Purchas, pt. iv. 1, 7. c. 6. p. 1414. 202 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1570. Oxnam's boat and hut by surprise, retook all the treasure, and carried it on board their vessels. Three days after this, Oxnam, with his men and 200 Indians, attacked the Spaniards, but was defeated with the loss of eleven English and five Negroes killed, and seven English were taken prisoners. Oxnam had quarrelled with his men, because they would not take his word that he would give them part of the plunder when they had got it down to his vessel : they wanted to have it imme- diately, and refused to carry the treasure unless it was shared out. While Oxnam was searching for Indians to carry it, the Spaniards retook the whole. Ortega returned to Panama with his prize ; but the Spaniards finding out from their prisoners where the English ship was con- cealed, sent an express to Nombre de Dios. The vessel was taken, and another expedition sent against Oxnam and his followers, who were all taken and executed, except five boys, who were sent to Lima. 1576. Mr. Andrew Barker, of Bristol, having by some treachery of the Spaniards lost his property which had been sent to Te- neriffe, resolved to revenge himself upon that nation by cruizing against their vessels in the West Indies; for which purpose he fitted out two barks, called the Ragged Staff and Bear — going himself in the Ragged Staff, and William Coxe in the Bear. They sailed from Plymouth the beginning of June, and at the Isle of Maio had their trumpeter kiUed by the Portuguese, for which the English burnt two of their villages. From hence they went to Trinidad, and put together a pinnace, whose frame they had brought out. After staying six days, they went to Santa Margarita, and captured a Spanish vessel of thirty tons, out of which they took five tons of Canary wine, and let her go. From Margarita they proceeded to Cura9oa, where they had fourteen men wounded as they were watering. From hence they went to a bay eighteen leagues S. W. of Carthagena, where they captured a frigate, with 500/. worth of gold and silver on board, and some emeralds — " whereof one very great, being set in gold, was found tied secretly about the thigh of a friar." At the River Chagre they tried to find some of the " Symerons," or friendly natives, but failing in this, and several of the crew dying of the fever, they stood to sea again, and ofP Veragua captured a frigate with bullion on board, and four guns that had belonged to J. Oxnam. The Spaniards they put on shore, but took two Flemings out of her. At Veragua, Captain Barker quarrelled with his master, and Hakluyt, vol. iii. j). 528. 1582-4.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 203 fought a duel with him, in which the Captain was wounded in the cheek: here the Ragged Staff was so leaky, that they sunk her, and shifted into the Spanish vessel. Proceeding to the Bay of Honduras, they captured another Spanish bai'k, and went to the island of St. Francisco ; here William Coxe and several others mutinied, and by force put Captain Barker and thirty men on shore. These were surprised by the Spaniards, and the captain and eight others killed. William Coxe now took on board the survivors, and went to another island a league further oif, from whence, in the boats, they attacked the town of Truxillio, which they plundered ; but before they could get back to their vessels, a boat with eight men was taken by the Spaniards. Coxe now resolved to return to England; but, about sixty leagues from the island of St. Francisco, their prize upset in a squall, and fourteen men were drowned, and great part of their plunder lost. They arrived at Scilly, and left there a vessel they had built in Honduras, on board of which were four of the guns that John Oxnam had left in the Isthmus of Darien, and which they had retaken on board one of their prizes. Two Jesuits landed in Guiana as missionaries, and for three years preached the gospel with tolerable success. The Dutch are said to have driven them away. 1582. Captain William Hawkins went to the West Indies with a squadron, and off Puerto Rico would have abandoned and sunk the bark Bonner, as being unserviceable, but for the offer of his nephew, Sir Richard Hawkins, to return to England in her. Sir Richard Hawkins, in his observations in his voyage to the South Sea, in 1593, incidentally mentions thus much of his uncle's voyage, which is all I have found about it. 1584. Upon the 10th of June, two barks, commanded by Captain Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, arrived in the West Indies upon their voyage of discovery : they were fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh, in consequence of letters-patent granted him by Queen Elizabeth, and returned to England about the middle of September in the same year, having discovered the country called Wingandacoa; which discovery so pleased Elizabeth, that she called that country Hakliiyt, vol. iii. pp. 529, 530. Depon's South America, vol. ii. p. 305. Piirchas, pt. 4. lib. 7. c. 5. p. 1 389. Smith's Hist, of Virginia, fol. pp. 2. 4. 204 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1585. Virginia. The performers of this voyage were, Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, captains; William Grenuill, John Wood, James Browewich, Henry Greene, Benjamin Wood, Simon Ferdinando, Nicholas Peryman (Hakluyt calls him Petman), and John Hewes, of the company. Near Sequotan, which is the southernmost town of Wingandacoa, an European ship had been cast away twenty-six years before, some of the crew had been preserved by the natives. The Spanish government, by an order dated August 7th, 1584, declared, that no person, unless he could present authentic infor- mation with respect to his moral and good behaviour, should be permitted to go to the West Indies. How opposite from the conduct of England with regard to her colonies in America ! 1585. Upon the 9th of April, Sir Richard Greenvile sailed from Ply- mouth with a fleet of seven sail, the largest of which, called the Tiger, was 140 tons burthen. Upon the 7th of May he arrived at Dominica, and upon the 10th anchored at Cotesa, a small island near the island of St. John's. Here Sir Richard and most of his men landed ; and, to prevent the Spaniards from annoying them while they built a new pinnace. Sir Richard built a fort near the sea. A river ran by one side of the fort, and on the other two it was surrounded with woods. Part of the timber for building the pinnace was felled more than three miles from the fort ; but the Spaniards, though they came to look at the working parties, did not think proper to attack them. Upon the 22d of May, twenty horsemen came down to the river with a flag of truce, and a parley took place, in which the Spaniards expostulated with the English about their erecting fortifications; but finding that they only wanted to furnish themselves with water and other necessaries, and were determined to do that by force, if it was necessary, the Spaniards gave leave for it to be done, and went away with promises of bringing down provisions. The pinnace was launched upon the 23d, and on the 29th Sir Richard set fire to the fort, and left the island. Soon afterwards he captured two Spanish vessels, in which were some persons of consequence, who paid a large sum to ransom themselves, and were landed at St. John's. Upon the 1st of June, Sir Richard anchored at Isabella, in Espa- nola, and had an interview with the governor on the 5th; who, after being regaled by the English, ordered a herd of white cattle to be driven from the mountains, and offered every captain and Hakluyt, vol. iii. ))p. 2'i9. 251, 252. Dqwn's South America, vol, i, p. 109. 1.585.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 205 gentleman that would ride, a horse ready saddled : he then singled out three of the best bulls, and had them hunted, to the great amuse- ment of the English. Upon the Tth the English left the island, and on the 24th they landed in Virginia, where Sir Richard left a colony of 108 men, under the command of Master Ralph Layne, ' upon the island of Roanoack, and returned himself to Plymouth, where he arrived the 18 th of September. Upon the 14th of September, Sir Francis Drake, with twenty- five sail of ships ^ and " pinnesses" and 2300 men, sailed from Plymouth. Off the island of " Bayon" they captured a Spanish ship, homeward bound from Newfoundland with a cargo of salt fish, which was divided among the fleet. They anchored within the islands, and sent to ask the governor if they were at war vdth the English ; and if they were not, to know why the English merchant vessels were arrested. A pacific answer was returned, and all the English in the place were sent to the admiral. In the night, a gale of wind drove several of the fleet from their anchorage : the gale lasted for three days. When it was over, the lieutenant-general, M. Carliel, with a squadron, was dispatched to Vigo, where he captured and destroyed several vessels, in one of which they found a large silver cross, of curious workmanship, belonging to the princi- pal church at Vigo. Sir Francis, with the rest of the fleet, joined Smith's Virginia, p. 5. Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 534. ' The names of the principal persons gers, Haruy, Snelling, Anthony Russe, left with Mr. Ralph Layne were — Philip Allen, IVIichaell Pollison, Thomas Bockner, Amidas, admiral; Ma.sters Thomas He- James Mason, Daniel Salter, and James ryot, Acton, Stafford, Thomas Lud- Skinner, with divers others, to the number dington, Marwyn; Captain Vaughan ; of 108. — Smith's Virginia, fo\. 5. Masters Kendall, Gardiner, Predeox, Ro- 2 List of Sir Francis Drake's Fleet. The Primrose Captain Martin Frobisher, Vice Admiral. The Galeon Leicester Francis Knolles, Rear Admiral. The Elizabeth Bonadventure Master Thomas Vennor, under the General. Aide Edward Winter. Tygar Christopher Carliel, Lieutenant- General. Sea Dragon Henry White. Thomas Thomas Drake. Minion Thomas Seelie. Talbot ) g^^^^ f Baily. Bonner ) ^ Geo. Fortescue. Hope Edward Carelesse. White Lion James Erizo. Francis Thomas Moone. Vantage John Rivers. Drake John Vaughan. George John Varney. Benjamin John Martin. Skout Edward Gilman. Ducke (Galliot) Richard Hawkins. Swallow Bitfield. Bond Robert Crosse. The names of the other four are not given. 206 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [158(). M. Carliel in Vigo Bay, and by an agreement with the governor completed their water. From Vigo the fleet went to Pahna, one of the Canary islands ; but there was too heavy a surf running for the boats to land, and the fleet stood off again, after receiving several shot from the batteries, and proceeded to the island of Hierro, and from thence to a bay near Cape Blanco, on the coast of Africa. On the 16th of November the whole fleet anchored at Sant Jago, one of the Cape de Verdes, and landed 1000 men, under the com- mand of General Carliel, who found the town abandoned by the inhabitants : here the English remained fourteen days — and, before they went away, burnt the town, in revenge for the murder of a boy, whom the Spaniards had caught straggling from the rest, cut off his head, taken out the heart and bowels, and thrown them about. From Sant Jago the fleet stood for the West Indies, and in a few days 300 men died of the fever : they arrived at Dominica in eighteen days, and after stopping a few hours, proceeded to Saint Christopher's, where the sick were landed and the ships cleaned : no inhabitants of any kind being upon the island, it was determined that the fleet should proceed to the city of Santo Domingo. On the passage they captured a small frigate, bound to that city, and from her pilot they found it would be necessary to land ten miles to the westward of the city, to which place he promised to conduct the fleet. Upon new year's eve the troops were all put into boats ready for landing, the fleet keeping under easy sail. 1586. At day-light upon new-year's day, Sir Francis Drake, with 1200 troops, landed in Espanola, about ten miles west of the city of Santo Domingo, and having seen them all safe on shore, he returned on board, and they began their march at eight o'clock for the city, under the command of Lieutenant-General Carliel. About one, they drove in a party of 150 cavalry, approached the gates, and immediately carried them by storm — Captain Powel entering at one gate, and General Carliel at the other, both gates being towards the sea. The two divisions met in the market-place, and the city being too large for so small a number to guard, they barricadoed themselves in the market-place. The next day they enlarged their quarters, and planted cannon to defend them, but still not occupying half the town. Sir Francis Drake sent a Negro boy with a flag of truce to the Spanish governor. The boy was stopped by some officers belonging to a royal galley in the river, and wounded in the nakliiyt, vol. iii. pp. .537, 538, 539. loS6.] OF THE WEST INDIES. . 207 body with a spear : his strength lasted until he got back to his general and told his tale, when he " died forthwith in his presence." Enrao-ed at this transaction, Sir Francis ordered the provost martial to take two friars, then prisoners, and carry them to the same place where the boy had been wounded, and there hang them : a sufficient guard was sent to protect the provost martial. At the same time another prisoner was sent to inform the Spaniards why this was done, and to say, that until the party who had murdered the general's messenger were delivered into his hands to receive con- dign punishment, there should no day pass in which there should not two prisoners be hanged, until they were all consumed that he had taken. Next day, the captain of the galley brought the offender to the town's end, and offered to deliver him up ; but it was thought to be a more honourable revenge to make them, there, before the troops, perform the execution themselves, which was done accordingly. Commissioners were appointed to treat for the ransom of the city ; but not agreeing about it, 200 sailors were ordered every morning to work from day light until the heat of the day, which began at nine, at burning and destroying the houses, while the soldiers stood guard to protect them. The magnificent stone build- ings, with lofty rooms, were so difficult to destroy, that, unable to ruin even a third part of the town, 25,000 ducats, at 5s. 6d. each, were accepted as its ransom. The inhabitants were too poor to raise more, the current money being principally copper. After keeping possession of part of the city for a month, they made sail for Carthagena, and entered the harbour without any opposition, landing the troops under M. General Carliel near the harbour's mouth : they marched during the night along the beach to within two miles of the town, where they were discovered and attacked by 100 cavalry, whom they drove back. At tliis time, a false attack was made by the boats upon the fort at the entrance of the inner harbour. When the troops got within half a mile of the town, their road lay along a causeway about fifty yards broad, with the sea on one side and the harbour on the other : this causeway was defended by a wall and ditch, with an opening for cavalry to pass, and this opening was barricadoed with butts filled Avith earth. Six heavy guns commanded the road, and two gallies, with their bows to the shore, and eleven guns on board, flanked it. The English got to the wall before day-light, and assaulting it where the butts were, upset them, and drove the Spaniards out : they derived great advantage from being in armour, and from their pikes being longer than the Spaniards. They got to the market-place without much further resistance, and the Spaniards abandoned the town, having sent off their women and children before. The streets were barricadoed with trenches before the works. Some of the English were wounded with poisoned arrows, and others by poisoned spikes Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 540, 541, 542. 208 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1587. of a foot and a half long, which the Spaniards had driven in, in great numbers, on the road by which the invaders approached. The governor of Carthagena, Alonso Bravo, was taken sword in hand, by Captain Goring. After remaining six weeks, and burning part of the town, they received 110,000 ducats as a ransom for the rest, and on the last day of March quitted the harbour, but returned again a few days afterwards, in consequence of a large ship which they had taken at Santo Domingo, and on boardof which was great part of their plunder, springing a leak. After stopping about ten days, they proceeded to the west end of Cuba, and on the 13 th of May made the coast of Florida, where they destroyed some Spanish settlements, and after- wards met Mr. Ralph Lane, with a party of Englishmen that had been sent to Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, and left there by Sir Richard Grenville : their fort was upon the island of Roanoac. Sir Francis Drake gave Governor Lane a vessel, with 103 men, to continue his discoveries in that country ; but a heavy gale of wind dispersing the fleet, several were lost, and that which had been appointed to remain with the colonists made the best of her way to England. In consequence of this, Sir Francis took on board Mr. Lane and his colony, and carried them to England : they arrived at Portsmouth upon the 28th of July 1586. The value of the treasure carried home by Sir Francis Drake was estimated at £60,000 : and he lost during the voyage 750 men — " above three parts of them only by sicknesse." Mr. Ralph Lane was the first who brought tobacco into England. ' " In the islands of Saint Dominique and Porto Rico they use coine of leather, which is square — the which are cm'rant onely in these islands, having little silver or gold." " The Eui'opean dogs had multiplied so exceedingly in St. Do- mingo, that they were a terror to the inhabitants, and a price was set upon their heads 1" 1587. April the 26th, John White, with 150 men in three vessels, the largest 150 tons burthen, sailed from Portsmouth, to settle a colony in Virginia, by the orders of Sir Walter Raleigh. On the 19th of Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 280. 545, 546. Smith's Virginia, p. 9. Purchas, part iii. L. 5. C. 2. p. 943. Acosta's Historic of the West Indies. Dr. Coke, vol. iii. p. 293, quoting Acosta. Rapin, vol. ii. p. 122, said from Camden, p. 509. 1 In Stowe's Chronicle, p. 1038, it is voyage, does not mention tobacco; and asserted that Sir John Hawkins brought Mr. Thomas Heriot, in his " Observations tobacco to England in the year 1565. But on this Voyage" (both published in Smith's it was then considered as a mere drug; and Virginia, pp. 9 and 10), says, " Of their Stowe says, " All men wondered what it tobacco we found plenty, which they meant !"»—.r^/)ieWcatt Annals. esteeme their chiefe physickc." Mr. Ralph Layne, in his accoimt of this lo88-9.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 209 June they passed between Dominica and Guadaloupe, on the 22d they anchoied at Santa Cruz, where "some of our women and men, by eating a small fruit like greene apples, were fearefully troubled with a sudden burning in their mouths, and swelling of their tongues so bigge, that some of them could not speake. Also, a child, by sucking one of those women's breasts, had at that instant his mouth set in such a burning, that it was strange to see how the infant was tormented for the time ; but after twenty-four hours, it ware away of itselfe." On the 25di of June they left Santa Cruz, and on the 28th anchored in Mosquito Bay, St. John's, where " Darbie Glauen and Denice Carrell, two of their crew, ran away." On the 4th of July they made Espaiiola, on the 16th Virginia, and on the 22d they anchored at " Hatorask." Upon the 18th of August, Eleanor, daughter to the governor, and wife of Ananias Dare, one of his assistants, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoak, and because this child was the first Christian born in Virginia, she was named Virginia. Sir George Cary sent out three ships to the West Indies, two of which took nothing, the third brought a prize to Bristol worth £2000. 1588. Upon the 28th September, 1588, the Spanish government issued an ordinance, which enjoins the admission of all men of colour to the priesthood, provided they have the necessaiy qualifications ; and that, upon the same principle, the colour of women who would wish to become nuns should not be an obstacle to their admission. 1.589. William Michelson, in the Dogge, of seventy tons, with forty men, sailed from England in May, and proceeded direct to the Gulph of Mexico, where he captured several Spanish vessels, and engaged a Spanish man of war three days successively, and forced her at last to request a parley, which was granted by Michelson, and some of the Spaniards went on board the Dogge — " where, (Hakluyt says) after conference about those matters that had passed in the fight betwixt them, they received reasonable entertainement and a quiet farewell. The Spanish, as if they had meant to requite English courtesie, invited our men to their shippe, who, persuading Hakluyt, vol. iii. j))!. 281. 28.5. 5.'J7. Sir W. .Moncey, Cliiiifliill Collection, Depon's Soutli Auierica, vol. i. p. 174. r ^10 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1590. themselves of good meaning in the Spanish, went aboord ; but honest and friendly dealing was not their purpose — suddenly they assaulted our men, and one with a dagger stabde Roger Kingsnod, the Eng- lish pilote, to the heart, and si ewe him, and others were served with the like sauce — only William Mace, the master, and others, lept overboard into the sea, and so came safe to their ow^l ship ; and directing his course for England, arrived at Plimouth the 10th day of September, 1589. My principal intention, by this example," says the old writer, " is to admonish our nation of circumspection in dealing with that subtill enemie, and never to trust the Spanish further than that their owne strength shall be able to master them; for otherwise, whosoever shall through simphcitie trust their curtesie, shall by tryall taste of their assured crueltie." 1590. March the 20th, Mr. John White sailed from Plymouth, upon his fifth voyage to the West Indies and America, with the Hopewell, John Evangelist, and the Little John. Upon the 30th of April they anchored at Dominica, and trafficked with the savages. On the 3d of May they passed St. Christopher's, on the 4th the Virgin Islands, and on the 7th they landed on the N.W. end of Saint John, and the same night captured a Spanish vessel of ten tons, laden with hides and ginger. On the 13th they landed on the island of Mona, burnt ten or twelve houses, and chased the inhabitants into the woods. On the 21st they anchored off Cape " Tiburon," where they took on board two Spaniards that were almost starved. On the 22d, M. Lane, captain of the Little John, beat off a galley belonging to Santo Domingo, with 400 men on board, after an action of four hours. The bodies of several men were found near Cape Tiburon, who, it was supposed, had perished from famine. On the 14th of June, they captured a small Spanish frigate, with three men on board ; and on the 24th, Captain Lane took a large Spanish ship, with hides and ginger on board, which did not prove so valuable a prize as they expected, because a French man of war had plundered the vessel before. On the 2d of July, they were joined by a small pinnace, from England, commanded by M. Harps, and on the same day they chased a fleet of fourteen sail from St. Domingo, and next morn- ing captured the vice-admiral. Passing afterwards between Cuba and Jamaica, they arrived off the coast of Florida the 3d of August. At this time John de Trexeda was governor of the Havannah, and Diego Mendez de Valdes, governor of San Juan de Puerto Rico. Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 288, 289, 290. .558, 559. 1591.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 211 1591. June the 13th, the Hopewell, Swallow, Content, and another ship, belonging to Sir George Gary, fell in with six Spanish men of war, off Cape Corrientes, in Cuba, four of whom were " armadas." The Hopewell and Swallow left the other two to their fate, and made off: the Content escaped with great difficulty, after an action of eleven hours. After escaping from these, two gallies attempted to board her, but were beat off with gi*eat loss. In the night a favourable breeze carried the Content clear of them all. Only thirteen of the Content's crew stood to their quarters — ten kept below in the hold. Hakluyt gives the names of both parties. Nicholas Lisle commanded the Content; at intervals during the action, the English prayed, and sung the first part of the twenty- fifth psalm. The Content was armed with " one minion, one falcon, one saker, and two port-bases." April the 4th, Christopher Newport, in the Golden Dragon, in company with the Prudence, Captain Hugh Merrick, the Marga- ret, Captain Robert Fred, and the Virgin (pinnace), Captain Henry Kidgil, arrived at Dominica, where they bought some tobacco, poultry, and vegetables. Off this island they captured a Portuguese ship from Guinea, bound to Carthagena, having on board 300 Negroes : this ship they took with them off San Juan de Puerto Rico, and with the hope of selling their prize, sent the merchant on shore; but being disappointed, they landed the Negroes, and sunk the ship off the west end of the island. On the 1 1th they landed on the island of Mona, where an old Portuguese, with a wife and seventeen children, supplied them with pork and vegetables. At Saona they landed again, and exercised their men ; and stand- ing to the westward, they captured a Spanish frigate, " wherein were twenty-two jar res of copper money :" she was bound to Puerto Rico for wine. On the following day they captured two more small frigates. On the 15th of April they landed, sacked Ocoa, and captured two more frigates. The Spaniards ransomed the town, with cattle, and two " wayne loades of sugar." From hence they went to Cape Tiburon, where they left their ships sheltered by an uninhabited island, and shifting almost all their men into the captured vessels, went off the N. W. end of Espanola to Yaguana, where, on die 27th of April, they landed, and attacked the town. Their approach was opposed by 150 cavalry, who being unable to make any impression, drove before them about 200 head of cattle, to break the English line ; but the cattle turned back upon them- selves: in this skirmish the Spanish governor was killed. The English, expecting that troops were placed to cut off their i-etreat, Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 565, 567, 568. p 2 •21^ CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1591. turned back, embarked again, and proceeded in their ships off tlie town ; but, for want of wind, did not get there until the following evening. By that time all the valuable goods were removed, and the place deserted. The English forced the barricados, and set fire to the town, which consisted of three streets, and about 150 houses. The same night the boats were sent to " Aguaria," a small village, which they burnt. From hence they went to the bay of Honduras, to Truxillo, and hoisting Spanish colours, the boats got very near four Spanish vessels before they were suspected : these they brought out, notwithstanding the fire from the castle, and then made sail for Puerto Cavallo, where they arrived the 15 th of May. The inhabitants forsaking the town upon their approach, the English found six tons of quicksilver, plenty of live stock, silks, and merchandize, and sixteen tons of sack : this appears to have softened their hearts ; for after destroying the images, and taking three bells from the church, they reimbarked without burning the town, " because we found other contentment." They returned to Truxillo — captured one vessel on their passage ; but were beat off in an attempt on another, moored close to the castle. The squadron separated in a gale of wind. Captain Newport got to the Tortugas, near Florida, in the Bahama passage, captured another Spanish vessel, with hogs and tobacco, which they unloaded, and sent away with the prisoners. On their passage to England they joined Sir John Burgh at Flores, and assisted him in the cap- ture of the " mighty Portugall caracke, called Madre de Dios." Captain Newport, with part of his crew, was by Sir John Burgh sent to England as captain of her : he arrived at Dartmouth the 7th of September, 1592. On this voyage Captain Newport took four towns, seventeen frigates, and two ships : but only carried two vessels to England. July the 17 th, a fleet of seventy-seven sail left the Havannah for Spain : the smallest vessel in the fleet was 200 tons burthen, and the largest 1000. About the 10th of August, in lat. 35°, in a gale of wind from the north, the general of the fleet, with 500 men on board, foundered ; and three or four days afterwards, in another gale, five or six of the largest ships were lost with all their crews, and the vice-admiral. About the end of August, in lat. 38°, they experienced another gale, during which twenty-two sail perished. Upon the 6th of September, the remaining forty-eight arrived within sight of Flores, where they were separated by another gale : so that of 123 sail that were expected in Spain this year from the West Indies, but twenty-five arrived. Seven were taken by the English off the Azores, and nineteen, with 2600 men on board, were wrecked on the coast of New Spain, upon their voyage to the Havannah. Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 175.; vol. iii. p. 569. 1592-S.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 213 1592. William King, in the Salomon of 200 tons and 100 men, in company with the Jane Bonaventure, of forty tons and twenty-six men, arrived at Dominica about the 10th of April, and captured a slave ship with 270 Negroes on board, which they carried to San Juan de Puerto Rico, into which harbour they sent an armed boat, and brought out an English ship laden with Canary wines, and then stood to the westward, and landed all the Negroes except fifteen. At the island of Mona they watered, and passed along the south side of Espanola to Cape Tiburon, capturing a small vessel upon the passage. They then coasted the south side of Jamaica, and anchored at the Caimanes, where they watered, and caught sixty turtle. From hence they rounded Cape Antonio, went to the Tortugas, and came across to Cuba, where they cap- tured a bark with forty hogs, " and dried porke cut like leather jerkins along ;" a ship of eighty tons, laden with hides, &c. ; and a frigate of twenty tons, with Spanish broad cloth, and other " small pillage." They then cruized for twelve days off the Matan^as, and then came off the Havannah, where they got under the batteries, and beat off two gallies, rowing fifty-four oars each. From hence they went to the harbour of Cavannas : the gallies followed and attacked them; but after an action of three hours, the gallies were again beat off. Here the English were joined, four days after- wards, by " Master Captaine Lane, generall of Master Wats his fleet;" Captain Roberts, in the Exchange, of 140 tons, from Bristol; Captain Wood, with four ships, belonging to Lord Thomas Howard; and Captain Kenel, in the Centaur, from Weymouth : these cruized together, in all about thirteen sail, and with their boats captured a shallop, laden with wines and oil. They chased a ship of sixty tons into a harbour, a league to the N. W. of the Havan- nah, and brought her out with their boats : this ship they brought to England, where the Salomon arrived about the 10th of November. 1593. In June, Mr. James Lancaster, in the Edward Bonaventure, from the East Lidies, attempted to gain the island of Trinidad but was driven by the current into the Gulf of Paria. Mr. Lancaster sailed from Plymouth in company with the Penelope, commanded by M. George Raymond, and the " Marchant Royall," commanded by Mr. Abraham Kendal. Upon the 10th Ilakluyt, vol. ii. p. 108. ; vol. iii. 11.570,571. P 3 214 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1593' of April, 1591, several of their crew dying of the scurvy, the Marchant Royall was left at Saldanha Bay, to return to Europe, and the Penelope parted company in a gale of wind off Cape Corrientes. The Edward proceeded to the East Indies, and upon her passage home arrived at St. Helena on the 3d of April, 1593, where they found John Segar, an Englishman, who had belonged to the Marchant Royall, and been left upon that island eighteen months before by Abraham Kendal. " At our comming wee found him as fresh in colour, and in as good plight of body, to our seeming, as might be ; but crazed in mind, and halfe out of his wits, as afterward wee perceived : for whether he were put in fright of us, not knowing at first what we were, whether friends or foes, or of sudden joy, when he understood we were his olde con- sorts and countreymen, hee became idle-headed, and for eight days' space, neither night nor day, tooke any naturall rest, and so at length died for lacke of sleepe." From St. Helena, M.Lancaster was obliged by his crew to steer for England ; but contrary winds detained them six weeks before they got as far as lat. 8° north, and the provisions and water begin- ning to fail, at the suggestion of one of the crew, who had been at Trinidad with M. Chidlies, they stood for that island, but were driven past it, in the night, into the Gulf of Paria. Afterwards they made the isle of Mona, where they anchored and received refreshments from the Indians. While they were there a French ship fi'om Caen, commanded by M. de BarbateiTe, arrived. From him the English got a supply of bread and wine, and sailed for New- foundland I but a gale of wind from the northward drove them to the southward of Saona. They stood to the westward, and passed between Cuba and Espanola, where they again met the French ship from Caen, and purchased from her some hides to serve as food. After getting sight of Florida, they stood to the northward, as far as lat. 36°. In the longitude of Bermuda they sprung a leak in a heavy gale of wind, and determined to run for Dominica ; but the wind coming scant, they could only fetch the " Nueblas, or Cloudie Islands," near Puerto Rico, where they arrived in great distress, having been obliged to live for several days upon hides. Here they staid eighteen days, and then resolved to return to the island of Mona. Five of the crew refused to go, and were left upon the Nueblas, from whence they came home in an English ship. The Edward arrived at Mona the 20th of November, and Edmond Barker was sent immediately to the houses of the Indian and his three sons for some provisions. The third day after their arrival, the ship's carpenter took an opportunity, when nineteen of the crew were on shore with the captain, to cut the ship's cable and let her drive off, with only five men and a boy on board. One place not being able to sustain the whole number left on shore, they Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 10,0. 1.593.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 215 divided into different companies. Six went with Captain Lancaster, and for twenty-nine days their principal food was purslain boiled in water, and now and then a pompion, which they found in the old Indian's garden — who, with his three sons, upon this second visit of the English, had fled to the mountains. At the end of the twenty- ninth day a sail was discovered from the island, and to attract her attention the English immediately made a large fire in a conspicuous place, which was seen, and the ship stood in for the island, and came to an anchor. She proved to be the Luisa, Captain Felix, from Dieppe. Captain Lancaster and his party went on board her, and were kindly received. The next day eleven more of the English came on board, and another ship from Dieppe arrived at the island. Guns were fired frequently, to bring down the other seven men ; but nobody appearing, both ships at night left the place, each of them having on board six of the English, and stood for the north side of San Domingo, where they staid two months, trading with the inhabitants, by permission, for hides, &c. In the meanwhile a ship arrived from Newhaven, and brought intelligence of the seven men that had been left upon the island of Mona, two of whom, in attempting to catch birds upon the cliffs, had fallen down and broken their necks. Three others were killed by the Spaniards, who came from Espaiiola for that purpose, upon the information they had received from the Edward. The other two had escaped the Spaniards' bloody hands, and were on board the ship from Newhaven. Captain Lancaster and his men came to Europe in these vessels, and arrived at Dieppe the 19th of May, 1594, and at Rye the 24th, having been three years, six weeks, and two days upon his voyage. The Anthonie of 120 tons. Captain James Langton, and Antonio Martino, pilot, in company with the Pilgrim of 100 tons. Captain Francis Slingsbie, and the Discovery, parted company with the Earl of Cumberland off the coast of Spain, and proceeded to the West Indies : they made Saint Lucie, and went to Martinico, where they remained three days ; then crossing over to Margarita, they landed in the night, forced a Spaniard to guide them to the principal village, five leagues off, and assaulted it with only thirty men. The inhabitants fled, but left two thousand pounds worth of pearls, with which, and some other plunder, the English returned to their ships, after an absence of five days. In the ships they went off the town, and got 2000 ducats in pearls, as a ransom for the town and the boats. At Cumana they were beat off with loss. At Aruba they landed and refreshed themselves ; and proceeded to Espariola, coasting its west and north sides. At Mona and Savona they watered, and stood along the south side of the island. Five leagues to the east- Piirclias, 1. 6. c. 1. p. 1146. !• 4 216 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1593. ward of Santo Domingo, they took several houses, which they obUged the owners to ransom : they then ancliored to windward of the harbour of Santo Domingo, where the sergeant-major came on board with an Enghshman who had belonged to Captain Lancas- ter's company, to treat for an exchange of prisoners. The Spaniards sent two caravals after the English boats, and captured them ; " but (Purchas says) the sliips recovered the taken and takers together. They brought foure brasse falcons of Captain Lancaster's ship : ten others of iron they left for the heavinesse, being somewhat farre fi*om the water. They also tooke a fine fi'iggot, hidden under the trees, which they brought for England." From Espanola they went to Jamaica, where they captured two barks laden with hides and canna fistula, and proceeded to cruize off Cape Antonio. The Pilgrim retvu'ned to England : the Antonia and the frigate went to the bay of Honduras, where they saw seven ships, the smallest of 180 tons, at anchor in a road four leagues from Puerto Cavallo. The English anchored within shot, and continued to engage them all that day and night. Captain Langton then sent two boats on shore, and brought off a frigate of twenty tons, converted her into a fire ship, and towed her towards the Spanish ships. Their crews immediately abandoned them and went on sliore — having slipt the cables and unhung the rudders of six, that they might drive on shore. The English shifted the most valuable part of the others' cargoes into the atlmiral's ship, and sent on shore to know if they would I'ansom the vessels ; but this the Spanish government had forbidden ever to be done : they therefore set fire to two of the vessels, one laden with hides and logwood, and the other with " susaparill"; and throwing all the guns overboard, except two or three brass pieces, " in hope some Englishman might be the better for them afterward," they brought away the admiral's ship of 250 tons, and arrived with her at Plymouth the 15th of May 1594 — the next day after the arrival of the Pilgrim. The first Englishman ever known to have been upon the Ber- mudas or Summer Islands, was Henry May, a worthy mariner, that went with Captain Lancaster to the East Indies in 1591 ; and on his return to England by the West Indies, Captain Lancaster being in distress, sent May to England by one Monsieur de la Barbotier, to acquaint the merchants with their estate : they sailed from Laguna, in Espanola, the last day of November, and upon the 17th of December following were cast away upon the N.W. end of the Bermudas. Twenty-six of the crew only were saved. May being the only Englislmian on board, and the raft and boat that towed it only holding half of the crew. May did not attempt to get upon it till he was called by La Barbotier. After rowing all tlay they landed before dark, almost dead with thirst. They found Purchas, 1. 6. c. I. p, 1H7. Smith's General History, p. 173. ]59«5.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 217 several wrecks, and from some inscriptions learnt they were some Spanish, some Dutch, and some French. They Hved five months upon the island — built themselves a bark of eighty tons, and fitted her out with stores saved from the wi'eck. Instead of pitch, they caulked her with plaster made of lime and tortoise oil, which dried as hard as stone. Their sea- stock were thirty live tortoise, and with the tops of the palmeta- berries they made bread. Several hogs were upon the island, but so lean, they could not eat them. Upon the 20th of May they made Cape Breton, in Newfoundland — got refreshments from the savages, and proceeded to tlie banks, where they spoke several ships that refused to take any of them on board. A Ijark from Falmouth received them for a short time : in her they took a French ship, into which Captain Barbotier and his company were put, and May arrived at Falmouth in August 1594.' 1595. Upon the 1st of February, Sir Robert Duddeley, in the Bear, of 200 tons and 140 men, with two caravals, which he had captured off Palma, arrived at Trinidad. He had appointed Benjamin Wood captain of one caraval, and Captain Wentworth to the other. At Trinidad, Sir Robert remained until the 12th of March, "during which time" he says, " for my experience and pleasure, I marched four long marches upon the yland, and the last from one side of the yland to the other, which was some fifty miles, going and comming, through a most monstrous thicke wood, and lodging myselfe in Indian townes." Sir Robert was delighted with the island, and supposing his ship was too large to cruize in those seas, he sent the two caravals to "try their fortunes in the Indies, not appointing any other place to meet but England." Flaving heard fi'om the Indians of a gold mine upon the continent, he wished to look for it; "but the crew," he says, "altogether mutinied against my going, because they something feared the villany of Abraham Kendal (the master), who would by no means go. I was there- fore constrained to send fourteen men in my ship's boat for this discovery : these proceeded up the Oronoco, and from Armago, captain of the town of Orocoa, received permission to trade, if they would bring hatchets, knives, and j ewes-harps." He sent Sir Robert four golden half-rmoons, weighing a noble each, and two bracelets of silver ; also he told them of another rich nation, " that sprinkled ' This account is written by Henry May himself, and published in Smith's History, p. 173. Hakhiylj vol. iii. p, .57,5, 575. <218 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1595. their bodies with the poulder of golde, and seemed to be guilt ; and farre beyond them a great towne called El Dorado." The boat came back by another river called Braha, and joined Sir Robert after an absence of sixteen days, during which time they reckoned that they had rowed above 250 miles : they arrived almost dead with famine, and for the last three days had been without any thing to drink. While the boat was away, Captain Popham, in a pinnace from Plymouth, joined Sir Robert, who waited eight days longer in expectation of the arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh, and then passing Grenada, where they captured a small vessel, he proceeded off Puerto Rico, and anchored for fourteen days off Cape Roxo, with the hope of seeing some San Domingo men. From hence he returned to England, and on the passage engaged a great armada of 600 tons, "board and board, for two days" — when having expended all his powder, Sir Robert was obliged to leave her, and landed at St. Ives the latter end of May, 1595. Upon the 22d of March, Sir Walter Raleigh, with two sail, one of them a bark commanded by Captain Crosse, arrived at Punta de Gallo, in the island of Trinidad, where he burnt the city of San Joseph, and took the governor, Don Antonio de Barreo, priso- ner, in revenge for his having, in 1594, beti'ayed eight of Captain Whiddon's men, and had them shot, " after he had given his word that they should take water and wood safely." Two fresh ships, commanded by Captains George GifFord and Keymis, joined Sir Walter : he proceeded off the main land, and embarking 100 men in the boats, went up one of the mouths of the Oronoco. They were driven by bad weather into the bottom of the bay of Guanipa, where they entered a river, and in four days got above the force of the tide. Upon the 22d of May they " fell into another river," and supposing themselves to be the first Chris- tians which had entered it, they named it the Red Cross River : in a creek in this river Raleigh seized an old man, whom he made act as pilot — without this man's assistance he could not have pro- ceeded. After this. Sir Walter's barge got aground, and they were four days in getting her afloat again : they then rowed into the Amana, one of the noblest branches of the Oronoco, and continued their voyage with incredible fatigue. By the advice of the old Indian, Sir Walter, with Captains Gilford and Calfield, in their wherries, with eight men a piece, went up a river on the right-hand, to procure refreshments. After rowing until the next morning, they came to an Indian town, got their wants supplied, and returned to the galley. In this river Sir Walter lost a Negro-boy, who was killed by an alligator. Soon afterwards, the boats took two canoes laden with bread : two others escaped, and these had ore and gold on board. Sir Walter Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 631. 64:?. Harris's Voyagt?s, vol. ii. p. 21;}. 159<5.'J OF THE WEST INDIES. 219 landed, and discovering traces of the Spaniards, he offered £500 to any of his soldiers who should take one of them prisoner. They succeeded in taking some Indians that had been with the Spaniards, from whom they obtained such information, that the men offered to go with Sir Walter as far as he would. On the 15th day from their leaving their ships, they entered the Oronoco, passed a mountain named Aio, and a great island. On the 5 th day after their entrance into the Oronoco, they anchored at Morequito, 300 miles witliin the land : from hence Sir Walter sent a messenger to Topiowary, King of Aromaia, who, though he was 110 years of age, walked twenty-eight miles to see Sir Walter : he had many attendants, and complained of the cruelty of the Spaniards. Sir Walter said he was come to deliver the natives from the Spanish yoke, and explained the power which the Queen of England possessed of doing so. From hence Sir Walter proceeded to the westward, to the river Caroli ; but he found it impossible to stem the current : he there- fore encamped on the banks, and sent for the Indian chiefs in the neighbourhood, one of whom came, and brought a large supply of provisions. Sir Walter sent forty men to coast the river by land, and went himself with some officers and a few men, to see the falls of the river Caroli : from the hills they saw ten or a dozen steep cataracts, each as high above the others as a church tower — the spray was like a thick smoke from a great city : it was a most beauti- ful valley, and in it Sir Walter found some stones, which the Spaniards call El Madre del Oro. From hence he resolved to return to his ships, having been absent a month, and gone above 400 miles from the sea. The current carried them down with great rapidity, in one day, to Morequito, where old King Topiowary waited again upon Sir Walter, and sent his son Cayowroraco with him to England, where he was baptized by the name of Gualtero. Sir Walter left here Francis Sperry, an excellent draftsman, and Hugh Goodwin, a boy who was to learn the language — both these were volunteers. Another cazique waited upon Sir Walter, who appears to have impressed all the natives with a very favourable opinion of the English. The boats, upon their return, were nearly lost in a gale of wind, but ultimately arrived safely at Curiapan, where the vessels lay at anchor. The Spanish governor Berreo openly declared his admi- ration of Sir Walter's conduct, which he compared with Orellana's. Speaking of the Oronoco, Sir Walter says, " I know all the earth doeth not yelde the like confluence of streames and branches, the one crossing the other so many times, and all so faire and large, and so like one to another, as no man can tell which to take : and if wee went by the sunne or compasse, hoping thereby to goe directly one way or other, yet that way wee were also carried in a circle amongst multitudes of islands, and every island so bordered with high trees, Hakluyt, vol, iii. p. 654. 220 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [159<5. as no man coulde see any further than the bredth of the river, or' length of the reach." On his passage home, Sir Walter landed and burnt several of the Spanish towns upon the coast. On the 13th of July, he met with Captain Preston, off Cape St. Antonio, and arrived safely in England. Upon the 8th of May, Captain Amias Preston in the Ascension, in company with the Gift, Captain George Sommers, and a pin- nace and three ships from Hampton, one of them commanded by Captain Wallace, and the Darling, Captain Jones, and Angel, Captain Prowse, arrived at Dominica. Upon his passage out. Captain Preston destroyed the principal town at Puerto Santo, and several villages, because of the " cruel tie and treachery which they had used towards Captain Harvey and his people." After refreshing their men at Dominica, on the 14th, they made sail, and passed within sight of Grenada, touched at the Testigos, and came to an anchor off the Spanish Main. Upon the 19th in the night, the boats were sent to Coche, where they captured a few Spaniards and their slaves, and a few pearls ; here they remained until the 21st, when they proceeded off Cumana, where they fell in with two fly-boats belonging to Middleburgh, who had given warning of their approach to the Spaniards, who sent off from Cumana a flag of truce to say that all their goods were removed to the mountains, and that the English might destroy the town if they chose, as they did not intend to oppose them ; but that if they would not land and burn the town, reasonable ransom should be paid, and any provi- sions that were wanted supplied. Captain Preston agreed to this, and having received the ransom, on the 23d of May, made sail for the Caraccas, and on the 27th landed, without any resistance, about a league to the westward of the city, and took possession of a fort — then ascended through the woods with great labour, being obliged to cut their way through in many places. At night they halted near a water-course, and next day. May the 29th, by noon, they had reached the summit. Several of the men having fainted on the march. Captain Preston would have stopped to rest his men, but the rain and foff obliged him to descend towards the town of San Jago de Leon, which they entered at three P.M. after a slight skirmish. Here they remained until the 3d of June ; but not being able to agree with the Spaniards about the ransom, they burnt the town and adjacent villages, and returned by the high road to their ships, where they arrived by noon on the 4th, having passed through a fort on the road, which would have prevented their going up that way, had they attempted it. Captain Preston asked a Spaniard, at Leon, who came to treat about the ransom of the city, how his countrymen could leave so fine a place without a strong wall round Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 578, 579, 580. 1595.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 221 it : he replied, alluding to the high mountains, that they thought their city was stronger walled than any other in the world. Upon the 5th, Captain Preston made sail along the coast for Coro : he burnt some huts, and three Spanish vessels, and on the 9th landed two leagues to windward of Ceros : here Captain Prowse died. Upon the 10th the fleet entered the bay, and landing the men in the night, they marched towards the town. On the 11th they carried a barricade by assault, and the next day entered the town ; but not finding any plunder, they set it on fire, and returned to their ships, and on the 16th of June made Espanola, and anchored on the 21st under Cape Tiburon, where they watered. By this time the flux had carried off' eighty of the men, and several more were sick. Upon the 28th they left the island, and on the 2d of July arrived off" Jamaica: before this, the three Hampton ships, and the Darling, Captain Jones, had parted company. Upon the 6th they passed the Caimaines — on the 12th Cape Corrientes, where they watered — then rounded Cape Antonio — and on the 13th fell in with Sir Walter Raleigh, retvnning from Guiana, with whom they kept company until the 20th ; and returned by the banks of New- foundland to England, arriving at Milford Haven upon the 10th of September. Upon the 28th of October, Sir Francis Drake, "with sixe of the Queene's ships, and twenty-one other shippes and barkes, containing 2500 men and boys," arrived in the West Indies, and anchored off" Marigalante. At day-light the next morning, the fleet weighed and stood for Guadaloupe, and came to an anchor on the S.E. side of the island : here they landed the soldiers, completed their water, and set up their " pinnesses." Upon the 30th, Captain Wignol, in the Francis, was taken by a Spanish squadron of eight sail, in sight of the fleet. On the 5 th of November the fleet passed Mont- serrat ; and on Saturday the 8th came to an anchor within the Virgin Islands. " Here Sir John Hawkins was extreme sicke ; which his sickness began upon newes of the taking of the Francis." On the 12th they made sail for San Juan de Puerto Rico, and that night anchored on the east side of the town. Sir John Hawkins died this day, and was succeeded in the Garland by Sir Thomas Baskervil. While Sir Francis Drake was at supper, two large shot struck his ship : one passed through the mizen-mast, and the other carried "away the stool he was sitting upon, killed Sir Nicholas Clifford and Master Brown, and wounded Captain Stratford and some others who were at table with him. The fleet immediately weighed, and in the morning anchored " before the point without the to-wii." On the night of the 13th, twent}'-five " pinnesses," with the boats, went into the road within the castles, and burnt five ships, the smallest of 200 burthen : on this service the English lost forty or fifty men. On the evening of the 15th the fleet weighed, Hakliiyt, vol. iii. pp. 582, 58S. 222 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTOKV [1.595. and stood to the westward, and on the 18th anchored off the S.W. end of the island: here they took a "pinnesse" from Espafiola, with letters, from which they learnt that two English men of war " had done great hurt along" that island. On the 20th, Sir Francis Drake and Sir Thomas Baskervil rowed three or four leagues up a river, where Sir Thomas landed and staid that night. On the 23d the fleet weighed, and on the 25th passed the island of Mona : here the Exchange, Captain Winter, was so disabled in her spars, that they took out her men and stores, and smik her. On the 29th the fleet anchored off the N.W. end of Curagoa ; but weighing soon afterwards, at midnight, on the 30th of November, they anchored under Cape de la Vela. On the following morning the soldiers were all put into the smaller vessels, and with the fleet made sail for Rio de la Hache, of which town they gained possession by 10 P. M., the fleet anchoring about five miles off. On the night of the 6th, Sir Thomas Baskervil marched into the country to " overrunne those parts," and Sir Francis Drake, with 150 men, went in the boats to the eastward : he took one Indian village, some Negroes, a few pearls, and a small " brigandine" laden with maize. On the 10th, the Spaniards agreed to ransom the town for 28,000 ducats. On the 14th they brought the pearls for that purpose, which they " rated so deare," that Sir Francis sent them away, and gave them four hours to consider of it before he commenced hosti- lities against them. On the 16th the Spanish governor had a conference with Sir Francis, when he declared that he cared not for the town, and that no ransom should be paid for it. On the 17th, Sir Thomas Baskervil marched four leagues into the country, and burnt the towns of " Tapia and Sallamea," and several villages and single houses. On the 18th Sir Francis burnt the town of Rio de la Hache, and a village, the churches and one lady's house only excepted, " which, by her letters written to the general, was preserved." On the 19th the fleet stood to the westward for the town of Santa Martha, which they took without much opposition, and made a few prisoners, but all the valuables had been carried into the woods. On the 21st the town was burnt, and the fleet stood off. In the night, the Phoenix, Captain Austin, and the Garlands "pinnesse," Peter Lemond, parted company, and were chased by some gallies from Carthagena. Peter Lemond, and nine men, were taken : the rest came safe to the fleet. On the 27th the fleet were off Nombre de Dios, which town they captured, the Spaniards retreating to the woods, as the English advanced to storm the fort. Nothing of any value was left in the town ; but in a watch-house on the top of a hill in the woods, they found " twenty sowes of silver, two barres of gold, some money in coyne, besides other pillage." About half a league due east from Nombre de Dios was an Indian town, which the inhabitants burnt Hakliiyt, vol. iii. pp. 585, 586-, 58" 1596.'] OF THE WEST INDIES. 223 upon their approach. On the 29th Sir Thomas Baskervil, with 750 men, set off for Panama ; and on the last of December, Sir Francis Drake set fire to Nombre de Dios, and burnt the town, with all the vessels in the harbour. 1596. Captain Laurence Keymis sailed in the Darling, January 26th, from Portland roads, upon his voyage of discovery to Guiana — during which voyage, he says, he found a free and open entrance into Raleana, or Oronoco,and "fourtie severall great I'ivers :" — he then crossed over to Trinidad, touched at Tobago, Grenada, Saint Lucie, Saint Vincent, Martinico, and Dominica, and from thence to England. Of Guiana he says, " The riches of this place are not fit for any private estate ;" and, " I can discerne no sufficient impediment to the contrary, but that, with a competent number of men, her Majestic may, to her and her successors, enjoy this rich and great empire ; and having once planted there, may for ever (by the favour of God) holde and keepe it, contra Judaeos et Gentes. Subjects, I doubt not, may, through her Majestie's gracious sufferance, joyning their strength together, invade, spoyle, and over- runne it, returning with golde and great riches." January the 2d, Sir Thomas Baskervil returned to Sir Francis Drake, having given up all hopes of crossing to Panama, and lost twenty men in the attempt. On the 5th the fleet weighed, and stood to the westward. On the 10th they made the island of Escudo, and came to an anchor on its south side : here they captured a dis- patch boat, that had been sent from Nombre de Dios to give notice of the enemy's approach. On the 15 th Sir Francis Drake was confined to his cabin, with the flux. On the 23d the fleet stood back towards Puerto Bello. On the 28th, at 4 A.M., Sir Francis died. On the same day the fleet anchored off Puerto Bello, which was deserted by the inhabitants : at this time it contained only eight or ten houses. Sir Francis Drake was buried in the sea. On the 7th of February-, by a general muster, they had sick and well 2000 persons : the next day, all the prisoners and Negroes were sent on shore, and the fleet got under weigh. The Spaniards now sent off a flag of truce, to say that they had eighteen English prisonei-s, whom, if the fleet would wait eight or ten days, should be sent from Panama. The Spanish fleet was daily expected, and this was a pretence to delay the departure of the English : the fleet, therefore, stood off on the 8th of February. On the 25th they made the Grand Cay mains, and on the 26th they saw Cuba. At one P.M. twenty sail hove in sight, part of a fleet sent from Spain Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 587. 589. 672. 68.1. 686. 224 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1596. to attack the English. The Spaniards failed in their attempt to weather the English fleet, which bore down upon them, and after an action of two hours obliged their van to tack. The English then kept their course to the westward, round Cape Corrientes, the Spanish fleet standing to the eastward. About half an hour after the action was over, one of the largest of the Spanish ships caught fire and was burnt. The next day, the Spanish fleet were on the weather quarter of the English, but only fourteen sail of them — three of their best sailors came up with the Salomon : she had been obliged to make a tack to weather Cape Corrientes. Some of the English tacking to support her, the Spaniards returned to their fleet, which tacked and stood from the English, who kept their course for Cape Antonio. On the 10th, they saw the Cape of Florida, and made the best of their way to England, where they arrived about the beginning of May. The Spanish admiral claimed a victory upon this occasion, to the great annoyance of Captain Henry Saville, who commanded the Adventure in the action, and who answers Don Bernaldino Delgadillo de Avellaneda's letter about the action, not in the most courteous manner. Among other things he says, " Some simple Indian slave, hearing the like repetition of his long and tedious name, might suppose it to be an armie of Spaniards, and for feare runne away ; but the commanders and captaines of the English navie were men of such resolution, that no Spanish bragges could dismay them (for they have often met them with their pikes in their Spanish beardes), nOr the countenance of Don Bernaldino quaile them, althoueh he were acowtred in his ajilt leather buskins and his Toledo rapier." ' Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 597. • Thomas Baskervil, Knight, his approba- Contractation House for the Indies, and by tion of the Discourse of Captain Savile. him, for Bernaldino's glorie, lately put in "I, Thomas Baskervill, Knight, Generall print; I then say, that he falsely lyed, and of Her Majestie's late Indian Armada, in that I will maintaine against him with the late conflict had betweene the Spanish whatsoever armes ho shall make clioyce of. fleete and us, having perused the Spanish And because the kingdomes wherein we letter written by Don Bernaldino Delga- abide are enemies (by reason of which dillo de Avellaneda, Generall of the King there is no meanes, in either of them, to of Spaine's navie, and also having perused maintaine that I have written), let him Captaine Henrie Savile his answeres unto make choise of any indifferent kingdome, the sixe exceptions in the general's letter, of equall distance from either realme, and with his discourse of the manner of our I will be readie to maintaine as much as I fight with the Spanish fleete, doe say, that have written. But if, by my imployments the said Henrie Savile hath answered the into France, I be so stayed by Her Majes- letter, and set downe the order of the fight tie's commandements that I cannot out of sincerely, according to truth ; for testimonie that realme meete him in any other, I of which, I have hereunto set my hand. cannot see why he should take any excep- " And if Don Bernaldino Delgadillo de tion to that, considering the equalitie of Avellaneda, the generall, shall take any the place, and that the armies of Iwth our exceptions to this my approbation, or stand princes be there resident, in the justification of his lying letter written " TuoivrAs Baskkrvii.f." to Doctor Peter Florez, President of the 1596.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 225 October the ITth, Sir Anthony Sherley in the Bevice, of 300 tons; the Galeon, of 240; the George, of 160; the George Noble, of 140 ; the Wolfe, of 70 ; with a galley and pinnace, arrived at Dominica. Upon the passage out he had captured the town of Saint Jago, in the Cape de Verdes, but did not effect his retreat back to his ships without great loss. At Dominica they were kindly received by the Indians, and remained there, to refi'esh the men, until the 25th of November. From thence they went to Margarita, but failed in taking any of the pearl fishers : then coasting along the main land, off Cape de la Vela, they captured a frigate, with 500 pounds in specie on board. On the 12th of December they landed in a bay two leagues west of the town of Santa Martha, of which place they took possession without any opposition, the inhabitants flying before them. At the intercession of Don Martin de Cast ilia, the town was saved from destruction without being ransomed, and one of Sir Francis Drake's men was released from being a prisoner. Here Sir Anthony passed his Christmas, and remained until New Year's day. March the 6th, the Earl of Cumberland sailed from Plymouth with a fleet of twenty sail, and after cruizing off" Lisbon and the Canaries, arrived at Dominica the 23 d of May, where they refreshed their crews until the 1st of June : from hence the earl Avent to the Virgin Islands, intending, as he says, " again to muster my men, the island of Dominica being so wootlie as that there I could not doe it." June the 6th, he landed at Puerto Rico, some leagues to wind- ward of the town, with about 1000 men. Some of his captains wislied him, upon leaving the Virgin Islands, to have passed through that passage, as Sir Francis Drake had done ; but the earl, " find- ing tlie way through the passages more certaine and safe, tooke that course ; more desiring to be the first that tooke Puerto Rico, than the second that passed through the Virgines." After a fatiguing march, the English found themselves, at dusk, upon the shore of an arm of the sea, which divided them from the forts and the town, and which arm. was fordable, at low water, by a causeway connected to the fort by a draw-bridge, defended by a barricado, and a fort with oi'dnance. The tide not answering for crossing, the English laid down to refresh themselves, until within two hours of daylight on the 7th, when they proceeded to the causeway, headed by the earl and Sir John Barkeley : the causeway was purposely made so rugged, that many of the English preferred wading alongside it. The bearer of the earl's target fell, and threw down the earl ; who being heavily armed, was with great difficulty taken out of the water by the serjeant-major, and laid upon the causeway, where he was forced to lie down until his sickness was over, he had swallowed so Ilaklnvt, vol. iii. p. 598. f,00, GOI. Purcl.r.s, part iv. I-. (?. C. 9. p. 11,: I. ] l.^:;, 1154. n';o. I'lDc-iKis, L. 6". C. n. p. iigi. o 226 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1596. much salt water. Sir John Barkeley led the assailants, who began with bills to hew the gates ; but the firing from seven guns, besides musketry, that played upon the causeway, and the tide flowing fast, being now up to their middle, they retreated, and got back before daylight to the place where they had rested before, with the loss of between forty and fifty killed and wounded — among whom were Lieutenants Cholmley and Belings, the only officers who were hurt. The Earl of Cumberland now ordered one of the ships to run in on the other side of the second fort ; and if it was necessary, the captain was to run her aground, that the men might land and attack the fort on that side, while the boats landed 200 pikemen, under the command of Captains Coach and Orrell, to attack it upon the other. " This plot tooke very good effect; for within an houre, that the attempt was given, partly the ship and partly the musketeers had so beaten the fort, that the boates had good leisure to land ; whereupon, within short space, the enemy quitted the place." The English lodged in it that night. By the time the boats came back to the earl, the water had fallen " to so dead an ebbe, that there was no hope of passage till the next flood." In the fort that commanded the causeway, there was not any light or match to be seen, which ifiduced the earl to svippose that the Spaniards had abandoned it also : and " Captain Rukesby was sent, and brought certaine intelli- gence that the enemy was gone." After the English had refreshed themselves, they began their march to the town, which was a mile and a half from the fort, along a passage " wooddie on either side, and so narrow, that not passing three, at the most, can march in ranke." They arrived at the town by day break upon Thursday, June 8th, and found it abandoned by all the inhabitants that were able to walk. The soldiers had retired to a fort to the sea-ward called Mora. Monday, June the 18th, the earl had erected two batteries against the Mora, and armed them with two culverins and two demi-cul- verins, landed from the Scourge, and with four other pieces that he found in the town. At one o'clock upon Tuesday, the Spanish governor sent to demand a parley, a breach having been made in the " cavalero :" his demands were, that the garrison should march out with colours flying, " match in their cocks, and bullets in their mouth," and to " be set beyond the point at the bridge, to goe whither they would." Further they demanded all the prisoners to be deli- vered without ransom, and that no man's Negroes or slaves should be taken from him. His lordship utterly refused any such compo- sition, but wrote to the governor as follows : " A resolution which you may trust to — I am content to give yourselfe and all your people their lives : yourselfe, with your cap- taines and officers, to passe with your amies ; all the rest of your souldiers with their rapiers and daggers onely. rurchas, L. 6. C. S. p. U6fi 1596.]] OF THE WEST INDIES. . 227 " You shall all stay here with nie, till I give you passage from the iland, which shall be within thirtie dayes. " Any one of you which I shall choose, shall goe with me into England, but shall not stay longer there than one moneth ; but being well fitted for the purpose, shall bee safely sent home into Spaine without ransome." As it was doubted whether there was any person in the fort that could speak English, some of the earl's followers wished the articles to be translated into Spanish; " but his lordship peremptorily refused to seeke their language, but would have them to find out his." On the next day, June the 21st, the fort surrendered, and the governor and 400 soldiers were marched into a strong castle in the town, called Fortileza. July the 11th, the Spanish soldiers were embarked on board two vessels, and sailed for Carthagena — the governor and some of the principal officers going in two other vessels, that were to proceed to England, after convoying the soldiersto Carthagena, as it was the earl's intention to keep the island ; but the flux attacked his men, and before he left the island, on the 13th of August, 400 of them had died, and as many more were too weak to walk to the boat.' All the brass guns on the island, about eighty pieces, were embarked, and what hides, ginger, and sugar could be collected. Fort Mora was razed ; but Sir John Barkeley, who was left with seven Purchas, L. 6. C. S. p. 1164. 1166. 1169. 1168. ' List of the Earl of Cumberland's Fleet, in his Twelfth Voi/age^ f The EarL Malice Scourge < Capt. John Wats, outwards. C James Langton, homewards* Merchant Royal Vice Admiral Sir John Barkeley. Ascension... Capt. Robert Flicke, Rear AdmiraL „ f Henry Clifford, after whose death at Puerto Rico, Capt. ■"" '\ Christopher Colthurst. Alcedo Mast. John Ley ; and homewards, Thomas Cotch. Consent Capt. Francis Slingsby. ■p r James Langton, out. '^ " (^ John Wats, home. Centurion ..,.., HenriePalnrcr, and after his death, his son, William Palmer. Gallion Constance ... Hercules Folyambe. Affection Flemming. _ . C Christopher Colthurst, outwards. ^"'^"^ ""X Gerard Middleton, homewards. Scout Henrie Jolliffe. Antonie Robert Carcles, and after his death, Capt. Andrew Andrewes. Pegasus — Edward Goodwin. Royall Defence Henrie Bromley. Margaret and John . . . John Dixon. Barkley Bay John Lea. John .,; William Harper. And two barges for landing troops. — Purdias, partiv. L. C. C. 1. p. 1M9. o 2 ^8 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1597' sail and two fly-boats, to bring away any ransom that he could get, was ordered not to injure the town, and to join the earl off" the Azores : he himself, with three sail, hoped to seize some treasure belonging to the King of Spain, which he heard was at Margarita, waiting for the gallions to take it ; but contrary winds obliged the earl to give up the attempt. While at Puerto Rico, one of the bravest soldiers was hung in the market-place, for having done violence to a Spaniard's wife ; and an officer belonging to the vice-axlmiral's ship, for defacing some things in the church, was " thrice brought to the gibbet, and at length his lordship was entreated to grant him mercy." ^ 1597. Upon New Year's day. Sir Anthony Sherley left Santa Martha, and stood for Jamaica, and " missing the rode, were constrained to saile round about the isle, a thing not before done." January the 29th, they anchored *'in the road of Jamaica" (Port Royal), landed, and marched six miles into the country, to the capital of the island, which they entered without any opposition — " the people submitted themselves to our general's mercy ; so that now we were as one people, and in one peace together." March the 6th, they left Jamaica, and proceeded to the bay of Honduras, having been joined by Captain Parker from Plymouth. On the 31st, they landed near Truxillo; but finding the place too strong, reimbarked with the loss of a few men, and went to Puerto de Cavallos, lower down in the bay, which they captured without much difficulty, on the 7th of Purchas, L. 6. C. 3. 1167. 1163. Ilakluyt, vol. iii. p. 601. ' " King Henry, minding wars with piece hitting any man, would kill or spoile France, made great preparation and provi- him. And after the King's returne from sion, as well of munitions and artillery, as Bullen, the sayd Peter Bawd, by himself, also of brass ordinance ; amongst the which, in the first of Edward the Sixt, did also at that time, by one Peter Bawd, a French- make certaine ordinance of cast-yron, of man borne, a gun-founder or maker of great divers sorts and formes, as fawconet, ordinance, and one other alien called Peter fawkons, minions, sakers, and other pieces, van Collen, a gun -smith, both the King's Unto this Bawd, John Johnson, his cove- feed-men, w'no conferring together, devised nant servant, surviving his M., did likewise and caused to be made certaine morter make and cast yron ordinance cleaner and pieces, being at the mouth from eleven to better perfection, to the great use of this inches unto nineteen inches wide, for the land : his sonne, Thomas Johnson, is yet use wherof the said Peter caused to be living, a speeiall workeman. In the year made certain liollow shot of cast-yron, 1595, he made forty-two cast pieces of great to be stuffed with fierworke or wild-fire, ordinance, of yron, for the Earle of Cum- whereof yc bigger sort for the same had berland — demy canons weighing 6,000, scrues of yron, to receive a match to carry or three tunne, the piece." — Stow's Chro- firc kindled, that the fierwork might be set nicte, and Edward Hou'cs Continuation, on fire, for to breake in small pieces the London, 1615, folio, p. 581. same hollowc sliot, wlicreof the smallest 1597«] OF THE WEST INDIES. 5229 Api'il. Disappointed at finding the place so poor and miserable, Sir Anthony determined to ascend the Rio Dolce, and search for some narrow passage or isthmus to the South Sea. The fleet proceeded to Cape de Tres Puntas, where they were well moored ; and on the 10th, with the boats, he ascended the river. About thirty leagues up they came to a fort, a town, and some store- houses, but found neither money nor merchandize ; and learning fi'om the miserable natives, that it was in vain to attempt to get to the South Sea that way, most of the men being sick, and the provi- sions almost expended, " with most unwilling minds," Captain Parker says, " we returned to our shipping." The fleet now made the best of their way off Cuba, where they all left Sir Anthony, who, in die Bevice, proceeded to Newfoundland, where he arrived the 15 th of June- Captain Parker, in the Prudence of 120 tons, left Sir Anthony Sherley off Truxillo, after their unsuccessful voyage up the Rio Dulce, and made sail for Cape Cotoclie. Leaving his ship six leagues from the to^^•Tl of Campeche, he, \s'ith his boats, landed by the monastery of San Francisco, and took the town, with the captain and alcalde, and 500 Spaniards, and found in the neighbom-ing villages 8,000 Indians. The multitude of Spaniar.ds who fled upon the first assault collected together by 10 A. M.,and furiously attacked the English, killed six of them, and struck Captain Parker under the left breast with a bullet, which bullet, he says, " lieth still in the chine of my backe !" Being now in great distress, the English brought out their prisoners, tied them arm in arm together, and placed them, instead of a barricade, to defend themselves from the Spaniards' shot ; and so, with colours flying, and carrying off' their dead, they retired with more safety to the harbour, where they took a frigate laden with the royal tribute, in silver and other valuable commodities, with which they got to their ship. Opposite where she lay stood the town of Sebo, of 400 Indians, which Captain Parker took and plundered : this done, he made sail for Cape Cotoche, anchoring every day at noon, because of the breezes in turning up. The bark Adventure was taken by two frigates from Campeche; and " Captain Hen and thirteen of my men," Captain Parker says, "were executed, as since we understand by some Spanish prisoners that were taken in those parts." After staying five weeks upon the coast. Captain Parker went off* the Havannah, and from thence to England, where he arrived about the 1st of July. Mr. Thomas Masham, with a pinnace called the Watte, fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh for a voyage to Guiana, upon their return home passed St. Vincent, Santa Lucie, Martinico, and arrived at Dominica the 13th of May, having parted company with the bark Hakluvt, vol. iii. p. C02, GOO. 602. o 3 230 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY, &C. [I6OO. which came out with them the evening before. They watered at Guadaloupe, and upon the 28th of June arrived at Plymouth. Captain Masham says, " Upon the 14th of June, 1597, there being divers whales playing about our pinnesse, one of them crossed our stemme, and going under, rubbed her backe against our keele," without doing any damage to the vessel ! 1600, Saint Eustatia became a Dutch island by the right of occupancy, and it was granted in property to certain Flushing merchants by the States General : it was first colonized about this year. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 244. CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES. 1602. L/APTAiN Willicam Parker, in the Prudence, of 100 tons and 130 " tall men," in company with the Pearle, Captain Robert Rawlins, of sixty tons and sixty men, and a pinnace of twenty tons, sailed from Plymouth in November, 1601. Off Cape St. Vincent, they lost the pinnace in a gale of wind, and all her crew, except three : from thence Captain Palmer proceeded to the Cape de Verdes; and landing 100 men upon the island of St. Vincent, he captured the town, pillaged and burnt it, and then made sail for the island of Margarita. At Cubagua he took the governor of Cumana and company of soldiers prisoners, and received for their ransom, and that of fifteen fishing boats which he captured at the same time, five hundred pounds in pearl. From Cubagua, Captain Parker made sail for Cape de la Vela, and on the passage captured a Portuguese ship widi 370 Negroes on board, whom he landed in the Gulf of Acle, and afterwards stood to the westward, to the islands called Cabe^as, where he "embarked 150 men in two small pinnaces and two fine shallops," and went to the Isles de Bastimentos ; from thence he took seven Negroes to serve as guides, and then, with the pinnaces and boats, entered the mouth of the river of Puerto Bello, at tw o o^ clock in the morning on the 7th of February, 1602: it was bright moonlight; they were hailed from the castle of St. Philip, and they answered in Spanish that they were from Carthagena; the}^ were ordered to come to an anchor, which they did : and about an hour afterwards, in the two shallops, with thirty men. Captain Parker went up the river, not- withstanding he was hailed from Fort St. Jago (which is opposite Purchas, part iv. L. 6. C. 9. p. 1244, o 4 232 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [lC02, to Fort St. Philip) to stop ; " but neglecting their out-cryes, I landed," says Captain Parker, " at the first towne called Triana, where the alarme was presently given, which neverthelesse I set on fire, and marched over a little brooke into the great rich towne of Porto Bello." He proceeded immediately to the royal trejisury, where he found 250 soldiers belonging to the town, and another company of the inhabitants, with two brass guns. The guns he took posses- sion of, and attacked the soldiers. By this time Captain Antonie Fugars, and Captain George Lawi-iman, with 120 men, in the two pinnaces, came to his assistance ; and after a desperate battle, which lasted five hours, he succeeded in taking the treasury : he also took the governor of the town, Pedro Melendes, prisoner. Melendes was wounded in ten places. In the treasury were about 10,000 ducats, which Captain Parker reserved for himself. " The rest of the spoile of the to%vne, which came to no small value, in money, plate, and merchandize, I gave wholy to my souldiers." He says, *' Had I come but seven dayes sooner, I had taken heere an hundred and twentie thousand duckets, which were newly laden in two frigats for Cartagena." He now placed guards at different parts of the town, and made a barricado at the end of the street leading to Panama, where Captain Giles was several times attacked by the enemy, whom he always repulsed. There were two frigates higher up the river — one of them had three pieces of ordnance on board : these Captain Parker took, and used the guns against the enemy, as they marched towards him from the western fort. In consideration of the gallantry of Pedro Melendes, the governor, Captain Parker made his surgeon carefully dress his wounds, and let him go without any ransom : and at dark he embarked his men, after setting fire to some Negro houses, to frighten the Spaniards ; but he would not injure the town. In going out with his two pinnaces, two shallops, and the two prizes. Captain Parker was struck by a musket-ball from the west shore, at the elbow, and the , ball came out at his wrist. Passing through a heavy fire from both forts, they got out, and came to an anchor off a small island, which lay between them and Fort St. Jago, where they remained, Captain Parker says, " untill my vice-admiral, Captaine Rawlins, brought two ships thither, which rode somewhat to the eastward of the Castle of Saint Philip, under the rocke where Sir Francis Drake his coffin was throwne overboard." The next day, February the 9th, Captain Parker made sail for Sambo Bay, about twelve leagues to the eastward of Carthagena, where he watered and stopped thirteen days, during which time, Captain Parker says, " he tooke certaine frigats which were bound to Cartagena ; whereupon the governor, Don Pedro de Coronna, armed out two gallies and a brigandine, with some two or three Purchas, part iv. L. 6. C. 9. p. 1241. l603-i.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 233 frigats, with a purpose to assault us ; but being better advised, they would never come neere us. When he heard that I had taken Porto Bello, one of the chiefest places of the West Indies, with so small forces, he pulled his beard, and sware that he would give his mule's lade of silver but to have a sight of mee and my coni- panie." From this bay Captain Parker stood over to Jamaica, and doubling Cape Antonio, got out through the Gulf of Florida : at the Azores he supplied his vice-admiral and the two pinnaces with pro- visions for two months, and leaving them to cruize, returned to Plymouth on the 6th of May, 1602. This I take to be the same Captain Parker that attempted to ascend the Rio Dulce with Sir Anthony Sherley, and was after- wards desperately wounded at Campeche. 1603. Upon the 15th of June, Captain Bartholomew Gilbert, in a bark of fifty tons, arrived at Saint Lucia, upon his passage to Virginia : he was so far out in his reckoning as to mistake Saint Lucia for the Bermudas. They were received with kindness by the natives, and got tobacco and fruits in exchange for toys. Upon the 17th they touched at Dominica, and on the 19th anchored at Nevis, where they staid cutting lignum-vitae until the 3d of July, during which time they got on board twenty-tons of it, and cauglit a turtle, which was so large that they could not get it into the boat, but towed it to the ship by the leg, where " it was no easie matter to get her on board." From Nevis they passed to leeward of Saint Christopher's, and proceeded to Virginia, where Captain Gilbert and four of his crew were killed by the natives as soon as they landed. 1604. In this year there was a treaty made of perpetual peace and alliance between Philip the 3d, King of Spain, and the Archduke and Duchess, Albert and Isabella, on one part, and James the 1st, King of England, on the other. In this treaty, the 9th article gi'ants a renewal of intercourse be- tween all the places with which there was any commerce before the JBartholomew Gilbert's Voyage. Piirchas, parti v. L. 8. C. 12. p. 1656. Du Mont, torn. v. partic ii. p. 32. ^34- CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l605. war — a reservation evidently introduced to exclude us from the West Indies. " Item, conventuni ac stabilitum fuit, et est, quod inter dictum Serenissimum Regem Hisp. ac dictum Serenissimum Regem Angliae, ac cujuslibet eorum vasallos, incolas et subditos tarn per terram quam per mare et aquas dulces in omnibus et singulis regnis, dominiis ac insulis, aliisque terris, civitatibus, oppidis, villis, portu- bus, et districtibus dictorum regnorum ac dominiorum sit, et esse debeat commercium liberum, in quibus ante helium fuit commercium, juxta et secundum usum et observantiam antiquorum foederum et tractatum ante bellum, ita ut absque aliquo salvo-conductu aliaque licentia generali vel special! tam per terram, quam per mare et aquas dulces, subditi et vassalli unius et alterius regis possint et valeant ad regna et dominia praedicta eorumque omnium civitates, oppida, portus, littora, sinus ac districtus accedere, intrare, navigare, et quoscunque portus subire, in quibus ante helium fuit commercium^ et juxta et secundum usum et observantiam anti- quorum foederum et tractatuum ante bellum, cum plaustris, equis, sarcinulis, navigiis tam onustis quam onerandis, merces importare, emere, vendere, in eisdem quantum voluerint commeatum resque ad victum et profectionem necessarias justo pretio sibi assumere, restaurandis navigiis et vehiculis propriis vel conductis aut commo- datis operam dare, illinc cum mercibus, bonis ac rebus quibuscum- que, solutis juxta locorum statuta taloniis ac vectigalibus praesentibus tantum, eadem libertate recedere, indeque ad patrias proprias vel alienas, quomodocunque velint et sine impedimento recedere." 1605. In 1605, the court of Madrid sent armed ships to Punta Araya, with orders to station themselves there, and expel the Dutch by force of arms. The Dutch, however, continued to carry on a con- traband ti'ade in salt, till, in 1622, a fort was built near the salt works. April the 14th, the " Oliph Blossome," Captain Cataline, sailed from Woolwich, with colonists, and stores for Master Charles Leagh, " whose colony was planted in the river of Wiapogo, within three degrees and an halfe northward of the equinoctial line in the West Indies." This vessel was fitted out at the expence of Sir Oliph Leagh, knight ; but, by the unskilfulness of the master, Richard Chambers, they were obliged to touch at Barbadoes. The crew, finding it without inhabitants, took possession of the country by HumbokU's Personal Narrative, vol. ii. p, 255. Purchas, partiv. L. 6. C. 13. p. 1255. John Njchol's Voyage. B. Edwards, vol, i. p. 317. l605.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 235 erecting a cross upon the spot where James Town was afterwards built, with this inscription, " James, King of England and this island ;" but they did not begin any settlement, and only staid to refresh themselves with the birds, fish, and hogs which they killed there. From Barbadoes they went to Saint Lucie, " where," Nichols says, " fearing to perish at sea for hunger, before we should be able, being so many aboord, to reach England, Captain Nicholas Saint John, with the rest of the passengers, which proposed to have staled with Master Charles Leagh at Wiapogo in Guiana, resolved to stay and take their fortune in the aforesaid fruitfull iland." Sixty-seven were thus left there on the 23d of August, 1605, "with swords, muskets, and powder, and one falcon and one barill of biscuit onely, for all our food." The next day the ship left them with " some discontentment, because we had seized upon her boate to serve our turnes." For the first six weeks they lived very peace- ably, daily trading with the Indians for fruits, birds, and fish, and every night they caught two or three turtle. At the end of that time, Captain Saint John, with as many of the principal men as the boat would hold, set out to go to a mountain on the N.W. side of the island, from whence the Indians said they got the metal with which the plates they wore upon their arms were made, and which BroA\Ti, the gold-finer, said conttxined three parts of gold ; but none of the party ever returned : they were supposed all to have been killed by the Indians, who now began to show symptoms of hostility, collecting in the neighboiu'hood of the English to the number of 2 or 300 ; but at night they dispersed, and left only Augramert, captain of Saint Vincent's, and an old man, his father, who invited the English to their houses in the wood, and promised to supply them with every thing, Upon Thursday after dinner, Mr. Alexander Saint John, with seventeen others, went with Augramert and his father to their houses : on the road they were attacked by 300 Caribs, who lay in ambush for that purpose; Augramert seizingyovmg Saint John's sword and dagger, while the old man knocked him down with a club. The English were unprepared — many had their match to light: after the most determined resist- tance, they were all killed except John Nichols, who, with three i^rrows sticking in him, by running into the wood and swimming over a standing lake, got back to the others in time to put them on their guard — and, as the savages approached along the sands, they dispersed them by a discharge from the falcon. On Monday, about 1400 savages came by sea and land, and sur- rounded the English, who defended themselves from their arrows with their chests : and in this manner they kept the multitude off for seven days. The first day, the Indians with fiery arrows burnt the huts, " thinking then," Nichols says, " to have entred in upon Purchas, part iv. L. 6. C. 13. pp, 1255, 1256. 236 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l605. ns ; but with our falcon wee drove them backe with most horrible cryes. After that our houses were burned, and all our chests, which before were our fort, wee fortified ourselves with the remnants of the stakes and thatch which we had saved from burning, setting them in the ground slopewise, covering it with sand and earth, which saved us ever after from their arrowes." The next day they all departed in their piraguas, having wounded twelve out of the nineteen English that were left. As soon as the boats were out of sight, some Indians, with signs of peace, brought cassada, plantains, and potatoes, to exchange for knives and beads, to the great joy of the English, who were unable to procure any thing for themselves. This traffic continued for seven days, when the English held out a flag of truce, and Captain Antonie, who was Augramert's (the captain of St. Vincent's) brother, agreed to supply them with a piragua, in return for some hatchets, &c., and advised them to go away as soon as they could, for Augramert, with twelve piraguas, was coming next day from Saint Vincent's.' The English worked hard — made a sail of " very good roan cloth" — and at " one of the clocke after midnight," on Thursday the 26th of September, with " but one barrico of fresh water to drinke, and one small firkin of rice," Nichols says, " we embarked ourselves, being nineteene in the whole number, not one having skill in the mariner's art, and without carde or compasse to direct us : wee sayled by the sunne in the day time, and by the starres in the night, going always betwixt the S.W. and west." Upon the third day, all the provisions and water was expended, except the rice. And then Master Garret gave to every two of us a pottage- dish of his rice twice a-day, which wee washed in salt water, and so eate it raw !" They were ten days at sea, during which time they were nearly lost in a gale of wind. " The rain which then fell was unto us," he says, " in the middest of our danger, a great comfort ; for we saved it with great joy, and dranke it, thanking God for that good refreshing — who likewise did send the very fowles of the aire to feed us ; for being wearie of their flight, they would rest upon the side of our boat : so that we tooke them, and dryed them in the sunne with a little gunpowder, and eate them." On the 10th day Thomas Morgan died, and within an hour afterwards they saw the land ; but it falling calm, they were benighted before they could get to it. " And so wanting the light of the day," Nichols says, " we were upon the shoare before wee were aware, and there split our boat to the middest, and all our men were turned out, save myselfe, which held die helme, thinking the next wave would set her pff" again, not knowing her to be split : but the breach was so great, that it turned Purclias, part iv. p. ] 257. I I mil ■rrmm^i iiliinBiiillMiihil'*'*'^ lliiili !■! ■ ' It is to be observed, that these couverbations were carried on in French. 1605.'] OF THE WEST INDIES. 2S7 me under, putting me in gi'eat danger to be grinded to pieces with her weight lying upon me against the great rocks ; yet at the last wee all recovered ourselves, some sitting upon the rocks, others on the rootes of great trees, thinking there to save ourselves untill the morn- ing. William Picks and myself went and haled the boat on shoare, which was split to the very middest, and so farre with our swords we cut off, and put in an head in the middest, and fastened it with our daggers, knives, and bodkins, stopping all the leakes with our shirts, and sent five of our companie over in her to the mayne land," near Tocayo, between Punta de Tucaras and Cabo de San Roman. The Spaniards and Indians received them very kindly ; and as soon as one of them was able, he guided the Spaniards to the island where his companions were left : but this was fifteen days afterwards, during which time five of them had pined to death, which Nichols supposes was because they could not take tobacco. A supply of pro\dsions was sent at the same time, " which," Nichols says, " when we had eaten, had almost killed us, by reason of the weaknesse of our stomacks, being so far spent that we could not digest it, although we fed thereof very sparingly." By the advice of a Fleming, who had lived sixteen years in that country, we concealed the object of our voyage from the Spaniards, but said that we were driven by a tempest upon that coast, " and told them of all the dangers which we had endured, which drave them into such great admiration, that some said verily wee were devils, and not men, others that wee deserved to be canonized, but that wee were Lutherans." At Coro, two of them died ; but they were all well ti-eated by the Spaniards, and marched to different parts. At Carthagena they were under great obligations to Francisco Lopez, whose father's goods and life had been saved by Sir Francis Drake, when he took Carthagena. Nichols returned to England in February, 1606. After the Oliph Blossome had landed these sixty-seven men upon Saint Lucie, those on board were so much enraged with them for detaining the boat, that upon Thursday the 23d of August, before they got under way, the captain fired a shot, with intent to beat down their houses ; " but presently they shot at us againe," William Turner says, " the bullet whereof came betweene our maine-mast and our poope, but it hurt no body." The ship then went to a bay about two leagues to leeward, where, while they were trafficking with the Indians, their boat came to trade there also : " we let flye at them sixe pieces of ordnance, and a vallie of small shot ; but what harme we did amongst them we know not, for they rowed away, and got out of sight of us. We tearmed the bay where we put these men ashoare Rogue's Bay, and the cape we called Cape Knave, and the river. River of Rascals." So says William Turner, who appears to have been very angry at losing the boat. From Saint Purchas, part iv. pp. 1258, 1259. 1265, 1266. William Turner's Voyage. S38 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [I6O6. Lucie they went to Saint Vincent's, and passing within sight of Grenada, upon the 1st of September anchored off the west end of Margarita, with the hope of getting some cattle from the Spaniards. They were disappointed, and went to Cumana, where they were joined by the Aide, Captain Squire, from England, and some days afterwards seven sail of Dutch vessels arrived. From Cvnnana the Oliph Blossome went to Ponitra, and from thence to Cape Roxo in Puerto Rico, where they picked up a Dutch boat with twelve men, who told them, that upon Sunday, the 27th of October, nineteen Spanish ships had taken all the Dutch ships which the Oliph Blos- some left behind, except two : and that " they themselves, being ashoare with their boat, made an escape from Ponitra, and so came to Porto Rico, which is one hundred and three score leagues." From Puerto Rico the Oliph Blossome went to the Azores. 1606. Captain Legat sailed from Plymouth in Jul}', with tlie intention of going to the Orellana (or River of Amazons) ; but falling to lee- ward of the port, they stood for the West Indies. On their passage one of the crew murdered the captain ; and they then carried the ship to the Isle of Pinos, on the south side of Cuba, where they *'. were circumvented by the trecherie of the Spaniards, and taken prisoners ; and within foure dayes after, of eighteen persons fourteen wei'e hanged ; the other foure being youths, were saved to serve the Spaniards : whereof two of them, refusing to serve longer in there ships, were put into the prison at Sevill, the other two remayne still as slaves to the Spaniards." By a royal Spanish edict of the 14th December, 1606, the incum- bent of any situation obtained by purchase from the government, was allowed to sell his appointment, provided that, in the first resig- nation, the person in whose favour it was made should perform the duties of his office for one-half of the emoluments annexed to it, and that, in all ulterior resignations, they should be discharged for one-third of the value at the time of sale. August 12th, M. Henry Challons, in the Richard of Plymouth, of fifty tons, with twenty-nine men and two Virginian Indians, sailed from Plymouth : the Richard was fitted out at the expense of Sir John Popham and Sir Ferdinando Georges. October 19th, they arrived at St. Lucie, where the Indians came off to trade with them. On the 22d, they observed a white flag flying on shore at Dominica, which they supposed was hoisted by some shipwrecked Christians ; rurclias, paitiv. L. 10. C. 2. pp. 1836. 1832. Stoncman's Voyage. Pepoii s South America, vol, ii. p. 121. 1606.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 239 soon afterwards a Spanish friar came off in a canoe, crying aloud in Latin, " I beseech, as you are Christians, for Christ his sake, to shew some mercy and compassion on mee : I am a preacher of the word of God, a friar of the order of Franciscus in Sevill, by name Friar Bias." Captain Challons took him on board : he had been sixteen months a slave among the savages. Two other friars sent with him from Spain to convert the natives had been murdered. His life had been spared, because he taught the savages to make sails for their canoes, with some linen thrown on shore at Guada- loupe, out of the wreck of three outward bound Spanish gallions, Bias thought there were not more than 1,000 savages in Dominica and the neighbouring islands. Those in the canoe were much dis- pleased at losing their sail-maker, whom the English landed on the south side of Puerto Rico, October 29th, " and delivered him to two herdsmen, which most thankfully received him, and of their courtesie (Stoneman says) brought us a fat cow, and proffered us more, with hogs, calves, or any thing else that they could procure for us, in recompence of the good deed done to the friar." From Puerto Rico they passed to the northward, through the Mona passage ; and on the 10th of November, in a very tliick fog, they found themselves in the middle of a Spanish fleet : they were taken, and hardly used. John Stoneman was put on board the Spanish vice admiral's ship, the Peter. At the intercession of the captain and the ship's company, who were in great distress at their pilot's ignorance, he took charge of the ship, and navigated her to St. Lucar. Notwithstanding their continual losses by sea, the inhabitants of Espanola still carried on some commerce with the Dutch ; but the King of Spain, by forbidding all trade with foreigners, deprived them of this last resource. The Dutch, who made considerable profit by this traffic, sent a fleet of men of war, under the command of Abraham de Verne, to defend their commerce. The Spanish fleet fell in with de Verne off" Cuba, sunk some of his vessels, cap- tured others, and obliged the remainder to seek their safety by flight. To impede the traffic of foreigners, which they had been unable to prevent, the Spaniards destroyed the sea-port towns of Yaguana, Puerto de Plata, and Bayaha, the ordinary rendezvous of the inter- lopers : the inhabitants were ordered to retire inland. Those of Yaguana and Bayaha joined, and built a city to the east, which they named Bayaguana : those of Puerto di Plata approached the capital, and built Monte di Plati, near where Don Henry (Enrique), the Indian cazique, lived. The cities of Salvatierra de la Savana, Yaquimo, San Juan de la Maguana, Bonao, Buenventura, Larez de Guahaba, and of Puerto Real, were already abandoned, the Stoneman's Voyage. Purchas, part iv. pp. 1833, 1834, "Charlevoix, vol, ii, pp. 329, 330. 240 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l6()7. inhabitants having dispersed in the other colonies, principally Mexico. Commerce was so reduced, that only one vessel every third year arrived from Spain, w^ith a cargo w^hich was bought by the president and principal officers, and retailed to the inhabitants, who were so poor, that they could not provide themselves even with the covering which decency required. Mass, in all the large towns, upon Sundays and holidays, was said before daylight, that those who could not appear decently clothed might be concealed by the darkness. 1607. Captain Christopher Newport, with three ships, one of 100 tons, another of forty, and a pinnance of twenty, accompanied by Captain John Smith, Mr. Edward Maria Wingfield, Captain Bartholomew Gosnoll, Captain John RatlifFe, Captain John Martin, and Captain George Kendall, appointed members of the council for the new colony then going to Virginia, consisting of 100 persons, sailed from the Downs in January, 1607. On the 23d of February they saw Martinico, and anchored next day at Dominica, where they trafficked with the natives until the 26th, when they went to Gua- daloupe, where, George Percy says, they " found a bath which was so hot, that no man was able to stand long by it : our admirall. Captain Newport, caused a piece of pork to be put in it, which boyled it so in the space of halfe an houre, as no fire could mend it." From Guadaloupe they proceeded to " Mevis" (Nevis), where the colonists were landed, and encamped for six days, during which time, Percy states, we " spent none of our ships victuall, by reason our men some went a hunting, some a fowling, and some a fishing ; where we got great store of conies, sundry kinds of fowles, and great plentie of fish. We came to a bath standing in a valley betwixt two hils, where wee bathed ourselves, and found it to be of the nature of the bathes in England, some places hot, and some colder." Near this place their tents were pitched. From Nevis they went to the Virgin Islands, and from thence, passing Puerto Rico, arrived at Mona, where they watered : all the water they had taken on board at Nevis stunk so, that they could not drink it. Upon this island they killed two wild boars, and saw a " huge wild bull." A party went to the Monica, where, according to Percy, they had " a terrible landing, and a troublesome getting up to the top of the mountaine or ile, being a high firme rocke step, with many terrible sharp stones ; after wee got to the top of the ile, wee found it to bee a fertile and a plaine ground, full of goodly grasse, and abundance of Smith's Virginia, 41, 42, 43. George Percy's Voyage. Purchas, part iv, L. 9. C. 2. p. 1685. 1609.] OF THE WEST INDIES. ^41 fowles of all kindes ; they flew over our heads as thicke as drops of hale : besides, they made sucli a noise, that wee were not able to heare one another speake. Furthermore, wee were not able to set our feet on the ground, but either on fowles or egges, which lay so thicke in the grasse. Wee laded two boats full in the space of three houres, to our great refreshing." After remaining three weeks in all among the islands, they pro- ceeded to Virginia, where Captain Newport left them upon the 15th of June, and returned to England with the news. This was the first permanent colony on the Virginian coast, and was established on the north side of the River Powhatan, or James River, about forty miles from its mouth. 1609. On the 24th of March, Mr. Robert Harcourt sailed from Dart- mouth, in the Rose, in company with the Patience and Lilly, having on board ninety-seven men, whereof sixty were landsmen, for the river Wiapoco, in Guiana. They touched at the Canaries, and on the 9th of May got into the current of the River of Amazons. On the night of the 1 1th the Patience anchored in two and a half fathoms water upon the flood, which fell from her upon the ebb, and left her upon the ooze ; the next flood shook her so much, that she was with difficulty saved with the loss of her rudder. They then coasted along to the N.N.W. "the land so trending." In lat. 2" 30', they anchored in Carripapoory Bay; and on the 17th of May, anchored in the Bay of Wiapoco. The Indians brought off" refreshments, and were rejoiced to see their countrymen, Canabre and Martin, whom they supposed were dead. Canabre had lived fourteen years in England ; the other had been absent four years. Some of the Indians were dressed in old clothes, which they got fi-om the ships that, by the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, had traded there the year before. Mr. Har- court explained to them why Sir Walter Raleigh did not return as he had promised ; that he had sent Captain Keymis ; that Queen Elizabeth was. dead, and King James had succeeded her ; and that they were come to settle there, to defend them from the Caribs. After some consultation, the Indians answered they were content it should be so, and they would furnish houses and necessaries in the best manner they could. Captain Harcourt sent Captain Fisher to visit Leonard Regapo (an Indian chief, who had been in England with Sir Walter Raleigh), and to search for diamonds in his country. Fisher found Smith's Virginia, pp. 41, 42, 43. Robert Harcourt's Voyage to Guiana. Harleian Miscellany, vol. iii. p. 1 69. Purchas, part iv. L. 6. C. 16. p. 1 28 1 . B <242 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l609- some topazes, and Leonard came back to Wiapoco with liim, above 100 miles from his own country, for the great love he bore to Sir Walter and the English nation, and to persuade Captain Harcourt to quit so unhealthy a place as Wiapoco, where Captain Lee and most of his company died of sickness some time before, and come and settle in his country. Captain Harcourt complied with his request, so far as to send a party to Cooshebery : from hence expeditions were sent in search of the golden mountains, of which they had heard so much in England. Disappointment produced dissensions among the men, which were checked by Captain Harcourt persuading them to travel among the Indians, to seek what other novelties they could, which might hereafter be of benefit. One Lidian brought a half-moon of metal which was one third gold, and the rest copper ; and another Indian brought a plate of the same metal, which he called a spread eagle : these things satisfied the men that there was gold in Guiana. August the 14th, Captain Harcourt went to a mountain, the north point of land in Wiapoco Bay, and in presence of his followers and the Indians took possession of it " by turf and twig," on behalf of King James — he took possession of a part in the name of the whole continent of Guiana, lying between the rivers Amazon and Oronoco, not being actually possessed and inhabited by any other Christian prince or state. Captain Michael Harcourt and Captain Harvey, with only a man and a boy, with sixty Indians, went in canoes to the river Arrawary, and more than 50 leagues up it, where the Indians had never seen white men or Christians before : they suffered great difficulties on their way, and took possession of the country in the name of King James. In consequence of the bad state of the casks in the vessels, which having wooden hoops were all bursting, Captain Harcourt was obliged to return to England : the 18th of August he left Wiapoco, and arrived the next day at " Caiane." At Wiapoco he left his brother, Captain Michael Harcourt, Captain Harvey, Mr. Edward Gilford, and twenty men, with all the necessaries he could spare, and coasted along to Wiawia, a great town of Paragatos, where he left his cousin Unton Fisher, Humphrey Croxton, an apothecary, and one servant — the chief of the district, named Maperitaka, having promised to take care of them. September the 10 th, Captain Harcourt left the Main of Guiana, and arrived at Trinidad on the 18th, where they found three English ships ; the Diana, belonging to Mr. Lul, a Dutch merchant living in London; the other two, the Penelope and Endeavour, belonged to Mr. Hall, a merchant, also of London. The 25th Captain Harcourt sailed again, and arrived at Porte de Ilarleian Miscellany, vol. iii. pp. 196. 201. 1609.3 OF THE WEST INDIES. 243 Hispania on the 2tl of October, where the Spanish governor, Don Sanches de Mendoso, came aboard, and a friendly conference took place. Don Sanches had lately been attacked by the Caribs, and lost seven or eight of his men. From hence Captain Harcourt proceeded to Nevis, and on St. Luke's day disembogued through the broken islands on the north side of Anguilla, where he says, " I think never Englislunan disembogued before us." He arrived at Crook Haven, in Ireland, the 29th of November. There was a treaty of truce for twelve years, between Philip Ilf. of Spain, and Albert and Isabella- Claire- Eugenia, Archduke and Duchess of Brabant on one part, and the States of the United Provinces of the Low Countries on the other, signed at Antwerp, upon the 9th of April, 1609, through the mediation of the Kings of France and England. The fourth article was afterwards the subject of much diplomatic controversy, as to its bearing upon the right of the Dutch to trade to the Indies. The article is as follows : — 4th. — " Les sujets et habitans es pais desdits Sieurs Roi, Archiducs, et Etats auront toute bonne correspondance et amitie par ensemble durant ladite treve sans se ressentir des offenses et dommages qu'ils ont regu par le passe ; pourront aussi frequenter et sejourner es pais Tun de I'autre, et y exercer leur trafic et commerce en tout seurete tant par mer et autres eaux que par terre ; ce que toutefois ledit Sieur Roi entend estre restreint et limite aux roiaumes, pais, terres et seigneuries qu'il tient et possede en I'Europe et autres lieux et mers, on les sujets des autres princes qui sont ses amis et allies, ont ledit trafic de gre a gre ; et pour le regard des lieux, villes, ports et havres qu'il tient hors les limites susdites, que lesdits Sieurs Etats, et leurs sujets, n'y puissent exercer aucun trafic sans la permission expresse dudit Sieur Roi ; bien pourront-ils faire ledit trafic, si bon leur semble, es pais de tons autres princes, potentats et peuples qui leur voudront permettre, mesme hors lesdites limites, sans que ledit Sieur Roi, ses officiers et sujets qui dependent de lui, donnent aucun empechementa cette occasion ausdits princes, potentats et peuples qui le leur auront permis, ni pareillement a eux ou aux particuliers avec lesquels ils ont fait et feront ledit trafic." To this treaty there was annexed the following secret treaty and certificate : — " Comme ainsi soit que par I'article quatrieme du traite de la treve fait ce meme jour, entre la majeste du Roy Catholique, les Serenissimes Archiducs d'Autriche d'une part, et les Sieurs Estats Generaux des Provinces- Unies, d'autre; le commerce accorde ausdits Sieurs les Estats, et a leurs sujets, ait ete restreint et limite aux royaumes, pays, terres et seigneuries, que ledit Sieur Roy tient en I'Europe et ailleurs, esquels il est permis aux sujets des rois et princes Harleian Miscellany, voL iii. p. 202. Du Mont, torn. v. partie 2. pp. 99. 102. R 2 244 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l609. qui sont ses amis et alliez d'exercer ledit commerce de gre a gre : et outre ce, ledit Sieur Roy ait declare qu'il n'entendoit donner aucun empeschement au trafic et commerce que lesdits Sieurs les Etats et leurs sujets pourront avoir cy-apres en quelque pays et lieu que ce soit, tant par mer que par terre avec les potentats, peuples et partictiliers qui le leur voudront permettre, n'y pareillement a ceux qui feront ledit trafic avec eux, ce que toutes fois n'a ete touche par escrit audit traite. Or est il, que ce meme jour neuvieme A^Til mil six cents neuf, qui est celui auquel ladite treve a ete accordee, les Sieurs Marquis Spinola, President Ilichardot, Mancicidor, Frere Jean de Neiyen et Werreiken, au nom et comme Deputez, tant dudit Sieur Roi que Archiducs, en vertu du meme pouvoir a eux donne, et sous la meme promesse de faire ratifier en bonne et deue forme ce present escrit avec le traite general, et dans le meme temps ; ont promis et prometent au nom dudit Sieur Roi, et de ses successeurs pour le temps que ladite ti'eve doit durer. Que sa Majeste ne donnera aucun empeschement, soit par mer ou par terre, ausdits Sieurs les Etats, n'y a leurs sujets au trafic qu'ils pourront faire cy- apres es pais de tous princes, potentats et peuples, qui le leur vou- dront permettre, en quelque lieu que ce soit, meme hors les limites cy-dessus designees et par tout ailleurs, n'y pareillement a ceux qui feront ledit trafic avec eux et d'effectuer tout ce que dessus de bonne foi, en sorte que ledit trafic levn' soit libre et assure consentans meme, afin que le present escrit soit plus autentique, qu'il soit tenu comme insere au traite principal et faisant partie d'icelui. Ce que lesdits Sieurs Deputez des Etats ont accepte. Eait a Anvers les an et jour susdits. (Signe) Ambrosio Spinola, Le President Richardot, Mancicidor, Frere Jean de Neiyen et Werreiken." Extract from the certificate signed by the French and English Ambassadors : — ■ " Certifions aussi les Deputez desdits Sieurs Archiducs avoir consenti et accorde, tout ainsi que lesdits Sieurs Etats et leurs sujets ne pourront trafiquer aux ports, lieux et places tenues par le Roi Catholique aux Indes, s'il ne le permet; qu'il ne sera loisible aussi a ses sujets de trafiquer aux ports, lieux et places que tiennent les dits Sieurs Estats esdites Indes, si ce n'est avec leur permission. Et outre ce que les Deputez desdits Sieurs ont declare plusieurs fois en notre presence et des Deputez des Archiducs, si on entreprend sur leurs amis et alliez esdits pais, qu'ils entendent les secourir et assister, sans qu'on puisse pretendre la treve estre enfreinte et violee a cette occasion. Fait a Anvers le nuevieme jour d'Avril 1609. (Signe) P. Jeannin, Elie de la Place, Russy, Ri. Spencer, et Rodolphe Winnood." Extract from the " Traite de Garantie de la Treve du 9 Avril 1609, par les Ambassadeurs de France et d'Angleterre, avec les Du Mont, torn. v. partie 2. p. 110. 1609.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 245 Deputez des Etats Generaux des Provinces Uiiies, fait a la Haye le 17 Juin 1609." " Comme ainsi soit que les Rois Tres-Chretien et de la Grande Bretagne se soient emploies des long-temps avec grand soin et affec- tion, pour faire cesser la guerre des Pais-Bas par une paix perpe- tuelle et pour n'y avoir pu parvenir, aians depuis propose une treve a longues annees, dont le succez eut este aussi peu heureux, si pour oter toute defiance aux Etats Generaux des Pais-Bas- Unis, leurs Majestes ne leur eussent oflt'ert de s'obliger a I'observation d'icelle treve et de leur donner assistance et secours, au cas qu'elle fut enfreinte et violee; meme s'ils estoient troubles et empeches au commerce des Indes, que les Deputes des Archiducs leur accordoient de gre a gre par ladite treve, au nom du Roi Catholique, sans neanmoins I'exprimer nommement, ainsi que lesdits Sieurs Etats le demandoient pour leur plus grande seurete, eux faisans a cette occa- sion refus de I'accepter, si ladite promesse de garantie, fait de bouclie par les Ambassadeurs desdits Sieurs Rois, en presence meme des Deputies desdits Sieurs Archiducs, ne les y eut induit, de I'accom- plissement de laquelle promesse lesdits Sieurs Rois aians este pries, requis et sommes, et y voulans satisfaire de bonne foi. *' Pi'emierement. A scavoir, que les traites faites separement avec les dits Sieurs Etats Generaux par ledit Sieur Roi de France le 23 Janvier 1608, et par ledit Sieur Roi de la Grande Bretagne le 26 Juin au meme an, pour i'observation de la paix qu'on preten- doit lors faire, ensemble les conventions, promesses et obligations reciproques et contenues pour la defence et conservation mutuelle de leurs I'oiaumes, pais et seigneuries, seront entretenues et gardees pour le temps que ladite treve doit durer tout ainsi que si elles estoient repetees et inserees de mot a autre au present traite. " 2. Et auront lieu lesdites obligations et assistances de secours, non seulement en cas d'infraction de la treve es limites specifiees par le quatrieme article du traite d'icelle treve ; mais aussi si les- dits Sieurs Etats ou leurs sujets, sont troubles et empeches pendant ladit temps au commerce des Indes de la part desdits Sieurs Roi Catholique et Archiducs, leurs oflficiers et sujets; et sera aussi entendu ledit trouble et empechement, tant s'il est fait aux sujets desdits Sieurs Etats, qu'a ceux qui ont fait ou feront ledit commerce avec eux, ou bien si ces princes et peuples, qui leur auront donne la permission d'exercer ledit trafic en leur pais, etoient en cette occasion molestes eux ou leurs sujets, pourvoeu toutefois, que pour obliger lesdits Sieurs Rois a donner ce secours, le jugement desdits empechemens soit fait par avis commun d'eux et desdits Sieurs. A quoi ils promettent apporter la diligence et sincerite requise, pour fair reparer le dommage aux interresses, et repousser la violence dont on auroit use contre eux: pourront toutefois lesdits Sieurs Du Mont, torn. v. paitie2. p. 110. B 3 24i6 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY £1 6 10-16. Etats s'il y a de longueur en ladite deliberation, pourvoir a la seurete de leurs affaires et sujets comme ils se trouveront con- venir." 1610. Sir George Somers returned again to the Bermudas, where he died of a surfeit after eating pork. His ship returned, having left three men there to keep possession of those islands. 1612. Mr. Richard More and Sir Thomas Smith, with sixty persons, arrived at the Bermudas, where they found Edward Chard, Chris- topher Carter, and Edward Waters, who had been left there by Captain Matthew Somers in 1610 : they had built a boat, and were upon the point of sailing for Virginia. From the settlement thus made upon the Bermudas or Somers Islands, vessels frequently went to the West Indies for cattle, corn, and refreshments, and traded with the Caribs. Captain Powell did so in a small bark called the Hopewell, and thus probably gained that information which induced him to go to Barbadoes in 1624. 1615. Tlie Dutch landed upon Puerto Rico, and took the town, but were unable to make themselves masters of the castle. 1616. The Edwin, a vessel from one of the West India Islands, amved at Bermudiis, "with figs, pines, sugar-canes, plantains, papanes, and divers other plants," which were immediately replanted and culti- vated with success. The Edwin was sent from Bermudas for this purpose, by Captain Daniel Tucker, the governor, in pursuance of directions from England. While Captain Daniel Tucker was governor of Bermudas, or Somers Islands, Richard Sanders, a sailor, William Goodwin, a Stowe's Chronicle, 944. Smith's Virginia, pp. 176. 183, 184, Univ. Hist. -voLxxxvi. p, 366. 1617.] OF THK WEST INDIES. 247 ship-carpenter, Thomas Harison, a joiner, James Barber, a gen- tleman, and Henry Puet, resolved to undergo all hazards rather than remain under so tyrannical a governor. They got from him all things necessary for building a decked boat of two or three tons burthen, under the pretence of building her for the governor, to send fishing in bad weather. She was soon built : and a vessel being then ready to sail for England, the governor sent some hands to bring his new boat round, that he might go on board her. These men found the new boat was gone : Sanders and the other four had taken her off the night before. Barker had borrowed a compass of Mr. Hues, to whom a letter was found from Barker, stating, that " he had often exhorted them to patience, saying, God would pay them though none else did : he must now be contented under the loss of his dial, with his own doctrine." For three weeks the boat had fair winds and fine weather, then a gale of wind directly against them for some days ; the gale moderating, they had again fine weather and a fair wind, when they fell in with a French picaroon, of whom they begged assistance : he robbed them of what he liked, and left them without a cross staff to observe, and then cast them off. At last they arrived in Ireland, where the Earl of Tomand " honourably entertained them, and caused the boat to be hung up for a monument : and well she might, for she had sailed more than 3300 miles, in a right line, thi'ough the main sea." This Sanders afterwards, in the East Indies, bought an old chest for three or four shillings ; after some time, not liking his bargain, he broke it up, and found 1000 pounds in gold, with which he returned to Eng- land and bousrht an estate. 1617. In July, Sir Walter Raleigh sailed in the Destiny, of thirt^^-six guns, 440 tons, and 202 men, eighty-two of whom were gentlemen volunteers, for Guiana, in company with The Jason 25 guns ... 81 men ... 240 tons... Capt. J. Pennington. The Encounter 17 ... ■ ... 160 — ... Edward Hastings. The Thunder 20 ... 77 men ... 150 — ... Sir Warham St. Leger. The Flying Joan 14 25 — ... 120 — ... J. Chidley. The Southampton 6 28 — ... 80 — ... John Bayley. The Page (a pinnace) ■{ f i . .> > 9 — ... 25 — ... James Barker. On the 19th of August, he sailed from Cork, with a fleet increased to thirteen sail, besides his own ship. At the Canaries he refrained from hostilities, and arrived at the Wyapoco on the 11th of November, with his men very sickly. Disappointed in not finding an Indian, named Leonard, who liad Smith's History, p. 184. Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 251. K 4 248 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [I6I8. been four years in England with him, he sailed for Caliana or Port Howard, where the cazique also had been his servant, and had lived with him in the Tower of London two years. Harry immediately came to him with a large supply of fruit and refi'esh- ments, acceptable things to Sir Walter and the other sick men : here he set up the vessels they had brought out in frames, refitted his ships, and refreshed his men for three weeks; they sailed December the 4th. On the 5th, Sir Walter's vessel, the Destiny, got aground on the Triangle Islands, and was saved with difficulty. Sir Walter was extremely ill ; and a council of war was therefore held, which determined that only the five smallest vessels, with .fifty soldiers in each, shotild go up the river — Captain Wliitney in the Encounter, Woolaston in the Confidence, King in the Supply, Smith in a pink, and Hall in a caraval. The soldiers were com- manded by Captains Parker, North, Raleigh, Thornhurst, Hall, Prideaux, and Sir Warham St. Leger, who had the charge of the whole; but at Caliana he was sick, and Sir Walter's nephew, George Raleigh, succeeded him. Captain Keymish had the chief charge for their landing within the river. They parted company on the 10th of December, with a month's provisions, and in- structions to avoid fighting with the Spaniards if they could, but to bring a sample fi'om the mine. 1618. Captain Keymish approached St. Thomas's, but in the night of the 1st of January, the Spaniards surprised him : they were, however, repulsed, and followed into the town, where a gallant struggle was made, and Sir Walter's son killed. The Spaniards kept possession of the market-place, until the English, by setting fire to the town, obliged them to retreat to the woods. Captain Keymish found that the fugitives had made the passages to the mine more difficult, and that his men never came near the woods without being exposed to a destructive fire of musketry : two were killed in the boats, and six wounded. The difficulty of getting to the mine was not the only one : he had no men to work it, sup- posing the road was won, and he was afraid that the party he had left at St. Thomas's would be attacked by superior numbers. He therefore returned to Sir Walter, who, aware of the great conse- quence of proving tliat a mine had been found, told Captain Keymish, that 100 weight of ore, though obtained with tlie loss of 100 men, would give the King satisfaction, and preserve his repu- tation, and threatened Captain Keymish with the royal displeasure, who was so much afflicted at the reproof, that he retired to his* Harrii's Voyages, ^ ol. ii, p. 252. 1618.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 249 cabin, and a few days afterwards destroyed himself. Sir Walter's men now began to mutiny ; all except fom' of his ships left him, and the crews of these were in a state of mutiny. His own men carried him against his will to Plymouth, where he was arrested by Sir Lewis Stukely, liis kinsman, by the King's order, carried to the Tower, and executed on tlie 29th of October. The following letter relative to Sir Walter Raleigh occurs in the " Epistolae Ho. Elianae," the curious and once popular work of James Howell : — To Sir James Crofts, Knt., at St. Osith. Sir — I could not shake hands with England without kissing your hands also ; and because, in regard of your distance now from London, I cannot do it in person, I send this paper for my deputy. The news that keeps greatest noise here now is the return of Sir Walter Raleigh from his myne of gold in Guiana, the south parts of America, which at first was like to be such a hopeful boon voyage : but it seems that that golden myne is proved a meer chymera, an imaginary airy myne ; and indeed his Majesty had never any other conceipt of it. But what will not one in captivity (as Sir Walter was) promise to regain his freedom ? Who would not promise, not onely mynes, but mountains of gold, for liberty ? And 'tis pitty such a knowing, well-weighed knight had not had a better fortune ; for the Destiny (I mean that brave ship which he built himself, of that name, that carried him thither) is like to prove a fatal Destiny to him, and to some of the rest of those gallant adventurers which contributed for the setting forth of thirteen ships more, who were most of them his kinsmen and younger brothers, being led into the said expedition by a general conceipt the world had of the wisdom of Sir Walter Raleigh ; and many of these are like to make shipwrack of their estates by this voyage. Sir Walter landed at Plymouth, whence he thought to make an escape ; and some say he hath tampered with his body by physick, to make him look sickly, that he may be the more pitied, and permitted to lye in his own house. Count Gondamar, the Spanish ambassador, speaks high language ; and, sending lately to desire audience of his Majesty, he said he had but one word to tell him ; his Majesty wondering what might be delivered in one word, when he came before him, he said onely, Pyrats ! Pyrats I Pyrats ! and so departed. 'Tis true that he protested against this voyage before, and that it could not be but for some predatory design ; and that if it be as I hear, I fear it will go very ill with Sir Walter, and that Gondamar will never give over till he hath his. head off his shoulders, which may quickly be done without any new arraignment, by virtue of the old sentence that lies still dormant against him, which he could never get off by pardon, notwithstanding that he mainly laboured at it before he went ; but his Majesty could never be brought to it, for he said he would keep this as a curb to hold him within the bounds of his commission, and the good behaviour. Gondamar cryes out, that he hath broke the sacred peace 'twixt the two kingdoms. That he hath fired and plundered Santo Thoma, a Smith's Virginia,, p. 1S7. a. a. ^50 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [I6I8. colony the Spaniards had planted with so much blood, neer under the Line, which made it prove such hot service unto him, and where, besides others, he lost his eldest son in the action ; and could they have preserved the magazin of tobacco onely, besides other things in that town, something mought have bin had to countervail the charge of the voyage. Gondamar alleadgeth further, that the enterprise of the myne failing, he propounded to the rest of the fleet to go and intercept some of the plate-galeons, with other designs, which would have drawn after them apparent acts of hostility ; and so demands justice. Besides other disasters which fell out upon the dashing of the first designe, Captain Kemish, who was the main instrument for discovery of the myne, pistolled himself, in a desperate mood of discontent, in his cabin in the Convertine. Tliis return of Sir Walter Raleigh from Guiana puts me in mind of a facetious tale I read lately in Italian (for I have a little of that language already), how Alphonzo, King of Naples, sent a Moor, who had been his captive a long time, to Barbary, with a considerable sum of money, to buy horses, and to return by such a term. Now, there was about the king a kind of buffoon or jester, who had a table-book or journal, wherein he was used to register any absurdity or imper- tinence, or merry passage, that happened upon the court. That day the Moor was dispatched for Barbary, the said jester waiting upon the King at supper, the King called for his journal, and askt what he had observed that day ; thereupon he produced his table-book, and amongst other things he read how Alphonzo, King of Naples, had sent Beltram the Moor, who had been a long time his prisoner, to Morocco (his own country), with so many thousand crowns to buy horses. The King asked why he inserted that : " Because," said he, " I think he will never come back to be a prisoner again, and so you have lost both man and money." " But if he do come, then your jest is marr'd," quoth the King : " No, Sir ; for if he return, I will blot out your name, and put him in for a fool." The application is easy and obvious. But the world wonders extreamly that so great a wise man as Sir Walter Raleigh would return to cast himself upon so inevitable a rock as I fear he will ; and much more, that such choice men, and so great a power of ships, should all come home and do nothing. The letter you sent to my father I conveyed safely, the last week, to Wales. I am this week, by God's help, for the Netherlands, and then, I think, for France. If in this my fox-ren employment I may be any way serviceable unto you, you know what power you have to dispose of me ; for I honor you in a very high degree, and will live and die Your humble and ready servant, London, 28th March, 1618. J. H. His Catholic Majesty granted to each of the bishoprics of St. Juan de Puerto Rico, St. Jago de Cuba, St. Anne de Corro in Vene- zuela, and of Valladolid in Honduras, a revenue of 200 piastres from his exchequer, upon condition that he might retake it from the tenths, which might accrue to them. Smith's Viigiiiia, p. 1 87, a. a. Hist, dcs Avcnturiers, A, O. Oexmclin, vol. ii. p. 393. 1619-20.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 251 King James granted an exclusiv^e charter to Sir Robert Rich, and some other London merchant for raising a joint stock for a trade to Guinea. Ships were accordingly fitted out, but the profits not answering their expectations, tlie proprietors soon after- wards withdrew their contributions, and the charter was suffered to expire. The Somers Islands (Bermudas), by the direction of the council and company of Virginia, were divided by lot, and a share was given to every adventurer. 1619. King James granted a commission to Captain Roger North, for settling in Guiana — " which, however, he afterwards recalled by a proclamation ; and sent the Lord North, who was at the expense of that expedition, to the Fleet, for making too much dispatch in it." 1620. The Margaret and John, Captain Anthony Chester, with eight iron pieces and a falcon, and eighty passengers, for Virginia, anchored, March 15th, at Guadaloupe. Six Frenchmen, ship- wrecked sixteen months before upon the island, were taken on board : from them Captain Chester heard, that two Spanish men of war were off. At Neves, Captain Chester anchored near two large sliips under Dutch colours, and sent a boat, which soon made them out to be Spaniards, and pulled back under a volley of shot. The Spaniards then warped upon the Margaret and John's quarter, hoisted their colours, and hailed Captain Chester, who said, " I am bound to Virginia, and come here for water — the kings, our masters, are friends : we intend no wrong, neither will we take any." Tlie Spaniards commanded Captain Chester to come on board with his commission : he refused : but offered to shew it to any officer they would send, and got imder weigh. The Spaniard immediately fired her broadside, and boarded the Margaret and John. Two hours and a half the ships were alongside each other, three times tlie Spaniards were driven back. Their commander being killed, she hauled off; and her consort, the Vice- Admiral, engaged the Margaret and John, but disliking the effect of a demi- culverin, she stood into smooth water to repair her damage. Report of the Lords of the Committee, part 1 . 1789. Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 253. Captain J. Smith's History of the New World, Lond. 1624, folio, p. 126. Turchas, part iv. L. 9. C. 14. p. 1750. 252 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l6i21-23. Next morning both came up, but did not renew the action : they kept company with the Enghsh all night, and next morning one of them being astern, the other shortened sail, and Captain Chester proceeded on his voyage. Doctor Bohun and nine men were killed, and sixteen wounded, on board the Margaret and John. The Island of Margarita was invaded by the Dutch, who demo- lished the castle. After this period it was nearly abandoned by the Spaniards. 1621. The States General granted to some Dutch merchants an exclusive right to all the African and American commerce : they gave the corporation several large, well-manned vessels, and the right of governing and defending any new colonies which it might acquire. The States General retained to themselves the power of nominating the Company's Governor- General abroad. The original capital of the association amounted to 72,000 florins, in transferable shares or actions of 6000 florins each. There were five chambers in the great mercantile towns in Europe, and seventy-four directors. The Spanish government issued an ordinance, dated 7th June, 1621, by which it was prohibited to confer upon men of colour any public office. By a former ordinance, issued in 1588, they were eligible to the priesthood. 1623. Mr. Ralph Merifield and others having fitted out Mr. Thomas Warner, " this worthy industrious gentleman" arrived at St. Chris- topher's the 28th of January, with fifteen men — William Tasted, John Rhodes, Robert Bims, Mr. Benifield, Serjeant Jones, Mr. Ware, William Ryle, Rowland Grascocke, Mr. Bond, Mr. Langley, Mr. Weaver, Edward Warner, the captain's son, seijeant Aplon, one sailor, and a cook. They found three Frenchmen, who tried to set the Indians upon the English ; but at last they all became friends, and lived a month with the Indians : they then built a fort and a house, and planted fruits and tobacco. By September they had a crop of tobacco, which was destroyed by a hurricane upon the 1 9th of that month. American An. IG20, quoting Univ. Hist. vol. xli. p. .527. Brougham's Colonial Policy, B. 1. S. 3. p. SS7. Depon's South America, vol. i. p. 174. Churcliill's Col. of Voy. vol. ii. chap. 25. p. S4l. Rowland Grascocke, Thomas Simons, Nicholas Burgli. 1G24.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 253 Grascocke says, " All tliis while we lived upon cassado bread, potatoes, plantanes, pines, turtles, guanes, and fish plenty : for drink we had nicknobby."' 1624. On the 18th of March the ship Hopewell, Captain Jefferson, aiTived at St. Christopher's, from London, with three men passen- gers, and some trade for the Indians. The Hopewell belonged to Lord Carlisle, the patron of Mr. Warner. By this time the colonists had another crop of tobacco, and with this crop Captain Warner returned for England, in September 1625.^ It seems more probable, that if the crop was ready in March 1624, that Captain Warner went home with it the same year. These men, Grascocke, Simons, and Burgh, were among the first colonists, and say that during his absence a " French pinnace, under the command of Monsieur de Nombe," landed upon the island. The Bishopric of the city of La Vega, in the Island of Jamaica, was annexed to the Archbishopric of St. Domingo, by an act dated the 15th February, 1624. The archbishop had for suffragans, the Bishops of St. Jean de Puerto Rico, of St. Jago de Cuba, of St. Anne de Cerro in Venezuela, and of the city of Valladolid, capital of the province of Honduras, and also the abbots of the city of La Vega, and of the Island of Trinidada. The ship William and John, Captain John Powell, arrived at Barbadoes, and laid the foundation of a town, which, in honour of their sovereign, they named James Town. Thirty settlers came out in her, supplied by Sir William Courteen, under the patronage of the Earl of Marlborough, with tools and necessaries of all kinds for planting and fortifying the country. The Earl of Marlborough had a grant of the island from King James. This was the first settlement in the Island of Barbadoes. The Spaniards called the island Los Barbudos, from the fig-trees upon the shore, whose long filaments, growing downwards, appeared like trees with beards. By this time, Courteens' two ships had put thirty men on shore at Barbadoes, near the Hole Town, to the leeward of the island, and began to fortify themselves under one Captain William Dean who acted as their governor. Churchill's Voyages, vol. ii. chap. £5. p. 341. B.Edwards, vol. i. pp. 4J6. 319. Univ. Hist, xxxvi. p. 183. Hist. delaChamhredesComptesdesIndesOcciden. ii. p. 392. Dr. J. Campbell, vol. ii. p. 667. Pol. Survey. ' " In the Barbadoc Island the common wards has for saying that the arrival of the drink among the English is mobby, made Hopewell " preserved a settlement which of potatoe roots." — James HowcW s Fami- must otherwise have died in its infancy." liar Letters, London, 1673. 4th edition. It is clear that they were not in any distress p. 350. for provisions Sec 1 623. '^ I do not see what reason Mr. B. Ed- 254, CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1625. Captain Wolverstone and John White say, that tlie first settlers (forty Enpjlish, with seven or eight Negroes), were carried out by Captain Henry Powel, and that he then went to the Main and got thirty Indians, men, women, and children, of the Arawaco tribe, who were enemies both to the Caribs and Spaniards. ^ 1625. M. d'Enambuc sailed from Dieppe, in 1625, in a brigantine carrying four guns and some " pierriers" (petereros), with forty picked men. At the " Kaymans" he was discovered by a Spanish galeon of 400 tons and thirty-five guns, and attacked. After an obstinate engagement of three hours, the Spanish ship sheered off, leaving d'Enambuc disabled, with eight or ten of his men killed, and most of the others wounded. He arrived at St. Christopher the same day that Mr. Thomas Warner returned from England with recruits for the English colony. D'Enambuc found several of his countrymen upon the island. Churchil, vol. ii. chap. 26. p. 343. Du Tertre Hist, des Antilles. Paris, 1 667, torn. i. p. 3. B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 456. • The following description of a curious spring at Barbadoes, is taken from Dr. Pin- chanPs notes on the iVest Indies ; and as it is less deformed by tliat gentleman's inflated style than the other parts of his work, it is given in his own words, vol. i. p. 298. " On approaching the spot, we came to a small hilt, in which was living an old black wo- man, wlio employed herself as a guide to exhibit, under a kind of necromantic pro- cess, all the details of this boiling and burn- ing fountain. The old dame, bearing in her hand a lighted taper, and taking with her an empty calabash, and all tlie other necessary apparatus of her office, led the way from the hut down to tlie spring. In a still and most secluded situation, we came to a hole, or small pit, filled with water, which was bubbling up in boiling motion, and pouring, from its receptacle, down a narrow channel of the gully. Here our sable sorceress, in all the silence and solem- nity of magic, placing the light at her side, fell down upon her knees, and with her calabash emptied all the water out of tlie hole ; then, immersing the taper in the deep void, she suddenly set the wliole pit in a flame : when she instantly jumped upon her legs, and looked significantly round, as if anxious to catch the surprise expressed upon our countenances from tlie workings of her witchcraft. Tlie taper being removed, the empty space continued to burn with a soft lambent flame, without the appearance of any thing to support the combustion. We observed fresh water slowly distilling into the pit, from the earth at its sides, and dropping to the bottom ; and as this increased in quantity, it raised the flame higher and higher in the pit, supporting it upon its surface, and conveying the appearance of the water itself being on fire ; although it was very clear and pure, and not spread with any oily or bituminous matter. WJien the water had risen to a certain height, the flame became feeble, then gradually declined, and pre- sently was extinct. The water was now seen to boil and bubble as before, and soon ovei-flowing the pit, resuined its course down the narrow channel of the gully, and all was restored to tlie state in which we found it. You will, befoi-e this, have discovered that the water was cold, and that the boiling and burning of this fiery deep was only the effect of inflammable gas, which escaping from the bowels of the earth, and rising from the bottom of the pit, supported tlie flame when it was empty, and bubbling tlirough it when it was filled with water, gave it the appear- ance of a boiling spring. During the com- bustion, the smell of the inflammable air was \ery powerful." 1625.] OF THE WEST INDIES. Q55 who had taken refuge there at different times. The beauty and fertihty of the island, the quantity of tobacco, which at that tiuie was worth in France eight or ten francs the pound, the inchnations of his men, and the kindness of the Enghsh and natives, determined him to establish a colony there. The friendship of the Indians was of short duration. One of their boyez, or sorcerer doctors, persuaded his countrymen that the strangers were come to seize their lands, and massacre them, as they had done their ancestors in the other islands ; and that it was neces- sary, before they became more numerous, to exterminate them. For this purpose the Indians in the neighbouring island were to be invited, and the massaci'e to take place the next full moon. This design was communicated to the English and French by an Inchan woman named Barbe. Determined to be beforehand with the Indians, that same night they killed 120 of them. Some of the females were kept as slaves, and some few escaped: the Europeans then prepared to receive the others, who were to arrive upon the full moon. Ambuscades were laid in proper places, and a watch kept upon the beach. At the appointed tune, between 3 and 4000 Indians arrived : part were suffered to land, and then so vigorously attacked, that the survivors fled in confusion to the piraguas ', pursued by the victors, 100 of whom were wounded with poisoned arrows*, Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 4, 5, 6. • " Their piragiies, for making war in, and going on voyages, are made of one tree, which they hollowed with fire and their stone hatchets, before they knew the use of ours : they are from thirty-five to forty feet long, and from five to six broad, capable of carrying thirty or forty persons. They have also other smaller canoes for fishing. When they are burning to widen them, they put the thwarts across by main force. If a woman has touched the boat with but the end of her finger, they believe that she will make it split : and when they launch it for the first time into the sea, if any one, from straining, should * * * * * * * they consider it a bad omen, and that, beyond all doubt, the pirauge will be leaky." — La Borde, p. 572. 2 Dr. Coke says, that the Indians ex- tracted the poison for their arrows from the mancheneel-tree, and that salt and the " white fig" are infallible antidotes against its virulence. — West Indies, vol.iii. p. 176. " The following is the recipe by which the Accawaw arrow poison is usually pre- pared, and which I have procured from several of their peiis, or physicians, at different times, who all exactly agreed in the number and identity of the ingredients, but with some variation in their quantities, which, indeed, they liave no method of either expressing or ascertaining with ex- actness : — Take of the bark of the root of woorara, six parts ; of the bark of warra- cobba coura, two parts ; of the bark of the roots of couranapi, baketi, and hatchy-baly, of each, one part. " All these are to be finely scraped and put into an Indian pot, and covered with water. The pot is then to be placed over a slow fire, that the water may simmer for a quarter of an hour ; after which the juice is to be expressed from the bark by the hands, taking care that the skin is unbroken. This being done, the bark is to be thrown away, and the juice evaporated over a moderate fire to the consistence of tar, when it is to be removed, and flat pieces of the wood of cokarito are dipped therein, to which the poison, when cold, adlieres, appearing like a gum of a brown-reddish colour. The pieces of wood are then put into large hollow canes, closed at the ends with skins ; and in this manner the poison is preserved, until it is wanted to invenom the point of an arrow, at which time it is either dissolved in water, and the points of arrows dipped in the solution, or the wood to whicli it adlieres is held over the fire until it melts, and the points of arrows are then smeared with it. The smallest quantity of this poison, conveyed by a 236 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1625. and died in consequence. One named Fresenneville, and several others who were only slightly wounded, died raving mad, in four hours afterwards. Two thousand Indians killed or wounded, and fifteen piraguas, were the result of the action. The bodies were piled up, and made a mound square on all sides. ' After this victory, d'Enambuc and Warner communicated to each other theirFmutual determination to inhabit the island, and projected the division of the lands. After remaining eight months, d'Enambuc and Du Rossey de- parted for France, taking only as many men as sufficed to navigate their vessel : they carried with them a cargo of tobacco. Mr. Warner returned to England about the same time, and met with great encouragement : he was knighted by Charles the First, and through the interest of his patron, the Earl of Carlisle, sent back as Governor of St. Christopher's. The English and Dutch jointly took possession of Santa Cruz, which before this time was wholly unpeopled and deserted. Extract from the " Traite de Ligue Offensive and Defensive entre Charles I., Roi de la Grande Bretagne, et les Provinces- Unies des Pays-Bas, fait a Southampton, le 17 Septembre 1625." " 2. Laquelle dite alliance durera si longuement que le Roy d'Espagne continuera de pretendi'e par guerre, voyes du fait et autres ambitieuses menees sur la liberte et droicts desdictes Provinces-Unies et que la Dignite Electorale, terres et autres estats patrimoniaux de Palatinat demeureront occupez par luy ou par ses adherans, au moins pour le terme de quinze ans." " 5. II y aura bonne et sincere correspondence pour la defence mutuelle des estats et subjets I'un de I'autre entre sa dite Majeste et lesdicts Seigneurs jEstats qui demeureront respectivement tenus de Labat, vol. v. p. 23. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 6, 7. Du Tertre, chap. i. torn. iii. p. 7. B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 183. Du Mont, torn. v. partie 2. p. -178. wound into the red blood-vessels of an as many ounces of human l)lood, warm from animal, causes it to expire in less than the veins, entirely prevents a separation of a minute, without much apparent pain or serum and crassamentum, and the whole uneasiness, though slijrht convulsions arc ma,s.s continues united in a state of fluidity sometimes seen near the instant of expir- similar to that in wliich it is drawn, until ation. after some days it putrifies. " The poison, when thus inspissated, is " The ingredients are all nibbees of dif- liquefiable by heat, and dissoluble in v/ater, ferent kinds." — A/ui. Reg. fur 1769, in alcohol, in spirit of sea-salt, and in a p. 280. from Mr. Bancroft's Nat. Hist, of volatile alkaline spirit ; as also in blood, Guiana in Soiit/i America. saliva, &c. except only a very small part, ' " A savage belonging to St. "Vincent's which subsides both in a spirituous and shewed me the foot of an ' Alouague,' aqueous menstruum, and probably consists which he had in his basket ; he only eat of earthy particles foreign to the composi- Alouagues, who are savages from the Main, tion. It unites witli acids without emotion, near the Oronoko. They say that Chris- or change of colour. On mixing it witli tians give them the belly-ache. They had, alkalies no ebullition is perceptible, but the nevertheless, within the year, eat the heart colour changes from a reddish-brown to a of an Englishman." — La Horde, p. 574. yellowish-brown. A few grains mixed with 1625.] OF THE WEST INDIES. QSJ procurer a leur possible le bien, seurete, et advantage Tun de I'autre comme aussi d'advancer le dommage, affoiblissement et ruine dudit Roy d'Espagne, leur ennemy commun. " 6. Lequel commun ennemy sadite Majeste et lesdits Seigneurs Estats seront obliges d'attaquer de toute leur puissance, par mer et par terre, et feront a cette fin tous les ans equipper et entretenir une, deux, ou plusieurs flottes ; au moyen desquelles ils les feront envahir et infester par descente d'arme en terre ferme, ou par autres aggressions en tous ses ports et isles avec tant de vigueur que la communication de la mer le commerce parmy I'Europe, le negoce des deux Indes, et principalement le retour annuel de ses flottes, luy en puisse demeurer coupe et retranche. " 14. Bien entendu toutes fois, que si a telle descente et exe- cution les sujects desdits Seigneurs Estats entreviennent, qu'ils auront aussi leur part au butin, et meubles, proportionnee de leur a celuy des subjects de sadicte Majeste, a laquelle seule demeure- ront tous les acquests immeubles des isles, villes, et terres. " 22. II est convenu, que les navires qui se trouveront a la mer, suspects de prendre leur route devers I'Espagne, les isles, ou autres estats dudit Roy d'Espagne et de ses adherens, seront obliges de s'arrester pour estre recognus et visites sans pource les pouvoir retardir ou endommager. " 23. Le negoce ou commerce sera cependant ouvert et permis par tout ailleurs aux royaumes, villes, terres, et pays des allies, et des princes et amis neutres, sans interruption n'y destourbier. *« 39. Toutes lettres de represailles, marque arrest, et autres semblable qui ont este cy-devent octroyees et decernees contre les^ subjects de I'un ou I'autre des confoederez pour quelque cause que ce soit n'auront lieu de part et d'autre, ains sont des maintenant et demeureront nulles et de nul effect et pour I'advenir n'en seront aucunes octi'oyees, mais justice sera rendue et administree, ainsi que de droict appartiendra." An attempt was made this year, from Barbadoes, to begin a plantation upon the island of Tobago. The Reverend Nicholas Leverton, B.A., of Exeter College, Oxford, disliking the profligate manners of the inhabitants of Bar- badoes, sailed as chaplain with the settlers; who, being landed, made a booth with poles, boughs, and palmeto leaves, and then set off to walk round the island by the shore — the captain with his party going one way, and Mr. Leverton, with the rest, the other. The former were lost, the latter party soon returned : when the Indians attacking the booth, killing all who could not escape into the woods ; Mr. Leverton was wounded in the head, and having stripped to swim across a bay, became quite exhausted, and expecting death, passed a sleepless night, " reviewing with sorrow his past life." In this state he was joined by one of his companions, who gave him Palmer's Edition of Dr. Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial, vol. i. p. 371. S ^58 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1626-7. some clothes ; a third joined them, and they returned and staid by the embers of their burning hut. Next morning a fourth straggler joined them, wounded in the knee: him they abandoned to his fate. Tlieir lon^-boat was lost : Mr. Leverton and one man swam to the ship ; the other, unable to swim, ran into the sea, and was taken on board. Eight more were saved : they sailed to the island of Providence, where they were well received. Most of the inhabitants had left their native country, dissatisfied with the English hierarchy! During Mr. Leverton's stay, the Spaniards attacked the island, but were repulsed with considerable loss : he soon afterwards returned to England, with Captain Lane and Mr. Sherwood. Lane had been elected governor of the island ; but the former governor having named his successor. Lane was privately seized, and sent, with the two ministers, to England, where they were kindly re- ceived by the lords proprietors of the island, and being authorized with a new commission, Captain Lane and Mr. Leverton returned to Providence, wliich they found in the possession of the Spaniards, whom they attacked, killed a great many, and forced their armed long-boats ashore. After this, they continued two years in those seas, lost their ship twice, and were saved once by a French ship, and another time by a Dutch, and both times set afloat again in a Spanish prize : for these two years, Mr. Leverton declared, he never saw one bit of bread. At length they got to St. Christopher's in a French vessel, and from thence to England. Mr. Leverton would have settled in St. Christopher's, " but the dissolute manners of the inhabitants prevented his staying among them." 1626. About this year, M. Van Peere, of Flushing, began to send ships to Berbice : these ships carried out Europeans, who staid there to trade with the Indians, and thus the colony was founded. 1627. The Dutch admiral Pieter Heyn attacked a fleet of Spanish galeons in Mataga Bay, in Cuba, and took or destroyed almost the whole of them. The immense riches with which this fleet was laden are said to have enabled the United States to continue tlie war against Spain. Thomas Gage says this happened in 1629. M. d'Enambuc succeeded in interesting Cardinal Richelieu in Nonconformist's Memorial, i. pp, 372. 374. Bolinbroke's Voyage to Demerary, p. 164. Histoirc dcs Flibustiers, torn. ii. p. 21. 1627«] OF THE WEST INDIES, 259 the fate of the colony at St. Christopher's. A company of merchants were incorporated, under the title of The Company of the Islands of America, who subscribed forty-five thousand livres, towards fitting out the expedition, ten thousand of which were subscribed by Richelieu himself. This company appointed the Sieurs d'Enambuc and du Rossey to inhabit and people the islands of St. Christopher and Barbadoes, and any others situated " at the entrance of Peru," fi-om lat. 11° N. to lat. 18= N., which are not possessed by any Christian prince. The act of association is dated the last day of October 1626, and the cardinal's commission to the said captains is dated the same day. In this it is stated, that D'Enambuc and Du Rossey, having for fifteen years been at a great expence in search- ing for a desirable place to be colonized by the French, and having discovered that the islands of St. Christopher and Barbadoes, and others, situated at the entrance of Peru, from lat. 11° N. to lat. 18° N. (making part of the West Indies), were not possessed by any king or Christian prince, they are therefore ordered to build two forts upon the island of St. Christopher's, and leave there eighty men and a chaplain, and, exclusive of all others, people and fortify any adjacent islands. The King was to have a tenth part of all the clear profits. The contract was for twenty years. All ships bound outwards were to sail from Havre de Grace or Port St. Louis, and all to return to Havre de Grace : and it was declared that no persons should go upon the expedition without binding themselves to remain three years with him or them who had the charge of their sei*vices. D'Enambuc sailed from Havre in a ship called La Catholique, of 250 tons, and joined M. du Rossey in the Cardinale, with seventy, and La Victoire, with 140 men, off Port Louis, and sailed from thence the 24th of February. The vessels were badly equipped, and upwards of ten weeks upon their passage : since the islands were discovered, never had there been a voyage so full of misery. They arrived at Sandy Point, St. Christopher's, the 8 th of May : in the Cardinale, only sixteen were alive out of the seventy that embarked ; and those who landed were in such a distressed state, and so feeble, that their countrymen, who had expected their arrival with great impatience, lost all joy upon seeing their misery. D'Enambuc, with those who were able, fixed their quarters at Caps- terre ', the rest remained with Du Rossey : more than half of both parties died. Sir Thomas Warner had arrived from England some time Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 10, 11, 12. 14, 15. ' " Cabsterre, c'est comme qui diroit au vent, est appellee Cabsterre, et celle-que caput teiT.-B, la teste de la terre ; car comme est au-dessous du vent, Basse Tone." — le-\-ent tire tousjours de I'orient a I'occi- Bu Terlre, torn. ii. p. 11. dent, cette partie de la terre, qui fait face s 2 g60 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [16^7. before, and had fixed his quarters at the great anchorage, with 400 men, well provided with every thing, and in good health and spirits: he received these miserable Frenchmen with great kindness; and after some days, in the name of their respective sovereigns, the two commanders divided the island between them. " Division of the lands of the island of St. Christopher, made between Messieurs d'Enambuc and Du Rossey, for and in the name of his most Christian Majesty, and Mr. Warner, for and in the name of the King of Great Britain : — " In the first place, for Basse Terre, the limits of Captain Warner, so called, shall be taken from the river which is half way from the habitation of Meronar, and that which was formerly made by Mr. Chantal, to Sandy Point, to the valley in Samuel's garden, towards the south. " And for Messrs. d'Enambuc and Du Rossey, their division shall be from the said river which separates the said habitations towards the east, to the Salt Ponds. " For the Caps Terre, the division of the said Captain Warner, of that name, shall be from the banks of the River St. Christopher, running to the west, to the Case du Pistolet. " And the division of Messrs. the Captains d'Enambuc and Du Rossey, so called, shall be from the other side of the house of St. Christopher, running eastward, to the salt ponds, and from the Case du Pistolet to Sandy Point, towards the west. " Furthermore, whatever division may be made above, it is vmder- stood that hunting, fishing, the salt ponds, the rivers, the sea, the anchorages, the mines, the dyeing woods, and others of value, if there are any, and the roads, shall be common between the French and English, for them to use and partake of in common. " Which divisions the said Messrs. d'Enambuc, Du Rossey, and Warner have promised, sworn, and protested, upon the Holy Evangelists, to follow, preserve, and adhere to, with the approbation of the King of France and the King of England : and the said Messieurs shall be bound and obliged to inform their said sovereigns each of their part, to have the ratification, permission, and consent of their said Majesties. " And moreover, the said Messrs. d'Enambuc, Du Rossey, and Warner, in the names of their said Majesties and Company, oblige themselves to fortify and support the said island of St. Christopher, with all their power, against all efforts, descents, and incursions of their public enemies, and others who would disturb and hinder them in the said possession. " Done and signed at St. Christopher's, this 13th May, 1627, in presence of Master Frassy, Minister of the Word of God, for the Company of the said Warner — Philippes Salomon, interpreter : and Antoine Halton, Jacques Vetrey, Jean Golin, Serjeant; and Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 17. 1627.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 26l Messrs. de Flumar, le Febure, Chambaut, le Breuil, la Barre, and Picot, for the French West India Company. " And for the pui'pose of hving in peace and union, which is absolutely necessary for the preservation of the colonies, and which, from the difference of the two nations, may be impaired, the three chiefs shall prepare articles, to augment the peace and friendship established between them and their followers. Which, having been proposed in the same assembly, was signed by them the same day, to the great comfort of all the inhabitants, who promised themselves an everlasting tranquillity." Articles concluded and agreed upon between the French and English in the island of St. Christopher, by Messrs. d'Enambuc and Du llossey, and Captain Warner : — "1. Seeing that the French and English, combined, have con- quered the isle of St. Christopher's from the Indians, and that the Kings of France and England have come forward and given them their commissions, both the one and the other shall remain governors for the said kings, each in their quarter, according to the chvision which has been made between them, and both shall bear the quality of governors each in their district. " 2. All the French who may be in the island shall not receive or obey any orders, except from the King of France, or the governors proposed by his Majesty ; and the English from the King of Eng- land and his generals. "3. No vessel can trade in the island but by permission from the said governors : if it is English, the English governor shall give the order and fix the price of the merchandize ; if it is French, the French governor shall also give the order and fix the price of the merchandize ; if the vessel is Flemish, the two together shall give permission. "4. The said governors cannot harbour any men or slaves in their habitations, if they do not belong to them ; but instead, shall keep them confined, until those to whom they belong shall be informed of the said men or slaves. " 5. If there should be a war to be waged in the island against the Indians, each shall contribute all the men, beasts, and arms which they possibly can. " 6. If a descent is made on the island by the Spaniards, to the place of the descent each shall be obliged to send the most powerful assistance he can, and to succour each other with all their power. " 7. If there arise between the companions of either, any quarrels or battles, the delinquents shall be judged by the French and English, and then sent each to their own district. " 8. Ifanywar should happen in Europe, between the French and English, the said Messieurs cannot for that make war, except they have been expressly commanded so to do by their princes ; and in Du Tcrtrc, torn. i. p. 18. b 3 052 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l628. case of such command, shall be obliged to inform the other thereof, before any act of hostility is committed. " Done and agreed upon at the island of St. Christopher, this 13th May, 1627, in presence of, &c. the same as the divisions: with the same oath and obligation to procure the acquiescence of the kings their sovereigns." King Charles I. granted James Hay, Earl of Carlisle, by letters patent under the Great Seal of England, dated the 2d June, 1627, all the Caribbean islands, including Barbadoes. The Earl of Marlborough opposed the grant, on the ground of priority of right. (See 1663.) The dispute between these lords was compromised by the Earl of Carlisle's undertaking to pay Lord Marlborough and his heirs £300 fl,-year. 1628. Du Rossey returned from France to St. Christopher, widi a small reinforcement : he had sailed in the Cardinale, with 150 men, most of whom died upon the passage, those who landed were too weak to be of any immediate service to their countrymen. In the mean time, the English were so increased in numbers and wealth, that Sir Thomas Warner sent a small colony over to Nevis : and as the French did not use their lands, the English wished to cul- tivate them. D'Enambuc protested against such an infraction of the treaty ; and the English promised not to pass their limits, whilst he made a voyage to Europe, and ascertained if either his government or the company would assist the colony. D'Enambuc left Du Rossey to command during his absence. Shortly after his departure, a Dutch vessel arrived, with provi- sions and other articles of commerce, and raised the drooping spirits of the French by supplying them, taking in exchange their tobacco, and promising to return again in six months with every thing they wanted. Another small vessel, commanded by Captain Volard, also arrived from France : she had sailed with 1 20 men, thirty of whom, when landed, were too unwell to move, and, Du Tertre says, were " incon- siderately" left upon the beach, and devoured by the land-crabs, which came down from the mountains in such numbers, that they were in high heaps over the carcases, and did not leave the smallest morsel of flesh upon any of the bones ! Mr. Littleton, a planter at St. Christopher's, obtained a grant from the Earl of Carlisle, of the island of Barbuda, and removed to it this year : from its beautiful appearance they called it Dulcina; but the island was subject to nocturnal descents from the Carib- Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. pp. 163. 2'JS. Du TciUc, torn. i. pp. 21, 22, 23. 1629.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 263 beans, which several times obliged the English to forego their design of planting it. William, Earl of Pembroke, obtained a grant of the islands of Tobago, Berbuda, St. Bernard, and Trinity Island, from King Charles I., but it does not appear that any settlements were made in consequence. 1629. In April, Lord Carlisle obtained a renewal of his grant, and became sole proprietor of Barbadoes. " Secured now in some measure, in his contested possession, and fearful, from what he had seen, of a second relapse. Lord Carlisle proceeded immechately to avail himself, by inheritance, of what was guaranteed by patent; and, in consequence of this resolution, distributed the lands of Bar- badoes into such parcels as were deemed most convenient, and granted them to such persons as thought proper to accede to the terms proposed, which were, for each person to pay him 40lbs. of cotton wool annually. About eight or nine respectable merchants in London ', forming themselves into a company for this purpose, obtained a grant of 10,000 acres, much in the nature of a lease. These lands were to be settled according to their own directions, under the management of a person of their own nomination, who was to preside over their affairs. The person thus selected, whose name was Charles Woolferstone, took under his direction sixty-four adventurers, each of whom was authorized to appropriate to him- self 100 acres of land.'\ They landed at Barbadoes on the 5th of July, and found Courteen's settlement m a very flourishing condition; but two interests so incompatible could not co-exist. They assumed the names of Windward-men and Leeward-men, the Carlisle-men settling to windward, at a place called the Bridge, (afterwards Bridgetown). Woolferstone immediately issued a proclamation, in which he treated Courteen's, or the Pembroke settlement, as little better than an usurpation, and simimoned them to appear at the Bridge. Dean, the governor, not only submitted, but marched with a party of men to reduce those who still held out for the Earl of Pembroke, under the command of Mr. Powel, son to the captain who had carried them over. By the interposition of a clergyman the Leeward-men were induced to submit without bloodshed. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. pp. 184. 280. Harris's Voyages, vol. ii, p. 369. Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. pp. 94. 97. ' The names of the merchants were Edmond Forster, Robert Swinnerton, Marmaduke Brandon, William Perkin, Henry Whcatlcy, John Charles, and John Alexander Banister, Robert Wheatlev, Farringdon. — B. Edwards, vol I -p. 323. 's 4 264 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l629. In August, M. de Cusac arrived at St. Christopher's, with six sail of the line, two " pataches" (pinnaces), one of them com- manded by M. d'Enambuc, and an armed merchant vessel, with 300 colonists, sent out by the company. Immediately upon his arrival, M. de Cusac sent a trumpet to summon Captain Warner to retire within his limits, and surrender all the lands which the English had occupied since the departure of M. d'Enambuc. The English demanded three days to consider of the proposition. De Cusac said that he would only allow a quarter of an hour, and if the answer was delayed one moment after that time, he would attack the ten sail of merchant vessels then at anchor in the road. The plunder was too tempting for M. de Cusac to lose by any unneces- sary delay : he proceeded to attack the vessels, which were obstinately defended for three hours ; four sail saved themselves by flight, three were run on shore by their crews, and three were taken. Captain Warner's son waited upon M. de Cusac, who haughtily replaced the French in the former possessions, and renewed the treaty : he then proceeded to St. Eustatia, where he built a fort, and a very good house. The French afterwards abandoned the island, because there was no water upon it : this inconvenience the Dutch remedied by making cisterns. In October, Don Frederic de Toledo, with thirty-five lai'ge galleons, and fourteen armed merchant vessels, arrived at St. Christopher's. In passing Nevis he had seized four English vessels, and another was run on shore by her crew, under the battery at St. Christopher's. In the evening the Spanish fleet anchored off" the battery, and the admiral, after he had saluted the fort with five guns, sent a boat on shore with a flag of truce. M. Du Rossey, who commanded in the battery, answered the salute by firing three shots at the boat, and sent dispatches to M. d'Enambuc, who commanded in Capsterre, and to Captain Warner; D'Enambuc sent him 120 men, under the command of M. du Parquet, his nephew, and the English sent him 800 : with this reinforcement M. Du Rossey worked all night in throwing up an entrenchment along the shore. At eight A.M. the next morning, the Spaniards, under the com- mand of an Italian officer, landed within two musket shots of the intrenchments ; which they immediately began to approach by traverses. Mr. Du Parquet made a sortie to oppose their approaches, and killed their commanding officer, but was himself mortally wounded in the attempt. M. Du Rossey, panic-stricken with the loss, embarked with some of his officers, and escaped to Capsterre ; the rest fled in all directions. At Capsterre, M.d'Enambuc attempted in vain to rally the fugitives. Du Rossey demanded a couucil of war, wherein it was determined to quit the island, and proceed to Antigua. M. d'Enambuc was threatened with assas- sination if he opposed the plan; and the whole of the French, Du Tcrtif, torn. i. pp. 25. 28, 31. 1C29.] OF THE WEST INDIES. Q65 about 400 men, embarked in two vessels, then in the road of Capsterre, commanded by Captain Rose and Captain Liot. The English, abandoned by their allies, oifered to quit the island also, if the Spaniards would furnish them with vessels. Don Frederic embarked as many in the four vessels which he had taken at Nevis as they would hold, and sent them to England. Six hundred of the ablest men he condemned to the mines ; the rest promised to quit the island. Don Frederic, declaring that he would not give quarter to any whom he should find upon the island at his return, embarked the eight guns belonging to the French, and proceeded on his voyage to Brazil. The French, who had embarked without provasions, were soon reduced to one glass of water and the weight of a musket-ball of biscuit per day. In this state they were for three weeks; and then, instead of Antigua, they made the island of St. Martin. Parched with thirst, they dug holes in the sand for water : brackish, as it was, some of them died at the pits from drinking to excess. In this situation, M. du Rossey prevailed upon the officers to abandon the rest, and make Captain Rose carry them to France, where, upon his arrival. Cardinal de Richelieu immediately ordered him to the Bastile. The poor inhabitants thought all the officers had abandoned them ; but the next morning they saw Captain Liot's vessel, which had gone in search of provisions, on shore very near the island : from this vessel M. d'Enambuc landed, and called a council of war, wherein it was again resolved to proceed to Antigua: he embarked, with 150 men, in Captain Liot's vessel, leaving the rest at St. Mar- tin's, Anguilla, and St. Bartholomew's, with a promise that he would send for them from Antigua. D'Enambuc fell in with Captain Giron, one of M. de Cusac's squadron, at Antigua, with whom he examined the island, and found it so bad, that M. d'Enambuc determined to proceed to Montserrat. From Montserrat, Captain Giron went to reconnoitre St. Christopher's, and see what was become of the English : these, upon the departure of Don Frederic, had determined not to quit the island, and now sent off a boat to Captain Giron to forbid his landing. This was quite sufficient reason to Captain Giron for him to commence hostilities : he therefore attacked two merchant vessels that were in the road, who surrendered after being disabled ; with these prizes he went to a third and larger vessel, wloich surrendered without any resistance. He now sent her to St. Martin's, Anguilla, and St. Bartholomew's, to bring the remainder of the French back to St. Christopher's. D'Enambuc also came from Montserrat with his followers, and the whole of them, 350 soldiers, arrived again at St. Christopher's. D'Enambuc sent immediately to the English, to say that he would walk " over the bellies" of any of them that opposed the least re- Edwards, vol. i. p. 182. Du Tertre, topa. i. pp. 32, 33, 34, '35. 266 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l629. sistance to his landing. No opposition was made; and M. d'Enambuc re-established his colony on that island, after -an absence of three months. April the 24th, 1629, a treaty of peace, between Louis XIII. King of France, and Charles I. King of England, was signed at Suze. No mention is made, in the treaty, of the West Indies, but two months are allowed for the vessels at sea to receive orders for abstaining from all hostilities : after that time, all prizes are to be restored. The abbey of Trinidad was built in 1629. Sir William Tufton arrived at Barbadoes, as governor, from England, Charles Saltonstall, with near 200 colonists, accom- panying liim, bringing with them the requisites for a plantation. There were now on that island between fifteen and sixteen hundi'ed persons, and about 1500 in the other islands. About this time the English began to plant on the island of Providence, one of the Bahamas. In this year there were about thirty sail of English, French, and Dutch ships at St. Christopher's, and all the Indians were driven out of the island. Tegramund, a little child, the King's son, was by great chance saved, and carefully carried to England by Mr. Merifield, who brought him up with his own children. A Spanish fleet under the command of Don Juan de Gusman y Torres, from St. Juan de Ulhua, with specie, was attacked off Cape St. Anthony, by a celebrated Dutchman, nick-named by the Spaniards Pie de Palo, from his having a wooden leg. The Spaniards made the best of their way for the River Matanzos. There was not water sufficient for the galleons, which were in con- sequence run aground, and such as could, escaped on shore from them : the rest were taken, and the vessels destroyed by the Dutch- men. The plunder was estimated at seven millions, in bullion and jewels. Don Juan de Guzman y Torres was afterwards beheaded in Old Spain, for his conduct upon this occasion. The following is Gage's account of the action between the Spanish and Dutch off Cuba : — " It was, as I take it, the year 1629, when that ever-renowned Hollander (whom, like unto our Drake, the Spaniards to this day fear and tremble at, calling him Pie de Palo, that is, wooden leg) waited at the Cape of St. Anthony for the Spanish fleet of Nova Hispania, which, according to his expectation, coming, he manly set upon them, saluting and welcoming the great treasure in it with a full side of roaring ordnance : the sound was more doleful than Du Mont, torn. v. partie 2. p. 580. Hist, des Aventuricrs, A. O. Oxcmelin, ii. p. 393, Smith, chaps. 22. 25, 26. A. A. Churchill's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 342, c 25. Gage's West Indies, chap. xiii. p. 177. 1629.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 267 joyful and welcome to the Spaniards, who thought it safer sleeping in a whole skin than to be unquieted by fighting, and with the sight of torn and mangled bodies, by Mars liis furious and fiery balls ; and so called a council of war, to resolve what they should do to save the King's great treasure, which was intrusted to them in those ships. The result of the council was to fly, and with some dis- charging of their ordnance to defend themselves, until they could put into a river in the island of Cuba, not far from Havana, called Matanzos. There were in that fleet of Spain many gallants and gentlemen, and two judges of the chancery of Mexico, which were that year sent to Madrid, as guilty in the mutiny before mentioned : thei'e was in it, of my acquaintance, a Dominican fryer, named Fryer Jacintho de Hozes, who had been sent to those parts to visit all the Dominican cloisters of New Spain, and had got of bribes at least eight thousand ducats (as I was informed, the year after, by a fryer, liis companion, whom he sent from Havana to Guatemala, to make known to his friends his loss of all that he had got, and to beg a new contribution to help him home :) there was also in that fleet Don Martin de Carillo, who was the inquisitor and commis- sioner to judge the delinquents in the fore-mentioned mutiny of Mexico, who was thought to have got twenty thousand ducats clear; besides these, a bishop, and many rich merchants, all under the command of Don Juan de Guzman y Torres, admiral to all the fleet. They all fled for their lives and goods; but the gallant Hollanders chased them. The Spaniards, thinking the Hollanders would not venture up the river after them, put into Matanzos ; but soon after they had entered, they found the river too shallow for dieir heavy and great-bellied galeons, and so run them upon ground ; which done, the better and richer sort escaped to land, endea- vouring to escape with what wealth they could : some got out cabinets, some bags, which the Hollanders perceiving, came upon them with bullet messengers, which soon overtook and stopt their flying treasures. Some few cabinets were hid : all the rest became that day the gallant Pie de Palo, or the wooden-leg captain's prize, for the mighty States of Holland. The Fryer Hozes was got into a boat, with his cabinet under his habit, which had in it nothing but chains of gold, diamonds, pearls, and precious stones ; and half a dozen Hollanders leaped into the boat after him, and snatched it from him, as his own friend and companion related after to us in Guatemala. Don Juan de Guzman y Torres, the aduiiral, when he came to Spain, was imprisoned, lost his wits for a while, and after was beheaded. Thus, in the sight of impregnable Havana, and of those twelve brazen apostles, was Holland glorious, and made rich with a seven-million prize !" Gage's West Indies, chap. xiii. p. 177. 268 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY ' [^1630. 1630. Three sorts of French at first resorted to Espafiola: the first were Buccaneers, or hunters, who lived by kilhng black cattle, and selling their hides and tallow ; the second were called FJibiistiers, from the Dutch fly-boats in which they generally sailed ; these were, properly speaking, freebooters ; the third were planters. M. d'Enambuc soon began to find his situation uncomfortable : he despaired of the Company's expending any more money upon a colony already so disastrous ; he had reason to dread the just re- sentment of the English, and was not without his fears of a second visit from the Spaniards. These reasons induced him to give up his hopes of remaining upon the island : the whole of the French, therefore, worked hard to raise such a quantity of tobacco as they could carry with them to Europe, and for this purpose many of them destroyed their plantations of Mandioc and yams. Six months afterwards, they determined not to quit the island; but the want of provisions produced a famine, which would have obliged them to alter their determination again, had not a Dutch vessel arrived with a cargo of flour, wine, meat, &c. ; these were sold to the French at six months' credit, and the tobacco upon the island was taken in part payment. Other Dutch vessels came afterwards to the island, and the French found a ready sale for their produce, which consisted of tobacco, cotton, roucou, and pimento — none of them having sufficient capital to produce sugar, indigo, or even ginger. As there was no judge among them, M. d'Enambuc's ordinances were obeyed as laws in all cases, civil and military. The French amounted to 360 men, while the English colony had increased to 6000. The French always went armed, with four or five 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 ! Upon the 15th of November, 1630, a treaty of peace was signed at Madrid between Charles I. of England, and Philippe IV. of Spain. There is no mention made in the treaty of any place out of Europe. It renews the treaty between Philip II. of Spain and Queen Elizabeth, which was made in 1604, but does not take any notice of the possessions in the West Indies, which England had acquired since that period. Mr. Edwards, therefore, is not correct when he says, vol. i. p. 190, that the treaty stipulates for peace between the subjects of the two nations in all parts of the world, as well in Europe as elsewhere. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 358. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 36. 38. Du Mont, torn. v. pai tie 2. p. 623. 1631-2.] OF THE \vl:ST INDIES. 269 1631. Captain Henry Hawley arrived at Barbadoes, appointed by Lord Carlisle to supersede Sir William Tufton as governor. Sir William Tufton procured the signatures of some of the planters to a petition against Hawley : this petition Hawley construed into an act of mutiny, on the part of Tufton, for which he had him tried and shot by the sentence of a court-martial. King Charles I. granted a charter to a second company, for a trade to Africa for thirty-one years. Sir Richard Young and Sir Kenelm Digby were at the head of this company : they erected forts and warehouses upon the coast of Guinea at a great expence ; but so many private adventurers, of all nations, broke in upon them, as in effect to force the trade open, and so it continued till after the Restoration. 1632. Wlien tlie freebooters took possession of the island of Tortuga, it was garrisoned by only twenty-five Spaniards, who considering themselves in a kind of banishment, surrendered at the first sum- mons : it was as much a matter of joy to them to quit the island, as to the others to obtain possession. The intelligence of its capture was soon known at St. Christopher's, and many of the inhabitants of that island removed thither, some of whom applied themselves to the culture of tobacco. Vessels from Dieppe traded with the island, and brought out Europeans, under the names of Engages, whom they sold for three years, and from whom their purchasers exacted the same services as from slaves : so that the colony was composed of four sorts of persons — Buccaneers ', who B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 325.; vol. li. p. 52. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 10. ' " The Buccaneers are so called from pllned men, and the greater part had sought the word boucan, which is a sort of wooden refuge in these places, and were reduced to grid-iron, made of several sticks placed this way of life, to avoid the punishments upon four forks, upon which the Bouca- due to the crimes which they had com- niers broil their hogs, sometimes quite mitted in Europe, and which could be whole, with which they feed themselves, proved on many of them, without eating any bread. They were at " In general they were without any this time, " une sorte de gens remassez," habitation or fixed house, but only rendez- men from all countries, rendered expert voused where the cattle were to be found, and active by the necessity of their exercise, and some sheds which were covered with which was to go in chase of cattle to obtain leaves, to defend them from the rain, and their hides, and from being chased them- to lodge the hides of the animals which selves by the Spaniards, who never gave they had killed, until some vessels should them any quarter. As they would never pass, to barter for them with wine, brandy, suffer any chiefs, they passed for undisci- linen, arms, poTyder, balls, and some other 270 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY £1632. employed themselves in hunting; freebootei's, or pirates, that plundered by sea ; the inhabitants, who cultivated the lands ; and the engages : these lived together upon very good terms, under a sort of democratic government; eVery fi'ee person had despotic power in his house, and every captain on board his vessel. Sir Thomas Warner sent a small number of his followers from St. Christopher's, and planted a colony in Montserrat, and sent his son with another to Antigua ' : those to Montserrat were chiefly Irish and Roman Catholics ; the separation appears to have been partly occasioned by local attachments and religious dissensions. Some merchants of Zealand sent over a small colony to Tobago; but before they w^ere able thoroughly to establish themselves, the Indians, assisted by the Spaniards, destroyed them all. They also sent another colony to St. Eustatia^, an island strong by nature : they were anxious to have some place of safety to refresh their sliips which traded with the islands possessed by the English and French. The French had abandoned St. Eustatia from want of water : this inconvenience the Dutch remedied by making; tanks. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 11. Edwards, vol. i. pp. 473. 496. Dr. J. Campbell's Political Survey, vol. ii. p. 674. 690. Davis's History of the Caribbee Islands, p. 170. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 27. 38. utensils which they needed, and which are the only moveables of the Buccaneers. " I will not trouble myself to prove that their life was laborious and full of danger : it is sufficient to say, that they hunted every day, that they were dressed in a pair of drawers, or, at most, in a shirt, sliod with the skin of a hog's leg, fastened on tlie top and behind the foot with " equillettes" of the same skin, girdled round the middle of their body by a sack, which served them to sleep in, as a defence against the innume- rable insects which bit and sucked the blood from all parts of their bodies which were left uncovered. " When they had killed a beast, they skinned it with difficulty, and contented themselves with breaking the bones of tlie legs, and sucking the warm marrow, throwing away the rest. They tlien went in search of a hog, which they brought witli their skins to the boucan, sometimes two or three leagues : if they eat in the open country, it was always with their musket cocked ("bande"), and very often back to back, for fear of being surprised by the Spanish Mulattoes, who killed them without mercy, and sometimes in the night stuck their lance into the sack where they were sleeping. When they returned from the chase to the boucan, you would say that these are the butcher's vilest servants, who have been eight days in the slaughter- house without washing themselves. I have seen some who had lived this miserable life for twenty years, without seeing a priest, and without eating bread." — Du Tertre, tom. iii. p. 141. " Le R. P. Raymond, dans son Dic- tionnaire, donne une raison de ce qu'il y a si peu de poux dans les Indes, et dans tous les pays chauds, qui me semble assez pro- bable : car, il dit, que c'est a cause que suant presque tousjours, les serositez, qui sortent par ses sueurs sont plus pures et moins propres a engendrer des vermines." Du Tertre, tom. ii. p. 352. ' " We are informed by Ferdinand Columbus, that the Indian name (for Antigua) was Jamaica. It is a singular circumstance, that this word, whieh, in the language of the larger islands, signified a country abounding in springs, should in tlie dialect of the Caribs have been applied to an island that has not a single spring or rivulet of fresh water in it." — Edwards, vol. i. p. 473. 2 See 1600. — But the history does not give its authority ; and Davis says, about this time St. Eustatia was colonized. 1633-4.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 271 The French engages, finding that their masters did not allow them to work for themselves at the expiration of the term of ser- vitude, were on the point of asserting their rights by force. M. d'Enambuc restored tranquillity to the colony, by ordering all who had served their three years to be set at liberty, and directing, from that time forwards, that no person should be obliged to serve more than three years. The number of Caribs ' in Dominica amounted to 938. These lived in thirty-two huts or carbets. The number of French upon the island was 349, with twenty-three free Mulattoes, and 338 Negro-slaves. 1633. Captain Henry Hawley was recalled from the government of Barbadoes by the Earl of Carlisle : he left his brother-in-law, Richard Peers, as deputy-governor. 1634. The Dutch took possession of Curacoa, which they immediately converted into a depot of merchandize, and established a contra- band trade with the inhabitants of Terra Firma for cacao and hides. M. d' Olive, Lieutenant-General of St. Christopher's, under M. d'Enambuc, having resolved to establish himself upon one of the adjacent islands, sent the Siem- Guillaume d' Orange, and some other fi'iends to examine the islands of Dominica, Martinique, and Guadaloupe*, and report to him which of the three they judged the fittest for a colony. Upon their recommending Guadaloupe, d' Olive Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 333. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 187. Depon's Travels in South America, vol. ii. p. 9. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 42. 65. ' " What happened to the English go- put out ; but this rigour availed him no- vernor of Mountserrat shews clearly the thing, for they preferred being left to die prodigious aversion which this nation (the of grief and hunger to living as slaves."— Caribs) have to servitude ; for on having Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 485. taken some of them from Dominica, he For the honour of Englishmen, and for employed all sorts of means to make them the sake of human nature, it is to be hoped work, but it was impossible for him to that this is false. subdue them ; for though he loaded them " " Nine miles distant from Guadalupea, with heavy chains, to prevent their running towarde the east, there are sixe small away, they nevertheless dragged them to islandes, named Todos Scmctos, or Barbata : the sea-side, to seize any canoe, or to look these are full of rocks, and barren ; yet out for some pirague of their nation, to necessary to be known to such as use to carry them back to their homes: so that, traveil the seas of those coastes. "—Pt' " La Martinique que les sauvages adventures which suggested to Beaumont nommoient Madanina."— Z>it Tertre, t. ii. and Fletcher the following passage in the p. 23. " Sea Voyage." The speakers have been 2 It may have been some account of these wrecked on the coast of a desert island. 274* CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l635. 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 been twice burnt on the shoulders with the Fleur-de-Lis, and reprieved from the gallows by the intercession of Father Raymond, preferred stealing a fifth time that he might be promptly hung, to living any longer exposed to such insupportable famine. In September, their hopes were all raised by the arrival of a ves- sel from Dieppe; but when the Captain, Abbe, had landed 140 passen- gers, he could only send with them subsistence for a month : so that in a short time they only served to render the others more miserable. In this vessel, with Captain Abbe, D' Olive went to St. Chris- topher's, to consult with D'Enambuc about the policy of making war upon the natives, that he might seize their provisions; from this unjust and ruinous plan D'Enambuc endeavoured in vain to dissuade him. During D' Olive's absence, M. du Plessis, upon the 14th December, died, worn out by anxiety at the miserable situation of his followers, and the illness of his wife, then upon the eve of her confinement. Upon receiving information of this event, D' Olive immediately returned to Guadaloupe. As soon as the Spanish Government were acquainted with the state of affairs at Cura9ao (see 1634), they granted permission for two trading vessels to go to Venezuela: the speculations were of course ruinous : they were mider-sold by the Dutch, a loss of sixty per cent, was suffered upon the cargoes, and scarcely any lading received in return. This experiment warned the Spanish traders, and from this time the trade of the Hollanders became more open and extended — confiscations were pronounced, fines exacted, de- grading punishments inflicted, and numerous families ruined: but the trade was too beneficial in general to all the parties concerned to be checked by any severities the Spanish government could inflict. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 82, 83. 100. Depon's South America, vol. ii. p. 10. where they are suffering the extremities of cordial potion, or pills, hath been entomb- f amine. ed ? Unter Surgeon. Fran. Or the blest bladder where a cool- '' ' ing clister — Fran. Here comes the surgeon. Mor. Hast thou no searcloths left ? nor What hast thou discovered ? any old poultices ? Smile — smile — and comfort us. Fran. We care not to what it hath been Surg. I am expiring ; ministered. Smile they that can ! I can find nothing Surg, Sure I have none of these dain- gentlemen; ties, gentlemen. Here's nothing can be meat without a Fran. Where's the miracle. Great wen, thDu cut'st from Hugh the Oh ! that I had my boxes and my lints now, sailor's shoulder ? My stupes, my tents, and those sweet helps That would serve now for a most princely of nature, banquet. What dainty dishes could I make of them ! Surg. Aye, if we had it, gentlemen ; Mor. Hast ne'er an old suppository ? I flung it overboard, slave that I was ! Stirg. Oh, would I had, sir ! Lam. A most unprovident villain ! Lam. Or but the paper where such a Act. III. Scene 1. I 635*2 OF THE WEST INDIES. 275 M. crEnambiic had for a long time intended to colonize Guada- loupe, being supplanted by his Lieutenant d' Olive, to whom he had communicated his design ; and fearing that a similar thino- might happen with respect to Martinico, he resolved, without delay, to take possession of it in his Majesty's name, and under the authority of the Company : for this purpose one hundred of the oldest and most experienced inhabitants were selected, and D'Enambuc embarked with them in July, and landed about six days afterwards: he immediately began to build a fort, which he called Fort St. Pierre, and soon afterwards returned to St. Chris- topher's, leaving the Sieur du Pont in command as his lieutenant. The Caribs had received too severe a lesson of the danger of such neighbours', to suffer this new establishment to remain unmolested : they therefore collected from Dominica and St. Vincent to the amount of 1500 men, and attacked Du Pont : he had, however, timely notice of their approach, and collected all his men within the fort, the guns of which he ordered to be loaded %vith musket- balls and nails. The Caribs, expecting an easy conquest, pro- ceeded tumultuously to the attack ; so many were killed or wounded by the first discharge of the guns, that without further efforts they retreated to their boats. Shortly afterwards they pro- posed peace. Du Pont received the messengers with great civilit}'', and willingly consented to conclude one, which was done before the expiration of the year. Satisfied with this, and the promising situation of the colony, Du Pont resolved to be himself the bearer of the good news to D'Enambuc at St. Christopher's. Upon his passage, he was driven by a violent gale of wind to the coast of Espanola, taken by the Spaniards, and closely confined in prison for thi'ee years. The French inhabitants of St. Christopher's, offended by the violent proceedings of the West India Compan}^, resolved not to send any of their produce to France, but to trade exclusively with the Dutch: in this resolution they persevered for some months, and began to flourish at the time the Company despaired of their suc- ceeding. February the 13th, another contract was signed with the Company of the American Islands, the former Company being considered as dissolved, because no person took any care of the concern, the grant not being sufficient to induce them to attend to it. The new Company were to have the exclusive trade to and right of colonizing the islands from latitude 10° to latitude 30°, even Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 44. 46. 49. 103. • " The savages of Dominica affirm, of the men in many things. But the boys, that when the Caribbeans came to inhabit thougli they understand their mothers and these islands, they were possessed by the sisters, when they are five or six years old, Arouagues, whom they destroyed, save only imitate their fathers. But the Caribbeans the women : these they married ; and the of the continent not having intermarried women having retained their own Ian- with strange women, both sexes speak the guage, taught it their daughters: thus same language." — Dam^s History of the their language became different from that Caribbec Islands, p. 261. T 2 276 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l635. though other Christian princes had inhabited them : they might do the same if they could. They were to send out at least 4000 colonists during the twenty years for which the contract was to last. The royal tenth of the profits was given up. The colonists were to build forts, and might cast cannon and make powder ; but all of them must be natives of France, and of the Roman Cathohc religion. The converted savages were to be considered as native French ; and care was to be taken that they might be converted, and ecclesiastics sent out. In case the Company failed in any point which they were bound to perform, the trade was to be thrown open, and the King might grant to any other person the right of selling the unoccupied lands. Four directors were to be appointed to manage the concern. The Company were to appoint the captains of the islands and the officers of justice. The directors first appointed were the Sieure Guenegaud, Maunoy, Bardin, and Berruyer. Large reinforcements were sent out from Dieppe and Havre-de- Grace to St. Christopher's, and some Capuchin friars went with them. At the same time with these supplies, there arrived at the island a valuable ship with a cargo of Negroes, which had been taken from the Spaniards by Captain Pitre : these succours enabled the colonists, in the course of the year, to send home some valuable cargoes. Shortly after the arrival of these reinforcements, D'Enambuc determined to attack the English. The alleged reason for this attack was encroachments beyond the limits agreed upon. Near Sandy Point a large fig-tree had been fixed upon as the boundary-mark, and a line drawn from that to the mountains was to be the division : this fig-tree had very much increased in size, and the English still kept drawing their line from its western extreme, so as to have 250 houses to the westward of where the line would have run, if drawn at first from a fixed point. D'Enambuc sent MM. Bonnefoy and Le Merle to demand of Sir Thomas Warner the restoration of the land thus taken ; and upon receiving a refusal, he sent five or six hundred Negroes, under the command of French officers, round by the mountains, with directions to surprise the English, set fire to their houses, and put the inhabitants to the sword, promising the Negroes freedom if they succeeded — the Capuchins, with a large crucifix, animating the men to fight against the heretics. As a matter of form, D'Enambuc then sent to summons Sir Thomas to surrender the lands which his countrymen had taken. Sir Thomas immediately sent a clergyman (Jackon) and some officers to treat with D'Enambuc, who refused to receive them, but sent back an inso- lent message, that if their captain-general would come himself to the fig-tree in dispute, he would then listen to him. In the interim, Du Tcrtre, torn. i. pp. 50. 53, 58, 59, 60. 62. 1636.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 277 the N^roes liad spread terror and desolation among the peaceable inhabitants ; nothing was to be heard but cries and lamentations ; women and young girls were seized, dragged to the French quar- ters, and there violated. Sir Thomas Warner, upon the return of his officers, immediately repaired to the fig-tree, where D'Enambuc received him with characteristic insolence. Sticking his cane in the ground, when speaking of the boundary-line, he said with an oath, " Par le corbleu, j'en veux avoir par la — I will have it from thence." To stop the work of desolation, and at the earnest entreaty of his fol- lowers, Sir Thomas yielded to the demand : and thus the French reco- vered by their courage, Du Tertre says, more land than they had lost. The folly of adopting such a tree as the fig-tree for a boundary- line was evident : its branches take root successively, till one tree becomes a bower. The injustice of the French is manifest. Before the result of the negociation could be known, the slaves were sent to destroy, and when the accommodation took place, they gained more land than they profess to have lost. Some merchants of Rouen undertook to colonize Cayenne. M. Ponceau de Bretigny was appointed governor of the settlers, who drove the natives to desperation by their injustice. M. Ponceau was killed by them, and most of the settlers destroyed. — ( See 1643, where De Bretigny is said to be then going to take the command.) The Dutch sent a colony to St. Eustatia. The states granted the proprietary of it to Mr. Vanree and some other Flushing mer- chants, who sent 600 families to the island. June the 9th, Louis XIII. wrote a letter to the Duke de Montbazon, the Governor of Paris, which letter contained the reasons for, and was a manifesto and declaration of war agamst the King of Spain, 1636. D' Olive now determined to make war upon the natives in Gua- daloupe; and having taken a cotton bed from an uninhabited house, and left a pig and some fruits in lieu of it, which was more than the bed was worth, D' Olive used as an excuse for com- -mencing hostilities, and sent M. Fontaine, in a small vessel with fifteen soldiers, round the island, to reconnoitre their villages, and to oblige any Frenchmen who might be among them to return. Fontaine was received with kindness, and an English boat pointed out to him, wliich they had sent away, refusing to trade with the English, for fear of disobliging their " brother, M. d'Olive.'* Fontaine made a prize of the boat, and carried her to D' Olive. Bolinbroke's Voyage to Demerary, p. 313. Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 369. Du Mont, torn, vi, pt. 1. p. 105. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 84, 85. T 3 278 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [^1636. Three days after his return, D'Olive embarked to plunder the natives, and having landed at one of their villages, he seized an old man 140 years of age and his children, and after accusing him and his countrymen of a design to murder aU the French, C' Olive took his watch from his pocket, and shewing the works to the old man, told him that was the maboya (devil) of France, and that it had assured him of treacheiy. Sui-prised at the works of the watch, and believing that M. d'Olive spoke truth, the old man began to abuse the maboya, saying he was an impostor, for that neither himself nor any of his countrymen had ever any thoughts of injuring the French. D'Olive ordered him to send one of his children, to desire some women that were about a hundred paces oif to come back. One was immediately sent ; but instead of bringing them back, he fled with them. Enraged at this, D'Olive took another child on board, slew him before the father's face, and then murdered the old man : he bound the hands of two others, and forced them to go as guides to the retreat of their countrymen. One of these named Marinet, son of Captain Baron, a chief well known for his attachment to the French, seized an opportunity of throwing himself down a pre- cipice upon the branches of trees, and escaped with only some wounds in the body, to carry the news of the war to his country- men. A remarkable instance of his good nature is recorded: when he got to his countiymen, he found a young French boy among them, and instead of revenging upon him the outrage he had received, he contented himself with saying, " O Jacques, the French are very angry — they have killed Caribs !" D'Olive and his party returned without success, and the war was continued. Deprived of the supplies of turtle, pigs, and fruit which the Caribs used to bring, the colony's sufferings were increased. The Caribs left the island, and joined their countrymen at Domi- nica, and with their assistance made fi-equent attacks upon their enemies, and never without doing considerable damage, landing occasionally seven or eight hundred strong, and destroying every thing. To add to the distress of the French, one vessel with supplies from France got to Florida instead of Guadaloupe, and another from St. Christopher's was taken by the Spaniards within sight of the island. A party that D'Olive had sent to St. Chris- topher's for provisions, ran away with the vessel. M. d'Enambuc, upon receiving information of the supposed loss of Du Pont, sent his nephew, M. du Parquet, to govern Martinico. At this time, so great was the dread of the snakes with which that island ' abounded, that the different captains of vessels which touched at the island forbade their men landing upon it. Du Tertrc, torn. i. pp. 86, 87. 105. 119. 1 Baron von Sack says, that INIartinico islands infested by poisonous snakes. Tlie and St. Lucia .ire tlie only two Caribbee natives used to attack tlie Indians of the 1637'] OF THE WEST INDIES. 279 About the end of this year, M. d'Enambuc died at St. Christo- pher's, and was succeeded in the command by M. du Halde, his lieutenant. Du Halde was commonly known by the name of *' Bras de Fer," from the artificial arm which he wore, in place of one lost in the ser\ace. Du Halde disliked the appointment, and made repeated applications to be allowed to quit the island. But the Company obtained an order from the King, forbidding his quitting it, upon any pretence, until further orders. During the last thirteen years, the Dutch, who had constantly eight hundred vessels employed in commercial and military opera- tions in the West Indies, captured, from the Spaniards and Portu- guese, prizes to the amount of thirty millions. There were 766 landholders in Barbadoes this year, each occu- pying ten or more acres of land. " Tliis year forms an important era in our colonial history, being marked by a law, < authorizing the sale of Negroes and Indians for life.' " 1637. The English population of the island of St. Christopher's were estimated at between twelve and thirteen thousand souls. Notwithstanding D'Olive's bad conduct, he had, by a grant of land to the Dominicans, so bound them to his interest, that one of them was sent to France, to counteract the representations made against him to the directors of the Company. Father Pelican succeeded so well, that he procured, through Cardinal Richeheu's interest with the Company, a new commission for D' Olive, con- firming him as Captain General of Guadaloupe for the remainder of the term often years from his first grant, which was in 1635. The limits of the lands D' Olive had given the fathers, by a written grant, dated the 26th January, 1637, were from the River des Gallions to the Petite River, from their mouths to the mountains. The English were in possession of the island of Santa Catarina, or old Providence, and greatly annoyed the Spanish trade between Puerto Bello and Cartagena. The Spaniards called the island a den of thieves and pirates. Fifty-two sail of homeward-bound galleons, on board of one of which was Thomas Gage, in passing through the Gulf of Bahama, found two strange sail in company, supposed to be English vessels, Brougham's Colonial Policy, B.i. sec. 3. p. 338.^ Quarterly Review, vol. i. p. 262. Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 2,58. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 97. 120. Gage's West Indies, chap. xxi. pp. 4,51. 456. continent, who, in revenge, caught'baskets- but to continue as a plague to posterity ! full of these venomous reptiles, brought He gives this as an historical anecdote, but them over, and turned them loose — not omits to say by whom it is recorded — only as an act of vengeance upon the living, p. 21. T 4; 280 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1638. one of which ran alongside one of the convoy, with a cargo worth 80,000 crowns, and after a short action carried her away in triumph, " without any hope of help from so proud and mighty a fleet !'* 1638. The French Company of the American Islands agreed that M. de la Grange Fromenteau should be appointed to supersede M. du Halde at St. Christopher's ; but M. de la Grange, not having sufficient money to establish himself on the island with proper splendour, he proposed to the commander, De Poincy, to accept the situation, and lend him 4000 livres, to fit himself out to go with De Poincy as his lieutenant. De Poincy accepted the offer, and his commission as Captain-General of St. Christopher's was dated the 16th of January, 1638, and another from the King, appointing him Lieutenant-General for his Majesty in the American islands, which was dated the 15 th of February. This was the first ap- pointment of that rank given to any person governing in those islands. M. la Grange having received 4500 livres from M. de Poincy, and got his appointment as lieutenant from the Company, sailed in April from Rochelle with his wife and family, and arrived at St. Christopher's in June. A French colony, under the command of M. St. Martin, was sent to the island of St. Martin's, and expelled by the Spaniards. At the same time the Dutch, after sustaining a siege of six weeks by 900 men, were driven off that island. Labat says, that M. de Poincy, though he took possession of that island for the King in 1636, was not able to send a colony there — a mistake certainly, because De Poincy's commission as Captain-General of St. Chris- topher's was not given him until the 16th of January, 1638. The Spaniards left a strong garrison upon the island. By a royal ordinance of the 28th December, 1638, stamped paper was established in the Spanish possessions in America, on the same footing as in the mother country. It was sent every year from Spain ready stamped, with an inscription at the head, desig- nating the two years it was to be in force ; after that time it became null and void, and was replaced by other paper, which the mother country took care to send in advance. When war or other oc- currences prevented the receiving of new stamps in time, the governments prolong the validity of those they have. The highest i5tamj)s cost six dollars the sheet. The second class one dollar and a half each sheet; the third, half a dollar; and the fourth, the sixteenth of a hard dollar. Henry Hawley returned to England from Barbadoes, leaving Du TLMtic, torn. i. pp. 122. 12G 411. Davis's Hist. 173. Labat, vol. v. p. 137. Depou's South America, vol. 11. p. 122. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 187. B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 325. 1038.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 281 his brother, William Hawley, deputy governor. The inhabitants obliged Henry Hawley to quit the island — they would no longer submit to his imperious mandates, or act under his authority. Mr. Henry Hunks assumed the government till another should be appointed to succeed Hawley. The Earl of Carlisle, convinced of Hawley's mal-administration, confirmed Hunks in the government. Sir Thomas Warner died, and was succeeded by Governor Lake. In Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 258, Colonel Rich is said to have succeeded Sir T. Warner. Colonel Jackson, with a force collected in the Windward Islands, invaded Jamaica, the inhabitants of which defended themselves with great gallantry in a pitched battle at Passage-Fort : but Jackson, after losing forty of his men, entered St. Jago de la Vega sword in hand, and having plundered the town of every thing valuable, received a considerable ransom for sparing the houses. He then retreated to his ships, and carried off his booty without interruption. The Spaniards, more alarmed at the new settlers in Tortuga and San Domingo than at the establishments of the English and French in St. Christopher's, thought, if the corps of adventurers (the name given these strangers) were dislodged from Tortuga, the rest would disappear as a matter of course. The general of the galeons had orders to attack the island, and put the whole of them to the sword. The time of attack was judiciously chosen when all the freebooters were at sea, and the gi'eater part of the inhabitants hunting with the Buccaneers in Espanola. All who were taken at first were put to the sword : those who surrendered to save their lives, were hung. A few fled to the woods and mountains, where the Spaniards did not think it worth their while to follow them ; and concluding that the freebooters would not venture to run the risk of such another punish- ment by settling there again, they departed without leaving any garrison upon the island. Some of the adventurers went to St. Christopher's. The Spaniards then tried to expel the Buccaneers from Espanola. For this purpose a corps of 500 lancers were embodied, to chase them : these marched generally fifty at a time, and this occasioned their being called the Fifties. The Buccaneers increased in numbers : and as the necessity of defending themselves from an enemy from whom they had no peace to expect, obliged them to elect a captain, their choice fell upon an Englishman of the name of Willis, a courageous and able man, who, with a few followers, took possession again of Tortuga : their numbers soon increased to 300, many of whom were Frenchmen. The French grew jealous of Willis's partiality to his own countrymen, and wished to appoint another captain ; but Willis laughed at their efforts, and tliey sent secretly to St. Christopher's to De Poincy, governor-general of the islands, for assistance against the English, who were now sole masters of Tortuga. Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 96.; vol. iii, p. 7. B. Edwaids, vol. i. p. 152. 176, Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 12, 13. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 169. 282 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l639. 1639. M. de Poincy and suite sailed from France the 12th of January, 1639, in a large ship called La Petite Europe, and anchored at Martinico the 11th of February: he was received with military honours ; and having read his commission from the King, Du Parquet, the governor, promised him obedience. Upon the 17th, De Poincy landed at Guadaloupe, and waited upon D' Olive, the governor ; who, being blind, mistook De Poincy for one of his suite, and gave vent to his mortified feelings by declaring with an oath, that if he had his sight, he would prevent his general from taking possession of his island. De ^foincy concealed his indignation, and after some time discovered himself, parted, apparently, upon good terms, and made sail for St. Christo- pher's, where he found that M. de la Grange, instead of having a house prepared for his reception, as he expected, had only thought of his own accommodation. This occasioned an immediate coolness between them, which was augmented by La Grange sending him eighteen Negroes as his share of a prize taken from the Dutch, and keeping seventy-eight for himself. De Poincy having taken a beautiful girl called Bellette from her father's house, upon the pretence that he was a debauchee and a drunkard, and afterwards making frequent visits to her, had occa- sioned several satirical things to be wnritten upon him: one, in particular, called " La Nymphe Christophorine Prosopopee," written by a relation of Madame la Grange, so galled De Poincy, who blamed her for some other squib, that he seized all their move- ables for the money he had advanced La Grange in France, and also twenty-two Negroes, which he claimed as his, and ordered Madame la Grange to be kept prisoner in her own house. M. de la Grange offered to pay M. de Poincy, and to send his wife to France in the first vessel ; but De Poincy refused. Querolan, the author of " La Nymphe Christophorine," escaped from arrest, by seeking shelter in the woods first, and then returning to St. Eustatia in an English vessel. De Poincy claimed him from the Dutch governor ; but being refused, he contented himself with confiscating his goods, and condemning him to have his head cut off — executing the sentence upon an effigy, for want of the original ! A soldier, named La Barre, deserted to the English, with intelli- gence that De Poincy had a design to poison Sir Thomas Warner at the next dinner. This, and some disturbances at the salt lakes, had nearly produced a war between the two colonies ; which was, however, settled for the time without bloodshed. Du Tcrtre, torn. i. pp. 127. I'M- 134, 135. 1639.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 283 October the 16th, M. de la Grange and his wife were tried by M. de Poincy's order, and found guilty of high treason. All their slaves were taken, and themselves sent prisoners to Basse Terre : from which place, however easy it might have been to escape, the fear of ambuscades and assassination prevented their making the attempt. An appeal against the sentence was made by the coimcil of the island to the King and Company ; and after enduring great indignities in prison for eleven months, La Grange and his family were released. De Poincy, however, obliged them to quit the island. Two of their servants being found at midnight near the powder magazine, De Poincy arrested them, and accused La Grange and his wife of having sent them to set fire to the magazine. Unable to substantiate his charge, he sent M. la Grange and his family away in the next vessel which sailed, and at the same time wrote to the Company and said he should have cut off their heads, if their servants had been proved guilty of the crime of which they were suspected. Upon the 26th of May, an order to desist from the cultivation of tobacco for eighteen months was, by the mutual consent of the two governors of St. Chi*istopher's, affixed to the doors of all the churches in the island. The reason for this order was, that such a prodigious quantity had been grown, that the price in Europe was too low, and they feared it would not be worth the freight. De Poincy sent the order to M. d' Olive at Guadaloupe, and directed him to do the same ; but he refused to submit to such a diminution of his income, for by his contract with the Company, they had engaged to take all the tobacco he could raise in his island, at six sous the pound, for six years. Shortly after this refusal, ill health, occasioned by vexation, obliged D'Olive to try the baths at Nevis: it is more than probable, remorse of "conscience for the horrible cruelties he had committed upon the Caribs prevented any waters from relieving him ; at times he was strangely melancholy, and at intervals in frenzied convulsions. From Nevis he went to his house at St. Christopher's, where De Poincy refused to see him, and confined him to his own house. Having got possession of his person, De Poincy proceeded to put in execution a design he had meditated for a long time, of estab- lishing himself at Guadaloupe, and making it the capital of all the French possessions. For this purpose he sent M. Aubert to France, to propose the sale of all their immoveable possessions in St. Chris- topher's, and the transporting all the slaves, &;c. to Guadaloupe. In the interim, the colonists at Guadaloupe sent to beg assistance from De Poincy, who availed himself of this opportunity for sending M. de Sabouilly, with 132 colonists, to their assistance. In the month of November, more than sixty Negroes, from Capsterre, in St. Christopher's, left their masters, and fled to the Du Tcrtrc, toin. i. pp. Ill — 145. 153. Davis's History of tlie Caribs, p. 170, <284 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l()40. mountains, with their women and children. De Poincy sent 500 men to destroy them. The fugitives had built a sort of fort upon the highest part of the mountain : upon one side it was defended by a precipice, and upon the other there was only one narrow pass by which it could be approached ; it was stormed, and some of these unfortunate wretches burnt alive, others quartered, and their limbs exposed upon stakes. Their most determined leader escaped, and was afterwards pursued by six men, who not being able to secure his person, tried to shoot him : he soon observed that none of their muskets would go off, and in his turn attacked them sword in hand, put them to flight, and gained a musket and hat by his victory. The next day, other soldiers were sent after him, by whom he was shot : his body was quartered, and the limbs hung up in the most frequented places. M. du Parquet, in passing Dominica, was fired at by the Caribs, and upon his return to Martinico, he found that two slaves had been taken by them from M. Lesperance's house : he therefore seized Captain Kayerman, the chief of all the Caribs, an old man 120 years of age, and put him in irons, till the two slaves were given up. Kayerman contrived to escape to the woods, where he was bitten by a snake, and died the next day. This, Du Parquet expected, would occasion a war between him and the Caribs, and for tliis he prepared. The Caribs, however, after some deliberation, gave up the two men, and begged to live, as before, upon good terms; which was willingly granted. Sir Henry Hunks arrived at Barbadoes as governor, and sent the former governor, Henry Hawley, to England, as prisoner, for pretending he had secret instructions to resume the government. The English sent a party to colonize St. Lucia, in an armament under the command of Lord Willoughby, who, after the capture, collected the natives together to the amount of about 600, and from them obtained an actual surrender of the island. 1640. About this year a Dutchman from Brazil arrived at Barbadoes, " where, though there were good sugar-canes, the English knew no other use of them than to make refresliing drink for that hot climate." But this Hollander understanding sugar, was, by one Mr. Drax ' and some other inhabitants there, dravm in to make Du Tcrtre, torn. i. pp. 114. 117. 434. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 187. Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 293. Harleian Miscellany, vol.ix. p. 415. Thomas's Account of the West Indies, Lond. 1690. ' " Colonel James Drax, in Barbadoes, Drax is said to have lived like a prince ! * — used now and then to kill an ox. Very few Ligons Uislory of Barbadoes, p. 34. upon the island could aflbrd to do this ! 1640.3 OF THE WEST INDIES. 285 discovery of the art he had to make it, which was by suffering the canes to ripen fifteen months instead of twelve, and by boihng them to a white consistence. The method remained a secret to the inhabitants in general for seven or eight years, and when found out increased the value of land to an incredible degree. The Universal History dates this occurrence in 1642; and Ligon says, in his History of Barbadoes, p. 85, that in 1647, " the great work of sugar-making was but newly practised by the inha- bitants there." He also says, that the sugar-cane was brought from Pernambuco to Barbadoes. The Dutch sent a colony to the island of Saba. A letter from M. de Poincy to the French West India Com- pany, shews what a detestable traffic was carried on with the *' Engages:" — " One Jonas, and Lantery, his brother, had entrapped by their artifices 200 young Frenchmen, among whom were some of good family, kept them for three months at St. Servais, near St. Malo, and engaged them for five, six, and seven years, at the rate of 900 pounds of cotton for each, in the island of Barbadoes. " To accomplish more easily their detestable design, they freighted a ship belonging to them, and to Captain Gibaut of Guernsey, or Jersey, and some other merchants. Lantery settled with the captain, and went on board the ship as a merchant that had the charge of various merchandize, and of these poor sheep, whom they were carrying to the slaughter-house of both body and soul. God punished Lantery with death upon his passage back — not choosing that he should enjoy his unjust gains. Those who related this story say, that nothing could be more deplorable than the sight of these poor children when they were landed. I did not think that there was that place in the world, be it as barbarous as it may, that could commit so barbarous an action. If God leaves this un- punished, Jonas deserves to be chastised by man, and forced to re-purchase these innocents. If the island of Barbadoes had been under the authority of the English general, or he had been a friend to the governor of that island, I should have reclaimed them ; but that is impracticable, for they are irreconcileable enemies : and it gi'ieves me very much that I cannot do this act of justice. The affair well merits that his Majesty should order his ambassador to the King of England, to reclaim and have them re-purchased without delay ; which might be done out of the effects of Jonas and Lantery. The work cannot but be just, charitable, and me- ritorious, to prevent these poor exposed creatures from losing their soul's life as well as their bodies." The Company took no notice of this affair, and all the poor children died ! Universal History, vol. xxxvi. p. 185. Tablet of Memory. Du Tertre, torn, ii- pp. 4G5, 4GG. 286 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1640. The way in which the Frencli treated their Engages is thus described by Du Tertre : — " They are worked to excess ; they are badly fed, and are often obliged to work in company with slaves, which is a greater affliction than the hard labour : there were masters so cruel that they were forbidden to purchase any more ; and I knew one at Guadaloupe who had buried more than fifty upon his plantation, whom he had killed by hard work, and neglect when they were sick. This cruelty proceeded from their having them for three years only, which made them spare the Negroes rather than these poor crea- tures !" The difficulty of accounting for the diminution of white men capable of bearing arms in Barbadoes, is thus solved ! M. de Poincy contrived to increase the number of volunteers for Guadaloupe, by allowing all debtors to go there, and by declaring null and void all contracts made by debtors, binding themselves, as servants, to pay their debts. M. de la Vernade was sent with this reinforcement; and upon his arrival at Guadaloupe, fixed his abode at Basse Terre. M. de Sabouilly had fixed his at Capsterre. These two immediately took upon themselves the command of the island, and proceeded to make war upon the Caribs. Quinquina (the Peruvian Bark) was first brought from the West Indies by the Jesuits. Two physicians wrote against it; and a priest undertook to prove the administering of it to be a mortal sin. The population of Nevis was estimated by the Abbe Raynal at 10,000 whites and 20,000 blacks. " Other accounts state the in- habitants at this period to amount to 5000 whites, and 12,000 blacks, and these numbers appear more probable than the former." Any authority is better than the Abbe Raynal's ! The English had been about eighteen months peaceably settled upon St. Lucia, and were living upon friendly terms with the Caribs, when an English ship which was becalmed off Dominica attempted to carry off by force some Caribs who came on board fo traffic. All, however, but four, escaped by jumping overboard; these were carried away and sold for slaves. Those who escaped informed their countrymen of the treachery, who determined to revenge themselves upon the colonists at St. Lucia. Having col- lected their countrymen from Martinico and St. Vincent's, in August, they attacked that settlement, and with fire and sword laid all waste : only a few of the English escaped to Mountserrat. M. du Parquet, the governor of Martinico, was blamed by the English, for aiding and assisting the Caribs in the massacre, and complaints were made against him by the English general to M. de Poincy. Du Tertre, torn i. p. 148, 434.; torn. ii. p. 477. Gent. Mag. 1701, vol. i. p. 526. Coke's West Indies, vol. iii. p. 8. 1640.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 287 M. de Poincy gave Le Vassenr his commission of Governor of Tortuga, with orders to expel the Enghsh, in May, 1640. Le Vasseur was a Huguenot, and had been with D'Enambuc in the first expedition to St. Christopher's. The vessel was equipped at the joint expence of both, and Le Vasseur collected in the islands about fifty followers, Huguenots. De Poincy gave him the same number, all Catholics. By a secret article, liberty of conscience was given to Le Vasseur, and all those of his sect who should follow him. He sailed from St. Christopher's the beginning of June, and arrived at St. Domingo in a few days. He landed at a small island close to the shore, at Port Margot, about seven leagues to wind- ward of Tortuga, where he staid three months, during which time he collected fifty French Buccaneers, and with this reinforcement sailed for Tortuga the latter end of August. He landed without any opposition, and immediately summoned Willis to quit the island in twenty-four hours, with all the English. The French who were with Willis innnediately rebelled against him : this joined to Le Vasseur's high tone, and threats of not giving any quarter if his offers were not accepted, prevented Willis from ascertaining whether the French were able or not, by numbers or valour, to maintain their pretensions. He consented to embark immediately, and Le Vasseur entered the fort without opposition, plundering whatever the English could not take with them. They found in the fort one brass and two iron gmis, buried in the sand ; but the place was by nature very strong. At five or six hundred paces from the sea, there is a mountain, the smnmit 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 sweet water, of the size of a man's arm, which spring could not be cut off. Rovmd the summit of the mountain, Le Vasseur made a terrace, with lodging-rooms for 400 soldiers, and he had steps cut half-way up the rock, that rose in the middle of the platform, and an iron ladder to mount the rest, which ladder was drawn up when the governor retired to the rock : he had also a tunnel cut, by which, with a rope-ladder, they might descend to the platform. Upon tliis rock Le Vasseur had his magazine, and several pieces of cannon, and upon the platform a great number more. He soon established good order in the colony. The Buccaneers were received with attention, and the freebooters brought their prizes there, and got their conunissions from the governor, by paying a tenth of their profits : these plundered the Spaniards both by sea and land ; and the Spaniards, in return, put them to cruel deaths, whenever they caught them. The port was open to all nations, and it became the depot from whence the Buccaneers and freebooters Labat, torn. v. pp. 81 — 84. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 170, 171. Chailevoix, torn. iii. pp. 14, 15. 288 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1640. got their arms, ammunition, brandy, and clothes, in exchange for their hides and fish. The French began to plant and colonize Surinam ; but finding the country unhealthy, they abandoned it the next year. The English at Antigua were attacked by the Caribs, who killed fifty of them, and carried off the governor's lady, then great with child, her two children, and three other women. These savages were afterwards defeated at Guadaloupe by the French under Sabouilly, who, for his gallantry, was recommended by De Poincy to the French Company, as the restorer of the colony. At this time, the inhabitants of Antigua consisted of about thirty femilies. At the request of M. du Parquet, a few Jesuits were sent out this year to Martinico, sufficient to serve the cures of St. Pierre and two neighbouring parishes : the rest of the island was destitute of clergy, till 1663, notwithstanding the King, in granting the Company's charter, had obliged the colonial merchants to stipulate that they would send out and support, at their own charge, a sufficient number of missionaries to perform the pastoral duties of the clergy in every parish. M. Auber, who had been a surgeon, was for his services appointed a lieutenant by D'Enambuc : he married Madame du Plessis, the widow of the joint governor of Guadaloupe, and was sent by De Poincy to France, to persuade the French court to transport all the colonists from St. Christopher's to Guadaloupe, and to request the government of that island for M. Sabouilly, not as chief, but under De Poincy, lieutenant-general for his Majesty over all the islands — in neither of which points did he succeed : but the company finding he had married Madame du Plessis, and wishing to shew their respect for her late husband, gave M. Auber the government of Guadaloupe ; with which commission he arrived at Martinico in September, 1640, and there Du Parquet advised him to make peace with the Caribs, and promised him assistance in getting it accomplished. In passing Dominica, some of the Caribs came on board to see M. Auber : he received them with the greatest kindness, gave them several presents, informed them he was going to be governor of Guadaloupe, and what their friend M. du Parquet had said of his desire to live in peace with them was his most earnest wish, and assured them that the Captains D' Olive and Sabouilly would leave that island as soon he arrived. The Caribs left him after mutual assurances of good will, and a promise on their part to come to Guadaloupe in a short time, to conclude the peace. M. Auber arrived at that island the 15th of September, and when he informed the colonists of the expected peace with the Anderson, vol. ii. pp. 389. 392. Du Turtro, torn. i. pp. 150, 151. 188. 191, 192, Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 41 1 . Stephen on West India Slavery, p. 259. 1 6 10.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 289 savages, it was received by the greater part of the Inhabitants as a blessing from God. There were some, however, who said it was impossible ever to have peace with men who were without faith and without religion ; that it would only serve as a pretext for them to surprise and assassinate the French, and then they would throw the blame upon those from St. Vincent's. Some of the French declared their determination to fire upon any of the Caribs that came within their reach. M. Aubert told them he was going to St. Christopher's to consult with M. de Poincy, and declared that every person who should injure the savages during his absence should be individually responsible for the act. He landed at St. Christopher's the 15th of October, where he was kindly received by De Poincy, and allowed to collect as many volunteers as he could persuade to follow him to Guadaloupe : he returned to that island with his lady the 25th of November. His commission was read two Sundays following, at the head of all the companies in the island. The war which had been waged between the Spaniards and the Franch, under the former governor, had rendered it the most desolate of all the American colonies. Want of provisions had reduced many to such extremity, that death was the object of their wishes.' The continual fear they were in of being sm'prised by the savages obliged them to be always in arms, and to leave their gardens and plantations uncultivated : their officers abused their authority, and had brought the colony to the brink of destruction. As soon as M. Aubert assured them of a peace with the Caribbeans, the disturbers of the public peace were dispersed. Tobacco, the only article of exportation from the island, was again cultivated ; and as that trade had been injured by persons selling bad tobacco, and foreigners, in consequence, slighted the island, M. Aubert appointed persons to examme all that was for exportation, with orders to throw into the sea what was unfit for fair traffic. The island soon began to flourish. The Caribs at Dominica having persuaded their countrymen to make peace with M. Aubert, and having for five months refrained from hostilities, imagined that sufficient to render it safe for them to send a deputation to the governor, to confii'm the peace. Two of Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 192. Davis's History of the Caiibbee Islands, p. 180 — 182. 1 Du Tertre, with five other religioners, I heard nothing from all sides the house landed at Guadaloupe. In M. Vernade's but dying voices that said, 'Stay a moment, house he found 100 sick persons lying Father: don't fill up the grave; you will upon the ground, or at best upon some not have more trouble for two or three reeds, wallowing in their own filth, many than for one only ! ' And iu general it reduced to the last extremity, and without happened so that I buried, very commonly, succour from any person. " I had hardly two or three in the same grave !" These finished with one till I was obliged to run maladies and this mortality lasted till the to another: sometimes, while I was bury- arrival of M. Aubert, »-2)(( Tertre, vol, i. ing one rolled up in banana leaves (there p. 152. was no talking of linen in those times), U SQO CHllONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1640. their most renowned captains, with several of the bravest officers and soldiers, were dispatched in two canoes, as envoys : Captain Amichon was tlie commander. They landed confidently, and desired to see the governor, M. Aiibert, to whom they sent a pre- sent of their best fruits. The governor immediately ordered the inhabitants and his household not to give them the least occasion to fear any ill treatment, and went himself to welcome them. Amichon had visited M. Aubert in the ship at Dominica, and immediately recognized him, and told him he was come to confirm what they had resolved upon at Dominica concerning peace, and that all the Caribbeans of his country were desirous of peace. M. Aubert led them to his house, regaled them plentifully, and gave them presents of the curiosities most in esteem among the savages : and, that all the deputies might participate of the good cheer, those who had been treated went to relieve those who were left behind to look after the piragua, who also, in their turn, received equal presents. Captain Amichon, according to the custom they observe towards their friends, took M. Aubert's name, and gave him his own : they then returned, highly pleased, to the boat, and set sail. At a certain rendezvous they met Captain Baron, the other ambassador, who, understanding the reception Captain Amichon had met with, proceeded on to Guadaloupe, and arrived there next day. This Baron had been a great friend of M. du Plessis. This second part}^ landed, and were treated with tlie same attention with which Captain Amichon and his party had been : and when Captain Baron found the governor had been intimately acquainted with his old friend M. du Plessis, a more particular friendship com- menced between them, and Baron w^as dismissed better pleased than the former deputy. He soon made a second visit, when M. Aubert introduced one of his old friend M. du Plessis's sons to him, to whom, in remembrance of his father, Baron gave a thousand caresses. After this the Caribs made daily visits to Guadaloupe ; and M. Aubert proposed to Baron, as a proof of his countrymen's sincerity, that he should require some of their children as hostages. Baron immediately replied, that mutual safety was to be procured by equal conditions ; and that if they delivered up some of their children to the French, it was but just the French should do the same : he then presented to M. Aubert some of his own children, the best-looking of whom was chosen. Baron consented to part with him, and the lad Imalabouy was content to stay. From that day M. Aubert treated him as his son, and Imalabouy called him father. Baron, as a counter-hostage, wished to have one of Mad. Aubert's sons, because she had been the wife of his friend M. du Plessis : this, however, the governor contrived to avoid, by representing that young Du Plessis was too delicate to bear a Caribbean life, and per- suaded Baron to accept instead of him one of his servants, who Davis's History of thf Carihbc-c Islands, p. 183, 184. iGiO.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 291 much wislied to go. He accordingly went ; but after being a few months among the savages, who treated him with great kindness, he became so unwell, that Baron, fearing he might die among them, brought him back to M. Aubert, without requiring another hostage: but he could not prevail upon his own son to return.' Baron frequently visited Guadaloupe afterwards, to see his son : and, as a proof of his gratitude to M. Aubert for his kindness to Imalabouy, told him, that three years before, he had taken a French- man prisoner, and had saved his life, only because he had been a servant to M. du Plessis, and this yovmg man he promised now to deliver up, and a few days afterwards brought him back to Guada- loupe : but not thinking he had yet done enough to oblige M. Aubert, he prevailed upon another Caribbean captain to set at liberty another prisoner, whose name was Jean Jardin, a very clever fellow, who had gained the good-will of the Caribs, and learnt their language. Baron was going to Trinidad, to make war upon the Arouagues ; fortunately, M. Aubert had a servant named Des Serissiers, who wished very much to be present at an engage- ment with the savages ; and this man, properly equipped with good fire arms and ammunition, was offered to Captain Baron ; who, much astonished at the favour, joyfully accepted his services. Des Serissiers was an excellent marksman, and a gallant fellow : in the first encounter with the Arouagues he did such service, that the Caribbeans were completely victorious: from that time they considered him a great captain. During the whole of M. Aubert's government, the peace made with the Caribbeans was inviolably preserved on both sides, to the great advantage of both nations ; the savages getting wedges, hooks, knives, &c. in exchange for swine, lizards, turtle, and fish : so that the Caribbeans were purveyors for the French, who, in the mean time, worked in their plantations without any molestation. Davis's History of the Caribbce Islands, p. 185. ' " Imalabouy (the son of Orachoia Cara- Du Tertre, who calls the boy M ara- miana, whom the French called Captain bonis, denies the story in part, but con- Baron) was sent to Paris from Guada- fesses he was baptised in tlie Jacobin loupe, and baptized with great solemnity, convent, Paris, when he was supposed to in the presence of many honourable per- be upon his death-bed; that upon his return sons, and named Lewis, and afterwards to Guadaloupe, his mother and friends sent back to his own country, laden with enticed him from the Christians, and got presents. As soon as he set foot upon his him to marry his cousin ; but that he own island, he laughed at all he had seen, repented of it afterwards, and wished to put off his clothes, and painted his body rejoin the Christians, when his friends with roucon, saying the Christians were a poisoned him ! Dii, Terlre, torn. ii. foolish sort of people !" — Davis's History p. 418. of the Caribbce Islands, p. 286. u 2 292 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l641. 1641. In May, M. tie Poincy received fresh commissions, confirming his former command for three years from the next January : he, how- ever, did not read them as was usual, at the head of the different companies ; and this gave rise to rumours, that in consequence of the representations which had been sent home against his govern- ment, his powers were lessened. A counterfeit commission, lessening his authority, was handed about; and M. de Poincy suspected Maret, one of the oldest captains in the island, to be the author, and sent some of his creatures, who were also intimate with Maret, to procure proofs. Maret was entertaining them in the most hospitable manner, when one of them pretended to find a piece of parchment, and asked what it was. Maret said he did not know ; that never having learnt to read or wi-ite, he took no heed of such things : and denied its being his — declaring that those wlio had taken it from his hammock had put it there themselves. He was, however, arrested, carried before De Poincy, and sent under a strong guard, with irons upon his hands and feet, to the fort : he was ordered to be immediately tried, was found guilty, and condemned to death, though all the inhabitants knew that he could neither read nor write, and must therefore be innocent of forging the commission. Some disrespectful expressions concerning the Pope, the Virgin Mary, and De Poincy, were proved against him. The Capuchin friars, believing him innocent, used their utmost endeavours to save his life, and persuaded the judge to call upon De Poincy, and tell him frankly that he could not condemn Maret to death. The judge returned to the friars in tears, and declared to Father Hierome, that he was a lost man if he did not con- demn Maret. His friends now contrived to get him out of prison by making the soldiers drunk, and he remained concealed for thirteen days, during which time he was condemned to be beheaded for contimiacy, and the sentence was executed upon liis effigy. De Poincy's rage was unbounded : he confiscated the effects of the two sergeants of the guard, and banished them to Guadaloupe ; the two corporals were tried by a council of war, consisting of six officers and his judge, who condemned them to death, and the sentence was executed within an hour afterwards. Understanding that Maret had taken refuge among the English, De Poincy, with 4000 armed men, proceeded to the frontier of the English, and sent a trumpeter to the governor, to say that if Maret was not given up he would come and search for him even in the governor's house. Unwilling to take any part in the affair, the Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 161 — 164. 1641.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 293 English sent back tlie fugitive, who was carried again to the fort under the guard of 100 men, and upon the 17th of September beheaded with a bill-hook, after having done penance, in his shirt, with a torch, before the chapel at Basse Terre, as guilty of high treason against God and man. M. de Poincy's violent proceedings at St. Christopher's had given rise to great murmurs in the island, which were increased by his forbidding any person to go on board the merchant vessels which arrived to trade there. He took all their cargoes himself, and had them lodged in his own store-houses, and appointed seven com^- missaries to retail them to the inhabitants, taking four per cent, himself upon all transfers made in the island, and fixing what duties he thought proper. Some of the oldest inhabitants took arms to oppose this monopoly, and, headed by Clement Bugaud, proceeded to demand that things should be restored to the same state they were in during D'Enambuc's administration. Bugaud and his followers were unexpectedly surprised by M. Sabouilly, who, pretendmg to call several other companies of soldiers to his assistance, so intimi- dated the insurgents, that they dispersed and fled from what they supposed was a very superior force. Bugaud and some of the principal insurgents escaped to the continent. The Spaniards attacked the English at New Providence, displaced the settlers, burnt their habitations, and murdered the governor, but did not occupy the country themselves. The French abandoned their settlement at Surinam, and the English, at the expence of Lord Willoughby, first settled there. Sir Henry Hunks left the government of Barbadoes, and was succeeded by Captain Philip Bell. Sir Henry carried home with him a chart of the island, which was drawn by Captain Swann ; Sir Henry commanding Swann to give it up to him for that purpose. Captain Philip Bell had been governor of the island of Providence. While governor of Barbadoes, he settled the constitution of the island. The governor is appointed by the King's commission ; so are liis council, consisting of twelve, by mandamus. The assembly is composed of twenty-two, that is, two members from each of the eleven parishes. The island is divided into five districts : in each of these there is a judge and four assistants, who hold a Court ot Common Pleas every month, from January to September. Every servant, at the expiration of his term, is by law allowed three, four, or five acres : this constitutes a yeomanry, and is one reason why the force of the island is at all times respectable. Colquhoun's British Empire, p. 372, Dii Tcrtrc, torn. i. pp. 16.^. 167. Anderson, vol. ii. pp. 389. 392, A. a. Univ. Hist, vo . xxxvi. p. b8. Ligon's History of Barbadoes, pp. 26. 32. CampbeU's PoUtical Survey, vol. u. p 666, u 3 294 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY |^l642. 1642. M. Houel, one of the Company governing the French West India Islands, arrived at Guadaloupe : he was received with all possible respect by M. Aubert, who communicated to him all the infor- mation he could respecting the island, and also all his plans for the future — little suspecting that M. Houel was only looking out to see what situation and which island it would suit him to apply for, for himself. In March, the French Company of the American Islands ob- tained a charter, with new privileges and greater concessions, from the French court, granting to the Company and their successors, in perpetuity, the property of the said islands, from latitude 10° N. to latitude 30° N., with permission to have, upon application, the dignities of barons, counts, and marquesses, and leave to import all the productions of those islands duty-free. Four patents of nobility were given to the company, to dispose of as they thought proper, to any who should live in the said islands two years, with fifty men, at their own expence. M. Renou, the judge at St. Christopher's, having been assas- sinated by one of the officers whom he had condemned to death for letting M. Maret escape from confinement, the French Company of the American Islands sent out M. Clerselier de Leumont, as civil and criminal judge, and intendant over all commissaries and officers in the island, with power to suspend them from ex- ercising their duties, in cases of negligence or fraud, till orders from the Company could arrive, and to appoint others in the interim : his powers were to last for three years from 1642. He arrived at St. Christopher's in December, and was for some time afterwards upon very friendly terms with M. de Poincy, till he thought their duties clashed, and that M. Clerselier made un- favourable reports of his actions. During this year, there were three hurricanes in the West Indies: the second lasted twenty-four hours, during which, at St. Christopher's, twenty-three fully-laden vessels were wrecked upon the coast — one of them belonged to the celebrated De Ruyter. Tlie houses were all blown down, and the whole of the cotton and tobacco plants were destroyed: the salt lakes overflowed their banks, and were for some tune afterwards unpro- ductive. In 1642, or thereabouts, the Dutch, from Flushing, sent a considerable colony to (Tobago), who fixed themselves very com- modiously, and though at first they found the climate sickly and unwholesome, yet by degrees, as they cleared it, the air agreed Uu Tcitrc, torn. i. pp. 207. 209. 217, 219. 221. Harris s Voyngosj vol. ii. p. 369. lGi3.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 295 with them better, and they began to extend their settlements. The Spaniards, howevei-, from the island of Trinidad, in conjunction with the savages from St. A'incent's, fell upon the Dutch, mur- dered them all and destroyed their plantations : after which, the island lay for several years desert. 1643. M. de Bretigny, on his way to take die coHimand at Cayenne, touched at St. Vincent's. Some Negroes brought him a present from the governor, of nineteen goats, upon asses : in return, biscuit and brandy were given, with which they were very well pleased, because they had nothing to eat but goat's flesh and turtle, being without bread and without casava ; yet some of M. Bretigny's men wished to remain there. The Spanish government issued a royal ordinance upon the 15th July, 1643, declaring men of colour incapable of serving in the royal troops. The Dutch commandant of Seara, in Brazil, had been sum- moned to defend Maranham ao;ainst the Portucjuese : he fell into an ambush, and was cut off, with about thirty Dutchmen and 100 Indians. The governor, enraged at the loss, delivered twenty-five Portuguese of St. Luiz to be devoured by the savages fi'om Seara ; and " he sent fifty to Barbadoes, to be sold as slaves to the English. The English governor ordered them to be brought on shore, as if he meant to bargain for them, and then set them at liberty, after indignantly reproving the agent, who had insulted liim by offering wliite men and Christians for sale !" The Spaniards sent six vessels, with 600 soldiers, besides sailors, to drive the French from the island of Tortuga. When the boats were within half gun-shot of the shore, they were received with a discharge of artillery, which sunk one, and obliged the rest to retreat. The ships weighed anchor, and proceeded two leagues further, where they made good their landing, and attacked the French. Le Vasseur, the governor, laid soldiers in ambush, by whom 100 of the Spaniards were killed, and the rest only thought of saving themselves by flight. This victory gained Le ^^asseur great applause. M. Poincy became jealous, and fearful of being reprimanded by his government for having granted the situation to a Huguenot : he tried to induce Le Vasseur to return to St. Christopher's, and sent liis nephew, M. de Lonvilliers, under pretence of compli- Paul Boyer's Voyage, p. GO. Dcpoii's South America, vol. i. p. 1 7 J. Southey's Brazil, vol. ii. p. .'57. Labat, torn. \. p. 85. DuTertrc, torn. i. p. 172. Charlevoix, torn. iii. pp. 1", 18. u 4 QQ(5 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l643. menting him upon his victory, to request Le Vasseur would repair to St. Christopher's to settle with M. Poincy, about establishing a colony in the island of Espahola. Le Vasseur excused himself, pretending that it would be imprudent in him to quit the island, lest the Spaniards should make another attack Lonvilliers, seeing his design was suspected, returned to St. Christopher's without delay. Le Vasseur, flushed with success, proceeded to acts of tyranny : he burnt the Roman Catholics' chapel, forbade them to exercise their religion, and obliged their priest to quit the island — a Capuchin named Father Marc, who had been driven there by a hurricane. Not content with the riches he had accumulated, he laid on new and oppressive taxes. The slightest faults were punished with excessive severity : he had an iron cage made, which he called his Hell, into which he put the criminal's head, arms, and legs, and thus kept him constantly bent together. Confinement in this was inflicted for the most trivial offences. The dungeon in his fort he called his Purgatory ! The Dutch sent a colony from St. Eustatia to Santa Croix. Upon the 15th of September, M. Houel arrived at Guadaloupe, to supercede M. Aubert as governor; and soon afterwards there came out a cargo of young women, from the hospital of St. Joseph, at Paris : they were under the direction of Madame la Fayolle, and sent out to prevent the inhabitants from going home to France to seek for wives. Madame Fayolle brought out letters of recom- mendation from the Queen and other ladies of high rank, which secured their being treated with great respect, and a house was provided for them by the governor. Madame Fayolle was soon relieved from all trouble in taking care of her young friends, by the officers, who eagerly sought them in marriage. After some short stay at Guadaloupe, M. Houel proceeded to St. Christopher's, to call upon M. de Poincy, whom he offended by calling upon M. Leumont, the intendant, first. He then waited upon De Poincy, and shewed his commissions. De Poincy said he expected M. Houel would take the oaths to him as the former governors of the islands had done. Tiiis M. Houel refused, because he was one of the Lords of the Company, and therefore in a dif- ferent character from the other governors ; and because, by a royal edict, he had absolute power over all the places, except that of governor-general of all the islands. M. Houel, however, afterwards offered to take the oaths, which De Poincy refused to receive, supposing himself sufficiently powerful to force him to acknowledge the royal authority. This dispute occasioned the ruin of many families, and great bloodshed. M. Houel returned to Guadaloupe ; M. Aubert, to avoid per- Du Tcrtio, torn, i. I'l), 19. 172, 173. 225. 227, 228. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 18. Labat, toiu. v, p. 110. 1644<.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 297 petual disputes, quitted the island, under pretence of going to his wife at St. Christopher's. 1644. M. Houel wrote to M. de Poincy at St. Christopher's, accusing M. Aubert of persuading the Caribs that he, M. Houel, intended to massacre them ; and requesting M. de Poincy would not suffer M. Aubert to return to Guadaloupe, until the truth of the report was ascertained. Some Caribs soon afterwards landing at Guadaloupe, M. Houel seized one, called Du Rivage, pretending that he knew what M. Aubert had said to his countrymen, and confined him in a small prison, where he was for more than two months subjected to various torments, to make him confess what was plotting among them. At last, upon being promised his liberty, Rivage confessed it was true he had told his countrymen, by M. Aubert's orders, that M. Houel was come to that country to chase them from Dominica, and massacre them. Upon this confession, M. Houel assembled his council, before whom Du Rivage repeated his con- fession, though it was concluded to be false, because M. Aubert's only son, and all his slaves and effects, were at Guadaloupe. M. Houel now remitted the whole statement to M. de Poincy, and sent M. Aubert's son with the officers who carried it; declaring, at the same time, he should be satisfied, if M. Aubert never re- turned to Guadaloupe. De Poincy, suspecting that it was M. Houel's ambition which led him to adopt this stratagem, to oblige a lieutenant-general, whose authority clashed with his, to quit the island, directed that the witness Du Rivage should be sent to him ; and for this purpose sent M. Tostain, a notary, to examine the witnesses at Guadaloupe, and bring back Du Rivage, that he might be confronted with M. Aubert. M. Tostain was furnished with an order from Du Poincy to M. Houel, to put the whole examination of the affair into his hands. Upon his arrival at Guadaloupe, the 8th of April, M. Houel refused to see him, saying he acknowledged no other judge m his island, than the Grand Council of the King : he, however, ordered his judge to answer M. Tostain as far as he could, without derogating from his particular privileges : but when M. Tos- tain called upon M. Marivet, and told him M. Houel's orders, the judge refused to comply with them, because the commission was not addressed to him ; upon this, Tostain called upon M. Houel, who promised to refer the subject to the council : this, however, was never done : and M. Tostain, unable to obtain anv satisfaction Du Tcitro, torn. i. pp. 229. 233, 234, 298 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l644. returned to St. Christopher's, to report his bad success to M. Poincy; who, offended at his authority being disputed, drew up several articles of complaint against M. Houel, to be sent to his govern- ment in France, stating that M. Houel had declined his jurisdiction, after having acknowledged it, by demanding justice upon M. Aubert; and that the whole of the proceedings against that gentleman were null and void, because they were irregular. At the same time, M. de Poincy begged to resign the commission the Company had given him, in favour of his nephew, reserving to himself his com- mission from the King as lieutenant-general of the island. M. Houel, expecting that M. de Poincy would push things to extremity, and come himself for Rivage, got a petition signed by some of the inhabitants, stating that they were not safe, from the attacks of the savages, in their hovises, or gardens, or whilst fishing, and demanding the condemnation of him who wished to have all their throats cut by these barbarians. When it was known that such a petition had been handed about, general murmurs took place, to appease which M. Houel pretended to cut the petition in pieces at the church door, declaring he woLdd not do any thing against the wish of the inhabitants : but it was only a copy that he destroyed ; the original he kept, and carried with him to France, for which place he sailed in August, taking his prisoner Rivage with him : he found M. Aubert already there, making his complaints to the Company. The director of the Company advised M. Aubert to return to the West Indies, because he thought that M. Houel's interest was too powerful to contend against. M. Aubert obeyed ; and during his absence, M. Houel succeeded in getting him condemned to be beheaded for contumacy. As soon as M. de Poincy heard that M. Houel had sailed for France, he sent fresh articles of complaint against him to the Company, to weaken, as much as he could, the injurious repre- sentation which he knew would be made against himself: he forwarded letters of complaint from the Dutch governor of St. Eustatia, Van de Woetyne, accusing M. Houel of detaining the captain of a Dutch vessel, and confining him unjustly ; and from Sir Thomas Warner, accusing him of harbouring in Guadaloupe, English and Irish fuijitives, who had fled from their creditors in St. Christo- pher's, without leave; and also for quitting the country without his leave, as lieutenant-general of the islands, and appointing a person to govern during his absence, without his sanction. After sending his complaints to Europe, M. Poincy sent the intendant from St. Christopher's, to govern in Guadaloupe during M. Houel's absence. The intendant arrived at Guadaloupe the 3d of November, and three days afterwards waited upon M. Marivet, who had been left by M. Houel to govern that island during l)u IVrtro, torn. i. pp. 235. 23S, 23D. 211, 212, 24.3, 1644.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 299 his absence. M. Marivet expressed his willingness to obey M. de Poincy in every thing : but as the affair concerned every inhabitant in the island, it was necessary they should be consulted. Upon the 16th, the principal merchants and officers, to the number of fifty, met at M. Houel's house, and having heard the intendant's orders read, they requested him to retire whilst they deliberated upon them. In a quarter of an hour he was requested to come in again, and then they told him, that they had a very worthy governor sent by the Company, without whose orders they could not receive another; and that, because M. the intendant had accepted that conmiission, they concluded he was more attached to the interests of M. Poincy than to those of M. Houel, and therefore they could have no confidence in him, and requested and enjoined him to quit the island within twenty-four hours. The remonstrances of the intendant produced no other effect than permission to remain for some days, to arrange his embarka- tion; but as he stopt longer than they thought proper, at nine in the morning of the 2d of December, they sent several messengers to say they would not answer for his personal safety, if he did not leave the island within an hour. He, however, did not go till the next day, when they obliged him to embark on board a vessel then in the road. Upon his arrival at St. Cliristopher's, he delivered to M. de Poincy a written statement of what had passed. When M. Houel quitted Guadaloupe, he directed his maitre d'hotel, Maturin Hedouin, to keep watch over the conduct of M. Marivet ; and the intendant had no sooner left the island than Maturin and Madame La Fayolle began to circulate reports, that some traitors wished to sell the island to M. de Poincy, and that all those who were faidiful to M. Houel should join Maturin, who was determined to maintain it for him at the hazard of his life. At the same time, Jeanne Petit Robert quarrelled with La Fayolle, accusing her of calling herself a widow, though her husband was still alive. In consequence of these reports. La Fayolle applied to Marivet for justice, declaring, at the same time, she would take it herself if he did not give it her. He tried to appease her, and defei-red taking any further trouble in the affair. Irritated at this. La Fayolle presented her request to the judge, who condemned Jeanne to make honourable reparation, and also to be confined in irons in the guard-house among the soldiers for three weeks. The inhabitants, scandalized at this treatment, were upon the point of liberating Jeanne by force, when Maturin, not choosing his authority to be any longer despised, directed his major to liberate her, and send her home. La Fayolle and Maturin, with their faction, now determined to depose Marivet, and upon the IGth of December, as he was walking half-dressed before his door in the morning, 150 men, under the I)u 'IVitro, torn, i, pp. 247, 2-18. 300 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1645. command of La Roche, seized liim ; and when he demanded the reason of this violence, Maturin made his appearance, and furi- ously attacked him, had him dragged to the guard room, and there Maturin put a heavy chain, with 113 links, round his body, and irons upon his feet. In tliis state he was kept for eight months, during which time the disputes in the island produced both public and private distress, both parties writing to the Company for redress.^ 1645. The disputes in the West Indies had determined the French government to supercede M. de Poincy, and they appointed M. de Thoisy Pati'ocles to succeed him. De Thoisy's commission as lieutenant-general is dated December 26th, 1644, and his orders February 20th, 1645. The Company also honoured him with the commission of seneschal for St. Christopher's; it is dated 25th February, 1645, and gives greater powers than any former com- mission they had issued. The King and the Company wrote to Du Tertre, torn, i., p. 250. ' " This year tliere was killed at Tortuga a remarkable fish, of which the following description is given by Du Montel, who saw it killed; — " * In its pursuit after a smaller fish, it stuck, with half its body dry, upon a sand- bank, and was there killed by the inhabit- ants of Tortuga. It was above eighteen feet long, and as big round, in the largest part, as a butt: it had six vermilion- coloured fins, two near the gills, and the others at equal distances, on the sides of the belly. All the upper part of the body was covered with blue scales, spotted with white, each scale as large as a crown piece : round the neck the scales were darker and closer, and under the belly they were yellow ; the tail was forked, and the head, in size and shape, not unlike a horse's, covered with a hard and dark skin. Out of the fore part of the head protruded a horn, about nine feet and a half in lengtli, quite straight, and tapering gradually to a sharp point : it was about sixteen inches in circumference close to the head, and from thence to two-thirds of its length it was like a screw or a wreathed pillar, the channels growing regularly smaller, till they ended in a point. Near the head it was covered with sliort hair, of the colour of a withered leaf; under this it was white as ivory ; the rest of the horn was naked, of a polished black, striped with white and yellow : it had large gills like other fishes, and eyes as large as a hen's egg. Upon its head there was an oval excrescence, pointed at the extremities, and rising two inches above the head. Above 300 persons at Tortuga ate of its flesh, and thought it not unlike, but better than, cod. The head and horn was hung up for two years, in the guard-liouse at Tortuga, and was given by M. le Vasseur to M. des Trancarts of Xaintonge, who had it packed up in a chest, and took it with him, intending to carry it to France ; but the ship and cargo were lost near Fayal.' " — JJavis's History of the Caribbee Islands, chap, xviii. " En effect bien que je fusse dans les isles au temps que cette pretendue licorne s'est echouee, et que je ne fusse que trop curieux d'apprendre tout ce qui s'y passoit je n'ay jamais tien ouy dire de semblable, et tous les habitans de ce temps-la ausquels je m'en suis enqueste, disent qu'ils n'en ent jamais ouy parler, aussi je ne puis concevoir comment la memoire d'luic chose si considerable, leur ayt este si cachee. Je ne veux i)ourtant pas dire que cela soit nbsolument faux n'y impossible. " — Z^m TcHrc, vol. ii. p. 364. Le Sieur de Uochcforl's book, he says, has the story. 10 1-5.] OF THE WEST INDIES. SOI- De Poincj', to inform him that De Thoisy was coming out to succeed him, and directing him to return to France, in the same vessel which brought out his successor. At the same time, M. Aubert and De Poincy's nephew wTote to him, saying that his enemies were determined upon his ruin if he came home,jind advising him to stay at St. Christopher's, and by force resist De Thoisy. De Poincy believed their reports, and under pretence that the King had been misinformed of his proceedings, determined not to quit the island till he was paid to the last half- penny ; for the money, he pretended, was due to him for building forts, magazines, &c. Having taken his resolution, he proceeded to strengthen his party in the islands by all the means in his power. D' Aubert being aiTived to his assistance from France, De Poincy now banished from the island the intendant and all the Company's officers disaffected to his cause, and spread reports that De Thoisy was coming to St. Christopher's to lay on heavier duties, and augment the Company's droits ; he also persuaded the English general to adopt his cause. Upon the 29th of May, M. Houel arrived at Guadaloupe, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who expected that peace between the two factions would now be restored : he immediately released Marivet, his lieutenant, and expressed his regi'et at what had passed during his absence: but as the pope had granted a jubilee that year to all Christendom, and it was difficult to know who were to blame in this affiiir, he pardoned every body, and begged that what was passed might be forgotten. Many of com*se were dis- satisfied : they had been beaten as well as plundered, and they expected the Company's orders for the exemplary punisluuent of the rebels woidd have been executed. A few days afterwards, Marivet threatened with vengeance those who had injured him, and struck Du Me, one of his principal enemies. In consequence of this M. Houel dismissed him from all his offices, and confined him a prisoner to his house. September the 13th, M. de Tlioisy sailed from Havre with four sail, and on the evening of November 16th, anchored at Basse Terre, Martinico : he was received by Du Parquet, the governor, with due respect, and met by M. Leumont, the intendant of St. Chris- topher's, and M. Sabouilly, major-general of all the islands, who informed him that they had been driven from St. Christopher's by M. de Poincy, who was determined not to quit that island. M. de Thoisy, however, resolved to proceed thither; and upon the 19th he arrived at Guadaloupe, where he was received with great respect by M. Houel, who took the oaths to him. Several young girls, from the hospital of St. Joseph at Paris, came out in the ship, under the care of Madame Journee : these, Du Toitrc, torn. i. pp. 260, 261. 267, 268. 270. 286. 290. 302 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l6l<5. after waiting upon the governor, were placed under Madame la Fayolle's care. De Thoisy staid three days at Guadaloupe, during which time several consultations were held about the measures proper to be taken : at these Sabouilly assisted, until he discovered that the lieutenancy of St. Christopher's was promised to M. Guinan, which promise he insisted on being revoked, before he would further assist M. de Thoisy in getting possession of that island. November the 22d, M. de Thoisy sailed for St. Christopher's, leaving his wife and family at Guadaloupe, under the protection of M. Houel. On the 25th, De Thoisy arrived at St. Christopher's, and immediately sent Boisfaye, his captain of the guard, with the royal orders for his reception. Being arrived within 100 paces of the shore, Boisfaye was met by a boat, from which he learnt that M. de Poincy was still on the island, and determined not to receive the general. Boisfaye pretended not to believe this, and continued to pull on shore, and was upon the point of landing, when he was stopped by M. Aubert, at the head of his company, who forbade his landing, and demanded what he wanted. Boisfaye told him he came on his Majesty's service, by order of the lieute- nant-general of those islands, to give his Majesty's orders to the commander, De Poincy. M. Aubert interrupted him, by declaring that they would have no other lieutenant-general than M. de Poincy, and that he would not receive any order from his Majesty ; that, nevertheless, he would go and assemble the inhabitants, and that the next day he might come and hear their answer. On the 26th, De Thoisy sent M. Boisfaye again, in quality of lieutenant from the grand provost, with three officers, to hear the answer. When they were on the point of landing, M. Aubert, at the head of three or four hundred men under arms, told him that the people would have no other lieutenant-general than M. de Poincy, and that they would not receive any orders from the King. Upon which, Boisfaye, holding vip his staff of office as provost's lieutenant, told him he had letters from the King to give the people — some of whom approaching too near to hear what was said, M. Aubert made them keep back with his stick, and told the lieutenant to go back again. Boisfaye, after declaring them guilty of high treason, and that their refusal would be made known to the King, returned to De Thoisy ; who, finding that Pe Poincy covered his disobedience under the pretext of the people's will, resolved to go to Sandy Point, where M. Lonvilliers, De Poincy's nephew, and governor of the island, commanded. In passing the great roadstead, he sent M. Guinant to the English governor, with some letters from the Queen of England (Charles the First's wife). On approaching the sliore, M. Guinant was met by a party of soldiers, of whom he demanded if the French might land in safety. Du 'IVrtre, torn. i. i)p. 291, 292, 293, 1G45.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 303 Tliey told him, if he came as a servant of M. de Poincy, yes, lie might land in safety ; but coming from M. de Thoisy they forced liim to go back again. After this refusal M. de Thoisy returned to Guadaloupe, where he arrived the 28 th of November. While the French in the other islands were disputing who should be their governor, Le Vasseur conceived it was the favourable time for him to declare liimself independent, and Prince of Tortuga. '• Le Vasseur's first act of open disrespect was in answer to an appli- cation made by De Poincy to him for a silver statue of the Virgin Mary, which the fi-eebooters had taken in a Spanish vessel ; stating, at the same time, that it was more proper it should belong to a Catholic and a Knight of Malta, than to a Protestant. Le Vasseur sent him a wooden model of it, and replied that the Catholics were too spiritual to be attached to the materials with which their images were made ; that, for his part, he thought the silver figure so well made, he could not part with such a piece of beautiful workmanship. De Poincy now found himself bound by interest as well as honour to remove a subaltern who had insulted his authority, and an heretic whom he had not been authorised by his court to intrust with such a command. M. Brasby (Brasebet), English governor of the colony at Santa Cruz ', was killed in his owni house by the governor of the Dutch colonists, in the same island. Both nations immediately flew to arms, and a furious battle ensued, in which the Dutch governor was mortally wounded, and died a few days afterwards. Both parties retreated to their quarters, and the Dutch elected a new governor, who was sent to the English, to negotiate an accommo- dation. They seized and executed him for the murder of their own governor. In this transaction the English are by Du Tertre accused of violating their promise of safety to the governor. There were among the Dutch about 120 Frenchmen, deserters from St. Christopher's : these, seeing that the Dutch were about to quit the island, obtained leave fi^om the English to retire to a French island, and bargained with Thomas Paul, the captain of an English vessel, for their passage, offering him a great quantity of manyoc, upon condition of his landing them at Guadaloupe. They arrived there in July, and were received with joy by M. Houel, to whom such a reinforcement of veteran inhabitants, with their implements and arms, was a valuable prize. He also assured them of his protecting them from any claims which might be made upon them from St. Christopher's, as they had left that island without leave. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 22. 174. 272. 294. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 21. ' The ancient savages called Santa Cruz, Ay- Ay, — Bu Tertre, torn. ii. p. 37. 30i CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1646. After this, they requested M. Houel to arrest Captain Paul, who had brought them over, and to make him responsible for all the losses they had suffered from his countrymen in Santa Cruz. Houel did so: he seized the vessel and all her effects — arrested the captain and his officers — fettered and handcuffed, and threw them into prison. It was supposed the vessel's cargo was very valuable ; that she had jewels on board, an unicorn's horn, and a great quantity of cochenille : the unicorn's horn proved to be the horn of a rhinoceros. No jewels were found, but there was cochenille, and she was too good a prize to be let free. They tried to prove Captain Paul a pirate ; but failing in this, they found him guilty of having favoured the expulsion of the French from Santa Cruz — of being the cause of their losing their property in that island — and also of having, like the rest of the English, profited by it ; and they condemned him to make reparation for the damages the French had suffered, and ordered the vessel and cargo to be sold, and the proceeds dis- tributed among the sufferers, according to their several claims. This sentence was dated August the 16th, 1645, and signed by Leumont, Pasquier de Bussy, Charles Lambert, Chevrollier, Martial, Du Me, Du Pont, Du Puys, and Gendrel. The sentence was carried into effect. One of M. Houel's servants bought the vessel for his master : she was 200 tons burthen, with four guns, besides small arms, and well found in every thing. Ten thousand pounds of tobacco was given for her, though she was worth more than ten times that sum. After considerable expence in fitting her up, M. Houel ordered her round to Capsterre, where they got her upon the rocks, and rendered her useless. Poor Captain Thomas Paul, oppressed with the rigours of his confinement, and the thoughts of the injustice he had suffered, lost his senses, and was sent to England quite crazy. 1646. The Dutch, under the command of Admiral Binks, expelled the French from Cayenne. The rebellion in England occasioned extraordinary emigrations to Barbadoes, which island flourished, in consequence, beyond the most sanguine expectations of the inhabitants. The young Earl of Carlisle attempted to revive his right to the forty pounds of cotton wool from every person holding land under his father's grant : a tax which had been neglected, and was apparently forgotten. As the best means of accomplishing this point, he entered into a private Du Tertre, toin. i. pp. 273, 274. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxix. p. 232, A. a. Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 98. 1C46.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 30.5 negociation with Lord Willoughby, and surrendered to him all his rights for twenty-one years, upon condition of receiving one-half of the profits which might arise from the island. Lord Willoughby, widi the private approbation of King Charles, obtained the signature of the Prince of Wales, then in Holland ; and thus sanctioned, sailed for Barbadoes in 1646. He was well received by the inhabitants : and " it has been asserted, that he contrived to obtain from die wealthy inhabitants a private promise, that some acknowledgment should be made to die ancient possessors." January the 16th, M. Parquet, the governor of Martinico, arrived at Guadaloupe, and proposed to M. de Tlioisy, a plan to land at Sandy Point, in St. Clu-istopher's, and carry off by surprise M. de Poincy's two nephews, MM. Lonvilliers and De Treval. M. Tlioisy agreed to let M. Parquet go, and furnished him with a commission as governor of that island, till his arrival. On the 18th the general arrived at Nevis; and M. Parquet, with two friends, MM. le Compta and St. Aubin, landed, at six in the evening, in the ship's boat, at Sandy Point, St. Christopher's ; they were immediately joined by the inhabitants, to the number of near 400 men ; they seized de Poincy's two nephews in their beds, and sent them back in the boat to Nevis. M. Parquet and his followers were, however, soon attacked by M. de Poincy, at the head of 2000 English, besides French, and completely defeated. Sixty were killed, and the rest fled to the woods. After lyino- concealed there for three days, half dead with famine and thirst, M. Parquet, in the night, sought refuge in the house of the Capuchin friar. Father Luc, by whose advice, after taking some refreshment, he retired to the English for protection, in hopes they would furnish him with a boat to carry him back to Martinico. The English received him with civility, but sent to inform M. de Poincy, that the governor of Martinico was with them. De Poincy imme- diately, with all his cavalry, invested the English general's house, seized De Parquet at table, and sent him to prison. Upon the arrival of the two prisoners at Nevis, M. de Thoisy sent intelligence of his success to M. Houel at Guadaloupe ; who joined him at Sandy Point, St. Christopher's, upon the 28th, with 300 troops. Upon his arrival he was surprised to find the situation of affairs so different from what he expected, and persuaded M. de Thoisy to return to Nevis, from which place he sent a messenger to claim M. du Parquet ; but the messenger was not permitted to land. De Thoisy then applied to his prisoners, De Poincy's nephews, to write to their brother-in-law, M. Vernade, as from themselves, to try to bring things to an accommodation : but they received for answer from M. Vernade, that he would have nothing to do with them, and that the treatment which was given tql Du Tertre, torn. i. pp.296. 298, 299, 300, 301. X 306 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l646. M. du Parquet, quite equalled the civilities which they received from De Thoisy ! After cruising off St. Christopher's for some days, without venturing to land, except to send a flag of truce to the prisoner, De Thoisy and Houel returned to Guadaloupe. In the interim, De Poincy seized the Capuchin friar, and after three days' imprisonment sent him off the island, and set a price upon the head of the other leaders who had joined Du Parquet. Several of their followers were hunted dovni in the woods by dogs and Negroes ; several tried to reach St. Eustatia upon rafts, many were drowned in the attempt ; others, that were suspected only, were banished to the Virgin Islands, some of whom, driven by bad weather upon the island of Puerto Rico, were put to death by the Spaniards. Two of Du Parquet's principal friends, the Captains Fontaine and Camot, after remaining concealed for several days in a fig-tree, escaped on board a Dutch vessel commanded by Captain Breda, then at anchor off the island. Fontaine swam off in the night, and persuaded Breda, who was an old acquaintance, to send his boat for Camot, who was unable to swim. Breda carried them both to St. Eustatia. Some of the fugitives were caught by casks of pro- vision being placed at the entrance into the woods, and these casks watched by persons hid among the bushes, who shot the starving wretches that came near them. As soon as MM. Houel and De Thoisy returned to Guadaloupe, M. Houel began to be jealous of him : he expected him to remain there some time, and during that time all the honom^s would not be paid to himself; he therefore determined to get quit of his guest as soon as possible. Orders were now sent by De Thoisy to Martinico, to send all vessels which came from France to Guadaloupe, to receive his directions; and at the same time he acknowledged as governors of Martinico, MM. Pierriere and La Forge, who had been ap- pointed by Du Parquet to command during his absence. M. Houel sought for opportunities of insulting M. de Thoisy : he caned the judge, M. Marivet, in De Thoisy 's presence, who thought it most prudent to conceal his indignation at the affront offered him. M. Houel then arrested M. Guinant, upon suspicion that he had a design upon his life. M. Guinant was one of De Thoisy's followers, and was to have been lieutenant-general of St. Christopher's ; and though De Thoisy sent messengers to M. Houel to state that he would answer for M. Guinant's peaceable conduct, Houel was still dissatisfied. Finding, however, that De Thoisy was inclined to make great sacrifices to remain upon good terms, Houel consented to a personal interview, in which he obtained from M. de Thoisy the promise of giving him the royal Du Tertre, tom.i. pp. 302. 305, 306. 308, .309. 312. 164G.3 OF THE WEST INDIES. 307 declaration for the establishment of sovereign justice in the islands, which was sent to him two days afterwards. By this M. Houel had the power to definitively settle all causes, civil and criminal, without any appeal lying against his decision : he was to select eight of the principal inhabitants to assist him, if there were not a sufficient number of graduates on the island. The disputes between the commanders led to irregularities among the people : they had secret meetings, at which it was resolved to demand exemption from mounting guard, &c. M. de Thoisy received information of these, and sent for the individuals separately to his house, and forbade them to assemble again, under pain of exemplary punishment, and to shew them that he was not inatten- tive to their grievances, he, upon the 22d of August, remitted one part of the droits. Upon the 23d, M. Houel selected those who were to assist him, and compose the sovereign council of the island; and upon the next day, he had a request presented by one of the council against M. de Boisfey, lieutenant from the grand provost, to annul the proceedings he had commenced against M. de Poincy's nephews, upon the plea that Boisfey's commission as provost's lieutenant had not been registered by the proper officer, and that, consequently, all the proceedings against MM. Lonvilliers and De Treval were null and void, Houel intended by this to make his peace with De Poincy. At this time. Captain Bontemps, of the navy, brought intelligence to De Thoisy, that he had met at Martinico a Rochfort vessel, commanded by M. Boutain, which had six weeks before passed Guadaloupe, and gone to St. Christopher's, contrary to the orders given; and that Boutain had returned to Martinico, with dis- patches from M. de Poincy to M. I'Esperance of a sedi- tious tendency. M. de Thoisy immediately sent directions to M. Pierriere to seize the vessel, and try M. Boutain for high treason. M. Houel, who considered every act of De Thoisy's as an infringement upon his authority, to insult that general, issued an arrest against the grand provost's lieutenant, by virtue of the authority lately given him as supreme judge. De Thoisy, finding that M. Houel had now determined to break entirely with liim, began to fortify his house, and issued a proclamation for the formation of a council of war, to be composed of the principal officers of the militia ; which council was to meet the first Sunday in every month, after divine service, at the fort in Basse Terre. De Thoisy sent this order by M. Boisfaye to M. Houel, and issued another proclamation, in which he declared that the provost's lieutenant had only acted by his instructions, and that it never was intended that he should act against the inhabitants: his commission Du Tertie, torn. i. pp.;]14. 316. S18. 323. X 2 308 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l646. was for regulating the process against the crime of high treason^ committed by M. de Poincy and his adherents ; and that the pre- tended council could not be excused for issuing the arrest, without having first sent one of their members to him with the complaints against the lieutenant (which were without foundation) ; and for- bidding the council to interfere or hinder the said delegate from the provost of the royal palace from executing his commission against those concerned in the crime of high treason. Eight days after this, M. de Thoisy sent De Leumont, the intendant, to M. Houel, with proposals for an accommodation : they were, that the lieutenant of the grand provost should be suf- fered to proceed against M. de Poincy and his adherents only ; the second was, that M. de Thoisy, during his stay in the island, should preside at the sovereign council — promising, at the same time, not to avail himself of the privilege ; the third, that M. Houel should publicly read his order from the Company, by which he was enjomed to obey M. de Thoisy, as lieutenant-general for the King, as long as it should be necessary for him to reside in Guadaloupe, to settle his establishment in St. Chi'istopher's. M. Houel agreed to these conditions. In Martinico, the seeds of rebellion were successfully sown by De Poincy's manifesto. On the 26th of June, several of the inhabitants proceeded in a tumultuous manner to M. Pierriere, the governor, to insist that he would not in any way pay the droits to the Company any longer, nor to the General de Thoisy, whom they considered as the Company's emissary. The arrival of some disaffected men from Guadaloupe with intelligence that a party there also refused to pay the droits, added fuel to the fire. Upon the 7th of July, the mutineers, headed by a man whom they styled General Beaufort, who had been a glover at Paris, attacked the magazines, and plundered them of their contents. Upon the 9 th they pulled down the Company's house, and burnt some others belonging to their officers. During these proceedings the governor, La Pierriere, was quite inactive : he said, that not being strong enough to oppose them by force he was compelled to let them do as they chose ; he, however, at the instigation of M. le Fort, a friend of.Du Parquet's, was induced to adopt a treacherous and bloody plan. It was settled, that when the mutineers brought their articles to be signed by La Pierriere, he was to do it, and then invite them to drink the King's health, and instead of firing his musketoon in the air for joy, to discharge it in the face of General Beaufort ; and at this signal, Le Fort was to come to his assistance, with a party of friends, and dispatch the rest ! The next day, Beaufort, with twenty followers, proceeded to the storehouse, and demanded of La Pierriere if he had resolved to agree to their articles, and sign them. After hearing them read, Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 326, 327, 328. 330, 331. 1646.] of THE WEST INDIES. 309 he wrote a long act of approbation, gave it Beaufort, and left his place to order wine, that all might drink the King's health : then, with a glass-full in one hand, he took his musketoon in the other, as though to discharge it in the air ; but lowering his hand, fired it in Beaufort's face. At this signal, Le Fort's party each shot their man : thirteen were killed at the first discharge, and the rest pursued and killed. The massacre did not stop here : several others were killed upon suspicion, and a boy of fifteen was killed in his father's arms, for having carried a letter for Beaufort ! Upon the following day, La Pierriere sent an express to M. de Thoisy, with the information of the death of the rebels, and de- manding a general pardon, as the only means of securing the island to the King. At the same time a deputation from the inhabitants arrived, to request that De Poincy's nephews might be sent in exchange for their governor, M. du Parquet. To this De Thoisy replied, that nothing should be left undone to bring about a general settlement, but that he could not part with his prisoners, except to obtain that desirable object: that M. du Poincy had refused the exchange when it was offered him before ; but now, as he had sent off his dispatches, he should risk his head if he was to do it without permission from the Company. M. Houel's jealousy of De Thoisy continued to increase ; and when the latter was half-way upon his road to call upon M. Houel, he received a letter from him, stating that his presence was not necessary; that M. Houel had heard from several persons, that De Thoisy had said he would oblige M. Houel to quit the island, at any risk ; and that the order which M. Thoisy had issued, in which it was stated that the council had acted against the royal authority, obliged him to declare that he could not consider himself secure near M. de Thoisy, until the King had removed the accu- sation; and, for that reason, he begged M. de Thoisy would not come to him. M. de Thoisy contented himself with sending a messenger to M. Houel, who tried in vain to pacify him ; M. Houel repeating, that he was master of that island, and would rather make peace with De Poincy and the devil, tlian with De Thoisy ! He now sent orders to blockade the general in his house : some of M. Houel's friends proceeded to greater violence ; and a large party, headed by Du Me, were proceeding tumultuously to Basse Terre, after ill-treating Fadier du Tertre, when they were stopped by the heavy rain, which rendered the river impassable : this allowed De Thoisy time to write to M. Houel, and to collect about 300 men to defend his house. In his letter, he summoned M. Houel, in die King's name, to quiet die troubles and alarms, which, it was evident, he had occasioned. " I have already sufficiently undeceived you respecting the causes and protestations which you allege. Things are not yet at extremity : you have still time to Du Tertic, toin. i i)p. :'.37. S:18. :V15, 316. 349. X 3 SIO CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l646. accept the terms of accommodation that I liave proposed to you. Take care ; otherwise I protest against you as the cause of all that may happen, being resolved to end this as a man of honour, I am, as you know, lieutenant-general for the King in these islands, and yoiu* very affectionate servant, De Thoisy. — November 22d, 1646." De Thoisy now, at the head of twenty-five men and his gentle- men, proceeded to the party under Baziliere which blockaded his house ; they dispersed upon seeing him. M. Houel, finding that it was not so easy as he expected to get De Thoisy off the island, as his house was fortified with four pieces of cannon, and defended by palisades, and 200 well-armed and resolute men, provided with ammunition and provisions, adopted the plan of denying what had been done, and requested the superior of the friars Prescheurs, to go to M. de Thoisy, and prevent any insult from being offered him, and, if possible, to satisfy all parties. He also sent for Father du Tertre, and repeated his protestations of ignorance as to what had passed, and begged him also to repair to Basse Terre, and carry an order from him for those in arms to retire to their houses. Du Tertfe, who had been personally abused by the mutineers, told M. Houel, that if he seriously desired peace, M. Sabouilly was the proper person to send, because he was beloved and respected by both parties : as for pretending ignoi'ance of what had passed, that was not to be credited ; " for I myself," said he, " saw your slaves carrying the matches and ajar of powder to the mutineers !" Sabouilly was with some difficulty prevailed upon to accompany Du Tertre to the general's, where his presence suspended the hostile acts already begun, and induced the mutineers to separate, several shot having been fired at the sentinels. A correspondence now took place between the two governors, and M. Houel promised to visit Basse Terre, and by his presence calm the people. Instead, however, of coming accorchng to his promise, he vvrote to De Thoisy, stating, that the same reasons which had induced him to request that M. de Thoisy would not come to Capsterre prevented his coming to Basse Terre, which he would very willingly have done, if it had not necessitated him to have an interview which he thought it best to defer until the King had annulled the declaration which had been made against him, of injuring the royal authority. But he hoped M. de Thoisy would approve of his sending to him the two state prisoners of whom he had the charge : and at the same time, without waiting for an answer, he set them at liberty. This convinced De Thoisy that M. Houel was the prime mover of the rebellion ! Orders now arrived from France to De Thoisy and De Poincy, directing that an exchange of prisoners should be made, while the differences which existed between them, and also between De Poincy Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 350. 352, 353, 354. 356. 1647.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 311 and the Company, were being settled : thus tacitly acknowledging De Poincy, still, as governor-general of St. Christopher's. These orders are dated the 16th of October. The mutineers at Guadaloupe became more violent than ever. De Thoisy received information that they had resolved to force him off the island, on board a ship commanded by Captain Gregoire. He now found it impossible to oppose a rebellion which hourly increased ; and fearful of attempts upon his life, he embarked, on the night of the 31st of December, in a Portuguese caraval-which he had purchased, and from thence sent a letter full of vain threats to M. Houel, and made sail for Martinico. The English and Dutch settlers at Santa Cruz contended for the exclusive sovereignty of the island : after an obstinate and bloody engagement, the English were victorious, and forced the Dutch to quit the island. Extracts from the " Articles convenus provisionellement, le 27 Decembre, 1646, entre les Ambassadeurs Extraordinaires et Plenipotentiaires du Roi d'Espagne d'une, et les Ambassadeurs Extraordinaires et Plenipotentiaires des Etats Generaux des Pro- vinces-Unies du Pais Bas d'autre part, pour etre inseres dans le Traite qui se fera a Munster. " 6. Et quant aux Indes Occidentales, les sujets et habitans des royaumes, provinces, et terres desdits Seigneurs Roi et Etats respectivement, s'abstiendront de naviguer et trafiquer en tons les havres, lieux, et places garnies de forts, loges, ou chateau, et toutes autres possedees par I'un ou I'autre parti, s^avoir que les sujets dudit Seigneur Roi ne navigueront et trafigueront en celles tenues par lesdits Seigneurs Etats, ni les sujets desdits Seigneurs Etats en celles tenues par ledit Seigneur Roi ; et entre les places tenues par lesdits Seigneurs Etats seront comprises les places que les Portugais depuis i'an 1641, out occupees dans le Brasil sur lesdits Seigneurs Etats, comme aussi toutes autres places qu'ils possedent a present tandis qu'elles demeureront ausdits Portugais, sans que le precedent article puisse deroger au contenu de present." 1647. As soon as M. de Thoisy had left Guadaloupe, M. Houel sent to make his peace with M. de Poincy, and recommended him to send an expedition to Martinico. De Thoisy arrived at Martinico January the 3d; h£ was received apparently with great joy by all the inhabitants, and took up his abode with the Jesuits, from whence he wrote to M. de Poincy, Du Tertre, torn. I. pp. 360, 361, 362. Coke's West Indies, vol. iii. p. 161. Du Mont, torn. vi. partie i. p. 364. X 4 312 CHRONOLOGICAL IllSTOKY [l647. offering to meet him wherever he chose, and promising that nothing should be mentioned respecting their private affairs, but only what regarded the King and the Company. De Poincy, informed of De Thoisy's departure from Guadaloupe, determined to seize his person, and sent 800 men, under the com- mand of Vernade, Giraud, Aubert, and Grenon, in five ships, to Martinico, where they arrived the 13th of January. M. de Thoisy was at mass when he heard of their arrival : he immediately knew they were come for him, and assembled all the principal officers of the island, who promised to defend him to the last. Some of the inhabitants, having permision, went on board the ships, heard Du Poincy's offers, and returned to the officers with his proposals, which, notwithstanding their promises, they agreed to accept, and to give up M. de Thoisy, in return for their old governor, Du Par- quet. Two hostages were to be left for the due performance of the promise, and De Thoisy was to be treated with proper respect as a matter of form. This determination was shown to De Thoisy for his acceptance; and upon his refusal to accede to the terms, they resolved to send him by force. The governor did not appear in this transaction : he also had sworn fidelity to De Tlioisy. Upon the 17th of January, the Jesuits' College was surrounded by two companies of fusileers, under the command of Le Fort. The general was walking in an alley of lemon-trees, with Father du Tertre, when he was seized, and the next morning delivered into the hands of his enemies : his lady was permitted to take her farewell of him, and slie expected it was for ever ; both were in great affliction. He was escorted to the boat by two companies of soldiers, with his captain of the guard, Boisfaye, and both were embarked in a ship commanded by Captain Touzeau. De Thoisy wore in a white scarf fringed with gold, a rich sabre, which was not taken from him ; neither was Boisfaye's sw^ord taken away. Upon the 22d of January, M. Vernade, with his squadron, arrived at Guadaloupe, with M. de Thoisy their prisoner. M. Vernade concluded a treaty with M. Houel, which stipulated that M. Lon- villiers, the governor of St. Christopher's, should be delivered up ; but that M. Treval, his brother, should remain at Guadaloupe, until M. Parquet, the governor of Martinico, arrived there, who was to be sent over as soon as M. Vernade arrived at St. Christo- pher's. All prisoners on each side were to be liberated, and vessels allowed to trade between the two islands. On the 24th the squadron arrived in triumph at St. Christopher's; they were received by a salute from all the ships and forts. M. de Thoisy immediately sent a letter to M. de Poincy, in which he said it was his intention to have waited upon M. de Poincy of his own accord, and therefore he expected that he woiUd disapprove Du TatiT, torn, i, pp. 370. 372, 373, 374. 377. I6'i7.] OF THE West indies. 313 of force having been used to effect it, and of the baseness of the officers of Martinico. He then adverted to M. Houel, who was at present triumphing by his artifices and treason, but wliose ruin was certain, as a correct statement of his conduct had been carried to France by M. du Pont ; and that it was this conviction which made him by false assertions seek De Poincy's friendship, in order to identify dieir cause. The next day MM. de Tlioisy and Boisfaye were landed, and as they approached the grand avenue leading to De Poincy's house, Boisfaye was ordered to be disarmed ; but De Thoisy, out of respect for his person, was allowed to keep his sword : both were, however, sent to the same prison, close to that in which M. du Parquet, the governor of Martinico, was confined, and double guards were placed over their persons. De Thoisy's spirits now failed him, despairing of human help, and he sought and found in fervent prayer some comfort in his distress. During nine days he only saw attendants, who were ordered not to speak to him. On the 10th, MM. Vernade and Giraud called upon him, but they only talked upon indifferent subjects. In this confinement M. de Thoisy was kept, till the public indig- nation was loudly expressed. About 1200 persons collected together, and began to cry out, " Vive le Roy et M. le General de Thoisy!" Upon receiving information of the insurrection, De Poincy assembled his council, the majority of whom, to deprive the people of all chance of reinstating him, voted for the death of M. de Thoisy. Upon the suggestion of MM. Aubert and Giraud, who dreaded the consequences of such a step, it was resolved that he should be embarked on board a vessel then ready to sail for France. The guards were doubled round the prison, and M. Boisfaye separated from the general, who, having a presentiment that something was to happen, did not undress himself that night. At midnight his prison- door was opened, and an officer, followed by twenty soldiers, ordered De Thoisy to follow. He was led, between 300 men and a party of De Poincy's guards, down to the beach ; an officer, named La Forest, keeping close along side him, with orders to blow out his brains if any attempt was made to rescue him — the party halting every thirty paces, to ascertain that there was no ambuscade. Upon their arrival at the beach, two powerful Negroes lifted the general upon their shoulders, and put him into a boat; La Forest, and some of the guards, following. De Thoisy expected they were going to throw him into the sea, or land him upon some desert rock. All night they rowed to the westward, and at daylight in the morning were oflT Sandy Point, where they put De Thoisy on board a ship, commanded by Captain Mansel, who was chosen for this purpose, because he had been punished by the general for disobedience of orders, and was personally hostile to him. The general, to his great Du Tci tic, torn. i. pp. 376. 078. 386. 390. 314 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l647. satisfaction, found two of his officers on board, from Guadaloupe — MM. Ramee and Fontaine, who had been driven off that island by M. Houel. Two shirts and a great-coat, to serve as bed clothes during the passage, were left with De Thoisy, and the vessel imme- diately weighed anchor for Europe. On her passage, upon the 12th of May, she beat off a Spanish vessel ; and upon the 17th of the same month, M. de Thoisy was landed at St. Maloes. Thus was the Chevalier de Thoisy Patrocles driven from the West Indies, although he was furnished with fuller powers than any former governor. From the King he had a commission as lieutenant- general of the American islands : from the Company of the American islands a commission as seneschal of St. Christopher's, which gave him power to preside at all courts of justice; and from the Duke De Breze, grand master and superintendant of the navigation and commerce of France, he had a commission to regulate all maritime affairs. The captain who carried him out had orders from the King to bring M. de Poincy back in the same ship, and that officer had letters from the King and Company to resign his command to De Thoisy, who appears to have been a weak man; and the government which sent him allowed their orders to be disobeyed with impunity. While M. de Thoisy was in prison at St. Christopher's, an order came out to De Poincy, allowing him to remain a year longer as lieutenant-general of that island, to put his affairs in order : and this was issued after the government knew that he had by force opposed the landing of their orders. De Thoisy was at the same time to be lieutenant-general of the islands of Guadaloupe and Martinico, and at the expiration of the year, his former commissions were to be in force. M. du Parquet, the governor of Martinico, was released by M. de Poincy, and left St. Christopher's the 16th of February : he was received with great joy by the inhabitants at Martinico. In Guadaloupe, M. Houel proceeded to banish all persons attached to M. de Thoisy : among the rest, the Dominicans were by an order in council directed to be embarked on board a vessel then in the road ; but before the order could be executed, the vessel was taken from her anchors by a Spanish ship under Dutch colours. In this year, the superstitious inhabitants of Guadaloupe were gratified by what they supposed a manifestation of the divine inten- tions. Before M. Houel's house a large mast was fixed, to which the arms of the King, the Company, and M. Houel were fastened : in a thunder shower the mast was struck by lightning, and the arms of the Company and M. Houel burnt to ashes, while the royal arms remained unhurt ! M. de Poincy, to clear his colony of the partizans of M. de Thoisy, sent 66 of them to the Virgin Islands, luider Uu Tertrc, torn. i. pp. 284. 369, 370. 378. 386. 392. Labat, torn. v. p. 126. 1647.] OF THE WEST INDIES. S]5 pretence of establishing a colony there. Left to their fate, Le Verrier, an ignorant and brutal man, was appointed captain and governor ! They found the bones of a colony of English, who had been murdered by the Spaniards from Puerto Rico; and, notwith- standing the expectation of a similar fate, began to build houses, make canoes, and provide for remaining upon the island ! An epidemic disease raged in America and the West Indies : in Barbadoes and St. Christopher's, between five and 6000 persons died of it ; at Barbadoes, the living were hardly able to bury the dead ! The disease was more fatal, in the proportion often to one, to men than women. There was also a general scarcity of provisions throughout the island', and the mortality was increased by their throwng the dead bodies into the morass which surrounded the town : so that many died in a few hours, poisoned by drinking the water. Many of the houses in the country were built with hues, bulwarks, and bastions, like fortresses, and fitted with cisterns, which supplied them with water in case of being besieged, either by the " Christian servants" or Negroes, and also supplied them with a means of defence: throwing scalding water upon the assailants, being one of the methods they used to prevent their walls being undermined ! About 100 sail of ships visited the island yearly-: they brought servants and slaves, both men and women, horses, cattle, assinigoes, Labet, tom.v. p. 126. DuTertre, torn. i. p. 127. 402. Holmes's A. Annals, vol. i. p. 284. Ligon's Hist, of Barbadoes, p. 21. 25. 29. 40. ' The food of the servants and Negroes dyet, nothing but mobbie, and sometimes a at Barbadoes at this time is thus described little beveridge ; but the Negroes nothing by Ligon, p. 37 • — but fair water !" " But now, at my coming away from 2 Ligon, in his History of Barbadoes, thence (Barbadoes), it was much better'd; p. 54, thus relates the story of Yarico: for by the care and good husbandry of the '* He had an Indian woman, a slave, in planters, there was greater plenty, both of the house, who was of excellent shape and the victuals they were wont to eate as pota- colour : this woman would not be woo'd toes, bonavist, loblolly, as also of the bone by any means to weare cloaths. Shee meat, viz. porke, salt fish, and powdered chanc't to be with child, by a Christian beefe, which came thither by sea from servant, and lodging in the Indian house, forraine parts, in so much as the Negroes amongst other women of her own country, were allowed each man two maquerels a where the Christian servants, both men weeke, and every woman one, which were and women, came ; and being very great, given out to them on Saturday in the even- and that her time was come to be delivered, ing, after they had their allowance of plan- loath to fall in labour before the men, tines, which was every one a large bunch, walked down to a wood, in which was a or two little ones, to serve them for a week's pond of water, and there, by the side of the provision, and if any cattle dyed by mis- pond, brought herself a-bed, and presently chance, or by any disease, the servants eat washing her child in some of the water of the bodies, and the Negroes the skinnes, the pond, lap'd it up in such rags as slie head, and intrails, which was divided had begg'd of the Christians ; and in three amongst them by the overseers ; or if any hours time came home with her childe in horse, then the whole bodies of them were her armes, a lusty boy, frolick and lively ! distributed amongst the Negroes — and " This Indian dwelling near the sea- that they thought a high feast, with which, coast, iipon the INIain, an English ship put never poor soulcs were more contented! into a bay, and sent some of her men a-r,hoar, and the drinke to the servants with this to try what victualls or water they could 816 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1647. camels^, utensils for boiling sugar, all sorts of working tools for tradesmen, cloth of all kinds, and victuals of all kinds. The exports from the island were indigo, cotton wool, tobacco, sugar, ginger, and fustic wood. Tamarind ti'ees were first planted in Barbadoes about this time, and also the palm tree : the latter was brought from the East Indies. One of the first acts passed by the Assembly of Barbadoes, after the arrival of Loi'd Willoughby, was a declaration of their allegi- ance and fidelity to Charles the First, at that time a prisoner ; and on the death of that monarch, in 1649, the popular feeling ran so high, that those planters, who were suspected to be in the interest of the Parliament, were obliged to seek protection in England. Madame de Thoisy, the wife of General de Thoisy, followed her husband to Europe from St. Eustatia, in a ship commanded by Michael de Ruyter, afterwards the Dutch admiral. Ligon's Hist, of Barbadoes, p. 60. B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 341. Du Tertre, t. i. p. 394. finde, for in some distresse they were : but tlie Indians, perceiving them to go up so tar into the country, as they were sure they could not make a safe retreat, intercepted them in their return, and fell upon them, chasing them into a wood, and being dis- persed there, some were taken and some killed ; but a young man amongst them stragling from the rest, was met by this Indian maid, who, upon the first sight, fell in love with him, and hid him close from her countrymen (the Indians) in a cave, and there fed him, till they could safely go down to the shoar, where the ship lay at anchor, expecting the return of their friends ; but at last, setmg them upon the shoar, sent the long boat for them, took tliem aboard, and brought them away. But the youth, when he came ashoar in the Barbadoes, forgot the kindnesse of the poor maid, tliat had ventured her life for his safety, and sold her for a slave, who was as free-born as he ! — And so poor Yarico for her love lost her liberty !" After describing tlie chegoes (page 65), which, he says, are " no bigger than a mite tliat breeds in cheese," he says, " The In- dian women have the best skill to take tliein out, which they do by putting in a small poyntcd pinne, or needle at the hole where he came in, and winding the poynt about the bagge, loosen him from tlie flesh, and so take him out. He is of a l)lewish colour, and is scene through the skinne; but the Negroes, whose skinns are of that color (or near it), arc in ill case, for fhcy cannot finde where they are : by which mcanes they are, many of them, very lame. Some of the chegoes are poysonous, and after they are taken i ut, the orifice in which they lay will fester and rankle for a fortnight after they are gone. I have had tenne taken out of my feet in a morning, by the most unfortunate Yarico, an Indian woman !" In the account of Capt. Charles Leigh's Voyage to Guiana, there is the following account of the Indian method of extracting these insects, (" niguas") : — " But one of our men, having his feete overgrowne with them, for want of hose and shooes, was faine to submit himself to the Indian's cure, who tying one of his legges, first, with his feet upward, powred hot melted waxe which is blacke upon it, and letting it lye upon it till it was thoroughly cold, they forcibly pulled it off: and there withall the wormes came out, sticking in the same, 7 or 800 in number, Tliis man was named John Net- tleton, a dier of London, which afterwards was drowned." — Purchases Voyage, Partiv. Lib. 6. C. 2. p. 1252. • " Camells : these are very useful beasts, but very few will live upon the island ; divers have been brought over, but few know how to diet them. Capt. Higgin- botham had four or five, which were of excellent use, not only of carrying sugar to the bridge, but of bringing from thence hogyheads of wine, beer, or vinegar, which horses cannot do, nor can carts pass for gullies, and Negroes cannot carry it : a good camell will carry 1600lb. weiglil, and go the surest of any beast." — Ligons Hist. nf Barbadoes, p. 58. 1648.] . OF THE WEST INDIES. 317 1648. Ill January the Spaniards sent an expedition of 300 men, under the command of the governor's nephew, from Puerto Rico, to destroy the colonists upon the Virgin Islands ; and, after a desperate resist- ance, they succeeded in killing and taking the whole, except eighteen, who escaped to the woods : the Spaniards then burnt and destroyed whatever they could not carry off, and embarked with their commander mortally wounded. When they were gone, the surviving French returned to their smoking habitations, and with some iron utensils made a canoe, in which five of them set off' to look for help, and the others followed soon afterwards : they were all taken up by a Spanish bark, treated with great kindness, and carried to Puerto Rico, where the Governor, Don Francisco Maldo- nado, conceiving them men particularly favoured by God, kindly received them. Two afterwards married and settled on the island, and the others became the first colonists upon the island of St. Martin's. M. de Poincy sent a colony of fifty men, under the command of Jacques Gentes, to take possession of St. Bartholomew's for the West India Company. Du Tertre, in his second volume, p. 33, calls the governor, Le Sieur le Gendre. The Spaniards, weary of expending 100,000 crowns per year to maintain a garrison upon the island of St. Martin's, resolved to withdraw their men, destroy the fortifications and cisterns, and lay waste the island. To assist at the demolition, a nimiber of labourers were sent from Puerto Rico, and among those, four of the French- men who had escaped upon a raft, or " pyperi," from the Virgin Islands. After the fortifications, &c., were destroyed, these French- men and five Dutchmen fled into the woods till the Spaniards were gone ; and then, upon a raft, the Dutchmen got to St. Eustatia, and gave the governor, Abraham Adriensen, intelligence that the Spaniards had left St. Martin's : they also promised the French to send information to their governor at St. Christopher's. In the work which Davis has translated, it is stated that De Ruyter observed, as he passed the island, that it was abandoned by the Spaniards, and carried the intelligence to St. Eustatia. The occurrence is there dated in 1649. The Dutch governor, however, sent some colonists, under the command of Martin Thomas, whose commission from Adriensen is dated the 14th of February, 1648, and Thomas took possession of the island in the name of the States General. The French, who were headed by a man named Fichot, contrived to let M. de Poincy know that the Spaniards had abandoned the island ; and that general, upon the plea that there had been a con- Labet, torn. v. p. 129. IS". 144. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 408, 409. 416. Davis, p. 26. 318 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l648. vention between Fichot and his companions and the five Dutchmen, and also because he had in his possession an order from the French King, dated 1638, to M. St. Martin, to take possession of that island, which he said the Dutch had done by surprise the same year, and, in consequence of building a fort, given offence to the Spaniards, who expelled both nations from the island, sent M. la Tour, with thirty men, to St. Martin's, where the Dutch governor, Thomas, refused to let them land, because the island was in his possession, and gave La Tour a copy of his commission from the governor of St. Eustatia. With this La Tour returned to St. Christopher's, and De Poincy immediately sent his nephew, M. Lonvilliers, with 300 men, to take possession by force, if neces- sary, and to preserve the royal interests, such as they were when the Spaniards took the fort built by the Dutch. This order is dated the 16th of March. Lonvilliers arrived at St. Martin's the next day ; and the Dutch, unable to prevent the landing of such a force, agi-eed to nine articles, by which it was settled, that the French were to have all the coast opposite Anguilla', and the Dutch that to the south ; the subjects of both nations were to live in peace with each other ; and the right of hunting, fishing, and the salt lakes, rivers, mines, minerals, dye-woods, and the harbours, were to be common to both. If any enemy appeared, both nations were to make com- mon cause in defending the island. A party of Dutch buccaneers fixed themselves at Tortola, and built a fort for their protection. Extracts from the " Traite de Paix, entre Philippe IV. Roi Catholique d'Espagne, et les Seigneurs Etats-Generaux des Pro- vinces Unies des Pais Bas : par lequel lesdits Etats sont reconnus libres et souverains, avec renonciation de la part dudit Roi, pour lui et ses successeurs, a toutes les pretentions qu'il y avoit aupara- vant. On y convient au reste de I'etablissement d'une bonne et inviolable paix, entre les pais, et sujets de part et d'autre ; et de tout ce qui regarde le commerce, la navigation, les possessions, et Du Tertre, torn. !. p. 41 1. B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 500. Du Mont, tom.vi. partie i. p. 429. • Mr. Coleridge's Account (^Anguilla, in " Six Months in the West Indies in 1825." " Anguilla presents a very singular ap- over which it is most delightful to ride, pearance for a West Indian Island. A little and the houses and huts of the inhabitants wall of cliff of some forty feet in height are scattered about in so picturesque a man- generally rises from the beach, and when ner that I was put in mind of many similar you have mounted this, the whole country scenes in Kent and Devonshire. Indeed, lies before you gently sloping inwards, in there were scarcely any of the usual features a concave form, and sliding away, as it of West Indian scenery visible ; neither of were, to the south, where the land is only those prominent ones, the lively windmill just above the level of the sea. The Flat or the columnar palm, was to be seen; and Island and St. Martin's terminate the view there was a rusticity, a pastoral character on in this direction. Seven tenths of the the face of the land, its roads and its vegeta- country are entirely uncultivated ; in some tion, which is the exact antipode of large parts a few coppices, but more commonly plantations of sugar. I believe I did see a pretty species of myrtle called by the one dwarf cocoa-nut tree, but it looked Negroes maiden berry, seem to cover the miserable and unhappy, and was evidently whole soil ; the roads arc level gras'^y tracts, out of its element." 1648.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 319 les limites tant en Europe qu'aux Indes. Fait a Munster, le 30 Jan- vier, 1648. " Et un article particulier concernant la navigation et le com- merce, conclu le 4 Fevrier, 1648. " 2. A S9avoir, que ladite paix sera bonne, ferme, fidelle, et inviolable, et qu' ensuite cesseront et seront delaissez tous actes d'hostilite, de quelque fa^on qu'ils soient entre lesdits Seigneurs Roi et Etats-Generaux, tant par mer, autres eaux, que par terre, en tous leurs royaumes, pays, terres, et seigneuries, et pour tous leurs sujets et habitans, de quelque qualite ou condition qu'ils soient, sans exception de lieux n'y de personnes. " 5. La navigation et trafique des Indes Orientales et Occident- ales sera maintenue, selon et en conformite des octroys sur cy donnes, ou a donner cy-apres pour seurete de quoy serviz*a le present traicte et la ratification d'iceluy, qui de part et d'autre en sera pro- curee. Et seront compris sous ledit traicte, tous potentats, nations, et peuples, avec lesquels lesdits Seigneurs Estats, ou ceux de la So- cietedes Indes Orientales etOccidentalesen leur nom, entre les limites de leurdits octroys sont en amitie et alliance. Et un chacun, s^avoir les susdits Seigneurs Roy et Estats respectivement demureront en possession et jouiront de telles seigneuries, villes, chasteaux, forteresses, commerce, et pays es Indes Orientales et Occidentales, comme aussi au Brasil et sur les costes d'Asie, Afrique, et Amerique respectivement, que lesdits Seigneurs Roy et Estats respectivement tiennent et possedent, en ce compris specialement les lieux et places que les Portugais depuis I'an mil six cent quarante et un, ont pris et occupe sur lesdits Seigneurs Estats ; compris aussi les lieux et places qu'iceux. Seigneurs Estats cy-apres sans infraction du present traicte viendront a conquerir et posseder. Et les Directeurs de la Societe des Indes tant Orientales que Occidentales des Provinces- Unies, comme aussi les ministres, officiers haut et bas, soldats et matelots, estans en service actuel de I'une ou de I'autre desdites Compagnies, ou ayants aste en leur service, comme aussi ceux qui hors leur service respectivement, tant en ce pays qu'au district desdites deux Compagnies, continuent encor, ou pourront cy-apres estre employes, seront et demeureront libres et sans estre molestez en tous les pays estant sous I'obeissance dudit Seigneur Roy en r Europe- pourront voyager, trafiquer et frequenter, comme tous autres habitants des pays desdits Seigneurs Estats. En outre a este conditionne et stipule, que les Espagnols retiendront leur navigation en telle maniere qu'ils la tiennent pour le present es Indes Orient- ales, sans se pouvoir estendre plus avant comme aussi les habitans de ce Pays Bas s'abstiendront de la frequentation des places que les Castilians ont es Indes Orientales." 6. Is the same &s the provisional article signed in December, 1646, which see. 7. " Et quant aux limites de I'octroy cy-devant donne par les Du Mont, torn. vi. partie i. p. 429. 320 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l648. Estats Generaux, ou a donner par continuation a la Societe des Indes Occidentales qu'auxdits lieux la paix ne commencera pas plustost que six mois apres la date que dessus. Bien entendu que si I'advis de ladite paix soit de la part du public de part et d'autre, parvenu plustost entre lesdits limites respective- ment, que des I'heure de I'advis I'hostilite cessera auxdits lieux ; mais si apres le terme d'un an et desix mois respectivement dans les limites des octroys susdits se fait aucun acte d'hostilite, les dom- mages en seront repares sans delay." The term of one year was allowed for the East Indies. Extract from the King of Spain's Ratification of the Treaty of Munster : — " Nous pour nous, nos heirs et successeurs, comme aussi pour les vassaux, sujets, et habitans de tous nos royaumes, pays, et seig- neuries, tant dedans que hors 1' Europe, sans aucun excepter, iceluy traicte et tout le contenu d'iceluy, et chacun point en particulier, en tous ses membres, avons receu pour bon ferme et vallable ; I'avons agree, approuve, et ratifie ; le recevons, agreons, approuvons, et rati- fions par cette presente, promettans en foy et parole de roy et prince, pour nous, nos successeurs, roys, princes, et heritiers, sincerement et en bonne foy, de I'en^uivre, observer, et accomplir, tout ainsi comme si nous I'avions traicte en nostre propre personne, sans rien faire, n'y laisser faire en aucune maniere, n'y souffi'ir d'estre fait au contraire, directement n'y indirectement, en quelque fagon que ce puisse estre. Et si conti'avention estoit faite, ou vinst a se faire, en aucune maniere, la faire reparer sans aucune difficulte n'y remise, punir et faire punir les contraventeurs en toute rigueur, sans grace n'y pardon ; obligeans a I'effect que dessus tous et chacun de nos royaumes, pays, et seigneuries, comme aussi tous nos autres biens presens et a venir, aussi nos heritiers, et successeurs ensemblement tous nos vassaux, sujets, habitans, de tous nos royaumes, pays, et seigneuries, en quelque lieu, tant dedans que hors 1' Europe ils se puissent trouver, sans rien excepter. ILt pour la validite de cette (Migatiom^ nous renon^ons a toutes knx, cousfumes, et toutes autres choses d ce contr aires r M. Houel, governor of Guadaloupe, sent M. du Me, with thirty men, to take possession of the Saints. The Dominican missionary. Father Dupuis, went with him, and planted the cross the 18th of October : they were, however, soon obliged to return to Guadaloupe, for want of water. November the 18th, a colony of fifty men, under the command of M. Fort, were sent from Guadaloupe to Mariegalante : they built a small fort, cleared a considerable piece of ground, and began to plant cotton and tobacco. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded this year, the island of Dominica was formally declared to be neutral. Du Mont, torn. vi. paitiei. p. 438. Labat, Xoxn. v. pp. 145, 146. Du Tt'itro, toni.i. p. 417. 422. Univ. Hist, vol.xxxvi. p.2Gl. 16490 ^^ ^^^^ WEST INDIES. 3^1 The yellow fever, which continued to rage in the French West India islands, carried off, during the eighteen months it lasted, nearly one-third of the inhabitants : it began at St. Christopher's, and was carried to Guadaloupe by a vessel called the Boeuf, be- longing to Rochelle. 1649. The army under the command of Oliver Cromwell carried the town of Drogheda by storm ; and the whole of the garrison, con- sisting of 2500 foot and 300 horse, were put to the sword. " There was scarce thirty lives saved in the whole town, and these were by him (Cromwell) reserved to be sent to Barbadoes." The French West India Company, finding themselves much in debt, and without any authority over their governors, resolved to sell their property in the islands, and appointed MM. d'Aligre, De Ricouart, and Berruyer to preside at the sales, and do the best they could for them. The governors of the islands, who knew their value, were the first who offered to purchase them ; but the Company, dissatisfied with both MM. de Poincy and Houel, would not treat with either: in consequence of which, M. Houel employed his brother-in-law, M. de Boisseret, to purchase Guadaloupe, Desirada, Marie-Galante, and the Saints, for him, at any price. In M. de Boisseret's name the contracts were made, before MM. Oger and Morel, notaries at Paris, the 4th of September, 1649. By the first contract, the Company sold their rights', and the islands above mentioned, for 60,000 livres tournois and six hundred pounds of sugar annually, for ever; and by the second contract, they sold all the houses, forts, vessels, machines, instruments, arms, beasts, merchanchze, and ge- nerally all that belonged to diem in the islands, except four brass guns, which they kept, for the sum of 11,500 livres, to be paid to the Sieur Rosci, merchant at Rouen; and 1500 livres, in lieu of the 600 pounds of sugar mentioned in the first contract ; and also to pay all the salaries then due, of all persons employed by the Company up to that day. M. de Boisseret, having settled the purchase, would only allow his brother-in-law Houel half of Guadaloupe, which half became the subject of continual quarrels and law-suits between the two families till 1664, when the King of France took the islands from the different proprietors. The Negroes at Barbadoes had fixed a day for massacring all the Echard's History of England, b. iii. c. i. p. 673. Labat, torn. v. pp. 1 58— 161 . Du Tertre," torn. i. p. 444. Universal History, vol. xxxvi. p. 189. Ligon's History of Barbadoes, p. 46. ' " Le profit que la Compagnie tiroit payer chaque annee, on cinquante livres des Isles consistoit en cent livres de tabac, de cotton, et la dessus combien de nouva- que tous les habitans, depuis I'age de seize leurs," — Labat, loin, v, p. 156. ans jiisqu'a soixante, etoient obliges de Y 322 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [KioO. whites : the plot was discovered by a slave of Mr. Hethersall's, who disclosed the design to his master : eighteen of the ringleaders were put to death. Cruel treatment was one of the causes of their discontent. 1650. The English in Santa Cruz, after expelling the Dutch in 1646, remained sole masters of the island, until the 10th of August, 1650, when the Spaniards landed 1200 men in the night, and so unex- pectedly attacked them, that 120 were killed, and the rest obliged to seek refuge in the woods : women and children were indiscri- minately massacred, and the island laid waste ! The Spanish commander sent two of his prisoners to the fugitives, to say, that vmless they pledged their word to quit the island within three weeks, he would pursue and destroy them all, not excepting their women and children : they made the desired promise, sent to St. Christopher's for vessels to take them away, and al^andoned the island. The Dutch at St. Eustatia, hearing that the English had aban- doned Santa Cruz, resolved to take possession of their old quarters; and two vessels being ready in the roads, with reinforcements for St. Martin's, they Avere ordered to Santa Cruz, and, without reconnoitering, to ascertain that the Spaniards had left the island, they anchored immediately under the fort, and landed so incau- tiously, that, being attacked by sixty Spaniards, they were all either killed or obliged to seek shelter in the woods ! M. de Poincy adopted the same determination as the Dutch, and sent 160 chosen men, in two vessels, under the command of M. de Vaugalan, to take possession of the island. The two vessels parted company, and landed at different parts of the island : those from the smaller vessel were attacked by the Spaniards, and all killed except three or four. De Vaugalan, in the other vessel, having waited three days at the rendezvous without hearing of his consort, resolved to attack the Spaniards : he marched within 800 paces of the fort, and sent a summons to the Spanish commandant, who demanded three days to deliberate. Upon this, Vaugalan advanced nearer the fort, and sent in a second summons, threatening to give no quarter in case of a refusal : the Spaniard replied by sending him a cow and some Madeira. Vaugalan then sent again, to say that in two hours he would storm the fort : the Spaniard, deceived by the menaces, surrendered, upon condition of being sent to Puerto Rico ! When M. de Poincy received the information of Vaugalan 's success, he sent 300 colonists to the island, under M. Auger as Du Tertit, torn. i. pp. 44S, 449. 471, 452. B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 184. Raynal, torn. iv. p. 276. 1650.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 323 governor, to the great mortification of Vaugalan, who expected the appointment. The island was covered with old trees, that prevented the circu- lation of air. To remedy this inconvenience and make the island more healthy, the French set fire to the woods, and from their vessels watched its progress : it burnt for months. They landed again, as soon as they could with safety. Lord Willoughby, of Parham, was appointed governor of the voluntary settlement on the banks of the Surinam : he had certain chartered rights given him, in conjunction with the Earl of Claren- don's second son. " Traite de Marine, fait, conclu et arrete a la Haye, en Hollande, le 17 du mois de Decembre, 1650, entre Philippe IV. Roi d'Espagne, et les Provinces-Unies. " Comme depuis la conclusion de la paix a Munster, entre les Seigneurs Roy d'Espagne et Estats Generaux des Provinces- Unies du Pais Bas, quelques disputes et differents seroient survenus, touchant la vraye intelligence de Particle conclu separement le quatrieme du mois de Fevrier de I'an 1648, en ladite ville, con- cernant la navigation, commerce, seurete, liberte, etfacilite d'iceluy; et que lesdits Seigneurs Roi et Estats Generaux ayant juge a propos d'en donner quelque esclaircissement et explication, afin de pre- venir toutes occasions de plaintes et estreindre de plus en plus la bonne correspondance entre eux et leurs subjects reciproquement, par la sincere et parfaite observation dudit traite de paix en tout, et un chacun de ses articles, principalement dans ce point de si grande utilite et importance; etque, pour cet effect, ledit Seigneur Roy auroit commis, de sa part, Messire Anthoine Brun, Chevalier, Conseiller de sa Majeste en son Conseil d'Estat et Supreme, pour les affaires des Pays Bas et de Bourgogne pres de sa personne, son Plenipo- tentiaire aux Traitez de la Paix Generale, et son Ambassadeur Ordinaire aupres desdits Seigneurs Estats Generaux. " Et lesdits Seigneurs Estats, les Sieurs Rutger Huygens, Che- valier ; Fran9ois Banningh Cock, Chevalier ; Sieur de Purmerlant et Ilpendam, Bourguemaistre et Conseiller de la Ville d' Amster- dam; Corneille Ripperse, Bourgemaistre de la Ville de Hoorn, en West-Frize ; Jacques Veth, Conseiller et Pensionaire de la Ville de Middlebourg, en Zelande ; Gijsbert de Hoolck, Vieil Bourge- maistre de la Ville d' Utrecht; Joachim d'Andree, Vieil Premier Conseiller en la Cour Provinciale de Frise, Chevalier ; Jean de la Beecke, a Doornick et Crytenberg, Bourguemaistre de la Ville de Deventer ; Adrian Clant a Stedum, Sieur de Nittersum, Deputes du Corps de leur Assemblee. " Lesdits Sieurs Ambassadeurs et Deputez ayants tenu plusiers conferences, ont enfin, au nom et de la part desdits Seigneurs Roy et Estats Generaux convenu, accorde et conclu le present traite, aux articles et conditions qui s'ensuivent : — Bolinbroke's Voyage to Dcmerarv, p. 342. Du Mont, torn, vi. p. 570. Y 2 32 li CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [^l6oO. " 1. Premierement, les subjets et habitans des Provinces-Unies clu Pays Bas, pourront en toute seurete et liberie naviger et traf- ficquer dans touts les royaumes, estats, et pays, qui sont ou seront en paix, amitie, ou neutralite avec I'Estat desdits Provinces-Unies. "2. Et ne pourront eti'e troublez ou inquietez dans cette liber te par les navires ou subjects du Roy d'Espagne a I'occasion des hos- tilities, qui se rencontrent ou pourroient se rencontrer cy-apres, entre ledit Seigneur Roy et les susdits royaumes, pays, et estats ou aucuns d'iceux, qui seront en amitie ou neutralite avec lesdits Seigneurs Estats des Provinces-Unies. "3. Ce qui s'extendra au reguard de la France, a toutes sortes de marchandises et denrees qui s'y transportoient avant qu'elle fust en guerre avec I'Espagne. " 4. Bien entendu toutes fois que les subjects des Provinces- Unies s'abstiendront d'y porter marchandises provenantes des Estats dudit Seigneur Roy d' Espagne, telles qu'elles puissent servir contre luy et sesdits etats. " 5. Et qviant aux autres royaumes, etats, et pays etants en amitie ou neutralite avec lesdites Provinces-Unies, bien qu'elles se trouvent en guerre avec ledit Seigneur Roy, n'y pourront etres portees, marchandises de contrebande, ou aucuns bien defFendus ; et pour d'autant mieux I'empescher lesdits Seigneurs Etats, en feront deffenses par placarts et edicts, " 6. De plus pour d'autant mieux prevenir les difFerents qui pourroient naistre, touchant la designation des marchandises defen- dues et de contrebande, il a ete declai'e et convenu, que soubs ledit nom seront comprises toutes armes a feu et assortissements d'icelles, comme canons, mousquets, mortiers, petards, bombes, grenades, saucisses, cercles-poissez, affuts, forchettes, bandoulieres, poudre, meches, salpetre, bales, pareillement sont entendues soubs le meme nom de marchandises deffendues et de contrebande, toutes autres armes, comme picques, espees, morions, casques, cuirasses, hale- bardes, javelots, et autres semblables: est encor prohibe, soubs ledit nom le transport des gens de guerre, de chevavix de harnachements, fontes de pistolets, baudriers, et assortissements fa9onnez^ et formez a I'usage de la guerre. " 7. Pour eviter pareillement toute matiere de dispute et con- tention, est accorde que sous ledit nom de marchandises de contre- bande et defendues ne seront compris le froment, bleds, et autres grains et ligumes, sel, vin, huile, n'y geueralement tout ce qui appartient a la nourriture et sustentation de la vie, mais demeu- reront libres, comme toutes autres marchandises non comprises en I'article precedent, et en sera le transport permis memes aux lieux ennemis, sauf aux villes et places assiegees, blocquees, ou investies. " 8. Et afin d'empescher que lesdites marchandises deffendues et de contrebande selon qu'elles viennent d'etre designees et reglees par les articles immediatement precedents, ne passent aux dits Du Mont, toni. vi. p. .570. 1650.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 32,5 ennemis du Seigneur Roy d'Espagne, et qu'a pretexte aussi de tels empeschements la liberie et seurete de la navigation et commerce ne soient retardees, on est de meure d'accoi'd, que les navires avec les marchandises des subjects et habitants desdites Provinces- Unies etants entres en quelque Havre dudit Seigneur Ro}', et voulant de la passer a ceux de sesdits ennemis, seront obliges seulement de pi'oduire et monstrer aux officiers du havre d'Espagne, ou autres estats dudit Seigneur Roy, d'ou ils partiront leurs passeports, contenant la specification de la charge de leurs navires, attestee et marquee du sel et seing ordinaire, et recognu des officiers de I'Ad- mirante aux quartiers dont ils seront premierement partis, avec declaration du lieu ou ils seront destinee, le tout en forme oi'dinaire et accoustumee ; apres laquelle exhibition de leurs passeports en la forme susdite ils ne pourront etre molestes n'y recherches, detenus ou retardes en leur voyage, soubs quelque pretexte que ce soit. " 9. Meme lesdits navires des subjects et habitants des Provinces- Unies etants en pleine mer ou memes venants dans quelques rades, sans vouloir entrer dans les havres, ou y entrants, sans toute fois y vouloir debarquer et rompre leurs charges : ne seront obligez de rendre compte de la charge de leurs navires, sauf en cas ils fussent soup^onnes de porter aux ennemis dudit Seigneur Roi marchandises de contrebande, comme il a ete dit precedemment. " 10. Et audit cas de suspicion apparente, lesdits subjects et habitans des Provinces-Unies seront obligez de monstrer dans les havres, leurs passeports, en la sorte cy-devant specifiee. "11. Que s'ils sont entres en rades, ou rencontres en pleine mer, par quelques navires dudit Seigneur Roy, ou des armateurs particuliers, ses subjects lesdits navires, pour eviter touts desordres, demeuerants eloignes de la portee du canon pourront envoyer leur bateau ou chalouppe a bord du navire des subjects et habitans des Provinces-Unies, et faire entrer en iceluy deux ou trois hommes seulement, ausquels seront montres les passeport par le maitre ou patron dudit navire des Provinces-Unies, en la forme specifiee aux articles anterieurs, et aussi les lettres de mer couchees selon le formulaire qui sera insere a la fin du present traitte, par, ou devra conster non seulement de la charge, mais aussi du lieu de sa demeure et residence aux Provinces-Unies, et du nom tant du maitre ou patron, que dvi navire, afin que par ces deux moyens on puisse reconnoitre, s'il y a marchandises de contrebande, et qu'il apparoisse suffisamment de la qualite du navire, comme aussi du maitre ou patron d'iceluy, auxquels passeports et lettres de mer sera donne entiere foy et creance, d'autant plus, que tant de la part dudit Seigneurs Estats seront donnees des contremarques, pour en mieux recognoitre la validite, et afin qu'elles ne puissent etre aucunement falsifiees. " 12. Et au cas que dans lesdits vaisseaux des subjects des Provinces-Unies se treuvent par le moyen susdit quelques mar- Dii Mont, toni. vi. |). 570. V 3 326 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [1650. chandises de celles, declarees cy-dessus de contrebande et defFendues, elles seront deschargees, calangees, et confisquees par devant les juges de I'Admiraute, ou autres competans, sans que pour cela le navire ou autres biens et marchandises libres et permises retreuvees au-meme navire, puissent etre en aucune fa^on saisies, ni con- fisquees. " 13. A ete en outre accorde et convenu, que tout ce qui se treuvera charge par lesdits subjects et habitants des Provinces-Unies en un navire des ennemis dudit Seigneur Roy, ja^oit ce ne fust marcliandise de contrebande, sera confisque avec tout ce qui se treuvera audit navire, sans exception ni reserve. "14. Mais d'ailleurs aussi sera Kbre et afFranchi, tout ce qui sera dans les navires, appartenants aux subjects desdits Seigneurs Estats, encore que la charge ou partie d'icelle fut aux ennemis dudit Seigneur Roy, sauf les marchandises de contrebande, au reguard desquelles on se reglera selon ce qui a ete dispose aux articles precedents. "15. Les subjects dudit Seigneur Roy auront reciproquement memes droit et libertes en lem* navigation et trafficq au reguard desdits Seigneurs Estats Generaux des Provinces-Unies, que leurs subjects au regard dudit Seigneur Roy d'Espagne, s'entendant que la reciprocity et egalite sera en tout de part et d' autre, meme au cas cy-apres ledit Seigneur Roy eut amitie et neutralite avec aucuns roys, princes, ou estats, que vinssent a. etre ennemis desdites Pro- vinces-Unies, usant reciproquement les deux parties de memes conditions et restrictions exprimees aux articles cy-dessus. " 16. Que le present traite servira d'eclaircissement et explication a I'article particulier conclu a Munster le 4 de Fev. de I'an 1648, sans y deroger sauf en ce, ou la presente explication se trouvera etre au dela du contenu audit article. " 17. Sera le present traite dememe vigueur et duree, ques'il avoit ete insere au Traite Originel de la Paix entre lesdits Seigneurs Roy et Estats, avec reserve toutefois, qu'en cas qu'a la suite du temps on descouvre quelques fraudes ou inconvenients au fait dudit commerce et navigation, ausquels n'aura ete suffisament pourveu et remedie, d'y pouvoir apporter telles autres precautions qu'on esti- mera convenir d'un ou de I'autre cote, et demeurant cependant le present traitte en sa force et vigueur. "18. Finalement, que ledit present Traitte sera aggree et con- firmee par lesdits Seigneurs Roy d'Espagne et Estats Generaux des Provinces-Unies du Pays Bas, dans quatre mois apres la date d'iceluy." The authority of the crown continuing to be acknowledged in several of the English West India Islands, parliament issued an ordinance, prohibiting trading with Barbadoes, Bermuda, and Antigua. M. du Parquet, governor of Martinico, returned to France, and Chalmers, vol. i. pp. 122, 123, a. a. v 1650.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 3^7 bought of the West India Company, Martinico, St. Lucie, Gra- nada, and the Granadines, for sixt}' thousand livres : the contract was signed at Paris the 27th Sept. 1650. Twenty thousand vvhite men, half of them able to bear arms, were computed to be at this time upon the island of Barbadoes. Ligon says, " At my coming away, they were able to muster 10,000 foot, as good men and as resolute as any in the world, and 1000 good horse : and this was the strength of the island about the time I came away." (1650.) In June, M. du Parquet, with two hundred followers, sailed from Martinico, to take possession of Granada : they wei'e received and entertained with the utmost kindness by Kaierouane, the captain of the natives ; and Du Parquet, causing a cross to be erected, com- pelled his men to kneel down and pray to the Almighty for success in their enterprize. He then gave the natives some knives and hatchets, a large quantity of glass beads, and two bottles of brandy for their chief, and claimed the island as French property, as being- ceded by the natives themselves in lawful purchase. All refusal on their part to confirm this rascally transaction, was punished as con- tumacy and rebellion. Du Parquet then proceeded to build a fort : he suri'omided it by a strong pallisade at ten feet distance, mounted two guns and four wall pieces for the protection of his colony, and left his cousin, named Le Compte, governor of the island ; who waged so bloody a war with the Caribs, that Du Parquet was obliged to send a reinforcement of 300 men from Martinico. Du Parquet, at the same time, sent orders to extirpate the natives altogether : but this was unnecessary ; for Le Compte was already murdering, without mercy, every Carib that fell into his hands, not sparing even the women and children ! Forty of the Caribs were massacred on the spot. About forty others who had escaped the sword ran to a precipice, where, seeing themselves pursued, they placed their hands before their eyes, and cast themselves headlong into the sea. A beautiful girl of twelve or thirteen years of age was taken, and became the object of dispute between two officers, each claiming her as his prize ; a third coming up, put an end to the contest by shooting the girl through the head ! The place from whence the Caribs threw themselves into the sea is called Le Morne des Sauteurs (Leaper's Hill). The French lost but one man in the expedition : they set fire to the cottages, rooted up the provisions, and having destroyed or taken away every thing belonging to the Caribs, returned " bien joyeux !" By a series of such enormities, the whole race of Caribs, men, women, and children, that possessed Gz'enada in 1650, were speedily exter- minated ! Labat, torn. v. p. Gl. Du Tert.e, torn. i. pp. 427. 430. 446. B. Edwards, vol. i. pp. 326. 354, 355, 356, 357, from Du Tertre. Ligon's History of Barbadoes, p. 100. y 4 3^2H CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l651 In returning from the last expedition against the Caribs, Le Comte was drowned ; and Du Parquet, being informed of his death, appointed Louis de Cacqueray, Ecquierry, Sieur de Valme- niere, to succeed him. Considerable opposition was made to this appointment by several officers, who considered this office as belong- ing to them ; and the colonists dividing themselves between the claimants, both sides appealed to arms. Valmeniere's party con- quering, Le Fort, the leader of the others, poisoned himself, to avoid being executed^ and his partizans were banished the island. The island of Anguilla, so called from its snake-like form, is said to have been discovered and colonized by the English this year: it was filled with alligators and other noxious animals, but the soil was good for raising tobacco and corn, and the cattle imported multiplied very fast. It was not colonized under any public encouragement : each planter laboured for himself, and the island was frequently plundered by marauders. Pkuiquet, an Irishman, in a vessel of 500 tons burthen, pretended he had a commission from the Marquis of Ormond to cruize against the English, and did considerable damage to the trade of Barbadoes: he is said to have " been more mercilesse and cruell than became a valiant man." Since the massacre of the English at St. Lucie by the Caribs, that island had remained without an European colony. M. du Parquet, considering it an abandoned island, sent M. Rousselan, with forty men, to take possession of it. Rousselan was particularly beloved by the Caribs : he had married a woman of their nation. He built a fort, and surrounded it with pahsades ; his men living in the fort and cultivating the ground around it. M. le Fort, the governor of Mariegalante, with all the colonists except thirty, deserted to Martinico. 165L M. Auger, the governor of Santa Cruz, died, as did three other governors sent this year to that island by M. de Poincy, who forbad the colonists from trading with any other person except his com- missaries, whom he ordered to supply the island with what they wanted, and to receive their produce in exchange. These supplies were bad in quality, and charged at an exorbitant rate, and they fixed their own price upon the articles they took in exchange : this occasioned distress and mutiny among the colonists. Through the mediation of the Knights of Malta, M. de Poincy made his peace with the French government and M. de Thoisy, to whom he promised to pay ninety thousand livres. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 392. 4 IS. 432. 435. B, Edwards, vol. i. p. 357. Universal History, vol. xxxvi. p. 247. Ligon's History of Barbadoes, p. 119. 1652.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 3^9 De Poiiicy, the French governor, by his sovereign's consent, bought of the West India Company all their rights to the islands of St. Christopher's, St. Bartholomew, St. Martin, and Santa Cruz, for the benefit of the Order of Malta, for the sum of 120,000 livres tournois. The contract was dated the 24th of May, 1651. The Grand Master of Malta, in consequence of this present, appointed M. de Poincy bailiff and governor of the islands : the Company would not allow De Poincy's name to appear in the transaction. M. du Parquet obtained from the French King the title of Lieu- tenant-General of the islands he had pvu'chased. The Knights of Malta, although they honoured M. de Poincy with the title of Bailly, one of the most considerable appointments with which the order rewards the services of its knights, and con- firmed him in his government, yet they sent out M. le Chevalier de Montmagny to succeed him : his arrival at St. Christopher's was by no means agreeable to M. de Poincy, and M. de Montmagny retired to Cayonne, on the north side of the island, where he lived as a private gentleman, waiting for the death of M. de Poincy ; but he himself died first in 165T, and was buried at Basse Terre with great honour. Upon the 16th of October, Admiral Sir George Ascue, with the fleet under his command, having on board 2000 troops, appeared off Bridge Town, Barbadoes, and captured all the vessels in Carlisle Bay. From this time until December, he kept the inhabitants in constant alarm, hovering round the island : he then received a rein- forcement of 850 soldiers from Virginia, and landed in Speight's Bay, which was defended by a small fort mounting four guns. Colonel Allen and sixty men were killed in landing. Having secured his landing. Admiral Ascue, who could make no impression upon the troops under Lord Willoughby, turned his attention to the inhabitants at large: he offered them honourable and advantageous terms of peace. The destruction of their planta- tions was to them of more consequence than their loyalty to King Charles : the principal inhabitants were averse to further hostilities, and obliged Lord Willoughby to negociate for a peace. Seven or eight thousand Scots were taken prisoners by Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, " who being sent to London, were sold for slaves, to the plantations of the American Isles." 1652. Commissioners were appointed by Lord Willoughby and Sir George Ascue to negociate for peace in Barbadoes. The Labat, torn. v. p. 162. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 447. Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. pp. 110, HI. Universal History, vol. xxxvi. p. 192. Rapin, vol. ii. p. .585, folio, 1733, Tindal's Translation. 330 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l652, ITth of January, articles of peace and capitulation were ratified without further effusion of blood : by these articles both parties were secured in their fi-eedom and property. Lord Willoughby was obliged to embark for Europe, but his property upon the island was secured to him. Mr. Searle was appointed to succeed Lord Willoughby as governor, and coiltinued as such till the death of Cromwell. Sir George Ascue proceeded to the islands of Nevis and St. Chris- topher's which submitted without opposition : he then sent Captain Dennis wdth a squadron to Virginia, which was the last of the King's dominions which submittted to the Protector. Upon the 31st July, 1652, the English parliament published a manifesto against " les Provinces- Unies des Pays-Bas ;" which manifesto was a declaration of war. Le Vasseur, who governed in Tortuga with absolute power, being unmarried and without children, adopted and named as his heirs two nephews named Martin and Thibault, the latter of whom kept a beautiful woman as his mistress, whose charms seduced the old governor to rival the nephew : their amour was discovered by Thibault, who consulted with Martin how to be revenged; they resolved to assassinate Le Vasseur, as he was going to visit a magazine upon the beach. Thibault shot at, .but only slightly wounded him ; when he felt himself wounded, he ran to his Negro for his sword, but Martin seized him at the same moment, and Thibault dispatched him with several blows with a dagger. When Le Vasseur saw who it was, he exclaimed, like Ceesar, " Ah, Thibault ! is it you then that assassinate me ?" and expired, the 12th July, 1652. The two nephews then seized the government, without any opposition. In this year. Prince Maurice was lost in a hurricane in the West Indies : he was in the fleet under the command of his brother, Prince Rupert, which afterwards returned to Nantes, where the ships and stores were bought by Cardinal Mazarine, and the pur- chase-money given to Prince Charles, who was afterwards Charles the Second of England. Dubuisson le Hazier went from Guadaloupe with a party of colonists, and settled upon the Saints. The Caribbeans of Mariegalante were obliged to retire to Domi- nica, and the French remained sole masters of the island. By a letter, dated the 17th of December, M. de Poincy ceded all the ordinary droits from the inhabitants of St. Christopher's to M. de Thoisy, and gave him permission to levy them for the pay- ment of the 90,000 livres he had engaged to pay him in 1651 : and M. Houel, the governor of Guadaloupe, was condemned to pay Rapin, torn. ii. pp. 586. 588. 592. Du Mont, torn. vi. paitie ii. p. 28. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 23. Labat, torn. v. pp. 88, 89. 146, Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 175. .393, 394.417. Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 242. 1653.] OF THE WEST INDIES. 331 M. de Thoisy 61,715 pounds of tobacco in three years. M. Houel agreed to this decision, as it was awarded by his arbitrator M. de Megrigny. The Spanish government, by a royal cedule dated 1652, suspended all military expeditions against the Indians of Cumana. At the same time, eight missionaries of the order of St. Francis, under father Juan de Mendoza, were dispatched to convert the Indians : they landed at Cvmiana in May, 1656. 1653. An expedition of savages from Dominica surprised the English at Antigua, plundered and burnt most of the houses, and massacred the inhabitants. Upon their return to Dominica with their plunder, they stopped at Mariegalante, and were well received by the French; but when, they landed at Dominica, they found that a party of deserters from Martinico had plundered their village and abused their women. Unable to revenge themselves upon the inhabitants of Martinico, they resolved to attack the French on Mariegalante, whose numbers they knew did not exceed thirty : they landed there, under pretence of making a treaty with the French, and with their clubs killed all the colonists, and after plundering their houses, set them on fire. The blaze being seen at Guadaloupe, M. Houel sent his brother, with 100 men, in two barks: upon their approach, the Caribs fled. A fort was immediately begun, and as soon as it was in a state of defence, M. Houel left M. Blagny commandant of the colony, consisting of 100 men.' The governor of Guadaloupe, to revenge the attack made by the Caribs, sent Captain Du Me, with 150 picked men, in three barks, to Dominica: they were joined by several Caribs, who wished to shew M. Houel that they had no part in the massacre at Marie- galante ; these acted as guides to the French. Several huts were surprised, and the inhabitants killed : imprudently they set the huts on fire, and this served to alarm the other savages, who collected Depon's South America, vol. i. p. 344. Du Tertre, torn. i. p. 418. Labat, torn. v. pp. 148, 150. ' " On remarqua une chose de la fidelite avoient marche. II fut impossible depuis d'un chien qu'il est a propos de rapporter. ce tems-la de la faire coucher dans le fort. II demeura constamment aupres du corps II rodoit tout la nuit autour de la forte- de son maitre, jusqu'a ce qu'il fut enterre, resse, et siur le bord de la mer, et des qu'il et eonserva depuis ce tems-la une si etrange decouvroit la moindre chose, il se mettoit a aversion contre les Caraibes, qu'il se jettoit japper d'une maniere a eveiller le plus furieasement sur tous ceux qu'il pouvoit endormis." — Labat, torn. v. p. 149. approcher. Quand on Ten empechoit en The same story is told by Du Tertre, I'enchainant, il mordoit la terre ou ils torn. i. p. 420. 332 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l653. and attacked the French ' : they were, however, soon dispersed with great loss, and forty women and children carried away as slaves. Soon after this, 300 Caribs made another attack on Marie- galante ; but the colony were succoured in time by sixteen good soldiers from Guadaloupe, under the command of M. Cerisiers. Fifty of the Caribs were killed, the rest escaped to Dominica. They afterwards made an unsuccessful attack upon the Saints. The governor of Guadaloupe having received information of their intentions, had sent reinforcements under the command of M. Le- toille, and the savages were defeated with great loss. They now desisted from hostilities; and, without making any treaty of peace, came to Guadaloupe to traffic as before. M. Houel the governor, knowing what useful friends they were, forbade the inhabitants to reproach them with their late conduct, and ordered them to be treated in the same manner as though no quarrel had happened. The population of St. Bartholomew's consisted of 170 whites, and fifty slaves : they had raised 64,000 cocoa-trees. The King of France made an absolute bequest of the islands of St. Christopher's, St. Bartholemew, St. Martin, and Santa Cruz, to the order of Malta ; reserving to himself the sovereignty of them, artd the homage of a crown of gold, to be presented at every change of king, of the value of a thousand crowns, by letters patent dated in March, 1653. M. de Poincy, who had never lost sight of his design to sub- jugate Tortuga, had given the government of that island to Le Chevalier de Fountenay, who sailed from St. Christopher's in a frigate of twenty-two guns, and M. de Trenal, with another frigate and two barks, to assist him. Because Le Vasseur had emissaries in St. Christopher's, great secrecy was necessary : the squadron, therefore, sailed under pretence of cruising off Cartagena, went there in the first instance, sent to St. Christopher's some small vessels which they captured off that port, and then repaired to Port I'Ecu, in Espanola, where they heard of the fate of Le Vasseur, and immediately proceeded to Tortuga, but were obliged by the fort to land in Cayenne, where the Spaniards had landed when they attacked the island. Fountenay landed 500 men, who were well received by the inhabitants, and marched towards the fortress. The two assassins, finding the defection general, sent a depu- Labat, torn. v. pp. 90. 152. Du Tertre, torn i. pp. 177. 421,422. Coke's West Indies, vol. iii. p. 79. Davis, p. 176. Charlevoix, torn. iii. p. 24. ' Labat, speaking of the Caribs of d'une ruse qui les deconcerta. Pendant Dominica, says — " Si tot qu'ils voyoient qu'un tiroit, et que les Caraibes se jettoient le feu de I'amorce, ils se jettoient a terre par terre, son voisin se tenoit pret a tirer si adroitement, que les coups etoient perdus. et tiroit quand les Caraibes se relevoient." Cette manoeuvre obligea les Fran9ois d'user Tom. v. p. 1.51 . 1654.3 OF THE WEST INDIES. 333 tation to the general, offering to surrender the fort, upon condition of indemnity for the past, and security for their pei'sons and property. The terms were accepted, and M. Fontenay took pos- session of the fort: his commission as governor, given him by M. de Poincy, was read amid the acclamations of the inhabitants ; all the Catholics, who had been obliged to quit the island, returned, and their religion was again established. M. de Fontenay was the first who had the title of Governor of Tortuga and the coast of St. Domingo from the King ; which title was continued by his successors for a long time, even after Tortuga was abandoned. He immediately began to build a chapel, and to augment the fortifications, and conceived he had rendered the place secure. The island soon became so populous, that a colony was sent from it to the west side of San Domingo, which was attacked by the Spaniards, who hoped to destroy it before they had had time to fortify themselves ; but they were defeated by the opportune arrival of a party of freebooters and buccaneers. This failure convinced the Royal Audience of the necessity of driving the French out of Tortuga, and leaving a strong garrison there : and to effect this was now their object. 1654. While M. le Fontenay was rejoicing for the arrival of his brother, M. Hotman, at Tortuga, a vessel arrived with intelligence that she had been chased by a Spanish fleet, and escaped by running over a shoal, upon which the frigate that pursued her had been wTecked. Preparations were immediately made to defend the island; and upon Saturday the 10th of January, Don Gabriel Roxas de Valle Figueroa, with five large vessels, and several transports filled with soldiers, arrived at Tortuga, and proceeded to Cayonne, or Kayeme, where they landed 1 800 men : these obliged M. Hotman, who opposed their landing, to retreat to the fort. The Spaniards lashed a gun upon a long piece of timber, to which several pieces of wood were fastened crosswise, and under these they put a great number of slaves two and two ; and thus, after three days' labour, they got eight or ten guns up the mountain that commanded the fort : this attack, from a part where they considered themselves impi'egnable, reduced the French to attempt a sortie, which proved unsuccessful, and liis men being unwilling to stand a longer siege, Le Fontenay capitulated, upon condition of evacuating the island in three days, with all the honours of war, and provisions being furnished them for a voyage to France, in two vessels then in the Labat, torn. v. pp 93. 102. Dii Tertrc, torn. i. pp. 178. ISO, ISl. Charlevoix, vol. iii. pp. 25, 26, 27. 334) CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l654. harbour ; but if the whole were not embarked in three days, they were to be put to the sword. This menace had the desired effect. By incredible exertions, the French got the vessels ready in time: the rebels were appointed to go in the same vessel with the assassinsof Le Vasseur; Fontenay, with his officers, and the rest of the colony, in the other : the whole number embarked was 600. This the Spanish general considered too powerful a number to send to sea, while all his large ships were at Espanola, in case they should join the freebooters, and return and attack him upon his passage to St. Domingo : he therefore demanded the governor's brother, M. Hotman, as an hostage, and a suspension of all hostilities, till the vessels had completed their equipment in Port Margot. This was agreed upon : the French sailed for Port Margot, and the Spaniards for St. Domingo. M. Hotman was received with great distinction by the Spanish authorities, and sent across the island to his brother. The voyage to France, under such circumstances, not appearing a very desirable thing to the two brothers, they resolved to attempt the recapture of the island of Tortuga : but of all their followers, only 130 consented to go with them ; the rest went in boats to join the buccaneers on the west side of Espanola. The 300 that were with Thibault and Martin were supposed to have been lost, except some few sick, who had been left to their fate upon the island of Managua (perhaps Mariguana. ) While Fontenay and his brother, with their 130 adherents, were fitting their vessel for a cruise, a vessel arrived from Holland, bound to Tortuga, and anchored near them. Hearing what had happened, the Dutch supplied them with every thing, and lent some men to assist at the recapture of an island from which they had drawn so much wealth. With these succours they returned to Tortuga, and anchored in the same place where the Spaniards had disembarked. Each of the brothers landed with fifty men : their success at first was considerable ; but a reinforcement of 200 men opportunely arriving to the Spaniards, the French were obliged to embark with loss, which would have been considerably greater, if one of the Spaniards' dogs, by barking, had not saved them from falling into an ambush. After this defeat, Fontenay's followers left him, and he made sail for Europe, with about thirty only. Upon their passage, a gale of wind drove them on shore upon the Azores, and the vessel was lost. Fontenay, however, reached France, and died soon afterwards. M. Rousselan, the governor of St. Lucie, died, and was succeeded by M. la Riviere, who had so good an opinion of the pacific inten- tions of the Caribs, that he built a dwellinir-house for himself and Labat, torn. v. jip. 103. 105, lOG, 107. 109.; torn. vi. p. 248. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 185, 186, 435. Charlevoix, tom.iii. p. 34. Universal History, vol. xxxvi. p. 210. 1654.3 OF THE WEST INDIES, 33,5 family without the fort, in which he was massacred, with ten others, and his wife, two children, and a Negi-o slave carried off. La Rivaere was succeeded in the command by M. Haquet. Messrs. Adrian and Cornelius Lampsius, of Flushing, sent an expedition to Tobago, to claim the island from a colony of Covu'- landei's, then in possession of it ; but being unable to dispossess them, the Dutch took possession of Rockley Bay, and acknowledo-ed themselves to be under the protection of the Duke of Courland. The Portuguese having made themselves masters of Pernambuco, obliged the Dutch to quit Brazil. The fugitives sought shelter in the West Indies : when they arrived at Martinico, the leading men waited upon M. du Parquet, and begged permission to inhabit his island upon the same terms as the French inhabitants. Du Parquet would have granted their request, but the Jesuits remonstrated against it, declaring it was directly contrary to the King's inten- tions, that heretics and Jews should be allowed in the islands to introduce heresy and Judaism : their advice prevailed, and the unfortunate Dutchmen were obliged to seek shelter elsewhere. They proceeded to Guadaloupe, and were civilly received by M. Houel, the governor : upwards of 900 persons, of all ages, landed — soldiei's, merchants, women, children, and slaves, bringing with them immense riches. When Du Parquet heard what he had lost, he upbraided the Jesuits as the cause. The superior of that order, with more zeal than charity, went to Guadaloupe, to try his influence with M. Houel, to prevent his receiving the Dutch ; but he returned to Martinico unsuccessful and mortified : and, to his still greater mortification, another vessel arrived with 300 persons, among whom were eight or nine Jews. Du Parquet received them with open arms : they had begun to settle at the grand " Cul de Sac," when the yellow fever made its appearance among them ; and to augment their misfortunes, the Caribs attacked them in the night, burnt their houses, and mur- dered and plundered all they could find. The survivors retired to Guadaloupe, where M. Houel expected great assistance from them in making sugar, and augmenting the wealth of his island. Colonel Ostein and Lieutenant-Colonel Clas were the com- manding officers of the Dutch soldiers that were landed. In the beginning of this year, the Caribs in all the islands commenced a new war upon the French settlements, for which various causes are assigned. It was said that the master of a small French vessel, upon a supposition that a Carib belonging to St. Vincent's had killed one of his men, flogged the Carib so severely, that his body was lacerated all over : in this bleeding state the unhappy wretch got to his countrymen, and called upon them to revenge him. At the same time, another Carib would have been shot by a Frenchman, if the pistol had not missed fire. Du Tertrc, tom.i. pp. 281. 460. 462, 463. 465. Univ. Hist. vol. ixxvi. p. 281. 336 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY [l655. The French were also accused of giving them poisoned brandy ; but Du Tertre denies that this was the cause of the war : it was not done, he says, until after the war began. From Martinico Du Parquet sent an expedition of 150 picked men, under the command of his lieutenant, Pierriere, to St. Vin- cent's, with orders to destroy even the Carib women and children. Upon their arrival they found the Caribs entrenched behind their canoes and piraguas which they had placed end to end, and filled with sand; behind these they lay sheltered from the fire of the vessels : but when the French landed and stormed the position, they fled. Leaving several dead and wounded behind them. For eight days the French ravaged the island in all directions, put every body to the sword, and burnt every hut they came to : they then returned to Martinico. Some time afterwards, ten Caribs were taken prisoners by Captain Bourloti, and carried to M. du Parquet, who ordered them to be tried for murder : they were condemned to be cut to pieces with axes, and executed in that manner. Still more enraged at this pretended act of justice, the Caribs collected about two thousand of their countrymen and invaded Martinico : they were joined by several run-away slaves. The whole island was thrown into the most horrible confusion, and excesses of every kind were committed by the exasperated savages, when, providentially for the French, four large Dutch ships of war arrived in the roads, and observing what was passing, and suspecting the cause, they landed 300 well-armed soldiers, who dispersed the Caribs, at a time when they held M. du Parquet closely besieged in his house : they now fled in all directions, and made their escape to Grenada ; from whence, in the following year, they sued for peace. In July, M. Houel, governor of Guadaloupe, left that island under the command of his brother and M. Boisseret his nephew, and returned to France, to settle with his brother-in-law about their mutual claims upon the island. At the time of his departure, there were in Guadaloupe twelve hundred men carrying arms, of whom three hundred were Brazilians ; but the prisons were full, and the inhabitants dissatisfied with his conduct. His brother began his government by liberating all the prisoners, and succeeded in gain- ing the good-will of the inhabitants, as did M. Boisseret. Du Tertre, torn. i. pp. 467. 469, 470.; torn. iii. p, 127. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. \ VI THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Goleta, California THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. ^^ iOTia oa02 21» ?^imH) SEP 74 2000 ^3 SEP 14^'^^^ KtHm RET'D b ?ooi 20m-8,'60(B2594s4)476 \\