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THE
i^
HISTORY,
CIVIL AND COMMERCIAL,
0> TMI
URITISH COLONIES IN THE WEST INDIES.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
BY BRYAN EDWARDS, ESQ^
OF THE ISLAKD OF JAMAICA.
DUBLIN:
LUKE WHITE.
M.BOC.ZCllt.
V
TO THE
JCing's Most Excellent Majesty ;
THIS
POUTICAL AND COMMERCIAL SURVEY
OF
His Majestit's Dominions in the West Indies;
WHICH,
UNDER HIS MILD AND AUSPICIOUS GOVERNMENT,
AES BECOME THE PRINCIPAL SOURCE OF THE NATIONAL OPULENCE AND MARITIME POWER,
IS,
WITH HIS GRACIOUS PERMISSION,
MOST HUMBLY INSCRIBED,
BY HIS M A J E S T Y's_
MOST LOYAL AND DUTIFUL SUBJECT
AND SERVANT,
London, 3d June, 1793.
Bj EDWARDS.
a 2
^-y.'-i
1
►
s=*i=
P R E F ACE.
JL HE difcovciy of a new hcmi^hcre hf Chriftopher Columbus^ and die progrefs of the Spaniards in the conqueft of it^ have been dcfervedly the theme of a long feries of hiflo-r ries in the feveral }ai}guag<;s pf Europe ; and the fubje<^ has been recently refumed gnd ij-r luftratf 4 by % celebrated Writcf among ourt? felves. — It i$ not tthprefore ipy inteptipn tQ tread ^g^ih fo beaten a tracks by the repital of occurrences of which few cjin be ignQrant^ if the poblfft (Bx?rtipns pf the human mind, producing; events the nipft fingular and iinpor-^ tant in me hiftory of the world* ar^ gircum- ftanccs deferving admiration and inquiry^
My. attempt, whiph I fepl to 1^ fuffipiently arduous, iSf / .
To prefect the reader with an hiftorical ac- count pf the origin and progrefs of the fettle-* ments madp by our own nation in the Well Jndian iflands y. —
To explain their ppuftifutippaj qftabliib-? ments, intejrn^ governments, find the politi-? cal iyftem niaintained by Great Britain toward^ them;— r-
Tp defcribe the manners and diippfitioi)s of dip p^efent inhabitants, as influenced by cli?
mate.
vl PREFACE.
inate, fituation» and other local caufes; com- prehending in this part of my book an account of the African (lave trade, fome obfervations on the negro character and genius, and reflec- tions on the {yAcmvf flavery eflablifhed in our colonies ;—
To fumifh a more comprehenfive account than has hidierto appeared of theamculture of the Sugar Iflands in general, and of their rich and valuable ftaple commodities, fugar, indigo, coflfee, and cotton, in particular; — • finally.
To dilplay the various and widely extended branches of their commerce ; pointing out the relations of each towards the other, and to- wards the feveral great interefts, the manu- factures, navigation, revenues, and lands of Great Britain :—
Thefe, together with feveral collateral dif- quifitions, are the topics on which I have en- . deavoured to coUeft, and convey to the pub- lic, ufeiiil and accceptable infcmnation. Their importance will not be difputed, and I have only . to lamient that my abilities are not more equal to the tafk I have undertaken.
But, before I proceed to inveftigations merely political and commercial, I have ven- tured on a retrofpeiftive furvey of the ftate and condition of the Weft Indian ifUnds when firft difcovered by Columbus ; and I have endea- voured to delineate the moft prominent fea- tures in. the charadler and genius of their an- cient inhabitants. I was led to a refearch of
this
P R t F A G t vil
this nature, not merely for the purpofe of giving uniformity to my work, but becaufe^ having rcfided many years ifl the countriesf of which I write, I prefume to think that I ^itti ibmewhat better qualified to judge of the in-' fluence of climate arid fituatidn, on the fiKfw pofition, temper, and intelleds of their iriha-* pitants, than many df thofe writers, who, without the fstfne advantage, have undertaken to compile fyftems, and eftabliih conclufions^ on this fubjedt. I conceive that, unlefs m , author has had the beriefit of aftual (Sxperience and perfonal obfervation, neither genius nor induftry can ^t all times enable him to guard agiinft the miftakes and mifreprefentations of prejudiced, ignorant, or interefted jnen j tg whofe authority he fubmits, merely from the want of advantages vdiich thbfe who have pofleflcd them have perverted. He is liable even to be milled by preceding authors, who have undertaken, on no better foundation than himfelf, to compile hiftories and form fyfteme on the fame fubjedt ; for when plauiible the- ories are deduced, with ingenuity and elo- quence, from fadfcs confidently aflcrted ; he fufpeds not, or, if he fufpefts, is cautious of aflcrting, that the foundation itfelf (as it fre^ quently happens) is without fupport ; that no fuch fefts aftually exift, or, if cxifting, are accidental and local peculiarities only,*— not^ pfemifes of fufficient extent and' importanc?. whereon to ground general conclufions andJ^f- t^matical combinations. ^ ,^ ,
I have
nil PREFACE.
I have been induced to make this remark from perufing the fpeculations of Monf* Bu£« fon and fome other French theorifts^ on the fondition and character of the America na-» dons. Whether from a dcfire to leiTen the. ftrong abhorrence of all mankind at the cruel*- tieaexercifed by the Spaniards in the conqueft of the New World, or from a ftrange affeda- tion of paradox and iingularity, falfely claim* ing the honours of phHofophy, thofe writers liave ventured to aflert, that the air and cli- mate, or other phyiical phenomena, retard the growth of animated nature in the New He- mifphere, axKl prevent the natives from at- taimng to thatperfe&ion at which mankind ar- rive in the other quarters of the globe. Not- withftanding the variety of foil, climate, and fcafons, which prevail in the fevcral great pro- vinces of North and South America ; — not- ^ithftanding that the aboriginal inhabitants were divided into a great many different tribes, and diftinguifhed alfo by many different languages ; it is pretended that all thofe vari- Qus tribes, were uniformly inferior, in the fa- culties of the mind and the capacity of im- provement, to the refl of the human fpecies ; that they were creatm-es of no confideration in the book of Nature ;— denied the refined invigorating fentimcnt of love, — and not pof- feflirig even any very powerful degree of ani- mal defir^ towards multiplying their fpecies. The author of a lyflein entitled * Recherches PhikfophiquesfurlesAmericains'Ai^clz^ts^ with^
imexampled
PREFACE. ir
unexampled arrogance, that there never had been found, throughout the whole extent of the New World, a fingle individual of fupe- rior fagacity to the reft. And the fcope of his ^ trcatife is to demonftrate, that t;jbe poor fa** vagcs were adhiated, not by re^on, but by i fort of animal inftinft ; that Nature, having beftowed on the vvhole fpecies a certain fmall degree of intelle6t^ to which they all indivi- dually attain, placed an infurmountable barrier againfl their further progrefs :— of courfe, that they are not (properly fpeaking) men, but be- ings of a fecondary and fubordinate rank in the fcde of creation.
Although our own learned Hiftorian* is much too enlightened to adopt, in their fiiUeft extent, thefe opinions ;— wnich cannot, in- deed, be read without indignation ;— yet it is impoflible to deny, that they have had fome degree of influence in the general eftimate wmch he has framed of the American charac- ter : for he afcribes to all the natives of the New World many of thofe imperfedions on which the iyftem in queflion is founded ; and repeatedly aiferts, '* that the qualities belong- ing to the people of aii the diflferent tribes may be paintca with the fame features -f/' With this bias on his pen, it is not wonderful that the author is fometimes chargeable with repugnancy and contradi<£tion. Thus we are told that ** the Americans are, in an amazing
degree,
•^ Dr. Kobertfon.
t lliftorj of America, VoL I. p. 28b and 28}4
sH PREFACE.
Guacanahari at their head. Inftead of taking advantage of the diftrefs in which they beheld the Spaniards, to attempt any thing to their detriment, they lamented their ihisfortune with tears of Jincere condolance. Not fatisficd with this unavailing expreflion of their fympathy, they put to fea a vaft number of canoes, and, under the diredion of the Spaniards, affifted in iaving whatever could be got out of the wreck ; and by the united labour of fo many hands, almoft every thing of value was carried afhore^ Guacanahari in perfon took charge of the goods, and prevented tne multitude not only fix)m em* bezzling, but even from infpedting too curi* oufly what belonged to their guefts. Next morning this prince vifited Columbus, and^n-^ deavoured to confole him for his lofs by offering all that be poffiffed to repair it^'*
Thus exceptions prcfent thcmfelves to
every general conclufion, until we are bur-
thencd with their variety :.-- TAnd at laft we
end juft where we began ; for the wonderfiil
uniformity which is faid to have diftinguifhed
the American Indians, appears to be as little
Ibunded in nature, as it is fupported by analogy^
Of the other branches ot my work, great
part, I prefume to think, will be new to many
of my readers. I have not met with anv book
that even pretends to furnifh a compreneniive
and fadsfedtory account of the origin and pro-r
grefs of our national fettlements in the tropical
parts of America. The fyftem of agriculture
pr3<^ifcd in the Weft Indies, is almoft as much
yfeknowft
? R E iP A C E. %iii
Unknown to the people of Great Britain ad that of Japan. They know, indeed, that fu«* gar, and indigo^ and coffee^ and cotton^ ard raifed and produced there ; but they are very generally, and to a furprifing degree, tinitt** formed concerning the method by-which thofe and other taluable conimodiide^ are cultivated and brbujght to pcrfedtion. So remarkable in- deed is the want of information in this refpe<^» even among perfons of the moft extenfive ge«^ iieral knowledge, that in a law queftion which came by appeal firom one of the Sugar Iflands a few years ago, the noble and learned lord who pre£ded at the hearing, thinking it neceffary to give fome account crif the nature of rum and lAel^iTes (niuch. being ilated in the pleadings Concerning the valud of thofe commodities) aff furedhis auditors with great folemnity, that '^ Qiel^es^was the raw and unconcoded juice extrad:ed from the cane> and from which fu>» gar was afterwards made by boiling*!"
On the fubje<9: of the flave trade> and its concomitant circumfbnces, fo much has been iaid of late by others, that it may be fuppofed there remains but little to be added by me. It is certain, however^ that my account, both of the trade and the fituation of the enflaved negroes in the Britifh colonies, differs very cffentially from the reprefcntations that have been given* not only in a great variety of pamphlets . and other publications, but al£> oy many^ of the witneffes that were examined
before
' • .1 give tills anecdote on-tKe authority of a Jamaica gen* tleman^ho "was prefent ', a perfon of undoubted Veracity^
XIV
PREFACE.
before the houfe of commons. The public muft judge between us, and I fhould be ih ho pain ^out the refult, if the.charaAers of fome of thofc pcrfons who have flood forth on this occaiion as accufers of the reiident planters, were as well known in Great Britain, as they are in the Weft Indips. What I hav<? written on thefe fubjeds has at leaft this ad«» vantage, that great part of my obfervations are founded on perfonal knowledge and adual ex<- perience : and with regard to the manners and difpofitions of the native Afiic^ns, as diftin^ guiOied by national habits, and chaiiad:eriftic features, I venture to think, that my remarks will be found both new and interefting^
After all, my firft objed has been trudi, not. novelty. I have endeavoured to colle£k ufeful knowledge whercfoever it lay, and when I found books that could fupply what I fought, I have fometimes been content to adopt, without alteration, what was thus fur* nifhed to my hands. |Thus, extracts and paf- fagcs from former writers occupy fome of my pages; and not having always been careful to note the authorities to which I reforted, I find it now too late to afcertain the full extent of my obligations of this kind. They may be traced moft frequently, I believe, in the firft and laft parts of my work : In the firft, be- caufe, when I began my tafk, I had lefs con- fidence in my own refources than I found after- wards, when pradlice had rendered writing familiar to me ; and in the laft, becaufe, when
my
P R E F A C Ev
my labours grew near to 'a conclufion) I be- came weary^iand was glad to get afliilance wherefoever it offered, \
Froqi /n;iVr^ rather than from written infor- mation, however, have I generally fought afliftance, when my own re§)urces have prov- ed deficient; and it is my good fortune to boafl an acquaintance with men, ta whom, for local and conunercial knowledge, our flatef- men and fenators might reibrt, with credit to themfelves and advantage to the public. On this ocafion, neither the gratitude which I owe for favours beflowed, nor the "pride which I feel from the honour of his fricndfhip, will allow me to conceal the name of Edward Long, Efquire, the author of the Jamaica . Hiflory, to whom I am fkil and principally injicbted ; and who, with the liberality wnich always accompanies true genius, has been as careful to correct my errors, and arduous to fupply my defe&s, as if his own well-earned reputation had depended on the ifTue.
For gre^ part of the materials which com- pofe thjC Hiflory of Grenada, I am under obli- gations to Thomas Campbell, Efq. fprmerly *^ ibeaker of the afTcmbly of that ifland, who, tnrough means of a friend, furnifhed fuch anfwers to queries that I fent him, as encou- rage me to prefcfit that portion of my work to the public with a confidence which I dare not alTume in my account of fome other of the iHands. Yet, even with regard to moft of thcfe, I have no caufe to complaih that aflifl-
ance
XV
Kvi P R E F A C E.
Hiice has been oftentimes denied me. Con^ ' ccrning Barbadoes and Saint Chriftopher's in particular, I have been favoured with much accurate and acceptable inforaiation, l)y John . Braithwaite and Alexander Douglas, Efquires, gentlemen who arc intimately acquainted with the concerns of thofe colonies ; and the polite and chearful readinefs v^'ith which they iatisfied my enquiries, entitle them to this public tefH- mony of my thanks.
The fame tribute is moft juftly due to Ben- jamin Vaughan and George Hibbert, Efquires, merchants of London, for many excellent and important remarks, and much valuable mat- ter ; which, at length, have enabled me to look back on the commercial difquifitions in the laft book, with a degree of fatisfiidion that at one period I delpaired of obtaining ; being well apprized that this part of my work will, . on many accounts, be moft obnoxious tq criti- cifm. That it is now rendered free fix)m mif- takes, I do not indeed pretend. In all re- fcarchfts of a political and commercial nature, the beft authorities arc fometimes fallible ; and there is frequently much difFercnoe both in general opinion and particular computation be- tween thofe who are, equally folicitous for the difcovery of truth. The fadls, however, that I have colleded cannot fail to be of ufe, whe- ther the conclufions I have drawn from them be well founded or not.
I mighf here clofe this introduftory difcourfe, and leave my book to the candour of my
readers ^
PREFACE. xvii
readers ; but having made my acknowledge mcnts to thofe gentlemen who have given jjic their kind afliftance in the compilation of it; and feeling, in common with all the inhabitants of the Britifh Weft Indies, a juft fcnfe o£ in- dignation at the jnalignant and unmerited afperfions which are daily and l;iourly thrown upon tl^ planters, for fuppofed improper and inhypian tre^ktment of their African labourers ; I fhould ill acquit myfelf, as the hiftorian of thofe colonies, if I omitted this opportunity of giving my teftimony to the fulnefs of their gratitude, their honeft pride and lively fenfibi- lity, at beholding, in a Son of their beloved Sovereign, the generous aflfertor of their rights, and the ftrenupus and able defender of their injured charafters, and infulted honour ! The condefcending and unfolicited interpofition of the Duke 6f Clarence on this occafion, is the more valuable, as, happily for the planters, it is founded on his Royal Highnefs's perfonal obfervation of their manners, and knowledge of their difpofitions, acquired on th^ fpot. Thus patronized and protedted, while they treat with lilent fcorn and deferved contempt the bafe efforts of thofe perfons who, without the leaft knowledge of the fubjed, aflail them with obloquy and outrage, they find a dignifi- ed fupport, in the confcioufncfs of their own innocence, even under the mifguided zeal and unfavourable prepoffellions of better men. It might indeed be hoped, for the intereft of truth and humanity, ittatfuc/i men would now frank- Vo^. I. b ly
xviu PREFACE.
ly acknowledge thek error, and ingcmioufly own, that we have been moft cruelly traduced, and ignominioufly treated : If this be too much to alk, we may at leaft expedl that gentlemen of education and candour will no longer perfift in affording countenance to the vulgar prejudi- ces of the envious and illiberal, by giving cur- rency to fuggeftions wbkh they cannot poffibly know to be true, and which we know to be falfe.
London, 1795.
P. S. The author has to obfcrve, that the firft part of €he work was writtenbefore his Return to the Weft Indies in the beginning pf 1787}— a confiderable part while ht was there, and me remainder, with moft of the notes, fince his return to Great Britain, in the autumn of I792. It may poffibly be found therefore, that events and changes of a political and commercial nature have taken place, during die time which^ elapfed in the progrefs of the work, that have pafled unnoticed in it ; and the author is apprehenfive alfo, that there are in (bme of his pages, from the fiune caiife, appearances of anachrcmifin f i^ich, however, it was impoffible wholly to remove, without ncwly arranging and modeliin|; the work throughout
[ xlx ]
CONTENTS.
BOOK L
A GENERAL V|EW QF THEIH ANCIENT STATft AND INHABITANTS. '
C H A P. I.
Geographical arrangement.— ^Umate.
"^Sca-breczCi and Land^wind.-^^Beauty and
Angularity of the vegetable and animal creation^
'^Magnificence and fublimit J 6f the mountains:
t^eSiom concerning their origin, &c. - Page i
CHAP. II.
Of the Charaihesy or ancknff^ Inhabitants of the Windward I/lands. — Origin. — Difficulties at» tending an accurate invefiigation of their cha- raSer.^^Such particulars related as are leaji difputed concerning their manners and difpoji^ tionSj perfons and domefiic habits, education of their children, arts, manufaSures, and govern'- ment, religious rites, funeral ceremonies, S^c.-^ Some refieflions drawn from the whck. - 24
b2
C H.A P.
XX COtlTZNTS,
c H A P. nt.
I
C^ the natives of Hifpaniotdy Cuba^ Jamaica^ dnd Portd^Rico. — Their Origin. — Numbers.-^ Perfons. — -Genius and difpojit ions .-^rrGoverntne fit and Religion. — MifcellaneouS Obfervations re-, JpeBing their Jrts, ManufaSures and Jgricul- iure. Cruelty of the opatiiardsy &c, ^ - 55
CHAR IV,
tAnd animals ufed as food. — Fijbes and wild
. fowL'^Indian method of fjhing and fowling.^-T
Efculent vegetables f £^cr^ConcluJiort. -^ ^ 87
J PPEND IX i Containing Jome additional qb/ervatjons concerning the origin of the Cha- rdibes. • - r r ^ joi
BOOK II,
J A M A I C At
CHAP, I,
J)ifccruery of Jamaica by Columbus. -^His return in i503-( — Spirited proceedings of his fonDiego^ after Columbus'' s d^ath.-^Takes pojfejpon of Jar fffdica in 1509. — Humane conduit of Juan d^ Ef^uively thefrfi Governor. — Efiablijhment and defertion of the tozvn of Sevilla Nu^a. — De^
' flruSion of the Indians, — St. Jago dc la Vega
found^^
CONTENTS.
founded. — Gives thi title of Marquis to Die^ g6*s fon Lewis^ to whom the IJland is granted in perpetual fovereignty,^ — Dejcends to his ftjier Ifabella, ^*ho conveys her rights by inarriage to the Houfe of Braganza. ^-Reverts to the crown
of Spainy in 1 640. Sir Anthony Shirley in-
njades the IJlqt^ in 1596, and Col. 'Jackjon in J638, - . - - - J 17
CHAP. IL .
Cromwell vindicated for attacking the Spaniards in i65.«;. — Thetr cruelties in the Wejl Indies ^ in contravention of the tteaty of 1630. — Propofals offered by Modyford and Gage. — Forcible ^r- guments of the latter. — w^Secretary Thurlocs account of a conference with the Spanijh Ann
-haffador. CromweW^ demand of JatisfaSion
rejeded. State of Jamaica on its cap^
ture, T r 4 , , • ^3^
CHAR IIL
Proceedings of the Englijh in Jamaica after its capture. — ^Col. UOyley declared prudent. ---^ Difcontents and mortality among tlie army,-* — Vigorous exertions of the Protedor. — CoL Brayne appointed cotnmander in chief — His death. —
D^Oyley reaffumes the government. Defeats
the Spanijh forces^ which had invaded the if- land from Cuba. — His wife and Jieady admi- nijl ration f-^rBucaniers. — Conciliating conduS of Charles IL on his rejioratiqn. — Firft ejlab^ lifbment of a regular government in Jamaica^ rr^Lord Windfor^s appointment. — Royal prqcla^ mation. — American treaty in 1670. — Change of meafures on the part of the crown. — New canr JlitutiQn devifedfor Jamaica. — Earl of Carlijlc
I a^peint^dl
xxt
»a CONTENTS.
af^ointed chief governor for the purpafe 6f en- farcing the new fyfiem.-'^SucceJsful oppojition ef the ajTembly.^^-^^hfequent difputes refpeSing the conjrmation of their laws. -^Terminated by the revenue aff of 1728. - - 152
CHAP, IV.
Situation. '^^Climaie.'^'^Face of the Country. Mountains^ and advantages derived from them. '^^oilr^^Lands in Culture. — Lands unculti- vatedf and obfervaticns thereon.-'-^Woods and Timber s.-^^Rivers and Medicinal Springs. — Ores^-^^^Vegetable ClaJfes.^-^Grain.'-^GraJfes. — Kitchen^garden produce, and Fruits for the Ta^ hle^ ^c. ^c. - - - - 175
Catalogue of Exotic Plants in the Botanical Gar^ den of Jamaica, 1792. - - 190
CHAP. V.
Topographical dtfcription.-^Towns, villages, -and parijbes^— Churches, church-livings, and vef^ tries. ^'•^Governor or Commander in chief. Courts of judicature.-^Public Offices^ — Le^if^ fature and laws.-^^^Revenues.-^Taxes. — Coins, and rate of exchange. ^^Militia. — Number of inhabitants of all conditions and complexions^-^ Trade, pipping, exports and imports. — -Report - of the Lords of Trade in 1734. — Prefent Jiate ^ the trade with Spanijb America.'^^Origin and policy of the aft for eftablijhing free ports. -^Dijplay of the progrefs of the ijland in cuU txvation, by comparative fiatements of its inha- bitants and produQs at different periods. 203
APPEND I JC— N^ /. A Return of the Num- ber of Sugar Plantations in the Ijland of Jamai- ca,
CONTENT a nffi
Cdy and the Negro Slaves tkerem^ m tie 2ithof Marchy 1789, dijiinguijbing the JeveraLParifi^ ts. - - - - * - 237
APPENDIX-^W.Il An Hijiorical Account of the Conftttution of Jatnaica; drawn up in 1764, for the Informatton of his Majejiy^s Mi^ niftersy by his Excellency William Henry LitteU ton. Governor and Commander in Chief of that yiand. - - - - - - 238
Documents annexed to the hijiorical Account. 249
BOOK III.
ENGLISH CHARAIBEAN ISLANDS.
C H A P, L
Barbadoes.^^FJrJl Arrival of the EngliJB at this tf* land. — Origin, progrefs, and termination of the Proprietary Covemment^-^Revenue granted to the Crown of ^ per centum on all Produce ex* ported^— hew (^fainedr-^'^^Origin of the AS of Navigation.^^Situation and extent of the I/land^ "-^Soiland Producp.^^Population.— Decline, and Caufes thereof. -^Exports and imports. - 315
CHAP. n.
Grenada and its Dependencies.'''^'-^FirJl di/cowry, name and inhabitants ^^^Frenck invafi^m and ejlabiijbment in i650t— — ^ar with, and ex- termination qf the natives^-^^The ijland and its dependencies conveyed to the Count de Ce^ riilac. — MifconduS and punijhttient of the de* puty governor. -^The colony reverts to the crown of France.^^State of the ifland in 1700. — And again in I762> when captured by theEngliJb.'^
Stipulations 3
CONTENTS.
Stipulations in favour of the French inhabitapfSw — Firfl meafures vf the Britijh government.'-^ Claim- of the crown to levy a dnty of 4^ per cent, on produce exported. -^Arguments for and ohjeBions againji the meafure. — Decijion cf the court of Vings bench on this important quefiion. — Strictures on fome pojitions advanced by the lord chiff juflice on this 9CcaJion. — Tranf(idions within the colony^ — Royal inJiruSiions in favour ef the Rotnan Catholic capitulants. — Internal dijjentions. — Defencelefs fiate. — French invajion in 1779. — Brave defence of the garrifon. — 6V/- tonditional Jurrender- — HardJ^ips exercifed to- ^vards the Englijh planters and their creditors. — Redrefs given by the court of France. — Gre-^ nada, &c. reflored to Great Britain by the peace of 1783. — Prefent fiate of the colony in refpefl to cultivation, produdions and exports ; govern-- ment and population. - - • ^44
CHAR III.
St. Vincent and its Dependencies, and Dominica.
375
C H A P. IV.
I^eeward Charaibean Ifland Government, compre* hending St. Chrijiopher^s, Nevis, Antigua, Mont^ Jerrat, and the Virgin Iflands.-^^CivH Hijloryand Geographical Defcription of each.'-^Table of Ex^ ports from each Ifland for 1787; and an Account of the Money arijing from the Duty cf Four and a Half per Cent. — Obfervations concerning the Decline of thefe Iflands, which conclude their Hifiory. - - - 404
APPENDIX. Hortus Eafienfs. - 455
1
!
:/
elicroachnients of the Atlantic on the one fide» Vol. L B and
/
]r^^
A
n 1' n ^
T M B
HISTORY,
C/FIL AifD COMMERCIAL,
or THK
Britifli Colbnids in the Weft Indies.
- f • • V
-A O O K J.
A' GEI^RAX y^fet^ OP^ rnilR ANCIENT
»tA+E a'nd inhabitants.
. CH A P- I.
Geographical arrixiigefnent.'^--^Name.''^Climate. ^^Sea^brttzCy and Land-wind. — Beauty and Jihgularify of the vegetable and animal creatt- (m^-^^Magnifcence and fublimity of the mountains \ rejleffions concerning their ori- gin, &(f.
GEOGRAPHERS, following the diftribu- ^^l^' tion of Nature, divide the vau Continent of v-i^v"-^ Ajnerica into two great parts; North and Arrange- South ; the narrow but mountainous Ifthmus ^^^^ of Darien ferving as a link to connedl them to- gether, and forming a rampart againft ,the eiicroachments of the Atlantic on the one fide. Vol. I. B aiid
t HISTORY© FTHE
BOO K and of the Pacific Ocean on the other. Thefe great Oceans were anciently diftineuifhed alfo, from their relative fituation, by the names of the North and South Seas. * Name. To that prodigious chain of Iflands which extend in a curve from the Florida Shore on the Northern Peninfula, to the Gulph of Maracaybo on the Southern, is given the deno- mination of IVeJi Indies, from the name of India orinnally affiled to them bv Columbus* Thb illultrious Navigator plannea his expedi- tion, not, as Rayn aland others have fuppofed, under the idea of introducing a New World to the knowledge of the Old ; but, principally, in the view of finding a route to India by a Weftem navigation; which he was led to think would prove lefs tedious than by the Coaft of Africa ; and this concluiion would have been juft, if the geography of the Anci- ents, on which it was founded, had been ac- curate f. Indeed, fo firmly perfuaded was
Coliunbus
* The appellation of Ncrtb^ applied to that part of the Atlantic which flows into the Gttlph of Darien, feems now to be entirely difufed ; but the raciiic is ftiU commonly cilled the South Sea. It was difcovered in 15 13, and, having been firft entered towards the South, might, per- haps, have derived its name from that circumilance.
t /* The fpherical flgure of the earth was known to tKh^ ancient geographers. They invented the method (till in ufe, of computing tiie longitude an^ latitude of different places. According to their dodtrine, the equator contained 360 de- grees; thefe they divided into twenty-four parts, or hours, ^each equal to fifteen degrees. The country of the Sere^ or . SinJt being the fartheft part of India known to the an- cients, was fuppofe(^, by Marinus Tyrius, the moil emi- nent of the ancient geographers before Ptcylemy, to be fif* teen hours, or 225 degrc;^s to the eaft of the firft meridian, palling through the Fortunate Iflands. If this fuppofition - was well founded, the country of the Seres, or China, vfnp
only
' WESTINDIES. }
Columbus of its truth and certainty, that he CHAP, continued to aflert his belief of it after the I* difcovery of Cuba and Hifpaniola ; not doubt- ing that thofe iflands conftituted fome part of the E^ern extremity of Alia : and the nations of Europe, fatisfied with fuch authority, concurred in the fame idea* Even when the difcovery of the Pacific Ocean had demonibrated his mif« take, all the countries which Columbus had vifited flill retained the name of the Indies ; and in contradiftinftion to thofe at which the Portuguefe, after pafling the Cape of Good Hope, had at length arrived by an eaftern courfe, they were now denominated the Indies of the Weji*.
Among the Geographers of thofe days, however, there were fome, who envying the glory of Columbus, or giving more credit to ancient f;|ble than to the achievements of their cotemp6raries,periifted in afligning to the new* ly-difcovered Iflands the appellation of Antilia
or
onlj nine hours, or 135 degrees weft from the Fortunate or Canary Iflands; and the navigation in that direction was much fhorter than br the courfe which the Portuguefe were purfuing/' From this account, for which the reader is in- debted to the learned Dr. Robertibn, it is evident that the icheme of Columbus was founded on rational fjftematical principles, according to the light which his ag^ afforded > whereas if he had propofed, without an/ fuch fupport, to difcover a new hemifphere by failing weftward ; lie would Kave been juftly conudered sas an arrogant and chimerical projedor, and fiiccefs itfelf would not have reconciled his temerity to the fober dilates of reafon.
* Columbus failed on his firft Vo/age the 3d. of Auguft, X492. In 1494 Bartholemus Dias dikovered the Cape of Good Hope ; but it was not doubled till the year 1497, when Vafquez de Gama fucceeded (for the firft time in modern navigation) in this, as it was then fuppofc4« W* midable attempt.
B 2
B O p K; or Antiles : the name (according to Charlevoix) !• of an imaginary country, placed in ancient ~ ^ charts about two hundred leagues to the Weft- ward of Azores; and it is a name ft ill very generally ufed by foreign Navigators, although the etymology of the word^ is as uncertan, as the application of it is unjuft. To the Britifti nation the name befiowec^ by Columbus is abundantly more familiar : and thiis the whole of the Ne\v Hemifphere is, with us, common- ly comprifed under three great divifions; North America, South America, and the Weft Indies*.
But, fubordinate to this comprehenfive and fimple arrangement, neceffity or convenience has introduced more minute and local diftii;c- tions. That portion of the Atlantic which is
feparated
^ The tenn Aniiks is applied b/ Hoffinan to tli^ Wind- waid or Charaibean lillinds onl/, and is b/ him thus ac- . counted for: ** Dicuntur Antilae Amencfle qiiaii ante Infu- las Americae, nempe ante majores Infulas Sinus Mexu-ani*'^- (Hoffman Lexic. Univ. J Rochfort and Du Tertre explain the word nearly in the fame manner, while Monf. P'An- ville applies the name to thofe lilands only, which are more immediatel/ oppofed to^ or iituated j^/ifff/?, the Continent : thus he terms Cuba, Hifpaniola, Jamaica, and Porto Rico, the Great Antiles^ and the fmall Iflands of Aruba, Cura9oa« Bonair, Magaritta, and fome others near the coafl of Ca* raccas on tbie ibuthern Peninfula, the Left ; excluding the Charaibean Idands altogether. A recurrence to the e^rl/ Spanifh Hillorians would have demonftrated to all thefe writers, that the word AntiTta was applied to Hifpaniola and Cuba, before th? difcovery cither of the Windward lilands, or any part of the Apierican Continent. This appears from the following paflage in the Firfi Book of the Firft Decad of Peter Manyr, which, bears date from the. Court of Spain November 1493, eight months only after Columbus's return from his firit expedition; " Ophiram Infulam fefe reperifle refert : fed Coiinographorum traAu diligenter confiderato, jintilis Infulae funt ill^e et adjaceotes. aliae : hanc Hifpaniolam appellant, &c"
WESTINDIES. S
leparated from the main Ocean to the North CHAJP. and to the Eaft, by the Iflands I have men- h tioned^ ahhough commonly known by the ge- ' neral appellation of the Mexican Gulph, is it- felf properly fubdivided into three diftiniSjt Baiins: the Gulph of Mexico, the Bay of Honduras, and the Charaibean Sea*. The latter takes its name from that clafs of Iflands which bound this latter pan of the Ocean tp the Eaft. Mofi of thefe were anciently pot felled by a nation of Cannibals, the fcourgc and terror of the mild and inoffenfive native^ of Hifpaniola, who frequently exprefled to Columbus their dread of th#fe fierce and war* like invaders, Charaibes, or Caribbeesf. An4 it was in confequence of this information, that the Iflands to which thefe favages belong- ed, when difcovered afterwards by Columbus, were by him denominated generally the Cha* raibean Iflands.
Of this clafs, however, a group nearly ad- joing to the Eafiem fide of St. John de Porto Rico, is likewife called the Virgin. Illes ; a dif* tindion. of which the origin wUl be explained in its place I .
Neither
* Vide IntTodu£lion to the Weft Indian Adas, b/ JciFerica.
t Herrera, lib. i. Fer. Columbus, chap. xxxiiL } It may be proper to obferve, that the old Spanifh Navigators, in Ipeaking of the Weft India Iflands in ge- neral, frequently diftinguiih them alfo into two clafles, by the terms Barlovento and SotaventOy from whence our fVytd" nvard and Leeward Iflands; the Charaibean conftituting in ftrift propriety the former clafs (and as fuch I ihall fpeak of them m the courfe of this worlt), and the four large Iflands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hifpaniola, and Porto Kico, the latter. 3ut our Englilh mariners appropriate both terms to the Charaibean Iflands only, Subdividing them ac- cording
6 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK Neither muft it pafs unobferved, that the name of Bahama is commonly applied by the Englifh to that clufter of fmall iflands, rocks, and reefs of fand, which ftretch in a North- v^fterly diredron for the fpace of near three htmdred leagues, from the Northern coaft of Hifpaniola to the Bahama Strait, oppofite the Florida fhore. Whether this appellation is of Indian origin, as commonly fuppofed, is a queftibn I cannot anfwer ; neither does it merit very anxious inveftigation : yet thefe little iflands have defervedly a clami to particular notice ; for it wai one of them * that had the honour of firft receiving Columbus, after a. voyage the moft b61d and magnificent in defign, -and the moft important in its confequences, of any that the mind of man has conceived, or national adventure undertaken, from the be- ginning of the world to the prefent hour.
Clunatc. Moft of the countries of which I propofe to treat being fituated beneath the tropic of Can- cer, the circumftances of climate, as well in regard to general heat, as to the periodical rains and confequent variation of feafons, are nearly the fame throughout the whole. The temperature of the air varies indeed confide- rably according to the elevation of the land ; but, with this exception, the medium degree of heat is much the fame in all the countries of this part of the globe.
A tropical year feems properly to com- prehend b"t two diftinft feafons ; the wet and
the
cording to their iituation in the courfe of the trade vrind; the Windward Iflands bj their arrangement terminating, I believe with Maninico, and the Leeward commencing at Dominica, and extending to Porto Rico.
* Guanahani. The whole group is called b/ the Spa- niards Lucayos.
WESTINDIES. 1
the dry^y but as the rains in thefe climates con- CHAP, ftitute two great periods, I fhall defcribe it, ^ ^' like the European year, under four diviiions.
The vernal feafon, or Spring, may be faid to commence with the month of May, when the foliage of the trees evidently becomes more vivid, and the parched favannas begin to change their ruflet hue, even previous to the fird periodical rains, which are now daily ex* pe£led, and generally fet in about the mid« die of the month. Thefe, compared with tht^ Autumnal rains, may be faid to be gentle fhowers. They come from the South, and commonly fall every day about noon, and break up with thunder-florms ; creating a bright and beautiful verdure, and a rapid and luxuri* ant vegetation. The thermometer at this fea* fon varies confiderably ; commonly falling fix or eight degrees immediately after the diurnal rains : its medium height may be flated at 75*.
After thefe rains have continued about a fortnight, the weather becomes dry, fettled, and falutary ; and the tropical Summer reigns in full glory. Not a cloud is to be perceived ; and the Iky blazes with irrefiftible fiercenefs. For fome hours, commonly between feven and ten in the morning, before the fetting in of the fea-breeze or trade- wind, (which at this fea- fon blows from the fouth-eaft with great force and regularity until late in the evening) the heat is fcarcely fupportable ; but, no fooaer is the influence felt of this refrefhing wind, than all Nature revives, and the climate, in the fhade, becomes not only very tolerable, but pleafant. The thermometer now varies but little in the whole twenty-four hours : its me- dium, near the coafl, may be ilated at about
8o\
8 H I S 7" 0 R Y OF T PE
30QK 8o^ I have feldpm pbferve4 it feighcr thaa ^ " 83*" at noon, por much below 75** at fiuiTrife, ' The nights "^t this feafon are tranfcfendently beautiful. The clearnefs of the he^v^ns, the ferenity of the air, and the foft tranq^iUity in which Nature repofes, (contribute to harnio?* nize the mind, and produce the moft calm ^d . delightful fenfations. The mopn top in thefe climates difplays fi^r greater radiance th^ in Europe ; the fmalleft print is legible by her light ; and in the moon's abfence her fundlioa IS not ill fupplied by the brightnefs of the niilky-way, and by that glorious planet Venu3, \vhich appears here like a little moon, ^d glit- ters with fo refulgent a beam as to caft ^ (h^de from trees, buildings, and other objefts, mak- ing full amends for the fhort flay ^nd abrupt departure of the crepufcidum or twilight *.
This ftate of the weather commonly conti-i nues, with little variation, from the beginning of June until the middle of Auguft, when the diurnal breeze begins to intermit, and the at- mofphere becomes fultry, incommodious, and fuffocating. In the Utter end of this months and moft part of September, we look about in vain for coolnefs and. comfort. The thermo- meter occafippally exceeds 90% and inftead of a fteady and refrefhing wind from the fca, there
are
♦ In the mountainous and interior parts of the larger iilands, innumerable^r^^iV/ abound at night, ^hich have a furprifin| appearance to a flranger. They confift of dif- ferent fpecies, fome of which emit a light, refeoibling a fpark of fire, from a globular prominence near each eye ; and others from their fides in the adl of refpiration. They are far more luminous than the glow-worm, and fill the air on all fides, like fo many liyiftg flars, to the great af^onifh- mcnt and admiration of a traveller unaccu^omed to the country. — In the day-time they difappear.
)
WESTINDIES. 9
aieufually faint breezes and calms alternately^ CHAP. Thefe are preludes to the fecond periodical _^- or Autumnal feafon. Large towering clpuds, ' fleecy, and of a reddiih hue, arc now feen, in the morning, in the quarters of the fouth, and fouth- eaft ; the tops of the mountains at the fame ibne appear clear of clouds, and the objeds upon them wear a blueifh cail, and feem much nearer to the fpedator than ufual, Wheru. thefe vaft accumulations of vapour have rifen to a confiderable height in the atmofphere, they commonly move horizontally towards the mountains, proclaiming their progrefs in deep and rolling thunder, which, reverberated from peak to peak, and anfwered by the diftant roaring of the fea, heightens the majefty of the fcene, and irrcfiftibly lifts up the mind of the fpedator to the great Author of all fubli- mity.
The waters, however, with which thefe con- gregated vapours load the atmofphere, feldom fall with great and genera) force until the be- guming of O£lober. It is then that the hea- , veaas pour down catara£ls. An European who has not vifited thefe climates, can form np juft conception of the quantity of water which deluges the earth at this feaibn : by an exa^ account which was kept of the perpendiculiar height of the water which fell in one year in Barbadoes (and that no ways remarkable) it ap*> peared ta have been equal to fixty-feven cubi» cal inches.
It is now (in the interval between the begm* nhig of Auguft and the latter end of Odober) that hurricanes, thofe dreadful vifitations of the Ahnighty, are apprehended. The* prog-- noftics of thefe elementary confiids, havebeen*
minutely
to HISTORY OF THE
BOOK minutely defcribcd by various writers, and ^^V^ their effefts are known by late mournful ex- perience to every inhabitant of every ifland within the tropics, but their immediate caufe feems to lie far beyond the limits of our cir- cumfcribed knowledge.
Towards the end of November, or fome- times not till the middle of December, a con- fiderable change in the temperature of the air is perceivable* The coafts to the northward are now beaten by a rough and heavy fea, roar- ing with inceffant noife; the wind varies from the eaft to the north-eaft and north, fometimes driving before it, acrofs the higheft mountains, not only heavy rains but hail ; till at length, the north wind having acquired fufl&cient force, the atmofphere is clearea ; and now comes on a fucceffion of ferene and pleafant weather, the north-eaft and northerly winds fpreading cool- nefs and delight throughout the whole of this burning region.
If this interval, therefore, from December to March, be called winter, it is certainly the fineft winter on the globe. To valetudmarians and perfons advanced in life, it is the climate of Paradife.
The account which I have thus given is, however, to be received not as uniformly ex- zSt and minutely particular ; but as a general reprefentation only, fubjeft to man v variations and exceptions. In the large iflands of Cub^, Hifpaniola, and Jamaica, whofe lofty moun- tains are clothed with forefts perhaps as old as the deluge, the rains are much more frequent and violent than in the fmall iflands to wind- ward; fome of which are without niountaiAS, and others without wood ; both powerful agents
on
W E S T I N A I E S. It
Cn the atmofphere. In tbc interior and ele- CHAP, vated diftridls of the three former iflands, I I* believe there are Ihowers in every month of the year; and on the northern coafts of thofe iflands, confiderable rains are expefted in De- cember or January, foon after the fetting in of the north winds.
Of the trade-wind, or diurnal fea-brecze, which blows in thefe climates from the eaft, and its collateral points, with little intermiflion or variation nine months in the year, the caufes having been traced and difplayed with great di- ligence and accuracy by Dr. Halley, and re- peated by nmnerous writers, it is unneceflary for me to treat; but the peculiarity of the land- wind by night (than which nothing can be more grateful ana refrelhing) has been lefs ge- nerally noticed. This is an advantage, among others, which the larger iflands of the Weft Indies derive from the great inequality of their furface; for as foon as the fea-breeze dies away, the hot air of the plains being rarefied, afcends towards the tops of the mountains, and 16 there condenfed by the cold ; which maktng it f|}ecifically heavier than it was before, it de- fcends back to the plains on both iides of the ridge. Hence a night-wind is felt in all the mountainous countries under the torrid zone, blowing on all fides from the land towards the fhore, fo that on a north ihore the wind ihali come from the fouth, axvd on the fouth ihore from the north. Agreeably to this hvpo- tbeiis, it is obfervable that in the iflanas to windward, where they have no mountains, they have no land-bteeze ♦.
But
^ TKe account thus glveQ of the land-wind, h cKiefljr in the VfQiis of Dr. Franklin, "whole ddEcxiptioa ia £» pit-
HISTORIC Of THE
J2
fiOOft feutlnow turn to Icenes of uncommoh va- riety and luftre ; to a retrofpefi of thefe iflands as they muft have appeared to the lirft difco- verers ; than which, beheld from the fea, no objefts in nlture could have been more ftrik- ing to the im^ination; riot only from the novelty of the fcene, but alfo from the beauty of the fmaller iflands^ and the fublimity of the larger, whofe lofty mountains form a (lupen- dous and awful pifture ; thfc fubjeft both of wonder and coutemplatioh.
Nor did thefe promifing territories difap* point expedlation on a ncrarer fearch and inore accurate mfpeftion. Columbus, whofe veraci- ty has never been fufpefted^ fpeal^s of their beauty and fertility in terms of the higheft ad- miration : " There is a river (he ebfefves in one " of his letters to Kine Ferdinand) which dif- *^ charges itfelf into the harbour that I have ^* named Porto Santo *, of fufficient depth to " be navigable. I had the curiofity to found " it, and found eight fathom. Yet the water ^^ is fo limpid, that I tan eafily difcerri the *^ fand at the bottom. The banks of this river *^ are ^mbeltiftied with lofty palm-trees, whofe ^ fhade gives a delicious freflinefs to the air ; ^* and the birds and the flowers are uncommon* ^ and beautiful. I was fo delighted with the ^' fcene,, that I had almoft come to the refolu-
" tion
cift atid accurate as to admit of lio improvement. la Btrbadoes, and moft of the fmall iflands to windward; the fea-breezc blows as well by night as by day. It is fome- times the cafe in Jamaica in the months of June and July, the land at that time beings heated to futh a degree, that Aeairof the mountains is not fufficiently denfe to check the current which flows from the fea. * Ik Cuba;
W 5 S T I N D I E S. ^ 1 J
" tion of ftaying hpre the i:emainder of my CHAP*
" days ; for believe me. Sire, thefe countries ^•
** far furpafs ^1 the reft of the world in plea-*^
** fure and conveniency ; and I have frequent-
*' ly obferved to my people, that, with all my
** endeavours to convey to your Majefty an
** adequate idea of the cnarming objefts wnich
" continually prefent thenifelves to our view,
*• the defcription will fall greatly ftiort of th^
« reality."
How il| informed, or prejudiced, are thofe late wrijcrs, therefore, who, affedingto diC- believe, or endeavouring to palliate, the enor- mities of the Spanilh invaders, reprefent thefe once delightful fpots, when firft diTcoveredby Columbus, to have been fo ma^y impenetrable and unhealthy deferts! It is true, that after the Spaniards, in the courfe of a few bloody years, had exterminated the ancient and right- ful poffellprs, the earth, left to its own natural fertility, benej^th the influence of a tropical fun, teemed with noxious vegetation. Thep, indeed, the fa^efl of the iflands became fo n^ar ny frightful folitudes, impervious and unwhole- fome. Such was the condition of Jamaica when wreftcd from the Spanifli Crown in 1655, zxxd futh is the condition of great part of Cuba and Porto Rico at this day; for the infinitely ; wife and be^nevolent Governor of the univerfe, to compel the exertion of thofe faculties which he has givenus^ has ordained, that by humkn cultivation alone^ the earth becopies the. pro- per habitation^f man *.
But
• Dt, land, in his " Effay on the Difeafcs of Hot CH- •• nvaue^/' hasf jjrefcrved an extraft from the Journal of an Qfi^^r who ikiled up a river on .the cpail of G^e^,
"wfekh.
J4 HISTORYOPTHE
BOOK But as the Weft Indian Iflands in their an- }' ^ cicnt ftatc were not without culture, fo neither were they generally noxious to health. The plains or favannas were regularly fown, twice in the year, with that fpecies of grain which is now well known in Europe by the name of Turkey Wheat. It was called by the Indians Mahez, or Maize ; a name it flill bears in all the Iflands j nor does it require very laborious cultivation. This however conftituted but a part only, and not the moft confiderable part, of the vegetable food of the natives. As thefe countries were at the fame time extremely po- pulous, both the hills* and the vallies (of the fmaller iflands efpeciallv) were neceffarily clear- ed of underwbod, and the trees which remain- ed afforded a fliade that was cool, airy, and de- licious. Of thefe, fome, as the papaw and the palmeto*, are^ without doubt, the mof^ grace- ful of all the vegetable creation. Others con- tinue to bud, bloflR)m, and bear fruit through-r out the year. Nor is it undeferving notice, that the great Father of mankind has cfifplayed
his
-which affords a ilrilcing illuflratlon of this remark :' " We ** were (fajs the Officer) thirty miles diftant from the fea, ** in a country altogether uncultivated, overflowed with '* Mrater— -furrounded with thick impenetrable woods, and " over-run with ilime. The air was fa vitiated, noifomc ** and thick, that our torches and candles tumt iim^ ** and feemed ready to he extingui/hed ; and even the human ** voice iofl its natural tone.*' Part I. p. 64.
* The fpecies here meant (for there arc feveral) is the palmeto-royal, or mountain-cabbage. Ligon mentions lome, at the flrft fettlement of Barbadoes, aoout 200 feet in height ; but Mr. Hughes obierves, that the highefl in his time, in that ifland, was 1 54 feet. I am inclined to believe, that I have feen them in Jamaica upwards of 150 feet in height ; but it is impoiUble to fpeak with certaixttj without an aiStual meafurement
WEST INDIES.
his goodnefs even in the ftrufture and forma- CHAP, tion of the trees themfelves; for, the foliage ^^^^ of the moft part fpringing only from the fum- mit of the trunk, and thence expanding into wide-fpreading branches, clofely but elegantly arranged, every grove is an aflemblage of ma- jeftic colunms, fupporting a verdant canopy, and excluding the fun, without impeding the circulation of the air. Thus the ftiade, at all times impervious to the blaze, and refreihed by the diurnal breeze, affords, not merely a re- fuge from occaiional inconveniency, but a moft wholefome and delightful retreat and ha- bitation.
Such were thefe orchards of the Sun, and woods of perennial verdure ; of a growth un- known to the frigid clime and leis vigorous foil of Europe ; for what is the oak compared to the cedar or mahogany, of each of which the trunk frequently meafures from eighty to nine- ty feet from the bafe to the limbs ? What Eu- ropean foreft has ever given birth to a ftem equal to that of the ceiba ^, which alone, lim- ply rendered concave, has been known to produce a boat capable of containing one hundred perfons ? or the ftill greater fig, the fovereign of the vegetable creation, — itfelf a
foreflt?
The majeftic fcenery of thefe tropical groves was at the fame time enlivened by the lingu- lar fprms of fome, and the furprifing beauty of others of the inferior animals which pof-
feffed
* The wild cotton tree.
ff Tkii monarch of the woods, whofe empire extends over Afia and Africa, at well ai the tropical parts of Ame* xica, b defcribed bj our divine Poet with great cx^A- nefa:
The
ifi HISTORTOr TBE
BOOR feflcd and peopled them. Although thtf€ will T- be more fully defcribcd ia the fequd,'^felt obfervations which, at prefent occur to^ me, will, I hope, be forgiven. If it btt true, that in moft of the regions of the torrid zone the heat of the ftin is, as it were, refle^ed in the untatiieable fiercenefs of their wild beafts, and in the exalted rage and venom of the tiumerous ferpents with wlbach they are infeft^d, the So-* vcreim Difpofer of ail tnings has regatdied the Iflands of the Weft Indies with peculiar fa- vour; inafmuch as their ferpents are wholly de- ftitute of poifon *, aud they poflfelfe no animrf
of
The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit rencrwn'd, But fuch ^;at this day to Indians known' In Malabar and Deean, fpreads h^ artl^s. Branching fo hrwkd and long, that iA the groufnd' The bearded twigs take root, and daughters grbw Above the mother trec^ fl/i//tfrV/S«if, JIfgk over-^rti^dy and' echoing wautt betweeni
Paradife Loft,, Book IX. It is called in thr-JEaft Indies the hanyon-tree. Mr. Maxf' den gives the folUiWUlgr account of the dMefidioiis of on^^ - near Manjee, twenty imiles weft of Patas^ in Bengal: I>ta^'' vte^Tf^ 363 to 375 feet; circumference pf the ihadow at noon;,) 1116 feet; crramlference of'thfr feveral flems, in- number fifty or fixxy, pai feetr^ Hift. Sumatra, p. 131.
*'I fay this oti the authority of BrtwriyXharievoix,^ and Hughes (of whom the firft compiled the HSftoiy of . Jamaica, the fecond that of Hifpaniok, aftd' tha laft of Barbkdoes)— on the tefHmony of many gentlemen who . haverefided in feveral- of thfe Windw^rdP Iftatids— and oh *. my own expmence during la lefidenc^^ of fift«^n^ yeaY» in ' Jamaica. In that time L naither kne^ aor ibeard of znf^ o perfon being hurt from the bite of any one fpecies of the numerous fnakes or lizards known in that ifland. Some of the fnakes I have myfelf handled-widi.«per&^ fe^iurit;^. I conclude, therefore (potwithftandingotht xontfapy^flet* tion of Du Tertre refpiefting. Mariinifo and Stw Lueii)'' that ^r// the Illands are providentially exeilipted fr0muhii^ ^ eyil. Neverthelefs it muft be admitted, that the circum^
fiance
I
WEST INDIES. 17
of prey, to defolate their vallies. The croco- CHAP- dile, or alKgi^tor, is indeed fometimes difcover- _^ ed on the b^nks of their rivers ; but notwith- ilanding ^ that has been faid of its fierce and favage difpofition, I pronounce it, from my own knowledge, a cautious and timid creature^ avoiding, wim the utmoil precipitation, the approach of man. The reft of the lizard kind are perfedUy innocent and inofienfive. Some of them are even fond of human fofciety. They embelliih our walks by their beauty, and court our attention by geijitlen^fs and frolic ; but their kindnefs, I know not why, is returned by averlion and difguft. Anciently the woods Vol. I. C of
ftance is extraordinary ; inafmuch as every part of tlie con* > tinent of America, but efpecially thofe provinces which lie under the Equator, abound in a high deme with ferpents,
whofe bite is mortal. Mr. Bancroft, in his Account of
Guiana, gives a dreadful lift of fuchasare found in that ex- teniive country ; and, in fpeakingof oneof afpecies whichhe calls the fmall labarra, makes mention of a negro who was unfortunately bit by it in the finger. The negro had but juil time to kill the fnake, when his limbs became unable to iupport him, and he fell to the ground, and expired in iefs than five minutes.— Dr. Dancer, in his Hiftory of the Expedition from Jamaica to Fort Tuan on the Lake of Nicaragua, in 1780, which he attended as phyiician, re- lates the following circumilance : A fnake hanging from the bough of a tree bit one of the fbldiers, as he paffed along, juft under the orbit of the left eye ; from whence the poor man felt fuch intenfe pain, that he was unable to proceed : and when a meflenger was fent to him a few hours afterwards, he was found dead, with all the fymp- toms of putrefa^on, a yellowffefs and fwelling over his whole body; and the eye near to which he was bitten, 'Vfc'hoUy dlffoived. This circumftance was confirmed to me hy Colonel Kemble, who commanded in chief on that ex- pedition. It may not be ufelefs to add, that thofe ferpehts which are venomous are firrniflied with fangs ibmewhat telembling the tufks of a boar : they art; moveable, and iaferted in the upper jaw.
j8 HISTORYOPTHE
BOOK of almoft all the equatorial parts of America ^' abounded with various tribes of the fmaller monkey ; a fportive and fagacious little crea- ture, which the people of Europe feem like- wife to have regarded with unmerited detefta- tion ; for they hunted them down with fuch barbarous affiduity, that in feveral of the iflands every fpecies of them has been long fince ex- terminated. Of the feathered race too, many tribes have now nearly deferted thofe fhores where polilhed man delights in fpreading uni- verfal and capricious deftruftion. Among thefe, one of the moft remarkable was the fla- mingo, an elegant and princely bird, as large as the Iwan, and arrayed in plumage of the bright- eft fcarlet. Numerous,' however, are the fea- thered kinds, defervedly diftinguiftied by their fplendour and beauty, that ftill animate thefe fylvan receffes. The parrot, and its jrarious affinities from the maccaw to the perroquet, fome of them not larger than a fparrow, are too well known to require defcription. Thefe are as plentiful in the larger iflands of the Weft Indies as tfie rook is in Europe. But the boaft of American groves is doubtlefs the colibry, or humming bird ; of the brilliance of whofe plumage no combination of words, nor tints of the pencil, can convey an adequate idea. The confumniate greei; of the emerald, the rich purple of the amethyft, and the vivid flame of the ruby, all happily blended and enveloped beneath a tranfparent veil of waving gold, are diftinguiftiable in every fpecies, but differently arranged and apportioned in each. Nor is the minutenefs of its form lefs the objeft of ad- miration, than the luftre of its plumage ; the fmalleft fpecies not exceeding the fize of a
beetle.
WESTINDIES. xp
beetle, and appearing the link which connects CHAP, the bird and infed creation. I-
It has been frequently obferved, that al-' though nature is profufe of ornament to the birds of the torrid zone, flie has beftowed far greater powers of melody on thofe of Europe ; and the obfervation is partly true. That pro- digality of mufic which in the vernal feafon ren« ders every grove in Great Britain delightful is unknown to the fliades of equatorial regi- ons ; yet are not thefe altc^ther filent or in- harmonious. The note of the mock-bird is cjefervedly celebrated, while the hum of my- riads of bufy infe£ls/and the plaintive meloay of the innumerable variety of doves aboimd- ing in thefe climates, form a concert, which, if it ferve not to awaken the fancy, contri- butes at leafl to footh the affeAions, and, like the murmuring of a rivulet, gives harmony to repofe.
But, refigning to the naturalift the tafk of minutely delcribing the fplendid aerial tribes of thefe regions, whofe variety is not lefs re- markable than their beauty, I now return from thefe, the fmalleft and moft pleafing forms of a£live life, to the largeft and moil awful ob- jeds of inanimate nature. The tranfition is abrupt ; but it is in the magnitude, extent, and elevation of the mountains of the New World, that the Almighty has mod ftrikingly manifeft- ed the wonders of his omnipotence. Thofe of South America are fuppofed to be nearly twice the height of the higheft in the ancient hemifphere, and, even under the equator, have their tops iuvolved in everlafting fnow. To thofe maflive piles, the loftieft fummits of the moft elevated of the Weft Indian Iflands can- C z not
to
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK not indeed be compared; but fome of thefe I- rife, neverthelefs, in amazing grandeur, and ' are among the firfl objefts that fix the atten- tion of the voyager. The mountains of Hif- paniola in particular, whofe wavy ridges are defcried from fea at the diftance of thirty leagues, towering far above the clouds in ftu- pendous magnificence, and the blue mountains of Jamaica, have never yet, that I have heard, be^ n fully explored. Neither curiofity nor avarice has hitherto ventured to invade the top- moft of thofe lofty regions. In fiich of them as are acceffible, nature is found to have put on the appearance of a new creation^ As th« cliipate changes, the tfees, the birds, and the infefts are feen alfotto differ from thofe which are met with below. To an unaccuftomed fpcftator, looking down from thofe heights^ the whole fcene appears like enchantment. . The firft objeft whiclji catches the eye at the dawn of day, is a vaft expanfe of vapour, co- vering the whole face of the vallies> Its boun- daries being perfedlly diftinft, and vifibly cir- cumfcribed, it has the exadl refemblance of an immenfe body of water, while the mountains appear like fo many iflands in the midft of a beautiful lake. As the fun increafes in force, the profpeft varies: the incumbent vapours fly upward, and melt into air; difclofing all the beauties of nature, and the triumphs of in- duftr}^ heightened and embelliftied by the full blaze of a tropical fun. In the equatorial fea- fon, fcenes of ftill greater magnificence fre- quently prefent themfelves; for, while all is calm and ferene in the higher regions, the clouds are feen below fweeping along the fides of the mountains in vaft bodies ; till, growing
more
xW E S T' I N D I E S. 21
more ponderous by accumulation, they fall at CHAP, length in torrents of water om the plains. The !• found of the tempeft is diftindtly heard by the ' fpediator above ; the diftant lightening is feen to irradiate the gloom ; while the thunder, re- verberated in a thoufand echoes, rolls far be- iieath his feet.
But lofty as the tropical mountains gene- rally are, it is wonderfully true, that all the known parts of their fummits furnifli incon- teftible evidence that the lea had once dojui- nion over them. Even their appearance at a diftance affords an argument inl'upportof this conclufion. Their ridges refemble billows, tnd their various inequalities, inflexions, and convexities, feem juftly afcribable to the fluc- tuations of the deep. As in other countries too, marine ihells are found in great abundance in various parts of thefe heights. I have feen on a mountain in the interior parts of Jamaica petrified oyfters dug up, which perfeAly re- fembled, in every the mod minute particular, the large oyfters of the weftern coaft of Eng- land ; a fpecies not to be found at this time, I believe, in the feas of the Weft Indies. Here, then, is an ample field for conjedure to expa- tiate in ; and indeed few fubjeds have afford- ed greater exercife to the pens of phyfical wri- ters, than the appearances I have mentioned. Some philofophers aflign the origin of all the various inequalities of the earth to the rava- ges of the deluge. Others, coniidering the mountains as the parents of fprings and rivers, maintain that they are coeval with the world ; and that, firft emerging from the abyfe, they were created with it. Some again al'cribe them to the force of volcanos and earthquakes : " the
" Almighty/^
424 H I S T O R Y O F T H E
BOOK endlefs, and the labours of the^ifeftof men I- afford but a glimmering of light to direft us in tracing the wonders of Creation. They who feem bell qualified to contemplate the works of the Deity, will mod readily ac- knowledge that it is not for men to unfold the page of Omnipotence ! — Happy, if to confcious Ignorance they add humble adora- tion. . ^'
CHAP. 11.
Of the CharaiheSy or ancient Inhabitants of the Windward Iflands. — Origin. — Difpculties at^ tending an accurate invejligation of their charaSer.-^Such particulars related as are leaji difputed concerning their manners and difpojitions, perfoths and domeflic habits j edu^ * cation of their children-, artSy mamfaBureSy and government y religious riteSy funeral ce^ femonieSy £f^c. — Sofne refedions drawn from, the whole.
JlTAVING thus given an account of the climate and feafons, and endeavoured to coti- vey to the reader feme faint idea of the beauty and magnificenfce with which the hand of Nature arrayed the furface of thefe numerous Iflando, I ihall now prdceed to e&quire after
thofe
WESTINDIES- 25
thofe inhabitants to whofe fupport and conve- CliAl^. niency they were chiefly found fubferviettt, ^^• when they firft came to the knowledge oiF^ Europe.
It hath been obferved in the preceding chapter that Columbus, on his firft arrival at Hifpaniola, received information of a barba- rous and warlike people, a nation of Canni- , bals, who frequently made depredations oa that, and the neighbouring Iflands. They were called Caribbees, or Cnaraibes> and were reprefented as coming from the Eaft. Colum- bus, in his fecond voyage, difcovered that they were the inhabitants of , the Windward Iflands. The great difference in language and charao» ter between thefe favages and the inhabitants of Cuba, Hifpaniola, Jamaica and Porto-Rico, hath given birth to an opinion that their ori- gin alfo, was different. Of this there feems indeed to be but little doubt ; but the queftion from whence each clafs of Iflands was firft peopled, is of more difficult folution. Roche- fort, who publiflied his account of the Antiles in 1658, pronounces the Charaibes to have been originally a nation of Florida, in North America.— ^He fuppofes that a colony of the Apalachian Indiansi having. been driven from that continent, arrived at the Windward If- lands, and exterminating the ancient male in*^ habitants, took poflfeflion of their lands, and their women. Of the larger iflands above- mentioned, he prcfumes that the * natural ftrength, extent and population affording fe- curity to the natives, thefe happily efcaped the deffruftion which overtook their unfortunate neighbours ; and thus arofe the diftindion ob-
fervable
%6 HISTORTOFTHE
BOOK, fervable between the inhabitants of the larger I- and foialler iflands**
To this account of the origin of the Infular Charaibes, the generality of hiftorians have given their affent ; but there are doubts attend- ing it that are not eafily folved. If they mi- grated from Florida, the imperfedl ftate and na- tural courfe of their navigation, induce a be- lief that traces of them would have been found on thofe iflands which are near to the Florida Shore ; yet the natives of the Bahamas, when difcovered by Columbus, were evidently a fi- milar people to thole of Hifpaniola f . Befides, it is fufficiently known that there exifted anci- ently many numerous and powerful tribes of Charaibes, on the Southern Peninfula, extend- ing from the river Oronoko to Effequebe, and throughout the whole province of Surinam, even to Brafil ; forne of which ftill maintain their independency. It was with one of thofe tribes that our countryman Sir Walter Raleigh formed an alliance, when that commander made his romantic expedition to the coaft of Guiana in 1595 | ; and by him we are affured that the Charaibes of that part of the Conti- nent, -fpoke the language of Dominica §. I in- cline therefore to the opinion of Manyr ||, and conclude that the iflanders were rather a Co- lony from the Charaibes of South America, than from any nation of the North. Rochefort admits that tneir own traditions referred con-
ftantly
• Rochefort Hiftoire des Iflct Antillct, liv. ii. c. vii. See alfo, P. Labat nouveau Voyage aux Ides de L'Ameri- <]ue, torn. iv. c. xv.
t Herera, lib. ix. chap. li.
t Bancroft's Hiftory of Guiana, p. 2$^
§ Haklujt, vol. iii. p. 668.
II P. Mart/r, Decad. 2. lib. L
W E ST I N D I E8. *j%
ilantly to Guiana*. It does not appear tbat CHAP. they entertained the moft remote idea of a ^^ Northern anceftry. ^
It may be thought, perhaps, that the Con- tinental Charaibes, were therafelves emigrants from the Northern to the Southern Peninfula : But, without attempting to controvert the po* fition, to which recent difcoveries feem indeed to have given a full confirmation, namely that the Afiatic Continent firft furaiftied inhabitants to the contiguous North-Weftern parts of America, I conceive the Charaibes to have been a diftinft race, widely differing from all the Nations of the New Hemifphere; and I am even inclined to adopt the opinion of Hor- nius and other writers, who afcribe to them an oriental anceftry from acrofs the Atlantic f.
Enquiries however into the origin of a re- mote and unlettered race, can be profecuted with fuccefs only by comparing their ancient manners, laws, language, and religious cere* monies with thofe of otner nations. Unfortu- nately, in all or mofl of thofe particulars re- fpeiling the Charaibes, our knowledge is li- mited within a narrow circle. Of a people engaged in perpetual! warfare, hunted from ifland to ifland by revenge and rapacity, few opportunities could have offered, even to thofe who might have been qualified for fuch re-
fearches,
* Rochefort, liv. ii. c. vil. See alfo, Note 94 to Dr. Robertfon's Hiftory of America. The people called Gali- b'u^ mentioned by Dr. R. are the Charaibes of the Conti- nent, the term Galihh or C alibis (as it is written by Du Tertre) being, as I conceive, corrupted from Carthhet. Vide Laiitau, torn. i. p. 297. and Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 360.
t Some arguments in f^pport of this opinion are fub- joined in the Appendix to Book I.
2S mStORY OF THE
BOOK fearches, of invcftigating the natural difl>oflti- ^- ons and habitual cuftoms with minutenefs ^nd precifion. Neither indeed could a juft efti- mate have been fortned of their national cha- rafter, from the manners' of fuch of them ad were at length fubjugated to the European yoke ; for they loft, together Avith their free- dom, many of their original charaderiftics i and at laft even the defire of afting frdm the impulfe of their own minds. We difcern, fays Rochefort*, a wonderful change in the difpofitions and habits of the Charaibes. In fome refpefts we have enlightened, in others (to our fhame be it fpoken) we have corrupted them. An old Charaibe thus addreffed on^ of our planters on this fubjeft :— " Our people, " he complained, are become almoft as bad a* " ydurs. — We are fo much altered fince you " came among us, that we hardly know bur-^ " felves, and we think it is owing to fo me- " lancholy a change, that hurricanes are more " frequent than they were formerly. It is " the evil fpirit who has done all this,— -who " has taken our beft lands from us, and given " us up to the dominion of the Chriftians f-
My
* Rochefert. liv. ii. ch. ix. p. 436.
t This extra A from Rochetbrt is furelj a fufEcicnt an- fvver to tke obfervations of Monf. de Chanvaloti, who wrote fo late as 1751, and judging of ali the Charaibes from the few with whom he had any communication, repre- fents ihein as notpoITeffing any fagacity or forefight beyond mere -animal inUindl. He mAes ho allowance for theh' tl'egradation in a flate of captivity and fervitude, although in another part of his book, fpeaking of the African black* in the Weft Indies, he dwells ftrongly bd this circutnftance rtfpefting the latter. " Peut on coniittitre (he obferves) '* Ic vrai genie d'un pcuple opprimc, qui volt fans ceffe let •* chaiimens leves fur fa lete, et la violence toujours pr^te
WEST INDIES. gf
My prefent inveftigatioa muft therefore be CHAP, jieceflarily defed^ive. Neverthelefs, byfeleft- H- ing and combining fuch memorials as are leaft ' controverted, I Ihall hope to exhibit a few ftriking particulars in the cbara&er of this ill- fated people, which, if I miftake not, will lead to fome important concluiiops fai the fiudy of human nature.
Their fierce fpirit and warlike difppiitioi^ )iave already been mentioned. Hiftorians have not failed to notice thefe, among the moil dif- tinguifhable of their qualities *. — Reftlefs, ea* terprizing and ardent, it would feem they con* fidered war as the chief end of their creation^ and the reft of the human race as their natu- ral prey ; for thev devoured without reniorfe the bodies of fucn of their enemies (the men at leaft) as fell into their hands. — This cuftonj is fo repugnant to our feelings, that for a cen- tury
** a £trefoutenue par la politique et la filkret^ publiquef " Peut on jugcr de la valeur, quand elle eft enchaln6e, et •• fans armes?"— Voyage a la Martinique, p. 58.
* Dr. Robertfon, in note 93 to the firft vol. of hi|i Biftory of America* c^Uotes from a MS. Hiftor/ of Ferdi- nand and Ifabella, written by Andrew Bernaldes, the co- temporary and friend of Columbus, the following inftance of tne bravery of the Charaibes. ** A canoe with four " men, two women, and a boy, unexpcdcdly fell in with ** Columbus's fleet. ASpanilh bark with 25 men was fent " to take them, and the fleet in the mean time cut off their •• communication with the fhore. Inftead of giving way */• to defpair, the Charaibes feized their arms with undaunt- •• ed refolution, and began the attack, wuunded feveral of •• the Spaniards although they had targets as well at other " defenlive armour, and even after the canoe was overfet, *' it was with nd little difficulty and danger that fome of " them were iecured, as they continued to defend themfeives, " and to ui'e their bows with great dexterity while fwim-
" niing in the lea." Herrara has recorded the fame
anecdote.
30 HISTORYOPTHE
BOOK tury paft, until the late difcoveries of afimilar I- praftice in the countries of the Pacific Ocean, the philofophers of Europe had boldly im- peacned the veracity of the moft eminent an- cient voyagers who had firft recorded the ex- iftence of it. Even Labat, who refided in the Weft Indies at a period when fome of the Iflands ftiU remained in pofleflioil of the Cha* raibes, declares it to be his opinion that inftan- €63 of this abominable pradice among them, were at all times extremely rare ; — the eflFeft only of a fudden impulfe of revenge arifing from extraordinary and unprovoked injury; but that they ever made premeditated excurli- ons to the larger iflands for the purpofe of de- vouring any of the inhabitants, or of feizing them to be eaten at a future time, he very con- fidently denies *.
Neverthelefs there is no circumftance in the Hiftory of Mankind better attefted than the univeifal prevalence of thefe pradlices among them. Columbus was not only informed of it by the natives of Hifpaniola, as I have already re- lated, but having landed himfelf at Guadaloupe on its firft difcovcry f, he beheld in feveral cottages the head ana limbs of the human body recently feparated, and evidently kept for oc- cafional repafts: He releafed, at the fame time, feveral of the natives of Borriquen (or Porto Rico) who, having been brought captives from thence, were refervcd as viAims for the fame horrid purpofe .J
Thus
♦ Labat. torn. iv. p. 322. t November 4, 1493.
J F- Columbus, cap. xlvi. Peter Manyr, Decad. L lib. ii. Herrara, lib. ii. cap. vii. See alfo Bancroft's iPiftory of Guiana, p. 259, who ia of opinion, that no
other
WEST INDIES. jx
Thus far it mull be confeffed, the difpofition CHAP, of the Charaibes leaves no very favourafcle ^' imprefiion on the mind of the reader; by"^ ^ whom it is probable they will be confidered rather as beafts of prey, than as human beings ; and he will think, perhaps, that it was nearly as juftifiable to exterminate them from the earth, as it would be to deftroy the fierceft monfters of the wildemefs ; lince they who dew no mercy, are entided to no pity. —
But among themfelves they were peaceable, and towards each other faithful, friendly and affedionate*. They confidered all ftrangers indeed, as enemies; and of the people of Europe they formed a right eftimation. — The antipathy which they manifefted towards the unofienoing natives of the larger iflands ap- pears extraordinary ; but it is faid to have de- icended to them from their anceflors of Guiana : they confidered thofe iflanders as a colony of Arrowauks, a nation of South America, with whom the Charaibes of that continent* are con- tinually at war f . We can affign no caufe for fuch hereditary and irreconcileable hoftility. — The cuftom of eating the bodies of thofe they had flain in battle excites our abhorrence, yet it may be doubted whether this abhorrence does not arife as much from the bias of our educa- tion, as from the fpontaneous and original dic- tates of our nature. It is allowed that with regard to the people of Europe, whenever any of them had acquired their confidence,
it
other tribe of Indians in Guiana eat human flefh but the Charaibes. Amongft thefe, the proof that this practice ftin fubfifts is inconteftible.
* Rochefort, liv. ii. cap. xi. Du Tertre. torn* ii. p. 359.
t Rochefort, liv. ii. chap. x. p 449.
32 HISTOBLyOFTHE
BOOK it was given without referve. Their friendfliip Jt- was as w^rm as t|ieir enmity was implacable. The Charaibes of Guiana ilill fondly cherifh the tradition of Raleigh's alliance, and to this day preferve the Englifli colours which he left with them at parting *•
Of the loftinefs of their fentiments and their abhorrence of flaverv, a writer, not very par- tial towards them, gives the following illuftra- tion : " There is not a nation on earth (fays " Labat) f more jealous of their independen- " cy than the Charaibes. They are impatient *• under the leaft infringement of it; and ** when, at any time, they are witneffes to the ^* refpedl and deference which the natives of ^' Europe obferve towards their fuperiors, ^* they defpife us as abjed flaves ; wondering " how any man can be fo bafe as^ to crouch *' before his equal." Rochefort, who con- firms this account, relates alfo that when kid- liapped and carried from their native iflands in- to flavery, as they frequently were, the miferable citptives commonly funk under a fepfe of theijr condition, and nnding refinance or efcap^ hopelef^, fought refuge in death from the cala- mities of it J.
To this principle of confcious equality and native dignity, muft be imputed the contempt which they manifefted for the inventions and
improvements
* Bancroft, p. 259.
t Labat, torn. iv. p. 329.
:i^ Rochefort, liv. ii. cap. xi. Labat relates that the following fentinient was proverbial among the firfl French fcttlers in the Wiod ward Iflands: — " Regarder da ** tracers un Charaibes c*ejl le hattre^ ^^9^^ ^^ ^^ bait re cefi ** le iuery ou s* expnfer a en elre.tue.** Labat, torn. ii. p.
74.
WEST INDIES. 3j.
improvements of civilized life. Of our fire- CHAP, arms they foon learnt by fatal experience, the ^^' fuperiority to their own weapons, and thofe therefore they valued : but our arts and manu- fadlures they regarded as we regard the amufe-
ments and baubles of children : hence the
propenfity to theft, fo common among other fav^ge nations, was altogether unknown to the Charaibes.
The ardour which has been noticed in them for military enterprize, had a powerful influ- ence on their whole condudl. Engaged ia continual warfare abroad, they feldom ap- peared chearful at home. Reflexions on pad mifcarriage, or anxious fchemes of future achievement, feemed to fill up many of their hours, and rendered them habitually thought- ful," penfive and filent *. Love itfelf, which exerts its influence in the frozen deferts of Iceland, maintained but a feeble dominion over the Charaibes f. Their infenfibility to- wards their women, ahhough they allowed a plurality of wives J, has been remarked by many writers ; and it muft have arifen from extriniic caufes; — from the predominance of paflions ftrong enough to counteraft the effeils of a climate which powerfully difpofes to vo- luptuoufnefs, and awakens the inftinfts of na- ture much fooner than colder regions. The prevailing bias of their minds was dillinguifli- able even in their perfons. Though not fo tall as the generality of Europeans, their frame was robuft and mufcular ; their limbs flexible and adivc, and there was a penetrating quick-
VoL. I. D nefs,
* Du Tertre, torn. ii. t Rochefort, c. xi. I Ibid, c. xxii.
B"^
^4 HISTORY OFTHE
BOOK nefs, and awildnefs in their eyes, that feemed J-_ , ^^ emanation from a fierce and martial fpirit *. " But, not fatisfied with the workmanftiip of na- ture, they called in the affiftance of art, to make themfelves more formidable. They painted their faces and bodies with arnotto fo extravagantly, that it was with difficulty their natural complexion, which was nearly that of a Spanifh olive, was difcoverable under the fur- face of crimfon f- However, as this mode of painting themfelves was \pra6lifed by both fexes, perhaps it was at firft introduced as a defence againft the venomous infefts To common in tro- pical climates, or poffibly they conlidered the brilliancy of the colour as highly ornamental ; but the men had other methods of deforming their perfons, which mere perverfion of tafte alone, would not, I think, have induced them to adopt. They disfigured their cheeks with deep incifions and hideous fears, which they ftained with black, and they painted white and black circles round their eyes. Some of them perforated the cartilage of the noftrils, and inferted the bone of fome fifh, a parrot's fea- ther, or a fragment of tortoifelhell J,^— a fright- ful cuftom, praftifed alfo by the natives of New Holland ||, and they ftrung together the teeth of fuch of their enemies as they had flain
in
* Ov iedo, lib. iii. This agrees likewife with the Che- /valier Pinto's account of the Brafilians in note 42 to vol. i. of Dr. Robertfon's Hiftory. " At the firft afpcft ** a Southern American appears to be mild and innocent, '* but, on a more attentive veiw, one dilcovers in his coun* " tenance fomething wild, diftruftful and fullen."
t Rochefort, liv. ii. c. ix. Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 539.
X Rochefort, liv. ii. c. ix., Purchas, vol. iv. p. 11 57. Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 391, 393.
II HawkdTworth's Vp/ages, vol. iii. p. 171.
WEST INDIES.
35
in battle, and wore them on their legs and arms, CHAP, as trophies of fuccefsful cruelty *. ^^•
To draw the bow with unerring Ikill, to*^ wield the club with dexterity and ftrength, to fwim with agility and boldnefs, to catch fifh and to build a cottage, were acquirements of indifpenfible neceflity, and the education of their children was well fuited to the attain- ment of them. One method of making their boys Ikilful, even in infancy, in the exercife of the bow, was to fufpend their food on the branch of a tree, compelling the hardy urchins to pierce it with their arrows, before they could obtain permiffion to eatf. But thele were fubordinate objefts :— The Charaibes in- ftrufted their youth, lat the fame time, in lef- fons of patience and fortitude; they endea- voured to infpire them with course in war, and a contempt of danger and death ; — ^abovc all things to inftil into their minds an heredi- tary hatred, and implacable thirft of revenge D z towards
* Gumilla, torn. i. p. 193.
t See Rochefort, c. xxviii. p. 555, and Gumilla, torn. ii. p. 283. Their arrows were commonly poifoned, ex- cept when they made their military excuriions by night. On thofe occafions they converted them into inilruments of Hill greater mifchief ; for by arming the points with pled- gets of cotton dipt into oil, and fet on flame, they fired whole villages of their enemies at a diftance^. The poi- fbn v^hich they ufed, was a concodllon of noxious gums and vegetable juices f, and had the property of being per- fectly innocent when received into the ilomach, but if conununicated immediately to the blood, through the flightefl wound, it was generally mortal. The Indians of Guiana dill prepare a umilar poifon. It is fuppofed how- ever that fugar ipeedily adminiilered in large quantities, is an antidote. (See Relation Jibreg^e cCun Voyage^ ^c, par Mwf* de la Condamtne^ and Bancroft's Hill, of Guiana.) • Rochcfort, ch. xx. p. 559. t Ovicdo, lb. iii.
\
3« HISTORY OF THE
BOOlt towards the Arawauks. The means whicli they adopted fot thefe purpofes were in fome refpeifls fuperftitious ; in others cruel and de- teftable.
As foon as a male child was brought into the world, he was fprijakled with fome drops of his father's blood. The ceremonies ufed on this occafion were fufficiently paiinful to the father, but he fubnlittcd without emotion or complaint ; fondly believing that the fame de- gree of courage which he had himfelf dif- played, was by thefe means traufmitted to his fon *. As the boy gre#, he was foon made familiar with fcenes of barbarity ; he partook of the horrid repafts of his nation, and he was frequently anointed with the fat^ of a flaughtered Arrowauk; but he was not allow- ed to participate in the toil$ of the warrior, and to fliare the glories of conqueft, until his fortitude had been ^jrought to the teft. The dawn of manhood uftiered in th^ hour of fe- vere trial. He was now to exchange the name he had received in his 'infancy, for one more founding and fignificant; — a ceremony of high importance in the life of a Charaibe, but always accompanied by a fcene of fero« cious feftivity and unnatural cruelty f .
The feverities infliAed on fuch occafions by the hands of fathers on their own children, exhibit a melancholy proof of the influence of fuperftition in fuppreffiug the moft powerful feelings of nature; but the pradice was not without example. Plutarch records the pre- valence
* Rochefort, liv. ii. c. xxv. p. 552. t Rochefort, liv. ii. c. xxiii, p. 556. Du Tertre, vol. ii. p. 377.
WEST 1 N D t E S. ^ 37
valence of a fimilar cuftom among the Lacede- CHAP, moniand. ** At Sparta/* fays the Hiflorian, ^ ^^• " boys are whipped fot a whole day, often- ^ ^ ^^ times to death, before the altar of Diana, " and there is a wonderful emulation among " them who beft can fuftain the greateft num- " ber of ftripes/' Nor did the Charaibe youth, yield in fortitude to the Spartan. If the fcverities he fuftained extorted the leaft fymptom of weaknefs from the^ young fuiferer, he was difgraeed for ever ; — but if* he rofe fu- perior to pain, and baffled the rage of his per- fceutors, by perfeverance and ferenity, he re- ceived the higheft apphufe. He was thence- forth numbered among the defenders of his country, and it was . pronounced by his rela- tions and countrymen, that he was now a man likeone of tkemfelves. '
A penance ftill more fevere, and torments more excruciating; ftripes, burning and fufFocation, conllituted a teft for him who afpired to the honour of leading forth his c6untrymen to war*; for in times of peace the Charaibes •admitted of no fupremacy bilt that bf nature. Having no lawis, they needed no magiftrates. To their old men indeed they allowed fome Wnd of authority, but it Was at beft ill-de- fined, and muft at all times have been infuf- fieient to proteft the weak againft the ftrong. —In war, hiowever, experience had taught them that fiAorditaation as was requifite as cou- rage ; they flierefore elefted their captains in their general affemblies with great folemnity f ; but, as hath been obferved, they put their pre-
teniions
* Rochefort, liv. ii. cap. xix. p. 519. Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1 262. Gumilla, torn. ii. p. a86. Lafitau, torn. i. p. 397, et fcq. t Roch^tort, ch. xxiii.-p. 553.
38 HISTORYOFTHE
B,OOK tenfions to the proof with circumftanccs of J^ . outrageous barbarity : — the recital however is ' difgufting, and may well be fuppreflfed.
If it appears ftrange that where fo little was to be gained by preheminence, fo much (hould be fo willingly endured to obtain it, it muft be confidered that, in the eftimation of the candidate, the reward was doubtlefs more than adequate to the coft of the purchafe. If fuc- cefs attended his meafures, the feafl and the triumph awaited his return. He exchanged his name a fecond time ; afluming in future that of the moft formidable Arrowauk that had fallen by his hand *. He was permitted to appropriate to himfelf, as many of the cap- tives as he thought fit, and his countr}'meu prefcnted to his choice the moft beautiful of their daughters in reward of his valour f •
It was probably this laft mentioned teftimo- ny of public efteem and gratitude that gavp rife in thefe Iflands to the inftitution of poly- gamy, which, as hath been already obferved, prevailed univerfally a^mong them, and ftill pre- vails among the Charaibes of South Ameri- ca I ;-t-an inftitution \he more excufeable, as their women from religious motives, carefully avoided the nuptial intercourfe after pregnan?- cy II . I am forry to add, that the condition of thefe poor creatures was at the fame time truly wretched. Though frequently beftowed as the prize of fuccefsful courage, the wife thus honourably obtained, was foon confider- ed
* Rochefort, ch. xxiii. p. 553. t Rochefort, ch, xxii. p. 546. J Bancroft, p. 254.
II Rochefort, ch. xxii. p. 548. ' Du Tertre, torn. ii. p, 374-
W E S T I N D I E S. ,39
ed of as little value as the captive. Deficient CHAP, in thofe qualities which alone were eftimable ^^' among the Charaibes, the females were treated ' rather as flaves than companions. They fuf- tained every fpecies of drudgery: They ground the maize, prepared the caffavi, ga- thered in the cotton and wove the hamack * ; nor were they allowed even the privilege of eating in prefence of their hulbands f : Under all thefe cruel circumftances it is not wonder- ful that they were far lefs prolific than the wo- men of Europe J. Rut brutality towards their wives was not peculiar to the Charaibes. It has prevailed in all ages and countries among the uncivilized part of mankind; and the firft vifible proof that a people is emerging from favage manners, is a difplay of tendernefs to- wards the female fex || .
Perhaps a more intimate knowledge (not now to be obtained) would have foftened ma- ny of the Ihades which thus darken the cha-^ rader of thefe iflanders, and have difcovered
fome
* Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1272. Labat, torn. ii. p. 40.
t Labat, torn. ii. p. iS and 95.
% I«afitau, torn. i. p. 590.
H Father Jofeph Gumilla, in his account of the nations bordering on the Oronoko, relates (torn. i. p. 207. Fr. tranilation) that the Charaibes of the Continent punifh their women caught in adultery, like the ancient Ifraelites, hy " ftonine them to death before an affembly of the people/* but as I do not find this fad recorded by a ny other writer, and becauie it is evidently brought forward to fupport the author's h3rpotheiis that the Americans are originally de- fcended from the Jews, I fufpedt that it is not well found- ad :— at leaft there is no trace that fuch a cuilom exifled among the infular Charaibes. Rochefort fpeaktng of the Litter, obiervcs, that before they had any intercourfe with the ChrifUans they had no eilabliihed puniihment for adulte-
40
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK fome latent properties in their principles and ^' conduft, tending to leflen, though not wholly to remove the difguft we naturally feel in be- liolding human nature fo debafed and degrad- ed ; but of many particulars wherein curiofity would defire to be gratified, we have not fuffi- cient materials to enable us to form a full and correft idea. We know but little for inftance concerning their domeftic oeconomy, their arts, manufaflures and agriculture ; their feufe of filial and paternal obligations, or their religi- ous rites and funeral ceremonies. Such further information however, in thefe and other re- fpefts, as authorities the leaft difputable afford, I have abridged in the following detached ob- fervations.
Befides the ornaments t^^hich we have noticed to have been worn by both fexes, the w omen on arriving at the age of puberty, were diftinguifhed alfo by a fort of bufkin or half boot, made of cotton, which furrounded the fmall of each leg *. A diftinftion, however, which fuch of their females as had been taken
in
ry, becaufe (fays he) "the crime itfelf was uninown.*'— He adds, that when this, with Other European vices, was introduced among them, the injured hufband became liis . own avenger.^-T-I^abat's reafbning on this head is too curi- ous to be omitted : "II n'y a que les femmes qui foient ** obligees a robeiffance, et dont les hommies foient abfolu- *' ment les maiires. lis portent cctte fuperiorite jufqu* a ** i'exces, et les tuent pour dcs fujets tres legers. Un foiq>- " con d'infidelite, bien ou mal fbnde, fuifit, fans autre " formalite, pour les mettre en droit d^ leur cafTer la t6te. ** Cela ejl un peu favvage a la verke ; mats ce\ft unfrtm lien ** pt'opncpour rcienir les femmes dans kur ilevoir.*' Tom. iv. P-327.
* Rochefort, liv. ii. c. ix. p, 446« Purchas, vol. ir. p. 1159. Labat, torn. ii. p. 12.
WESTINDIES. 41
in the chance of war, dared not afpire to*. CHAP, In other refpefts both male and female appear- J^* ed as naked as our firft parents before the '^ ^ " fallf. Like them, as they knew no guik, they knew no fhame ; nor was clothing thought neceffary to perfonal comfort, where the chiil blaft of winter was never felt.
Their hair was uniformly of a ihining black, ftrait and coarfe ; but they dreffed it with daily care, and adoriied it with great art ; the men, in particular, decorating their heads with feathers of various colours. As their hair thus conftituted their chief pride, it was an unequivocal proof of the fincerity of their for- Tow, when, on the death of a relation or friend, ihey cut it fhort J like their Haves and cap- tives ; to w^om the privilege of wearing long hair was rigoroufly denied || . Like moft other nations of the New Hemifphere, they era- dicated, with great nicety, the incipient beard §, and all fuperfluous hairs on their bodies ; — a circumftance which has given rife to a notion that all the Aborigines of America werfe naturally beardlefs. This opinion is in- deed countenanced by many refpeftable writers, but after much enquiry, and fome inftances of -ocular infpedlion, I am fatisfied that it is groundlefs.
The circumftance the moft remarkable con- cerning their perfons, was their ftrange prac- tice of altering the natural configuration of the
head.
♦ Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 394.
t Rochefort, liv. ii. c. ix. p. 441. Purchas, toL iv.p.
% Rochefort, Hv. ii. c. ix. p. 439. Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 412.
II Du Tertre, torn. il. p. 405. i Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 392.
i
42 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK head. On the birth of .a child its tender and ^- flexible fkuU was confined between two fmall pieces . of wood, which, applied before and behind, and firmly bound together on eath fide, elevated the forehead, and occafioned it, and the back part of the fkuU, to refemble two fides of a fquare * ; an uncouth and fright- ful cuftom, ftill obferved, if I am rightly in- formed, by the miferable remnant. of Charaibes in the Ifland of St. Vincent f .
They refided in villages which refembled an European encampment ; for their cabins were built of poles fixed circularly in the ground, and drawn to a point at the top J. They were then covered with leaves of the palm-tree. In the centre of each village was a building of fuperior magnitude to the reft. It was form- ed with great labour, and ferved as a public hall or ftate houfe ||, wherein we are affured that the men (excluding the women) had their meals in common ; " obferving that law" (faith the Earl of Cumberland, who vifited thefe Iflands in 1596) " which in Lycurgus's mouth " was thought ftrange and neealefs§." Thefe halls were alfo the theatres where their youth were animated to emulation and trained to
martial
* Oviedo, lib. iii. Rochefort, liv. ii. c. ix.
t I have been told by anatomies that the coronal future of new-born children in the Weft Indiei is commonly more npen than that of infants born in colder climates, and the brain more liable to external injury. Perhaps therefore the Indian cuftom of deprelfing the os frontls and the occi- put, v/as originally meant to alfift the operation of nature m clofing the ikull.
\ P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii.
II Ibid. Rochefort, liv. ii. c. xvi« Lafitau, torn. ii. p. 8.
§ Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1159.
WESTINDIES. 43
martial enterf)rife by the renown of their war- CHAP, riors, and the harangues of their orators. ■ ^ ^^•
Their arts and manufadnres, though few/ difplaved a degree of ingenuity which one woulcl have fcarcely expeded to have found amongft a people fo little removed from a (late of mere animal nature, as to reje£l all drefs as fuperfluous. Columbus obferved an abundance of fubflantial cotton cloth in all the iflands which he vifited, and the natives poflefled the art of (lining it with various colours, though the Charaibes delighted chiefly in red *. Of this cloth they made hammocks, or hanging beds, fuch as are now ufed at fea ; — for Europe has not only copied the pattern, but preferved alfo the original name f.
They poffefTed likewife the art of making veflfels of clay for domeftic ufes, which they baked in kilns like the potters of Europe. The ruins of many of thefe kilns were vifible . not long finciC in Barbadoes, where fpecimens of the manufafture are flill frequently dug up ; and Mr. Hughes, the hiflorian of that ifland, obferves, that they far furpafs the earthen ware .made by the negroes, in thinnefs, fmoothnefs and beauty J. Befides thofe, they invented various other utenfils for ©economical purpofes, which are enumerated by Labat. The balkets
which
* Labat, torn. ii. p. ^o.
t All the early Spanifh and French writers expreftly affert, that the original Indian name for their Twinging beds was amack or hammock ; — but Dr. Johnfon derives the Engliih word hammock from the Saxon.
X Nat. Hift. of Barbadoes, p. S. Ligon, who vifited this iiland in 1647, declares tnat fome of theie veflels, which he faw, even furpaffed any earthen-ware made in England "both" (to ufe his own words) "in finefle of *' mettle, and curiofity of turninge."
44 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK which they compofed of the fibres of the I- palmeto leaves, were fingularly elegant, and we' are told that thfcir bows and arrows, other weapons, difplayed a neatnefs and polilli, which the moft fkilful European artift would have found it difficult to have excelled, even \\ath European tools.
Of the nature and extent of their agriciul- turethe accounts are flender and unfatisfadlory. We are told on good authority,, that among the Charaibes of the Continent, there was no divifion of land, everyone cultivating in pro- portiijn to his exigencies*. Where no crimi- nal jurifdi<^tion i« eftabliflifed, the idea of pri- vate property muft neceffarily be unknown or imperfed; and in thefe iflands where land is fcarce, it feems probable that, as among fome of the tribes of South America f, cultivation was carried on by the joint labour of each fe parate community, and their harvefts depofited in public granaries, whence each family received its proportion of the public ftock. — Rochefort indeed obferves.that all their interefts were in common.
Their food, both vegetable and animal, ex- cepting in the circumftance of their eating hu- man Befh, feems to have been the fame, in moft refpeds, as that of the natives of the larger iflands, which fhall be defcribed hereafter. But although their appetites were voracious J, they rejefted many of the beft bounties of na- ture. Of fome animals they held the flelh in abhorrence; thefe were the pecary, or Mexican hog, the manati, or fea cow, and the turtle (|.
* Labat
* Bancroft, p. 254. f Cumilla, torn. i. p. 26$.
J Gumilla, torn. ii. p. it, 70, 237. Xffitau, torn. i. P-5I5- Ij i^ochefort, liv. ii. c. 16.
W E S T I N I? I E S. 45
Labat obferves that they fcrupled likewife i,o CHAP, eat the eel, which the rivers, in feveral of the ^I- idaads, fupply in great plenty *.
The ftriking conformity of thefe, and fome other of their prejudices and cuftoms, to the pradices of the Jews, has not efcaped the no- tice of hiftoriansf. — But whether the Cha- raibes were aftuated by religious motives, in thus abftaining from thofe things which many nations account very wholefome and delicious food, we are qo where fufficiently informed.
It moft probably was, however, the influ- ence of fuperftition that gave rife to thefe and other ceremonies equally repugnant to the dic- tates of nature and common fenfe ;— one of which at firft appears extraordinary and in- credible, but it is too ftrongly attefted by hif- torians to be denied. On the birth of his firft fon the father retired to his bed, and fafted with a ftriftnefs that often endangered life J. Lafitau, obferving that the fame ceremony was pra£lifed by the Tybarenians of Afia, and the Iberians or ancient inhabitants of Spain, and is ftill in ufe among the people of Japan, not only urges this circumftance as a proof among others that the new world was peopled from the old, but pretends to difcover in it alfo fome traces of the doftrine of original fin ; he fuppofes that the fevere penance thus volunta- rily fubmitted to by the father, was at firft inftituted in the pious view of protefting his
ifliie
* Labat, torn. iv. p. 304.
t Gumilla, Adair, Du Tertre, and othets.
J Du Tenre, torn. ii. 371, 373. Rochefort, liv. ii. c. xxiii. p. 550. Labat, torn. iv. p. 368. Lafitau, torn. i. p. 49. Nieuhoff relatts that this pradice prevails likewiie among the natives of Bralil. Churchill's Voyages, vol. ii.
46 HIST O R Y OP TH E
iffue from the contagion of hereditary guilt, averting the wrath of offended omnipotence at the crime of our firft parents, and expia- ting their guilt by his fufferings *.
The ancient Thracians, as we are informed by Herodotus, when a male child was brought into the world, lamented over him in fad va- ticination of his deftiny, and they rejoiced when he was releafed by death from thofe miferies which they confidered as his inevitable portion in Kfe : but, whatever might have been the motives that firft induced the Charaibes to do penance on fuch occafions, it would feem that grief and dejeAion had no great fhare in it ; for the ceremony of fafting was immedi- ately fucceeded by rejoicing and triumph, by drunkennefs and debauchery. Their lamenta- tions for the dead feem to have arifen from the more laudable diftates of genuine nature ; for, unlike the Thracians on thefe folemnities, they not only defpoiled their hair, as we have before related, but when the matter of the family died, the furviving relations, after burying the corpfe in the centre of his own dwelling with many demonftrations of unaffedled grief,
auitted the houfe altogether, and erefted ano- ier in a diftant fituation +. Unfortunately, however, if now and then we diftinguifh among them fome faint traces of rational piety, our fatisfaftion is of ftiort continuance ;
No
* Lafitau, torn. i. p. 257.
t Labat, torn. iv. p. 367. They placed the dead bod/ in the grave in a fitting pofture with the knees to the chin. Lafitau, toixk ii. p. 407. Du Tertre, torn. ii. p. 40a.
WEST INDIES.
No light, but TatKer darknefs viiibley Serves only to difcover iighs of woe :
or it is a lights that glimmers for a moment, and then fets in blood.
It is aflerted, and I believe with truth, that the cxpedation of a future ftate has prevailed amongft all mankind in all ages and countries of the world. It is certain that it prevailed among the Charaibes^ ; who not only believed that death was not the final extindion of their being, but pleafed themfelves alfo with the fond conceit that their departed relations were fccret fpedators of their condu6l ; — ^that they ftill fympathized in their fufferings, and parti- cipated in their welfare. To thefe notions, fo flattering to our wifhes, — ^perhaps congenial to our nature, they added others of a dreadful tendency ; for, confidering the foul as fufcep- tible of the fame impreflions, and obnoxious to the fame paffions, as when allied to the body, it was thought a religious duty to their deceafed heroes to facrifice at their funerals fome of the captives which had been taken in battle t- Immortality feemed a curfe without military glory.: they allotted to the virtuous and the brave the enjoyment of fupreme felicity, with their wives and their captives, in a fort of Mahometan paradife. To the degenerate and the cowardly they affigned a far different portion: thefe they daomed to everlafting banifhment beyond the mountains ; — ^to unremitting labour in employ- ments
♦ Rochefort, liv. ii. c. 14. 485. Du Tertre, torn. ii.
p. 372-
t Kochefort, c. xiv. p. 484. Du Tertre, c. ii. p. 412. Purchas, voL iv. p. 1274.
2
^a^m
4f HISTORY OF THE
BOOK ments that difgrace manhood; — and this dif- I. grace they fuppofed would be heightened by the greateft of all affliftions, captivity and fer- vitude amonff the Arro\*auks *.
One would iniagine that the idea of a ftate of retribution after death, neceffarily flowed from a well-founded belief in the exiflence of an all- wife and almighty Governor and Judge of the Univerfe; but we are told, notwithftanding, that the minds of the Charaibes were not ele- vated to this height. " They admitted," fays Rochefort, " that the earth was their bountiful " parent, which yielded them all the good " things of life, but they were fo lamentably " funlt in darknefs and brutality as to have " formed no conception of its beneficent " Creator, through the continual energy of " whofe divine influence alone it yields any " thing. They had not even a name for the " deity |." Other writers, however, of equal authority J, and even the fam^ writer elfe- where ||, prefent us with a different reprefen- taiion in this refpecl, and allow that the Cha- raibes entertained an awful fenfe (perplexed indeed and indiftinA) of one great univerfal caufe, — of a fuperior, wife, and invifible Being, of abfolute and irrefiftable power §. Like the ancient heathens, they admitted alfo the agency of fubordinate divinities. They even fuppofed that each individual perfon had
his
* Rochefort, c. xiv. p. 4S5.
t Rochefort, c. xiii p. 469. '
i Du Tenre, 10 ni. ii. p. 364I
II Rochefort, c. xiv.
§ The Galibis Indians, or Charaibes of ^oiflh America, from whom I have fuppofed the Inlular Charaibes to h^ve been immediately defcended, named the Supreme Being Titmi'ujf!^ or Unlverfal Father, — Barrtre.
WE ST INDIE S. 49
his peculiar protedor or tutelary Deity *. Nor CHAP, is it true as affirmed by fome authors, that _^^ they had no notion of praAical worfhip ; for, "^ ^ beudes the funeral ceremonies above-mention- ed, which arofe furely from a fenfe of miftaken piety, they had their lares and penates, gods of their own creating, intended as fymbols probably of their invifible Deities, to whom they offered facrifices, fimilar to thofe of the ancient Romans in their days of fimplicity and virtue f. It was their cuftom to ereft in every cottage a ruftic altar, compofed of banana leaves and rufhes, \vhcreon ihef occa- fionally placed the earlieft of their fruits, and the cnoiceft of their viands, as humble peace offerings through the mediation of their infe- rior deities to incenfed omnipotence J ; for it is admitted that their devotions confifted lefs in the effufions of thankfulnefs, than in depre- cations of wrath ;— -but hereiti neither were they diftinguiftiable from the reft of mankind, cither in the old world or th^ new. We can all forget benefits though we impl<>re mercy. Vol. I. E ' Strange
* Rochefort, c. xiii. p. 471.
t Mr. Hughe9^ in his Hiilorx of B«u*bado^» makes mention of many fragments of Indian idols dug up in that Hland, which were compofed of the fame materials as their earthen veflels above mentioned. — *' £ if&W the head of one'' (continues he) " which alone weighed above fixtjr pounds. ** This before it was broken off, nopdupon ^n oval pedef- *' tal about three feet in height. The heads of all the •• others were verV fmall. Thcfe lefler idols were in all ** probability their Penatesy made fmail for the eHfife and ** convcnienc/ a£ being carried with them in -their f^veral •* Journeys, at xhe. la^iger fort were perhf^p^ de.fi^;fjBd . for ** Tome Hated places of vworfhip/ ; , . .■ .' . ^
' Natural Hiftorjr of Batbaddcs, p. r. ' } Laitt^u, torn. i. p. i^. Roifhiefort, c. tiii. p. 47a. Du Tcrlxe, torn. ii. p. 366.
g# HISTORYbFTHE
300K Straxrge however it is, that the fame authors ^* who accufe them of atheifm, fhould accufe them likewife, ia the fame momeut, of poly- theifm and idolatry.
Atbeifts they certainly were not; and though they did not maintain the doArine of pure Theifm, yet their idolatry was probably found- ed on circumftai^ces, the moral influence of which has not hitherto, I think, been fuflici- ci^tly noticed. If their devotion, . as we have feen, was the offspring, not of gratitude, but of fear ;— if they were lefs fei^fible of the good- nefs, than terrined at the judgments of the ^Imighty ; it fhould alfo be remembered, that in thefe climates the tremendous irregularities of nature are dreadfully freauent ;-r-the hur- ricane that fweeps nations to tne deep, and the earthquake that fwallows continents in his bofom. — ^Let us not then haflily afiBx the charge of impiety on thefe fimple people, if, when they beheld thp elemei^ts comoine for their de- lirudion, they confidered the Divine Being as infinite h^deed^ in power, but fevere in his juflice, and inexorable in his anger. Under this imprefCon, it is not wonderful that the mind, humbled to the dufl in the confcioufnefs of its own imbecility, and fcarce daring to lift up a thought to the great caufe of all things> fhould fondly wifh for fome mild and gracious interpreter i fome amiable intermediate a^nt in whom to repofe with confidence, as in a. guardian and a friend. This defire encreafing; is at length exalted to belief. The foul, feek- ing refuge from its own appreheniions, creates imaginary beings, by whofe mediation it hopes to render itfelf lefs defpicable in the fight of the Supreme. To thefe . its devotions are
cAirufledi
WEST INDIES. 51
efii|rufted,i and its adoratkuis paid : and while CHAB. we lament the Idindnefs of thife poor favages, ^^^^^ and exult in our. own foperiority in this re-* fpe&> let ius not forget that in the moft culti-^ vated pexjiods oi the human iinderftanding (before the light df revelation was graciouily diifiUyed) a wnilapr fuperfiition was pradifed by aU the various nations of the heathen world; of which^ liot one perhaps had fo flrong an apology to plead as the Charaibes.
Thefe ebferVations, however, extend only to the fair fide of their religion, the worfhip of benevolent ddties. A darker fuperftition Iike^vUe prevailed among all the unenlightened inhabitants of thefe chmates; for they -not only believed in the eadftence of dembns and evil fpirits, but they offered to them by the hands of their Boyezr or piretended magicians^ facrifices and worfhip : wounding themfelves on fuch fokmnities with an^ inftnunent made of the teeth of the agouti; which infiiAed hor« rihle gafhes^ conceiving, perhaps^ that the maligi^nt powcfs delighted in groans and npiiiery, and were.talde appeafed only by hu* man Uood *• I ajm of opinion, neveithelelsi that even this latter fpecies of idolatry ori«^ dnated ih reverential piety^ and an awful t&ofe of almighty power and iikfinite perfed^on.' That we receive both good and evil at ' the hands of God, and that the Supreme Beinv is equally wife and benevolent in tlie difpen£|txon of boui^ are druths whidi w^ are taught, as weU by c|iiltiviatedrealo&, as by holy wnt ; but thegr are truths to the right a^ehenfion of whioh uncivilind man was perhaps at aU tiinesi £2 unequal.
$% HISTORY OF THE
BOOK unequal^ Ttie favage, indeed, amidft the de^ ^ ftruftrve terrors of the hurricane and the earths quake>. m^ht'eafily: conclude that nothing lefs than Omnipotence itfelf, ^' vifiting the nations in his wrath»" cq(iild thus harrow up the world ; butt the leffcr calamities of daily occurrence,— the various appearances of phyiical and moral evil Avhich hourlyembitter life, he dared not af*- cribe to an all perfe& and merciful Being. To his limited conception fucha conclnfion was de- rogatory from divine juftice, and irreconcileable with infinite wifdom. To what then would he impute thefe terrifying and inexplicable pheno-> mena, but to the mtalignant influence of im- pure fpirits and aereal demons ?* The profa- nations built on fuch notions certainly throw aluftre on the Chriftian religion, if they ferve not as a collateral evidence of its divine origin. Ai minute detail of the rites and ceremonies which thefe and other religious tenets gave birth to . among the Charaibes, moft of them unamiable, many of them cruel, together with an illuftrati<xi of their conformity to the fu- perllitions of the Pagan theology, would lead me too far ; nor is fuch a difquifition neceflary. It is fufficient for me to have ihewn that the fbuudations of true religion, the belief Of a Dieity and the expe&ation of a future ftate, (to borrow the.expreifionof an eloquent prelate) 'f are no lefs conformabk to the firft natural '\ apprehenfions of the untutored mind, than " to the foun^^il principles of philofophy ♦.
I have thus felodled and combined; from a
mafs of difcordant materials^ a few ftriking
panicularsin th6;chara£ler^ nuaaners4uid:cuf-
. .. , toms
* Bifliopof Ch/efUr>Serm4nft
WE ST I ND I E S. 5i
toms of the andent in^Uabitants of the Chaj^ai- CH A P.^ bean Ifland s. : The picture is not pleafing ; H. but, as I have elfewhcre obferved, it may lead to fonie important conclufions; for, befides corre&ing man^'u^ild and extravagant fancies which are afloat in the world refpediing the influence t>f climate on the powers of the mind, it may tehd.to demonflrate the abfiardity of that hypothefis of ibme eminent philofophers, which pronounces fa^age life the genume fource of unpcdluted hsippinefs ;— ^falfely deeming it a fbte conformable to our nature, and conftitudng the perfeflion of it. It is indeed no eafy tafk,^ as Roufleau obferves^ to difcriminate pro|[)erly be- tween what is originally nbtural, and what is acquired, in the prefent cbnflitiiition of nian : jsi thuJB much may be concluded from the ac* count i have given of the Charaibes, that they derived their furious and fanguinary^difpofition -Htot from the didiates of nature-T*but from theperverfion and abofe.of fomebf her nol^eft endowmei^ts. Civilization and fcience would: not only hkve given them gentler manners, but probably have eradicated alfo many of their barbarous rites and gloomy fuperftitions, either by the introdu£lion of a purer religion, or by giving energy and effeA to thofe latent impor- tant principles which I have (hewn had a foun- dation among them. But while I admit the necef- fity and benevolent efficacy of improved man- ners and focial intercourfe ; conceiving that man by the cultivation of his reafon, and tlie exercife of his faculties alone anfwers the end of his cre- ation ; 1 am far from concurring with another ckfs of philofophers, who widely differing from the former, confider a flate of pure nature as a ftate of unrelenting ferocity and reciprocal
hoftility ;
5f HISTORY OF;^ THE
Bt>/OK>lu>fliUty ; maimaming tbat' all tibefoft and ten* I« der a&Aioms are not origifialfyiiinj^aiited inns,
^-^^'T^^but^re foperinduced by education and Tcflefti* oii^ ) A retrofpeft to whatbas beenrredated of the GharaibeBf will ikew 'tlae Ifkllacy of this opt- nion. Man> as; he comes £rom the hands of hUfCreator^ is emery wkeie conftituted a mild JOidiaBiierciful behkguii It: wa^ by rigid diici))iine arid barbanxi6 locampldy tlut -the: Chataibe natjofli trained ^ tip tbdr -youth to. fuffilr with foftitudi, a&d' to iaili(6t witboid: pity, the ttmofl exertions of humaii venge^ ance* Thiexiifiites of aatilre were as mucii violated by thofe.enbrmitica of favage life, as they are fuppirefled by the -cold unfeeling apa^by of. pUlbfophical xefineitvent.--- — -^^w lK>wevier^ to the honour fvf hnnnainhy, it is as/ certidn that conipaflidn and kindnefs are atmong > the earlieftprapenfities of our matorr, aa that> they CQBftitute the chief onEam^nt i and the h^ppinefs ofdt.>. Of tlds^ txiitk ourinext^ re^ f(iarcheswiliiurinfh a pleafing Example. ' ^
>■: -'- :'j'; r, -» r-^ r
a .;::
CHAP.
W £ S T INDIES.
CHAP. m.
tf tJu naiPVts of Hifpaniohy Cuba, Jamaica, and forto^'Ricoi^^Tktir Origin. — Numbers. '^hrfons.'^^GetiiUs and ^Difpofitions.^'^Oo'^ vemment and Re/igion.-'^MifcelJaneous Ob^ fervations ' reJpelSing their Arts', Manufdc^ tares and Agriculture, Cruelty rf the Spa^- niards, (!fc.
X AM now to igitc fome account of a mild and comparatTvely cnhivated peoplie, tbe an<^ .cient natives of Hifpaniola, Ooh^h Jamaica^ and Porto-Rico; for there is no doubt that the inhabitants of aU thofe Iflaiids were of 6ne common origin,-— fpeakin^ the fame bm- guagd, — ^poffeffing the fam^ inftiuitions, and pra^fing fimilar fiiperftitionik Columbus Iiimfelf treits of them as fu^h ; and the tefti* rtony of many cotemporarv hiftodims confirm his opinioti. It appears liEefwife £rom the in« formation of las Caias, the Bifhop of Chia* pa, to the Emperor Charles V« that moft of the natives of Trinidad were of the fame nation ; the extent and natural ftrengtfa of thai ifland^ as of the others above-mentioned^ havt ing proteded them, in a great meafure, from the depredations of the Charaibes.
I have clfewheiie related that they Were con# iidered by thefe Barbarians as defcended frol^i a Colony of Arrowauks, a people of Guiana ; and there can be no good reafon to fuppofe
that
I.
S6 H I S T O R Y O F T H E
]^ OK. that the Charaibes were mifinformcd in this
, particular. The evidence of Raleigh, and
others who vilited both Guiana and Trinidad two centuries ago, might be adduced in fup- port of their opinion. Thefe voyagers pro- nounce the ancient inhabitants of Trinidad to belong precifely to the Arwacks or Arrpwauk nation of the Continent; a race of Indians to whole noble qualities the moft honourable tef- timony is borne by every traveller that has vifitea them, and recorded his obfervations. And here,, all enquiry concerning the origin of our iflanders feems to terminate^ It is in- deed extremely probable that all the various nations of this part of the new world, except only tdie Charaibes, emigrated anciently from the great hive of the Mexican empire. Juan dc Grijalva, one of the adventurers from Cuba in 151 8, found a people who fpoke the lan- guage of that ifland, on the coaft of Juca- tan^; but at what period fuch emigrations were made; whether the Charaibes wera pre- vioufly pofTefTed of the widely extended coaft that bounds the Atlantic, or, in pofteric^ ages, accidentally found their way thither by fea, from theiancient Continent— (perhaps by their invafion giving birth to that hereditary and unconquerable hatred which ftill prevails be- tween them and the other Indian nations) — > thefe are pmnts concerning which, as it ia iropoffible to determine, it is in vain to en-
quire.
In eftimating the number of our iflanders, when firft difcovered by Columbu9, hiftorians widely differ. Las Cafas computes them ^t
fix
* P. Mart/r, Decad. iii. lib. 3^.
WEST INDIES. 57
fix imllians in the wbolej but the natives of CHAP. Hifpaniola were reckoned by Oviedo at one ^^ million only, ai^d by Martyr, who wrote on "^ the authority of Coluinbus, at 1,200,000, an4 this lall account is probably the moil correal. Judging of the other iflands by that, and fup^ poiing the population of each to be nearly the lame in proportion to its extent, the whole number will fall greatly fhort of the computa*^ » tion of Las Cafas. Perhaps if we fix on three millions, i^ead of fix, as the total, we Ihali . approach as near the truth as poflible, on a queftion that admits not of minute accuracy. Indeed fuch are the accounts of the horrible carnage of thefe poor people by the Spa- niards, that we are naturally led to hope that their ordinal numbers mull have been greatly exaggerated ; firfl by the aflbciates of Colum- bus, from a fond and excufable propeniity to Qiagnify the merit and importance of their dif- coveries, as undoubtedly they were afterwards by the worthy prelate I have quoted^ in the. warmth of his honed indignation at the bloody proceedings of hig countrymen: with whonii indeed, every man x>f a humane and refleA- ing mind, . muil blufh to confefs himfelf of thp fame nature and fpecies !
But, not to anticipate obfervations that will more properly appear hereafter, I fliall now proceed to the conlideration,— — L O^ their perfons and perfonal endowments : II* Their intelledlual faculties and difpoiitions : III. Their political inftitutions^ IV. Their re- ligious rites. Such fubordinate particulars as are not ealily reducible to either o£ thofe ' heads, will conclude the prefent chapter.
I; Boiii
5S H I 8 tOR Y OP T6 E
BO Olt I. Both men aiad ^omen wore nothing more ^- than a flight covering of cotton cloth round the waift; but in the women it extended to the knees : the children of both fexes appear-^ cd entirely naked. In ftature they were taller biit lefs robuft than the Charaibes *, and they were univerfally graceful and well proportion- ed. Their colour Was a clear brown; not deeper, in general, according to Columbus, than that of a Spanifli peafaht Avho has been tniich expofed to the wind and the fun f • Like the Charaibes they altered the natural configu- rition of the head in infancy; but after ^ different mode J ; and by this praAice, fays Herrafa, the cfown was fo ftrengthefled that t Spanifh broaci-fword, inftead of cleaving the fkull at a ftroke, would frequently break fliort upon it 11 ; an illtiftration wnich gives an a^-^ tftirable idea of the clemency of theik* conque-* rors f Their hair was uniformly black, without any tendency to curl ; their features were hard and nnfightly ; the face broad, and the Hofe fUtt; but their eves ftreamed with ^ood na* ture, and altdgetner thertf was foniething plea-* fing and inviting in the eountenancesf of moft of them, wineh proclaimed a frank ahd gentle difpoiition« It was an honeft face, eoarfe, but i!k)t gloomy ; for it was enlivened by confi- 4cftee, anci foftened by compaflioni.
Much has been fuggefted by modem phi- 16fopliera concerning a fuppofed feeblenefs in
theit
** Oviedo, Som. f F. CoL c. xxiii.
J 'th» Jincifut, or fore- part of the head' from the cyc- bfoW to Ae coronal future, was depreffed, which gave sen unnatural th^cknefi and elevation to the cccifui^ or hindef ibndf de floill.
II Herrara, lib. i. c. zri. who copies this circumfiance from Oviedo.
W^E S T I NDI ES. 59
their pcrfons and conftitutions. They are re- CHAP, prefented to have been incapable of the final- IH. left degree of labour, incuraWy indolent, and ' infenfible even to the attra£lions of beauty, and the influence of love*. This wcmderful debility snd coldnefs have been attributed by fome writers to a vegetable diet : by others, it is pretenrded that they derived from nature lefs appetite for food than the natives of Europe ; but nothing can more ftrongly demonftrate the indolent inattention of hiftorians, than their combining thefe circumftances in one and the fame chsfra^ler. An infenfibility, or contemp- tuous difregard, towards the female fex, was a feature peculiar to the Cbaraibes; who howe- ver, as we have feen, were rdbuft and vigo- rous in their perfons, and infatiably voracious of food. It cpnftituted no part of the dif- pofition of our iHanders ; amongft whom an attachment to the fex was z-emarkably confpi- cuous. Love, mih this happy people, was not a traAfientand youthful ardour only; but the fource.of all their pleafures, and the chief bofinefs of life : for not being, like the Cha- raibes, oppreljed by the weight of perpetual folicitude, and tormented by an unquencha- ble third of revenge, they gave full indul- gence to the inflinds of nature, while the ill* fluence of the climate heightened the fenfibi- lity of the paffions f.
In truth, an exceflive fenfuality was amonig the greateft defers in their charadler : and fa
this
* Robenfon, BuffoDi De Pauw, and others t See Oviedoy lib. v. c. iii^ We have neacljr theifamtt account at Uus cUy of the Arrawaiiks of Guiana* ** In ** their natural difpo^tion" (fays Bancroft) '^ tbey son " amorous and \trantion; and Bajrere obfervcs^ *^(U Jant^ ** lubriqtta au/ufreme dtgre***
6o HISTORY OP THE
BOOK- this caufe alone is imputed^ by fomc writers,. I- the origin of that dreadful difcafe with the in- ' flidlion of which they have almoftjrevcngcd the calamities brpyght: upoja them by the av^- rice of Europe ;-^if indeed the vfsicc^al coji- tagion wa? firft iatrodiiced iato Spain from thefe iflands ; a conclufion to Avhic.h : notwitb- ftanding all that has been written in fapport of it, an attentive enquiarer will ftill .befitatc (to. fubfcribe*. r: ) . .' -
: 1. ;..'.:;;.-.f . That^
* " The venereal clifeafe" (fajs Ovieda) ** was certain* " \y introdiu:ed into Europe from thefe inands, where the " beft medicine for the cure of ft, the^i/jflwri/m, is attb " founds the Almighiy io i^membeding inerc^'iit judg- '* ment that,. w|iea pur Qns provoke pu»i(bii^^t« hefen^ " likewiifi a remedy.— I was acquainted with m^ny j^crfons , *' who accompanied Columbus m his firll'andfecond voy- " ages, and luffered of this difeafe; one c^ whdm was' " Pedro Margarite, a man muck refpe^leSd of the Kitig aiid [ *\ Queen. In the year 1496 it began tQ fprea^ in Eurofie, : *' and the phyficians were wholly at a lots ix^ what m^n* ^ ** ner to treat it. — When, after this, Gonzales Fei^nanijes ** de Cordova was fent with an army by his Catholic Ma- '' '* jefty on behalf of Ferdinand the Second King of !Na- ^ *' pies, fome infeAed perfpns accompameA that army, ahd [ " by intercourfe with the women, fpreid the difeafe amoi^g i *^ the Italians and the French; both which nations had-^ " liicceflively the honor of giving it a name; but in truth ' " it came originally from Hifpai^oU, where it was very ^ 'V conunon, as was likewiHe the remedy/'
This account is fulHciently particular \ npverth4e& tkeire. . is'reafon to believe that the venereal infaSiop was known in Europe many centuries before the difcovery of America ; although it is poQible it might have broke out with renew- ed vibUnce about the time of Columbosfs xetum .from hit' firft expedition. — ^This was the era of wonder, and proba- bly the infrequency of the contagion before that perio^, gave colour to a report, perhaps at firft maliciou^y propa-^ gated by fome who envied the iiiccefs of Columbus, thrt this difeafe was one of the fruits rf bis celebrated enter- prize. It is impoffible, in the fpaee of a marginal note, ta enter deeply into this fubjedt; neither does the full in-
V Veftigation
)
WEST INDIES. €i
That a people who poffeflcd the means of CHAP, gratifying every inclination without labour, ^^^• ftiould fometimes incVmc to be indolent, is a' circumftance liot very extraordinary. As the wants of nature were fupplied almoft fponta- neoufly, and no covering was abfolutely requi- fite but the fhade, that neceffity which urges men to aftion, and, by exercife, invigorates the fibres, was here wholly unknown. It is probable therefore that in mufcukr ftrength the natives were inferior to their invaders, and being lefs accuftomed to labour, they might al- fo require lefs nourilhment. Thefe conclufi- ons may be admitted without fuppofing any degradation of their nature, and with no very unfavourable impreffion of the climate. Their limbs however were pliant and aftive, and in their motions they difplayed both gracefulnefs and eafe. Their agility was eminently confpi- cuons in their dances; wherein they delighted and excelled; devoting the Cool hours of night to this employment f. It was their cuftom, fays Herrara, to dance from evening to the
dawn;
relUntion of it come within tke defign of my work. I therCTore refer fuch of my reader* as are defirous of form- ing a decided opinion on the queftion, to the Philof. Tranf- a£on8, vol. xxvii. and vol. xxxi. (No. 365 and No. 11) ' alfo to two learned treatifes on the fubjefl by Mr. Sanches, publiflied at Paris 1772 and 1774, and to the authorities referred to by Mr. Forfter in his *• Obfervations made " during a Voyage round the World/' p. 492. C3* In Stow's Survey of Condon, vol. ii. p. 7. is preferved a copy of the rules or regulations eftablifhed by Parliament in the ' ei^tfa year of Henry the Second, for the government of the licenfed ftews in Southwark, among which I find the fol- lowing, *' No ftewholder to keep any woman that hath the ** perilous infirmity of burning." This was 3 jo years be- fore the voyag2 of Columbus, t P. Martyr, Decad. iii. c. vii.
€% HISTORY OF T >J E
BOOK dawn; and althoTigh fifty thoufand men and ^' women were frequently affembled together on ^thefe occafions, they leemed adluated by one common impulfe, keeping time by refponfive ipotions of their hands, feet, and bodies, with an exadnefs that was wonderful *. Thefe pub- lic dances (for they had others, highly licen- tious) were appropriated to particular fpilemni- ties, and being accompanied with hiftoriqal fongs, were called Arietoes ; a lingular feature in their political inftitutions, of which I ihall prefently fpeak.
Befides the exercife of dancing, another di- verfion was prevalent among them which they called Bato ; and it appears from the account given of it by the Spanifh hiftorians f, that it had a diftant refemblance to the £ngliih game of cricket j for the players were divided into two parties, which alternatively changed places, and the fport confided in dexteroufly throwing and returning from one party to the other, an elaflic bail ; which however was not caught in the hand, or returned with an in- ftrument; but received on the head, the elbow, or the foot, and the dexterity and force with which it was thence repelled, was aftoniihing and inimitable. — Such exertions belong not to a people incurably enervated and flothful. " 11. They are, neverthelefs, pronounced by many writers, to have been naturally inferior to the natives of Europe, not only in bodily ftrength, but likewife in genius and natural en- dowments. This aflertion. has I think been advanced with moie confidence than proof.
That
* Herrara, lib. ix. c. ii.
t Ovxedo, lib. vi. c. ii. Herrara, lib. lii. c* iv.
WEST INDIES. 63
That the mind, like the body, acquires ftrength C^ AP. by employment, is indeed a truth which we ^^^' all acknowledge, becaufe we all experience it;*^ and it requires no great fagacity to difcover, that ingenuity is feldom very powerfully ex- erted to gratify appetites which do not exift> or to guard againft inconveniences which are not felt. If our iflanders therefore rofe in fome relpefts to a degree of refinement not often obfervable in favage life, it may juftlybe prefumed that in a ftate of fociety produftive of new defires and artificial neceffities, their capacities would have been fufceptible.of ftill further improvement. Their fituation alone, withput recurring to the various other caufes affigned by philofophers, fufficiently accounts for the paucity of their ideas. Men, without anxiety for the future, have little refle&ion f n the pall. What they wanted in excited ener- gy of mind, was however abundantly fupplied by the fofter aficftions; byfweetnels of tem- per, and native goodnefs of difpofition. All writers who h^ve treated of their charaAer, agree that they were unqueftionably the moft gentle and benevolent of the human race. Though not bleffed with the light of revela- tion, they pra&ifed one of the nobleft pre- cepts of Chriftianity, forgivenefs pf their ene- mies : laying all that they pofTefied at the feet of their oppreffors; courting their notice, and preventing their wiihes, with fuch fondnefs and afliduity, as one would have thought; might have difarmed habitual cruelty, and melted bigotry into tendernefs *.
^ Among
• Martyr. Herrara. F. Columbus, c. xxvii. xxxil. dec &c.
64 filSTORYOFTHE
BOOK Among other inftaaces of their generous }'_ and compaflionate turn of mind, the follow- 'ing is not the leaft remarkable. Soon after Columbus's firft arrival at Hifpaniola, one of his fliips was wrecked on the coaft. The na- tives, fcorning to derive advantage to them- felves from the diftrefs of the ftrangers (un- confcious indeed of the calamities which their arrival was foon to bring upon them) beheld the accident with the livelieft emotions of for- row, and haftened to their relief. A thoufand canoes were inftantly in motion, bufily em- ployed in conveying the feamen and cargo afhore ; by which timely affiftance, not a life was loft; and of the goods and provifions that were . faved from the wreck, not the fmalleft article was embezzled. Such was their celerity and good will on this occafion, fays Martyr, that no friend for friend, or brother for brother, in diftrefs, could have manifefted ftronger proofs of fympathy and pity. * Other hiftorians ftill heighten the pifture ; for they relate that Guacanahari, the Sovereign of that part of the country, per-' ceiving that, notwithftanding the efforts of his people, the ftiip itfelf, and great part of the cargo were irrecoverably funk, waited on Columbus to condole with nim on the occa- fion; and while this poor Indian lamented his misfortune in terms which excited fur- prize and admiration, he offered the Admiral (the tears flowing copioufly down his cheeks a3 he fpoke) all that he himfelf poffeffed, in reparation of his lofs. f
This
* Martyr, Decad. i. lib. i.
t Fer. CoL c. xxxiL Herrara, Decad. i. lib. i. c. xviii*
WESTINDIES. 6$ ^
This benevolence, unexampled in the hillory of CHAP, civilized nations, was foon bafely requited by the ^^^' condud of a band of robbers, whom Columbus, ^ ^ with no ill intentipn, left in the ifland, on his departure for Europe. Guacanahari however was covered with wounds in defending them fromi his injured countrymen * ; to whofe juft refentment the Spaniih ruffians at length fell a facrifice ; but their anger was of Ihort duration. On Columbus's return, in his fecond voyage, their fondnefs revived ; and for a confiderable time the Spaniards lived among them in perfedl fecurity, exploring the interior parts of the coun- try, both in companies and individually, not only without moleftation, but invited thereto by the natives. When any of the Spaniards came near to a village, the moft ancient and venerable of the Indians, or the Cacique himfelf, if pre- fent, came out to meet them, and gentlv con- ducing them into their habitations, featea them on ftools of ebony curioufly ornamented. Thefe benches feem to have been feats of honor re- ferved for their guefts ; — for the Indians threw themfelves on the ground, and kifling the hands and feet of the Spaniards, ofiered them fruits "and the choiceft of their viands; entreating them to prolong their (lay, with fuch folicitude and reverence as demonftrated that they confi- dered them as beings of a fuperior nature, whofe prefence confecrated their dwellings, and brought a bleffing with it f.
The reception which Bartholomew Columbus, who was appointed Lieutenant, or Deputy Go- vernor, in the abfence of the Admiral, after- wards met witb^ in Jiis progrefs through the
Vol. L F iQand
* Herrai^, Decad* i« Kb. ii. c, ix. Fer. Col. c. xl. f Herrara, Dccad. L'Ub. L c. xiv. F. Col. c. zx\ il.
66 HISTORY. OFTHE
BOOK ifland to levy tributes from the leveral Caciques ^- or Princes, manifefted not only kindnefs and iubmiffion, but on many occaiions munificence, and even a high degree of. politcnefs, Thefe Caciques had all heard of the wonderful eager- nefs of the ftrangers for gold ; and fuch of them as poffeflcd any of this precious metal, willingly prefented all that they had to the Deputy Go- vernor. Others, who had not the means of ob- taining gold, brought provifions and cotton in great abundance. * — Among the latter, was Be- hechio, a powerful Cacique, who invited the Lieutenant and his attendants to his dominions ; and the entertainment which they received from this hofpitable chief is thus defer ibed by Martyr. As they approached the king's dwelling, they were met by his wives, to the number of thirty, carrying branches- of the palm-tree in their hands ; who firft fainted the Spaniards with a folemn dance, accompanied with a general fong. Thefe matrons were fucceeded by a train of virgins, diftinguifhed as fuch by their appear-, ance; the former wearing aprons of cotton cloth, -while the latter were arrayed only in the innocence of pure nature. Their hair was tied limply with a fillet over their foreheads, or fuf- fered to flow gracefully on their fhoulders and bofoms. Their limbs were finely proportioned, and their complexions, though brown, were fmooth, Ihining and lovely. The Spaniards were ftruck with admiration, believing that they be- held the dryads of the woods, and the nymphs of the fountains, realizing ancient fable. The branches which they bore in their hands, they now delivered with lowly obeifance to the Lieu- tenant, who, entering the palace, found a plen-
tiful,
• P. Mart/r, Dccad. i. lib. v.
WESTINDIES. 67
tiful, and, according to the Indian mode of liv- CHAP, ing, a fplendid repaft already pro-vdded. As ^^^• night approached, the Spaniards were conduA- ' cd to feparate cottages, wherein each of them was accommodated with a cotton hammock ; and the next morning they were again entertained with dancing and fmging. This was followed by matches of wreftling and running for prizes ; after which two great bodies of armed 'Indians unexpe£ledlv appeared, and a mock engagement enfued ; exnibiting their modes of attack and ilefence in their wars with the Charaibes. For three davs were the Spaniards thus royally en- tertained, and on the fourth, the ane£lionate Indians regretted their departure.
ni. The fubmiffive and refpeftful deportment of thefe placid people towards their fuperiors, and thofe they confidered as fuch, w^s derived probably, in fome degree, from the nature of their government; which, contrary to that of the Charaibes under a fitoilar climate, was mo- narchical and even abfolute. The regal authori- ty however, though not circumfcribed by pofi- tive inftitutions, was tempered into great mild- nefs by that conftitutional benevolence which predominated throughout every part of their coipiduft, from the higheft to the loweft. Tli^ fympathy which they manifefted towards the aiftrefs qf others, proves that they were not wretched themfelves ; for in a ftate of abfolute flavery and mifery, men are commonly devoid both of virtue and pity.
Their Kings, as we have feen, were Caciques,
and their power was hereditary: But there
were alfo fubordinate Chieftains, or Princes, who were tributaries to the Sovereign of each dif- trid. Thus the territory in Hifpauiola, anci- ently called Paraguay, extending from the plain
¥2 of
6S HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK of Leogane to the Weftermoft part of the ifland, I.. was the kingdom of the Cacique Behechio, whom I have mentioned above ; but it appears from Martyr, that no lefs than thirty-two inferior chieftains or nobles had jurifdiftion within that fpace of country, who were all accountable to the fupreme authority of Behechio *. They feem to have fomewqat refembled the ancient barons or feudatories of Europe ; holding their poffeffions by the tenure of fervice. Oviedo relates that they were under the obligation of perfonally attending the Sovereign, both in peace and war, whenever commanded fo to do f. It is to be lamented that the Spanilh hiftorians afford very little information concerning this or- der of nobles, or the nature and extent of their fubqrdinate jurifdidlion.
The whole ifland of Hifpaniola was divided into five great kingdoms J, of two of which, when Columbus firil landed, Guacanahari and Behechio were abfolute fovereigns.— A third principal Cacique was Cuanaboa, whofe hiftory is remarkable : He had been originally a War Captain among a body of' Charaibes, who had invaded the dominions of Behechio, and, on con- dition of preventing the further incurfions of his countrymen, had received his filler, the beautiful Anacoana, in marriage ; together with an extent of country, -which he had converted into a feparate kingdom. The eftabliftiment of this leader and his followers in Hifpaniola, had introduced into this part of the ifland the Charaibean language, and alfo the ufe of the bow and arrow ; || a weapon with the praSice of which the natives of the larger iflands were generally unacquaint- ed.
* P. Martyr, Decad. i. lib. v.
t Oviedo, lib. iii. c. iv.
J Oviedo, lib. iii. c. iv. H Oviedo, lib. iii.
WESTINDIES. 69
cd. Cuanaboa however ftill retained his feroci- CHAP, ous difpofilion, and having been accufed by ^^^' Guacanahari before Chriftopher Columbus, of ^ murdering fome of the Spaniards, was ordered by that commander to be lent to Spain ; but the fliip periftied at fea. The fad^ fate of his unfor- tunate widow, the innocent Anacoana, who was moft atrocioufly murdered in 1.^0.5, by Ovando, the Governor of Hifpaniola, for no caufe, that I can difcover, but her fond attachment to Bartholomew Columbus, having been related at large in the late American hiftory, need not be repeated here.
The iflands of Cuba and Jamaica were divid- ed, like Hifpaniola, into many principalities or kingdoms ; but we are told that the whole ex* tent of Porto Rico was fubjeft to one Cacique only *. It has been remarked, that the dignity of thefe Chieftains was hereditary ; but, if Mar- tyr is to be credited, the law of mcceffion among tnem, was different from that of all other peo- ple; for he obfervesfj that the Caciaues be- 3ueathed the fupreme authority to the chil- ren of their fillers, according to feniority, difinheriting their own offspring ; " being cer- ** tain, adds Martyr, that, by this policy, " they preferred the blood royal; which might ** not happen to be the cafe, in advancing any *^ of the children of their numerous wives." The relation of Oviedo is fomewhat different, and feems more probable : he remarks that one of the wives of each Cacique was particularly dif- tinguifhed above the reft, and appears to have been confidered by the people at large as the reigning Qgeen J ; that the children of this lady,
according
* P. Martyr, Decad. 1. lib. ii. f Decad. iii. c. ix. } Oviedo, lib. v. c. iii.
70 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK according to priority of birth, fucceeded to the ^- father's honors ; but, in default of iflue by the '^ ' favourite Princefs, the lifters of the Cacique, if there were no furviving brothers, took place of the Cacique's own children by his other wives. Thus Anacoana, on the death of Behechio her btother, became Qjieen of Xaraguay.* It is ob- vious that this regulation was intended to pre- vent the mifchiefs of a difputed fucceflion, among children whofe pretenfions were equal.
The principal Cacique was diftinguilhed by regal ornaments, and numerous attendants. In travelling through his dominions, he was com- monly borne on men's fhoulders, after a manner very much refembling the ufe of the palan- queen in the Eaft Indies.f According to Mar- tyr,I he was regarded by all his fubjefts with fuch reverence, as even exceeded the bounds of na- ture and reafon ; for if he ordered any of them to caft themfelves headlong from a high rock, or to drown themfelves in the fea, alledging no caufe but his fovereign pleafure, he was obeyed without a murmur : oppofition to the fuprem'e authority, being conlidered, not only as unavail- ing, but impious.
Nor did their veneration terminate with the life of the Prince ; it was extended to his me- mory after death ; a proof that his authority, however extravagant, was feldom abufed. When a Cacique died, his body was embowelled, and dri^d in an oven, moderately heated ; fo that the bones and even the (kin were preferved en- tire. || The corpfe was then placed in a cave with thofe of his anceftors, this being (obferves
Oviedo)
* Herrara, lib. vi. c. ii. f Herrara, lib. i. c. xvi.
J Martyr, Decad. i. c. i.
I Herrara, lib. iii. c. iii. F« Columbus, c. Ixi.
WEST INDIES. 71
Oviedo) among thefe fimpl^ . people the only CHAP, fyftem of heraldry; whereby^ they intended to ^^^• render, not the name alone, but the pcrfons al- " fo, of their worthies immonal. If a Cacique was flain in battle, and the body could not be recovered, they compofed fongs in his praife, which they taught to their children ; a better and nobler teftiraony furely, than heaps pf dry bones or even monuments of marble ; fince me- morials to the deceafed are, or ought to be, in- tended kfs in honor of the dead, than as incite- ments to the living.*
Thefe heroic effufions conilituted a branch of thofe folemnities, which, as hath been obferved, were called Arietoes; confiding of hymns and public dances, accompanied with mufical inftru- ments made of fhells, and a fort of drum, the found of which was beard at a vail diflance.f Thefe hymns, reciting the great aflions of the departed Cacique; his fame in war, and his gentlenefs in peace, formed a national hiftory,J
which
* It is related by Martyr, that on the death of a Ca- cique, the moft 'beloved of his wives was immolated at his faneral. Thus he obfervet that Anacoana, on the death of her Mother King Behechio, ordered k very beautiful wo- man, whofe name was<6uanahata Benechina, to be bu- ried alive in the cave where his body (after being dried as above mentioned) was depofited.* but Oviedo, though by no means partial towards the Indian charadler, denies that this' cuftom was general among them.t Anacoana, "who had been inarried to a Charaibe, probably adopted the practice from the account (he had received from her hufband of his national cufloms. And it is not impofli- ble, under a female adminiilration, — among favages^ — but that the extraordinary beauty of the unfortunate viAim, contributed to her deilrudtion.
* Martyr^ Decad. iii. lib. ix. f Oviedo» fib. v. c. iii.
t Herrara, lib. iii. c. iv. P. Martyr, Decad. iii« c* vii* F. Columbus.
} Oviedo, lib. v. c. iii.
7a HISTORY OF THE
BOOK, which was at once a tribute of gratitude to the de- 2'^ ceafed monarch, and a lefTon to the living. Nor ^ ' could any thing have been more inftruftive to the rifing generation than this inftitution, lince it comprehended alfo the antiquities of their country, and the traditions of their anceftors. Expreflions of national triumph for viftory in war, lamentations in times of public calamity, the voice of feftivity, knd the language of love, were likewife the fubjefts of thele exhibitions ; the dances, fo effential a part of them, being grave or gay as the occafion required. It is pretended that among the traditions thus pub- licly recited, there was one of a prophetic na- ture, denouncing ruin and defolation by the ar- rival of ftrangers compleatly clad, and armed with the lightning of heaven. The ceremonies w^hich were obferved when this awful prediftion w^s repeated, we may well believe were ftrong- ly expreffive of lamentation and horror*.
IV. Like all other unenlightened nations, thefe poor Indians were indeed the flaves of fuperftition. Their general theology (for they had an eftablifhed fyftem, and a priefthood to fupport it) was a medley of grofs folly and ehil- difti traditions, the progeny of ignorance and terror. Yet we are fometimes dazzled with a ftrong ray of funfliine in the midft of furround- iug darknefs. Hiftorians have preferved a re- markable fpeech of a venerable old man, a na- tive of Cuba, who, approaching Chriftopher Columbus with great reverence, and prefenting a bafket of fruit, addrefled him as follows. *' Whether you are divinities'* (he obferved) " or mortal men, we know not.^ You are come ** into thefe countries with a force, againft which,
were
• Martjr, ut fupm, H^rrara, lib. ii. c. iv.
W E S T I N D I E S. fi
*^ were we inclined to refift it, refiftance would CHAP.
** be folly. We are all therefore at your mercy; ^^^•
** but if you are men, fubjeft to mortality like "^^^
** ourfelves, you cannot be unapprized, that af-
" ter this life there is another, wherein a very
" different portion is allotted to good and bad
** men. If therefore you expeft to die, and be-
" lieve, with us, that every one is to be reward-
" ed in a future ftate, according to his conduft
" in the prefent, you will do no hurt to thofe,
'* who do none to you."*
Their notions of future happinefs feem howe- ver to have been narrow and fenfual. They fup- pofed that the fpirits of good men were convey- ed to a pleafant valley, which they called Coyaba; a place of indolent tranquillitv, abounding with. guavas and other delicious fruits, cool ihades, and murmuring rivulets ;t in a country where drought never rages, and the hurricane is never felt. In this feat of blifs (the Elyfium of anti- quity) they believed that their greatefl enjoy- ment would arife from the company of their de- parted anceflors, and of thofe perfons who were dear to them in life ;l — a proof at leafl of their filial piety, and of the warmth -and tendernefs of their affedions and difpofitions.
'^The confcioufnefs in our Indians that they were accountable beings, feems to indicate a greater degree of improvement than we are wil- ling to allow to any of the natives of the New Hemifphere. Although, like the Charaibes, our iflands acknowledged a plurality of Gods, like them too, they believed in the exiftence of one fupreme, invifible, immortal, and omnipotent
Creator ; J*
* Her ara, lib. ii. c. xiv. Martyr, Decad. u lib. iii. t Fer Col. c. Ixi. ^ , I Heriara, lib. i^i- c. ill.
74 HISTORY O^ THE
BOOK Creator; whom they named Jocahuna.* But }' uahappily, with thefe importaut truths, thefc ' poor people blended the moft puerile and extra- vagant fancies, which were neither founded in rational piety, nor produdive of moral obliga- tion. They afligned to the fupreme Being, a fa- ther and mother, whom they diftinguiftied by a variety of names, and they fuppofed the fun and moon to be the chief feats of their refidencef . Their fyftem of idol-worftiip was, at the fame time, more lamentable than that of the Cha- raibes ; for it would feem that they paid divine honors to flocks and (lones convened into images, which they called Zemi\ not regarding thefe idols as fymbolical reprefentations only of their fubordinate divinities, and ufeful as fenfible ob- jefts, to awaken the memory and animate devo- tion, but afcribing divinity ta the material itfelf, and adlually worfhipping the rude ftone or block which their own hands had fafhioned. It may be obferved, however, that an equal degree of folly prevailed among people much more en- lightened. The Egyptians themfelves, thp moll ancient of civilized nations, worfliipped vari- ous kinds of animals, and reprefentations of ani- mals ; fome of them the moft noxious in nature ; and even the accompliftied philofophers of Greece and Rome, paid divine honours to men to whom they had themfelves given an appotheolis !-— So nearly allied, in religious refearches, is the blind- nefs of untutored nature, to the infufficiency of mere cultivated reafon !
It has indeed been afferted (whether juftly or not) that " the iuperftitions of Paganifm always " wore the appearance of pleafure, and often of virtue ;" J but the theology of our poor iflandew
bore
* Martyr, De.-vJ. i. lib. ix. F. Columbus.
•/- V. Columbus. P. Mart/r. Benzoni, J Gibbon.
WESTINDIES. 75
bore a different afpeft. By a lamentable incon- CHAP, fiftency in the human mind, they confidered the ^ _^ Creator of all things as wholly regardlefs of the " work of his hands; and as having transferi:ed the government of the world to fubordinate and malignant beings, who delighted in converting into evil that which he pronounced to be good. The effufions of gratitude, the warmth of affec- tion, the confidence of hope, formed no part of their devotions. Their idols were univer- fally hideous and frightful, fometimes reprefent- ing toads and other odious reptiles; but more frequently the human face horribly diftorted ;— a proof that they confidered them, not as be- nevolent, but evil, powers ; — as objeAs of ter- ror,-^not of admiration and love.
To keep alive this facred and awful preju- dice in the minds of the multitude, and heigh- ten its influence, their Bohitos or Priefts, ap- propriated a confecrated houfe in each village, wherein the Zemi was invoked and woHhipped. Nor was it permitted to the people at large, at all times, to enter, and on unimportant occa- fions approach the dread objeft of their adora- tion. The Bohitos undertook to be their mef- fengers and interpreters, and by the efficacy of their prayers to avert the dangers which they dreaded. The ceremonies exhibited on thele foleninities, though grofsly ridiculous, were well calculated however to extend the prieftly do- minion, and confirm the popular fubjedlion. In the fame view, the Bohitos added to their holy profeffion, the praftice of phyfic, and they claimed likewife the privilege of educating the children of the firft rank of people ;* — a com- bination of influence which, extending to the
neareft
* Martyr.
^6 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK neareft and deareft concerns boih of his life and ^^ ^ the next, rendered their authority irrefiftible. "" ' With fuch power in the priefthood, it may well be fuppofed, that the alliance between church and ftate, was not lefs intimate in thefe iflands, than in the kingdoms of Europe. As in many other nations, religion was here made the inftrument of civil defpotifm, and the will of the Cacique, if confirmed by the Prieft, was impioufly pronounced the decree of heaven. Columbus relates that fome of his people enter- ing unexpededly into one of their houfes of worfhip, found the Cacique employed in obtain- ing refponfes from the Zemi. By the found of the voice which came from the idol, they knew that it was hollow, and daftiing it to the ground to expofe the impofture, they difcovered a tube, which was before covered with leaves, that communicated from the back part of the image to an inner apartment, whence the Prieft iflued his precepts as through a fpeaking trumpet ;— but the Cacique earneftly entreated them to fay nothing of what they had feen ; declaring that by means of fuch pious frauds, he collefted tributes, and kept his kingdom in fubjedion.
The reader, I believe, will readily acquit me for declining to enter into any further detail of the various wild notions, and fantaftical rites which were founded on fuch arts and impoftures. Happily for our iflanders, however, the general fyftem of their fuperftition, though not amiable, was not cruel. We find among them but few of thofe barbarous teremonies which filled the Mexican temples with pollution, and the fpec- tators with horror. They we^e even more for-. tunate in this refpeA than the otherwife happy ill habitants of the lately difcovered iflands in the
Southern
WEST INDIES. 77
Southern Pacific Ocean ; amongft whom the prac- CHAP, tice of offering human facrifices to their deities', ^^^• is ft ill asdreadfuUy prevalent, as it anciently was among moft of the nations of the earth.
Having thus mentioned the natives of the South-fea Iflands, I cannot but advert to the won- , derful fimilarity obfervable in many refo^fts, between our ill-fated Weft Indians ana that placid people. The fame frank and affectionate temper, the fame chearful firaplicity, gentlenefii and candour ; — a behaviour, devoid of mean^ nefs and treachery, of cruelty and revenge, arc apparent in the charafter of both : — —and al- though placed at fo great a diftance from each other, and divided by the intervention of the American Continent, we may trace a refemblance even in many of their cuftoms and inftitutions ; fuch as their national fongs and dances, their domeftic oeconomy, their fyftem of government, and their funeral ceremonies. I pretend not, however, to affirm that this refemblance is fo exaft, as to create the prefumption of a com- mon origin. The affinity perceivable in the dit pofitions and virtues of thefe widely feparated tribes, arofe probably from a fimilarity in their circumftances and fituation, operating on, the ge- neral principles of human nature. Placed alike in a happy medium, between favage life, pro- perly fo called, and the refinements of poliftied fociety, they are found equally exempt from the fordid corporeal diftrefTes and fanguinary paffions of the former ftate, and from the arti* ficial neceffities, the reftraints and folicitudes of the latter. To a fpeculative mind, fuch a fituation may appear, for a moment, even fu- perior to our own ; " but if we admit" (fays the elegant hiftorian of the amiable Otaheiteans) " that they are uppn the whole happier than
H IS T O R Y OF THE
wc, we muft admit that the child is happier *^ than the man, and that we are lofers by the
perfeftioil of our nature,, the increafe of our " knowledge, and the enlargement of our '* views."* I
In thofe inventions and arts which, varying the enjoyments, add confiderably to the value of life, I believe the Otaheiteans were in gene- ral fomewhat behind our iflanders: in agricul- ture they were particularly fo.f The great fup- port of the infular territories of the South-Sea confifts of the bread-fruit, and the plantain; both which flourifh there fpontaneouflv ; and akhough the inhabitants have likewife plan- tations
♦ Hawtefwoith's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 105. t Dr. Robertfon, in his Hiftory of America, voL i. p. 332, obferves that as the natives of the New World had no tame animals, nor the ufe of the metals, their agriculture muft nec^ifarily have been imperfefi. It fhould however be remembered that as every family raifed corn for their awn fupport, and the iilands being (to ufe the expreflion of Las Caias) ^ abounding with inhabitants as an anthill ivhb ants^*' a very fmall portion of ground allotted to the maintenance of each family, would comprehend in the aggregate an immenfe fpace of cultivated country. Thus we find Bartholomew Co- lumbus obferving, that the fields about Zabraba, a country In the Gulph of Darien, which he viewed in 1503, " were all covered " with maize, like the corn fields of Europe, for above Jix leagues ** together" Unacouainted y/iththe foil of the Weft Indies, Dr. Kobertfon Ihould nave delivered his fen^ments on this fubjeA wiih diffidence. That foil which is knbwn in thefe iflands by the name of brick-mouU^ is not only fuperior to moft others in fertility, but requires very little trouble in cultivation. Among our iflanders, to whom the ufe of iron was unknown, iniftru- ments were ingenioufly formed of ftone, and of a certain ii^ecies of dur<ible wood, which were endued with nearly equal lolidity and fharpnefj. We find them felling large trees, building canoes and houfes, and forming domenic uienfils of exquifite workmanfhip. Poffefling the tools and materials neceffary for thefe purpofes, they could not be deftitute of pro- ber implements for the ruder operations of hufbandry, on a oil incapable of much refiftance.
W E S T I N D I E S. 79
tations of yams and other efculent roots; CHAP. yet the cultivation of none of them appears to ^^* be as extenfive, as was that of the maize in the ^^ ^ Weft Indies, or to difplay equal Ikill with the preparation of the caffavi-bread from the ma- niock.* The Weft Indians, notwithftanding that they poffeffed almoft every variety of vege- table nature which grew in the countries I have mentioned, the bread fruit excepted, raifed alfo both the maize and the maniock in great abun- dance; and they had acquired the Ikiil of wa- tering their lands from diftant rivers, in times of drought, t It may likewife be obferved, that al- though the Otaheiteans poftefs the flirub which produces cotton, they neither improve it by cul- ture, nor have the knowledge of converting its wool into cloth; J but content themfelves with a far meaner produ£lion as a fubftitute. Our iflanders had liot only the (kill of making excel- lent cloth from their cotton, but they praftifed alfo the art of dying it with a variety of co- lours;
* L'Abbe Raynal, in oppofidon to theteftimony of all the early Spanifh hiflorians -who have treated of the difcovery and produaions of America, (none of -whom indeed does he ap- pear to have conluked) aiferts that the maniock plant was ori- ginally introduced into <he Weft Indies from Africa, and that the Indians were firft ^nftruded by the negroes in the art of converting the polfonous root into wholefome food. For the fatisfa<f^ion of fiich of my readers as Vire not intimately ac- quainted with the American Hiftory, I think it neceffary to «bferve, that P. Martyr, in his firft decad, which bears date November, 1493, feven months only after the return of Co- lumbus from his firft voyage, particularly mentions the ma- niock, orjucca^ as furniftiing great part of the food of the iflanders, and he defcfibes their manner of making the cajavi bread from it ; obferving that the raw juice is as flrong a poi- ;lon as aconite. . Negroes were not imported into the iflands till many years after this account was publifhed.
t Martyr, Decad. iii. 0
X Forfter's Obfervations.
to HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK lours; fome of them of the utmoft brilliancj ^' and beauty.*^
In the fcience of fhip-building (if the con- ftruftion of fuch Veffels as either people ufed, may be diftinguiftied with that appellation) the fuperiority is on the fide of Otaheite ; yet the ' Piragua^ s of the Weft Indians were fully fuffici- ent for the navigation they were employed in> and indeed were by no means contemptible fea- boats. We are told that fome of thefe vtSAs yrere navigated with forty oars;t and Herrara relates, that Bartholomew Columbus, in paffing through the Gulph of Honduras, fell in with one that was eight feet in breadth, ajid in length equal to a Spanifh galley. Over the middle was an awning, compofed of mats and palm-tree leaves ; underneath which were difpofed the wo- men and children, fecured both from rain and the fpray of the fea. — It was laden with commo- dities from Jucatan.J
On the other hand, our ifland^rs far furpaffed the people of Otaheite, in the elegance and va-^ rie':y of their domeftic utenfils and furniture ; their earthenware, curioufly woven beds, and implements of hiilbandry. Martyr fpeaks with admiration of the workmanftiip of fome of the former of thefe. In the account he gives of a magnificent donation from Anacoana to Bartho- lomew Columbus, on his firft vifit to that Prin^- cefs, he obferves that, among other valuables, file prefented him with fourteen chairs of ebony beautifully wrought, and no lefs than fixty veffels of different forts, for the ufe of his kitcnen and uble, all of which were ornamented with figures of various kinds, fantaftic forms, and accurate
reprefentation%
'^ ♦ Oviedo. Purchas, vol. iii. p. 985. t Martyr, Decad. i. I Herrara, Decad. 1. lib. r*
WE S T I N'D 1 E S. Sr
ncprefentations of living animals^. The in- QHAR. duftry and ingenuity of our Indians therefore ^^ muft have greatly exceeded the meafure of their wants. Having provided for the neceflities of their condition, they proceeded to improve and adorn it.
But I muft now leave them to the miferable fate in which it pleafed infinite, but infcrutable, wifdom to permit their mercilefs invaders to in- volve them for ever ! — It may, I think, be fafely affirmed, that the whole ftory of mankind affords no fcene of barbarity equal to that of the cruel- tics exercifed on tHefe innocent and inoffenfive people. All the murders and disfolations of the moft pitilefs tyrants that ever diverted themfelves with the pangs and convulfions of their fellow creatures, fall infinitely Ihort of the bloody enor- mities committed by the Spanifh nation in the conqueft of the New World ; — ^a conqueft, on a low eftimate, effeded by the murder of ten millions of the fpecies ! But although the accounts which are tranfmitted down to us of this dreadful car- nage, are authenticated beyond the poffibility of difputc, the mind fhrinking from the contempla- tion, wifties to refift convidiori, and to relieve it- felf by incredulity :-^Such at leaft is the apology which I would frame for the author of the Ame- rican Hiftory, when I find him attempting, in contradi Aion to the voice and feelings of all mankind, to palliate fuch horrible wickednefs f- , Vol. I. G Yet
• P. Marnnr, Decad. i.
t Introduaion to the Hiftorj of America, bv Dr. Robcrtfon, vol i. p. lo. " It is to be hoped" (fays this au- " ihor) " that the Spaniards will at lafl difoover this lyilem ** of concealment to be iio lefs impolitic than illiberal. •• From irhat I have experienced in the courfe of my en- " quiries, I am fatisfied, that upon a more miniate fcrutin/ " into their early pperations in the New World, Jiowcver
^* KXPKIHENSULl"
U HI8TORT OF THE
BOOK Yi!t the fame autbor admita, that in the flioit !• ^ interval of fifteea years fubfequent to the difco*- very of the Weft Indies, the Spaniards had re- duced the natives of Hifpaniola ** from a million to fixty thoufand*." It is in vain that he re- marks on the bodily feeblenefs of thefe poor Indians, and their natural incapacity for labour^ Such a conftitutional defedl, if it exifted, enti- tled th^m to greater lenity; but the Spaniards diftributed them into lots, and compelled theo» to dig in the mines, without reft or intermiffion, until death, their only refuge, put a period to their fufferings* Such as attempted refiftance or efcape, their mercilefs tyrants hunted down with dogs, which were fed on their flefti. They dif- regarded fex and age, and with impious and frantic bigotry even called in religion to fandlify their crudties ! Some, more asealous than the reft, forced their miferable captives into the water^ and after adminiftering to them the rite of bap- tifm, cut their throats the next moment, to pre- vent their apoftacy ! Others made a vow to hang Or burn thirteen ^very morning, in honour of our Saviour and the twelve Apoftles ! Nor were thefe the excefles only of a blind and remorfelefs fanaticifm, which exciting our abhorrence, ex- cites airo our pity: The Spaniards were aduatcd in many inftances by fuch wantonncfs of malice, as is wholly unexampled in the wide hiftory of human depravity. — ^Martyr relates that it was a frequent pradlice among them to murder the
Indians
" -RfcPRitHSNSiiLi" (a tender expreiHoh) •• the aAions of •* Individuals may appear, the conduft of the nation will " be placed in a more favourable light.'* This opinion^ however, needs no other refutation than that which is to be found in the fiibfeq[uent pages of the learne4 Author'* Hiftory.
* Hiftory of America, vol. i. book iH. p. 185.
WE S T I N D I E S. I3
Indians of Hifpaniola in fport, or merely, he ob«> CHi^P. ferves, to keep their hands in u/e. They had an ^^^ emulation Munich of them could moft dexteroufly ' ftrike off the head of a man at a blow; and wagers frequently depended on this hellifh ezer* cife*. To fill up the meafure of this iniquity; and demonftrate to the world, that the nation at large participated in the guilt of individuals, thtt Court of Spain not only neglefled to punifli theib enormities in its fubjcfts, but when rapacity and avarice had nearly defeated their own purpofes, bv the utter extirpation of the natives of Hifpa- niola, the King gave permiflion to feize on the unfuHpefling inhabitants of the neighboiuing iflands, and tranfport them to perifh in the mines of St. Domingo. " Several veflels'' (fays Dr. Robertfon) " were fitted out for the Lucayost *' the commanders of which informed the natives^ << with whofe language they were now well ac* ** quainted, that they came from a delicious •* country, in which their departed anceftors " refidea, by whom they were fent to invite " them to refort thither, to partake of the Wife « which they enjoved. That fimplc peopl^e " liilened with wonder and credulity, and fond " of vifiting their relations and friends in that *^ happy region, followed the Spaniards with " eagerncfs. By this artifice, above 40,000 •* were decoyed into Hifpaniola, to fhare in the " fufferings which were tne lot of the inhabitant3 ^* of that ifland, and to mingle their groans " and tears with thofe of that wretched race of •* mcn+." After reading thefe accounts, who G z caa
• P. Martyr, Decad. i. lib. iii. t Hiftory of America, book iii. p. 186. Sec likemfe P. lifaTtjrr, Decad. vii. This author relates the following affeAing panicuhrt of the poor Lucajans thus fraudu- lently
84 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK can help forming an indignant ^^ifti that the hand J;_ of Heaven, by fome miraculous interpofition, ' had fwept thefe European tyrants from the face of the earth, who, like fo many beafts of prey,- roamed round the world only to defolate and de- ftroy; and, more remorfelefs than the fierceft favage, thirfted for human blood, without hav- ing the impulfe of natural appetite to plead in their defence!
On the whole, if we confider of how little
benefit
kntly decoyed from their native countries. " Many of ** them in the anguifh of defpair, obilinately refufe all •* manner of fuilenance, and retiring to defert caves and •* unfrecjuented woods, lilently give tip the ghoft. Others, *y repairing to the fea-coaft on tne northern ude of HUpa- " niola, caft many a longing look towards that part ofthe " ocean where they fuppofe their own iflands to be fituated; ** and as the fea -breeze rifes, they eagerly inhale it ; fond- *' ly believing, that it has lately viiued their own happy ^* vallies, and comes fraught with the breath of thofe tney *' love, their wives and their children. With this idea, *' they continue for hours on the coaft, until nature becomes ** utterly exhaufted *, when ilretching out their arms towards " the ocean, as if to take a lafl embrace of their diftant ** country and relations, they (ink down, and expire with- •• out a groan." — One of the Lucayans" (continues the fame author) ** who was more defirous of life, or had ** greater courage than mod of his countrymen, took upon '* him a bold and difficult piece of work. Having been *' ufed to build cottages in his native country, he procured **' inflruments of ftone, and cut down a large fpongy tree " called jaruma^f the body of which he dexteroufly fcoop- *' cd into a canoe. He then provided himfelf with oars, /* fome Indian corn, and a few gourds of water, and pre- ** vailed on another man and a woman to embark with him ** on a voyage to the Lucayos Iflands. Their navigation " was profperous for near 200 miles, and they were almoft " within light of their own long-loll ihpres, when unfor- ." tunately tney were met by a Spanifh ihip, which broueht ** them back to flavery and forrow. The canoe is flill ^* preferved in Hilpaniola as a fingular curiofity, confider^ " ing the circumfiances under which it was made." * The komhdx^ or wild cotton tree.
WE ST I N DI E S. 8s
benefit the acquifition of thefe iflands has fince CHAP, proved to the Spanifli nation, and count over the ^^• coll of the conqueft, we muft find it extremely '"^^^'"'*^ difficult to include fuch an event as the maflacre of ten millions of innocent people (comprehendi- ing the butcheries in Me:^ico and Peru) amongfl the number of thofe partial evils which ultimate- ly terminate in general good : Nor can we pofli- bly reconcile its permiiTion to our limited ideas of infinite wifdom and goodnefs ! Divines there- fore juftly conclude, that no ftronger proof than that which arifes from hence need be given of the exiftence of a future and better ftate, wherein the unequal diftribution of mifery and happinefs in this life fhall be adjufted ; " when the crooked ** Jhall be made Jlraighu o,nd the rough places '' plainer
* In 1585 Sir Francis Drake made a defcent on Hif- paniola ; and in his account of that ifland, which is pre- lerved in Hakluyt, vol iii. he relates that the Spaniards^ having utterly exterminated the ancient Indians, (not a fingle defcendant being, I doubt, at that time living) had neverthe- lefs derived fo Httle advantage from their cruelty, as to be obliged to convert fleets of leather into money ; — all the filver, in the attainment of which from the bowels of the earth fo many thoufands of poor wretches had perifhed, having long iince found its way to Europe, and the inhabitants had no means of getting a frefh fupply.
It. may be proper in this place to obferve, that fome of the circumftances which I have related above, refpedting the cru- elties of the Spaniards, are extracted from the writings of Baitholomew De Las Cafas, who is accufed by Dr. Robertfon of exaggeration; — but Oviedo himfelf, who endeavours to palliate the monftrous barbarities of his countrymen towards the natives, by afferting that they were addi^ed to unnatural vices, which rendered tnem properly obnoxious to punifhment (a charge, by the way, which Herrara admits to be ground- lefi)— Oviedo, Hay, confeffes that in 1535, only forty-three years pofterior to the difcovery of Hifpaniola, and when he was himfelf on the fpot, there were not left alive in that iiland above five hundred of the original natives, old and young; for he adds, that all the other Indians at that time ther^, had been
forced
s$
HISTORY OF THE
B O P ]^ forced or decoyed into flaveiy, from the tiei^bounAg iflaadt*. I. Las Cafas, it is true, vrhen he fpealcs of numbers in the grofs, certainlj over-rates the original inhabitants. But it does not appear that he meant to dec«v€ ; nor is there any juft reafon to iiifpe^ his verscity when he treats of matters fufceptive of precifion ; more efpecially in circumAances of which he de- clares himfelfto have been an eye-witnefs. Let the reader judee of Las Cafas from the following narrative, in which hisfalfehood (if the ftory were falfe) could have been very eafily deteAed. " I once beheld" (fays he) " four or five prin* *' cipal Indians roxfled alive at a flow fire ; and as the mifcrablt ^* victims poured forth dreadful fcreams, which difturbed th!e ** commanding officer in his afternoon {lumbers, he fcnt word ** that they ihould be flrangled; but the officer on guard (I
** KNOW itiS NAMK, ANt> I KNOW HIS RELATIONS IN SZ-
*' tillk) woilld not fuffer it; but cauiing their mouths to be '* gagged, that their cries might not be heard, he ftirred up the •* fire with his own hands, and roafted them deliberately till " they all expired. — I sAw it myself." ! ! !
It may be necefTary perhaps, on ray own account, ^o add, that I have no other edition of Las Cafas, than that which was publifhed at Antwerp, in 1579. From a copy of that edition I have extracted the foregoing horrid relation ; my hand trembling as I write, and my heart devoutly wifhing it could be proved to be fal4.
♦ Orkdo, lib. Hi. c. vl
CHAP.
ee
WEST INDUS
CHAP. IV/
CRAP.
IV.
Land animah ufid asfhod.-'^ijhes and witdfawl^ -^Indian tneihbd of fjfbing andftF^kng. — Efcu* lent vegetables^ tSc.'^'^nchJi&n.
XN tracing^ the fevenil tribes of quadrupeds^ properly fo called^ which anckntl^ exifted in the Weft ladies, it will be found that the Windward ot Cbaraibeaa Iflaods, pofieflbd aU thait were poCTejQed by the larger iflands, and Some fpeciea which the lattei ^e& without. It ia likewife ob-L fcrvable that all the animals of the former^ are ftili fouad in Ouiana, and few or none of thent in North Amerka : Thefe are addid<Mial proofs that the WiUfdward Iflands were anciently peo- pled from theSouth. The enumeration cithern follows :
i. the Agouti,
2. The )Pecary,
3. The Armadillo,
4. The Opuffiam,
5. The Racoon,
6. TheMufkRat,
7. The Alco-
8. The fmaller Monkey of feveral va-'
rieties.
Thefe I thmk are thdir moft general appdln- tions ; but, frtm the varietv of Indian langu^s, or didefts rather of the lame langui^, which anciently prevailed ia the Mands and on the neighbouring €o!itinent, feme of thefe animals
have
3
8S
HIS TORY OF THE
BOOK. have been diftinguiihg^ by fo many difierent ^' names, tbat^ in reading the accounts of them tranfmitted by the French and Spaniih hiftcrians, :it is often cliffiQUlt to underila&d of which in particular they mean to fpeak.
Th^ agouti is fometimes called coutiy and coatu It w>a8 corrupted into uti and utia^ by the Spa- niards ;. and at prefent it is known in fome parts of the Weft Inqies by the icrm^ pucarara and In- dian coney. It is the mus aguti of Linnaeus, and the cavy of Pennant and BufTon.
To thefe writers it fe fufficient 'to refer, for A. ciefcription of its zvature and pr6pigrties.-^I fhall briefly obfervc thatj in comparing it with the quadrupeds of £uro|^, it feems.to conftitute aui intermediate fpecics! between the rabbit land the; rat ; and of the animals> whiirh. I have enimierat- ed above, this and theilaft are I : fear the only • ones that have cfcapjed: the common: fate of all the nobler inhabitants qf thefe unfbrtnnate.iflandsr man himfelf (as we have feien) not exceipted! The agouti is ftijl frequently. found in Poito4Ri*| CO, Cuba and Hifpaniola, and fometimes in the. mountains of Jamaica. In moft of the illands to Windward, the race, though bnce <^pmmon to ^hem all, is now I believfe utterly extind.
The pecary, which was known In the Wind- ward Iflands only, and the Continent, has been honoured with no lefs variety of names than the agouti. According to Rochefort it was alfo called javari and pacquire. By Dampier it is named ^^Azj. "Ry AcoHizifaino znA^aino. It is the Jus tajacu of Linnaeus, zxid xht pecary and Mexican-inufit Apg pf our Englifh naturalifls. *^
Of this animal ^ very full ^d particular ac- count has been givea by Monf. Buffon in his Na-, . tufal Hiftory, and by Dr. Tyfon in the Philofo- phical Tranfa^lionsi. I have beard that it ftill
abounds
WEST INDIES. 99
dxmnds in many of the provinces of Mexico; CHAP.' but in. the Weft Indian Iflande I believe the breed ^*V* has been long fince exterminated. Tbofe that I ' have, feen were carried thither from the Continent as objedls of curiolity ; and they appeared to me to differ from the European hog principally in thefingular but welMcnowndrcumflance of their having a muiky difcharge firom an aperture or ^ gland on the back> erroneoufiy fuppofed to be* the navel; and in the colour of their bnftles; the pecary being indeed. highly ornamented ; for the.briftles of thofe that Ibeneld, were of pale blue, tipt with white. It is si&> related of this animll, that it pollefles far greater courage than the hog of Europe^ and when hunted by dogs, will frequently. turn and compel its enemy to retreat. Thus its native bravery bringing- it within the reach of fire arms, contributed doubt- lefs to its final deftrudion in^the Iflands. -
Of the armadillo, the fpedes smciently known ill thefe iflands was I think that which is called by fyflematical writers the nine banded. It is co- < yered with a jointed fhell or faJy armour, and has the faculty of rolling itfelf up, like the hedge-hog. As food it is faid to very wholefome ' and .delicate. It was once found in all parts of the Wefl Indies.
The opuf&m (or manitou) is diflinguifhable ' from all other animals, by a wonderful property. Under the belly of the female there is a poucn, wherein fhe receives and fhelters her young.— Both thb and the former animal are too well known to. the curious in natural refearcfaes, to render it necefTary for me to be more particular. I believe the opnfTum, like the pecary, ^as un- known to the larger iflands.
The racoon was common in Jamaica in the time of Sloane, who obferves that it was eaten
by
90 HI9TX>RT or THE
BOOK by all forts of peoj>le* lu abode was chiefly ik I- hollow trees, from whence, fays Sloane, it ^ make^ paths to the cane^fields, where it chiefly fubfifts ; a circumftance which while it indicafes that its number was caafiderable, cafHy accounts for its deflru^ion.
The snulk rat is the fihris of nerturalifts : it biirrow^ ia the earth, and fnnells £> ftrongly of mDfk, that its retreat is eafily difcovered. Ac« cording to the French writers, thefe abounded afKaepdy in Matdniicb and the other Windward Iflaads to a great degree:* ; and its refemblanoe to the jQommonrat of^Europe^ though four tinnes as large, pcobably |>ra^iad fatal to the whdle race. 1 am inclihed to Ibfped that this animal is the agomti of the fQcger Hlands.
The aloo^ was the native dog. dF the New- Helnif|)here, nor tloes k feem to In^e differed greatly from that of the 0\d ; exoejUthat it jpof-^ fedbd not the pa\¥er cf barkingf. T^e natives of Hif{>aniola» like thofe of Otaheite, fattened^ them with care, and accounted their fldh a gmat^ delicacy^ " In St* Domingo" (lays Acofta) " the <' dogs of Europe haine muhiplied fi> e:cceeding*« << ly that at this time (1^7) tliey are a nuifknOT ^\ and a tetiror t6 the inhabitants, and a p'rice is " fet on their heads as on wolves in Oldf S^ain. *' At fiiril thei^ were no dogs in this ifland, but ^\ agnail mute creature refemfoiin^ a dog, with ^Vftsiofeiike that of a fox; which the natives <^ xidlod alcG. The Indians were io fond of '^' thefe little animah, that they carried them on "» thoir fliottlders wherever they went, or nou-^ «« rrilflfteidthem in thteirixrfbms."
The monkey and its varieties require no de- fcription. — ^An Engliftiman is not eafily recon- ciled
\ ♦ f . Labat, torn. 11. p. 302. 1* F. Col. c. xxlv.
WESTINDIES. 91
ciled to them as food ; butt have been alTured CHAP. by an officer of diftin^lion, who was obliged to ^ ^• live on them fome time for want of other animal ' food, that they have very much the flavour of hare.
Thus, it appears that out of eight different fpecies of edible quadrupeds, one only was do* meftic and fequacious. Few indeed are the ani- mals that own allegiance to man in his lavage ftate. or the beafts of the foreft, the ftrongeft difpute his fuperiority and the weakefl avoid his approach. To his conveniency therefore .they contribute nothing, and towards his nourifhmem, the fupplies that they afford are cafual an4 tin- certain. Nature however feems to have difplay- ed towards the inhabitants of thefe iflands, a bounty that almofl rendered fuperfluous the la«* hours of art in procuring them fuflenance ; for, befides the animals that I have mentioned, and thofe that are furnilhed by the rivers and the fea,. the woods were peopled with two very extraor- dinary creatures ; both of which anciently were, and ftill are, not only ufed as food, but acccHint- ed fuperior delicacies.
Thefe are the iguana and the mountain-crab. The iguana ^or, as it is more commonly written, the guana) is a fpecies of Lizard :-*a clafa of animals, about which naturalifts are not agreed whether to rank them with quadrupeds, or to degrade them to ferpents. — They feem therefiMre to ftand aloof from all eflablifhed fyftems, aiftd indeed juftly claim a very diflinguifhed place bv themfelves. From the alligator, the mofl formi- dable of the family, meafuring fometimes twenty feet in length, the gradation is regular in dimi- nution of fixe to the fmall lizard of three inches ; the fame figure and conformation nearly (though not_ wholly) prevailing in each- -The iguana is
one
91 HISTORYOFTHE
BOOK one of the intermediate fpecies, and is common- I- ly about three feet long, and proportionably " bulky. It lives chiefly among fruit trees, and is pcrfedly gentle and innoxious. Europeans doubtlefs learnt to make food of them from the example of the^ ancient Indians, amongft whom the pradlice of hunting them was a favou- rite diverfion * ; and they are now become gene- rally fcarce, except in the iflands of the Wind- ward paflage, and fuch other places between the tropics as are feldom vifited by man. I believe indeed the Englifh, even when they were more plentiful, did not often ferve them at elegant tables ; but their French and Spanifh neighbours, fefs fqueamifti, ftill devour them with exquifite rclifti : I imagine too they have good reafon ; for I have been affured by a lady of great beauty and elegance, who fpoke from experience, that the iguana is equal in flavour and wholcfomenefs to the fineft green turtlef.
Refpefting
♦ F. CoL c. XXV.
t P* Labat like wife fpeaks of a fricaifeed guana with high approbation. He compares it to chicken, for the whitenefs of its flefh and the delicacy of its flavour.— -Tom. iii. p. 315. In a fubfcquent page, he nves a minute account of the man- ner of catching tnis animal, and if the reader has no obje^i- on to accompany the good Father a la cbqffe^ he may partici- pate in the diverfion as follows : ** We were attended" Tfays he) " by a negro, who carried a long rod ; at one end of *• which was a piece of whipcord with a running knot. *' After beating tne bufhes for fome time, the negroe difco* ** vered our rame bafking in the fun on the dry limb^of a tree* ** Hereupon ne began whiflling with all his might, to which *' the guana was wonderfully attentive, ilretching out his neck " and turning his head, as if to enjoy it more fully. The " nem now approached, ftill whitUing, and advancing hit '* rod gently, began tickling with the end of it the fides and " throat of die guana, who feemed mightily pUafed with the '* operation; for he turned on his back, and ftretched out like *' a cat before a fire, and at length fairly fell aileep; which
*' the
WEST INDIES. 9j
Refpe&ingthe mountain crab, which ftill fur- CHAP, vives in the larger of thefe Iflands, though its ^V. final extindlion is probably at hand, its hiftory is ' fo wonderful, that I choofe rather to give it in the language of others, than in any recital of my own. The authors from whom I tranfcribe, are Du Tertre and Brown. They both wrote from their own knowledge and peifonal obferva- tion, and the fads which they relate have been repeated to me a thoufand times in the Weil Indies, by perfons, who I am fure never knew what has been publilhed on the fubjeft by any author whatever. " Thefe animals'* (fays Du Tertre) " live not only in a kind of orderly " fociety in their retreats in the mountains, but *• regularly once a year march down to the fea- " fide in a body of lome millions at a time. As ** tliey multiply in great numbers, they chufe *• the months of April or May to begin their •* expedition; and then fally out from the ** ftumps of hollow trees, from the clefts of *' rocks, and from the holes which they dig for ^* themfelves under the furface of the earth. At ** that time the whole ground is covered with *• tins band of adventurers ; there is no fetting ** down one's foot without treading upon them. ** The fea is their place of deftination, and to *' that they direft their march with right-lined ** precifion. Mo geometrician could fend them
" to
*' the negro perceiving, dexteroufly flipt the noofe over his *' head, and with a jerk broughrhim to the ground : and good " foort it afforded" (continues the reverend hiftorian) ** to ^* iee the creature fweil like a turkey cock, at finding himfelf **' entrapped. We caught others in the fame way, and kept •• one pf them alive fevcn or eight days, but it grieved me to. *' the heart to find that he thereby loll much delicious fat." Thefe animals are likewife known in the £ail Indies. ' Sir Toleph Banks ihot qnt of them at Batavia, and found it good
94 HISTORY OFTHE
BOOK <* to their deftincd ftation by a fliorter courfe; ' they neither turn to the right nor to the kft " whatever obAacles intervene ; and if they meet " with a houfe, they will attempt to fcale the '* ^'alls to keep the unbroken tenor of their way. «* But though this be the general order of their «' route, thev upon other occaiions are cQmpell* «^ ed to conlorm to the face of the country, and <* if it be interfered by rivers, they are feen to « wind along the courfe of the ftream. The " proeeffion fets forward from the mountains " with the regularity of an army under the gui- " dance of an experienced commander. They " are commonly divided into* battalions, of " which the firft confifts of the ftrongeft and " boldeft males, that, like pioneers, march for- <' ward to clear the route and face the greateft «f dangers. The night is their chief time of " proceeding, but if it rains by day they do not ** fail to profit by the occafion, and they conti- " nue to move forward in their flow uniform <^ manner. When the fun fliines and is hot tip^ *< on the furface of the ground, they make an ^ univerfal hah, and wait till the cool of the " evening. When they are terrified, they << march back in a confnfed diforderlv manner, ** holding up their nippers, with wnich they ** fometimes tear off a piece of the 4kin, and ^ leave the weapon where they inflided the " wound.
*' When after a fatiguing march, and efcaping ** a thoufand dangers, for they are fometimes " three months in getting to the fliore, they '< hare arrived at their duftined port, they pre- " pare to call their fpawn. For this purpofc the <* crab has no fooner reached the ftiore, than it " eagerly goes to the edge of the water, and lets ^ the wnves waih over its body two or three
" times
WEST INDIES. 9S
** timet to wafh off the fpawn. Thce^ are hatch- CHAP. " ed under the fand; and foon after^ millions ^^* *^ at a time of the new bom crabs, are feen *^ quitting the Ihorei and flowly travelling up " to the mountains."
So far Du^ Tertre, as copied hy Goldfmith. What follows, is from Brown's Hiftory of Ja- maiQa. *' The old crabs having dilburihened " themfelves" (as above) " generally regain ^* their habitations in the mountains by the " latter end of June.— -In Auguft they begin <' to fatten, and prepare for moulting ; filling " up their burfows with dry grafs, leaved, and " abundance of other materials. — -Whea the " proper period comes, each retires to his hole, '^ fhuts up the paflage and remains quite un- ^^ a^ive until he gets rid of his old (hell, and ^* is fully provided with a new one. How long *^ they continue in this ftate is uncertain, but ^' the ihell is firft obferved to burft at the back " and the fides, to give a paiTage to the body, ^^ and the anixnal eztra£ls its limbs from all the '* other parts gradually afterwards. At this time ^' the fleih is in the richeft ftate, and covered '^ only with a tender membranous fkin, varie- *^ gated with a muldtude of reddifli veins, but ^ this hardens gradually, and foon becomes a " perfeft fliell like the former. It is howevei\ '' remarkable that^ during this change^ there *^ are fome ftony concretions always formed in '' the bag, which wafle and diflblve as the crea- " ture forms and perfefts its new cruft."
To thefe full and particular accounts I will add, of my own knowledge, that many people, in order to eat Qf this fingular animal in the l)igheft perfcAion, caufe them to be dug out of tji^ eartli in the moulting ftate; but they are
ufually
96 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK tifually taken from the time they begin to move ^' of themfelves, till they reach the fea as alrea* dy related. During all this time they are in fpawn^ and if my teftimony can add weight to that of all who have written, and all who have feafted, on the fubjedl, I pronounce them, with- out donbti one of the choiceft morfels in na« ture. The obfervation therefore of Dti Tcrtre, is neither hyperbolical, nor extravagant. Speak* ing of the various fpecies of this animal, he terms them " a living and perpetual fupply of ^ ntnanna in the wildernefs ; equalled only by " the miraculous bounty of Providence to the ** children of Ifrael when wandering in the de- " fert. Thev are a refource," continues he, " to which the Indians have at all times re- " fort ; for when all other provifions are fcarce, " this never fails them.'*
Such plenty, if not variety, of animal food had the lavifh hand of nature enabled the groves and the forefts of thefe highly favoured iflands to furnifh for the ufe of man. The regions of water and of air were ftill more copioufly gift- ed. Happily the inhabitants of thofe elements, lefst obnoxious to the arts of deilni^lion than the races that I have defcribed, are yet iiiffici- ently numerous to bear witnefs themfelves to the inexhauftible liberality of their almighty Creator. — ^We may fay in the language of Milton,
Each creek and bay With fr/ innumerable fwarm, and fhoalt Of fifh glide under the green wave.
— ^— Part fmgle, or with oiate»
Graze the fea- weed their pafture ; and thro' grovts Of coral ftray, or, fporting with quick glance. Show to the fun their wav'd coats! dropt with gold.
While the woods and the marfhes equaHr abound with wild fowl of infinite variety, an4
exquifite
WESTINDIES. 97
cxquifite flavour*. But of the tribes which CHAP, thefe iflands ftill abundantly furnifh, and from^ J^^ Avhofe nature and properties there is no rea- fon to apprehend an extinftion of the race, it is not within my province to treat. The enu- meration that I have made has chiefly extend- ed to fuch as from their fcarcity are feldom noticed by modern naturalifts and* voyagers, or of which the knowledge and even the names are loft to the prefent inhabitants : — for it has been juftly obfcrved that what from its antiqui- ty is but little known, has from that circum- ftance alone the recommendation of novelty. I Ihall therefore clofe my account of the animal creation with a defcription. of two very curious methods, knoAyn to the antient Indians, of catch- ing fifli and wild fowl, with which I believe the reader will be amufed.
Vol. I. H « The
• * The moft delicious bird in the Weft Indies is the ortalan^ or OSober-hird. It is the emberi%a oryzivora of Linnaeus, or rice-bird of South Carolina ; of which a defcription is given by Catelby. — Yet it it remarkable that they are reckoned birds of paflage in North America as well as in the Weft Indies. Catefljy obferves, that they arrive in Carolina in infinite numbors in the month of September, to devour the rice : they continue there about three weeks, and retire when the rice begins to grow hard. — He fuppofes their route to be from Cuba to Carolina •, but I believe tney are not in the iflands till the month of October. — ^At leaft it is in that month that they vifit Jamaica in prodigious fiidits, to feed on the feeds of the Guinea grafs. — ^According to Cateft)y, the hens only arrive in Carolina in September. The hen is about the bignefs of a lark, and coloured not unlike it in the back *, the breaft and belly pale yellow, the bill ftrong and fharp-pointed, and ftiaped like moft others of the granivorous kind. — ^The cock's bill is lead colour, the fore part of the head black, the hin- der part and the neck of a reddifh yellow, the upper part of the wing white, the back next the head black; lower down grey, the rump white, the greateft part of the wing and the whole tail black; the legs and feet brown in both fexes. — Vide the rellow Fly<atchcr ol Edwards, p. 5.
9? HISTORYOFTHE
" The Indians of Jamaica and Cuba" (fays Oviedo) " go a fiftiing with the remoray or fuck- " ing-fi(h, which they employ as falconers cm- " ploy hawks. This fifh, which is not above ** a fpan long, is kept for the purpofe and re- " gularly fed. The owner on a calm morn- ^' ing carries it out to fea, fecured to his canoe ** by a fmall but ftrong line, many fathoms in ** length; and the moment the creature fees a " fifh in the Water, though at a great diftance, '' it d^ts away with the Iwiftnefs of an arrow, " and foon fallens upon it. The Indian in the " mean time loofens and lets go the line, which " is provided with a buoy that keeps on the " furface of the fea, and fcrves to mark the " courfe which the remora has; taken, and he " purfues it m his canoe, until he conceives his " game to be nearly exhaufted and run down. " — He then, taking up the buoy, gradually " draws the line towards the ftiore ; the remo- " ra ftill adhering with inflexible tenacity to " its prey, and it is with great difficulty that " he is made to quit his hold. By this method"' (adds Oviedo) " I have known a turtle caught, ." of a bulk and we^ht which no fingle man " could fupport *•
Their contrivance for catching wild fowl was equally ingenious, though praAifed I believe by other nations, particularly the Chinefe,^even at this day. In the ponds which thefe birds fre- quent, they ufed to throw calabafhes (a fpecies of gourd) which float about the water, and which being at length accuftomed to, the wild fowl would approach without fear, and fome- times even refl upon. Having fucceeded thus
far,
♦ Herrara confirms this account. See alfo P. MartTX, Decad. L lil!>. ii.
WEST INDIES. , 9^
6r^ the fpcnrtfman puts one of thefe gourds on CHAP« his head (firft making apertures for the fight ^^• and the breath) and very cautioufly creeps into "^ the water, either gently fvvimming, or walking where the ftream is ihallow, with his head only above the water, until he gets among the fowl, when feizing one at a time by the feet, and dragging it by a fudden jerk undef the furface, he faf^ens it to his girdle, and thus loads him* fclf with as many as he can carry away, with* out creating th& kail alarm or difturbance among the reft,
I might now proceed to an enumeration and account of the efculent vegeubles originally produced in thefe Iflands; efpecially thofe moft valuable ones, the maize, the plantain, the ma- niock, and the different fpecies of the diofcorea or yam; of which, and the many delicious fruits, the growth of thefe climates, the natives without doubt compofed the chief part of their daily fupport : but I am here happily anticipated by the voluminous coUeftions of fyftematical writers; particularly thofe of Sloane, Brown, and Hughes. Neverthelefs it were' to be wifti- ed that thofe authors had more frequently dif- criminated than they appear to have done,' fuch vegetables as are indigenous, from thofe which have been tranfplanted from foreign coun- tries. Nature, with moft beneficent intention, has beftowed on diftant climates and regions many fpecies peculiar to each. This variety in her works, is one of the greateft incitements to human i^duftry ; and the progrefs of men in ' fpreading abroad the bleflings of Providence, adorning and enriching the widely feparated re- gions of the globe with their reciprocal pro- duftions, as it is one of the moft ufeful em- ployments of our faculties, fo it is a I'ubjedl H 2 ^which