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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3), by
+Walter Thornbury
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)
+       Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers
+
+
+Author: Walter Thornbury
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 21, 2012  [eBook #38631]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I
+(OF 3)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Adam Buchbinder, Rory OConor, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from scanned images of
+public domain material generously made available by the Google Books
+Library Project (http://books.google.com/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work.
+      Volume II: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38632
+      Volume III: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38633
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      the the Google Books Library Project. See
+      http://books.google.com/books?vid=PCYCAAAAYAAJ&id
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN;
+
+Or,
+
+Adventures of the Buccaneers.
+
+by
+
+GEORGE W. THORNBURY, ESQ.
+
+"One foot on sea and one on shore,
+To one thing constant never."
+                MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
+
+In Three Volumes.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London:
+Hurst and Blackett, Publishers,
+Successors to Henry Colburn,
+13, Great Marlborough Street.
+1855.
+
+London: Sercombe and Jack, 16 Great Windmill Street.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+
+CHAPTER I.--THE PRECURSORS OF THE BUCCANEERS.
+
+History of Tortuga--Description of the island--Origin of the
+Buccaneers--Conquest of Tortuga by the French and English--Hunters,
+planters, and corsairs--Le Basque takes Maracaibo--War with the
+Spaniards of Hispaniola--The French West Indian Company buy
+Tortuga--Their various governors                                      1
+
+CHAPTER II.--MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.
+
+Indian derivation of the word Buccaneer--Flibustier--The three
+classes--Dress of the hunters--West Indian scenery--Method of
+hunting--Wild dogs--Anecdotes--Wild oxen--Wild boars and wild
+horses--Buccaneer dainties--Cow-killing, English, French, and Spanish
+methods--Amusements--Duels--Adventures--Conflicts with the Fifties, or
+Spanish militia--The hunters driven to sea--Turn corsairs--The hunters'
+_engagés_, or apprentices--Hide curing--Hardships of the bush life--The
+planters' _engagés_--Cruelties of planters--The _matelotage_--Huts,
+manners, and food                                                    35
+
+CHAPTER III.--THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.
+
+Originated in the Spanish persecution of French hunters--Customs--"No
+peace beyond the line"--"No prey, no pay"--Pay and pensions--Their
+helots the Mosquito Indians--Lewis Scott, an Englishman, the first
+Corsair--John Davis takes St. Francis in Campeachy--Their
+debauchery--Gambling--Religion--Classes from which they sprang--Equality
+at sea--Mode of fighting--Food--Dress                               111
+
+CHAPTER IV.--PIERRE-LE-GRAND, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.
+
+Plunder of Segovia--Pierre-le-Grand--Peter Francis--Captures of Spanish
+vessels--Mode of capture--Barthelemy Portugese--His escapes and
+victories--Roche the Brazilian--Fanatical hatred of the Spaniards--His
+wrecks and adventures                                               152
+
+CHAPTER V.--LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.
+
+Lolonnois' stratagems--His cruelty--His partner, Michael le
+Basque--Takes Maracaibo--Tortures the citizens--Sacks the town--Takes
+Gibraltar--Attempt on Merida--Famine and pestilence--Retreat--Division
+of spoil--Ransom--Takes St. Pedro--Burns Veragua--Wrecked in the Gulf of
+Honduras--Attacked by Indians--Killed and eaten by the savages      188
+
+CHAPTER VI.--ALEXANDRE BRAS DE FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
+
+Bras de Fer compared by French writers to Alexander the Great--His
+exploits and stratagems--Montbars--Anecdote of his childhood--Goes to
+sea--His first naval engagement--Joins the Buccaneers--Defeats the
+Spanish Fifties--His uncle killed--His revenge--Anecdote of the negro
+vessel--Adam and Anne le Roux plunder Santiago                      267
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+I claim for this book, at least originality. But this originality,
+unfortunately, if it attaches interest to an author's labours, adds also
+to his responsibilities.
+
+The history of the Buccaneers has hitherto remained unwritten. Three or
+four forgotten volumes contain literally all that is recorded of the
+wars and conquests of these extraordinary men. Of these volumes two are
+French, one Dutch, and one in English. The majority of our readers,
+therefore, it is probable, know nothing more of the freebooters but
+their name, confound them with the mere pirates of two centuries later,
+and derive their knowledge of their manners from those dozen lines of
+the Abbé Reynal, that have been transferred from historian to
+historian, and from writer to writer, for the last two centuries.
+
+The chief records of Buccaneer adventurers are drawn literally from only
+three books. The first of these is _Oexmelin's Histoire des Aventuriers_.
+12mo. Paris, 1688. Oexmelin was a Frenchman, who went out to St. Domingo
+as a planter's apprentice or _engagé_, and eventually became surgeon in
+the Buccaneer fleet--knew Lolonnois, and accompanied Sir Henry Morgan to
+Panama.
+
+The second is _Esquemeling's Zee Roovers_. Amsterdam. 4to. 1684.--A book
+constantly mistaken by booksellers and in catalogues for Oexmelin.
+Esquemeling was a Dutch _engagé_ at St. Domingo, and his book is an
+English translation from the Dutch. The writer appears of humbler birth
+than Oexmelin, but served also at Panama.
+
+The third is _Ringrose's History of the Cruises of Sharpe, &c._ This
+man, who served with Dampier, seems to have been an ignorant sailor, and
+a mere log-keeper.
+
+The fourth is _Ravenau de Lussan's Narrative_. De Lussan was a young
+French officer of fortune, who served in some of Ringrose's cruises.
+This is a book written by a vivacious and keen observer, but is less
+complete than Oexmelin's, but equally full of anecdote, and very amusing.
+
+For secondary authorities we come to the French Jesuit historians of the
+West Indian Islands, diffuse Rochefort, the gossiping _bon vivant_
+Labat; Tertre, dry and prejudiced; Charlevoix, careful, condensed, and
+entertaining; and Raynal, polished, classical, second-hand, and
+declamatory.
+
+The English secondaries are, Dampier, with his companions, Wafer and
+Cowley. Several old pamphlets contain quaint versions of Morgan's
+conquest of Panama; and in 1817, Burney, in his "History of Discoveries
+in the South Sea," devotes many chapters to a dry but very imperfect
+abridgment of Buccaneer adventure, omitting carefully everything that
+gives either life or colour. Captain Southey, in his "History of the
+West Indies," supplies many odd scraps of old voyages, and presents many
+scattered figures, but attempts no picture.
+
+Nor has modern fiction, however short of material, discovered these new
+and virgin mines. Mrs. Hall has a novel, it is true, called _The
+Buccaneer_, the scene of which is, however, laid in England; and Angus
+B. Reach has skimmed the same subject, but has evidently not even read
+half the three existing authorities. Dana, the American poet, has a poem
+called the Buccaneer, but this is merely a collection of lines on the
+sea. Sir Walter Scott's Bertram, although he had been a Buccaneer, is a
+mere ruffian, who would do for any age, and Scott himself places
+Morgan's conquest of Panama in the reign of Charles I., when it actually
+took place in that of Charles II., fifty years later.
+
+Defoe himself, little conscious of the rich region he was treading,
+sketched a Buccaneer sailor when he re-christened Alexander Selkirk
+Robinson Crusoe, and condensed all the spirit of Dampier into a book
+still read as eagerly by the man as by the boy.
+
+When I find a writer of Scott's profundity of reading and depth of
+research placing the great event of Buccaneer history fifty years
+before its time, booksellers mistaking a Dutch for a French writer, and
+living historians confounding the Flibustiers of Tortuga, who attacked
+only the Spaniards, with their degraded successors the pirates of New
+Providence, who robbed all nations and even their own without mercy, I
+think I have proved that my book is not a superfluity.
+
+It is seldom that an author can invite the whole reading world to peruse
+the self-rewarding labour of his student life. Mine is no book for a
+sect, a clique, a profession, or a trade. It brings new scenes and new
+creations to the novel reader, jaded with worn-out types of conventional
+existence. It supplies the historian with a page of English, French, and
+Spanish history that the capricious muse of history has hitherto kept in
+MS. It traces the foundation of our colonial empire. To the psychologist
+it furnishes deep matter for thought, while the philosopher may see in
+these pages humanity in a new aspect, and man's soul exposed to new
+temptations.
+
+What Dampier has described and Defoe drawn materials from, no man can
+dare to assert is wanting in interest. The readers to whom these books
+are new will be astonished to find the adventures of Xenophon paralleled
+in De Lussan's retreat over the Isthmus, and Swift forestalled in his
+conception of some of the oddest customs of Lilliput. Oexmelin, I may
+boldly assert, is a much more amusing writer than half our historians, a
+keen and enlightened observer, who looked upon Buccaneering as a
+chivalrous life, in which the sea knight got equally hard knocks as the
+land hero, but more money.
+
+If my characters are not so grand as those of history, I can present to
+my reader men as greedy of gold, ambitious and sagacious as Pizarro or
+Cortes, and as reckless as Alexander, and as cruel as Cćsar. If the
+Buccaneers were but insects, bred from the putrefactions of a decaying
+empire, their plans were at least gigantic, and their courage
+unprecedented.
+
+Anomalous beings, hunters by land and sea, scaring whole fleets with a
+few canoes, sacking cities with a few grenadiers, devastating every
+coast from California to Cape Horn, they only needed a common principle
+of union to have founded an aggressive republic, as wealthy as Venice
+and as warlike as Carthage. One great mind and the New World had been
+their own.
+
+But from the first Providence sowed amongst them the seeds of
+discord--difference of religion and difference of race. Never settling,
+their race had its ranks renewed, not by descendants, but by fresh
+recruits, men with new interests and lower aims. In less than a century
+the Brotherhood had passed away, their virtues were forgotten and their
+vices alone remembered.
+
+The Buccaneers were robbers, yet they sought something beyond gold.
+Mansvelt took the island of St. Catherine, and planned a republic, and
+Morgan contemplated the destruction of the Bravo Indians. They were
+outlaws, and yet religious robbers, yet generous and regardful of the
+minutest delicacies of honour; lovers of freedom, yet obeying the
+sternest discipline; cruel, yet tender to their friends.
+
+All the light and shade of the darkest fiction look poor beside the
+adventures of these men. Catholics, Protestants, Puritans, gallants,
+officers, common seamen, farmers' sons, men of rank, hunters, sailors,
+planters, murderers, fanatics, Creoles, Spaniards, negroes, astrologers,
+monks, pilots, guides, merchants--all pass before us in a motley and
+ever-changing masquerade. The backgrounds to these scenes are the wooded
+shores of the West Indian Islands, woods sparkling at night with
+fire-flies, broad savannahs dark with wild cattle, the volcanic islands
+peopled by marooned sailors, stormy promontories, the lonely sand "keys"
+of Jamaica, and the rocky fastnesses of Tortuga.
+
+
+
+
+MONARCHS OF THE MAIN.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HISTORY OF TORTUGA.
+
+    The precursors of the Buccaneers--Description of Tortuga--Origin of
+    the Buccaneers--Conquest of Tortuga by the French--The hunters,
+    planters, and corsairs--Le Basque takes Maracaibo--War in
+    Hispaniola--French West Indian Company buy Tortuga--The Governor, M.
+    D'Ogeron.
+
+
+Drake, Cavendish, and Oxenham, indeed all the naval heroes of
+Elizabeth's reign, were the precursors of the Buccaneers. The captains
+of those "tall ships" that sailed from Plymouth Sound, and the green
+nooks of the sunny coast of Devon, to capture stately carracks laden
+deep with silks, spices, pearls, and precious stones, the treasure of
+Potosi and Peru, were but Buccaneers under another name, agreeing with
+them in the great principle of making war on none but Spaniards, but on
+Spaniards unceasingly. "No peace beyond the line" was the motto on the
+flag of both Drake and Morgan.
+
+Sir John Hawkins, who began the slave trade, and who was Drake's
+earliest patron, took the town of Rio de la Hacha, and struggled
+desperately with the galleons in the port of St. Juan d'Ulloa. Drake
+sacked Nombre de Dios, and, passing across the isthmus, stormed Vera
+Cruz. He destroyed St. Domingo and Carthagena, burnt La Rancheria, and
+attacked Porto Rico. But still more truly a Buccaneer was John Oxenham,
+one of Drake's followers, who, cruising about Panama, captured several
+bullion vessels; but was at last slain, with all his men, having fallen
+in love with a Spanish captive, and liberated her son, who surprised him
+with reinforcements from Nombre de Dios. Then came Raleigh, more
+chivalrous than them all--looser in principle, but wiser in head. He
+planned an attack on Panama, and ravaged St. Thomas's.
+
+The first Buccaneers were poor French hunters, who, driven by the
+Spaniards out of Hispaniola, fled to the neighbouring island of Tortuga,
+and there settled as planters.
+
+This Buccaneer colony of Tortuga arose rather by accident than by the
+design of any one ambitious mind. The French had established a colony in
+the almost deserted island of St. Christopher's, which had begun to
+flourish when the Spaniards, alarmed at a hostile power's vicinity to
+their mines, to which their thoughts then alone tended, put a stop to
+the prosperity of the French settlements by frequent attacks made by
+their fleets on their way to New Spain. From the just hatred excited by
+these unprovoked forays sprang the first impulse of retaliation. These
+injuries provoked the French, as they had done the Dutch, to fit out
+privateers. But a still more powerful motive soon became paramount. A
+spirit of cupidity arose, which was stimulated by the heated
+imaginations of men poor and angry. Before them lay regions of gold,
+timidly guarded by a vindictive but feeble enemy; and Spain became to
+these pioneer settlers what a bedridden miser is to the dreams of a
+needy bravo.
+
+The report of the Dutch successes spread through all the ports of
+France. Sailors were the ready bearers of wild tales they had themselves
+half invented. Some hardy adventurers of Dieppe fitted out vessels to
+carry on a warfare that retaliation had now rendered just, war made
+legal, and chance rendered profitable. The sailor who was to-day
+munching his onion on the quays of Marseilles might, a few weeks hence,
+be lord of Carthagena, or rolling in the treasures of a Manilla galleon,
+clothed in Eastern silks, and delighted with the perfumes of India.
+Finding their enterprise successful, but St. Kitt's too distant to form
+a convenient depôt for their booty, they began to look about for some
+nearer locality. At first they found their return voyages to the West
+Indian islands frequently occupying three months, which seemed years to
+men hurrying to store up old plunder, and to sally forth for new. In
+search of an asylum, these privateersmen touched at Hispaniola, hoping
+to find some lonely island near its shores; but as soon as they had
+landed, and saw the great forests full of game, and broad savannahs
+alive with wild cattle, and finding it abandoned by the Spaniards, and
+the Indians nearly all dead or emigrated, they determined to settle at a
+place so full of advantages, where they could revictual their ships, and
+remain secure and unobserved. The sight of Tortuga, a small neighbouring
+island, rocky, and yet not without a harbour, convinced them that nature
+had constructed for their growing empire at once a magazine, a citadel,
+and a fortress. They had now a sanctuary and a haven, shelter for their
+booty, and food for their men.
+
+The Spaniards, although not occupying the island, were anxious that it
+should not be occupied by others. They had long had a foreboding that
+this island would become a resort for pirates, and had just garrisoned
+it with an alfarez and twenty-five men. The French had, however, little
+difficulty in getting rid of this small force, the soldiers being
+enraged at finding themselves left by their countrymen, without
+provisions or reinforcements, upon a barren rock.
+
+Once masters of the heap of stones, the French began to deliberate by
+what means they could retain it. The sight of buildings already begun,
+and the prospect of more food than they could get at St. Christopher's,
+determined these restless men to settle on the spot they had won. Part
+of them returned to Hispaniola to kill oxen and boars, and to salt the
+flesh for those who would remain to plant; and those men who determined
+to build assured the sailors that stores of dry meat should always be
+ready to revictual their ships.
+
+The adventurers, having a nucleus for their operations, began to widen
+their operations. They became now divided into three distinct classes,
+always intermingling, and never very definitely divided, but still for
+the main part separate: the _sea rovers_, or flibustiers; the
+_planters_, or habitans; and the _hunters_, or buccaneers. For the first
+class, there were many names: the English, following an Indian word,
+called them Buccaneers, from the Indian term _boucan_ (dried meat); the
+Dutch denominated them Zee Roovers, and the French Flibustiers, or
+Aventuriers. A fourth class, growing by degrees either into the
+Buccaneers or the planters, were the apprentices, or _engagés_.
+
+A few French planters could not have retained the island had not their
+numbers been swelled by the addition of many English. In a short time,
+French vessels touched at the island, to trade for the booty that now
+arrived more frequently, unintermittingly, and in greater quantities.
+The trade grew less speculative and uncertain. French captains found it
+profitable to barter not only for hides and meat with the Buccaneers,
+but with the Flibustiers for silver-plate and pieces of eight. The high
+prices paid for wine and brandy soon rendered the commerce with Bordeaux
+a matter worthy the attention of the French Government. In a few days of
+Buccaneer excess more was spent in barter than could have been realised
+in months of average traffic with the more cautious.
+
+The Spaniards, fully alive to the danger of this planter settlement,
+determined to destroy it at a single blow. The design was easy of
+accomplishment, for the Buccaneers had grown careless from long
+impunity, and had long since crowned themselves undisputed kings of
+Hispaniola and its dependencies. Taking advantage of a time when the
+English corsairs were at sea and the French Buccaneers hunting on the
+mainland, the Spanish General of the Indian Fleet landed with a handful
+of soldiers and retook the island in an hour. The few planters were
+overpowered before they could run together, the hunters before they
+could seize their arms. Some were at once put to the sword, and others
+hung on the nearest trees. The larger portion, however, taking advantage
+of well-known lurking places, waited for the night, and then escaped to
+the mainland in their canoes. The Spaniards, satisfied with the terror
+they had struck, left the island un-garrisoned, and returned exultingly
+to St. Domingo. Hearing, however, that there were a great many
+Buccaneers still settled as hunters in Hispaniola, and that the wild
+cattle were diminishing by their ravages, the general levied some troops
+to put them down. To these men, who were known as the Spanish _Fifties_,
+we shall hereafter advert.
+
+The Spanish fleet was scarcely well out of sight before the Buccaneers,
+angry but unintimidated, flocked back to their now desolated island,
+full of rage at the sight of the bodies of their companions and the
+ashes of their ruined houses. The English returned headed by a Buccaneer
+named Willis, who gave an English character to the new colony. The
+French adventurers, jealous of English interference, and fearful that
+the island would fall into the possession of England, left Tortuga, and,
+going to St. Christopher's, informed the Governor, the Chevalier de
+Poncy, of the ease with which it could be conquered. De Poncy, alive to
+the scheme and jealous for French honour, fitted out an expedition, and
+intrusted the command to M. Le Vasseur, a brave soldier and good
+engineer, just arrived from France, who levied a force of forty French
+Protestants, and agreed to conquer the island for De Poncy and to govern
+in his name, as well as to pay half the expenses of the conquest. In a
+few days he dropped anchor in Port Margot, on the north side of
+Hispaniola, about seven leagues from Tortuga. He instantly collected a
+force of forty French Buccaneers from the woods and the savannahs, and,
+having arranged his plans, made a descent upon the island in the month
+of April, 1640. As soon as he had landed, he sent a message to the
+English Governor to say that he had come to avenge the insults received
+by the French flag, and to warn him that if he did not leave the island
+with all those of his nation in twenty-four hours, he should lay waste
+every plantation with fire and sword. The English, feeling their
+position untenable, instantly embarked in a vessel lying in the road,
+without (as Oexmelin, a French writer, says) striking a blow in
+self-defence. The French population of the island then, rising in arms,
+welcomed the invaders as friends.
+
+Le Vasseur, the bloodless conqueror of this new Barataria, was received
+with shouts and acclamations. He at once visited every nook of the
+island that needed defence, and prepared to insure it against reconquest
+either by the Spaniards or the English. He found it inaccessible on
+three sides; and on the unprotected quarter built a fort, on a peak of
+impregnable rock, rising 600 feet above the narrow path which it
+commanded. The summit of this rock was about thirty feet square, and
+could only be ascended by steps cut in the stone or by a moveable iron
+ladder. The fort held four guns. A spring of water completed the
+advantages of the spot, which was surrounded with walls and fenced in
+with hedges, woods, precipices, and every aid that art or nature could
+furnish. The only approach to this steep was a narrow avenue in which no
+more than three men could march abreast.
+
+The Buccaneers now flocked to Tortuga in greater numbers than before,
+some to congratulate the new governor on his victory, and others to
+enrol themselves as his subjects: all who came he received with
+promises of support and protection. The Spaniards, in the meanwhile,
+determined to crush this wasp's nest, fitted out at St. Domingo a new
+armament of six vessels, having on board 500 or 600 men. They at first
+anchored before the fort, but, receiving a volley, moored two leagues
+lower down, and landed their troops. In attempting to storm the fort by
+a _coup de main_, they were beaten off with the loss of 200 men, the
+garrison sallying out and driving them back to their ships.
+
+The now doubly victorious governor was hailed as the defender and
+saviour of Tortuga. The news of victory soon reached the ears of M. de
+Poncy, at St. Christopher's, who, at first rejoiced at the success,
+became soon afraid of the ambition of his new ally. Fearing that he
+would repudiate the contract, and declare himself an independent
+sovereign, he took the precaution of testing his sincerity. He sent two
+of his relations to Tortuga to request land as settlers, but really to
+act as spies. Le Vasseur, subtle and penetrating, at once detected their
+object. He received the young men with great civility, but took care to
+secure their speedy return to St. Christopher's. Having now attained the
+summit of his wishes, he became, as many greater men have been,
+intoxicated with power. His temper changed, and he grew severe,
+suspicious, intolerant, and despotic. He not only bound his subjects in
+chains, but delighted to clank the fetters, and remind them of their
+slavery. He ill-used the planters, loaded the merchants with taxes,
+punished the most venial faults, and grew as much hated as he had been
+once beloved. He went so far in his tyranny as to forbid the exercise of
+the Catholic religion, to burn the churches and expel the priests. The
+murder of such a persecutor has always been held a sin easily forgiven
+by the confessor, and lust and superstition soon gave birth to murder.
+
+Charlevoix relates an amusing instance of the governor's contumacy. De
+Poncy, informed that his vessels had taken a silver idol (a Virgin Mary)
+from some Spanish cathedral, wrote to demand its surrender. Le Vasseur
+returned a wooden image by the messenger, desiring him to say, that for
+religious purposes, wood or silver was equally good. One of his most
+cruel inventions Le Vasseur called his "hell." It seems to have
+resembled the portable iron cages in which Louis XI. used to confine his
+state prisoners.
+
+M. de Poncy, informed of the extraordinary change in the character of Le
+Vasseur, endeavoured to beguile him by promises, threats, and
+entreaties. Justice gave him now a pretext of enforcing what
+self-interest had long meditated. The toils were growing closer round
+the doomed man, but Heaven sent a speedier punishment. Le Vasseur, still
+waiving all openings for formal complaint, was exulting in all the glory
+of a small satrapy, when two nephews conspired against his life.
+Cupidity inspired the crime, and they easily persuaded themselves that
+God and man alike demanded the expiation. One writer calls them simply
+captains, "companions of fortune," and another, the nephews of Le
+Vasseur.
+
+These ungrateful men had already been declared his heirs, but they had
+quarrelled with him about a mistress he had taken from them, and one
+fault in a friend obliterates the remembrance of many virtues. They
+believed that the inhabitants, rejoiced at deliverance from such
+tyranny, would appoint them joint governors in the first outburst of
+their gratitude. They shot him from an ambush as he was descending from
+the rock fort to the shore, but, only wounding him slightly, were
+obliged to complete the murder with a poignard. The wounded man called
+for a priest, and declared himself, with his last breath, a steadfast
+Catholic. He seems to have been a dark, wily man, of strong passions,
+tenacious ambition, and ungovernable will.
+
+While this crime was perpetrating, De Poncy, determined to recover
+possession of at least his share of Tortuga, and weary and angry at the
+subterfuges of Le Vasseur, had resolved upon a new expedition. The
+leader was a Chevalier de Fontenoy, a soldier of fortune, who, attracted
+by the sparkle of Spanish gold, had just arrived at St. Kitt's in a
+French frigate. Full of chivalry, he at once proposed to sail, although
+informed that the place was impregnable, and could only be taken by
+stratagem. While the armament was fitting up, he made a cruise round
+Carthagena, on the look out for Spanish prizes, and joined M. Feral, a
+nephew of the general, at Port de Paix, a rendezvous twelve leagues from
+Tortuga. Informed there of the murder of Le Vasseur, they at once sailed
+for the harbour, and landed 500 men at the spot where the Spaniards had
+formerly been repulsed. The two murderers immediately capitulated, on
+condition of being allowed to depart with all their uncle's treasure.
+The Chevalier was proclaimed governor, and received with as many
+acclamations as Le Vasseur had been before him. The old religion was
+restored, and commerce patronized and protected, by royal edict. Two
+bastions were added to the fort, and more guns mounted. The Buccaneers
+crowded back in greater numbers than even on Le Vasseur's arrival.
+Before they had only imagined the advantages of this conquest, but now
+they had tasted them. The Chevalier hailed all Buccaneers as friends
+and brothers, and even himself fitted out privateers. The Spanish ships
+could scarcely venture out of port, and one merchant alone is known to
+have lost 300,000 crowns' worth of merchandise in a single year.
+
+It is easier to conquer than to retain a conquest, and vigilance grows
+blunted by success. The Chevalier, too confident in his strength,
+allowed half his population to embark in cruisers. The sick, the aged,
+the maimed, laboured in the plantations with the slaves. The Spaniards,
+informed of this, landed in force, without resistance. The few
+Buccaneers crowded into the fort, which the enemy dared not approach.
+Discovering, however, a mountain that commanded the rock, precipitous,
+but still accessible, they determined to plant a battery upon it, and
+drive the Buccaneers from their last foothold. With infinite vigour and
+determination they hewed a road to the mountain between two rocks.
+Making frames of wood, they lashed on their cannons, and forced the
+slaves and prisoners to drag them to the summit, and, with a battery of
+four guns, suddenly opened a fire upon the unguarded fort. The
+Chevalier, not expecting this enterprise, had just deprived himself of
+his last defence, by cutting down the large trees that grew round the
+walls. In spite of all the threats and expostulations of the governor,
+the garrison, galled by this plunging fire, at once capitulated. They
+left the island in twenty-four hours, with arms and baggage, drums
+beating, colours flying, and match burning, and set sail in two
+half-scuttled vessels lying in the road, having first given hostages not
+to serve against Spain for a given time. In another vessel, but alone,
+set sail the two murderers, who, being short of food, consummated their
+crimes by leaving the women and children of their company on a desert
+island.
+
+The Spanish general, repairing the fort, garrisoned it with sixty men,
+whom he supplied with provisions. Fontenoy, repulsed in an attempt to
+recover the island, soon afterwards returned to France.
+
+In 1655, when Admiral Penn appeared off St. Domingo with Cromwell's
+fleet, the Spaniards, to increase their forces in Hispaniola, recalled
+the troop which had held Tortuga eighteen months--the commander first
+blowing up the fort, burning the church, the houses, and the magazines,
+and devastating the plantations. Not long afterwards, an English refugee
+of wealth, Elias Ward (or, as the French call him, _Elyazouärd_), came
+from Jamaica, with his family and a dozen soldiers, and with an English
+commission from the general, and was soon joined by about 120 French and
+English adventurers.
+
+The treaty of the Pyrenees, in 1659, brought no repose to the hunters of
+Hispaniola from Spanish inroads. The planters were compelled to work
+armed, and to keep watch at night for fear of being murdered in their
+beds. In 1667 the war recommencing, let the bloodhounds, who had long
+been straining in the leash, free to raven and devour. De Lisle again
+plundered St. Jago, and obtained 2,500 piastres ransom, each of his
+adventurers secured 300 crowns, the Spaniards abandoning the defiles
+and carrying off their treasure to Conception.
+
+This was the golden age of Buccaneering. Vauclin, Ovinet, and Tributor,
+plundered the towns of Cumana, Coro, St. Martha, and Nicaragua. Le
+Basque, with only forty men, surprised Maracaibo by night. He seized the
+principal inhabitants and shut them in the cathedral, and threatened to
+instantly cut off their heads if the citizens ventured to rise in arms.
+Daylight discovering his feeble force, he could obtain no ransom. The
+Flibustiers then retreated, each man driving a prisoner before him, a
+pistol slung in one hand and a naked sabre raised over the Spaniard's
+head in the other. These hostages were detained twenty-four hours, and
+released at the moment the French departed. This is the same Le Basque
+whom Charlevoix describes as cutting out the Margaret from under the
+cannon of Portobello, and winning a million piastres. At another time,
+they retreated laden with booty and carrying with them the Governor and
+the principal citizens of St. Jago; but the Spaniards, rallying, placed
+themselves, 1,000 in number, in an ambuscade by the way, trusting to
+their numbers and expecting an easy victory. The French, turning well,
+scarcely missed a shot, and in a short time killed 100 of the enemy's
+men, and, wounding a great many more, drove them off after two hours'
+fighting. They rallied and returned in a short time, determined to
+conquer or die; but the French, showing the prisoners, declared that if
+a shot was fired by the enemy they would kill them before their eyes,
+and would then sell their own lives dearly. This menace frightened the
+Spaniards, and the Flibustiers continued their retreat unmolested.
+Having waited some time in vain on the coast for the ransom, they left
+the prisoners unhurt, and returned gaily to Tortuga.
+
+In 1663, Spain, finding that France in secret encouraged the Buccaneers
+of Hispaniola, gave orders to exterminate every Frenchman in the island,
+promising recompence to those who distinguished themselves in the war.
+An old Flemish officer, named Vandelinof, who had served with
+distinction in the Low Country wars, took the command. His first
+stratagem was to attempt to surprise the chief French boucan, at
+Gonaive, on the Brűlé Savannah, with 800 men. The hunters, observing
+them, gave the alarm, and, collecting 100 "brothers," advanced to meet
+them in a defile where the Spanish numbers were of no avail. The Fleming
+was killed at the first volley, and after an obstinate struggle the
+Spaniards fled to the mountains.
+
+The enemy, after this defeat, returned to their old and safer plan of
+night surprises--which frequently succeeded, owing to the negligent
+watch kept by the Buccaneers. The hunters, much harassed by the constant
+sense of insecurity, began to retire every night to the small islands
+round St. Domingo, and seldom went alone to the chase. Some boucans,
+such as those at the port of Samana, grew rapidly into towns. Near this
+excellent harbour the cattle were unusually abundant, and in a few hours
+the Flibustier could carry his hides to his market at Tortuga. Gradually
+French and Dutch vessels began to visit the port to buy hides and to
+trade.
+
+Every morning before starting to the savannah, the hunters climbed the
+highest hill to see if any Spaniards were visible. They then agreed on a
+rendezvous for the evening, arriving there to the moment. If any one was
+missing he was at once known to be taken or killed, and no one was
+permitted to return home till their comerade's death had been avenged.
+One evening the hunters of Samana, missing four of the band, marched
+towards St. Jago, and, discovering from some prisoners that their
+companions had been massacred, entered a Spanish village and slew every
+one they met.
+
+The Spaniards too had sometimes their revenge. "The river of massacre"
+near Samana was so called from thirty Buccaneers who were slain there
+while fording the river laden with hides. Another band of hunters, led
+by Charles Tore, had been hunting at a place called the Bois-Brűlé
+Savannah, and having completed the number of skins the merchants had
+contracted for, returned to Samana. Crossing a savannah they were
+surprised by an overwhelming force of Spaniards, and, in spite of a
+desperate resistance, slain to a man. The Buccaneers, irritated by these
+losses, began to think of revenge. When the Spaniards destroyed the wild
+cattle, some turned planters about Port de Paix, others became
+Flibustiers.
+
+The death of De Poncy threw the French colonies into some disorder, and
+Tortuga was for awhile forgotten both by the home and colonial
+government. During this interval a gentleman of Perigord, named Rossy, a
+retired Buccaneer, resolved to resume his old profession. Returning to
+St. Domingo, he was hailed as a father by the hunters, who proposed to
+him to recover Tortuga. Rossy, knowing that fidelity is the last virtue
+that forsakes the heart, accepted their proposal with the enthusiasm of
+a gambler accustomed to such desperate casts. He was soon joined by five
+hundred refugees, burning for conquest and revenge. They assembled in
+canoes at a rendezvous in Hispaniola, and agreed to land one hundred men
+on the north side of the island and surprise the mountain fort. The
+Spaniards in the town, not even entrenched, were soon beaten into the
+fort. The garrison of the rock were rather astonished to be awoke at
+break of day by a salute from the neighbouring mountain, when they could
+see the enemy still quietly encamped below. Sallying out, they could
+discern no opponents, but before they could regain the fort were all cut
+to pieces or made prisoners. The survivors were at once thrust into a
+boat and sent to Cuba, and Rossy declared governor. He soon after
+received a commission from the French king, together with a permission
+to levy a tax, for the support of his dignity, of a tenth of all prizes
+brought into Tortuga. Rossy governed quietly for some years, and
+eventually retired to his native country to die, and La Place, his
+nephew, reigned in his stead.
+
+In 1664, the French West India Company became masters of Tortuga and the
+Antilles, and appointed M. D'Ogeron, a gentleman of Anjou who had failed
+in commerce, as their governor. He proved a good administrator, and
+built magazines and storehouses for his grateful and attached people.
+D'Ogeron soon established order and prosperity in the island, which
+became a refuge for the red flag and the terror of the Spaniards. He
+colonised all the north side of Hispaniola, from Port Margot, where he
+had a house, to the three rivers opposite Tortuga. He attracted
+colonists from the Antilles, and brought over women from France, in
+order to settle his nomadic and mutinous population. In 1661, the West
+India Company, dissatisfied with the profits of their merchandize,
+resolved to relinquish the colony and call in their debts; and it was in
+the St. John, sent out for this purpose, that the Buccaneer historian
+Oexmelin, whom we shall have frequently to quote, first visited Tortuga.
+D'Ogeron, determined not to relinquish a settlement already beginning to
+flourish, hastened to France, and persuaded some private merchants to
+continue the trade. They promised to fit out twelve vessels annually, if
+he would supply them with back freight. He on his part agreed to provide
+the colonists with slaves and to destroy the wild dogs, which were
+committing great ravages among the herds of Hispaniola. This new
+company did not answer. The inhabitants suffered by the monopoly, and
+grew discontented at only being allowed to trade with certain vessels,
+and being obliged to turn their backs on better bargains or cheaper
+merchandize. An accident lit the train. M. D'Ogeron attempted to prevent
+their trading with some Dutch merchants, and they rose in arms. Shots
+were fired at the governor, and the revolters threatened to burn out the
+planters who would not join their flag. But succours from the Antilles
+soon brought them to their senses, and, one of their ringleaders being
+hung, they surrendered at discretion. The governor, alarmed even at an
+outbreak that he had checked, made in his turn concessions. He permitted
+all French merchants to trade upon paying a heavy harbour due, and the
+number of ships soon became too numerous for the limited commerce of the
+place. M. D'Ogeron next procured colonists from Brittany and Anjou, and
+eventually, after some further exploits, very daring but always
+unfortunate, he was succeeded in command by his nephew M. De Poncy.
+
+There are several Tortugas. There is one in the Caribbean sea, another
+near the coast of Honduras, a third not far from Carthagena, and a
+fourth in the gulf of California; they all derived their names from
+their shape, resembling the turtle which throng in these seas.
+
+The Buccaneer fastness with which we have to do is the Tortuga of the
+North Atlantic Ocean, a small rocky island about 60 leagues only in
+circumference, and distant barely six miles from the north coast of
+Hispaniola. This Tortuga was to the refugee hunters of the savannahs
+what New Providence became to the pirates, and the Galapagos islands to
+the South Sea adventurers of half a century later. It had only one port,
+the entrance to which formed two channels: on two sides it was
+iron-bound, and on the other defended by reefs and shoals, less
+threatening than the cliffs, but not less dangerous. Though scantily
+supplied with spring water--a defect which the natives balanced by a
+free use of "the water of life"--the interior was very fertile and well
+wooded. Palm and sandal wood trees grew in profusion; sugar, tobacco,
+aloes, resin, China-root, indigo, cotton, and all sorts of tropical
+plants were the riches of the planters. The cultivators were already
+receiving gifts from the earth, which--liberal benefactor--she gave
+without expecting a return, for the virgin soil needed little seed,
+care, or nourishment. The island was too small for savannahs, but the
+tangled brushwood abounded in wild boars.
+
+The harbour had a fine sand bottom, was well sheltered from the winds,
+and was walled in by the Coste de Fer rocks. Round the habitable part of
+the shore stretched sands, so that it could not be approached but by
+boats. The town consisted of only a few store-houses and wine shops, and
+was called the _Basse Terre_. The other five habitable parts of the
+island were Cayona, the Mountain, the Middle Plantation, the Ringot, and
+Mason's Point. A seventh, the Capsterre, required only water to make it
+habitable, the land being very fertile. To supply the want of springs,
+the planters collected the rain water in tanks. The soil of the island
+was alternately sand and clay, and from the latter they made excellent
+pottery. The mountains, though rocky, and scarcely covered with soil,
+were shaded with trees of great size and beauty, the roots of which
+clung like air plants to the bare rock, and, netting them round, struck
+here and there deeper anchors into the wider crevices. This timber was
+so dry and tough that, if it was cut and exposed to the heat of the sun,
+it would split with a loud noise, and could therefore only be used as
+fuel.
+
+This favoured island boasted all the fruits of the Antilles: its tobacco
+was better than that of any other island; its sugar canes attained an
+enormous size, and their juice was sweeter than elsewhere; its numerous
+medicinal plants were exported to heal the diseases of the Old World.
+The only four-footed animal was the wild boar, originally transplanted
+from Hispaniola. As it soon grew scarce, the French governor made it
+illegal to hunt with dogs, and required the hunter to follow his prey
+single-handed and on foot. The wood-pigeons were almost the only birds
+in the island. They came in large flocks at certain periods of the year;
+Oexmelin says that, in two or three hours, without going eighty steps
+from the road, he killed ninety-five with his own hand. As soon as they
+eat a certain berry their flesh became bitter as our larks do when they
+move from the stubbles into the turnips. A Gascon visitor, once
+complaining of their sudden bitterness, was told by a Buccaneer as a
+joke that his servant had forgot to remove the gall. Fish abounded round
+the island, and crabs without nippers; the night fishermen carrying
+torches of the candle-wood tree. The shell fish was the food of servants
+and slaves, and was said to be so indigestible as to frequently produce
+giddiness and temporary blindness; the turtle and manitee, too, formed
+part of their daily diet. The planters were much tormented by the white
+and red land-crabs, or tourtourons, which lived in the earth, visited
+the sea to spawn, and at night gnawed the sugar-canes and the roots of
+plants. Their only venomous reptile was the viper, which they tamed to
+kill mice; in a wild state, it fed on poultry or pigeons. From the
+stomach of one Oexmelin drew seven pigeons and a large fowl, which had
+been swallowed about three hours before, and cooked them for his own
+dinner, verifying the old proverb of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." In
+times of scarcity these snakes were eaten for food. Besides chameleons
+and lizards, there were small insects with shells like a snail. These
+were considered good to eat and very nourishing. When held near the
+fire, they distilled a red oily liquid useful as a rheumatic liniment.
+Though the scorpions and scolopendrias were not venomous, nature, always
+just in her compensations, covered the island with poisonous shrubs. The
+most fatal of these was the noxious mançanilla. It grew as high as a
+pear tree, had leaves like a wild laurel, and bore fruit like an apple;
+this fruit was so deadly, that even fish that ate of it, if they did not
+die, became themselves poisonous, and were known by the blackness of
+their teeth. The only antidote was olive oil. The Indian fishermen
+used, as a test, to taste the heart of the fish they caught, and if it
+proved bitter they knew at once that it had been poisoned, and threw it
+away. The very rain-drops that fell from the leaves were deadly to man
+and beast, and it was as dangerous to sleep under its shadow as under
+the upas. The friendly boughs invited the traveller (as vice does man)
+to rest under their shade; but when he awoke he found himself sick and
+faint, and covered with feverish sores. New-comers were too frequently
+tempted by the sight and odour of the fruit, and the only remedy for the
+rash son of Adam was to bind him down, and, in spite of heat and pain,
+to prevent him drinking for two or three days. The body of the sufferer
+became at first "red as fire, and his tongue black as ink," then a great
+torment of thirst and fever came upon him, but slowly passed away.
+Another poisonous shrub resembled the pimento; its berries were used by
+the Indians to rub their eyes, giving them, as they believed, a keener
+sight, and enabling them to see the fish deeper in the water and to
+strike them at a greater distance with the harpoon. The root of this
+bush was a poison, so deadly that the only known antidote for it was its
+own berries, bruised and drunk in wine. Of another plant, Oexmelin
+relates an instance of a negro girl being poisoned by a rejected lover,
+by merely putting some of its leaves between her toes when asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.
+
+    Derivation of the words Buccaneer and Flibustier--The three
+    classes--Dress of the hunters--West Indian scenery--Method of
+    hunting--Wild dogs--Anecdotes--Wild oxen, wild boars, and wild
+    horses--Buccaneer food--Cow killing--Spanish
+    method--Amusements--Duels--Adventures with the Spanish militia--The
+    hunters driven to sea--The _engagés_, or apprentices--Hide
+    curing--Hardships of the bush life--The planter's
+    _engagés_--Cruelties of planters--The _matelotage_--Huts--Food.
+
+
+The hunters of the wild cattle in the savannahs of Hispaniola were known
+under the designation of Buccaneers as early as the year 1630.
+
+They derived this name from _boucan_,[1] an old Indian word which their
+luckless predecessors, the Caribs, gave to the hut in which they smoked
+the flesh of the oxen killed in hunting, or not unfrequently the limbs
+of their persecutors the Spaniards. They applied the same term, from the
+poverty of an undeveloped language, to the _barbecue_, or square wooden
+frame upon which the meat was dried. In course of time this hunters'
+food became known as _viande boucanée_, and the hunters themselves
+gradually assumed the name of Buccaneers.
+
+[1] Charlevoix's "Histoire de l'Ile Espagnole," p. 6, vol. ii
+
+Their second title of Flibustiers was a mere corruption of the English
+word freebooters--a German term, imported into England during the Low
+Country wars of Elizabeth's reign. It has been erroneously traced to the
+Dutch word _flyboat_; but the Jesuit traveller, Charlevoix, asserts
+that, in fact, this species of craft derived its title from being first
+used by the Flibustiers, and not from its swiftness. This, however, is
+evidently a mistake, as Drayton and Hakluyt use the word; and it seems
+to be of even earlier standing in the French language. The derivation
+from the English word freebooter is at once seen when the _s_ in
+Flibu_s_tier becomes lost in pronunciation.
+
+In 1630, a party of French colonists, who had failed in an attack on St.
+Christopher's, finding, as we have shown, Hispaniola almost deserted by
+the Spaniards, who neglected the Antilles to push their conquests on the
+mainland, landed on the south side and formed a settlement, discovering
+the woods and the plains to be teeming with wild oxen and wild hogs. The
+Dutch merchants promised to supply them with every necessary, and to
+receive the hides and tallow that they collected in exchange for lead,
+powder, and brandy. These first settlers were chiefly Normans, and the
+first trading vessels that visited the coast were from Dieppe.
+
+The origin of the Buccaneers, or hunters, and the Flibustiers, or sea
+rovers, as the Dutch called them, was contemporaneous. From the very
+beginning many grew weary of the chase and became corsairs, at first
+turning their arms against all nations but their own, but latterly, as
+strict privateersmen, revenging their injuries only on the Spaniards,
+with whom France was frequently at war, and generally under the
+authority of regular or forged commissions obtained from the Governor of
+St. Domingo or some other French settlement. Between the Buccaneers and
+Flibustiers no impassable line was drawn; to chase the wild ox or the
+Spaniard was the same to the greater part of the colonists, and on sea
+or land the hunter's musket was an equally deadly weapon.
+
+Two years after the French refugees from St. Christopher's had landed on
+the half-deserted shores of Hispaniola, the Flibustiers seized the small
+adjoining island of Tortuga, attracted by its safe and well-defended
+harbour, its fertility, and the strength of its natural defences. The
+French and English colonists of St. Christopher's began now to cultivate
+the small plantations round the harbour, encouraged by the number of
+French trading vessels that visited it, and by the riches that the
+Flibustiers captured from the Spaniards. These vessels brought over
+young men from France to be bound to the planters for three years as
+_engagés_, by a contract that legalized the transitory slavery.
+
+There were thus at once established four classes of men--_Buccaneers_,
+or hunters; _planters_, or inhabitants; _engagés_, who were apprenticed
+to either the one or the other; and _sea-rovers_. They governed
+themselves by a sort of democratic compact--each inhabitant being
+monarch in his own plantation, and every Flibustier king on his own
+deck. But the latter was not unfrequently deposed by his crew; and the
+former, if cruel to his _engagés_, was compelled to submit to the French
+governor's interference. Before giving any history of the various
+revolutions in Tortuga, or the wars of the Spaniards in Hispaniola, we
+will describe the manners of each of the three classes we have
+mentioned.
+
+And first of the Buccaneers, or hunters, of Hispaniola.
+
+These wild men fed on the bodies of the cattle they killed in hunting,
+and by selling their hides and tallow obtained money enough to buy the
+necessaries and even the luxuries of life,--for the gambling table and
+the debauch. While the Flibustiers called each other "brothers of the
+coast," the Buccaneers were included in the generic term "_gens de la
+côté_," and in time the names of Buccaneer and Flibustier were used
+indiscriminately.
+
+The hunter's dress consisted of a plain shirt, or blouse (Du Tertre
+calls it a sack), belted at the waist with a bit of green hide. It was
+soon dyed a dull purple with the blood of the wild bull, and was always
+smeared with grease. "When they returned from the chase to the boucan,"
+says the above-named writer, "you would say that these are the butcher's
+vilest servants, who have been eight days in the slaughterhouse without
+washing." As they frequently carried the meat home by cutting a hole in
+the centre, and thrusting their heads through it, we may imagine the
+cannibals that they must have looked. They wore drawers, or frequently
+only tight mocassins, reaching to the knee; their sandals were of bull's
+hide or hog skin, fastened with leather laces.
+
+In Oexmelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers_, the hunter is represented with
+bare feet, but this could not have been usual, when we remember the
+danger of chigoes, snakes, and scorpions, not to speak of prickly pear
+coverts and thorny brakes. From their leather waist belt hung a short,
+heavy _machete_ or sabre, and an alligator skin case of Dutch hunting
+knives. On their heads they wore a leather skull-cap, shaped like our
+modern jockey's, with a peak in front. They wore their hair falling
+wildly on their shoulders, and their huge beards increased the ferocity
+of their appearance. Oexmelin particularly mentions the beard, although
+no existing engraving of the Buccaneer chiefs represents them with this
+grim ornament. According to Charlevoix, some of them wore a shirt, and
+over this a sort of brewer's apron, or coarse sacking tunic, open at the
+sides. From this shirt being always stained with blood, perhaps
+sometimes purposely dipped into it, the Abbé Reynal supposes that such a
+shirt was the necessary dress of the Buccaneer. Oexmelin says that as his
+vessel approached St. Domingo, "a Buccaneers' canoe came off with six
+men at the paddles, whose appearance excited the astonishment of all
+those on board, who had never before been out of France. They wore a
+small linen tunic and short drawers, reaching only half down the thigh.
+It required one to look close to see if the shirt was linen or not, so
+stained was it with the blood which had dripped from the animals they
+kill and carry home. All of them had large beards, and carried at their
+girdle a case of cayman skin, in which were four knives and a bayonet."
+Like the Canadian trappers, or, indeed, sportsmen in general, they were
+peculiarly careful of their muskets, which were made expressly for them
+in France, the best makers being Brachie of Dieppe, and Gelu of Nantes.
+These guns were about four feet and a half long, and were known
+everywhere as "Buccaneering pieces." The stocks were square and heavy,
+with a hollow for the shoulder, and they were all made of the same
+calibre, single barrel, and carrying balls sixteen to the pound. Every
+hunter took with him fifteen or twenty pounds of powder, the best of
+which came from Cherbourg. They kept it in waxed calabashes to secure it
+from the damp, having no shelter or hut that would keep out the West
+Indian rains. Their bullet pouch and powder horn hung on either side,
+and their small tents they carried, rolled up tight like bandoliers, at
+their waist, for they slept wherever they halted, and generally in their
+clothes.
+
+We have no room and no colours bright enough to paint the chief features
+of the Indian woods, the cloven cherry, that resembles the arbutus, the
+cocoa with its purple pods, the red _bois immortel_, the stunted bastard
+cedar, the logwood with its sweet blossom and hawthorn-like leaf, the
+cashew with its golden fruit, the oleander, the dock-like yam, and the
+calabash tree.
+
+What Hesperian orchards are those where the citron, lemon, and lime
+cling together, and the pine-apple grows in prickly hedges, soft custard
+apples hang out their bags of sweetness, and the avocada swings its
+pears big as pumpkins; where the bread-fruit with its gigantic leaves,
+the glossy star apple, and the golden shaddock, drop their masses of
+foliage among the dewy and fresh underwood of plantains, far below the
+tall and graceful cocoa-nut tree.
+
+Michael Scott depicts with photographic exactness and brilliancy every
+phase of the West Indian day, and enables us to imagine the light and
+shade that surrounded the strange race of whom we write. At daybreak,
+the land wind moans and shakes the dew from the feathery palms; the
+fireflies grow pale, and fade out one after the other, like the stars;
+the deep croaking of the frog ceases, and the lizards and crickets are
+silent; the monkeys leave off yelling; the snore of the tree toad and
+the wild cry of the tiger-cat are no more heard; but fresh sounds arise,
+and the woods thrill with the voices and clatter of an awaking city; the
+measured tap of the woodpecker echoes, with the clear, flute-like note
+of the pavo del monte, the shriek of the macaw, and the chatter of the
+parroquet; the pigeon moans in the inmost forest, and the gabbling
+crows croak and scream.
+
+At noon, as the breeze continues, and the sun grows vertical, the
+branches grow alive with gleaming lizards and coloured birds, noisy
+parrots hop round the wild pine, the cattle retreat beneath the trees
+for shelter, to browse the cooler grass, and the condouli and passion
+flowers of all sizes, from a soup plate to a thumb ring, shut their
+blossoms; the very humming-birds cease to drone and buzz round the
+orange flowers, and the land-crab is heard rustling among the dry grass.
+In the swamps the hot mist rises, and the wild fowl flock to the reeds
+and canes in the muddy lagoons, where the strong smell of musk denotes
+the lurking alligator; the feathery plumes of the bamboos wave not, and
+the cotton tree moves not a limb.
+
+The rainy season brings far different scenes: then the sky grows
+suddenly black, the wild ducks fly screaming here and there, the carrion
+crows are whirled bodingly about the skies, the smaller birds hurry to
+shelter, the mountain clouds bear down upon the valleys, and a low,
+rushing sound precedes the rain. The torrents turn brown and earthy, all
+nature seems to wait the doom with fear. The low murmur of the
+earthquake is still more impressive, with the distant thunder breaking
+the deep silence, and the trees bending and groaning though the air is
+still. Besides the rains and the earthquakes, the tornadoes are still
+more dreadful visitants, when the air in a moment grows full of shivered
+branches, shattered roofs, and uptorn canes.
+
+The great features of the West Indian forests are the fireflies and the
+monkeys. At night, when the wind is rustling in the dry palm leaves, the
+sparkles of green fire break out among the trees like sparks blown from
+a thousand torches; the gloom pulses with them as the flame ebbs and
+flows, and the planters' chambers are filled with these harmless
+incendiaries. The yell of the monkeys at daybreak has been compared to a
+devils' holiday, to distant thunder, loose iron bars in a cart in Fleet
+Street, bagpipes, and drunken men laughing.
+
+To Coleridge we are indebted for word pictures of the cabbage tree, and
+the silk cotton tree with their buttressed trunks; the banyan with its
+cloistered arcades; the wild plantain with its immense green leaves rent
+in slips, its thick bunches of fruit, and its scarlet pendent seed; the
+mangroves, with their branches drooping into the sea; the banana, with
+its jointed leaves; the fern trees, twenty feet high; the gold canes, in
+arrowy sheaves; and the feathery palms. Nor do we forget the figuera,
+the bois le Sueur, or the wild pine burning like a topaz in a calix of
+emerald. Beneath the broad roof of creepers, from which the oriole hangs
+its hammock nest, grow, in a wild jungle of beauty, the scarlet cordia,
+the pink and saffron flower fence, the plumeria, and the white datura.
+The flying fish glided by us, says H.N. Coleridge, speaking of the
+Indian seas, bonitos and albicores played around the bows, dolphins
+gleamed in our wake, ever and anon a shark, and once a great
+emerald-coloured whale, kept us company. Elsewhere he describes the
+silver strand, fringed with evergreen drooping mangroves, and the long
+shrouding avenues of thick leaves that darkly fringe the blue ocean. By
+the shore grow the dark and stately manchineel, beautiful but noxious,
+the white wood, and the bristling sea-side grape, with its broad leaves
+and bunches of pleasant berries. The sea birds skim about the waves, and
+the red flamingoes stalk around the sandy shoals, while the alligators
+wallow on the mud banks, and the snowy pelicans hold their councils in
+solemn stupidity.
+
+Leaving the sea and the shore we wander on into the interior, for the
+West Indian vegetation has everywhere a common character, and see
+delighted the forest trees growing on the cliffs, knotted and bound
+together with luxuriant festoons of evergreen creepers, connecting them
+in one vast network of leaves and branches, the wild pine sparkling on
+the huge limbs of the wayside trees, beside it the dagger-like Spanish
+needle, the quilted pimploe, and the maypole aloe shooting its yellow
+flowered crown twenty feet above the traveller, or amid the dark
+foliage, twines of purple wreaths or lilac jessamine; and the woods
+ringing with the song of birds, interrupted at times by strange shrieks
+or moanings of some tropic wanderer; we see with these the snowy
+amaryllis, the gorgeous hibiscus with its crown of scarlet, the
+quivering limes and dark glossy orange bushes; we rest under the green
+tamarind or listen to the mournful creaking of the sand box tree.
+
+The Buccaneers went in pairs, every hunter having his _camerade_ or
+_matelot_ (sailor), as well as his _engagés_. They had seldom any fixed
+habitation, but pitched their tents where the cattle were to be found,
+building temporary sheds, thatched with palm leaves, to defend them from
+the rain and to lodge their stock of hides till they could barter it
+with the next vessel for wine, brandy, linen, arms, powder, or lead.
+They would return three leagues from the chase to their huts, laden with
+meat and skins, and if they ate in the open country it was always with
+their musket cocked and near at hand for fear of surprise. With their
+_matelots_ they had everything in common. The chief occupation of these
+voluntary outlaws was the chase of the wild ox, that of the wild boar
+being at first a mere amusement, or only followed as the means of
+procuring a luxurious meal; at a later period, however, many Frenchmen
+lived by hunting the hog, whose flesh they boucaned and sold for
+exportation, its flavour being superior to that of any other meat.
+
+The Buccaneers sometimes went in companies of ten or twelve, each man
+having his Indian attendant besides his apprentices. Before setting out
+they arranged a spot for rendezvous in case of attack. If they remained
+long in one place, they built thatched sheds under which to pitch their
+tents. They rose at daybreak to start for the chase, leaving one of the
+band to guard the huts. The masters generally went first and alone
+(sometimes the worst shot was left in the tent to cook), and the
+_engagés_ and the dogs followed; one hound, the _venteur_, went in front
+of all, often leading the hunter through wood and over rock where no
+path had ever been. When the quarry came in sight the dogs barked round
+it and kept it at bay till the hunters could come up and fire. They
+generally aimed at the breast of the bull, or tried to hamstring it as
+soon as possible. Many hunters ran down the wild cattle in the savannah
+and attacked it with their dogs. If only wounded the ox would rush upon
+them and gore all he met. But this happened very seldom, for the men
+were deadly shots, seldom missed their _coup_, and were always
+sufficiently active, if in danger, to climb the tree from behind which
+they had fired. The _venteur_ dog had a peculiar short bark by which he
+summoned the pack to his aid, and as soon as they heard it the _engagés_
+rushed to the rescue. When the beast was half flayed, the master took
+out the largest bone and sucked the hot marrow, which served him for a
+meal, giving a bit also to the _venteur_, but not to any other dogs,
+lest they should grow lazy in hunting; but the last lagger in the pack
+had sometimes a bit thrown him to incite him to greater exertion. He
+then left the _engagés_ to carry the skin to the boucan, with a few of
+the best joints, giving the rest to the carrion crows, that soon sniffed
+out the blood. They continued the chase till each man had killed an ox,
+and the last returned home, laden like the rest with a hide and a
+portion of raw meat. By this time the first comer had prepared dinner,
+roasted some beef, or spitted a whole hog. The tables were soon laid;
+they consisted of a flat stone, the fallen trunk of a tree, or a root,
+with no cloth, no napkin, no bread, and no wine; pimento and orange
+juice were sufficient sauce for hungry men, and a contented mind and a
+keen appetite never quarrelled with rude cooking. This monotonous life
+was only varied by a conflict with a wounded bull, or a skirmish with
+the Spaniards. The grand fęte days were when the hunter had collected as
+many hides as he had contracted to supply the merchant, and carried them
+to Tortuga, to Cape Tiburon, Samana, or St. Domingo, probably to return
+in a week's time, weary of drinking or beggared from the gambling table,
+tired of civilization, and restless for the chase.
+
+The wild cattle of Hispaniola--the oxen, hogs, horses, and dogs--were
+all sprung from the domestic animals originally brought from Spain. The
+dogs were introduced into the island to chase the Indians, a cruelty
+that even the mild Columbus practised. Esquemeling says, those first
+conquerors of the New World made use of dogs "to range and search the
+intricate thicket of woods and forests for those their implacable and
+unconquerable enemies; thus they forced them to leave their old refuge
+and submit to the sword, seeing no milder usage would do it. Hereupon
+they killed some of them, and, quartering their bodies, placed them on
+the highways, that others might take a warning from such a punishment.
+But this severity proved of ill consequence, for, instead of frighting
+them and reducing them to civility, they conceived such horror of the
+Spaniards that they resolved to detest and fly their sight for ever;
+hence the greatest part died in caves and subterraneous places of the
+woods and mountains, in which places I myself have often seen great
+numbers of human bones. The Spaniards, finding no more Indians to
+appear about the woods, turned away a great number of dogs they had in
+their houses; and they, finding no masters to keep them, betook
+themselves to the woods and fields to hunt for food to preserve their
+lives, and by degrees grew wild."
+
+The young of these maroon dogs the hunters were in the habit of bringing
+up. When they found a wild bitch with whelps, they generally took away
+the puppies and brought them to their tents, preferring them to any
+other sort of dog. They seem to have been between a greyhound and a
+mastiff. The Dutch writer whom we have just quoted mentions the singular
+fact, that these dogs, even in a wild state, retained their acquired
+habits. The _venteur_ always led the way, and was allowed to dip the
+first fangs into the victim. The wild dogs went in packs of fifty or
+eighty, and were so fierce that they would not scruple to attack a whole
+herd of wild boars, bringing down two or three at once. They destroyed a
+vast number of wild cattle, devouring the young as soon as a mare had
+foaled or a cow calved.
+
+"One day," says Esquemeling, "a French Buccaneer showed me a strange
+action of this kind. Being in the fields hunting together, we heard a
+great noise of dogs which had surrounded a wild boar. Having tame dogs
+with us we left them in custody of our servants, being desirous to see
+the sport. Hence my companion and I climbed up two several trees, both
+for security and prospect. The wild boar, all alone, stood against a
+tree, defending himself with his tusks from a great number of dogs that
+enclosed him, killed with his teeth and wounded several of them. This
+bloody fight continued about an hour, the wild boar meanwhile attempting
+many times to escape. At last flying, one dog leaped upon his back; and
+the rest of the dogs, perceiving the courage of their companion,
+fastened likewise on the boar, and presently killed him. This done, all
+of them, the first only excepted, laid themselves down upon the ground
+about the prey, and there peaceably continued till he, the first and
+most courageous of the troop, had eaten as much as he could. When this
+dog had left off, all the rest fell in to take their share till nothing
+was left."
+
+In 1668, the Governor of Tortuga, finding these dogs were rendering the
+wild boar almost extinct, and alarmed lest the hunters should leave a
+place where food was growing scarce, sent to France for poison to
+destroy these mastiffs, and placed poisoned horse flesh in the woods.
+But although this practice was continued for six months, and an
+incredible number were killed, yet the race soon appeared almost as
+numerous as before.
+
+The wild horses went in troops of about two or three hundred. They were
+awkward and mis-shapen, small and short-bodied, with large heads, long
+necks, trailing ears, and thick legs. They had always a leader, and when
+they met a hunter, stared at him till he approached within shot, then
+gallopped off all together. They were only killed for their skins,
+though their flesh was sometimes smoked for the use of the sailors.
+These horses were caught by stretching nooses along their tracks, in
+which they got entangled by the neck. When taken, they were quickly
+tamed by being kept two or three days without food, and were then used
+to carry hides. They were good workers, but easily lamed. When a
+Buccaneer turned them adrift from want of food to keep them through the
+winter, they were known to return ten months after, or, meeting them in
+the savannah, begin to whine and caress their old masters, and suffer
+themselves to be recaptured. They were also killed for the sake of the
+fat about the neck and belly, which the hunters used for lamp oil.
+
+The wild oxen were tame unless wounded, and their hides were generally
+from eleven to thirteen feet long. They were very strong and very swift,
+in spite of their short and slender legs. In the course of a single
+century from their introduction, they had so increased, that the French
+Buccaneers, when they landed, seldom went in search of them, but waited
+for them near the shore, at the salt pools where they came to drink. The
+herds fed at night on the savannahs, and at noon retired to the shelter
+of the forests. A wounded bull would often blockade, for four hours, a
+tree in which a hunter had taken refuge, bellowing round the trunk and
+ploughing at the roots with his horns. The French hunters generally shot
+them; but the Spanish "hocksers" rode them down on horseback, and
+hamstrung them with a crescent-shaped spear, in form something like a
+cheese-knife with a long handle.
+
+The wild boars, when much pressed, adopted the same military stratagem
+as the oxen. They threw themselves into the form of a hollow square, the
+sows in the rear and the sucking pigs in the middle, the white sabre
+tusks of the boars gleaming outwards towards the foe. The dogs always
+fastened upon the defenceless sow in preference to the ferocious male,
+whom they seldom attacked if it got at bay under a tree, though it might
+be alone, glaring before the red jaws of eighty yelping dogs. The wild
+boar hunting was less dangerous than that of the wild oxen, and less
+profitable. The hogs soon grew scarce, a party of hunters sometimes
+killing 100 in a day, and only carrying home three or four of the
+fattest. It was not uncommon for solitary hunters or _engagés_ who had
+lost their way in the woods to amuse themselves by training up the young
+hogs they found basking under the trees, and teaching them to track
+their own species and pull them down by tugging at their long leathery
+ears. Oexmelin, the most intelligent of the few Buccaneer writers,
+relates his own success in training four pigs, whom he taught to follow
+at his heels like dogs, to play with him, and obey his orders. When they
+saw a herd of boars they would run forward and decoy them towards him.
+On one occasion, one of them escaped into the plains, but returned three
+days after, very complacently heading a herd of hogs, of which his
+master and his _matelot_ killed four. It is not many years since that an
+English gamekeeper brought up a pig to get his own bread as a pointer.
+
+At first, when the green savannahs were spotted black with cattle, the
+hunters were so fastidious that they seldom ate anything but the udders
+of cows, considering bull meat too tough. Many a herd was killed, as at
+present in Australia or California, for the hide and tallow. If the
+first animal killed in the day's hunt was a cow, an _engagé_ was
+instantly sent to the tent with part of the flesh to cook for the
+evening. When the _engagés_ had each gone home with his joint and his
+hide, the Buccaneer followed with his own load, his dogs, tired and
+panting, lagging at his heels. If on his way back he met a boar, or more
+oxen, he threw down his fardel, slew a fresh victim, and, flaying it,
+hung the hide on a tree out of reach of the wild dogs, and came back for
+it on the morrow.
+
+On returning to the boucan, each man set to work to stretch
+(_brochéter_) his hide, fastening it tightly out with fourteen wooden
+pegs, and rubbing it with ashes and salt mixed together to make it dry
+quicker. When this was done, they sat down to partake of the food that
+the first comer had by this time cooked. The beef they generally boiled
+in the large cauldron which every hunter possessed, drawing it out when
+it was done with a wooden skewer. A board served them for a dish. With
+a wooden spoon they collected the gravy in a calabash; and into this
+they squeezed the juice of a fresh picked lemon, a crushed citron, or a
+little pimento, which formed the hunter's favourite sauce, _pimentado_.
+This being done with all the care of a Ude, they seized their hunting
+knives and wooden skewers, and commenced a solemn attack upon the
+ponderous joint. The residue they divided among their dogs. Pčre Labat,
+an oily Jesuit if we trust to his portrait, describes, with great gusto,
+a Buccaneer feast at which he was present, and at which a hog was
+roasted whole. The boucaned meat was used in voyages, or when no oxen
+could be met with.
+
+When they wanted to boucan a pig, they first flayed it and took out all
+the bones. The meat they cut in long slips, which they placed in mats,
+and there left it till the next day, when they proceeded to smoke it.
+The boucan was a small hut covered close with palm-mats, with a low
+entrance, and no chimney or windows: it contained a wooden framework
+seven or eight feet high, on which the meat was placed, and underneath
+which a charcoal fire was lit. The fire they always fed with the
+animal's own skin and bones, which made the smoke thick and full of
+ammonia. The volatile salt of the bones being more readily absorbed by
+the meat than the mere ligneous acid of wood, the result of this process
+was an epicurean mouthful far superior to our Westphalia hams, and more
+like our hung beef. Oexmelin waxes quite eloquent in its praise. He says
+it was so exquisite that it needed no cooking; its very look, red as a
+rose, not to mention its delightful fragrance, tempted the worst
+appetite to eat it, whatever it might be. The only misfortune was that
+six months after smoking, the meat grew tasteless and unfit for use; but
+when fresh, it was thought so wholesome that sick men came from a
+distance to live in a hunter's tent and share his food for a time. The
+first thing that passengers visiting the West Indies saw was a
+Buccaneers' canoe bringing dry meat for sale. The boucaned meat was
+sold in bales of sixty pounds' weight, and their pots of tallow were
+worth about six pieces of eight.
+
+Labat--no ordinary lover of good cheer, if we may judge from his
+portrait, which represents him with cheeks as plump as a pulpit cushion,
+and with fat rolls of double chin--describes the Buccaneer fare with
+much unction, having gone to a hunter's feast,--a corporeal treat
+intended as a slight return for much spiritual food. Each Buccaneer, he
+says, had two skewers, made of clean peeled wood, one having two spikes.
+The boucan itself was made of four stakes as thick as a man's arm, and
+about four feet long, struck in the ground to form a square five feet
+long and three feet across. On these forked sticks they placed cross
+bars, and upon these the spit, binding them all with withes. The wild
+boar, being skinned and gutted, was placed whole upon this spit, the
+stomach kept open with a stick. The fire was made of charcoal, and put
+on with bark shovels. The interior of the pig was filled with citron
+juice, salt, crushed pimento, and pepper; and the flesh was constantly
+pricked, so that this juice might penetrate. When the meat was ready,
+the cooks fired off a musket twice, to summon the hunters from the
+woods, while banana leaves were placed round for plates. If the hunters
+brought home any birds, they at once picked them and threw them into the
+stomach of the pig, as into a pot. If the hunters were novices, and
+brought home nothing, they were sent out again to seek it; if they were
+veterans, they were compelled to drink as many cups as the best hunter
+had that day killed deer, bulls, or boars. A leaf served to hold the
+pimento sauce, and a calabash to drink from, while bananas were their
+substitute for bread. The _engagés_ waited on their masters, and one of
+the penalties for clumsy serving was to be compelled to drink off a
+calabash full of sauce.
+
+The English "cow killers" and the French hunters were satisfied with
+getting as many hides as they could in the shortest possible time, but
+the Spanish _matadores_ gave the trade an air of chivalrous adventure by
+rivalling the feats of the Moorish bull-fighters of Granada. They did
+not use firearms, but carried lances with a half-moon blade, employing
+dogs, and, being generally men of wealth and planters, had servants on
+foot to encourage them to the attack. When they tracked an ox in the
+woods, they made the hounds drive him out into the prairie, where the
+matadors could spur after him, and, wheeling round the monster,
+hamstring him or thrust him through with a lance. Dampierre describes
+minutely the Spanish mode of hocksing. The horses were trained to
+retreat and advance without even a signal. The hocksing-iron, of a
+half-moon shape, measuring six inches horizontally, resembled in form a
+gardener's turf-cutter. The handle, some fourteen feet long, was held
+like a lance over the horse's head, a matador's steed being always known
+by its right ear being bent down with the weight of the shaft. The place
+to strike the bull was just above the hock; when struck the horse
+instantly wheeled to the left, to avoid the charge of the wounded ox,
+who soon broke his nearly severed leg, but still limped forward to
+avenge himself on his formidable enemy. Then the hockser, riding softly
+up, struck him with his iron again, but this time into a fore leg, and
+at once laid him prostrate, moaning in terror and in pain. Then,
+dismounting, the Spaniard took a sharp dagger and stabbed the beast
+behind the horns, severing the spinal marrow. This operation the English
+called "polling." The hunter at once remounted, and left his skinners to
+remove the hide.
+
+The stately Spaniard delighted in this dangerous chase, with all its
+stratagems, surprises, and hair-breadth escapes, when life depended on a
+turn of the bridle or the prick of a spur. However pressed for food or
+endangered by enemies, he practised it with all the stately ceremonies
+of the Madrid arena. The fiery animal, streaming with blood and foam,
+bellowing with rage and pain, frequently trampled and gored the dogs and
+slew both horse and rider. Oexmelin mentions a bull at Cuba which killed
+three horses in the same day, the lucky rider making a solemn pilgrimage
+to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadaloupe when he had given his victim
+the _coup de grace_.
+
+These Spanish hunters did not rough it like the Buccaneers, and kept
+horses to carry their bales. They were particular in their food, and ate
+bread and cassava with their beef; drank wine and brandy; and were very
+choice in their fruit and preserves. Gay in their dress, they prided
+themselves on their white linen. Every separate hunting field had its
+own customs. At Campeachy, where the ground was swampy, the
+logwood-cutters frequently shot the oxen from a canoe, and were
+sometimes pursued by a wounded beast, who would try to sink the boat.
+When the woodmen killed a bull, they cut it into quarters, and, taking
+out all the bones, cut a hole in the centre of each piece large enough
+to pass their heads through, and trudged home with it to their tents on
+the shore. If they grew tired or were pursued, they cut off a portion of
+the meat and lightened their load.
+
+The Spaniards, less poor, greedy, and thoughtless than the English and
+French adventurers, killed only the bulls and old cows, and left the
+younger ones to breed. The French were notorious for their wanton waste,
+using oxen merely as marks for their bullets, and as utterly indifferent
+to the future as Autolycus, who "slept out the thought of it." About
+1650 the wild cattle of Jamaica were entirely destroyed, and the
+Governor procured a fresh supply from Cuba.
+
+Whenever the oxen grew scarce, they became wilder and more ferocious. In
+some places no hunter dared to fire at them if alone, nor ever ventured
+into their pastures unattended. All animals grow shy if frequently
+pursued, and no fish are so unapproachable as those of a much frequented
+stream. Dampierre says that at Beef Island the old bulls who had once
+been wounded, when they saw the hunters or heard their muskets, would
+instantly form into a square, with their cows in the rear and the calves
+in the middle, turning as the hunters turned, and presenting their horns
+like a cluster of bayonets. It then became necessary to beat the woods
+for stragglers. A beast mortally wounded always made at the hunter; but
+if only grazed by the bullet it ran away. A cow was thought to be more
+dangerous than a bull, as the former charged with its eyes open, and the
+latter with them closed. The danger was often imminent. One of
+Dampierre's messmates ventured into the savannah, about a mile from the
+huts, and coming within shot of a bull wounded it desperately. The bull,
+however, had strength enough to pursue and overtake the logwood-cutter
+before he could load again, to trample him, and gore him in the thigh.
+Then, faint with loss of blood, it reeled down dead, and fell heavily
+beside the bleeding and groaning hunter. His comerade, coming the next
+morning to seek for the man, found him weak and almost dying, and,
+taking him on his back, bore him to his hut, where he was soon cured.
+The rapidity of such cures is peculiar to savages, or men who devote
+their whole life to muscular exertion; for the flesh of the South Sea
+Islanders is said to close upon a sword as india-rubber does upon the
+knife that cuts it. Often, in the heat and excitement of these
+pursuits, the solitary hunter, and still more often, from want of
+experience and from youthful rashness, the _engagé_, would lose his way
+in the woods, or, falling into a forest pool, become a prey of the
+lurking cayman, if not alarmed by the premonitory odour of musk that
+indicated its dangerous vicinity. Nature is full of these warnings: and
+the vibrating rattle of the Indian snake has saved the life of many a
+Buccaneer.
+
+Besides an unceasing supply of beef on shore, and salted turtle at sea,
+the Buccaneers ate the flesh of deer and of peccavy. On the mainland
+wild turkeys were always within shot, and fat monkeys and plump parrots
+were resources for more hungry and less epicurean men. The rich fruits
+of the West Indies, needing no cultivation to improve their flavour,
+grew around their huts, and were to be had all the year round for the
+picking. The parched hunters delighted in the resinous-flavoured mango
+and the luscious guava as much as our modern sailors. In such a country
+every one is a vegetarian; for when dinner is over, to be a fruit eater
+needs no hermit-like asceticism. The plantain and the yam served them
+instead of the bread-fruit of the Pacific, or the potato of Virginia,
+and the custard-apple took the place of pastry; but the great dainty
+which all their chroniclers mention was the large avocado pear, which
+they supposed to be an aphrodisiac. This prodigious lemon-coloured fruit
+was allowed to mellow, its soft pulp was then scooped out and beaten up
+in a plate with orange and lime juice; but hungry and more impatient men
+ate it at once, with a little salt and a roast plantain. A Buccaneer
+never touched an unknown fruit till he had seen birds pecking it on the
+tree. No bird was ever seen to touch the blooming but poisonous apples
+of the manchineel, which few animals but crabs could eat with impunity;
+as this tree grew by the sea-shore, even fish were rendered poisonous by
+feeding on the fruit that fell into the water. The verified stories of
+the manchineel excel the fables related of the upas of Batavia. The very
+dew upon its branches poisoned those upon whom it dropped. Esquemeling
+says: "One day, being hugely tormented with mosquitoes or gnats, and
+being as yet unacquainted with the nature of this tree, I cut a branch
+to serve me for a fan, but all my face was swelled the next day, and
+filled with blisters as if it were burnt, to such a degree that I was
+blind for three days."
+
+The hunters tormented by mosquitoes and sand flies used leafy branches
+for fans, and anointed their faces with hog's grease to defend
+themselves from the stings. By night in their huts they burned tobacco,
+without which smoke they could not have obtained sleep. The mosquitoes
+were of all sorts, the buzzing and the silent, the tormentors by day and
+night; but they dispersed when the land breeze rose, or whenever the
+wind increased. The common mosquito was not visible by day, but at
+sunset filled the woods with its ominous humming. Oexmelin describes on
+one occasion his lying for eight hours in the water of a brook to escape
+their stings; sitting on a stone or on the sand, and keeping his face,
+which was above water, covered with leaves to protect him from the fiery
+stings.
+
+The Buccaneers made their pens of reeds, and their paper of the leaves
+of a peculiar sort of palm, the outer cuticle of which was thin, white,
+and soft; their ink was the black juice of the juniper berries, letters
+written with which turned white in nine days. They kept harmless snakes
+in their houses to feed on the rats and mice, just as we do cats, or the
+Copts did the ichneumons. They frequently used a handful of fire-flies
+instead of a lantern: Esquemeling, himself a Buccaneer, says, that with
+three of these in his cottage at midnight he could see to read in any
+book, however small the print.
+
+The Buccaneers carried in their tobacco pouches the horn of an immense
+sort of spider, which Esquemeling describes as big as an egg, with feet
+as long as a crab, and four black teeth like a rabbit, its bite being
+sharp but not venomous. These teeth or horns they used either as
+toothpicks or pipe-cleaners; they were supposed to have the property of
+preserving the user from toothache. They are described as about two
+inches long, black as jet, smooth as glass, sharp as a thorn, and a
+little bent at the lower end.
+
+Their favourite toy, the dice, they cut from the white ivory-like teeth
+of the sea-horse. Great observers of the use of things, and well
+lessoned in the bitter school of experience, they turned every new
+natural production they met with to some useful purpose, uniting with
+the keen sagacity of the hunter the shrewd instinct of the savage. Their
+horsewhips they formed from the skin of the back of a wild bull or
+sea-cow. The lashes were made of slips of hide, two or three feet long,
+of the full thickness at the bottom, and cut square and tapering to the
+point. These thongs they twisted while still green, and then hung them
+up in a hut to dry; in a few weeks they shrank and became hard as wood,
+and tough as an American cowhide, an Abyssinian scourge, or the
+far-famed Russian knout. From the skin of the manitee they cut straps,
+which they used in their canoes instead of the ordinary tholes.
+
+The wild boar hunters frequently lived in huts four or five together,
+and remained for months, frequently a year, in the same place, supplying
+the neighbouring planters by contract. The most perfect equality
+reigned between the _matelots_; and if one of them wanted powder or
+lead, he took it from the other's store, telling him of the loan, and
+repaying it when able.
+
+When a dispute arose between any of them, their associates tried to
+reconcile the difference. A dispute about a shooting wager, or the
+smallest trifle, might give rise to deadly feuds between such lawless
+and vindictive exiles, unaccustomed to control, and ready to resort to
+arms. If both still determined to have revenge, the musket was the
+impassive arbiter appealed to. The friends of the duellists decided at
+what distance the combatants should stand, and made them draw lots for
+the first fire. If one fell dead, the bystanders immediately held a sort
+of inquest, at which they decided whether he had been fairly dealt with,
+and examined the body to see that the death-shot had been fairly fired
+in front, and not in a cowardly or treacherous manner, and handled his
+musket to see whether it was discharged and had been in good order. A
+surgeon then opened the orifice of the wound, and if he decided that
+the bullet had entered behind, or much on one side, they declared the
+survivor a murderer; Lynch law was proclaimed, they tied the culprit to
+a tree, and shot him with their muskets. In Tortuga, or near a town,
+this rude justice was never resorted to, and, even in the wilder places,
+was soon abandoned as the hunters grew more civilized. These duels
+generally took place on the sea beach if the Flibustiers were the
+combatants.
+
+As these men took incessant exercise, were indifferent to climate, and
+fed chiefly on fresh meat, they enjoyed good health. They were, however,
+subject to flying fevers that passed in a day, and which did not confine
+them even to their tents.
+
+With the Spanish Lanceros, or Fifties as they were called by the
+Buccaneers, the hunters were perpetually at war, their intrepid infantry
+being generally successful against the hot charges of these yeomanry of
+the savannahs. There were four companies of them in Hispaniola, with a
+hundred spearmen in each company; half of these were generally on the
+patrol, while the remainder rested, and from their number they derived
+their nickname. Their duty was to surprise the isolated hunters, to burn
+the stores of hides, make prisoners of the _engagés_, and guard the
+Spanish settlers against any sudden attack. At other times they were
+employed in killing off the herds of wild cattle that furnished the
+Buccaneers with food, and drew fresh bands to the plains where they
+abounded. In great enterprises the whole corps cried "boot and saddle,"
+and they took with them at all times a few muleteers on foot, either to
+carry their baggage, or to serve as scouts in the woods, where the
+cow-killers built their huts. But, in spite of Negro foragers and Indian
+spies, the keener-eyed Buccaneers generally escaped, or, if met with,
+broke like raging wolves through their adversaries' toils. Accustomed to
+the bush, inured to famine and fatigue, and more indifferent than even
+the Spaniards to climate, the Buccaneers were seldom taken prisoners.
+Unerring marksmen, with a spice of the wild beast in their blood, they
+preferred death to flight or capture.
+
+It is probable that even for this toilsome and dangerous pursuit the
+Spaniards easily obtained recruits. Constant sport with the wild cattle,
+abundant food, and a spirit of adventure would prove an irresistible
+bait to the bravos of Carthagena, or the matadors of Campeachy. The
+hangers-on of the wineshops and the pulque drinkers of Mexico would
+readily embark in any campaign that would bring them a few pistoles, and
+give them good food and gay clothing.
+
+Oexmelin relates several instances of the daring escapes of the Buccaneer
+hunters from the blood-thirsting pursuit of the Fifties. It was their
+custom, directly that news reached the tents that the Lanceros were out,
+to issue an order that the first man who caught sight of the horsemen
+should inform the rest, in order to attack the foe by an ambuscade, if
+they were too numerous to meet in the open field. The great aim, on the
+other hand, of the Lanceros, was to wait for a night of rain and wind,
+when the sound of their hoofs could not be heard, and to butcher the
+sleepers when their fire-arms were either damp or piled out of reach.
+Frequently they surrounded the hunters when heavy after a debauch, and
+when even the sentinels were asleep at the tent doors.
+
+The following anecdote conveys some impression of these encounters. A
+French Buccaneer going one day into the savannahs to hunt, followed by
+his _engagé_, was suddenly surrounded by a troop of shouting Lanceros.
+He saw at once that the Fifties had at last trapped him. He was
+surrounded, and escape from their swift pursuit, with no tree near, was
+hopeless. But he would not let hope desert him so long as the spears
+were still out of his heart. His _engagé_ was as brave as himself, and
+both determined to stand at bay and sell their lives dearly. The hunter
+of mad oxen, and the tamer of wild horses, need not fear man or devil.
+The master and man put themselves back to back, and, laying their common
+stock of powder and bullets in their caps between them, prepared for
+death. The Spaniards, who only carried lances, kept coursing round them,
+afraid to narrow in, or venture within shot, and crying out to them
+with threats to surrender. They next offered them quarter, and at last
+promised to disarm but not hurt them, saying they were only executing
+the orders of their general. The two Frenchmen replied mockingly, that
+they would never surrender, and wanted no quarter, and that the first
+lancer who approached would pay dear for his visit. The Spaniards still
+hovered round, afraid to advance, none of them willing to be the first
+victim, or to play the scapegoat for the rest. "C'est le premier pas qui
+coute," and the first step they made was backward. After some
+consultation at a safe distance, they finally left the Buccaneers still
+standing threateningly back to back, and spurred off, half afraid that
+the Tartars they had nearly caught might turn the tables, and advance
+against them.
+
+The steady persistency of the Buccaneer infantry was generally
+victorious over the impetuous but transitory onslaught of the Spanish
+cavalry.
+
+Another time a wild Buccaneer while hunting alone was surprised by a
+similar party of mounted pikemen. Seeing that there was some distance
+between him and the nearest wood, and that his capture was certain, he
+bethought himself of the following _ruse_. Putting his gun up to his
+shoulder he advanced at a trot, shouting exultingly, "_ŕ moi, ŕ moi!_"
+as if he was followed by a band of scattered companions who had been in
+search of the Spaniards. The cavaliers, believing at once that they had
+fallen into an ambush, took flight, to the joy of the ingenious hunter,
+who quickly made his escape, laughing, into the neighbouring covert.
+
+The Spaniards were worn out at last with this border warfare,
+unprofitable because it was waged with men who were too poor to reward
+the plunderer, and dangerous because fought with every disadvantage of
+weapon and situation. In the savannahs the Spaniards were formidable,
+but in the woods they became a certain prey to the musketeer. Unable to
+drive the plunderers out of the island, the Spaniards at last foolishly
+resolved to render the island not worth the plunder. Orders came from
+Spain to kill off the wild cattle that Columbus had originally brought
+to the island, and particularly round the coast. If the trade with the
+French vessels and the barter of hides for brandy could once be
+arrested, the hunters would be driven from the woods by starvation, or
+perish one by one in their dens. They little thought that this scheme
+would succeed, and what would be the consequence of such success. The
+hunters turned sea crusaders, and the sea became the savannah where they
+sought their human game. Every creek soon thronged with men more deadly
+than the Danish Vikinger: wrecked on a habitable shore, they landed as
+invaders and turned hunters as before; driven to their boats, they
+became again adventurers. In this name and in that of "soldiers of
+fortune" they delighted: a more honest and less courteous age would have
+termed them pirates. By the year 1686, the change from Buccaneer to
+Flibustier had been almost wholly effected.
+
+The Buccaneers' _engagés_ led a life very little better than those white
+slaves whom the glittering promises of the planters had decoyed from
+France. The existence of the former was, however, rendered more bearable
+by their variety of adventure, by better food, and by daily recreation.
+If all day in the hot sun he had to toil carrying bales of skins from
+his master's hut towards the shore, we must remember that American
+seamen still work contentedly at the same labour in California for a
+sailor's ordinary wages. Mutual danger produced necessarily, except in
+the most brutal, a kind of fellowship between the master and the servant
+of the boucan. Up at daybreak, the _engagé_ sweltered all day through
+the bush, groaning beneath his burden of loathsome hides, but the good
+meal came before sunset, and then the pipes were lit, and the brandy
+went round, and the song was sung, and the tale was told, while the
+hunters shot at a mark, or made wagers upon the respective skill of
+their _matelots_ or their _engagés_.
+
+We hear from Charlevoix, that young prodigals of good family had been
+known to prefer the canvas tent to the tapestried wall, and to have
+grasped the hunter's musket with the hand that might have wielded the
+general's baton or the marshal's staff.
+
+The Buccaneer's life was not one of mere revelry and ease; no luxurious
+caves or safe strongholds served at once for their treasure house, their
+palace, and their fortress. They were wandering outlaws; hated both by
+the Spaniards and the Indians, they ate with a loaded gun within their
+reach. The jaguar lurked beside them, the coppersnake glared at them
+from his lair. If their foot stumbled, they were gored by the ox or
+ripped up by the boar; if they fled they became a prey to the cayman of
+the pool; they were swept away as they forded swollen rivers; they were
+swallowed up by that dreadful foretype of the Judgment, the earthquake.
+The shark and the sea monster swam by their canoe, the carrion crow that
+fed to-day upon the carcase they had left, too often fed to-morrow on
+the slain hunter. The wildest transitions of safety and danger, plenty
+and famine, peace and war, health and sickness, surrounded their daily
+life. To-day on the savannah dark with the wild herds, to-morrow
+compelled to feast on the flesh of a murdered comerade; to-day
+surrounded by revelling friends, to-morrow left alone to die.
+
+The present system of hide curing practised in California seems almost
+identical with that employed by the Buccaneers. The following extract
+from Dana's "Three Years before the Mast" will convey a correct
+impression of what constituted the greater portion of an _engagé's_
+labour. He describes the shore piled with hides, just out of reach of
+the tide; each skin doubled lengthwise in the middle, and nearly as
+stiff as a board, and the whole bundles carried down on men's heads from
+the place of curing to the stacks. "When the hide is taken from the
+bullock, holes are cut round it, near the edge, and it is staked out to
+dry, to prevent shrinking. They are then to be cured, and are carried
+down to the shore at low tide and made fast in small piles, where they
+lie for forty-eight hours, when they are taken out, rolled up in
+wheelbarrows, and thrown into vats full of strong brine, where they
+remain for forty-eight hours. The sea water only cleans and softens
+them, the brine pickles them. They are then removed from the vats, lie
+on a platform twenty-four hours, and are then staked out, still wet and
+soft; the men go over them with knives, cutting off all remaining pieces
+of meat or fat, the ears, and any part that would either prevent the
+packing or keeping. A man can clean about twenty-five a-day, keeping at
+his work. This cleaning must be done before noon, or they get too dry.
+When the sun has been upon them for a few hours they are gone over with
+scrapers to remove the fat that the sun brings out; the stakes are then
+pulled up and the hides carefully doubled, with the hair outside, and
+left to dry. About the middle of the afternoon, they are turned upon the
+other side, and at sunset piled up and turned over. The next day they
+are spread out and opened again, and at night, if fully dry, are thrown
+up on a long horizontal pole, five at a time, and beaten with flails to
+get out the dust; thus, being salted, scraped, cleaned, dried, and
+beaten, they are stowed away in the warehouses."
+
+The Buccaneer's life was not spent in quaffing sangaree or basking under
+orange blossoms--not in smoking beside mountains of flowers, where the
+humming-birds fluttered like butterflies, and the lizards flashed across
+the sunbeams, shedding jewelled and enchanted light. No Indian in the
+mine, no Arab pearl-diver, no worn, pale children at an English factory,
+no galley-slave dying at the oar, led such a life as a Buccaneer
+_engagé_ if bound to a cruel master. Imagine a delicate youth, of good
+but poor family, decoyed from a Norman country town by the loud-sounding
+promises of a St. Domingo agent, specious as a recruiting sergeant,
+voluble as the projector of bubble companies, greedy, plausible, and
+lying. He comes out to the El Dorado of his dreams, and is at once taken
+to the hut of some rude Buccaneer. The first night is a revel, and his
+sleep is golden and full of visions. The spell is broken at daybreak. He
+has to carry a load of skins, weighing some twenty-six pounds, three or
+four leagues, through brakes of prickly pear and clumps of canes. The
+pathless way cannot be traversed at greater speed than about two hours
+to a quarter of a league. The sun grows vertical, and he is feverish and
+sick at heart. Three years of this purgatory are varied by blows and
+curses. The masters too often loaded their servants with blows if they
+dared to faint through weakness, hunger, thirst, or fatigue. Some
+hunters had the forbearance to rest on a Sunday, induced rather by
+languor than by piety; but on these days the _engagé_ had to rise as
+usual at daybreak, to go out and kill a wild boar for the day's feast.
+This was disembowelled and roasted whole, being placed on a spit
+supported on two forked stakes, so that the flames might completely
+surround the carcase.
+
+Most Buccaneers, even if they rested on Sunday, required their
+apprentices to carry the hides down as usual to the place of shipment,
+fearing that the Spaniards might choose that very day to burn the huts
+and destroy the skins. An _engagé_ once complained to his master, and
+reminded him that it was not right to work on a Sunday, God himself
+having said to the Jews, "Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou
+hast to do, for the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
+"And I tell you," said the scowling Buccaneer, striking the earth with
+the butt-end of his gun and roaring out a dreadful curse, "I tell you,
+six days shalt thou kill bulls and skin them, and the seventh day thou
+shalt carry them down to the beach," beating the daring remonstrant as
+he spoke. There was no remedy for these sufferers but patience. Time or
+death alone brought relief. Three years soon run out. The mind grows
+hardened under suffering as flesh does under the lash. Nature, where she
+cannot heal a wound, teaches us where to find unfailing balms. Some grew
+reckless to blows, or learned to ingratiate themselves with their
+masters by their increasing daring or sturdy industry. An apprentice
+whose bullet never flew false, or who could run down the wild ox on the
+plain, acquired a fame greater than that of his master. They knew that
+in time they themselves would be Buccaneers, and could inflict the very
+cruelties from which they now suffered. There were instances where acts
+of service to the island, or feats of unusual bravery, raised an
+_engagé_ of a single year to the full rank of hunter. An apprentice who
+could bring in more hides than even his master, must have been too
+valuable an acquisition to have been lost by a moment of spleen. That
+horrible cases of cruelty did occur, there can be no doubt. There were
+no courts of justice in the forest, no stronger arm or wiser head to
+which to appeal. But there are always remedies for despair. The loaded
+gun was at hand, the knife in the belt, and the poison berries grew by
+the hut. There was the unsubdued passion still at liberty in the
+heart--there was the will to seize the weapon and the hand to use it.
+Providence is fruitful in her remedies of evils, and preserves a balance
+which no sovereignty can long disturb. No tyrant can shut up the
+volcano, or chain the earthquake. There were always the mountains or the
+Spaniards to take refuge amongst, though famine and death dwelt in the
+den of the wild beasts, and, if they fled to the Spaniards, they were
+often butchered as mere runaway slaves before they could explain, in an
+unknown language, that they were not spies. But still the very
+impossibility of preventing such escapes must have tended to temper the
+severity of the masters. A Flibustier, anxious for a crew, must have
+sometimes carried off discontented _engagés_ both from the plantations
+and the ajoupas. The following story illustrates the social relations of
+the Buccaneer master and his servant.
+
+A Buccaneer one day, seeing that his apprentice, newly arrived from
+France, could not keep up with him, turned round and struck him over the
+head with the lock of his musket. The youth fell, stunned, to the
+ground; and the hunter, thinking he was dead, stripped him of his arms,
+and left his body where it had fallen and weltering in the blood flowing
+from the wound. On his return to his hut, afraid to disclose the truth,
+he told his companions that the lad, who had always skulked work, had at
+last _marooned_ (a Spanish word applied to runaway negroes). A few
+curses were heaped upon him, and no more was thought about his
+disappearance.
+
+Soon after the master was out of sight the lad had recovered his senses,
+arisen, pale and weak, and attempted to return to the tents.
+Unaccustomed to the woods, he lost his way, got off the right track, and
+finally gave himself up as doomed to certain death. For some days he
+remained wandering round and round the same spot, without either
+recovering the path or being able to reach the shore. Hunger did not at
+first press him, for he ate the meat with which his master had loaded
+him, and ate it raw, not knowing the Indian manner of procuring fire,
+and his knives being taken from his belt. Ignorant of what fruits were
+safe to eat, where animals fit for food were to be found, and not
+knowing how to kill them unarmed, he prepared his mind for the dreadful
+and lingering torture of starvation. But he seems to have been of an
+ingenious and persevering disposition, and hope did not altogether
+forsake him. He had too a companion, for one of his master's dogs,
+which had grown fond of his playmate, had remained behind with his body,
+licking the hand that had so often fed him.
+
+At first he spent whole days vainly searching for a path. Very often he
+climbed up a hill, from which he could see the great, blue, level sea,
+stretching out boundless to the horizon, and this renewed his hope. He
+looked up, and knew that God's sky was above him, and felt that he might
+be still saved. At night he was startled by the screams of the monkeys,
+the bellowing of the wild cattle in the distant savannah, or the
+unearthly cry of some solitary and unknown bird. Superstition filled him
+with fears, and he felt deserted by man, but tormented by the things of
+evil. The tracks of the wild cattle led him far astray. Long ere this
+his faithful dog, driven by hunger, had procured food for both.
+Sometimes beneath the spreading boughs of the river-loving yaco-tree,
+they would surprise a basking sow, surrounded by a wandering brood of
+voracious sucklings. The dog would cling to the sow, while the boy
+aided him in the pursuit of the errant progeny. When they had killed
+their prey, they would lie down and share their meal together. The boy
+learned to like the raw meat, and the dog had acquired his appetite long
+before. Experience soon taught them where to capture their prey in the
+quickest and surest manner. He caught the puppies of a wild dog, and
+trained them in the chase; and he even taught a young wild boar that he
+had caught alive to join in the capture of his own species. After having
+led this life for nearly a year, he one day suddenly came upon the
+long-lost path, which soon brought him to the sea-shore. His master's
+tents were gone, and, from various appearances, seemed to have been long
+struck.
+
+The lad, now grown accustomed to his wild life, resigned himself to his
+condition, feeling sure that, sooner or later, he should meet with a
+party of Buccaneers. His deliverance was not long delayed. After about
+twelve months' life in the bush, he fell in with a troop of skinners, to
+whom he related his story. They were at first distrustful and alarmed,
+as his master had told them that he had _marooned_, and had joined the
+Indians. His appearance soon convinced them that his story was true, and
+that he was neither a _maroon_ nor a deserter, for he was clothed in the
+rags of his _engagé's_ shirt and drawers, and had a strip of raw meat
+hanging from his girdle. Two tame boars and three dogs followed at his
+heels, and refused to leave him. He at once joined his deliverers, who
+freed him from all obligations to his master, and gave him arms, powder,
+and lead to hunt for himself, and he soon became one of the most
+renowned Buccaneers on that coast. It was a long time before he could
+eat roasted meat, which not only was distasteful, but made him ill. Long
+after, when flaying a wild boar, he was frequently unable to restrain
+himself from eating the flesh raw.
+
+When an apprentice had served three years, his master was expected to
+give him as a reward a musket, a pound of powder, six pounds of lead,
+two shirts, two pairs of drawers, and a cap. The _valets_, as the French
+called them, then became comerades, and ceased to be mere _engagés_.
+They took their own _matelots_, and became, in their turn, Buccaneers.
+When they had obtained a sufficient quantity of hides, they either sent
+or took them to Tortuga, and brought from thence a young apprentice to
+treat him as they themselves had been treated.
+
+The planters' _engagés_ led a life more dreadful than that of their
+wilder brethren. They were decoyed from France under the same pretences
+that once filled our streets with the peasants' sons of Savoy, and the
+peasants' daughters from Frankfort, or that now lure children from the
+pleasant borders of Como, to pine away in a London den. The want of
+sufficient negroes led men to resort to all artifices to obtain
+assistance in cultivating the sugar-cane and the tobacco plant. In the
+French Antilles they were sold for three years, but often resold in the
+interim. Amongst the English they were bound for seven years, and being
+occasionally sold again at their own request, before the expiration of
+this term, they sometimes served fifteen or twenty years before they
+could obtain their freedom. At Jamaica, if a man could not pay even a
+small debt at a tavern, he was sold for six or eight months. The
+planters had agents in France, England, and other countries, who sent
+out these apprentices. They were worked much harder than the slaves,
+because their lives, after the expiration of the three years, were of no
+consequence to the masters. They were often the victims of a disease
+called "coma," the effect of hard usage and climate, and which ended in
+idiotcy. Pčre Labat remarks the quantity of idiots in the West Indies,
+many of whom were dangerous, although allowed to go at liberty. Many of
+these worse than slaves were of good birth, tender education, and weak
+constitutions, unable to endure even the debilitating climate, and much
+less hard labour. Esquemeling, himself originally an _engagé_, gives a
+most piteous description of their sufferings. Insufficient food and
+rest, he says, were the smallest of their sufferings. They were
+frequently beaten, and often fell dead at their masters' feet. The men
+thus treated died fast: some became dropsical, and others scorbutic. A
+man named Bettesea, a merchant of St. Christopher's, was said to have
+killed more than a hundred apprentices with blows and stripes. "This
+inhumanity," says Esquemeling, "I have _often seen_ with great grief."
+The following anecdote of human suffering equals the cruelty of the
+Virginian slave owner who threw one slave into the vat of boiling
+molasses, and baked another in an oven:--
+
+"A certain planter (of St. Domingo) exercised such cruelty towards one
+of his servants as caused him to run away. Having absconded for some
+days in the woods, he was at last taken, and brought back to the wicked
+Pharaoh. No sooner had he got him but he commanded him to be tied to a
+tree; here he gave him so many lashes on his naked back as made his body
+run with an entire stream of blood; then, to make the smart of his
+wounds the greater, he anointed him with lemon-juice, mixed with salt
+and pepper. In this miserable posture he left him tied to the tree for
+twenty-four hours, which being past, he began his punishment again,
+lashing him as before, so cruelly, that the miserable creature gave up
+the ghost, with these dying words, 'I beseech the Almighty God, Creator
+of heaven and earth, that He permit the wicked spirit to make thee feel
+as many torments before thy death as thou hast caused me to feel before
+mine.'
+
+"A strange thing, and worthy of astonishment and admiration: scarce
+three or four days were past, after this horrible fact, when the
+Almighty Judge, who had heard the cries of that tormented wretch,
+suffered the evil one suddenly to possess this barbarous and inhuman
+homicide, so that those cruel hands which had punished to death the
+innocent servant were the tormentors of his own body, for he beat
+himself and tore his flesh after a miserable manner, till he lost the
+very shape of a man, not ceasing to howl and cry without any rest by day
+or night. Thus he continued raving till he died."
+
+It was by the endurance of such sufferings as these that the early
+Buccaneers were hardened into fanatical monsters like Montbars and
+Lolonnois.
+
+In the early part of his book, Esquemeling gives us his own history. A
+Dutchman by birth, he arrived at Tortuga in 1680, when the French West
+India Company, unable to turn the island into a depôt, as they had
+intended, were selling off their merchandise and their plantations.
+Esquemeling, as a bound _engagé_ of the company, was sold to the
+lieutenant-governor of the island, who treated him with great severity,
+and refused to take less than three hundred pieces of eight for his
+freedom. Falling sick through vexation and despair, he was sold to a
+chirurgeon, for seventy pieces of eight, who proved kind to him, and
+finally gave him his liberty for 100 pieces of eight, to be paid after
+his first Flibustier trip.
+
+Oexmelin was probably sold almost at the same time as Esquemeling, and
+was bought by the commandant-general. Not allowed to pursue his own
+profession of a surgeon, he was employed in the most laborious and
+painful work, transplanting tobacco, or thinning the young plants,
+grating cassava, or pressing the juice from the banana. Overworked and
+under fed, associating with slaves, and regarded with hatred and
+suspicion, he scarcely received money enough to procure either food or
+clothing; his master refusing, even for the inducement of two crowns
+a-day, to allow him to practise as physician. A single year of toil at
+the plantations threw him into dangerous ill health; for weeks sheltered
+only under an outhouse, he was kept alive by the kindness of a black
+slave, who brought him daily an egg. Feeble as he was, the great thirst
+of a tropical fever compelled him often to rise and drag himself to a
+neighbouring tank, that he might drink, even though to drink were to
+die. Recovering from this fever, a wolfish hunger was the first sign of
+convalescence, but to appease this he had neither food, nor money to buy
+it. In this condition he devoured even unripe oranges, green, hard, and
+bitter, and resorted to other extremities which he is ashamed to
+confess. On one occasion as he was descending from the rock fort, where
+his master lived, into the town, he met a friend, the secretary of the
+governor, who made him come and dine with him, and gave him a parting
+present of a bottle of wine; his master, who had seen what had passed,
+by means of a telescope, from his place of vantage, when he returned,
+took away the wine, and threw him into a dungeon, accusing him of being
+a spy and a traitor. This prison was a cellar, hollowed out of the rock,
+full of filth and very dark. In this he swore Oexmelin should rot in
+spite of all the governors in the world. Here he was kept for three
+days, his feet in irons, fed only by a little bread and water that they
+passed to him through an aperture, without even opening the door. One
+day, as he lay naked on the stone, and in the dark, he felt a snake
+twine itself, cold and slimy, round his body, tightening the folds till
+they grew painful, and then sliding off to its hole. On the fourth day
+they opened the door and tried to discover if he had told the governor
+anything of his master's cruelties; they then set him to dig a plot of
+ground near the Fort. Finding himself left unguarded, he resolved to go
+and complain to the governor, having first consulted a good old
+Capuchin, who took compassion on his pale and famished aspect. The
+governor instantly took pity on the wretched runaway, fed and clothed
+him, and on his recovery to health placed him with a celebrated surgeon
+of the place, who paid his value to his master; the governor being
+unwilling to take him into his own service, for fear he should be
+accused to the home authorities of taking away slaves from the planters.
+
+The _engagés_ were called to their work at daybreak by a shrill whistle
+(as the negroes are now by the hoarse conch shell); and the foreman,
+allowing any who liked to smoke, led them to their work. This consisted
+in felling trees and in picking or lopping tobacco; the driver stood by
+them as they dug or picked, and struck those who slackened or rested, as
+a captain would do to his galley slaves. Whether sick or well they were
+equally obliged to work. They were frequently employed in picking mahot,
+a sort of bark used to tie up bales. If they died of fatigue they were
+quietly buried, and there an end. Early in the morning one of the band
+had to feed the pigs with potato leaves, and prepare his comerades'
+dinner. They boiled their meat, putting peas and chopped potatoes into
+the water. The cook worked with the gang, but returned a little sooner
+to prepare his messmates' dinner, while they were stripping the tobacco
+stalk. On feast-days and Sundays they had some indulgences. Oexmelin
+relates an instance of a sick slave being employed to turn a grindstone
+on which his master was sharpening his axe; being too weak to do it
+well, the butcher turned round and clove him down between the shoulders.
+The slave fell down, bleeding profusely, and died within two hours; yet
+this master was one of a body of planters deemed very indulgent in
+comparison to those of some other islands. One planter of St.
+Christopher, named Belle Tęte, who came from Dieppe, prided himself on
+having killed 200 _engagés_ who would not work, all of whom, he
+declared, died of sheer laziness. When they were in the last
+extremities he was in the habit of rubbing their mouths with the yolk of
+an egg, in order that he might conscientiously swear he had pressed them
+to take food till the very last. Upon a priest one day remonstrating
+with him on his brutality, he replied, with perfect effrontery, that he
+had once been a bound _engagé_, and had never been treated better; that
+he had come all the way to that shore to get money, and provided he
+could get it and see his children roll in a coach, he did not care
+himself if the devil carried him off.
+
+The following anecdote shows what strange modifications of crime this
+species of slavery might occasionally produce. There was a rich
+inhabitant of Guadaloupe, whose father became so poor that he was
+obliged to sell himself as an _engagé_, and by a singular coincidence
+sold himself to a merchant who happened to be his son's agent. The poor
+fellow, finding himself his son's servant, thought himself well off, but
+soon found that he was treated as brutally as the rest. The son,
+finding the father was old and discontented, and therefore unable to do
+much work, and afraid to beat him for the sake of the scandal, sold him
+soon after to another planter, who treated him better, gave him more to
+eat, and eventually restored him to liberty. Of the ten thousand Scotch
+and Irish whom Cromwell sent to the West Indies, many became _engagés_,
+and finally Buccaneers. Many of the old Puritan soldiers, who had served
+in the same wars, were enrolled in the same ranks.
+
+The same principle of brotherhood applied to the planters as to the
+ordinary Buccaneers. They called each other _matelots_, and, before
+living together, signed a contract by which they agreed to share
+everything in common. Each had the power to dispose of his companion's
+money and goods, and an agreement signed by one bound the other also. If
+the one died, the survivor became the inheritor of the whole, in
+preference even to heirs who might come from Europe to claim the share
+or attempt to set up a claim. The engagement could be broken up whenever
+either wished it, and was often cancelled in a moment of petulance or
+of transitory vexation. A third person was sometimes admitted into the
+brotherhood on the same conditions. By this singular custom, friendships
+were formed as firm as those between a Highlander and his
+foster-brother, a Canadian trapper and his comerade, or an English
+sailor and his messmate.
+
+The _matelotage_, or _compagnon ŕ bon lot_, being thus formed, the two
+planters would go to the governor of the island and request a grant of
+land. The officer of the district was then sent to measure out what they
+required, of a specified size in a specified spot. The usual grant was a
+plot, two hundred feet wide and thirty feet long, as near as possible to
+the sea-shore, as being most convenient for the transport of goods, as
+well as for the ease of procuring salt water, which they used in
+preparing the tobacco leaf. When the sea-shore was covered with cabins
+the planters built their huts higher up and four deep, those nearest to
+the beach being obliged to allow a roadway to those who were the
+furthest back. Their lodges, or _ajoupas_, were raised upon ground
+cleared from wood, the thicket being first burnt with the lower branches
+of the larger trees. The trunks, too large to remove, were cut down to
+within two or three feet of the earth, and allowed to dry and rot for
+several summers, and finally also consumed by fire. The savages, on the
+other hand, cut down all the trees, let them dry as they fell, and then,
+setting the whole alight, reduced it at once to ashes, without any
+clearing, lopping, or piling. When about thirty or forty feet of ground
+was thus cleared, they began to plant vegetables and cultivate the
+ground--peas, potatoes, manioc, banana, and figs being the daily
+necessaries of their lives. The banana they planted near rivers, no
+planter residing in a place where there was not some well or spring.
+Their _casa_, or chief lodge, was supported by posts fifteen or sixteen
+feet high, thatched with palm branches, rushes, or sugar-canes, and
+walled either with reeds or palisades. Inside, they had _barbecues_, or
+forms rising two or three feet from the ground, upon which lay their
+mattresses stuffed with banana leaves, and above it the mosquito net of
+thin white linen, which they called a _pavillon_. A smaller lodge served
+for cooking or for warehousing. Friends and neighbours always assisted
+in building these cabins, and were treated in return with brandy by the
+planter. The laws of the society obliged the settlers to help each
+other, and this kindness was never refused. The same system of mutual
+support originated the Scotch penny weddings and the English friendly
+custom of ploughing a young farmer's fields.
+
+Now the _ajoupa_ was built, the tobacco ground had to be dug. An
+enclosure of two thousand plants required much care, and was obliged to
+be kept clean and free from weeds. They had to be lopped, and
+transplanted, and irrigated, and finally picked and stored. The people
+of Tortuga, the Buccaneers' island, exchanged their tobacco with the
+French merchants for hatchets, hoes, knives, sacking, and above all for
+wine and brandy.
+
+From potatoes, which the planters ate for breakfast, they extracted
+maize, a sour but pleasant beverage. The cassava root they grated for
+cakes, making a liquor called _veycon_ of the residue. From the banana
+they also extracted an intoxicating drink.
+
+With the wild boar hunters they exchanged tobacco leaf for dried meat,
+often paying away at one time two or three hundred weight of tobacco,
+and frequently sending a servant of their own to the savannahs to help
+the hunter and to supply him with powder and shot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.
+
+    Originated in the Spanish persecution of French
+    Hunters--Customs--Pay and Pensions--The Mosquito Indians, their
+    Habits--Food--Lewis Scott, an Englishman, first Corsair--John Davis:
+    takes St. Francisco, in Campeachy--Debauchery--Love of
+    Gaming--Religion--Class from which they sprang--Equality at
+    Sea--Mode of Fighting--Dress.
+
+
+The Flibustiers first began by associating together in bands of from
+fifteen to twenty men. Each of them carried the Buccaneer musket,
+holding a ball of sixteen to the pound, and had generally pistols at his
+belt, holding bullets of twenty or twenty-four to the pound, and besides
+this they wore a good sabre or cutlass. When collected at some
+preconcerted rendezvous, generally a key or small island off Cuba, they
+elected a captain, and embarked in a canoe, hollowed out of the trunk of
+a single tree in the Indian manner. This canoe was either bought by the
+association or the captain. If the latter, they agreed to give him the
+first ship they should take. As soon as they had all signed the
+charter-party, or mutual agreement, they started for the destined port
+off which they were to cruise. The first Spanish vessel they took served
+to repay the captain and recompense themselves. They dressed themselves
+in the rich robes of Castilian grandees over their own blooded shirts,
+and sat down to revel in the gilded saloon of the galleon. If they found
+their prize not seaworthy, they would take her to some small sand island
+and careen, while the crew helped the Indians to turn turtle, and to
+procure bull's flesh. The Spanish crew they kept to assist in careening,
+for they never worked themselves, but fought and hunted while the
+unfortunate prisoners were toiling round the fire where the pitch
+boiled, or the turtle was stewing. The Flibustiers divided the spoil as
+soon as each one had taken an oath that nothing had been secreted. When
+the ship was ready for sea, they let the Spaniards go, and kept only the
+slaves. If there were no negroes or Indians, they retained a few
+Spaniards to wait upon them. If the prisoners were men of consequence,
+they detained them till they could obtain a ransom. Every Flibustier
+brought a certain supply of powder and ball for the common stock. Before
+starting on an expedition it was a common thing to plunder a Spanish
+hog-yard, where a thousand swine were often collected, surrounding the
+keeper's lodge at night, and shooting him if he made any resistance. The
+tortoise fishermen were often forced to fish for them gratuitously,
+although nearly every ship had its Mosquito Indian to strike turtle and
+sea-cow, and to fish for the whole boat's crew. "No prey, no pay," was
+the Buccaneers' motto. The charter-party specified the salary of the
+captain, surgeon, and carpenter, and allowed 200 pieces of eight for
+victualling. The boys had but half a share, although it was either
+their duty or the surgeon's, when the rest had boarded, to remain behind
+to fire the former vessel, and then retire to the prize.
+
+The Buccaneer code, worthy of Napoleon or Justinian, was equal to the
+statutes of any land, insomuch as it answered the want of those for whom
+it was compiled, and seldom required either revision or enlargement. It
+was never appealed from, and was seldom found to be unjust or severe.
+
+The captain was allowed five or six shares, the master's mate only two,
+and the other officers in proportion, down to the lowest mariner. All
+acts of special bravery or merit were rewarded by special grants. The
+man who first caught sight of a prize received a hundred crowns. The
+sailor who struck down the enemy's captain, and the first boarder who
+reached the enemy's deck, were also distinguished by honours. The
+surgeon, always a great man among a crew whose lives so often depended
+on his skill, received 200 crowns to supply his medicine chest. If they
+took a prize, he had a share like the rest. If they had no money to
+give him, he was rewarded with two slaves.
+
+The loss of an eye was recompensed at 100 crowns, or one slave.
+
+The loss of both eyes with 600 crowns, or six slaves.
+
+The loss of a right hand or right leg at 200 crowns, or two slaves.
+
+The loss of both hands or legs at 600 crowns, or six slaves.
+
+The loss of a finger or toe at 100 crowns, or one slave.
+
+The loss of a foot or leg at 200 crowns, or two slaves.
+
+The loss of both legs at 600 crowns, or six slaves.
+
+Nothing but death seems to have been considered as worth recompensing
+with more than 600 crowns. For any wound, which compelled a sailor to
+carry a _canulus_, 200 crowns were given, or two slaves. If a man had
+not even lost a member, but was for the present deprived of the use of
+it, he was still entitled to his compensation as much as if he had lost
+it altogether. The maimed were allowed to take either money or slaves.
+
+The charter-party drawn up by Sir Henry Morgan before his famous
+expedition, which ended in the plunder and destruction of Panama, shows
+several modifications of the earlier contract.
+
+To him who struck the enemy's flag, and planted the Buccaneers', fifty
+piastres, besides his share.
+
+To him who took a prisoner who brought tidings, 100 piastres, besides
+his share.
+
+For every grenade thrown into an enemy's port-hole, five piastres.
+
+To him who took an officer of rank at the risk of his life,
+proportionate reward.
+
+To him who lost two legs, 500 crowns, or fifteen slaves.
+
+To him who lost two arms, 800 piastres, or eighteen slaves.
+
+To him who lost one leg or one arm, 500 piastres, or six slaves.
+
+To him who lost an eye, 100 piastres, or one slave.
+
+For both eyes, 200 piastres, or two slaves.
+
+For the loss of a finger, 100 piastres, or one slave. A Flibustier who
+had a limb crippled, received the same pay as if it was lost. A wound
+requiring an issue, was recompensed with 500 piastres, or five slaves.
+These shares were all allotted before the general division. If a vessel
+was taken at sea, its cargo was divided among the whole fleet, but the
+crew first boarding it received 100 crowns, if its value exceeded 10,000
+crowns, and for every 10,000 crowns' worth of cargo, 100 went to the men
+that boarded. The surgeon received 200 piastres, besides his share.
+
+The Mosquito Indians were the helots of the Buccaneers; they employed
+them to catch fish, and their vessels had generally a small canoe, kept
+for their use, in which they might strike tortoise or manitee. These
+Indians used no oars, but a pair of broad-bladed paddles, which they
+held perpendicularly, grasping the staff with both hands and putting
+back the water by sheer strength, and with very quick, short strokes.
+Two men generally went in the same boat, the one sitting in the stern,
+the other kneeling down in the head. They both paddled softly till they
+approached the spot where their prey lay; they then remained still,
+looking very warily about them, and the one at the head then rose up,
+with his striking-staff in his hand. This weapon was about eight feet
+long, almost as thick as a man's arm at the larger end, at which there
+was a hole into which the harpoon was put; at the other extremity was
+placed a piece of light (bob) wood, with a hole in it, through which the
+small end of the staff came. On this bob wood a line of ten or twelve
+fathoms was neatly wound--the end of the one line being fastened to the
+wood, and the other to the harpoon, the man keeping about a fathom of it
+loose in his hand. When he struck, the harpoon came off the shaft, and,
+as the wounded fish swam away, the line ran off from the reel. Although
+the bob and line were frequently dragged deep under water, and often
+caught round coral branches or sunk wreck, it generally rose to the
+surface of the water. The Indians struggled to recover the bob, which
+they were accustomed to do in about a quarter of an hour.
+
+When the sea-cow grew tired and began to lie still, they drew in the
+line, and the monster, feeling the harpoon a second time, would often
+make a maddened rush at the canoe. It then became necessary that the
+steersman should be nimble in turning the head of the canoe the way his
+companion pointed, as he alone was able to see and feel the way the
+manitee was swimming. Directly the fish grew tired, they hauled in the
+line, which the vexed creature drew out again a dozen times with
+ferocious but impotent speed. When its strength grew quite exhausted,
+they would drag it up the side of their boat and knock it on the head,
+or, pulling it to the shore, made it fast while they went out to strike
+another. From the great size of a sea-cow it was always necessary to go
+to shore in order to get it safely into their boats; hauling it up in
+shoal water, they upset their canoes, and then rolling the fish in
+righted again with the weight. The Indians sometimes paddled one home,
+and towed the other after them. Dampierre says he knew two Indians, who
+every day for a week brought two manitee on board his ship, the least
+not weighing less than six hundred pounds, and yet in so small a canoe
+that three Englishmen could row it.
+
+If the fishermen struck a sea-cow that had a calf they generally
+captured both--the mother carrying the young under her side fins, and
+always regarding their safety before her own; the young, moreover, would
+seldom desert their mother, and would follow the canoe in spite of noise
+and blows. The least sound startled the manitee, but the turtles
+required less care. These fish had certain islands near Cuba which they
+chose to lay their eggs in. At certain seasons they came from the gulf
+of Honduras in such vast multitudes, that ships, which had lost their
+latitude, very often steered at night, following the sound of these
+clattering shoals. When they had been about a month in the Caribbean sea
+they grew fat, and the fishing commenced. Salt turtle was the
+Buccaneers' healthiest food, and was supposed to free them from all the
+ailments of debauchery. The Indians struck the turtle with a short,
+sharp, triangular-headed iron, not more than an inch long, which fitted
+into a spear handle. The lance head was loose and had the usual line
+attached. Their lines they made of the fibrous bark of a tree, which
+they also used for their rigging.
+
+The manitee, or sea-cow, was a favourite article of food with these
+wandering seamen. It was a monster as big as a horse, and as unwieldy as
+a walrus, with eyes not much larger than peas, and a head like a cow.
+Its flesh was white, sweet, and wholesome. The tail of a young fish was
+a dainty, and a young sucking-calf, roasted, was an epicure's morsel.
+The head and tail of older animals were tough, yet the belly was
+frequently eaten.
+
+Dampierre speaks of his companions feasting on pork and peas, and beef
+and dough-boys, and this nautical coarseness was generally found
+associated with occasional tropical luxuriousness. In cases of
+necessity, wrecked sailors fed on sharks, which they first boiled and
+then squeezed dry, and stewed with pepper and vinegar. The oil of turtle
+they used instead of butter for their dumplings. The best turtle were
+said to be those that fed on land; those that lived on sea-weed, and
+not on grass, being yellow and rank. The larger fish needed two men to
+turn them on their backs. The Flibustiers also ate the iguanas, or large
+South American lizards. Vast flocks of doves were found in many of the
+islands, sometimes in such abundance that a sailor could knock down five
+or six dozen of an afternoon.
+
+The Buccaneers' history is a singular example of how evil generates
+evil. The Spaniards destroyed the wild cattle, and the hunters turned
+freebooters. Spain discontinued trading to prevent piracy, and the
+adventurers, starved for want of gold, made descents upon the mainland.
+The evil grew by degrees till the worm they had at first trod upon arose
+in their path an indestructible and devastating monster of a hundred
+heads. First single ships, then fleets, were swept off by these locusts
+of the deep; first, islands were burnt, then villages sacked, and at
+last cities conquered. First the North and then the South Pacific were
+visited, till the whole coast from Panama to Cape Horn trembled at the
+very flutter of their flag. The first Flibustier, Lewis Scott, scared
+Campeachy with a few canoes. Grognet grappled the Lima fleet with a
+whole squadron of pirate craft. The Buccaneer spirit arose from revenge,
+and ended in robbery and murder. At first fierce but merciful, they grew
+rapacious, loathsome, and bloody. Their early chivalry forsook
+them--they sank into the enemies of God and all mankind, and the last
+refuse of them expired on the gallows of Jamaica, children of Cain,
+unpitied by any, their very courage despised, and their crimes detested.
+At their culminating point, united under the sway of one great mind,
+they might have formed a large empire in South America, or conquered it
+as tributaries to France or England. Always thirsty for gold, they were
+often chivalrous, generous, intrepid, merciful, and disinterested.
+
+A greater evil soon cured the lesser. The Spaniards, dreading robbery
+worse than death, ceased in a great measure to trade. The poorer
+merchants were ruined by the loss of a single cocoa vessel; the richer
+waited for the convoy of the plate fleets, or followed in the wake of
+the galleon, hoping to escape if she was captured, as the chickens do
+when the hen goes cackling up in the claws of the kite. For every four
+vessels that once sailed not more than one could be now seen. What with
+the war of France on Holland, and England on France, and all on Spain,
+there was little safety for the poor trader. Yet those who could risk a
+loss still made great profits. This cessation of trade was a poor remedy
+against the sea robber: it was to rob oneself instead of being robbed,
+to commit suicide for fear of murder. It was a remedy that saved life,
+but rendered life hateful. The Buccaneers, starving for want of prey,
+remained moodily in the rocky fastnesses of Tortuga, like famished
+eagles looking down on a country they have devastated. To accomplish
+greater feats they united in bodies, and made forays on the coast. They
+had before remained at the threshold--they now rushed headlong into the
+sanctuary, and they got _their_ bread, or rather other people's bread,
+by daring dashes and surprises of towns, leaving them only when wrapped
+in flames or swept by the pestilence that always followed in their
+train.
+
+We may claim for our own nation the first pioneer in this new field of
+enterprise. Lewis Scott, an Englishman, led the way by sacking the town
+of St. Francisco, in Campeachy, and, compelling the inhabitants to pay a
+ransom, returned safely to Jamaica. Where the carcase is there will the
+eagles be gathered together, for no sooner had his sails grown small in
+the distance than Mansweld, another Buccaneer, made several successful
+descents upon the same luckless coast, unfortunate in its very
+fertility. He then equipped a fleet and attempted to return by the
+kingdom of New Granada to the South Sea, passing the town of Carthagena.
+This scheme failed in consequence of a dispute arising between the
+French and English crews, who were always quarrelling over their
+respective share of provisions; but in spite of this he took the island
+of St. Catherine, and attempted to found a Buccaneer state.
+
+John Davis, a Dutchman, excelled both his predecessors in daring.
+Cruising about Jamaica he became a scourge to all the Spanish mariners
+who ventured near the coasts of the Caraccas, or his favourite haunts,
+Carthagena and the Boca del Toro, where he lay wait for vessels bound to
+Nicaragua. One day he missed his shot, and having a long time traversed
+the sea and taken nothing--a failure which generally drove these brave
+men to some desperate expedient to repair their sinking fortunes--he
+resolved with ninety men to visit the lagoon of Nicaragua, and sack the
+town of Granada. An Indian from the shores of the lagoon promised to
+guide him safely and secretly; and his crew, with one voice, declared
+themselves ready to follow him wherever he led. By night he rowed thirty
+leagues up the river, to the entry of the lake, and concealed his ships
+under the boughs of the trees that grew upon the banks; then putting
+eighty men in his three canoes he rowed on to the town, leaving ten
+sailors to guard the vessels. By day they hid under the trees; at night
+they pushed on towards the unsuspecting town, and reached it on the
+third midnight--taking it, as he had expected, without a blow and by
+surprise. To a sentinel's challenge they replied that they were
+fishermen returning home, and two of the crew, leaping on shore, ran
+their swords through the interrogator, to stop further questions which
+might have been less easily answered. Following their guide they reached
+a small covered way that led to the right of the town, while another
+Indian towed their canoes to a point to which they had agreed each man
+should bring his booty.
+
+As soon as they arrived at the town they separated into small bands, and
+were led one by one to the houses of the richest inhabitants. Here they
+quietly knocked, and, being admitted as friends, seized the inmates by
+the throat and compelled them, on pain of death, to surrender all the
+money and jewels that they had. They then roused the sacristans of the
+principal churches, from whom they took the keys and carried off all the
+altar plate that could be beaten up or rendered portable. The pixes
+they stripped of their gems, gouged out the jewelled eyes of virgin
+idols, and hammered up the sacramental cups into convenient lumps of
+metal.
+
+This quiet and undisturbed pillage had lasted for two hours without a
+struggle, when some servants, escaping from the adventurers, began to
+ring the alarm bells to warn the town, while a few of the already
+plundered citizens, breaking into the marketplace, filled the streets
+with uproar and affright. Davis, seeing that the inhabitants were
+beginning to rally from that panic which had alone secured his victory,
+commenced a retreat, as the enemy were now gathering in armed and
+threatening numbers. In a hollow square, with their booty in the centre,
+the Buccaneers fought their way to their boats, amid tumultuous
+war-cries and shouts of derision and exultation. In spite of their
+haste, they were prudent enough to carry with them some rich Spaniards,
+intending to exchange them for any of their own men they might lose in
+their retreat. On regaining their ships they compelled these prisoners
+to send them as a ransom 500 cows, with which they revictualled their
+ships for the passage back to Jamaica. They had scarcely well weighed
+anchor before they saw 600 mounted Spaniards dash down to the shore in
+the hopes of arresting their retreat. A few broadsides were the parting
+greetings of these unwelcome visitors.
+
+This expedition was accomplished in eight days. The booty consisted of
+coined money and bullion amounting to about 40,000 crowns. Esquemeling
+computes it at 4,000 pieces of eight, and in ready money, plate, and
+jewels to about 50,000 pieces of eight more.
+
+Thus concluded this adventurous raid, in which a town forty leagues
+inland, and containing at least 800 well-armed defenders, was stormed
+and robbed by eighty resolute sailors. Davis reached Jamaica in safety
+with his plunder, which was soon put into wider circulation by the aid
+of the dice, the tavern keepers, and the courtesans. The money once
+expended, Davis was roused to fresh exertion. He associated himself with
+two or three other captains, who, superstitiously relying on his good
+fortune, chose him as admiral of a small flotilla of eight or nine armed
+gunboats. The less fortunate rewarded him with boundless confidence. His
+first excursion was to the town of St. Christopher, in Cuba, to wait for
+the fleet from New Spain, in hopes to cut off some rich unwieldy
+straggler. But the fleet contrived to escape his sentinels and pass
+untouched. Davis then sallied forth and sacked a small town named St.
+Augustine of Florida, in spite of its castle and garrison of 100 men. He
+suffered little loss; but the inhabitants proved very poor, and the
+booty was small.
+
+In making war against Spain, the hunters were mere privateersmen
+cruising against a national enemy; but in their endurance, patience, and
+energy, they stood alone. In their onset--rushing, singing, and dancing
+through fire and flame--they resembled rather the old Barsekars or the
+first levies of Mohammed. But in one point they were very remarkable;
+that they did more, and were yet actuated by a lower motive. Almost
+devoid of religion, they fought with all the madness of fanaticism
+against a people themselves constitutionally fanatic, but already
+enervated by climate, by sudden wealth, and a long experience of
+contaminating luxury. The galleons of Manilla were their final aim, as
+they gradually passed from the devastated shores of South America to the
+Philippine Islands and the coasts of Guinea. They had been the
+instrument of Providence, and knew themselves so, to avenge the wrongs
+of the Indian upon the Spaniard; they were soon to become the first
+avengers of the Negro. Long years of plunder had made the Spaniard and
+the Creole as secretive as the Hindu. At the first intelligence of some
+terrified fisherman, the frightened townsman threw his pistoles into
+wells, or mortared them up in the wall of his fortresses. Laden mules
+were driven into the interior; the women fled to the nearest plantation;
+the old men barred themselves up in the church. Their first thought was
+always flight; their second, to turn and strike a blow for all they
+loved, valued, and revered.
+
+The debauchery of the Buccaneers was as unequalled as their courage.
+Oexmelin relates a story of an Englishman who gave 500 crowns to his
+mistress at a single revel. This man, who had earned 1,500 crowns by
+exposing himself to desperate dangers, was, within three months, sold
+for a term of three years to a planter, to discharge a tavern debt which
+he could not pay. A conqueror of Panama might be seen to-morrow driven
+by the overseer's whip among a gang of slaves, cutting sugar canes, or
+picking tobacco.
+
+Another Buccaneer, a Frenchman, surnamed Vent-en-Panne, was so addicted
+to play that he lost everything but his shirt. Every pistole that he
+could earn he spent in this absorbing vice--so tempting to men, who
+longed for excitement, were indifferent to money, and daily risked their
+lives for the prospect of gain. On one occasion he lost 500 crowns, his
+whole share of some recent prize-money, besides 300 crowns which he had
+borrowed of a comerade who would now lend him no more. Determined to try
+his fortune again, he hired himself as servant at the very
+gambling-house where he had been ruined, and, by lighting pipes for the
+players and bringing them in wine, earned fifty crowns in two days. He
+staked this, and soon won 12,000 crowns. He then paid his debts and
+resolved to lose no more, shipping himself on board an English vessel
+that touched at Barbadoes. At Barbadoes he met a rich Jew who offered to
+play him. Unable to abstain, he sat down, and won 1,300 crowns and
+100,000 lbs. of sugar already shipped for England, and, in addition to
+this, a large mill and sixty slaves. The Jew, begging him to stay and
+give him his revenge, ran and borrowed some money, and returned and took
+up the cards. The Buccaneer consented, more from love of play than
+generosity; and the Jew, putting down 1,500 jacobuses, won back 100
+crowns, and finally all his antagonist's previous winnings--stripping
+him even to the very clothes he wore. The delighted winner allowed him
+for very shame to retain his clothes, and gave him money enough to
+return, disconsolate and beggared, to Tortuga. Becoming again a
+Buccaneer, he gained 6,000 or 7,000 crowns. M. D'Ogeron, the governor,
+treating him as a wayward child, taking away his money, sent him back to
+France with bills of exchange for the amount. Vent-en-Panne, now cured
+of his vice, took to merchandise; but, always unfortunate, was killed in
+his first voyage to the West Indies, his vessel being attacked by two
+Ostende frigates, of twenty-four or thirty guns each, which were
+eventually, however, driven off by the dead man's crew of only thirty
+Buccaneers.
+
+When the pleasures of Tortuga or Jamaica had swallowed up all the
+hard-earned winnings of these men, they returned to sea, expending their
+last pistoles in powder and ball, and leaving heavy scores still
+unsettled with the cabaretiers. They then hastened to the quays, or
+small sandy islands off Cuba, to careen their vessels and to salt
+turtle. Sometimes they repaired to Honduras, where they had Indian
+wives; latterly, to the Galapagos isles, to the Boca del Toro, or the
+coast of Castilla del Oro.
+
+Some Buccaneers, Esquemeling says, would spend 3,000 piastres in a
+night, not leaving themselves even a shirt in the morning. "My own
+master," he adds, "would buy a whole pipe of wine, and, placing it in
+the street, would force every one that passed by to drink with him,
+threatening also to pistol them in case they would not do it. At other
+times he would do the same with barrels of ale or beer; and very often
+with both his hands he would throw these liquors about the street, and
+wet the clothes of such as walked by, without regard whether he spoiled
+their apparel or not, or whether they were men or women." Port Royal was
+a favourite scene for such carousals.
+
+Even as late as 1694, Montauban gives us some idea of the wild
+debaucheries committed by the Buccaneers even at Bourdeaux. "My
+freebooters," he says, "who had not seen France for a long time, finding
+themselves now in a great city where pleasure and plenty reigned, were
+not backward to refresh themselves after the fatigues they had endured
+while so long absent from their native country. They spent a world of
+money here, and proved horribly extravagant. The merchants and their
+hosts made no scruple to advance them money, or lend them as much as
+they pleased, upon the reputation of their wealth and the noise there
+was throughout the city of the valuable prizes whereof they had a share.
+All the nights they spent in such divertisements as pleased them best;
+and the days, in running up and down the town in masquerade, causing
+themselves to be carried in chairs with lighted flambeaux at noon--of
+which debauches some died, while four of my crew fairly deserted me."
+
+This, it must be remembered, was at a time when buccaneering had sunk
+into privateering--the half-way house to mere piracy. The distinguishing
+mark of the true Buccaneer was, that he attacked none but Spaniards.
+
+Of the Buccaneers' estimation of religion, Charlevoix gives us some
+curious accounts. He says, "there remained no traces of it in their
+heart, but still, sometimes, from time to time, they appeared to
+meditate deeply. They never commenced a combat without first embracing
+each other, in sign of reconciliation. They would at such times strike
+themselves rudely on the breast, as if they wished to rouse some
+compunction in their hearts, and were not able. Once escaped from
+danger, they returned headlong to their debauchery, blasphemy, and
+brigandage. The Buccaneers, looking upon themselves as worthy fellows,
+regarded the Flibustiers as wretches, but in reality there was not much
+difference. The Buccaneers were, perhaps, the less vicious, but the
+Flibustiers preserved a little more of the externals of religion; _with
+the exception of a certain honour among them, and their abstinence from
+human flesh, few savages were more wicked, and a great number of them
+much less so_."
+
+This passage shows a very curious jealousy between the hunters and the
+corsairs, and a singular distinction as to religious feeling. Pčre
+Labat, however, speaks of the Flibustiers as attending confession
+immediately after a sea-fight with most exemplary devotion. A more
+important distinction than that made by Charlevoix was that between the
+Protestant and Roman Catholic adventurers, the latter being as
+superstitious as the former were irreverent. Ravenau de Lussan always
+speaks with horror of the blasphemy and irreligion of his English
+comerades, one of whom was an old trooper of Cromwell's; and Grognet's
+fleet eventually separated from the English ships, on account of the
+latter crews lopping crucifixes with their sabres, and firing at images
+with their pistols. A Flibustier captain, named Daniel, shot one of his
+men in a Spanish church for behaving irreverently at mass; and Ringrose
+gives an instance of an English commander who threw the dice overboard,
+if he found his men gambling on a Sunday.
+
+We find Ravenau de Lussan's troop singing a _Te Deum_ after victories,
+and Oexmelin tells us that prayers were said daily on board Flibustier
+ships.
+
+It is difficult to say from what class of life either the Buccaneers or
+the Flibustiers sprang. The planters often became hunters, and the
+hunters sailors, and the reverse. Morgan was a Welsh farmer's son, who
+ran away to sea; Montauban, the son of a Gascon gentleman; D'Ogeron had
+been a captain in the French marines; Von Horn, a common sailor in an
+Ostende smack; Dampierre was a Somersetshire yeoman, and Esquemeling a
+Dutch planter's apprentice. Charlevoix says, "few could bear for many
+years a life so hard and laborious, and the greater part only continued
+in it till they could gain enough to become planters. Many, continually
+wasting their money, never earned sufficient to buy a plantation; others
+grew so accustomed to the life, and so fond even of its hardships and
+painful risks, that, though often heirs to good fortunes, they would not
+leave it to return to France."
+
+The life of M. D'Ogeron, the governor of Tortuga, is an example of
+another class of Buccaneers, and of the causes which led to the choice
+of such a profession. At fifteen, he was captain of a regiment of
+marines, and in 1656, joining a company intending to colonize the
+Matingo river, he embarked in a ship, fitted out at the expense of
+17,000 livres. Disappointed in this bubble, he tried to settle at
+Martinique, but deceived by the governor, who withdrew a grant of land,
+he determined to settle with the Buccaneers of St. Domingo. Embarking in
+a ricketty vessel, he ran ashore on Hispaniola, and lost all his
+merchandise and provisions. Giving his _engagés_ their liberty, he
+joined the hunters, and became distinguished as well for courage as
+virtue. His goods sent from France were sold at a loss, and he returned
+to his native country a poor man. Collecting his remaining money, he
+hired _engagés_, and loaded a vessel with wine and brandy. Finding the
+market glutted, he sold his cargo at a loss, and was cheated by his
+Jamaica agent. Returning again to France, he fitted out a third vessel,
+and finally settled as a planter in Hispaniola. At this juncture the
+French West India Company fixed their eyes upon him, and in 1665 made
+him governor of their colony.
+
+Ravenau de Lussan illustrates the motives that sometimes led the youth
+of the higher classes to turn Buccaneers. He commences his book with
+true French vanity, by saying, that few children of Paris, which
+contains so many of the wonders of the world (ten out of the eight, we
+suppose), seek their fortune abroad. From a child he was seized with a
+passionate disposition for travel, and would steal out of his father's
+house and play truant when he was yet scarce seven. He soon reached La
+Vilette and the suburbs, and by degrees learnt to lose sight of Paris.
+With this passion arose a desire for a military life. The noise of a
+drum in the street transported him with joy. He made a friend of an
+officer, and, offering him his sword, joined his company, and witnessed
+the siege of Condé, ending his campaign, still unwearied of his new form
+of life. He then became a cadet in a marine regiment. The captain
+drained him of all his money, and his father, at a great expense, bought
+him his discharge. Under the Count D'Avegeau he entered the French
+Guards, and fought at the siege of St. Guislain. Growing, on his return,
+weary of Paris, he embarked again on sea, having nothing but voyages in
+his head; the longest and most dangerous appearing to his imagination,
+he says, the most delightful. Travelling by land seemed to him long and
+difficult, and he once more chose the sea, deeming it only fit for a
+woman to remain at home ignorant of the world. His affectionate parents
+tried in vain to reason him out of this gadding humour, and finding him
+only grow firmer and more inflexible, they desisted.
+
+Not caring whither he went, so he could get to sea, he embarked in 1697
+from Dieppe for St. Domingo. Here he remained for five months _engagé_
+to a French planter, "more a Turk than a Frenchman." "But what misery,"
+he says, "soever I have undergone with him, I freely forgive him, being
+resolved to forget his name, which I shall not mention in this place,
+because the laws of Christianity require that at my hand, though as to
+matters of charity he is not to expect much of that in me, since he, on
+his part, has been every way defective in the exercise thereof upon my
+account." But his patience at last worn out, and weary of cruelties that
+seemed endless, De Lussan applied to M. de Franquesnay, the king's
+lieutenant, who himself gave him shelter in his house for six months. He
+was now in debt, and thinking it "honest to pay his creditors," he
+joined the freebooters in order to satisfy them, not willing to apply
+again for money to his parents. "These borrowings from the Spaniards,"
+he says, "have this advantage attending them, that there is no
+obligation to repay them," and there was war between the two crowns, so
+that he was a legal privateersman. Selecting a leader, De Lussan pitched
+on De Graff, as a brave corsair, who happened to be then at St. Domingo,
+eager to sail. Furnishing himself with arms, at the expense of
+Franquesnay, he joined De Graff. "We were," he says, "in a few hours
+satisfied with each other, and became such friends as those are wont to
+be who are about to run the same risk of fortune, and apparently to die
+together." The 22nd of November, the day he sailed from Petit Guave,
+seemed the happiest of his life.
+
+Dampierre mentions an old Buccaneer, who was slain at the taking of
+Leon. "He was," he says, "a stout, grey-headed old man, aged about
+eighty-four, who had served under Oliver Cromwell in the Irish
+rebellion; after which he was at Jamaica, and had followed privateering
+ever since. He would not accept the offer our men made him to tarry
+ashore, but said he would venture as far as the best of them; but when
+surrounded by the Spaniards he refused "to take quarter, but discharged
+his gun amongst them, keeping a pistol still charged; so they shot him
+dead at a distance. His name was Swan (_rara avis_). He was a very
+merry, hearty old man, and always used to declare he would never take
+quarter."
+
+When the adventurers were at sea, they lived together as a friendly
+brotherhood. Every morning at ten o'clock the ship's cook put the kettle
+on the fire to boil the salt beef for the crew, in fresh water if they
+had plenty, but if they ran short in brine; meal was boiled at the same
+time, and made into a thick porridge, which was mixed with the gravy and
+the fat of the meat. The whole was then served to the crew on large
+platters, seven men to a plate. If the captain or cook helped themselves
+to a larger share than their messmates, any of the republican crew had a
+right to change plates with them. But, notwithstanding this brotherly
+equality, and in spite of the captain being deposable by his crew, there
+was maintained at all moments of necessity the strictest discipline, and
+the most rigid subordination of rank. The crews had two meals a day.
+They always said grace before meat: the French Catholics singing the
+canticles of Zecharias, the Magnificat, or the Miserere; the English
+reading a chapter from the New Testament, or singing a psalm.
+
+Directly a vessel hove in sight, the Flibustiers gave chase. If it
+showed a Spanish flag, the guns were run out, and the decks cleared; the
+pikes lashed ready, and every man prepared his musket and powder, of
+which he alone was the guardian (and not the gunner), these articles
+being generally paid for from the common stock, unless provided by the
+captain.
+
+They first fell on their knees at their quarters (each group round its
+gun), to pray God that they might obtain both victory and plunder. Then
+all lay down flat on the deck, except the few left to steer and
+navigate--proceeding to board as soon as their musketeers had silenced
+the enemy's fire. If victorious, they put their prisoners on shore,
+attended to the wounded, and took stock of the booty. A third part of
+the crew went on board the prize, and a prize captain was chosen by lot.
+No excuse was allowed; and if illness prevented the man elected taking
+the office, his _matelot_, or companion, took his place.
+
+On arriving at Tortuga, they paid a commission to the governor, and
+before dividing the spoil, rewarded the captain, the surgeons, and the
+wounded. The whole crew then threw into a common heap all they possessed
+above the value of five sous, and took an oath on the New Testament,
+holding up their right hands, that they had kept nothing back. Any one
+detected in perjury was marooned, and his share either given to the
+rest, to the heirs of the dead, or as a bequest to some chapel. The
+jewels and merchandise were sold, and they divided the produce.
+
+"It was impossible," says Oexmelin, "to put any obstacle in the way of
+men who, animated simply by the hope of gain, were capable of such
+great enterprises, having _nothing but life_ to lose and all to win. It
+is true that they would not have persisted long in their expeditions if
+they had had neither boats nor provisions. For ships they never wanted,
+because they were in the habit of going out in small canoes and
+capturing the largest and best provisioned vessels. For harbours they
+could never want, because everybody fled before them, and they had but
+to appear to be victorious." This intelligent and animated writer
+concludes his book by expressing an opinion that a firm and organized
+resistance by Spain at the outset might have stopped the subsequent
+mischief; but this opinion he afterwards qualifies in the following
+words, which, coming from such a writer so well acquainted with those of
+whom he writes, speaks volumes in favour of Buccaneer prowess: "Je dis
+_peut-ętre_, car les aventuriers sont de terribles gens."
+
+Charlevoix describes the first Flibustiers as going out in canoes with
+twenty-five or thirty men, without pilot or provisions, to capture
+pearl-fishers and surprise small cruisers. If they succeeded, they went
+to Tortuga, bought a vessel, and started 150 strong, going to Cuba to
+take in salt turtle, or to Port Margot or Bayaha for dried pork or
+beef--dividing all upon the _compagnon ŕ bon lot_ principle. They always
+said public prayer before starting on an expedition, and returned solemn
+thanks to God for victory.
+
+"They were," says a Jesuit writer, "at first so crowded in their boats
+that they had scarcely room to lie down; and, as they practised no
+economy in eating, they were always short of food. They were also night
+and day exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and yet loved so much
+the independence in which they lived, that no one murmured. Some sang
+when others wished to sleep, and all were by turns compelled to bear
+these inconveniences without complaint. But one may imagine men so
+little at their ease spared no pains to gain more comforts; that the
+sight of a larger and more convenient vessel gave them courage
+sufficient to capture it; and that hunger deprived them of all sense of
+the danger of procuring food. They attacked all they met without a
+thought, and boarded as soon as possible. A single volley would have
+sunk their vessels; but they were skilful in manoeuvre, their sailors
+were very active, and they presented to the enemy nothing but a prow
+full of fusiliers, who, firing through the portholes, struck the gunners
+with terror. Once on board, nothing could prevent them becoming masters
+of a ship, however numerous the crew. The Spaniards' blood grew cold
+when those whom they called, and looked upon as, demons came in sight,
+and they frequently surrendered at once in order to obtain quarter. If
+the prize was rich their lives were spared; but if the cargo proved
+poor, the Buccaneers often threw the crew into the sea in revenge."
+
+Their favourite coasts were the Caraccas, Carthagena, Nicaragua, and
+Campeachy, where the ports were numerous and well frequented. Their best
+harbours at the Caraccas were Cumana, Canagote, Coro, and Maracaibo; at
+Carthagena, La Rancheria, St. Martha, and Portobello. Round Cuba they
+watched for vessels going from New Spain to Maracaibo. If going, they
+found them laden with silver; if returning, full of cocoa. The prizes to
+the Caraccas were laden with the lace and manufactures of Spain; those
+from Havannah, with leather, Campeachy wood, cocoa, tobacco, and Spanish
+coin.
+
+The dress of the Buccaneer sailors must have varied with the changes of
+the age. Retaining their red shirts and leather sandals as the working
+dress of their brotherhood, we find them donning all the splendour
+rummaged from Spanish cabins, now wearing the plumed hat and laced
+sword-belt of Charles the Second's reign, and now the tufts of ribbons
+of the perfumed court of Louis Quatorze. Sprung from all nations and all
+ranks, some of them prided themselves upon the rough beard, bare feet,
+and belted shirt of the rudest seaman, while others, like Grammont and
+De Graff, flaunted in the richest costumes of their period. They must
+have passed from the long cloak and loose cassock of the Stuart reign to
+the jack-boots and Dutch dress of William of Orange; from the laced and
+flowing Steenkirk to the fringed cock-hat and deep-flapped waistcoat of
+Queen Anne. In the English translation of Esquemeling, Barthelemy
+Portugues, one of the earliest sea-rovers, is represented as having his
+long, lank hair parted in the centre and falling on his shoulders, and
+his moustachios long and rough. He wears a plain embroidered coat with a
+neck-band, and carries in his arms a short, broad sabre, unsheathed, as
+was the habit with many Buccaneer chiefs. Roche Braziliano appears in a
+plain hunter's shirt, the strings tying it at the neck being fastened in
+a bow. Lolonnois has the same shirt, showing at his neck and puffing
+through the openings of his sleeve, and he carries a naked broadsword
+with a shell guard. In the portrait of Sir Henry Morgan we see much more
+affectation of aristocratic dress. He has a rich coat of Charles the
+Second's period, a laced cravat tied in a fringed bow with long ends,
+and his broad sword-belt is stiff with gold lace. The hunter's shirt,
+however, still shows through the slashed sleeves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+PETER THE GREAT, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.
+
+    Plunder of Segovia--Pierre-le-Grand--Pierre François--Barthelemy
+    Portugues--His Escapes--Roche, the Brazilian--Fanatical hatred of
+    Spaniards--Wrecks and Adventures.
+
+
+The date of the first organized Buccaneer expedition is uncertain. We
+only know that about the year 1654, a large party of Buccaneers, French
+and English, joined in an expedition to the continent. They ascended, in
+canoes, a river on the Mosquito Shore, a small distance on the south
+side of Cape Gracias ŕ Dios, and after labouring for a month against a
+strong stream, full of torrents, left their boats and marched to the
+town of Nueva Segovia, which they plundered, and then returned down the
+river.
+
+It is difficult to trace the exact beginning of the Flibustiers, or, as
+they were soon called, the Buccaneers. According to most writers, the
+first successful adventurer known at Tortuga was Pierre-le-Grand (Peter
+the Great). He was a native of Dieppe, and his greatest enterprise was
+the capture of the vice-admiral of the Spanish _flota_, while lying off
+Cape Tiburon, on the west side of Hispaniola. This he accomplished in a
+canoe with only twenty-eight companions. Setting out by the Carycos he
+surprised his unwieldy antagonist in the channel of Bahama, which the
+Spaniards had hitherto passed in perfect security. He had been now a
+long time at sea without obtaining any prize worth taking, his
+provisions were all but exhausted, and his men, in danger of starving,
+were almost reduced to despair. While hanging over the gunwale, listless
+and discontented, the Buccaneers suddenly spied a large vessel of the
+Spanish fleet, separated from the rest and fast approaching them. They
+instantly sailed towards her to ascertain her strength, and though they
+found it to be vastly superior to theirs, partly from despair and partly
+from cupidity they resolved at once to take it or die in the attempt. It
+was but to die a little quicker if they failed, and the blood in their
+veins might as well be shed in a moment as slowly stagnate with famine.
+If they did not conquer they would die, but if they did not attack, and
+escaped notice, they would also perish, and by the most painful and
+lingering of deaths. Being now come so near that flight was impossible,
+they took a solemn oath to their captain to stand by him to the last,
+and neither to flinch nor skulk, partly hoping that the enemy was
+insufficiently armed, and that they might still master her. It was in
+the dusk of the evening, and the coming darkness facilitated their
+boarding, and concealed the disadvantage of numbers. While they got
+their arms ready they ordered their chirurgeon to bore a hole in the
+sides of the boat, in order that the utter hopelessness of their
+situation might impel them to more daring self-devotion, that they
+might be forced to attack more vigorously and board more quickly. But
+their courage needed no such incitement. With no other arms than a sword
+in one hand and a pistol in the other, they immediately climbed up the
+sides of the Spaniard and made their way pell-mell to the state cabin.
+There they found the captain and his officers playing at cards. Setting
+a pistol to their breasts, they commanded them to deliver up the ship.
+The Spaniards, surprised to hear the Buccaneers below, not having seen
+them board, and seeing no boat by which they could have arrived (for the
+surgeon had now sunk it, and rejoined his friends through a porthole),
+cried out, in an agony of superstitious fear, "Jesu, bless us, these are
+devils!" thinking the men had fallen from the clouds, or had been shaken
+from some shooting star. In the mean time Peter's kinsfolk fought their
+way into the gunroom, seized the arms, killed a few sailors who snatched
+up swords, and drove the rest under hatches.
+
+That very morning some of the Spanish sailors had told their captain
+that a pirate boat was gaining upon them, but when he came up to see,
+and beheld so small a craft, he laughed at their fears of a mere cockle
+shell, and went down again, despising any vessel, though it were as big
+and strong as their own. Upon a second alarm, late in the day, when his
+lieutenant asked him if he should not get a cannon or two ready, he grew
+angry, and replied, "No, no, rig the crane out, and hoist the boat
+aboard." Peter, having taken this rich prize, detained as many of the
+Spanish seamen as he needed, and put the rest on shore in Hispaniola,
+which was close at hand. The vessel was full of provisions and great
+riches, and Pierre steered at once for France, never returning to resume
+a career so well begun.
+
+The news of this capture set Tortuga in an uproar. The planters and
+hunters of Hispaniola burned to follow up a profession so glorious and
+so profitable. It had been discovered now that a man's fortune could be
+made by one single scheme of daring and enterprise. Not being able to
+purchase or hire boats at Tortuga, they set forth in their canoes to
+seek them elsewhere. Some began cruising about Cape de Alvarez, carrying
+off small Spanish vessels that carried hides and tobacco to the
+Havannah. Returning with their prizes to Tortuga, they started again for
+Campeachy or New Spain, where they captured richer vessels of greater
+burden. In less than a month they had brought into harbour two plate
+vessels, bound from Campeachy to the Caraccas, and two other ships of
+great size. In two years no less than twenty Buccaneer vessels were
+equipped at Tortuga, and the Spaniards, finding their losses increase
+and transport becoming precarious, despatched two large men-of-war to
+defend the coast.
+
+The next scourge of the Spaniard in these seas was Pierre François, a
+native of Dunkirk, whose combinative, far-seeing genius and dauntless
+heart soon raised him above the level of the mere footpads of the ocean.
+His little brigantine, with a picked crew of twenty-six men--hunters by
+sea and land--cruised generally about the Cape de la Vela, waiting for
+merchant ships on their way from Maracaibo to Campeachy. Pierre had now
+been a long time afloat and taken no prize, the usual prelude to great
+enterprises amongst these men, who defied all dangers and all enemies.
+The provisions were running short, the boat was leaky, the captain moody
+and silent, and the crew half mutinous. To return empty-handed to
+Tortuga was to be a butt for every sneerer, a victim to unrelenting
+creditors; to the men beggary, to Pierre a loss of fame and all future
+promotion. But, there being a perfect equality in these boats, the crews
+seldom rose in open rebellion; and as every one had a voice in the
+proposal of a scheme, there was no one to rail at if the scheme failed.
+At last, amid this suspense, more tedious than a tropic calm, one more
+daring or more far-seeing than the rest stood up and suggested a visit
+to the pearl-fishings at the Rivičre de la Hache. History, always drowsy
+at critical periods, does not say if François was the proposer of this
+scheme or not. We may be sure he was a sturdy seconder, and that the
+plan was carried amid wild cheering and waving of hats and guns and
+swords enough to scare the sharks floating hungrily round the boat, and
+frighten the glittering flying-fish back into the sea. These Rancheria
+fishings were at a rich bank of pearl to which the people of Carthagena
+sent annually twelve vessels, with a man-of-war convoy, generally a
+Spanish armadilla with a crew of 200 men, and carrying twenty-four
+pieces of cannon. Every vessel had two or three Negro slaves on board,
+who dived for the pearls. These men seldom lived long, and were
+frequently ruptured by the exertion of holding breath a quarter of an
+hour below the waves. The time for diving was from October till May,
+when the north winds were lulled and the sea calm.
+
+The large vessel was called the _Capitana_, and to this the proceeds of
+the day were brought every night, to prevent any risk of fraud or theft.
+Rather than return unsuccessful, Pierre resolved to swoop down upon this
+guarded covey, and carry off the ship of war in the sight of all the
+fleet; a feat as dangerous as the abduction of an Irish heiress on the
+brink of marriage. He found the fishing boats riding at anchor at the
+mouth of the River de la Hache, and the man-of-war scarcely half a
+league distant. In the morning he approached them, and they, seeing him
+hovering at a distance like a kite above a farmyard, ran under shelter
+of their guardian's guns, like chickens under the hen's wing. Keeping
+still at a distance, they supposed he was afraid to approach, and soon
+allowed their fears to subside. The captain of the armadilla, however,
+took the precaution of sending three armed men on board each boat,
+believing the pearls the object of the Buccaneer, and left his own
+vessel almost defenceless. The hour had come. Furling his sails, Pierre
+rowed along the coast, feigning himself a Spanish vessel from Maracaibo,
+and when near the pearl bank, suddenly attacked the vice-admiral with
+eight guns and sixty men, and commanded him to surrender. The Spaniards,
+although surprised, made a good defence, but at last surrendered after
+half an-hour's hand-to-hand fight, before the almost unmanned armadilla
+could approach to render assistance. Pierre now sank his own boat, which
+had only been kept afloat by incessant working at the pumps. Many men
+would have rested satisfied with such a prize, but Pierre knew no Capua,
+and "thought naught done while aught remained to do." He at once
+resolved, by a stratagem, to capture the armadilla, and then the whole
+fleet would be his own. The night being very dark, and the wind high and
+favourable, he weighed anchor, forcing the prisoners to help his own
+crew. The man-of-war, seeing one of its fleet sailing, followed, fearing
+that the sailors were absconding with the pearls. As soon as it
+approached, Pierre made all the Spaniards, on pain of instant death,
+shout out "_Victoria, victoria!_ we have taken the ladrones," upon which
+the man-of-war drew off, promising to send for the prisoners in the
+morning. Laughing in his sleeve, Pierre gave orders for hoisting all
+sail, and stood away for the open sea, putting forth all his strength to
+get out of sight by daybreak. But the blood of the murdered Spaniards,
+yet hot upon the deck, was crying to heaven against him, and he was
+pursued. He had not got a league before the wind fell, and his ship lay
+like a log on the water, just within sight of his pursuers, who kept a
+long way off, burning with impatience and shame, and fretting like
+hounds in leash when the boar breaks out. About evening the wind rose,
+after much invocatory whistling, many prayers, many curses. Pierre,
+ignorant of the power of his prize, and what canvas she could bear,
+hoisted at random every stitch of sail and ran for his life, pursued by
+the armadilla, wrathful, white-winged, and swift. Like many a fleet
+runner, Pierre stumbled in his very eagerness for speed. He overloaded
+his vessel with sail. The wind grew higher, and howled like an avenging
+spirit, and his mainmast fell with the crash of a thunder-split oak. But
+Pierre held firm; he threw his prisoners into the hold, nailed down the
+hatches, and, trusting to night to escape, stood boldly at bay. He
+despaired of meeting force by force, having only twenty-two sound men,
+the rest being, before long, either killed or wounded. All in vain; the
+great bird of prey bore down upon him like a hawk upon a throstle,
+gaining, gaining every moment. Pierre defended himself courageously, and
+at last surrendered on condition. The Spanish captain agreed that the
+Buccaneers should not be employed in carrying, building-stones for three
+or four years like mere negroes, but should be set safe on dry land. As
+yet, the deep animosity of the two races had not sprung up. The prize
+they so nearly bore off contained above 100,000 pieces of eight in
+pearls, besides provisions and goods. At first the captain would have
+put them all to the sword, but his crew persuaded him to keep his word.
+The Frenchmen were then thrust down with curses into the same dark hold
+from whence the imprisoned Spaniards were now released; so "the
+whirligig of time brings about its revenge." When the crestfallen
+Buccaneers were brought before the governor of Carthagena, an outcry
+arose among the populace that the robbers should all be hung, to atone
+for an alfarez whom they had killed, and who, they said, was worth the
+whole French nation put together. The governor, however, though he did
+not put them to death, ungenerously broke the terms of his agreement,
+and compelled his prisoners to work at the fortifications of St.
+Francisco, in his own island. After about three years of this painful
+slavery, amid the jeers and contumely of the very negroes, they were
+sent to Spain, and from thence escaping one by one to France, made their
+way back to the Spanish main, more eager than ever to revenge their
+wrongs at the hands of a nation whose riches furnished a ready means of
+expiation, and whose cowardice rendered them incapable of frequent
+retaliation.
+
+The third hero on our stage, equally bold and no less memorable, was
+Barthelemy Portugues, a native of Portugal, as his name implied.
+
+Roused by the rumours of adventures which insured gold and glory,
+Barthelemy (no saint, and certainly more ready to flay others than to
+submit to flaying) sought out a small vessel at Jamaica, and fitted it
+up at his own expense. As only his most remarkable enterprises are
+recorded it is probable, from his having money, that he was already
+known as a successful Flibustier. This boat he armed with four
+three-pounders, and embarked with a crew of thirty men. Leaving Kingston
+with a good wind at his back, he set sail to cruise off Cape de
+Corriente, which he knew was the high road where he should meet vessels
+coming from the Caraccas or Carthagena, on their way to Campeachy, New
+Spain, or the Havannah. He had not been long beating about the Cape--a
+point rounded with as much care by a Spanish merchantman, afraid of
+Buccaneers, as Cape St. Vincent was by the European captain, dreading
+the Salee rovers--before a great vessel, bound from Maracaibo and
+Carthagena to the Havannah, hove in sight. It had a crew of seventy men,
+and carried twenty guns, and many passengers and marines. The
+Flibustiers, thinking a Spaniard so well armed and manned to be more
+than their match, held one of their republican councils round the mast,
+and refused to attack unless the captain wished. He decided that no
+opportunity should be lost, for that nothing in any part of the world
+could be won without risk. They instantly gave chase to the vessel that
+quietly awaited their approach, as astonished at the attack as a swallow
+would be if it were pursued by a gnat. Receiving one flaming broadside,
+noisy but harmless, the half-stripped rovers instantly threw themselves
+on board, but were repulsed by the Spaniards, who were numerous,
+hopeful, and brave. Returning to their vessel and throwing down their
+cutlass for the musket, they kept up a close fire of small arms for five
+hours without ceasing. Every gunner and every reefer was picked off, the
+decks were red, the return fire grew slack as the defence grew weaker,
+and the foe's proud courage cooled; the Buccaneers again threw
+themselves on board, and made themselves masters of the ship, with the
+loss of only ten men and four wounded. They had now only fifteen men
+left to navigate a vessel containing nearly forty prisoners. This number
+was all that were left alive, and of these many were maimed with shot
+wounds or gashed with sword cuts. The conquerors' first act was to throw
+the dead overboard, officer and sailor, just as they fell, stripping off
+the jewels and ransacking pockets for the dead men's doubloons. The
+living Spaniards, wounded and dying, they drove into one small boat, and
+gave them their liberty, afraid to keep them as prisoners and unwilling
+to shed their blood. They then set to work to splice the rigging and
+piece the sails, and lastly, to rummage for the plunder. They found the
+value of their prize to be 75,000 crowns, besides 120,000 pounds of
+cocoa, worth about 5000 additional. Having refitted the shattered
+vessel, they would have sailed round the island of Jamaica, but a
+contrary wind and current obliged them to steer to Cape St. Anthony, the
+west extremity of Cuba, where they landed and took in water, of which
+they were in great want.
+
+They had scarcely hoisted sail to resume their course, probably
+intending to return to port to sell their spoil before starting afresh,
+when they unexpectedly fell upon three large vessels coming from New
+Spain to the Havannah, who gave chase, as certain of victory as three
+greyhounds bounding after a single hare. The Flibustiers, heavy laden
+with plunder, and unable to make way, were almost instantly retaken,
+falling as easy a prey as a gorged wolf does to the hunter. In a few
+hours the Buccaneers were under hatches, stripped of even their very
+clothes, and counting the moments before execution--the Puritan doling
+out his hymns, the Catholic muttering his Miserere, and the rude
+Cow-killer vowing vengeance if he could but escape. Two evenings after a
+storm arose and separated the leash of armed merchantmen.
+
+The vessel containing the luckless Portugues arrived first at St.
+Francisco, Campeachy. Barthelemy, who spoke Spanish, had been well
+treated by the captain, who did not know what a prize he had taken. The
+news of the capture soon ran through the town, the captain became a
+public man, the bells rang, the people flocked to see the caged lions,
+and the principal merchants of the place crowded to congratulate him on
+his success. Among the curious and timid visitors was one who
+recognised Barthelemy, in spite of all his oaths and denials, and
+demanded his surrender. No hate can match the hate of injured avarice
+and frustrated cupidity. "This is Barthelemy the Portuguese," he told
+every one, "the most wicked rascal in the world, and who has done more
+harm to Spanish commerce than all the other pirates put together." He
+ran everywhere and declared they had at last got hold of the man so
+famous for the many insolences, robberies, and murders he had committed
+on their coast, and by whose cruel hands many of their kinsmen had
+perished. The captain, rather distrustful--somewhat favourable to
+Barthelemy, perhaps, considering him as a brother seaman, worth any ten
+land-lubbers, and annoyed at the arrogance of the merchant's
+demand--refused to surrender the Portuguese, or to send him on shore.
+The enraged merchant upon this proceeded to the governor, who, listening
+to his complaint, sent to demand the Buccaneers in the king's name. He
+was instantly arrested, spite of the captain's entreaties, and placed
+on board another vessel, heavily ironed, for fear he should escape, as
+he had done on a former occasion. A gibbet was erected, and the next day
+it was resolved to lead him at once from his cabin to the place of
+execution, without the hypocritical and useless ceremony of even a
+prejudged trial. For some time Portugues remained uncertain of his fate,
+till a Spanish sailor (for he seems to have had the power of winning
+friends) told him that the gibbet was already putting together, and the
+rope was ready noosed. In that delay was his safety; that very night he
+resolved to escape, or perish by a quicker or less disgraceful death. No
+doubt, with that strange mixture of religion remaining in the minds of
+most Buccaneers, he prayed to God or the saints to aid him.
+
+He soon freed himself from his irons. Discovering in his cabin two of
+those large earthen jars in which wine was brought from Spain to the
+Indies, he closed over the orifices, and hung them to his side with
+cords, being probably unable to swim, and the distance too far to the
+shore. Finding that he could not elude the vigilance of the sleepless
+sentinel that paced at his door, he stabbed him with a knife he had
+secretly purchased, and let himself noiselessly down, from the
+mainchains into the water, floating to land without the splash that a
+swimmer would have made in still water. Once on land he concealed
+himself in a wood, prepared to bear any danger, and glad at heart to
+endure starvation rather than suffer a public and shameful death. He was
+too cunning to set off at once on a route that would be explored, but
+hid himself among trees half covered with water, in order to prevent the
+possibility of his being tracked by the maroon bloodhounds--a common
+stratagem with the moss-troopers, who found the sound of running water
+drown the noise of their movements and the murmur of their breathing,
+and destroy all traces of their track. Bruce and Wallace had long before
+escaped by the artifice that now saved a robber and a murderer. His must
+have been anxious nights, varied by the shouts of negroes, the deep bay
+of the dogs, the oaths of the Spaniards, the discharge of fire-arms, the
+toll of the alarm bell, the glare of beacons; and the flash of torches.
+For these three days he lived on yams and other roots growing around
+him. From a tree in which he sometimes harboured he had the satisfaction
+of seeing his pursuers search the wood in vain, and finally relinquish
+the pursuit.
+
+Believing that the danger had now in some degree decreased, the
+lion-hearted sailor determined to push for the Golpho Triste, forty
+leagues distant, where he hoped to find a Buccaneer ship careening. He
+arrived there after fourteen days of incredible endurance. He started in
+the evening from the seashore, within sight of the lit-up town where a
+black gibbet was still standing bodingly against the sky. His forced
+marches were full of terrible dangers and perils. He had no provisions
+with him, and nothing but a small calabash of water hung at his side.
+Hunger and thirst strode beside him, the wild beast glared in his path,
+the Spanish voices seemed to pursue him. His subsistence was the raw
+shell-fish that he found washed among the rocks upon the shore, fresh or
+putrid he had no time to consider. He had streams to ford, dark with
+caymans, and he had to traverse woods where the jaguars howled. Whenever
+he came to a stream unusually dark, deep, and dangerous, and where no
+ford was visible (for he could not swim), he threw in large stones as he
+waded to scare away the crocodiles that lurked round the shallows. In
+one spot he travelled five or six leagues swinging like a sloth from
+bough to bough of a pathless wood of mangroves, never once setting foot
+upon the ground. His day's progress was often scarcely perceptible. At
+one river more than usually deep he found an old plank, which had
+drifted ashore when the seaman was washed off, and from this he obtained
+some large rusty nails. Extracting these nails, he sharpened them on a
+stone with great labour, and used them to cut down some branches of
+trees, which he joined together with osiers and pliable twigs, and
+slowly constructed a raft. Hunger, thirst, heat, and fear beset him
+round; and the voice of the sea, always on his right hand, came to him
+like the hungry howl of death. In these fourteen nights he must have
+literally tasted death, and anticipated the horrors of hell.
+
+"Fortune favors the brave." He found a Buccaneer vessel in the gulf, and
+he was saved. The crew were old companions of his, newly arrived from
+Jamaica and from England. He related to them his adversities and his
+misfortunes. All listened eagerly to adventures that might to-morrow be
+their own. He thought alone of revenge, and told them that if they chose
+he would give them a ship worth a whole fleet of their canoes. He
+desired their help. He only asked for one boat and thirty men. With
+these he promised to return to Campeachy and capture the vessel that had
+taken him but fourteen days before. They soon granted his request, the
+boat was at once equipped, and he sailed along the coast, passing for a
+smuggler bringing contraband goods. In eight days he arrived at
+Campeachy, undauntedly and without noise boarding the vessel at
+midnight. They were challenged by the sentinel. Barthelemy, who spoke
+good Spanish, replied, in a low voice, "We are part of the crew
+returning with goods from land, on which no duty has been paid." The
+sentinel, hoping for a share, or at least some hush-money, did not
+repeat the question. Allowing him no time to detect the trick, they
+stabbed him, and, rushing forward, overpowered the watch. Cutting the
+cable, they surprised the sleepers in their cabins, and, weighing
+anchor, soon compelled the Spaniards, by a resolute attack, to
+surrender; and, setting sail from the port, rejoined their exulting
+comrades, unpursued by any vessel. Great was the joy of the adventurers
+in becoming possessors of so brave a ship. Portugues was now again rich
+and powerful, though but lately a condemned prisoner in the very vessel
+upon whose deck he now stood the lord of all. With this cargo of rich
+merchandise Barthelemy intended to achieve enterprises, for though the
+Spaniards' plate had been all disembarked at Campeachy, the booty was
+still large. But let no hunter halloo till he is out of the wood, and
+no sailor laugh till he gets into port. While he was making his voyage
+to Jamaica, and already counting his profits as certain, a terrible
+storm arose off the isle of Pinos, on the south of Cuba, which drove his
+prize against the Jardine rocks, where she went to pieces. Portugues and
+his companions escaped in a canoe to Jamaica, and before long started on
+new adventures. What eventually became of him we know not, but we are
+told that "he was never fortunate after." Whether he swung on the
+Campeachy gibbet after all, became a prey to the Darien man-eater, was
+pierced by the Greek bullet, or was devoured by the sea, long expecting
+its victim, we shall never know. He sails away from Kingston with
+colours flying, and wanders away into unknown deeps.
+
+Of this wild man's end nothing was ever known. He was living at Jamaica
+when Esquemeling left for England. His bones, perhaps, still whiten on
+some Indian bay, with the sea moaning around that nameless dust for
+ever--doomed to destroy man, but lamenting the very desolation it
+occasions.
+
+This Roche Braziliano (or Roc, the Brazilian, as the English adventurers
+called him,) was born at Groninghen, in East Friezeland; and his own
+name being forgotten, he was called the Brazilian, because his parents
+had been Dutch settlers in the Brazils. Roche was taught the Indian and
+Portuguese languages at an early age, and, when the latter nation retook
+the Brazils, removed with his parents to the French Antilles, where he
+learned French. Disliking the nation, he passed into Jamaica. Here he
+learned to speak English, and, settling among our more congenial race,
+became attached to the country of his adoption. But he had lingered too
+long in the desert to have much taste for even Goshen. He had already
+acquired the Arab's love for wandering, and poverty combined to lead him
+into an adventurer's ship. Into this mode of life all restless talent
+and love of enterprise was now driven.
+
+After only three voyages, Roche became commander of a brig whose crew
+had mutinied from their captain and offered him the command. In a few
+days, this almost untried man had the good fortune to capture a large
+vessel coming from New Spain with a great quantity of plate on board. On
+his arrival in Jamaica, Roc became at once the acknowledged leader of
+all the Vikinger of the Spanish main--their first sailor, their hero,
+and their model. He soon grew so terrible that the Spanish mothers used
+his name as a hushword to their children.
+
+Roc is described as having a stalwart and vigorous body. He was of
+ordinary height, but stout and muscular. His face was wide and short,
+his cheek-bones prominent, and his eyebrows bushy and of unusual size.
+He was skilful in the use of all Indian and Catholic (Spanish) arms, a
+good hunter, a good fisherman, and a good shot--as skilful a pilot as he
+was a brave soldier. He generally carried a naked sabre resting on his
+arm, and made no scruple of cutting down any of his crew who were idle,
+mutinous, or cowardly. He was much dreaded even in Jamaica, and
+particularly when drunk, says his candid biographer. At those times he
+would frequently run a-muck through the streets, beating and wounding
+any one he met, especially if they dared to oppose or resist him. In his
+sober moments he was esteemed and feared, but he too often abandoned
+himself to every sort of debauchery.
+
+In Roc we see the first indication of a new phase of Buccaneering
+life--_a fanatical hatred of the Spaniard_. The sailor, at first a mere
+privateersman at sea, and a hunter on shore, was now a legal robber,
+with a spice of the crusader: a chivalrous Vendetta feeling had become
+superadded to the mere love of booty. A thirst for gold had proved
+irresistible: what would it be now when it became heightened by a thirst
+for blood?
+
+To the Spaniards Roc was always very barbarous and cruel, out of an
+inveterate hatred to that nation. He seldom gave them quarter, and
+treated them with untiring ferocity. He taxed his invention for new
+modes of torture, revenging upon them by a rather indirect mode of
+retaliation the wrongs inflicted upon his parents by the Portuguese. He
+is said to have even roasted alive some of his prisoners on wooden
+spits, like boucaned boars, because they refused to disclose the
+hog-yards where he might victual his ships. By the Spaniards he was
+reported to be really an apostate outlaw of their own nation, this being
+the only way in which they could account for his needless and useless
+cruelties.
+
+On one occasion, as he was cruising on the coast of Campeachy, a dismal
+tempest, says the chronicler, "surprised him so violently" that his ship
+was wrecked, himself and his crew only escaping with their muskets, a
+little powder, and a few bullets, much more useful, however, than gold
+on such a coast. They reached shore not far from Golpho Triste, the
+scene of Barthelemy's escape. Roc was not the man to be cast down by an
+accident no more regarded by true adventurers than the upsetting of a
+coach by an ordinary traveller. Getting ashore in a canoe, he determined
+to march quickly along the coast, and repair to the gulf, a well-known
+haunt of the members of their craft. Roc bade his men be of good heart,
+and he would bring them safe out of every danger, and, giving them hope,
+the promise was already half accomplished. Getting on the main road,
+they proceeded on their march through a hostile country, with the air of
+men who had conquered the whole Indies. They had already reached a
+desert track, and were grown fatigued, hungry, and thirsty, when some
+Indians gave the alarm, and the Spaniards were soon down upon them, to
+the number of one hundred well-armed and well-mounted horsemen, while
+the Buccaneers were but thirty men.
+
+As soon as Roc saw the enemy, the Brazilian cried out, "Courage, _mes
+frčres_, we are hungry now, but, Caramba, you shall soon have a dinner
+if you follow me," and then, perceiving the imminent danger, he
+encouraged his men, telling them they were better soldiers than the
+Spaniards, and that they ought rather to die fighting under their arms
+as became men of courage, than to surrender, and have their lives
+pressed out by the extremest torments. Seeing their commander's
+courage, the wrecked men resolved to attack, instead of waiting tamely
+for the enemy's approach, and, facing the Spaniards, they at once
+discharged their guns so dexterously, that they killed a horseman with
+almost every shot. After an hour's hot fighting, the Spaniards fled. The
+adventurers lost only two men, two more being lamed. Stripping the dead,
+they took from them every valuable, and despatched the wounded with the
+butt-end of their muskets. They then feasted on the wine and brandy they
+found in their knapsacks, or at their saddle bows, and declared
+themselves ready to attack as many again; and having finished their
+meal, they mounted on the stray horses, and proceeded on their march.
+
+The victors had not gone more than two days' journey before they caught
+sight of a well-manned Spanish vessel, lying off the shore beneath. It
+had come to protect the boats which landed the men who cut the Campeachy
+dyewood. Roc saw that the poultry-yard knew nothing of the kite that was
+hovering near. He instantly concealed his band, and went with six
+comerades into a thicket near the beach to watch. Here they passed the
+night. At daybreak the Spaniards, pulling to shore in their canoe, were
+received in a courteous but unexpected manner by the Buccaneers. Roc
+instantly summoned his men, boarded and took the vessel. The little
+man-of-war contained little plate, but, what was of equal use, two
+hundred weight of salt, with which he salted down a few of the horses
+which he killed. The remaining horses he gave to his Spanish prisoners,
+telling them laughingly, that the beasts were worth more than the
+vessel, and that once on their backs on dry land no rascal need fear
+drowning.
+
+A Buccaneer's first thought on obtaining one prize was to gain another
+as soon as possible. Roc had still twenty-six man by him, and a good
+vessel to move in. He soon took a ship, bound to Maracaibo from New
+Spain, laden with merchandise and money designed to buy a cargo of
+cocoa-nuts. With this they repaired to Jamaica, letting the vessel
+scorch in harbour till their money was all gone. Having spent all,
+Braziliano put out to sea again, impatient of poverty and resolved to
+trust to fortune, for he was her favourite child. He sailed for the
+rendezvous at Campeachy, and after fifteen days started in a canoe to
+hover round the port, beating about like a hawk in search of prey.
+
+He was soon after captured and taken with his men before a Spanish
+governor, who cast them into a dungeon, intending to hang them every
+one. But fortune only hid her smiles for a moment, and had not deserted
+him. Roc, as subtle as he was intrepid, had not yet exhausted his wiles.
+He was at bay and the dogs were gathered round, but they had not yet got
+him by the throat. He made friends with the slave who brought him food,
+and promised to give him money to buy his freedom if he would aid his
+scheme. He did not wish to compromise the slave: he only wished him to
+be the bearer of a letter to the governor. The slave told the governor
+that he had been put on shore in the bay by some Buccaneers and had been
+ordered to deliver the letter. The letter was an angry threat, supposed
+to be indited by the captain of a French vessel lying in the offing. It
+advised the governor "to have a care how he used those persons he had in
+his custody, for in case he should do them any harm, they did swear unto
+him, they would never give quarter unto any person of the Spanish nation
+that should fall into their hands." The governor, lifting up his eyes
+and twisting his moustachios at the threat, was intimidated, and became
+anxious to get rid as soon as possible of such dangerous prisoners, for
+Campeachy had already been taken once by the adventurers, and he feared
+what mischief the companions who visited Spanish towns might do. He
+began now to treat his prisoners with greater kindness, and on the first
+opportunity sent for them, and, exacting a simple oath that they would
+abandon piracy, shipped them on board the galleon fleet bound for Spain.
+Roc, with his usual versatility, soon made himself so much beloved that
+the Spanish captain offered to take him as a sailor, and he accepted the
+offer. During this single voyage to Spain he made a sum of no less than
+500 crowns by selling the officers fish that he struck in the Indian
+manner with arrows and harpoons from the main-chains. His comerades,
+whom he never forgot, were treated with consideration on his account.
+
+On his arrival in Spain, Roc, in spite of his oath, which had been
+exacted by fear of death, and therefore absolvable by any priest, lost
+no time in getting back to Jamaica, where he arrived without a vessel to
+call his own, but in other respects in better circumstances than when he
+left. He joined himself at once to two French adventurers.
+
+The chief of these, named Tributor, was an old Buccaneer of great
+experience. They determined to land upon the peninsula of Yucatan, in
+hopes of taking the town of Merida. Roc, who had been there before as a
+prisoner, and had doubtless proposed the scheme, served as guide, but
+some Indians got upon their trail and alarmed the Spaniards, who
+fortified the place and prepared for an attack. On the Buccaneers'
+arrival they found the town well garrisoned and defended, and while
+they were still debating whether to advance or retreat, the question was
+abruptly decided for them by a body of the enemy's horsemen who fell
+upon their rear, cut half of them to pieces, and made the rest
+prisoners. The wily Roc, never taken much by surprise, contrived to
+escape, but old Tributor and his men were all captured. Oexmelin
+expresses his wonder at Roc's escape, because he had always held it vile
+cowardliness to allow another man to strike before himself. "Hitherto he
+had been the last to yield, even when he was overborne by enemies, and
+had been heard to say that he preferred death to dishonour." _Nemo
+mortalium_, &c.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.
+
+    Lolonnois--His stratagem--His cruelty--His partner, Michael le
+    Basque--Takes Maracaibo--Tortures the citizens--Sacks the
+    town--Takes Gibraltar--Attempt on Merida--Famine and
+    pestilence--Division of spoil--Takes St. Pedro--Burns
+    Veragua--Wrecked in Honduras--Attacked by Indians--Killed and eaten
+    by the savages.
+
+
+The Spanish ships now decreased in number, merchants relinquishing a
+trade so uncertain and perilous. The consequence of this was that the
+Buccaneers, finding their sea cruises grow less profitable, began to
+venture upon the mainland, and attack towns and even cities.
+
+The first Buccaneer who distinguished himself in this wider field of
+action was Francis Lolonnois. He was born among the sands of Olonne, in
+Poictou, and drew his _nom de guerre_ from that wild and fitting
+birthplace. He quitted France in early life, and embarked at Rochelle as
+an _engagé_ for the Caribbean Islands, where he served the customary
+slavery of three years. Having heard much during this servitude of the
+hunters of Hispaniola, he sailed for that island as soon as his
+apprenticeship had expired, and he was again a free adventurer. He first
+bound himself as a valet to a hunter, and finally became himself a
+Buccaneer, having now passed through all the usual experiences of a
+young West Indian colonist. Spending some time upon the savannahs, he
+became restless and tired of shore, and desirous of enlisting as a
+freebooter under the red flag. Repairing to Tortuga, the head-quarters
+of Flibustier enterprise, he enrolled himself among the rovers of the
+sea, with whom he made many voyages as simple mariner or companion. From
+the first day he trod plank he is said to have shown himself destined
+to attain high distinction, surpassing all the "Brothers" in adroitness,
+agility, and daring.
+
+In these floating republics talent soon rose to the surface. Lolonnois
+was elected master of a vessel, with which he took many prizes, but at
+last lost everything by a storm which wrecked his ship, drowned his men,
+sank his cargo, and cast him bleeding and naked upon a savage shore. His
+courage and conduct, however, had won the admiration of the Governor of
+Tortuga, M. de la Place, whose island he had enriched by the frequent
+sale of prizes, and who launched him again in a new ship to encounter
+once more all the fury of the sea, the hurricane, and the Spaniard.
+Fortune was at first favourable to him, and he acquired great riches.
+His name became so dreaded by the Indians and the Spaniards that they
+chose rather to die or drown than surrender to one who never knew the
+word mercy. He never learned how to chain fortune to his mast, and was
+soon a second time wrecked at Campeachy. The men were all saved, but on
+reaching land were pursued and killed by the Spaniards. Lolonnois,
+himself severely wounded, saved his life by a stratagem. Mixing the sand
+of the shore with the blood flowing from his wounds, he smeared his face
+and body, and hid himself dexterously under a heap of dead, remaining
+there till the Spaniards had carried off one or two of his less severely
+wounded companions into Campeachy. As soon as they were gone he arose
+with a grim smile from his lurking place among the slain, and betook
+himself to the woods. He then washed his now stiffened wounds in a
+river, and bound up his gashes as he could. As soon as they were healed
+(the flesh of these men soon healed), he put on the dress of a slain
+Spaniard, and made his way boldly into the neighbouring city. In the
+suburbs he entered into conversation with some slaves he met, whom he
+bribed by an offer of freedom if they would obey him and follow his
+guidance.
+
+They listened to his proposal, and, stealing their master's canoe,
+brought it to the sea-shore, where Lolonnois lay concealed. But before
+this the disguised Buccaneer had gone rambling fearlessly through the
+enemy's town, witnessing the rejoicings made at his own supposed death;
+for his companions, who were kept close prisoners in a dungeon, had been
+asked what had become of their captain, to which they had always replied
+that he was dead, upon which the Spaniards lit up bonfires in their open
+squares, thanking God for their deliverance from so cruel a pirate.
+
+The flames of these fires were red upon the bay when Lolonnois and the
+slaves pushed off their canoe and made haste to escape. They reached
+Tortuga in safety, and Lolonnois kept his promise, and set the slaves at
+liberty--although, if he had been base and worthless enough, he could
+have refitted his boat with the profits of their sale. He now thought
+only of revenging himself on the Spaniards for their cruelty in
+murdering the survivors of a wreck. He spent whole days in considering
+how he could capture a vessel and restore himself to his former
+reputation for skill and fortune. By some extraordinary plan,
+Esquemeling--who writes always with affected horror of the men amongst
+whom he lived--says, with "craft and subtlety," he soon obtained a third
+ship, with a crew of twenty-one men and a surgeon. Being well provided
+with arms and necessaries--how provided by a penniless man it is
+impossible to guess--he resolved to visit De Los Cayos, a village on the
+south side of Cuba, where he knew vessels from the Havannah passed to
+the port of Boca de Estera, where they purchase tobacco, sugar, and
+hides, coming generally in small boats, for the sea ran very shallow. At
+this place meat was also obtained to victual the Spanish fleets.
+
+Here Lolonnois was very sanguine of booty, but some fishermen's boats,
+observing him, alarmed the town. One of these canoes they captured, and,
+placing in it a crew of eleven men, proceeded to coast about the Bayes
+du Nord. The Buccaneers kept at some distance from each other, in hopes
+of sooner surrounding their prey, for each of their crews was strong
+enough to capture any merchant vessel that had not more than fifteen or
+sixteen unarmed men on board. They remained some months beating off and
+on Cuba, but caught nothing, although this was the very height of the
+commercial season. After a long delay of wonder and vexation, they
+learned the cause of their failure from the crew of a fishing-boat which
+they captured, who told them that the people of Cayos would not venture
+to sea because they knew that they were there. It would be dangerous for
+them to remain, they added, for the chief merchants of the port had
+instantly despatched a "vessel overland" to the Governor of Havannah,
+telling him that Lolonnois had come in two canoes to destroy them, and
+begging him to send and destroy the "ladrones." The governor could with
+difficulty at first be persuaded to listen to the petition, because he
+had just received letters from Campeachy bidding him rejoice at the
+death of that pirate; but, aroused by the continued importunities of his
+angry petitioners, he at last sent a ship to their relief.
+
+This ship carried ten guns, and had a crew of ninety young, vigorous,
+and well-armed men, to whom he gave at parting an express command that
+they should not return into his presence without having first destroyed
+those pirates. He sent with them a negro hangman, desiring him to kill
+on the spot all they should take, except Lolonnois, the captain, who was
+to be brought alive in triumph to the Havannah. The ship had scarcely
+arrived at Cayos when the pirate, advertised of its approach, came to
+seek it at its moorings in the river Estera. Lolonnois cried out, when
+he saw it loom in the distance, "Courage, mes camarades! courage, mes
+bons frčres! we shall soon be well mounted." Capturing some fishermen
+busy with their nets, he forced them at night to show him the entrance
+of the port.
+
+Rowing very quietly in the shadow of the trees that bordered the river's
+banks and hid their approach, they arrived under the vessel's side a
+little after two o'clock in the morning--not long before daybreak. The
+watch on board the ship hailed them, and asked them whence they came and
+if they had seen any pirates? They made one of the fishermen who guided
+them reply in Spanish that they had seen no pirates or anything else;
+and this made the Spaniards believe that Lolonnois had fled at their
+approach. The Buccaneers instantly began to open fire on both sides from
+their canoes. The Spaniards, who kept good guard, returned the fire, but
+without much effect, for their enemies lay down flat in their boats, and
+the trees served them as gabions. The Spaniards fought bravely, in spite
+of the suddenness and vigour of the attack, and made some use of their
+great guns. The combat lasted from dawn till midday, the crew of the
+vessel discharging ineffectual volleys of musketry, which seldom injured
+the assailants, whose bullets, on the other hand, killed or wounded
+every moment some of the Havannah youth. When the firing began to
+slacken, Lolonnois pulled his canoes out into the stream, and boarded
+the vessel, which almost instantly surrendered.
+
+Those who survived were beaten down under the hatches, while the wounded
+on the decks received the _coup de grace_. When this had been done,
+Lolonnois commanded his men to bring up the prisoners one by one from
+the hold, cutting off their heads as they came up with his own hand, and
+tasting their blood. The negro hangman, seeing the fate of his
+predecessors, threw himself passionately at the feet of the Buccaneer
+chief, and exclaimed in Spanish, "If you will not kill me I will tell
+you the truth." Lolonnois, supposing he had some secret to tell, bade
+him speak on. But he refused to open his lips further till life were
+promised him; upon the promise being made, the trembling wretch
+exclaimed, "Senor capitan, Monsieur, the governor of the Havannah, not
+doubting but that this well-armed frigate would have taken the strongest
+of your vessels, sent me on board to serve as executioner, and to hang
+all the prisoners that his men took, in order to intimidate your nation,
+so that they should not dare ever to approach a Spanish vessel."
+Esquemeling, who always exaggerates the cruelty of his quondam
+companions, says, Lolonnois, making the black confess what he thought
+fit, commanded him to be murdered with the rest; but Oexmelin gives a
+more probable version. At the negro's mention of his being a hangman he
+grew furious, and but for his words, "I give thee quarter and even
+liberty because I promised it thee," would certainly have put him to
+death. He then slew all the rest of the crew but one man, whom he spared
+in order to send him back with a letter to the governor of the Havannah.
+The letter ran thus: "I have returned your kindness by doing to your men
+what they designed to do to me and my companions. I shall never
+henceforward give quarter to any Spaniard whatsoever, and I have great
+hopes of executing upon your own person the very same punishment I have
+done upon those you sent against me. It would be better for you to cut
+your throat than to fall into my power."
+
+The governor, enraged at the loss of his ship and crew, and exasperated
+by the insolent daring of the letter, swore in the presence of many that
+he would not grant quarter to any pirate who fell into his hands.
+Furious that two canoes, with twenty-two half-naked men, should be able
+to deride the might of Spain in his person, he instantly sent round word
+to the neighbouring Indian forts to hang all their French and English
+prisoners, instead of, as usual, embarking them for Spain. The citizens
+of Havannah, hearing of this imprudent bravado, sent a deputation to the
+governor to represent to him that, for one Englishman or Frenchman that
+the Spaniards captured, the Buccaneers took every day a hundred of their
+people, that the men of Havannah were obliged to get their living by
+trading, that life was far dearer to them than mere money, which was all
+the Buccaneers wanted; and lastly, that all their fishermen would be
+daily exposed to danger, the Buccaneers having frequent opportunity for
+reprisal. Upon this the angry governor was at last persuaded to bridle
+his passion and remit the severity of his oath.
+
+Lolonnois, now provided with a good ship, resolved to cruise from port
+to port to obtain provisions and men. Off Maracaibo he surprised a ship
+laden with plate, outward-bound to buy cocoa-nuts, and with this prize
+returned to Tortuga, much to his own satisfaction and the general joy
+of that strange colony of runaway slaves, disbanded soldiers, hunters,
+privateersmen, pirates, Puritans, and papists. He had not been long in
+port before he planned an expedition to Maracaibo, joining another
+adventurer in equipping a body of five hundred men. In Tortuga he found
+prisoners for guides, and disbanded adventurers resolute enough to be
+his companions. His partner was Michael le Basque, a Buccaneer who had
+retired very rich, and was now major of the island. He had done great
+actions in Europe, and bore the repute of being a good soldier.
+Lolonnois was to rule by sea and Le Basque by land.
+
+Le Basque knew all the avenues of Maracaibo, and had lately taken in a
+prize two Indians, who knew the port well and offered to act both as
+pilots and guides. Le Basque had consented to join Lolonnois, struck by
+the daring and comprehension of his plans, and Lolonnois was overjoyed
+at the alliance of so tried a man. Notice was instantly given to all the
+unemployed Buccaneers that they were planning a great expedition with
+much chance of booty. All who were willing to join them were to come by
+a certain day to the rendezvous either at Tortuga or Bayala, on the
+north side of Hispaniola; at the latter place he revictualled his fleet,
+took some French hunters as volunteers into his company, careened his
+vessels, and procured beef and pork by the chase.
+
+His fleet consisted of eight small ships, of which his own, the largest,
+carried only twenty pieces of cannon; his crews amounted altogether to
+about four hundred men. Setting sail from Bayala the last day in July,
+while doubling Ponta del Espada (Sword Point), the eastern cape of
+Hispaniola, Lolonnois overtook two Spanish vessels coming from Porto
+Rico to New Spain, and one of these Lolonnois insisted on capturing with
+his own hand, sending in his fleet to Savona. The Spaniards, although
+they had an opportunity for two whole hours, refused to fly, and, being
+well armed, prepared for a desperate resistance; the combat lasted for
+three hours. The ship carried sixteen guns, and was manned by fifty
+fighting men. They found in her a cargo of 120,000 pounds' weight of
+cocoa, 40,000 pieces of eight, and the value of 10,000 more in jewels.
+Lolonnois instantly sent this prize back to Tortuga to be unloaded, with
+orders to return to the rendezvous at Savona. On their way to this
+place, his vanguard had also been in luck, having met with a Spanish
+vessel bringing military stores and money from Cumana for the garrisons
+of Hispaniola. In this vessel, which they took without any resistance,
+though armed with eight guns, they found 7,000 pounds' weight of powder,
+a great number of muskets and other arms, together with 12,000 pieces of
+eight.
+
+These successes encouraged the adventurers, and to superstitious men
+seemed like promises of good fortune and success. The generosity of the
+governor of Tortuga also tended to heighten their spirits. M. D'Ogeron,
+the French governor, had been greatly delighted at the early arrival of
+so rich a prize, worth, at the lowest calculation, 180,000 livres, and
+threw open all his store-houses for the use of the prize crew. Ordering
+her to be quickly unloaded, he sent her back to Lolonnois full of
+provisions and necessaries. Many persons who had come from France with
+the governor now joined an expedition which had begun so auspiciously,
+desirous of gaining a fortune with the same rapidity as the older
+colonists. By hazarding a little money a planter could obtain a chance
+of sharing in the plunder of a distant city without moving from under
+the shadow of his tamarind tree, and the governor's approval threw an
+air of legal government patronage over the expedition. D'Ogeron even
+sent his two nephews on board, young gallants newly arrived from France,
+and one of whom afterwards ruled the island in the room of his uncle.
+With a fleet recruited with men in room of those killed by the fever or
+the Spaniards, and full of hope and spirits, Lolonnois sailed for
+Maracaibo. His own vessel he gave to his comrade Anthony du Puis, and
+went himself on board the _Cacaoyere_, as the largest prize was called.
+
+Before sailing, he reviewed his little invincible armada. His own new
+frigate carried sixteen guns and 120 men. His vice-admiral, Moses
+Vauclin, had ten guns and ninety men; and his _matelot_, Le Basque,
+sailed in a vessel called _La Poudričre_, because it contained all the
+powder, the ammunition, and the money for the sailors' pay. It carried
+twenty pieces of cannon and ninety men. Pierre le Picard steered a
+brigantine with forty men. Moses had equipped another of the same size,
+and the two other smaller vessels were each managed by a crew of thirty
+men. Every sailor was armed with a good musket, a brace of pistols, and
+a strong sabre. At this review Lolonnois first disclosed his whole plan,
+which was to visit Maracaibo, in the province of New Venezuela, and to
+pillage all the towns that border the lake. He then produced his guides,
+one of whom had been a pilot over the bar at Maracaibo, and who vouched
+for the ease with which the attack could be made. Shouts and clamour
+announced the universal satisfaction at the proposal. They all agreed to
+follow him, and took an oath that they would obey him implicitly on the
+penalty of being mulcted of their booty. The usual _chasse-partie_, or
+Buccaneers' agreement, was then drawn up, specifying the exact share
+that each one should receive of the spoil, from the captain down to the
+boys of the ships, and not forgetting the wounded and the guides.
+
+Venezuela, or "little Venice," derived its name from its being very low
+land, and only preserved from frequent inundation by artificial means.
+At six or seven leagues' distance from the Bay of Maracaibo, or Gulf of
+Venezuela, are two small islands--the island of the Watch Tower and the
+island of the Pigeons. Between these two islands runs a channel of fresh
+water--as wide across as an eight-pound shot can carry, about sixty
+leagues long, and thirty broad--which empties itself into the sea. On
+the Isla de las Vigilias stood a hill surmounted by a watch-tower; on
+the Isla de las Palombas a fort to impede the entrance of vessels, which
+were obliged to come very near, the channel being narrowed by two
+sand-banks, which left only fourteen feet water. The sand-drifts were
+very numerous; some of them, particularly one called El Tablazo, not
+having more than six feet water.
+
+"West hereof," says Esquemeling--for we must describe the past, not the
+present city--"is the city of Maracaibo, very pleasant to the view, its
+houses being built along the shore, having delightful prospects all
+round. The city may contain three or four thousand persons, slaves
+included, all which make a town of reasonable bigness. There are judged
+to be about 800 persons able to bear arms, all Spaniards. Here are one
+parish church, well built and adorned, four monasteries, and one
+hospital. The city is governed by a deputy-governor, substituted by the
+governor of the Caraccas. The trade here exercised is mostly in hides
+and tobacco. The inhabitants possess great numbers of cattle and many
+plantations, which extend thirty leagues in the country, especially
+towards the great town of Gibraltar, where are gathered great quantities
+of cocoa nuts, and all other garden fruits, which serve for the regale
+and sustenance of the inhabitants of Maracaibo, whose territories are
+much drier than those of Gibraltar. Hither those of Maracaibo send great
+quantities of flesh, they making returns in oranges, lemons, and other
+fruits; for the inhabitants of Gibraltar want flesh, not being capable
+of feeding cows and sheep."
+
+The inner lake within the great bar, so difficult to cross, was fed by
+upwards of seventy streams, of which several were navigable. The two
+capes on either side of the gulf were named respectively Cape St. Roman
+and the Cape of Caquibacoa. The east side, though frequently flooded,
+was unhealthy, but very fertile, something resembling the Maremma,
+where, according to an Italian proverb, a man gets rich in six months
+and dies in seven.
+
+In the bay itself, ten or twelve leagues from the lake, are the two
+islands of Onega and Las Monges. On the east side, near the
+_embouchure_, there was a fishermen's village called Barbacoa, where the
+Indians lived in trees to escape the floods; for, after great rains, the
+lands were often overflowed in broad tracts of two or three leagues. A
+few miles from this was the town of Gibraltar, where the best cocoa in
+the Indies was grown, as well as the celebrated "priests' tobacco."
+Beyond this twenty leagues of jurisdiction, rose mountains perpetually
+covered with snow, contrasting remarkably with the swampy fields and the
+rich tropical vegetation of the well-irrigated district below. On the
+other side of these mountains lay the mother city of Merida, between
+which, during the summer alone, mules carried merchandise to Gibraltar;
+the cocoa and tobacco of Merida being exchanged for Peruvian flour and
+the fruits of Gibraltar. Near this latter town were rich plantations and
+wooded districts, abounding with the tall cedars from which the Indians
+scooped out solid _piraguas_, or canoes, capable of carrying thirty
+tons, which were rigged with one large sail.
+
+The territory of Gibraltar was flat, and naturally fertile, watered by
+rivers and brooks, besides being artificially irrigated by small
+channels, necessary in the frequent droughts. Everything desirable for
+food and pleasant to the sight grew here in abundance, the air was
+filled with birds as beautiful as wandering blossoms, and the rivers
+teemed with many-coloured fish. But into this Indian Paradise death had
+entered, and these swamps were the lairs of the deadliest fevers that
+devastate humanity. In the rainy season the merchants left Gibraltar,
+just as the rich do Rome, and retired to Merida or Maracaibo to escape
+the pestilence that walked not merely in darkness but even in the bright
+noon. At six leagues from this town and its 1,500 inhabitants, ran a
+river navigable by vessels of fifty tons' burthen.
+
+Maracaibo itself had a spacious and secure port, and was well adapted
+for building vessels, owing to the abundance of timber in the
+neighbourhood. In the small island of Borrica were fed great numbers of
+goats, which were bred chiefly for their skins. In curious
+contradistinction to all this bustle of commerce, life, and wealth, on
+the south-east border of the lake lived the Bravo-Indians, a savage
+race, who had never been subdued by the Spaniard. They also, like the
+fishermen, dwelt in huts built in the branches of the mangrove trees at
+the very edge of the water, safe from the floods, and from the equally
+annoying, though less fatal, visitation of the mosquitoes. Beyond them
+to the west spread a dry and arid country--where nothing but cacti and
+stunted, bitter shrubs grew, so thorny as to be almost impassable by the
+traveller--waste and barren. Here the Spaniards pastured a few flocks,
+and the only houses were the huts of the armed shepherds who tended the
+lonely herds. These cattle were killed chiefly for their fat and hides,
+the flesh being left for the flocks of merchant birds--a sort of
+vulture, four or five of whom would pick an ox to the bone in a day or
+two.
+
+Lolonnois, arriving at one of the islands in the gulf, landed and took
+in provisions, not wishing to arrive at the bar till daybreak, in hopes
+of surprising the fort; and anchoring, out of sight of the watch-tower
+weighed anchor in the evening from the island of Onega, and sailed all
+night, but was seen by the sentinels, who immediately made signals to
+the fort, which discharged its cannon and announced the approach of an
+enemy.
+
+Mooring off the bar, Lolonnois lost no time in landing to attack the
+fort that guarded the very door through which he must pass. The
+batteries consisted of simple gabions or baskets masked with turf, and
+concealing fourteen pieces of cannon and 250 men, with flanking
+earthworks thrown up to protect the gunners. Lolonnois and Le Basque
+landed at a league from the fort, and advanced at the head of their men.
+The governor, seeing them land, had prepared an ambuscade, in hopes of
+attacking them at the same time in flank and rear. The Buccaneers,
+discovering this, got before the Spaniards, and routed them so utterly
+that not a single man returned to the fort, which was instantly attacked
+"with the usual desperation of this sort of people," says Esquemeling.
+The fighting continued for three hours. The Buccaneers, aiming with
+hunters' precision, killed so many of the Spaniards, and reduced their
+numbers so terribly, that the survivors could not prevent the savage
+swordsmen storming the embrasures, slaying half the survivors, and
+taking the rest prisoners. A few survivors are said by one writer to
+have fled in confusion into Maracaibo, crying, "The pirates will
+presently be here with 2,000 men."
+
+The rest of the day Lolonnois spent in destroying the fort he had
+captured, first signalling his ships to come in as the danger was over.
+His men levelled the earth ramparts, spiked the guns, buried the dead,
+and sent the wounded on board the fleet. The next day, very early in the
+morning, the ships weighed anchor and directed their course, in
+close-winged phalanx, like a flock of locusts, towards the doomed city
+of Maracaibo, now only six leagues distant. They made but slow way, in
+spite of all their impatience, for there was very little wind; and it
+was not till the next morning that they drew in sight of the town,
+standing pleasantly on the cool shore, with its galleries of shaded
+balconies, its towers and steeples--the goal to which they steered.
+
+Suspicious of ambuscades after the danger at the bar, Lolonnois put his
+men into canoes, and pulled to shore under protection of salvos from his
+great guns, which he ordered to be pointed at the woods which lined the
+beach. Half the men went in the canoes, and half remained on board; but
+these furious discharges were thrown away, the Spaniards having long
+since fled. To their great astonishment, the town itself was deserted.
+The people, remembering the horrors of a former Buccaneer descent, when
+Maracaibo had been "sacked to the uttermost," had escaped to Gibraltar
+in their boats and canoes, taking with them all the jewels and money
+they could carry.
+
+To the alarmed friends who received them, they said that the fort of the
+bar had been taken, and nothing been saved, nor any soldiers escaped. At
+Gibraltar they believed themselves safe, thinking the Buccaneers would
+pillage the unfortunate and defenceless town and then retreat over the
+bar.
+
+The hungry sailors, who had lived scantily for four weeks, found the
+deserted houses well provided with flour, bread, pork, poultry, and
+brandy, and with these they made good cheer. The warehouses were
+brimming with merchandise, the cellars were flowing with Spanish wine.
+The more prudent fell to plunder, the more thoughtless to revel. The
+former class probably embraced the older, and the latter the younger
+men. Each party abused the vice from which he abstained, and gave
+himself up without scruple to his own more favourite indulgence. But
+soon the man weary of wine began to plunder, and the man loaded with
+pieces of eight began to drink. The moment that plunder ceased, waste
+began, and prudence and folly alike ended the day,--poor and drunk. The
+commanders at once seized on the best houses, indulging their natural
+love of order and justice, by placing sentinels at the larger shops and
+warehouses.
+
+The great monastery of the Cordeliers served them as a guard-house, for
+a long time the abode of thieves, yet never so manifestly as now; for a
+long time the shrine of mammon, yet now for the first time filled by
+his avowed worshippers. Had the town not been deserted, that night would
+have heard the groans of the victim of cruelty; as it was, it echoed
+only with the songs and shouts of debauchery. The Buccaneer had reached
+his Capua, but there were no Judiths ready to slay these Holofernes in
+their drunken sleep. Perhaps a night surprise would have failed. These
+men were still the vigilant hunters and the watchful sailors; sunken
+rocks and lurking Spaniards, breakers and wild bulls, reefs and wild
+panthers had taught them never to sleep unguarded and unwatched.
+
+The next day a fresh source of plunder was opened. Lolonnois--for Le
+Basque's command, even by land, seems to have been secondary--sent a
+body of 160 men to reconnoitre the neighbouring woods, where some of the
+inhabitants were, it was supposed, concealed. They returned the same
+night, discharging their guns, and dragging after them a miserable
+weeping train of twenty prisoners, men, women, and children; and,
+besides this, a sack of 20,000 pieces of eight, and many mules, laden
+with household goods and merchandise.
+
+Some of the prisoners were at once racked, to make them confess where
+they had hidden their riches, but neither pain nor fear could extort
+their secret. Lolonnois, who valued not murdering, though in cold blood,
+ten or twelve Spaniards, drew his cutlass and hacked one of them to
+pieces before all his companions; and while the pale, tortured men were
+still writhing and groaning by his side, declared, "If you do not
+confess and declare where you have the rest of your goods, I will do the
+like to all your companions." In spite of all these horrible cruelties
+and inhuman threats, only one was found base enough to offer to conduct
+the Buccaneers to a place where the rest of the fugitives were hidden.
+When they arrived there, they found their coming had been announced, the
+riches had been removed to another place, and the Spaniards had fled.
+The exiles now changed their hiding-places daily, and, amid the
+universal danger and distrust, a father would not even rely on his own
+son.
+
+After fifteen days "taking stock" at Maracaibo, Lolonnois marched
+towards Gibraltar, intending afterwards to sack Merida, as at these
+places he expected to find the wealth transported from the City of the
+Lake. Several of his prisoners offered to serve as guides, but warned
+him that he would find the place strong and fortified. "No matter,"
+cried the Buccaneer, "the better sign that it is worth taking."
+
+Gibraltar was already prepared. The inhabitants, expecting Lolonnois,
+had entreated aid from the governor of Merida, a stout old soldier who
+had served in Flanders. He sent back word, that they need take no care,
+for he hoped in a little while to exterminate the pirates. He had soon
+after this hopeful bravado entered the town at the head of 400
+well-armed men, and was soon joined by an equal number of armed
+townsmen, whom he at once enrolled. On the side of the town towards the
+sea he raised with great rapidity a battery, mounting twenty guns, well
+protected by baskets of earth, and flanked by a smaller traverse of
+eight pieces. He lastly barricaded a narrow passage to the town, through
+which the pirates, he knew, must pass, and opened another path leading
+to a swampy wood that was quite impassable.
+
+Three days after leaving Maracaibo Lolonnois approached Gibraltar, and,
+seeing the royal standard hung out, perceived there were breakers ahead,
+and called a general council, one of those republican gatherings that
+distinguished the Buccaneer armies, and remind us of the less unanimous
+consultations that Xenophon describes. He confessed that the difficulty
+of the enterprise was great, seeing the Spaniards had had so much time
+to put themselves in a state of defence, and had now got together a
+large force and much ammunition; "but have a good courage," said he, "we
+must either defend ourselves like good soldiers or lose our lives with
+all the riches we have got. Do as I shall do, who am your captain. At
+other times we have fought with fewer men than we have now, and yet
+have overcome a greater number of enemies than can be in this town; _the
+more they are the more riches we shall gain_." His men all cried out,
+with one voice, that they would follow and obey him. "'Tis well," he
+replied, "but know ye, the first man who will show any fear or the least
+apprehension thereof, I will pistol him with my own hands."
+
+The Buccaneers cast anchor near the shore, about three-quarters of a
+league from the town, and the next day before sunrise landed to the
+number of 380 determined men, each armed with a cutlass, a brace of
+pistols, and thirty charges of powder and bullets. On the shore they all
+shook hands with one another, many for the last time, and began their
+march, Lolonnois exclaiming, "Come, _mes frčres_, follow me and have
+good courage." Their guide, ignorant of what the governor of Merida had
+done, led them in all good faith up the barricaded way, where, to his
+surprise, he found the paths in one place blocked up with large trees,
+newly cut, and in another swamped so that the soft mud reached up above
+their thighs.
+
+Lolonnois, seeing the passage hopeless, attempted the narrow way, which
+had been carefully cleared as a trap for them. Here only six men could
+go abreast, and the shots of the town ploughed incessantly down the
+path. At the same time the Spaniards, in a small terraced battery of six
+guns, beat their drums and hung out their silk flags. The adventurers,
+harassed by the fire that they could not return, and slipping on the
+swampy path, grew vexed and impatient. "Courage, my brothers," cried
+their leader, "we must beat these fellows or die; follow me, and if I
+fall don't give in for that." With these words he ran full butt, with
+head down like a mad bull, against the Spaniards, followed by all his
+men, as daring but less patient than himself. Cutting down boughs they
+made a rude pathway, firm and sure, over the deep mud. When within about
+a pistol shot from the entrenchments, they began again to sink up to
+their knees, and the enemy's grape-shot fell thick and hot upon the
+impeded ranks. Many dropped, but their last words were always, "Courage,
+never flinch, _mes frčres_, and you'll win it yet." All this time they
+could scarce see or hear, so blinded and deafened were they by the
+thunder and fire.
+
+In the midst of this discomfiture the Spaniards suddenly broke through
+the gloom, just as they got out of the wood and trod upon firmer ground,
+and drove them back by a furious onslaught, many of them being killed
+and wounded. They then attempted the other passage again, but without
+success, and finding the Spaniards would not sally out, and the gabions
+too heavy to tear up by hand, Lolonnois resorted to the old stratagem,
+so successful at Hastings, by which the very impatience of courage is
+made to prove fatal to an enemy.
+
+At a preconcerted signal the Buccaneers began to retreat, upon which the
+defenders of the battery, exclaiming, "They fly, they fly; follow,
+follow," sallied forth in disorder to the pursuit, shouting and firing
+like an undisciplined rabble. Once out of gun-shot of the batteries, the
+pursued turned into pursuers, and falling on the foe, sword in hand,
+slew about 200. Fighting their way through those who survived, the
+Buccaneers soon became masters of all the fortifications. Not more than
+100 out of the 600 defenders remained alive, and these, as Falstaff
+says, would have to limp to the town-end and beg for life. The brave old
+governor lay dead among his foremost men.
+
+The survivors who could crawl or run hid themselves in the woods,
+impeded in their flight by the very obstructions they had themselves
+raised. The men in the battery surrendered, and obtained quarter.
+Neither Lolonnois nor Le Basque was scratched, but forty of their
+companions perished, and eighty were grievously wounded. The greater
+part of these died through the fevers and subsequent pestilence. 500
+dead Spaniards were found, but many more had hidden themselves, to die
+alone in peace.
+
+The Buccaneers, now masters of Gibraltar, pulled down the Spanish
+colours from tower and steeple, and hoisted their own red or black flag.
+Making prisoners of all they met, they shut them up under guard in the
+chief church, where they erected a battery of great guns, in case the
+Spaniards should attempt to rally in a fit of despair. They then
+collected the dead bodies of the Spaniards, and, piling them up, scarred
+and gashed, in two large canoes, towed them out a quarter of a league to
+sea, and scuttled them. They then gathered from every house, rich or
+poor, all the plate, merchandise, and household stuff, which was not too
+hot or too heavy to carry off, as rapacious as the borderer who stopped
+wistfully opposite the hay-stack, wishing it had but four legs, that he
+might make it "gang awa' wi' the rest." The Spaniards having buried
+their treasure, as usual, armed parties were sent into the surrounding
+woods to search for buried money, and to bring in hunters and planters
+as prisoners to torture. Hung up by the beard, or burnt with
+gun-matches, the wretched sufferers were forced to confess the
+hiding-places.
+
+Lolonnois soon turned the fertile country into a smoking black desert,
+and, still insatiable for money and blood, planned an expedition over
+the snow mountains to Merida, but reluctantly relinquished it when he
+found his men unwilling to risk what they had got for the mere
+uncertainly of getting more, though Merida was only forty leagues
+distant. They had now 150 prisoners, besides 500 slaves, and many women
+and children, many of whom were dying daily of famine, so short were
+provisions already in a city in which the small army had been encamped
+only eighteen days.
+
+When they had spent six weeks in the town, Lolonnois determined to
+return, nothing now being left to pillage. Disease and famine were worse
+enemies than the Spaniard or the Indian, and cared for neither steel nor
+lead. A pestilential disease appeared in consequence of the numerous
+dead bodies left in the woods exposed to the wild beasts and the birds.
+Those that lay nearest to the walls had been strewn over with earth, the
+rest were left to taint the air, and slay the living--a putrid fever
+broke out; the Spaniards killed more of the enemy after their death than
+they had done in their life. The Frenchmen's wounds, already closing,
+began now to re-open, the sick died daily, and the strongest pined and
+sickened; all longed to return, even plunder grew distasteful to them
+without health, and once more at sea they hoped soon to be well.
+
+Men who had been revelling in the plenty of two captured cities, could
+not return without impatience to the restraints of a time of scarcity.
+Gibraltar always depending upon Maracaibo for its meat, and not well
+supplied with flour, was, in fact, like a miser dying for want of a
+loaf, while his storehouses were brimmed over with gold. The little meat
+and flour were quickly consumed by the Buccaneers, who left their
+prisoners to shift for themselves. The cattle they soon appropriated,
+giving the mules' and asses' flesh to those Spaniards whose hunger was
+strong enough to conquer their disgust. A few of the women were allowed
+better fare, and many who had become the mistresses of their captors
+were well treated by their lovers. Some of these were mere slaves,
+others were voluntary concubines, but the greater part had been
+compelled, by poverty and fear, to abandon their fathers and husbands.
+
+Lolonnois, sending four of his prisoners into the woods, demanded a
+ransom of 80,000 pieces of eight within two days, threatening the
+fugitives to burn the town to ashes if his desire was not acceded to.
+The Spaniards, already half-beggared, disagreed about the ransom; the
+bolder and the more avaricious refused to pay a piastre, the old, the
+timid, and the more generous preferred poverty to such a loss. Some said
+it would serve as a mere bribe to allure a third adventurer, and others
+declared it was the only means of saving Merida. While they were thus
+disputing the two days passed, and the debate was put an end to by the
+sight of flame ascending above the roofs. The city was already fired in
+two or three places, when the inhabitants, promising to bring the
+ransom, persuaded the Buccaneers to assist in quenching the flames, not,
+however, till the chief houses were burned, and the chief monastery was
+ruined.
+
+Oexmelin merely says that Lolonnois set fire to the four corners of the
+town, and in six hours reduced the whole to ashes. Palm-thatch and cedar
+walls burn quick, and the sea-breeze was there to fan the flames, while
+the Buccaneers were learned in the art of destruction. Lolonnois then
+collected his men by beat of drum, and embarked his booty. Before he
+sailed, he sent two of his prisoners again into the woods, to tell the
+inhabitants that all the prisoners in his hands would be at once put to
+death if the ransom were not paid. All prisoners who had not paid their
+ransom he took with him, even the slaves being valued at so much, and
+having put on board all riches that were movable, and a large sum of
+money as a ransom for what was immovable, the Buccaneer fleet returned
+to Maracaibo. The city, now partly repeopled, was thrown again into
+disorder, nor much lessened when three or four prisoners came to the
+governor, bearing a demand from Lolonnois to pay at once 30,000 pieces
+of eight down upon his deck, or to expect a second sack, and the fate of
+Gibraltar. While these terms were under concession, and the Spanish
+merchants were chaffering with the sailors, as a lowland farmer might
+have done with a highland _cateran_, a party of well-inclined
+Flibustiers, unwilling to waste their time, rowed on shore, and stripped
+the great church of its pictures, images, carvings, clocks, and bells,
+even to the very cross on its steeple, piously desiring to erect a
+chapel at Tortuga, where there was much need of spiritual instruction.
+The Spaniards at last agreed to pay for their ransom and liberty 20,000
+piastres, 10,000 pieces of eight, and 500 cows, provided the fleet would
+do no further injury, and depart at once, and the blessing of Maracaibo
+with them.
+
+We can imagine the trembling and suppressed joy with which the people of
+Maracaibo must have beheld the fleet sail slowly out of their harbour,
+all eyes on board bent onward to the horizon and the golden future--none
+looking back with a moment's regret upon the misery and the black ruin
+left behind. How many orphans must have cursed them as they sailed, and
+how many widows! Three days after the embarkation, to the horror of the
+city, a vessel with a red flag at its masthead was seen re-entering the
+harbour, but only, as it soon appeared, to demand a pilot to take the
+fleet over the bar.
+
+On their way to Hispaniola, Lolonnois touched at the Isle de la Vacca,
+intending to stay there and divide the spoil. This island was inhabited
+by French Buccaneers, who sold the flesh of the animals they killed to
+vessels in want of victual. But a dispute arising here, the fleet again
+set out to disband the crew at Gouaves in Hispaniola.
+
+They arrived in two months, and, unlading the whole "cargazon of
+riches," proceeded to make a dividend of their prizes and their gains.
+Lolonnois and the other captains began by taking a solemn oath in
+public, that they had concealed and held back no portion of the spoil,
+but had thrown all without reserve into the public stock. The ceremony
+of this oath must have been an imposing sight: wild groups of
+half-stripped sailors, wounded men, and female captives, negroes and
+Indians, Spanish soldiers and mulatto fishermen, and in the middle piled
+bales of silks, heaps of glittering coin, and rich stuffs streaming over
+scattered arms and costly jewels, while, looking on, perhaps wistfully,
+leaning on their muskets, a few hunters fresh from the savannahs,
+bull's-hide sandals on their feet, and long knives hanging from their
+belts. After the captains had taken the oath, the common _matelots_,
+down even to the cabin boys, took the vow that they had given up all
+their spoil, to be shared equally by those who had equally ventured
+their lives to win it.
+
+After an exact calculation, the total value of their profits in jewels
+and money was discovered to be 260,000 crowns, not including 100,000
+crowns' worth of church furniture and a cargo of tobacco. On the final
+division every man received money, silk, and linen to the value of about
+100 pieces of eight. The surgeon and the wounded were as usual paid
+first. The slaves were then sold by auction, and their purchase-money
+divided among the various crews. The uncoined plate was weighed, and
+sold at the rate of ten pieces of eight to a pound; the jewels were sold
+at false and fanciful prices, and were generally undervalued, owing to
+the ignorance of the arbitrators. A Buccaneer always preferred coin to
+jewels, and jewels, as being portable, to heavy merchandise, which they
+often threw overboard or wantonly destroyed. The adventurers then all
+took the oath a second time, and proceeded to apportion the shares of
+such as had fallen, handing them to the _matelots_, or messmate, to
+forward to their heirs or nearest relations. We do not know whether, in
+peculiar cases, a _matelot_ became his _camarade's_ heir.
+
+The dividend over, they returned to Tortuga, amid the general rejoicing
+of all over whom love or cupidity had any power. "For three weeks, while
+their money lasted," says Oexmelin, probably an eye witness of the scene,
+"there was nothing but dances, feasts, and protestations of unceasing
+friendship." The _cabaretiers_ and the gambling-house keepers soon
+revenged the cruelties of Maracaibo. The proud captors of that luckless
+city in a few weeks were hungry beggars, basking on the quay of Tortuga,
+straining their eyes to catch sight of some vessel that might take them
+on board, and relieve them from that reaction of wretchedness. They were
+jeered at as mad spendthrifts by the very men who had urged them to
+their folly. The love of courtesans grew colder as the pieces of eight
+diminished, and men were refused charity by the very wretches whom their
+foolish generosity had lately enriched. No doubt watches were fried and
+bank-bills eaten as sandwiches, just as they were during the war at
+Portsmouth or at Dover. The prudent were those who made the money spin
+out a day longer than their fellows, and the wildest were those who had
+found out that two dice-boxes and two fiddlers ran through the
+burdensome money a little faster than only one dice-box and one fiddler.
+
+Some of the Buccaneers, skilful with the cards, added to their store and
+returned at once to France, resolved to turn merchants, and trade with
+the Indies they had wasted. The extravagant prices paid by these men
+for wine, and particularly brandy, rendered that trade a source of great
+profit. Just before the return of the fleet two French vessels had
+arrived at Tortuga laden with spirits, which at first sold at very
+moderate rates, but ultimately, from the great demand and the limited
+means of supply, reached an exorbitant price, a gallon selling for as
+much as four pieces of eight.
+
+The tavern-keepers and the _filles de joie_ obtained most of the money
+so dearly earned, and lavished it as those from whom they won it had
+done. Cards and dice helped those who had not struck a blow at the
+Spaniard, to now quietly spoil the captors. The story of Sampson and
+Dalilah was daily acted. Even the governor hastened to benefit by the
+expedition. He bought a cargo of cocoa of the Buccaneers, and shipped it
+at once to France in Lolonnois' vessel, giving scarcely a twentieth part
+of its value, and realising a profit of Ł120,000. The adventurers did
+not grudge him this bargain, as he had risked everything for Tortuga,
+and had suffered considerable losses. "M. D'Ogeron," says Oexmelin, with
+some _naďveté_, "aimait les 'honnętes gens,' les obligeait sans cesse,
+et ne les lassait jamais manquer de rien."
+
+Neither Lolonnois' talent, rank, nor courage kept him further from the
+tavern door than the meanest of his crew. The poor drudge of a negro
+that served as a butt to the sailors could not give way to baser
+debauchery. It was the voice of the cannon alone that roused him to
+great actions. On land he was a Caliban, at sea a Barbarossa. In spite
+of his great booty, in a few short weeks he was poorer than his crew.
+Tortuga was to him the Circe's island that transformed him into a beast.
+As soon as his foot trod the plank, he became again the wily and the
+wise Ulysses: the first in daring or in suffering, ready to endure or to
+attack, above his fellow men in patience and impatience. His expenses
+were large, and when the prizes ceased to come in he was soon reduced to
+live upon his capital, and that quickly melted away in open-house
+feasting and entertainments given to the governor. He had been
+before he returned, moreover, so burdened with debts that even his
+prize-money could not have defrayed them. There was but one means of
+release--another expedition. Let the Spanish mother clasp her child
+closer to her breast, for she knows not how soon she may have to part
+with it for ever. Is there no comet that may warn an unprepared and a
+doomed people?
+
+Lolonnois had now acquired great repute at Tortuga. He was known to be
+brave, and, what is a rare combination, prudent. Under his guidance men
+who had forgot his previous misfortunes, thought themselves secure of
+gold, and without glory gold is not to be won. He needed now no
+entreaties to induce men to fill his ships; the difficulty was in
+selecting from the volunteers. Those who had before stayed behind now
+determined to venture; those who had once followed him were already
+driven by mere poverty to enlist. The privations of land were
+intolerable to men who had just revelled in riches--the privations of
+sea could be endured by the mere force of habit. The planters threw by
+their hoes, and quitted the hut for the cabin.
+
+The towns of Nicaragua were now to share the fate of those of Venezuela.
+About 700 men and six ships formed the expedition. Lolonnois himself
+sailed in a large "flute" which he had brought from Maracaibo with 300
+men; the other adventurers embarked in five smaller vessels. Having
+careened and revictualled at Bayala, in Hispaniola, he steered for
+Matamana, a port on the south side of Cuba. He here informed his
+companions of the plan of the expedition, and produced an Indian of
+Nicaragua who had offered to serve as guide. He assured them of the
+riches of the country, and expressed his belief that they could surprise
+the place before the inhabitants had secreted their money. His proposal
+was received with the usual unhesitating applause.
+
+At Matamana, Lolonnois collected by force all the canoes of the tortoise
+fishermen, much to their grief and dismay, these poor men having no
+other means of subsistence but fishing. These boats he needed to take
+him up the channel of Nicaragua, which was too shallow for vessels of
+any larger burthen. While attempting to round Cape Gracias ŕ Dios, the
+fleet was arrested by what the Spanish sailors call a "furious calm"--a
+sad and tedious imprisonment to men to whom every delay involved the
+success of their enterprise.
+
+In spite of all their endeavours, they were carried by the current into
+the Gulf of Honduras. Both wind and tide being against them, the smaller
+vessels--better sailers and more manageable than that of Lolonnois--made
+more way than he could do; but were obliged to wait for him, and stay
+for his orders, being quite powerless without him and his 300 men.
+
+They spent nearly a month in trying to recover their path, but all in
+vain, losing in two hours what they gained in two days, and, their
+provisions running short, put ashore to revictual.
+
+Touching at the first land they could reach, they sent their canoes up
+the river Xagua--their guides bringing them to the villages of the
+"long-eared Indians," a race tributary to Spain, whose traders bartered
+knives and mirrors with them for cocoa. The Buccaneers burned their huts
+and carried off their millet, hogs, and poultry, loading the canoes with
+all the food they could bring away to their impatient comerades, who
+determined to remain here till the unfavourable weather had passed, and
+burn and pillage along the whole borders of the gulf. The Indian
+provisions proved but scanty for so numerous a band, but were divided
+equally among the ships that were seeking food like locusts, and moving
+daily on to new pastures.
+
+A council of war was now held to discuss their position. Some were for
+discontinuing the expedition, since the provisions ran so short. The
+oldest and most experienced proposed plundering round the gulf till the
+bad season had passed; and this plan was decided on. Having rifled a few
+villages, they came to Puerto Cavallo, a place where Spanish ships
+frequently anchored, and which contained two storehouses full of
+cochineal, indigo, hides, &c., from Guatimala. There happened then to
+be lying in the port a Spanish vessel of twenty-four guns and sixteen
+patarerros. Its cargo, however, was nearly all unloaded and carried up
+into the interior to be exchanged in barter with the Indians. This ship
+was instantly seized; and Lolonnois, landing without any resistance,
+burned the magazines and all the houses, and made many prisoners. The
+Spaniards he put to the torture to induce them to confess. If any
+refused to answer, he pulled out their tongues, or cut them to pieces
+with his hanger, "desiring," says Esquemeling, "to do so to every
+Spaniard in the world." Many, terrified by the rack, promised to
+confess, really having nothing to disclose. These men were always
+cruelly put to death in revenge. One mulatto was bound hand and foot and
+thrown alive into the sea to intimidate the rest, and to induce two
+survivors to show the French chief the nearest road to the neighbouring
+town of San Pedro.
+
+For this expedition Lolonnois selected 300 men, leaving his lieutenant,
+Moses Vauclin, to govern in his absence, and despatching a few of his
+small flotilla to help him by a diversion on the coast. Before starting,
+he told his companions that he would never refuse to march at their
+head, but that he should kill with his own hand "the first who turned
+tail." San Pedro was only ten leagues distant. He had not proceeded
+three before he fell into an ambuscade.
+
+The Spaniards' favourite scheme of attack was the treacherous
+surprise--a mere sort of attempt at wholesale assassination--seldom
+successful, and always exasperating the enemy to greater cruelties. They
+had now entrenched themselves behind gabions in a narrow road,
+impassable on either side with trees and strong thickets. Lolonnois
+instantly striking down the guides, whether innocent or guilty, charged
+the enemy with desperate courage, and put them to flight after a long
+encounter, ending in a total rout. They killed a few Buccaneers and left
+many of their own men dead upon the ground. The wounded Spaniards, being
+first questioned as to the distance from San Pedro, and the best way to
+get there, were instantly beheaded. The prisoners informed him that
+some runaway slaves, escaped from Porto Cavallo, had told them of the
+intended attack on San Pedro. Determined to prevent this, they had
+planned the ambuscade, and two other still stronger earthworks which
+awaited him further on. To prevent connivance, or any possible
+treachery, Lolonnois then had the Spaniards brought before him one by
+one, and demanded of each in turn if there was no means of getting into
+another and less guarded road. On their each denying that there was, he
+grew frenzied and almost mad at the thoughts of such inevitable danger,
+and had them all murdered but two; and then, in ungovernable passion, he
+ripped open with his cutlass the breast of one of these survivors, who
+was bound to a tree. Esquemeling asserts that he even tore out his heart
+and gnawed it "like a ravenous wolf," swearing and shouting that he
+would serve them all alike if they did not show him another way. The
+miserable survivor, willing to save his life at any risk, his memory or
+invention quickened by the imminent danger, conducted him into another
+path, but so bad a one that Lolonnois preferred to return to the old one
+in spite of all its perils, so difficult, slow, and laborious was the
+march. He now seems to have grown almost fevered with rage, anxiety, and
+vexation. "Mon Dieu," he growled, "les Espagnols me le payeront," and he
+cursed the delay that kept him from the enemy.
+
+There is no doubt that in these men a fanatical and almost superstitious
+hatred of the enemy had sprung up, inflamed by mutual cruelties, for
+forgiveness was not the chief virtue of the victorious Spaniard. To the
+Buccaneer the Spaniard seemed cruel, cowardly, treacherous, and
+degraded; to the Spaniard the Buccaneer seemed a monster scarcely
+human--bloody, voluptuous, faithless, and rapacious.
+
+That same evening the chief fell into a second ambuscade, which, says
+Esquemeling, "he assaulted with such horrible fury" that in less than an
+hour's time he routed the Spaniards and killed the greater part of them,
+the rest flying to the third ambush, which was planted about two
+leagues from the town. The Spaniards had thought, by these repeated
+attacks, to destroy the enemy piecemeal, and for this object, which they
+did not attain, frittered their forces into small and useless
+detachments.
+
+Lolonnois and his people, weary with fighting and marching, and
+half-fainting with hunger and thirst, lay down in the wood that night,
+and slept till the morning, the _matelots_ keeping good watch and ward,
+and guarding their sleeping companions. At daybreak they resumed their
+journey, with confidence increased by the clear light and with bodies
+invigorated by rest. The third ambuscade was stronger and more
+advantageously placed than even the two preceding. They attacked it with
+showers of fire-balls, and drove out the enemy, slaying without mercy,
+and giving no quarter. "No quarter, no quarter," cried their ferocious
+leader, still thirsty for human blood, when they would have stayed their
+hands, from exhaustion rather than from pity. "The more we kill here,
+the less we shall meet in the town," was his war-cry. Very few of the
+enemy escaped to San Pedro, the greater part being either slain or
+wounded.
+
+Before they ventured to make the final attack, the Buccaneers rested to
+look to their arms and prepare their ammunition. In vain they attempted
+to discover a second approach. There was but one, and that was well
+barricaded, and planted all round with thorny shrubs, which the best
+shod traveller could not pass, much less barefooted men, clad only in a
+shirt and drawers. These thorns, Oexmelin says, were more dangerous than
+those crow's-feet used in Europe to annoy cavalry.
+
+Lolonnois, seeing that no other way was left, and that delay would imply
+fear in his own men, and excite hope in the enemy, resolved to storm the
+works, in spite of the rage and despair of a well-armed and superior
+force, sheltered from shot and commanding his approach. "The Spaniards,"
+says Esquemeling, "posted behind the said defences, seeing the pirates
+come, began to ply them with their great guns; but these, perceiving
+them ready to fire, used to stoop down, and then the shot was made to
+fall upon the defendants with fire-balls and naked swords, killing many
+of the town." Driven back for a time, they renewed the attack with fewer
+men; husbanding their shot, for they were now short of powder; never
+shooting at a long distance; and seldom firing but with great
+deliberation when an enemy's head appeared above the rampart; and
+occasionally giving a general discharge, in which nearly every bullet
+killed an enemy. Several times the Buccaneers advanced to the very
+mouths of the guns, and, throwing down fire-balls into the works, leaped
+after them, sword in hand, through the embrasures; but only to be again
+driven back.
+
+This obstinate combat, so eager on both sides, had lasted about four
+hours, and night was fast approaching, when Lolonnois, ordering a last
+furious attack, put the now weakened Spaniards to flight, a great number
+of them being killed as soon as they turned their backs. The citizens
+then hung out a white flag, and, coming to a parley, agreed to surrender
+the town on condition of receiving two hours' respite. During this
+time, Lolonnois found that he had lost about thirty men, ten more being
+wounded. This demand of two hours was employed by the towns-people in
+loading themselves with their riches and preparing for flight--the
+Buccaneers virtuously abstaining from any molestation till the time had
+duly expired, and then pursuing the fugitives and plundering them of
+every _maravedi_. But neither their self-denial nor their vigilance was
+well rewarded, for fortune gave them nothing but a few leather sacks
+full of indigo, the rest, even in that short time, having been buried or
+destroyed--a disappointment which, we think, no reasonable person can
+regret. Lolonnois had particularly ordered that not only all the goods
+should be seized, but that every fugitive should be made prisoner.
+
+The Buccaneer chief, having stayed a few days at San Pedro, and
+"committed most horrid insolences," was anxious to send for a new
+reinforcement, and attack the town of Guatimala--a place a long way
+distant, and defended by 400 men. On his men as usual refusing to
+accede to an apparently rash project, Lolonnois contented himself by
+pillaging San Pedro, intending to impress a recollection of his visit
+upon the grateful inhabitants by burning their town. He obtained no
+great booty, for the inhabitants were a poor people, trading in nothing
+but dyes. If he had chosen to carry away their stores of indigo, he
+might have realised more than 40,000 crowns; but the Buccaneers cared
+for nothing but coin and bullion, and were too ignorant, too lazy, and
+too improvident to stop their debauches by loading their vessels with a
+perishable cargo of uncertain value.
+
+Having remained now eighteen days in San Pedro without obtaining much,
+for the West Indian Spaniard had already learned to hide as skilfully as
+the Hindoo ryot, Lolonnois called together his prisoners, and demanded
+from them a ransom as the condition of sparing their town. They doggedly
+answered, with all the insolence of despair, that he had taken from them
+all they had, and that they had nothing more to give; that they could
+not coin without gold, and that, as far as they went, he might do what
+he liked to the town.
+
+Lolonnois then reduced the town to ashes, and, marching to the sea-side
+to rejoin his companions, found that they had been employing their time,
+innocently and usefully, in capturing the fishing-boats of Guatimala.
+Some Indians, newly taken, informed him that a _hourque_, a vessel of
+800 tons, bringing goods from Spain to the Honduras, was then lying in
+the great river of Guatimala. Resolving to careen and victual at the
+islands on the other side of the gulf, they left two canoes at the mouth
+of the river to give notice when the vessel should venture forth.
+
+The time spent in thus watching outside the covert, they devoted to
+turtle fishing, dividing themselves into parties, each having his own
+station to prevent disputes. Their nets they made of the bark of the
+macoa tree; a natural pitch or bitumen for their boats they found in
+fused heaps upon the shore. The formation of this pitch, or "wax," as
+Esquemeling calls it, the sailors attributed to wild bees; the hollow
+trees in which they built being torn down by storms and swept down into
+the sea. The rest of their time--which never seems to have been
+wearisome, unless the subsequent mutiny indicates it, for these men had
+the tenacity of a slot-hound in the pursuit of blood--was spent in
+cruises among those Indians of the coast of Yucatan, who seek for amber
+on the shore. These tribes were the willing serfs of Spain, having
+served them without resistance for a full century. The Spaniards had, as
+they believed, converted the whole nation to Christianity by sending a
+priest to them once a-week, but, on their sudden return to idolatry, had
+begun to persecute them, angry at their own failure.
+
+According to the Buccaneers' account, these Indian chiefs worshipped
+each a peculiar spirit, to whom they offered sacrifices of fire, burning
+incense of sweet-scented gums. They had a singular custom of carrying
+their new-born children into their temples, and leaving them for a night
+in a hole filled with wood-ashes, generally in an open place, untended,
+and where wild beasts could enter. Leaving the child here they found in
+the morning the foot-prints of some wild beast on the ashes. To this
+animal, whatever it might be, jaguar, snake, or cayman, they dedicated
+the child, whose patron god it became. To this animal the child prayed
+for vengeance against its enemies, and to it he offered sacrifices.
+
+Their marriages were accompanied by a very beautiful and simple
+ceremony. A young man, having satisfied his intended bride's father as
+to his fitness to manage a plantation, was presented with a bow and
+arrow. He then visits the maiden, and puts on her head a wreath of green
+leaves and sweet-smelling flowers, taking off the crown usually worn by
+virgins. A meeting of her relations is then called, the maize juice is
+drunk, and the day after marriage the bride's garland is torn to pieces
+with cries and lamentations.
+
+In these islands the Buccaneers found canoes of the Aregues Indians,
+which must have drifted 600 leagues. They had remained turtle-fishing
+and amber-seeking about three months, when the welcome tidings came that
+the enemy's vessel had ventured out. All hands were now employed in
+preparing the careening ships. It was, however, at last agreed to wait
+for its return, when, as they expected, it would not only contain
+merchandise but money. They therefore sent their canoes to observe her
+motions, and, hearing of the ambuscade, the Spaniards returned to port.
+Lolonnois, as weary of delay as a greyhound is vexed by a hare's
+repeated doubling, determined to do what Mahomet did when the mountain
+would not go to him; since the Spaniards would not come to him, he went
+himself to the Spaniards. Informed of their approach by spies, Indians
+or fishermen, the vessel was prepared to receive him. The decks were
+cleared, the boarding-nettings up, and the guns double-shotted. The
+Spaniard carried fifty-six pieces of cannon, and the crew were well
+provided with hand grenades, torches, fusees, and fire-balls, especially
+on the quarter-deck and bows, and a crew of some 130 men stood armed and
+threatening at their quarters. But Lolonnois cared for none of these
+things, and the rich cargo shone, to his eye, through the ship's
+transparent sides. With his small craft of twenty-two guns, with a
+single fly-boat as his only ally, he boldly attacked the enemy, but was
+at first beaten off.
+
+To the Buccaneer a slight check was almost a certain precursor of
+victory; waiting till about sixty of the Spanish sailors had fallen from
+the fire of his deadly musketry, when their courage slackened, and the
+smoke of their powder lay in a dark mist round the bulwarks, hiding his
+movements, he boarded with four canoes, well manned. In spite of the
+brave defence, the Buccaneers fought with such fury that they forced the
+Spaniards to surrender.
+
+Lolonnois then sent his boats up the river to secure a small patache,
+which they knew lay near at hand, laden with plate, indigo, and
+cochineal. But the inhabitants, alarmed at the capture of the larger
+vessel, swept away from under their very eyes, saved the patache by
+preventing her departure.
+
+The booty of the prize was much less than was expected, the vessel being
+already almost entirely unladen. Its cargo consisted of iron and paper,
+and it still contained 20,000 reams of paper, and 100 tons of iron bars,
+which had served as ballast. The few bales of merchandise were nothing
+but linens, serges, and cloth, thread, and a few jars of wine. In the
+return cargo there would have been at least a million in specie. These
+heterogeneous articles were of no use to men who wanted nothing but coin
+or jewels, lead or powder. Dividing the paper, they used it for napkins,
+and other useless trifles, and several jars of almond and olive-oil were
+wasted in the same reckless manner.
+
+Having now accomplished their purpose, without much return for their
+three months' patience, Lolonnois called a general council of the fleet,
+and declared his intention of going to Guatimala. Upon this announcement
+a division arose in the assembly, and the hoarse murmurs of a coming
+tempest were heard around the speaker. Many of the adventurers, new to
+the trade, could no longer conceal their weariness and their
+disappointment. They had set sail from Tortuga with the feeling with
+which a country boy comes to London. They had believed that pieces of
+eight grew on the trees like pears, and had overlooked the dragons that
+guarded the Hesperian trees. Having seen their predecessors return home
+laden with the plunder of Maracaibo, many had overlooked the toil and
+dangers by which it was won, in the sight of the joy and prodigality
+with which it was lavished; they had seen only the rich pearls, and
+forgotten the stormy seas from which they had been gathered. They were
+weary of the hardships, and mutinous for want of food. The mere seeker
+for gold could not endure what was submitted to by those who were
+desirous of earning distinction. The older hands laughed at their
+pinings, derided their complaints, and swore that they would rather die
+and starve there, than return home with empty purses, to be the scorn
+and laughing-stock of all Hispaniola. The majority of the experienced
+men, foreseeing that the voyage to Nicaragua would not succeed, and was
+"little to their purpose," separated from Lolonnois, and set sail
+secretly in the swift sailing vessel that Moses Vauclin had captured in
+the port of Cavallo, and which he now commanded, boasting, with reason,
+that it was the swiftest sailing vessel that had been seen in the West
+Indies for fifty years. With Moses Vauclin went Pierre le Picard, who,
+seeing others desert Lolonnois, resolved to do the same.
+
+Steering homewards, the fugitives coasted along the whole continent till
+they came to Costa Rica, where they landed a good party, marched up to
+Veraguas, and burnt the town, pillaging the Spaniards, who made a stout
+resistance, carrying off a few prisoners, and obtaining a scanty booty
+of some seven or eight pounds' worth of gold, which their slaves washed
+from the mud of the rivers. Alarmed at the multitude of Spaniards that
+began to gather round them, the marauders abandoned their design of
+attacking the town of Nata, on the south sea-coast, although many rich
+merchants lived there, whose slaves worked in the gold-washings of
+Veraguas. Returning to Tortuga, these undisciplined men, impatient of
+poverty, united themselves under the flag of a noble adventurer, the
+Chevalier du Plessis, who had just arrived in the Indies, poor and
+proud, and prepared to cruise against the Spaniard in those seas.
+Vauclin being an experienced pilot, well acquainted with the turtle
+islands, and every key and reef the surf washed from California to Cape
+Horn, was taken into favour by the titled privateersman, who promised
+him the first prize he captured, if he would sail in his company. But a
+serious difficulty arose in the execution of this liberal promise, for
+the Chevalier was soon after shot through the head while grappling with
+a Spanish ship of thirty-six guns, and Moses was elected captain in his
+stead. In his first cruise, the brave deserter was fortunate enough to
+take a cocoa vessel from the Havannah, with a cargo valued at 150,000
+livres.
+
+During this time, Lolonnois and his men remained alone and deserted in
+the gulf of Honduras. He was now in some distress, short of provisions,
+and in a vessel too "great to get out at the reflux of those seas." His
+300 men had no food but that which they contrived to kill daily on
+shore, living chiefly on the flesh of parrots and monkeys. By day they
+generally fished or hunted, by night, taking advantage of the land
+breeze, they sailed painfully on till they rounded Cape Gracias ŕ Dios,
+and slowly the Pearl Islands hove in sight. Staunch and inexorable,
+Lolonnois, amid all the tedium of this enervating idleness, still
+nourished the project of making a swoop down upon Nicaragua, intending
+to leave his cumbrous vessel behind, and row up the river St. John in
+canoes, until he reached the lake. But the same reason that made his
+vessel lag behind those of his companions, now drove it ashore in a
+shallow near Cape Gracias, where it drew too much water to be
+extricated. In vain he unloaded his guns and iron, and used every means
+that experience and ingenuity could suggest to lighten the ship, and
+float her again into deep water. Always firm and resolute, Lolonnois at
+once determined to break her to pieces on the sand-shoal, and with her
+planks and nails to construct a boat.
+
+His men, with perfect _sang froid_, not even impatient at the loss, much
+less afraid of danger, escaping to land, began to build Indian
+_ajoupas_, or huts. Lolonnois, accustomed to such reverses, concealed
+his chagrin, if he even felt any. Regardless of himself, he adjured his
+men to lose no courage, for he knew of a means of escape, and, what was
+more, a way to make their fortune yet, before they returned to Tortuga.
+Prepared for every emergency, and even for the longest delay, part of
+the crew were at once employed in planting peas and other vegetables,
+the remainder in fishing and hunting, all but the few who worked busily
+at the boat in which Nicaragua was to be visited. In spite of desertion,
+failure, wreck, and famine, Lolonnois held on to the plan of the
+expedition, which he deemed cowardly and shameful to abandon. The men,
+confident in the sagacity and courage of their leader, surrendered
+themselves like children to his guidance.
+
+The Indians of the Perlas Islands, on which they had struck, were a
+fierce and untamable race, strong and agile, swift as horses, hardy
+divers, brave but cruel, warlike, and man-eaters. Their wooden clubs
+were jagged with crocodiles' teeth; they had no bows or arrows, but
+used lances a fathom and a-half long. They built no huts, and lived on
+fruits grown in plantations cleared from the forest. Fishers and
+swimmers, they were so dexterous as to be able to bring up with a rope
+an anchor of 600 cwt. from a rock, a feat which Esquemeling himself saw
+a few of them perform. The seamen in vain attempted to propitiate these
+wild freemen, to serve them as guides or hunters. At last, finding a
+great number together, and pursuing the fugitives, they tracked five men
+and four women to a cave, and took much pains to propitiate them. The
+captives remaining obstinately silent, as if from fear, in spite of the
+food that was given them, were dismissed with presents of knives and
+beads. They left, promising to return; "but soon forgot their
+_benefactors_," says Esquemeling, disgustfully. The sailors believed
+that at night all the Indians swam to a neighbouring island, as they
+never saw either boat or Indian again.
+
+Some time before this the Frenchmen's terror had been excited by the
+discovery that these Indians were cannibals. Two Buccaneers, a Frenchman
+and a Spaniard, had straggled into the woods in search of game. Pursued
+by a troop of savages, the latter, after a desperate struggle, was
+captured, and heard of no more; the former, the swifter footed of the
+two, escaped. A few days after, an armed party of a dozen Flibustiers,
+led by this survivor, went into the same part of the forest to see if
+they could find any traces of the Indian encampment. Near the place
+where the Spaniard had fallen into the ambush they discovered the ashes
+of a fire, still warm, and among the embers some human bones, well
+scraped, and a white man's hand with two fingers half roasted, but still
+unconsumed.
+
+For six months, till the long-boat was completed, the Buccaneers lived
+on Spanish wheat, bananas, and on the fruits and green crops which they
+had sown on landing. Their bread they baked in portable ovens saved from
+the wreck.
+
+Lolonnois now once more prepared to carry out his unabandoned project.
+With part of his crew he resolved to row up the river of Nicaragua, to
+capture some canoes, and return to fetch away those whom the new boat
+would not hold. The men cast lots for the choice of sailing with him. He
+took about one-half of the shipwrecked crew with him, part in the
+long-boat and part in a skiff which had been saved when the larger
+vessel drove on the bank. They arrived in a few days at Desaguadera,
+near Nicaragua, but attacked on the beach by an overpowering number of
+Spaniards and Indians, they were driven back to their boats, with the
+loss of many men, and escaped with difficulty, beaten and desponding.
+
+Lolonnois, now fairly at bay with fortune, still resolved neither to
+return to Tortuga ragged and penniless, nor to rejoin his comerades till
+he had obtained a sufficient number of canoes to embark his companions.
+In order the better to obtain provisions he divided his men into two
+bands. The one party proceeded to the Cape Gracias ŕ Dios, where they
+were well received; the other sailed to Boca del Toro, on the coast of
+Carthagena, where adventurers frequently repaired for turtle and other
+provisions, intending to embark in the first friendly vessel that should
+arrive.
+
+Nicaragua was still destined to remain unscathed. "God Almighty," says
+Esquemeling, who writes with some bitterness, and probably much
+hypocrisy, "the time of His divine justice being now come, had appointed
+the Indians of Darien to be the instruments and executioners thereof."
+Landing at a place called the La Pointe ŕ Diegue to obtain fresh water,
+Lolonnois and his men, weary of "wave, and wind, and oar," drew their
+canoes to land, and threw up entrenchments, knowing that they were now
+in the neighbourhood of the Bravo Indians, the most savage race known on
+the mainland--as cruel as sharks, and as numerous and greedy of blood as
+the vultures. He himself and a few others, passing the river, near the
+Gulf of Darien, landed in order to sack a town and obtain provisions.
+Here this modern Ulysses found a termination to his troubles and his
+life, for, being taken prisoner by the Indians, he was killed, chopped
+to pieces, and devoured. Many of his companions were also burnt alive,
+and but a few escaped to Tortuga, by the detail of their horrors to
+check for a few days the love of adventure in the minds of its restless
+and impetuous adventurers.
+
+Esquemeling, or his English translator--who generally considers it
+necessary to conclude his chapters with a sanctimonious moral, a snuffle
+of the nose, and a lifting up of the eyes--says, "Hither Lolonnois came
+(brought by his evil conscience that cried for punishment), thinking to
+act his cruelties; but the Indians, within a few days after his arrival,
+took him prisoner, throwing his body limb by limb into the fire, and his
+ashes into the air (_virtuous indignation_), that no trace or memory
+might remain of such an infamous, inhuman creature.... Thus ends the
+history, the life, and the miserable death of that infernal wretch,
+Lolonnois, who, full of horrid, execrable, and enormous deeds, and
+debtor to so much innocent blood, died by cruel and butcherly hands,
+such as his own were in the course of his life." Towards the conclusion
+of his malediction Esquemeling's wrath unfortunately gets much the
+better of his grammar.
+
+The men left behind in the island de las Perlas, after long waiting for
+their companions--who had only escaped Scylla to run into
+Charybdis--were taken off by an English adventurer, who, collecting a
+body of 500 men, resolved on an expedition to the mainland. Ascending
+the river Moustique, near Cape Gracias, he sailed on, expecting to find
+some inlet to the lake of Nicaragua, round which Lolonnois' men still
+hovered. The expedition started full of hope, for the shipwrecked men
+were rejoiced at ending ten months of suffering, anxiety, and privation.
+
+The result was worse than mere disappointment. In fifteen days they
+reached no Spanish town, but only some poor Indian villages, which they
+found deserted by the natives, who, aware of their coming, had fled,
+carrying off all the produce of their plantations. These they burnt in
+their rage, and marched recklessly onwards. They had carried no
+provision with them, expecting to find everywhere sufficient; and, to
+render their condition worse, had brought all their 500 men, except five
+or six who were left to guard each vessel. "These their hopes," says
+Esquemeling--turning up as usual the whites of his eyes--who looks with
+great contempt on all unsuccessful attempts at thieving, "were found
+totally vain, _as not being grounded_." In a few days the hope of
+plunder, which had first animated them, grew clouded by despondency.
+Scarcity rapidly became want, and they were reduced to such extreme
+necessity and hunger that they gathered the plants that grew on the
+river's bank for food. In a fortnight their courage and vigour had
+entirely gone; their hearts sank, and their bodies were wasted by
+famine.
+
+Leaving the river they took to the woods, seeking for Indian villages
+where they might obtain food. Ranging up and down the woods for some
+days in a fruitless search, they returned to the river, now their only
+guide, and struck back towards the point of coast where their ships lay.
+In this laborious journey they were reduced to much extremity--eating
+their shoes, their leather belts, and the very sheaths of their knives
+and swords. They grew at last so ravenous as to resolve to kill and
+devour the first Indian they could meet; but they could not obtain one
+either for food or as a guide. Some fell sick, and, fainting by the
+wayside, were left to perish. Many were killed and eaten by the Indians,
+and others died of starvation. At last they reached the shore, and,
+finding some comfort and relief to their present miseries, at once set
+sail to encounter more. After remaining some time on land, they
+re-embarked, but a quarrel arising between the French and English
+Buccaneers, who seldom kept long friends, they separated into small
+parties, and engaged in fresh expeditions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ALEXANDRE BRAS-DE-FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
+
+    Bras-de-Fer compared to Alexander the Great--His adventures and
+    stratagems--Montbars--Anecdotes of his childhood--Goes to sea--His
+    first fight--Meets and joins the Buccaneers--Defeats the Spanish
+    Fifties--His uncle killed--His revenge--The negro vessel--Adam and
+    Anne le Roux plunder Santiago.
+
+
+We now come to a class of Buccaneers who lived at we scarcely know what
+period, although they were probably contemporaries of Oexmelin. Their
+adventures, though on a narrower scale, are perhaps more interesting
+than those that had subsequently taken place, and are valuable as
+illustrations of manners.
+
+Oexmelin relates, in his usual shrewd and vivacious manner, the singular
+exploits of Alexandre Bras-de-Fer, a French adventurer, with whom he was
+acquainted, and who, unlike his contemporaries, never joined in large
+expeditions, preferring the promptitude of a single swift cruiser, with
+none to share his risks or subtract from his booty. His life seems to
+have been crowded with romantic and strange incidents. His character
+appears to have been a strange combination of bravery and chivalry, a
+love of rapine, and a fantastic vanity. Oexmelin says naďvely, that this
+modern Alexander was as great a man among the adventurers of Tortuga as
+the ancient Alexander was among the conquerors of the East. Nor does he
+see much difference between the two worthies, except that the Macedonian
+was the adventurer upon the larger scale.
+
+Our Alexandre was vigorous in body and handsome in feature--so, at
+least, vouches Oexmelin, who, a surgeon by profession, once cured him of
+a severe wound that he had received--a cure which, if Alexandre had been
+generous (which he was not, in this instance at least), might have made
+the doctor's fortune.
+
+Bras-de-Fer displayed as great judgment in the conception of his
+enterprises as he did courage in the carrying them out. His head and
+hand worked well together, and he seldom had to fight his way out of
+dangers into which his own incautiousness had led him. The vessel which
+he commanded he called the _Phoenix_, because it was of such a unique and
+peculiar structure that it was said to be among vessels what the phoenix
+was fabled to be among birds.
+
+Alexandre always went alone, in preference to crowding in a fleet. His
+pride or his prudence may have given him a fondness for solitary
+cruises, for the _Phoenix_ was a bird of prey. A picked crew and a single
+swift vessel had many advantages over a rebellious flotilla--and
+subordinate captains were often mutinous if not treacherous. If solitude
+increased his risk, it also increased his probability of success.
+
+Oexmelin, the only writer who mentions Alexandre, relates but one of his
+adventures, which he took down, as he tells us, from the hero's own
+lips. The rest of his exploits he suppresses, either from a fear of
+being tedious or a dread of being considered a mere romancer.
+
+On the occasion of which he speaks, Alexandre was bound upon an
+expedition of great consequence--which, however, as it did not succeed,
+the narrator, with a wise modesty, does not think worth mentioning.
+After lying some time imprisoned in a tedious calm, his prayers for a
+change of weather were answered by a great storm, that blew up the sea
+into mountains--wind and fire seeming to struggle together in the air
+for the possession of the helpless ship and its pale crew. The furious
+thunder drowned the very roar of the sea, and the masts soon went by the
+board. The lightning, striking its burning arrows through the deck, set
+fire to the powder-magazine, and blew up the part of the vessel in which
+it was stored. Half of the crew were hurled into the air, and were
+killed before they reached the boiling sea that eagerly waited for their
+fall. The remainder of the crew, finding the vessel going down by the
+head, took to swimming, and soon reached dry land: Alexandre--strong and
+brawny, brave, but desirous of life, and always awake to the means of
+its preservation--by no means the last, setting an example at once of
+prudence, coolness, and decision. On shaking the brine from their limbs
+and looking around, the wrecked men found that they had been thrown upon
+a tract of land as much to be dreaded by the Buccaneer as the realm of
+Polyphemus was by the wise Ulysses. They stood upon an island near the
+Boca del Drago (Dragon's Mouth), inhabited by a tribe of Indians, fierce
+and cruel cannibals. Remaining for some time upon the shore, they
+exerted themselves in recovering what they could from the scorched
+driftings of the wreck. Amongst other things they saved--what was more
+valuable than food, because they presented the means of saving their
+lives for the present and for the future--a number of their hunters'
+muskets, sufficient to arm all their number, together with a quantity of
+powder and lead for bullets. Without either of the three requisites the
+other two had been useless. They now gathered courage from the
+possibility of escape, and determined to secure themselves from the
+Indians, reconnoitre the place for fear of surprise, and after that
+remain patiently encamped till some friendly vessel should arrive.
+
+One day, while some of the band were smoking, singing, and talking,
+their past dangers already half forgotten in the desire of escaping the
+present by encountering fresh in the future, the sentinels on the
+look-out hill gave the signal of an approaching vessel. On all rushing
+to the spot, the keener eyes detected a large ship, dark against the
+grey horizon. It presently discharged a gun at the shore, and in the
+direction in which they stood. Preparing for the worst, Alexandre and
+his men hid themselves in a wooded hollow and held a council of war.
+Some were of opinion that they should wait for the stranger's arrival,
+and then quietly beg the captain to take them on board. The more
+impatient and lawless, less pacific in such an emergency, believed that
+such a plan would lead, if the vessel proved, as it probably would, a
+Spaniard, to their all being taken prisoners, and at once strung from
+the yard-arm, without inquiry, as Frenchmen and pirates. Bras-de-Fer
+spoke last, and crushed all opposition by his voice and gesture. He was
+for war to the death, and escape at any risk. Better Spanish rope than
+Indian fire, better pistol shot than starvation. Quick in decision and
+firm in execution, he had at once determined not merely to stand on the
+defensive, but at all risks to assume the aggressive. The adventurers
+yielded as if an angel had spoken, for Alexandre had more than the usual
+ascendancy of a leader over them. Both his mind and body were of a more
+athletic bulk and iron mould. He could dare and suffer more. His active
+and his passive, his moral and physical courage, were greater than
+theirs. They loved him because he shared their dangers, and did not
+humiliate them by the assumption of his real superiority. He wore the
+crown, but he was not always dazzling their eyes with its oppressive
+glitter. They respected him, because he could control both his own
+passions and those of the men whom he led to victory and never to
+defeat. The success of his victories he doubled by the prudence with
+which they were followed up, and the skill with which he conducted a
+retreat rendered his very defeats in themselves successes.
+
+The vessel, which proved to be a Spanish merchant ship, with war
+equipments, approached nearer, standing off and on, attracted by the
+fruit and flowers whose perfume spread over the level sea, and allured
+by that fragrance, a sure proof of the existence of good water not far
+from the shore. The boats were lowered, and a well-armed party landed
+with much caution. The captain marched at their head, followed by his
+best soldiers, dreading an ambuscade of the Indians of that coast, who
+were known to be warlike and treacherous, but not suspecting the
+Buccaneers, who kept themselves in the wood, ready to swoop down upon
+their prey, like the kite upon the dovecote.
+
+Already well acquainted with the paths and foot-tracks, Alexandre's men
+crept quietly through the trees, which grew thick and dark, and,
+defiling by secret avenues, surrounded the principal approach by which
+the Spaniards had already entered, in good order and on the alert, but
+with apprehensions already subsiding. The adventurers being very
+inferior in number and scantily armed, kept themselves hidden, waiting
+for chance to give them some momentary advantage. When the enemy was
+well encircled in the defile, mistaking perhaps the lighted matches for
+fire-flies among the branches, the French suddenly opened a murderous
+fire upon the soldiers, who found themselves girt by a belt of flame,
+coming from they knew not where. A pilgrim seeing a volcano opening at
+his feet could not be more astonished. The Spaniards, seeing no enemies
+to aim at, withheld their fire, thinking that the Indians were burning
+the forest. The absence of arrows, and the report of muskets, convinced
+them more deadly enemies awaited them, and that Europeans and not
+Indians were the preparers of the ambush. With much promptitude,
+instead of flying in a foolish headlong rout, they threw themselves upon
+their faces; and the captain gave the word of command not to fire till
+the enemy came in sight, being ignorant yet of their number and their
+nation.
+
+The adventurers looked through the loopholes which they had cut in the
+thick underwood for the passage of their firearms, to see what effect
+their volley had produced, the smoke now clearing away and permitting
+them to see more clearly. To their astonishment they could see no one;
+the enemy had vanished, as if blown to pieces by the fire. They began to
+think that they had retreated, although they had heard no sound of their
+retreat; they could scarcely believe that they were all dead.
+
+Alexandre's impatience soon decided the question; determined to conquer,
+he chafed at the delay and mystery. His resolution was soon made. He
+left his ambush and broke out from the wood into the open. The mystery
+was quickly solved, for he was instantly attacked by the Spaniards,
+who, when they saw him break cover, sprang up to their feet, with a
+shout, as swift as the foes of Cadmus. Alexandre, retreating for a
+moment to make his spring the surer, leaped upon the hostile captain and
+aimed a blow at his head with his sabre, which was warded off by a large
+scull-cap, from which the steel glanced. Bras-de-Fer was about to repeat
+his blow with better effect, when his foot caught in a root and he fell.
+Closely pressed by his antagonist, and requiring all his skill to save
+his life, rising up, with his left hand and with his strong right arm,
+he struck the uplifted sabre from the hand of his enemy. This lucky blow
+of a defenceless man gave Alexandre time to leap up and call the
+adventurers, who had not then left the ambush, and were now pouring out
+on every side, pressing the enemy in the rear and on the flank. Having
+made a great carnage among the Spaniards, the Flibustiers, at a signal
+from Alexandre, closed in, and, bearing down upon the craven and
+terrified foe sword in hand, slew them to a man, taking special care
+that not a single one should escape, for fear of spreading an alarm.
+
+The Spanish crew remaining to keep guard in the vessel, had heard the
+sound of musketry, and at once supposed that their people had fallen in
+with some hostile Indians, but knowing that their troops were brave and
+numerous, and believing they could easily cut a few savages to pieces,
+they sent no reinforcement, but contented themselves by discharging a
+noisy broadside to turn the scale of the supposed battle, and increase
+the terror of the fugitives. On the other hand, the victorious
+adventurers lost no time in following up their ambush by an ingenious
+stratagem. They stripped the dead, and arrayed themselves in their dress
+and arms. They then collected a quantity of their own Indian arrows,
+which they had previously taken from savages which they had killed. Then
+pulling their broad-brimmed Panama hats over their eyes (even the
+captain's, with a red gash through it), and shouldering their arms,
+imitating the Spanish march, and uttering shouts of "victory, victory,"
+proceeded to the shore at the point nearest the vessel. The guards on
+board, seeing their supposed companions returned so soon, victorious,
+laden with spoil, and each one carrying a sheaf of arrows, received them
+with open arms as they clambered up by the main-chains. Before they
+could recover from their astonishment, the Buccaneers were masters of
+the vessel. There was scarcely any struggle, for only the sailors and a
+few marines had been left on board. The surprise was complete and
+sudden, and the most watchful might be pardoned for being deluded by
+such an artifice. The adventurers found the vessel laden with costly
+merchandise, and soon started with it upon a trip of a very different
+nature from that for which it had been first intended.
+
+Oexmelin laments that in many other adventures which Alexandre told him,
+he found that he passed too lightly over his own exploits, and
+attributed all the glory to the courage of his companions. But when his
+comerades related the story, they were not so generous to him as he had
+been to them, and, either from envy or shame, suppressed many of his
+noblest actions. He concludes his sketch of the two Alexanders with
+incomparable _naďveté_ in the following manner: "Au reste, je ne
+prétends pas que la comparaison soit toute-ŕ-fait juste, car s'il y a
+quelque rapport, _il y a encore plus de différence_. En effet il étoit
+aussi brave que téméraire, et lui étoit brave que prudent. Alexandre
+aymoit le vin, et lui l'eau-de-vie. Aussi Alexandre fuyoit les femmes
+par grandeur d'âme, et luy les cherchoit par tendresse de coeur; et pour
+preuve de ce que je dis il s'en trouve une assez belle dans le vaisseau
+dont j'ay parlé, qu'il préféra ŕ tout l'avantage du butin."
+
+"To conclude: if I have compared him to the Great Alexander, I do not
+pretend that the comparison is altogether just; for, if there are some
+points of resemblance, there are many more of difference. Of a truth,
+the one Alexander was as brave as he was headstrong, the other as brave
+as he was prudent; the one loved wine, and the other brandy; the one
+fled from women through real greatness of heart, the other sought them
+from a natural tenderness of soul; and, as a proof of what I say, he met
+a beautiful woman in the vessel of which I have spoken, whom he valued
+more than all the other spoil."
+
+Providence, a French moral philosopher ventures to suggest, raised up
+the Buccaneers to revenge on the Spaniards all the sufferings and
+injustices of the Indians. The Spaniard was the scourge of the Indian,
+and the Buccaneer the scourge of the Spaniard.
+
+Lolonnois and Montbars are always considered as equal claimants for the
+hateful pre-eminence of being the most ferocious of the whole Buccaneer
+brotherhood, considering them from their origin to their extinction. But
+the sovereignty of blood must be at once awarded to Lolonnois. Montbars
+seldom killed a Spaniard who begged for mercy, while Lolonnois delighted
+to spurn them from his feet, and slew all he could without pity, or even
+regard for ransom. It was from the very lips of Lolonnois that Oexmelin
+was informed that Montbars was sprung from one of the best families in
+Languedoc. He was well educated, but soon disregarded every other study
+to practise martial exercise, and particularly shooting. These warlike
+sports he pursued with a concentrated, unremitting eagerness,
+approaching insanity. Even as a boy, when firing with his cross-bow, he
+said he only wished to shoot well that he might know how to kill a
+Spaniard. His mind had already become filled with a generous but cruel
+determination, which grew rapidly into monomania. The animal force of a
+strong but ill-balanced mind all grew to this point, and his thoughts by
+day, and his dreams by night, became but a reiteration and reblending of
+the one master passion. No one ever became his confidant, but the
+following is the general explanation given of the deeds of his after
+life. It is said that, in his early childhood, Montbars had read of the
+almost incredible cruelties practised by the Spaniards during the
+conquest of America. In the Antilles, they had exhibited the horrors of
+the Inquisition in broad daylight. Fanaticism, avarice, and ambition had
+ruled like a trinity of devils over the beautiful regions, desolated
+and plague-smitten; whole nations had become extinct, and the name of
+Christ was polluted into the mere cypher of an armed and aggressive
+commerce. These books had impressed the gloomy boy with a deep,
+absorbing, fanatical hatred of the conquerors, and a fierce pity for the
+conquered. He believed himself marked out by God as the Gideon sent to
+their relief. Dreams of riches and gratified ambition spurred him
+unconsciously to the task. He thought and dreamed of nothing but the
+murdered Indians. He inquired eagerly from travellers for news from
+America, and testified prodigious and ungovernable joy when he heard
+that the Spaniards had been defeated by the Caribs or the Bravos.
+
+He indeed knew by heart every deed of atrocity that history recorded of
+his enemies, and would dilate on each one with a rude and impatient
+eloquence. The following story he was frequently accustomed to relate,
+and to gloat over with a look that indicated a mind capable of even
+greater cruelty, if once led away by a fanatic spirit of retaliation. A
+Spaniard, the story ran, was once upon a time appointed governor of an
+Indian province, which was inhabited by a fierce and warlike race of
+savages. He proved a cruel governor, unforgiving in his resentments, and
+insatiable in his avarice. The Indians, unable any longer to endure
+either his barbarities or his exactions, seized him, and, showing him
+gold, told him that they had at last been able, by great good luck, to
+find enough to satisfy his demands. They then held him firm, and melting
+the ore, poured it down his throat till he expired in torments under
+their hands.
+
+On one occasion, Montbars openly showed that his reason was somewhat
+disturbed, and that, on the one subject of his thoughts, he had ceased
+to be able to reflect calmly. While a boy, he had to take part in a
+comedy which was to be acted by himself and the fellow-students of the
+college, for his friends either ignored or disregarded his dreams and
+fancies. Amongst other scenes was a prologue, in the shape of a dialogue
+between a Spaniard and a Frenchman. Montbars was to represent the
+Frenchman, and his companion the Spaniard. The Spaniard, appearing first
+upon the stage, began to utter a thousand invectives against France,
+mingled with much ribald rhodomontade, and Montbars became excited, and
+could not contain his impatience. To his heated mind the mimic scene
+became a reality. He broke in upon the stage, furiously interrupted his
+comerade in the middle of his speech, and, loading him with blows, would
+certainly have put him to death on the spot, as "a Spanish liar and
+murderer," had the combatants not been separated by the terrified
+bystanders.
+
+His father, rich, and loving his son much, perhaps all the better for
+these wayward eccentricities, which, he believed, contact of the world
+and the pleasures of youth would soon drive from his memory, desired to
+enrol him in the army, or induce him to enter some profession. But to
+all his questions and entreaties the boy only replied, that all he
+wanted was "to fight against the Spaniards." Seeing that his friends
+would oppose his project, he ran away from his father's house, and took
+refuge at Havre with an uncle who commanded one of the French king's
+ships. He was about to start on a cruise against Spain, with whom France
+was then at war, and, pleased at the boy's avowed attachment to a
+maritime life, wrote to his father, approving of the boy's resolution.
+The father reluctantly gave what could be construed into a consent, and
+in a few days the vessel sailed.
+
+During the voyage out, the young fanatic evinced the greatest eagerness
+for an engagement, and directly a vessel appeared in sight ran to arm
+himself, hoping it might be a Spaniard. At length, one did in reality
+appear, and he had an opportunity of distinguishing himself against his
+declared enemies. They gave chase to the Spanish vessel, and received
+her broadside. The elder Montbars, seeing his nephew intoxicated with
+joy, and, disregarding all risk of exposure, determining to throw away
+his life, clapped him under hatches, as a reckless boy, and only let him
+rush out when the boarding commenced, and the enemy's vessel was
+evidently their own. The liberated youth led the boarders with all the
+calmness of a veteran man-of-war's-man. Leaping, sabre in hand, upon the
+foe, he fought with them pell-mell, broke through their thickest ranks,
+and, followed by a few whom his courage animated to rival his own
+rashness, rushed twice from end to end of the Spanish vessel, mowing
+down all he met to the right and left. The Spaniards were refused
+quarter, those who escaped the sword perished in the sea, and Montbars,
+to whom the honour of the victory was unanimously awarded, refused
+quarter to a single one. The prize was found full of spoil, the hold
+crammed with riches, containing 30,000 bales of cotton, 2000 bales of
+silk, besides Indian stuffs, 2000 packets of incense, and 1000 of
+cloves, which made up the treasure. In addition to all this, they found
+a small casket of diamonds, the case clasped with iron, and fastened
+with four locks, which alone outvalued all the bulkier merchandise.
+While his uncle and the sailors exulted over these treasures, Montbars
+was counting the dead Spaniards, and gloating over the first victims of
+the hecatomb he still hoped to slay. Blood, and not booty, was his
+object.
+
+In spite of the young victor, a few Spanish sailors and officers had
+been spared in the general carnage. From these survivors they learnt
+that two other vessels had been parted from them in a storm, near where
+they then were (St. Domingo), and that their rendezvous had been fixed
+at Port Margot. Captain Montbars determined to wait for them there, and
+to capture them by the stratagem of sending the captured vessel with its
+Spanish colours out to meet them, as a decoy. While the French vessel
+and its prize lay waiting at the rendezvous, some huntsmen's boats came
+off to sea, bringing boucaned meat to barter for brandy. The Buccaneers
+apologised for bringing so little meat, saying, "that a band of Spanish
+Fifties had lately ravaged their district, burnt their hides, stolen
+their dried meat, and burnt their boucans."
+
+"And why do you suffer it?" said Montbars, impetuously, for he had been
+listening eagerly all this time, to the recital of a new proof of
+Spanish perfidy.
+
+"We do not suffer it," answered the huntsmen, roughly. "The Spaniards
+know well what sort of people we are, and they chose a time when we were
+all away cow-killing; but our day is coming. We are now collecting our
+companions, who have suffered worse than we have; we have given notice
+far and wide, and if the fifty grow to 1000, we shall soon bring them to
+bay."
+
+"If you are willing," says Montbars, "I will march at your head. I do
+not want to command you, but to expose myself first, to show you what I
+am ready to do against these accursed Spaniards."
+
+The old hunters, astonished at the daring of a mere youth, and glad of
+another musket, accepted his proposal. His uncle, unable to rein him in,
+and already weary of so hot-brained a volunteer, yielded to his
+entreaties. He permitted him to go, giving him a party of seamen to
+guard him, and supplied him with but few provisions, in hopes of
+bringing him quickly back. He threatened, on parting, to leave him
+behind if he was not on board to the very hour, then calling him a
+foolish madcap, and cursing him for a hair-brain, he dismissed him with
+his blessing, swearing the next minute there wasn't a braver lad at that
+moment treading a plank.
+
+Montbars departed with some uneasiness, not caring about his uncle's
+advice or the scantiness of provisions, but only afraid that he might
+miss the Spaniards on land, and be absent also when the Spanish vessels
+were attacked. He wanted no greater inducement to hurry his return than
+the prospect of a naval engagement. He had scarcely landed with his men,
+when the hunters brought them into a small savannah surrounded by hills
+and woods. They had not taken many steps across this broad
+hunting-ground before they saw some mounted Spaniards appear in the
+distance--these men were part of a troop that had collected, hearing
+that the Buccaneers were assembling to attack them.
+
+Montbars, transported with rage at the sight of a Spaniard, would have
+rushed at once upon them, single-handed, but an old experienced
+Buccaneer caught him by the arm: "Stop," said he, "there is plenty of
+time, and, if you do what I tell you, not one of these fellows shall
+escape." These words, "not one," would at any time have arrested
+Montbars, and they did so then. The old Buccaneer, crying a halt, bade
+the men turn their backs on the Spaniards, as if they had not seen them.
+He next unrolled the linen tent, which he carried in the usual fashion
+of his craft, and began to pitch it, followed by all his companions, who
+did the same, imitating their fugleman, without inquiry, trusting to the
+address that had often before delivered them out of danger. They then
+drew out their brandy flasks and affected to prepare for a revel,
+intending to deceive the Spaniards, who, they knew, would give them time
+to drink, in hopes of surprising them, an easy prey, when asleep. The
+empty horns were passed round with jokes, and songs, and shouts, and the
+corked flasks circulated as merrily as if the feast had been a real one.
+Without appearing to observe, they could see the Spanish patrols
+disappear over the ridge of the hill, to warn their men in the valley
+to prepare for a night surprise. The Buccaneer leader, passing the
+signal from hand to hand, sent an _engagé_ into the woods to quickly
+rouse all the "brothers" in the neighbourhood, to bid them come and help
+them, and to prepare an ambush in the opposite forest. In the mean time,
+other scouts were sent to watch the motions of the enemy, to be sure
+that they were coming, and were not making any flank movement.
+
+At dusk the Buccaneers slipped quietly from beneath their tents, and
+crept into the adjacent woods. Here they found their companions and
+their _engagés_ already assembled and eager for the attack. Montbars,
+weary of all preparations, was now burning to see the Spaniards,
+declared they never would come, and that they had better go out and
+surprise them while night lasted; but the Spaniards were purposely
+delaying, knowing that the longer they delayed the deeper would be the
+sleep of the revellers. At daybreak, they could see a dark troop
+beginning to move forward over the ridge, and soon to descend the hill
+into the plain in good order, a small detachment marching before them as
+a forlorn hope. The Buccaneers, well posted and unobserved, waited for
+them, sure of their prey, for the tents being pitched at some distance
+one from the other, they could see every movement of the Spaniards. As
+they drew nearer, the Fifties broke into small troops, and each
+encircled a tent. To their astonishment, at that moment the wood grew a
+flame, and a hot rolling fire led on the advancing Buccaneers, who,
+breaking out with yell and shout, very terrible in the silence of the
+dawning, overthrew horse and rider. Montbars, inspired by the fever of
+the onslaught, which always seemed for a moment to restore the balance
+of his mind, leaped on a horse, whose rider he had killed, and headed
+the attack. Wherever resistance was made, he rode in, charging every
+knot of troopers as they attempted to rally. Hurrying on too far beyond
+his companions, while breaking into the heart of the squadron, he was
+surrounded, and would have been quickly overpowered had he not been
+rescued by a determined rush of his men. More furious at this escape,
+he pursued the scattered enemy right and left, with increased fury,
+inflicting blows as dreadful as they were unusual. One of the
+Buccaneers, seeing many of his men suffering from the Indian arrows,
+cried out to the Indians, in Spanish, pointing to Montbars, "Do you not
+see that God has sent you a liberator, who fights for you, to deliver
+you from the Spaniards, and yet you still fight for your tyrants?"
+Hearing these words, and astonished at Montbars' contempt for death, the
+archers changed sides and turned their arrows against the Spaniards, who
+fled, overwhelmed by this new misfortune, and perhaps impelled by an
+undefinable and superstitious terror.
+
+Montbars looked upon this day as the happiest in his life. He had seen
+the Indians he had so pitied fighting by his side, and regarding him as
+their protector. Cleaving down a wounded Spaniard, who clung to his
+knees and begged for mercy, he cried, "I would it were the last of this
+accursed race." An eye witness of the battle describes the carnage as
+horrible--the living trampling on the living, and stumbling over the
+dying and the dead. The Buccaneers and the Indians, rejoicing in their
+liberty and their revenge, entreated Montbars to follow up his
+successes, and wanted at once to ravage the Spanish plantations, and
+extirpate the survivors, while they were still discouraged. Montbars
+gladly consented to the proposal, and was about to march exultingly at
+their head, when the boom of a cannon was heard. It was the report of a
+gun from his uncle's vessel, and he could not resist obeying a signal
+that might be the signal of an approaching battle. He instantly hurried
+back, but found, to his annoyance, that the signal had been only fired
+as a warning to announce the hour of instant sailing.
+
+The hunters, already attached to their young leader, refused to leave
+him, and the Indians were afraid to abide the vengeance of the
+Spaniards. They were all therefore at once placed on board the prize,
+and supplied with muskets and sabres. The delighted uncle appointed
+Montbars as captain, with an old officer, under the name of lieutenant,
+to act as his guardian.
+
+After eight days' sail, Montbars was attacked, at the mouth of a large
+key, by four Spanish vessels, each one larger than his own. They
+surrounded him so suddenly that he had no time to escape, and he lay
+amongst them like a wolf at bay. They formed, in fact, the van of the
+great Indian plate fleet, which was, every year, as eagerly expected by
+the king of Spain as it was by all the marauders of the Spanish main.
+The elder Montbars, bold and hardy, unhesitatingly attacked two of the
+vessels, and several times drove back their boarders. Although gouty
+himself and unable to move, the staunch old Gascon shouted his orders
+from his elbow chair; and, cursing alternately the enemy and the
+disease, defended his ship to the last extremity. Having fought for more
+than three hours with ferocious obstinacy, and seeing his young hero
+terribly pressed by his two adversaries, he resolved upon a final
+effort, the last struggle of a wild beast that feels the knife is at his
+throat. Firing a tremendous broadside, he attacked both his enemies
+with such fury that he sank them and himself, and died "laughing" in all
+the exultation of that revenge which is the only victory of despair.
+
+Montbars the younger made great exertions to save himself and to avenge
+his uncle. The old lion was dead, but the cub had much life in him yet.
+He sank one of his antagonists with a crashing shot and boarded the
+other. His Indians, seeing their leader enter the Spanish vessel at one
+end, threw themselves into the water and clambered promptly up the
+other. Their war-cries and arrows produced a powerful diversion, and
+took the Spaniards by surprise. Throwing many into the sea, they killed
+others, while Montbars put all that resisted to the sword. In a short
+time he was master of a vessel larger even than those that had been
+sunk. The friendly Indians, who now looked upon him as an invincible
+demigod, he employed in a fruitless search for his uncle's body.
+Conquerors and conquered were destined to remain locked in each other's
+arms, and piled over with bloody trophies of burnt wreck until the day
+that the sea should give up her dead.
+
+The hunters renewed their proposal of a descent upon the mainland, and
+Montbars agreed to any scheme which would enable him to avenge his uncle
+and his friends. He had formerly lived to avenge the wrongs of others,
+to these were now added his own. The governor of the province, hearing
+of the contemplated attack, prepared an ambuscade of negroes and
+militiamen. Putting himself at the head of 800 men, divided into three
+battalions, his wings strengthened with cavalry and his van guarded with
+cannon, he prepared to prevent the landing of the "Exterminator."
+
+These preparations only increased the ardour of Montbars. It seemed
+cowardly to ravage an unprotected country: its devastation, after
+defeating its defenders, was a reward of conquest. Montbars was the
+first to leap from the canoes, and the first to rush upon the Spanish
+pikes. The front battalion was soon repulsed, and some Indians taking
+the reserve force in the flank, they were driven back in great
+disorder. Montbars, hotly pursuing, made a prodigious carnage of the
+enemy, and carried fire and sword far into the interior.
+
+One day, while at sea, the young captain, already a veteran in
+experience, was obliged to put into a bay to careen. To his great
+surprise, although the place was a mere track of sand, he saw some
+Spaniards on a distant plain, marching in good order and well-armed.
+Fearing that if they saw his men they would take to flight, he sent a
+few of his favourite Indians to decoy them towards him. Then falling
+upon them with fury as they cried out for quarter Montbars shouted, in
+Spanish, that they had nothing to hope for till they had killed himself
+and all his men. These dreadful words, together with his revengeful
+looks, drove them to take up their arms and fight with dogged and brutal
+despair, till they were slain almost to a man. Advancing into the
+country in search of more human prey, Montbars carried off the arms of
+the Spaniards and a great quantity of fruits and provisions.
+
+It appeared, from a survivor, that the Spaniards had arrived in that
+country in a singular manner. They had formed the crew in guard of a
+vessel full of negro slaves who had conspired together to drive the ship
+on shore. They had secretly bored holes in the ship's hold, in which
+they had placed pluggets, which they drew out, and replaced, unseen, and
+in a moment. While the Spaniards were seated together, talking with
+their usual stately, stolid phlegm, this unaccountable leak would break
+out and fill the cabin, or drench them in their hammocks. The slaves
+never seemed alarmed, but always astonished, and filled the air with
+interjections, in the Congo language. The water rushing in pell-mell,
+even the ship's carpenter did not know from where, drove all hands, at
+great danger to the ship, almost to leave the helm to save the cargo,
+which was already damaged. The negroes, quiet and orderly, would
+generally succeed, after a time, in stopping the leak, and excited
+general admiration by their promptitude and naval skill. All then went
+on well for a time; but with the least wind or storm the leak
+recommenced, till the very captain began reluctantly to confess, with
+tears in his eyes, that they were all as good as lost, for the vessel
+was dangerous, and not seaworthy. In the middle of the night, or at meal
+time, this supernatural leak would recommence, till the pumps were all
+but worn out, and the men faint with want of sleep. One day, when the
+vessel was skirting a reef, the negroes watched the opportunity, and the
+leak commenced with redoubled fury, the slaves howling as if from the
+very disquietness of their hearts. The Spaniards, thinking all hope
+lost, and the vessel, as they declared, already beginning to settle
+down, abandoned the ship, and threw themselves on that very tongue of
+land where Montbars afterwards surprised them. The trick had been
+cleverly planned and cleverly executed, but a hitch in the machinery had
+nearly ruined all. One of the blacks, more timid or less sagacious than
+the rest, seeing the water pour in with more than usual impetuosity, and
+on all sides, lost his presence of mind. Not able at once, in his panic,
+to find the hole which he had to stop, he believed that his companions
+had also failed, and that all was indeed lost, and, throwing himself
+overboard without inquiring, he joined the Spaniards, who were thanking
+God (prematurely) for their deliverance.
+
+Looking back for his companions, to his horror he saw a dozen of them
+tugging at the helm, and putting out wildly to sea. The truth flashed
+upon him, and he knew in a moment that his safety was a loss. Giving way
+to uncontrollable despair, he tore his wool, and stamped his feet, and
+cursed his fetish, and stretched out his hands, as if to stay the
+parting vessel. The Spaniards, astonished at this apparently passionate
+desire to be drowned, began slowly to discover the successful stratagem.
+They looked: "Demonio, St. Antonio!"--the vessel did not sink, but
+glided swiftly out to sea. They could see the blacks laughing, pulling
+at the ropes, and grinning from the port-holes. They turned with fury on
+the unhappy survivor, and put him to the torture till he confessed the
+truth.
+
+And this story completes all that history has preserved of one of the
+strangest combinations of fanatic and soldier that has ever appeared
+since the days of Loyola. In another age, and under other circumstances,
+he might have become a second Mohammed. Equally remorseless, his
+ambition, though narrower, seems to have been no less fervid. If he was
+cruel, we must allow him to have been sincere even in his fanaticism.
+Daring, untiring, of unequalled courage, and unmatched resolution, the
+cruelty of the Spaniards he put down by greater cruelty. He passes from
+us into unknown seas, and we hear of him no more. He died probably
+unconscious of crime, unpitying and unpitied.
+
+Oexmelin, who saw Montbars at Honduras, describes him as active,
+vivacious, and full of fire, like all the Gascons. He was of tall
+stature, erect and firm, his air grand, noble, and martial. His
+complexion was sun-burnt, and the colour of his eyes could not be
+discerned under the deep, arched vaulting of his bushy eyebrows. His
+very glance in battle was said to intimidate the Spaniards, and to drive
+them to despair.
+
+In 1659, Santiago was pillaged by the Flibustiers, in revenge for the
+murder of twelve Frenchmen, who had been shot by a Spanish captain, who
+took them from a Flemish vessel, sparing only a woman, and a child who
+hid itself under the robe of a monk.
+
+Determined on retaliation, the people of the coast assembled to the
+number of 500. Obtaining an English commission, they embarked on board a
+frigate from Nantes, and a number of small craft--De L'Isle being their
+commander, and Adam, Lormel, and Anne le Roux their lieutenants. They
+landed at Puerto de Plata, "le Dimanche des Rameaux," and marched upon
+St. Jago at daybreak. Passing over the bodies of the guards, they rushed
+to the governor's house, and surprised him in bed. He, knowing French,
+threw himself on his knees, and told them that peace was about to be
+declared between the two nations. They replied, that they carried an
+English commission, and, reproaching him for his cruelties, bade him
+either prepare for death, or pay down 60,000 crowns. Part of this ransom
+he instantly paid in hides. The pillage of the town lasted twenty-four
+hours, and nothing was spared; the very bells were carried from the
+churches, and the altars stripped of their plate. No violence, however,
+we are glad to record, was offered to the women, the Brotherhood having
+agreed, that any such offender should lose his share of the spoil.
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.
+
+
+INTERESTING NEW WORKS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+
+RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.
+
+By TORRENS M'CULLAGH, Esq.
+
+2 vols. post 8vo.
+
+"We feel assured that Mr. M'Cullagh's Work will be received with general
+satisfaction."--_Literary Gazette._
+
+"Such a man as Sheil eminently deserved a biography, and Mr. M'Cullagh
+has, we think, proved himself an exceedingly proper person to undertake
+it. His narrative is lucid and pleasant, sound and hearty in sentiment,
+and sensible in dissertation; altogether we may emphatically call this
+an excellent biography."--_Daily News._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SKETCHES, LEGAL AND POLITICAL,
+
+BY THE LATE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+
+RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.
+
+2 vols. post 8vo.
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+ATHENĆUM.
+
+"We cordially recommend these sketches as interesting in matter and
+brilliant in composition. Their literary merit is very great."
+
+MESSENGER.
+
+"These volumes will delight the student and charm the general reader."
+
+DUBLIN EVENING MAIL.
+
+"These volumes contain more matter of high and enduring interest to all
+classes of readers than any publication of equal extent, professing to
+illustrate the social and literary position or treat of the domestic
+manners and history of our country."
+
+DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.
+
+"Of the great power and brilliancy of these papers there can be no
+second opinion. In the British senate, as in his own native land, the
+name of Richard Lalor Sheil will be long remembered in connexion with
+eloquence and learning and with genius. In these volumes he has left a
+memorial of all the gems of his rich and varied intellect--every phase
+and line of his versatile and prolific mind."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Also, just ready,_
+
+MR. CURRAN'S SKETCHES OF THE IRISH BAR.
+
+WITH A SELECTION OF OTHER PAPERS, LEGAL, LITERARY, AND POLITICAL.
+
+2 vols. post 8vo.
+
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF MISS BURNEY'S DIARY.
+
+_In Seven Volumes, small 8vo,_ EMBELLISHED WITH PORTRAITS, _Price only
+3s. each, elegantly bound, either of which may be had separately,_
+
+  DIARY AND LETTERS
+  OF
+  MADAME D'ARBLAY,
+
+AUTHOR OF "EVELINA," "CECILIA," &c.
+
+INCLUDING THE PERIOD OF
+
+HER RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+EDINBURGH REVIEW.
+
+"Madame D'Arblay lived to be classic. Time set on her fame, before she
+went hence, that seal which is seldom set except on the fame of the
+departed. All those whom we have been accustomed to revere as
+intellectual patriarchs seemed children when compared with her; for
+Burke had sat up all night to read her writings, and Johnson had
+pronounced her superior to Fielding, when Rogers was still a schoolboy,
+and Southey still in petticoats. Her Diary is written in her earliest
+and best manner; in true woman's English, clear, natural, and lively. It
+ought to be consulted by every person who wishes to be well acquainted
+with the history of our literature and our manners."
+
+TIMES.
+
+"Miss Burney's work ought to be placed beside Boswell's 'Life,' to which
+it forms an excellent supplement."
+
+LITERARY GAZETTE.
+
+"This publication will take its place in the libraries beside Walpole
+and Boswell."
+
+MESSENGER.
+
+"This work may be considered a kind of supplement to Boswell's Life of
+Johnson. It is a beautiful picture of society as it existed in manners,
+taste, and literature, in the reign of George the Third, drawn by a
+pencil as vivid and brilliant as that of any of the celebrated persons
+who composed the circle."
+
+POST.
+
+"Miss Burney's Diary, sparkling with wit, teeming with lively anecdote
+and delectable gossip, and full of sound and discreet views of persons
+and things, will be perused with interest by all classes of readers."
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF THE LIVES OF THE QUEENS.
+
+_Now in course of Publication, in Eight Volumes, post octavo (comprising
+from 600 to 700 pages each), Price only 7s. 6d. per Volume, elegantly
+bound, either of which may be had separately, to complete sets_,
+
+LIVES
+
+OF THE
+
+QUEENS OF ENGLAND.
+
+BY AGNES STRICKLAND.
+
+Dedicated by Express Permission to her Majesty.
+
+EMBELLISHED WITH PORTRAITS OF EVERY QUEEN,
+
+BEAUTIFULLY ENGRAVED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES.
+
+In announcing a cheap Edition of this important and interesting work,
+which has been considered unique in biographical literature, the
+publishers again beg to direct attention to the following extract from
+the author's preface:--"A revised edition of the 'Lives of the Queens of
+England', embodying the important collections which have been brought to
+light since the appearance of earlier impressions, is now offered to the
+world, embellished with Portraits of every Queen, from authentic and
+properly verified sources. The series, commencing with the consort of
+William the Conqueror, occupies that most interesting and important
+period of our national chronology, from the death of the last monarch of
+the Anglo-Saxon line, Edward the Confessor, to the demise of the last
+sovereign of the royal house of Stuart, Queen Anne, and comprises
+therein thirty queens who have worn the crown-matrimonial, and four the
+regal diadem of this realm. We have related the parentage of every
+queen, described her education, traced the influence of family
+connexions and national habits on her conduct, both public and private,
+and given a concise outline of the domestic, as well as the general
+history of her times, and its effects on her character, and we have done
+so with singleness of heart, unbiassed by selfish interests or narrow
+views. Such as they were in life we have endeavoured to portray them,
+both in good and ill, without regard to any other considerations than
+the development of the _facts_. Their sayings, their doings, their
+manners, their costume, will be found faithfully chronicled in this
+work, which also includes the most interesting of their letters. The
+hope that the 'Lives of the Queens of England' might be regarded as a
+national work, honourable to the female character, and generally useful
+to society, has encouraged us to the completion of the task."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+FROM THE TIMES.
+
+"These volumes have the fascination of romance united to the integrity
+of history. The work is written by a lady of considerable learning,
+indefatigable industry, and careful judgment. All these qualifications
+for a biographer and an historian she has brought to bear upon the
+subject of her volumes, and from them has resulted a narrative
+interesting to all, and more particularly interesting to that portion of
+the community to whom the more refined researches of literature afford
+pleasure and instruction. The whole work should be read, and no doubt
+will be read, by all who are anxious for information. It is a lucid
+arrangement of facts, derived from authentic sources, exhibiting a
+combination of industry, learning, judgment, and impartiality, not often
+met with in biographers of crowned heads."
+
+MORNING HERALD.
+
+"A remarkable and truly great historical work. In this series of
+biographies, in which the severe truth of history takes almost the
+wildness of romance, it is the singular merit of Miss Strickland that
+her research has enabled her to throw new light on many doubtful
+passages, to bring forth fresh facts, and to render every portion of our
+annals which she has described an interesting and valuable study. She
+has given a most valuable contribution to the history of England, and we
+have no hesitation in affirming that no one can be said to possess an
+accurate knowledge of the history of the country who has not studied
+this truly national work, which, in this new edition, has received all
+the aids that further research on the part of the author, and of
+embellishment on the part of the publishers, could tend to make it still
+more valuable, and still more attractive, than it had been in its
+original form."
+
+MORNING CHRONICLE.
+
+"A most valuable and entertaining work. There is certainly no lady of
+our day who has devoted her pen to so beneficial a purpose as Miss
+Strickland. Nor is there any other whose works possess a deeper or more
+enduring interest."
+
+MORNING POST.
+
+"We must pronounce Miss Strickland beyond all comparison the most
+entertaining historian in the English language. She is certainly a woman
+of powerful and active mind, as well as of scrupulous justice and
+honesty of purpose."
+
+QUARTERLY REVIEW.
+
+"Miss Strickland has made a very judicious use of many authentic MS.
+authorities not previously collected, and the result is a most
+interesting addition to our biographical library."
+
+ATHENĆUM.
+
+"A valuable contribution to historical knowledge. It contains a mass of
+every kind of historical matter of interest, which industry and research
+could collect. We have derived much entertainment and instruction from
+the work."
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF
+
+PEPYS' DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+_Now ready, a New and Cheap Edition, printed uniformly with the last
+edition of_ EVELYN'S DIARY, _and comprising all the recent Notes and
+Emendations, Indexes, &c., in Four Volumes, post octavo, with Portraits,
+price 6s. per Volume, handsomely bound, of the_
+
+DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
+
+SAMUEL PEPYS, F.R.S.,
+
+SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II.
+
+EDITED BY RICHARD LORD BRAYBROOKE.
+
+The authority of PEPYS, as an historian and illustrator of a
+considerable portion of the seventeenth century, has been so fully
+acknowledged by every scholar and critic, that it is now scarcely
+necessary to remind the reader of the advantages he possessed for
+producing the most complete and trustworthy record of events, and the
+most agreeable picture of society and manners, to be found in the
+literature of any nation. In confidential communication with the
+reigning sovereigns, holding high official employment, placed at the
+head of the Scientific and Learned of a period remarkable for
+intellectual impulse, mingling in every circle, and observing everything
+and everybody whose characteristics were worth noting down; and
+possessing, moreover, an intelligence peculiarly fitted for seizing the
+most graphic points in whatever he attempted to delineate, PEPYS may be
+considered the most valuable as well as the most entertaining of our
+National Historians.
+
+A New and Cheap Edition of this work, comprising all the restored
+passages and the additional annotations that have been called for by the
+vast advances in antiquarian and historical knowledge during the last
+twenty years, will doubtless be regarded as one of the most agreeable
+additions that could be made to the library of the general reader.
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON PEPYS' DIARY.
+
+FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.
+
+"Without making any exception in favour of any other production of
+ancient or modern diarists, we unhesitatingly characterise this journal
+as the most remarkable production of its kind which has ever been given
+to the world. Pepys' Diary makes us comprehend the great historical
+events of the age, and the people who bore a part in them, and gives us
+more clear glimpses into the true English life of the times than all the
+other memorials of them that have come down to our own."
+
+FROM THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.
+
+"There is much in Pepys' Diary that throws a distinct and vivid light
+over the picture of England and its government during the period
+succeeding the Restoration. If, quitting the broad path of history, we
+look for minute information concerning ancient manners and customs, the
+progress of arts and sciences, and the various branches of antiquity, we
+have never seen a mine so rich as these volumes. The variety of Pepys'
+tastes and pursuits led him into almost every department of life. He was
+a man of business, a man of information, a man of whim, and, to a
+certain degree, a man of pleasure. He was a statesman, a _bel-esprit_, a
+virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an unwearied, as
+well as an universal, learner, and whatever he saw found its way into
+his tablets."
+
+FROM THE ATHENĆUM.
+
+"The best book of its kind in the English language. The new matter is
+extremely curious, and occasionally far more characteristic and
+entertaining than the old. The writer is seen in a clearer light, and
+the reader is taken into his inmost soul. Pepys' Diary is the ablest
+picture of the age in which the writer lived, and a work of standard
+importance in English literature."
+
+FROM THE EXAMINER.
+
+"We place a high value on Pepys' Diary as the richest and most
+delightful contribution ever made to the history of English life and
+manners in the latter half of the seventeenth century."
+
+FROM TAIT'S MAGAZINE.
+
+"We owe Pepys a debt of gratitude for the rare and curious information
+he has bequeathed to us in this most amusing and interesting work. His
+Diary is valuable, as depicting to us many of the most important
+characters of the times. Its author has bequeathed to us the records of
+his heart--the very reflection of his energetic mind; and his quaint but
+happy narrative clears up numerous disputed points--throws light into
+many of the dark corners of history, and lays bare the hidden substratum
+of events which gave birth to, and supported the visible progress of,
+the nation."
+
+FROM THE MORNING POST.
+
+"Of all the records that have ever been published, Pepys' Diary gives us
+the most vivid and trustworthy picture of the times, and the clearest
+view of the state of English public affairs and of English society
+during the reign of Charles II. We see there, as in a map, the vices of
+the monarch, the intrigues of the Cabinet, the wanton follies of the
+court, and the many calamities to which the nation was subjected during
+the memorable period of fire, plague, and general licentiousness."
+
+IMPORTANT NEW HISTORICAL WORK.
+
+_Now ready, in 2 vols. post 8vo, embellished with Portraits, price 21s.
+bound,_
+
+THE QUEENS BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
+
+BY MRS. MATTHEW HALL.
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+FROM THE LITERARY GAZETTE.
+
+"Mrs. Hall's work presents a clear and connected series of records of
+the early female sovereigns of England, of whom only a few scattered
+anecdotes have hitherto been familiarly known to general readers. The
+book is of great interest, as containing many notices of English life
+and manners in the remote times of our British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish
+ancestors."
+
+SUNDAY TIMES.
+
+"These volumes open up a new and interesting page of history to the
+majority of readers. What Miss Strickland has achieved for English
+Queens since the Norman era, has been accomplished by Mrs. Hall on
+behalf of the royal ladies who, as wives of Saxon kings, have influenced
+the destinies of Britain."
+
+SUN.
+
+"Mrs. Hall may be congratulated on having successfully accomplished a
+very arduous undertaking. Her volumes form a useful introduction to the
+usual commencement of English history."
+
+CRITIC.
+
+"The most instructive history we possess of the pre-Conquest period. It
+should take its place by the side of Miss Strickland's 'Lives of the
+Queens.'"
+
+OBSERVER.
+
+"Of all our female historico-biographical writers, Mrs. Hall seems to us
+to be one of the most painstaking, erudite, and variously and profoundly
+accomplished. Her valuable volumes contain not only the lives of the
+Queens before the Conquest, but a very excellent history of England
+previously to the Norman dynasty."
+
+BELL'S MESSENGER.
+
+"These interesting volumes have been compiled with judgment, discretion,
+and taste. Mrs. Hall has spared neither pains nor labour to make her
+history worthy of the characters she has essayed to illustrate. The book
+is, in every sense, an addition of decided value to the annals of the
+British people."
+
+NEW QUARTERLY REVIEW.
+
+"These volumes have long been a desideratum, and will be hailed as a
+useful, and indeed essential, introduction to Miss Strickland's
+world-famous biographical history."
+
+
+THE PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
+
+BY SIR BERNARD BURKE,
+
+ULSTER KING OF ARMS.
+
+A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED FROM THE PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS OF
+THE NOBILITY, &c.
+
+With 1500 Engravings of ARMS. In 1 vol. (comprising as much matter as
+twenty ordinary volumes), 38s. bound.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following is a List of the Principal Contents of this Standard
+Work:--
+
+I. A full and interesting history of each order of the English Nobility,
+showing its origin, rise, titles, immunities, privileges, &c.
+
+II. A complete Memoir of the Queen and Royal Family, forming a brief
+genealogical History of the Sovereign of this country, and deducing the
+descent of the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, and Guelphs, through their
+various ramifications. To this section is appended a list of those Peers
+and others who inherit the distinguished honour of Quartering the Royal
+Arms of Plantagenet.
+
+III. An Authentic table of Precedence.
+
+IV. A perfect HISTORY OF ALL THE PEERS AND BARONETS, with the fullest
+details of their ancestors and descendants, and particulars respecting
+every collateral member of each family, and all intermarriages, &c.
+
+V. The Spiritual Lords.
+
+VI. Foreign Noblemen, subjects by birth of the British Crown.
+
+VII. Extinct Peerages, of which descendants still exist.
+
+VIII. Peerages claimed.
+
+IX. Surnames of Peers and Peeresses, with Heirs Apparent and
+Presumptive.
+
+X. Courtesy titles of Eldest Sons.
+
+XI. Peerages of the Three Kingdoms in order of Precedence.
+
+XII. Baronets in order of Precedence.
+
+XIII. Privy Councillors of England and Ireland.
+
+XIV. Daughters of Peers married to Commoners.
+
+XV. ALL THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, with every Knight and all the Knights
+Bachelors.
+
+XVI. Mottoes translated, with poetical illustrations.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The most complete, the most convenient, and the cheapest work of the
+kind ever given to the public."--_Sun_.
+
+"The best genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the Peerage and
+Baronetage, and the first authority on all questions affecting the
+aristocracy."--_Globe_.
+
+"For the amazing quantity of personal and family history, admirable
+arrangement of details, and accuracy of information, this genealogical
+and heraldic dictionary is without a rival. It is now the standard and
+acknowledged book of reference upon all questions touching pedigree, and
+direct or collateral affinity with the titled aristocracy. The lineage
+of each distinguished house is deduced through all the various
+ramifications. Every collateral branch, however remotely connected, is
+introduced; and the alliances are so carefully inserted, as to show, in
+all instances, the connexion which so intimately exists between the
+titled and untitled aristocracy. We have also much most entertaining
+historical matter, and many very curious and interesting family
+traditions. The work is, in fact, a complete cyclopćdia of the whole
+titled classes of the empire, supplying all the information that can
+possibly be desired on the subject."--_Morning Post_.
+
+
+
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF THE DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
+
+JOHN EVELYN, F.R.S.
+
+_Now completed, with Portraits, in Four Volumes, post octavo (either of
+which may be had separately), price 6s. each, handsomely bound,_
+
+COMPRISING ALL THE IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL NOTES, LETTERS, AND OTHER
+ILLUSTRATIONS LAST MADE.
+
+"We rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of Evelyn. It
+is intended as a companion to the recent edition of Pepys, and presents
+similar claims to interest and notice. Evelyn was greatly above the vast
+majority of his contemporaries, and the Diary which records the
+incidents in his long life, extending over the greater part of a
+century, is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable and interesting
+books in the language. Evelyn took part in the breaking out of the civil
+war against Charles I., and he lived to see William of Orange ascend the
+throne. Through the days of Strafford and Land, to those of Sancroft and
+Ken, he was the steady friend of moderation and peace in the English
+Church. He interceded alike for the royalist and the regicide; he was
+the correspondent of Cowley, the patron of Jeremy Taylor, the associate
+and fellow-student of Boyle; and over all the interval between Vandyck
+and Kneller, between the youth of Milton and the old age of Dryden,
+poetry and the arts found him an intelligent adviser, and a cordial
+friend. There are, on the whole, very few men of whom England has more
+reason to be proud. He stands among the first in the list of Gentlemen.
+We heartily commend so good an edition of this English
+classic."--_Examiner._
+
+"This work is a necessary companion to the popular histories of our
+country, to Hume, Hallam, Macaulay, and Lingard.--_Sun._
+
+
+LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF ENGLAND.
+
+By MRS. EVERETT GREEN,
+
+EDITOR OF THE "LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES."
+
+6 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 10s. 6d. each, bound. Either of
+which may be had separately.
+
+"This work is a worthy companion to Miss Strickland's admirable 'Queens
+of England.' That celebrated work, although its heroines were, for the
+most part, foreign Princesses, related almost entirely to the history of
+this country. The Princesses of England, on the contrary, are themselves
+English, but their lives are nearly all connected with foreign nations.
+Their biographies, consequently, afford us a glimpse of the manners and
+customs of the chief European kingdoms, a circumstance which not only
+gives to the work the charm of variety, but which is likely to render it
+peculiarly useful to the general reader, as it links together by
+association the contemporaneous history of various nations. We cordially
+commend Mrs. Green's production to general attention; it is
+(necessarily) as useful as history, and fully as entertaining as
+romance."--_Sun._
+
+
+
+
+SIR B. BURKE'S DICTIONARY OF THE
+
+EXTINCT, DORMANT, AND ABEYANT PEERAGES
+
+OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.
+
+Beautifully printed, in 1 vol, 8vo, containing 800 double-column pages,
+21s. bound.
+
+This work connects, in many instances, the new with the old nobility,
+and it will in all cases show the cause which has influenced the revival
+of an extinct dignity in a new creation. It should be particularly
+noticed, that this new work appertains nearly as much to extant as to
+extinct persons of distinction; for though dignities pass away, it
+rarely occurs that whole families do.
+
+
+HISTORY OF THE LANDED GENTRY.
+
+A Genealogical Dictionary
+
+OF THE WHOLE OF THE UNTITLED ARISTOCRACY OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND
+IRELAND.
+
+By SIR BERNARD BURKE.
+
+A new and improved Edition, in 1 vol., uniform with the "Peerage."
+
+
+-->THE PURCHASERS of the earlier editions of the Dictionary of the Landed
+Gentry are requested to take notice that
+
+A COPIOUS INDEX
+
+has been compiled with great care and at great expense, containing
+REFERENCES TO THE NAMES OF EVERY PERSON (upwards of 100,000) MENTIONED
+IN THE WORK, and may be had bound uniformly with the work: price, 5s.
+
+
+ROMANTIC RECORDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY.
+
+By SIR BERNARD BURKE.
+
+SECOND AND CHEAPER EDITION, 2 vols., post 8vo, 21s. bound.
+
+"The most curious incidents, the most stirring tales, and the most
+remarkable circumstances connected with the histories, public and
+private, of our noble houses and aristocratic families, are here given
+in a shape which will preserve them in the library, and render them the
+favorite study of those who are interested in the romance of real life.
+These stories, with all the reality of established fact, read with as
+much spirit as the tales of Boccaccio, and are as full of strange matter
+for reflection and amazement."--_Britannia._
+
+
+
+
+REVELATIONS OF PRINCE TALLEYRAND.
+
+Second Edition, 1 volume, post 8vo, with Portrait, 10s. 6d. bound.
+
+"We have perused this work with extreme interest. It is a portrait of
+Talleyrand drawn by his own hand."--_Morning Post._
+
+"A more interesting work has not issued from the press for many years.
+It is in truth a most complete Boswell sketch of the greatest
+diplomatist of the age."--_Sunday Times._
+
+
+THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I.
+
+By I. DISRAELI.
+
+A NEW EDITION. REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, AND EDITED BY HIS SON, THE RT.
+HON. B. DISRAELI, M.P. 2 vols., 8vo, 28s. bound.
+
+"By far the most important work on the important age of Charles I. that
+modern times have produced."--_Quarterly Review._
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF SCIPIO DE RICCI,
+
+LATE BISHOP OF PISTOIA AND PRATO;
+
+REFORMER OF CATHOLICISM IN TUSCANY.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols. 8vo, 12s. bound.
+
+The leading feature of this important work is its application to the
+great question now at issue between our Protestant and Catholic
+fellow-subjects. It contains a complete _exposé_ of the Romish Church
+Establishment during the eighteenth century, and of the abuses of the
+Jesuits throughout the greater part of Europe. Many particulars of the
+most thrilling kind are brought to light.
+
+
+HISTORIC SCENES.
+
+By AGNES STRICKLAND.
+
+Author of "Lives of the Queens of England," &c. 1 vol., post 8vo,
+elegantly bound, with Portrait of the Author, 10s. 6d.
+
+"This attractive volume is replete with interest. Like Miss Strickland's
+former works, it will be found, we doubt not, in the hands of youthful
+branches of a family as well as in those of their parents, to all and
+each of whom it cannot fail to be alike amusing and
+instructive."--_Britannia._
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF PRINCE ALBERT;
+
+AND THE HOUSE OF SAXONY.
+
+Second Edition, revised, with Additions, by Authority. 1 vol., post 8vo,
+with Portrait, bound, 6s.
+
+
+MADAME CAMPAN'S MEMOIRS
+
+OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols. 8vo, with Portraits, price 7s.
+
+"We have seldom perused so entertaining a work. It is as a mirror of the
+most splendid Court in Europe, at a time when the monarchy had not been
+shorn of any of its beams, that it is particularly worthy of
+attention."--_Chronicle._
+
+
+LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.
+
+3 vols., small 8vo, 15s.
+
+"A curious and entertaining piece of domestic biography of a most
+extraordinary person, under circumstances almost unprecedented."--_New
+Monthly._
+
+"An extremely amusing book, full of anecdotes and traits of character of
+kings, princes, nobles, generals," &c.--_Morning Journal._
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF A HUNGARIAN LADY.
+
+MADAME PULSZKY.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 2 vols., 12s. bound.
+
+"Worthy of a place by the side of the Memoirs of Madame de Staël and
+Madame Campan."--_Globe._
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF A GREEK LADY,
+
+THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF THE LATE QUEEN CAROLINE.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 2 vols., post 8vo, price 12s. bound.
+
+
+
+
+Now ready, Part XI., price 5s., of
+
+M.A. THIERS' HISTORY OF FRANCE
+
+UNDER NAPOLEON.
+
+A SEQUEL TO HIS HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
+
+As guardian to the archives of the state, M. Thiers had access to
+diplomatic papers and other documents of the highest importance,
+hitherto known only to a privileged few. From private sources M. Thiers
+has also derived much valuable information. Many interesting memoirs,
+diaries, and letters, all hitherto unpublished, and most of them
+destined for political reasons to remain so, have been placed at his
+disposal; while all the leading characters of the empire, who were alive
+when the author undertook the present history, have supplied him with a
+mass of incidents and anecdotes which have never before appeared in
+print.
+
+N.B. Any of the Parts may, for the present, be had separately, at 5s.
+each; and subscribers are recommended to complete their sets as soon as
+possible, to prevent disappointment.
+
+***The public are requested to be particular in giving their orders for
+"COLBURN'S AUTHORISED TRANSLATION."
+
+
+RUSSIA UNDER THE AUTOCRAT NICHOLAS I.
+
+BY IVAN GOLOVINE, A RUSSIAN SUBJECT.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., with a full-length Portrait of the Emperor,
+10s. bound.
+
+"These are volumes of an extremely interesting nature, emanating from
+the pen of a Russian, noble by birth, who has escaped beyond the reach
+of the Czar's power. The merits of the work are very considerable. It
+throws a new light on the state of the empire--its aspect, political and
+domestic--its manners; the _employés_ about the palace, court, and
+capital; its police; its spies; its depraved society," &c.--_Sunday
+Times._
+
+
+JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE,
+
+Comprising the Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in Japan, with an
+Account of British Commercial Intercourse with that Country.
+
+By CAPTAIN GOLOWNIN.
+
+NEW and CHEAPER EDITION. 2 vols. post 8vo, 10s. bound.
+
+"No European has been able, from personal observation and experience, to
+communicate a tenth part of the intelligence furnished by this
+writer."--_British Review._
+
+
+MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
+
+SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B.,
+
+_Minister Plenipotentiary at the Courts of Dresden, Copenhagen, and
+Vienna, from 1769 to 1793; with Biographical Memoirs of_
+
+QUEEN CAROLINE MATILDA, SISTER OF GEORGE III.
+
+Cheaper Edition. Two vols., post 8vo, with Portraits, 15s. bound.
+
+
+
+
+THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS;
+
+OR, ROMANCE AND REALITIES OF EASTERN TRAVEL.
+
+By ELIOT WARBURTON, Esq.
+
+CHEAP EDITION, revised in 1 vol., with numerous Illustrations, 6s.
+bound.
+
+"A book calculated to prove more practically useful was never penned
+than the 'Crescent and the Cross'--a work which surpasses all others in
+its homage for the sublime and its love for the beautiful in those
+famous regions consecrated to everlasting immortality in the annals of
+the prophets--and which no other modern writer has ever depicted with a
+pencil at once so reverent and as picturesque."--_Sun._
+
+
+LORD LINDSAY'S LETTERS ON THE HOLY LAND.
+
+FOURTH EDITION, Revised, 1 vol., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 6s.
+bound.
+
+"Lord Lindsay has felt and recorded what he saw with the wisdom of a
+philosopher, and the faith of an enlightened Christian."--_Quarterly
+Review._
+
+
+NARRATIVE OF A
+
+TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE AT NINEVEH;
+
+With Remarks on the Chaldeans, Nestorians, Yexidees, &c.
+
+By the Rev. J.P. FLETCHER.
+
+Cheaper Edition. Two vols., post 8vo, 12s. bound.
+
+
+ADVENTURES IN GEORGIA, CIRCASSIA, AND RUSSIA.
+
+By Lieutenant-Colonel G. POULETT CAMERON, C.B., K.T.S., &c.
+
+2 vols., post 8vo, bound, 12s.
+
+
+CAPTAINS KING AND FITZROY.
+
+NARRATIVE OF THE TEN TEARS' VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,
+
+OF H.M.S. ADVENTURE AND BEAGLE.
+
+Cheaper Edition, in 2 large vols. 8vo, with Maps, Charts, and upwards of
+Sixty Illustrations, by Landseer, and other eminent Artists, price 1_l._
+11s. 6d. bound.
+
+"One of the most interesting narratives of voyaging that it has fallen
+to our lot to notice, and which must always occupy a distinguished space
+in the history of scientific navigation."--_Quarterly Review._
+
+
+
+
+THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S CAMPAIGN
+
+IN THE NETHERLANDS IN 1815.
+
+Comprising the Battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. Illustrated
+by Official Documents.
+
+By WILLIAM MUDFORD, Esq.
+
+1 vol., 4to, with Thirty Coloured Plates, Portraits, Maps, Plans, &c.,
+bound, 21s.
+
+
+STORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR.
+
+A COMPANION VOLUME TO MR. GLEIG'S
+
+"STORY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO."
+
+With Six Portraits and Map, 5s. bound.
+
+
+THE NEMESIS IN CHINA;
+
+COMPRISING A COMPLETE
+
+HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THAT COUNTRY.
+
+From Notes of Captain W.H. HALL, R.N.
+
+1 vol., Plates, 6s. bound.
+
+"Capt. Hall's narrative of the services of the _Nemesis_ is full of
+interest, and will, we are sure, be valuable hereafter, as affording
+most curious materials for the history of steam navigation."--_Quarterly
+Review._
+
+
+CAPTAIN CRAWFORD'S NAVAL REMINISCENCES;
+
+COMPRISING MEMOIRS OF
+
+ADMIRALS SIR E. OWEN, SIR B. HALLOWELL CAREW, AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED
+COMMANDERS.
+
+2 vols., post 8vo, with Portraits, 12s. bound.
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER.
+
+WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
+
+Being the Memoirs of EDWARD COSTELLO, of the Rifle Brigade, and late
+Captain in the British Legion. Cheap Edition, with Portrait, 3s. 6d.
+bound.
+
+"An excellent book of its class. A true and vivid picture of a soldier's
+life."--_Athenćum._
+
+"This highly interesting volume is filled with details and anecdotes of
+the most startling character, and well deserves a place in the library
+of every regiment in the service."--_Naval and Military Gazette._
+
+
+
+
+PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF
+
+MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND, OF SUNNYSIDE.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF.
+
+Third and Cheaper Edition, 1 vol., 6s. bound.
+
+"Nothing half so true or so touching in the delineation of Scottish
+character has appeared since Galt published his 'Annals of the Parish,'
+and this is purer and deeper than Galt, and even more absolutely and
+simply true."--_Lord Jeffrey._
+
+
+Cheaper Edition, in 3 vols., price 10s. 6d., half-bound,
+
+FORTUNE: A STORY OF LONDON LIFE.
+
+By D.T. COULTON, Esq.
+
+"A brilliant novel. A more vivid picture of various phases of society
+has not been painted since 'Vivian Grey' first dazzled and confounded
+the world; but it is the biting satire of fashionable life, the moral
+anatomy of high society, which will attract all readers. In every sense
+of the word, 'Fortune' is an excellent novel."--_Observer._
+
+"'Fortune' is not a romance, but a novel. All is reality about it: the
+time, the characters, and the incidents. In its reality consists its
+charm and its merit. It is, indeed, an extraordinary work, and has
+introduced to the world of fiction a new writer of singular ability,
+with a genius more that of Bulwer than any to whom we can compare
+it."--_Critic._
+
+
+THE MODERN ORLANDO.
+
+By Dr. CROLY.
+
+"By far the best thing of the kind that has been written since
+Byron."--_Literary Gazette._
+
+
+THE HALL AND THE HAMLET.
+
+By WILLIAM HOWITT.
+
+Author of "The Book of the Seasons," "Rural Life in England," &c.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., post 8vo, 12s. bound.
+
+"This work is full of delightful sketches and sweet and enchanting
+pictures of rural life, and we have no doubt will be read not only at
+the homestead of the farmer, but at the mansion of the squire, or the
+castle of the lord, with gratification and delight."--_Sunday Times._
+
+
+PUBLISHED FOR HENRY COLBURN,
+
+BY HIS SUCCESSORS, HURST & BLACKETT,
+
+GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+  Mismatched quotation marks in one paragraph of Chapter III
+  were left as in the original.
+
+  Pg 26: nomade changed to nomadic
+
+  Pg 41: Manchete changed to Machete
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I
+(OF 3)***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 38631-8.txt or 38631-8.zip *******
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diff --git a/38631-8.zip b/38631-8.zip
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3), by Walter Thornbury</title>
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3), by
+Walter Thornbury</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)</p>
+<p>       Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers</p>
+<p>Author: Walter Thornbury</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 21, 2012  [eBook #38631]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I (OF 3)***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Adam Buchbinder, Rory OConor,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from scanned images of public domain material<br />
+    generously made available by<br />
+    the Google Books Library Project<br />
+    (<a href="http://books.google.com/">http://books.google.com/</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work.<br />
+      <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38632/38632-h/38632-h.htm">Volume II</a>: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38632/38632-h/38632-h.htm<br />
+      <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38633/38633-h/38633-h.htm">Volume III</a>: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38633/38633-h/38633-h.htm<br />
+      <br />
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      the the Google Books Library Project. See
+      <a href="http://books.google.com/books?vid=PCYCAAAAYAAJ&amp;id">
+      http://books.google.com/books?vid=PCYCAAAAYAAJ&amp;id</a>
+   </td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"></a></span></p>
+<h1><small>THE</small><br />
+
+MONARCHS OF THE MAIN;<br />
+
+<small>OR,</small><br />
+
+ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.</h1>
+
+<h3><small>BY</small><br />
+
+GEORGE W. THORNBURY, ESQ.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">"One foot on sea and one on shore,<br />
+To one thing constant never."<br />
+                 <span class="smcap">Much Ado about Nothing.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">IN THREE VOLUMES.</p>
+
+<h1><small>VOL. I.</small></h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">LONDON:<br />
+HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,<br />
+SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,<br />
+13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.<br />
+1855.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii"></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="center p6">LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.
+</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">iii</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_I" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_I"></a>CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</h2>
+
+
+<p><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.&mdash;THE PRECURSORS OF THE BUCCANEERS.</a></p>
+
+<p>History of Tortuga&mdash;Description of the island&mdash;Origin
+of the Buccaneers&mdash;Conquest of Tortuga by the French
+and English&mdash;Hunters, planters, and corsairs&mdash;Le
+Basque takes Maracaibo&mdash;War with the Spaniards of
+Hispaniola&mdash;The French West Indian Company buy
+Tortuga&mdash;Their various governors                      <span class="tocnum">1</span></p>
+
+<p><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.&mdash;MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.</a></p>
+
+<p>Indian derivation of the word Buccaneer&mdash;Flibustier&mdash;The
+three classes&mdash;Dress of the hunters&mdash;West Indian
+scenery&mdash;Method of hunting&mdash;Wild dogs&mdash;Anecdotes&mdash;Wild
+oxen&mdash;Wild boars and wild horses&mdash;Buccaneer
+dainties&mdash;Cow-killing, English, French, and
+Spanish methods&mdash;Amusements&mdash;Duels&mdash;Adventures&mdash;Conflicts
+with the Fifties, or Spanish militia&mdash;The hunters
+driven to sea&mdash;Turn corsairs&mdash;The hunters' <i>engagés</i>,
+or apprentices&mdash;Hide curing&mdash;Hardships of the bush
+life&mdash;The planters' <i>engagés</i>&mdash;Cruelties of planters&mdash;The
+<i>matelotage</i>&mdash;Huts, manners, and food                  <span class="tocnum">35</span>
+</p>
+<p><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.&mdash;THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.</a></p>
+
+<p>Originated in the Spanish persecution of French
+hunters&mdash;Customs&mdash;"No peace beyond the line"&mdash;"No
+prey, no pay"&mdash;Pay and pensions&mdash;Their helots the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">iv</a></span>
+Mosquito Indians&mdash;Lewis Scott, an Englishman, the
+first Corsair&mdash;John Davis takes St. Francis in Campeachy&mdash;Their
+debauchery&mdash;Gambling&mdash;Religion&mdash;Classes
+from which they sprang&mdash;Equality at sea&mdash;Mode
+of fighting&mdash;Food&mdash;Dress                                     <span class="tocnum">111</span>
+</p>
+<p><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.&mdash;PIERRE-LE-GRAND, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.</a></p>
+
+<p>Plunder of Segovia&mdash;Pierre-le-Grand&mdash;Peter Francis&mdash;Captures
+of Spanish vessels&mdash;Mode of capture&mdash;Barthelemy
+Portugese&mdash;His escapes and victories&mdash;Roche
+the Brazilian&mdash;Fanatical hatred of the Spaniards&mdash;His
+wrecks and adventures                                  <span class="tocnum">152</span>
+</p>
+<p><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.&mdash;LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.</a></p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois' stratagems&mdash;His cruelty&mdash;His partner,
+Michael le Basque&mdash;Takes Maracaibo&mdash;Tortures the
+citizens&mdash;Sacks the town&mdash;Takes Gibraltar&mdash;Attempt
+on Merida&mdash;Famine and pestilence&mdash;Retreat&mdash;Division
+of spoil&mdash;Ransom&mdash;Takes St. Pedro&mdash;Burns Veragua&mdash;Wrecked
+in the Gulf of Honduras&mdash;Attacked by Indians&mdash;Killed
+and eaten by the savages                                  <span class="tocnum">188</span>
+</p>
+<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.&mdash;ALEXANDRE BRAS DE FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.</a></p>
+
+<p>Bras de Fer compared by French writers to Alexander
+the Great&mdash;His exploits and stratagems&mdash;Montbars&mdash;Anecdote
+of his childhood&mdash;Goes to sea&mdash;His first naval
+engagement&mdash;Joins the Buccaneers&mdash;Defeats the Spanish
+Fifties&mdash;His uncle killed&mdash;His revenge&mdash;Anecdote of
+the negro vessel&mdash;Adam and Anne le Roux plunder
+Santiago                                                <span class="tocnum">267</span>
+</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I claim for this book, at least originality.
+But this originality, unfortunately, if it attaches
+interest to an author's labours, adds
+also to his responsibilities.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the Buccaneers has hitherto
+remained unwritten. Three or four forgotten
+volumes contain literally all that is recorded
+of the wars and conquests of these extraordinary
+men. Of these volumes two are French,
+one Dutch, and one in English. The
+majority of our readers, therefore, it is probable,
+know nothing more of the freebooters
+but their name, confound them with the mere
+pirates of two centuries later, and derive
+their knowledge of their manners from those
+dozen lines of the Abbé Reynal, that have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">vi</a></span>
+been transferred from historian to historian,
+and from writer to writer, for the last two
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>The chief records of Buccaneer adventurers
+are drawn literally from only three books.
+The first of these is <i>&#338;xmelin's Histoire des
+Aventuriers</i>. 12mo. Paris, 1688. &#338;xmelin
+was a Frenchman, who went out to St.
+Domingo as a planter's apprentice or <i>engagé</i>,
+and eventually became surgeon in the Buccaneer
+fleet&mdash;knew Lolonnois, and accompanied
+Sir Henry Morgan to Panama.</p>
+
+<p>The second is <i>Esquemeling's Zee Roovers</i>.
+Amsterdam. 4to. 1684.&mdash;A book constantly
+mistaken by booksellers and in catalogues
+for &#338;xmelin. Esquemeling was a Dutch
+<i>engagé</i> at St. Domingo, and his book is an
+English translation from the Dutch. The
+writer appears of humbler birth than &#338;xmelin,
+but served also at Panama.</p>
+
+<p>The third is <i>Ringrose's History of the
+Cruises of Sharpe, &amp;c.</i> This man, who
+served with Dampier, seems to have been
+an ignorant sailor, and a mere log-keeper.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth is <i>Ravenau de Lussan's Narrative</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span>
+De Lussan was a young French officer
+of fortune, who served in some of Ringrose's
+cruises. This is a book written by a vivacious
+and keen observer, but is less complete
+than &#338;xmelin's, but equally full of anecdote,
+and very amusing.</p>
+
+<p>For secondary authorities we come to the
+French Jesuit historians of the West Indian
+Islands, diffuse Rochefort, the gossiping <i>bon
+vivant</i> Labat; Tertre, dry and prejudiced;
+Charlevoix, careful, condensed, and entertaining;
+and Raynal, polished, classical,
+second-hand, and declamatory.</p>
+
+<p>The English secondaries are, Dampier,
+with his companions, Wafer and Cowley.
+Several old pamphlets contain quaint versions
+of Morgan's conquest of Panama; and in 1817,
+Burney, in his "History of Discoveries in the
+South Sea," devotes many chapters to a dry
+but very imperfect abridgment of Buccaneer
+adventure, omitting carefully everything that
+gives either life or colour. Captain Southey,
+in his "History of the West Indies," supplies
+many odd scraps of old voyages, and presents
+many scattered figures, but attempts no picture.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nor has modern fiction, however short of
+material, discovered these new and virgin
+mines. Mrs. Hall has a novel, it is true,
+called <i>The Buccaneer</i>, the scene of which is,
+however, laid in England; and Angus B.
+Reach has skimmed the same subject, but
+has evidently not even read half the three
+existing authorities. Dana, the American
+poet, has a poem called the Buccaneer, but
+this is merely a collection of lines on the
+sea. Sir Walter Scott's Bertram, although
+he had been a Buccaneer, is a mere ruffian,
+who would do for any age, and Scott himself
+places Morgan's conquest of Panama in the
+reign of Charles I., when it actually took
+place in that of Charles II., fifty years later.</p>
+
+<p>Defoe himself, little conscious of the rich
+region he was treading, sketched a Buccaneer
+sailor when he re-christened Alexander Selkirk
+Robinson Crusoe, and condensed all the
+spirit of Dampier into a book still read as
+eagerly by the man as by the boy.</p>
+
+<p>When I find a writer of Scott's profundity
+of reading and depth of research placing the
+great event of Buccaneer history fifty years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix</a></span>
+before its time, booksellers mistaking a
+Dutch for a French writer, and living historians
+confounding the Flibustiers of Tortuga,
+who attacked only the Spaniards, with
+their degraded successors the pirates of New
+Providence, who robbed all nations and even
+their own without mercy, I think I have
+proved that my book is not a superfluity.</p>
+
+<p>It is seldom that an author can invite the
+whole reading world to peruse the self-rewarding
+labour of his student life. Mine
+is no book for a sect, a clique, a profession,
+or a trade. It brings new scenes and new
+creations to the novel reader, jaded with
+worn-out types of conventional existence. It
+supplies the historian with a page of English,
+French, and Spanish history that the capricious
+muse of history has hitherto kept in MS.
+It traces the foundation of our colonial empire.
+To the psychologist it furnishes deep matter
+for thought, while the philosopher may see in
+these pages humanity in a new aspect, and
+man's soul exposed to new temptations.</p>
+
+<p>What Dampier has described and Defoe
+drawn materials from, no man can dare to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">x</a></span>
+assert is wanting in interest. The readers to
+whom these books are new will be astonished
+to find the adventures of Xenophon paralleled
+in De Lussan's retreat over the Isthmus,
+and Swift forestalled in his conception
+of some of the oddest customs of Lilliput.
+&#338;xmelin, I may boldly assert, is a much
+more amusing writer than half our historians,
+a keen and enlightened observer, who
+looked upon Buccaneering as a chivalrous
+life, in which the sea knight got equally hard
+knocks as the land hero, but more money.</p>
+
+<p>If my characters are not so grand as those
+of history, I can present to my reader men
+as greedy of gold, ambitious and sagacious
+as Pizarro or Cortes, and as reckless as Alexander,
+and as cruel as Cćsar. If the Buccaneers
+were but insects, bred from the
+putrefactions of a decaying empire, their
+plans were at least gigantic, and their courage
+unprecedented.</p>
+
+<p>Anomalous beings, hunters by land and
+sea, scaring whole fleets with a few canoes,
+sacking cities with a few grenadiers, devastating
+every coast from California to Cape<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">xi</a></span>
+Horn, they only needed a common principle
+of union to have founded an aggressive republic,
+as wealthy as Venice and as warlike
+as Carthage. One great mind and the New
+World had been their own.</p>
+
+<p>But from the first Providence sowed
+amongst them the seeds of discord&mdash;difference
+of religion and difference of race. Never
+settling, their race had its ranks renewed,
+not by descendants, but by fresh recruits,
+men with new interests and lower aims. In
+less than a century the Brotherhood had
+passed away, their virtues were forgotten and
+their vices alone remembered.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers were robbers, yet they
+sought something beyond gold. Mansvelt
+took the island of St. Catherine, and planned
+a republic, and Morgan contemplated the
+destruction of the Bravo Indians. They
+were outlaws, and yet religious robbers,
+yet generous and regardful of the minutest
+delicacies of honour; lovers of freedom, yet
+obeying the sternest discipline; cruel, yet
+tender to their friends.</p>
+
+<p>All the light and shade of the darkest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">xii</a></span>
+fiction look poor beside the adventures of
+these men. Catholics, Protestants, Puritans,
+gallants, officers, common seamen, farmers'
+sons, men of rank, hunters, sailors, planters,
+murderers, fanatics, Creoles, Spaniards, negroes,
+astrologers, monks, pilots, guides,
+merchants&mdash;all pass before us in a motley
+and ever-changing masquerade. The backgrounds
+to these scenes are the wooded
+shores of the West Indian Islands, woods
+sparkling at night with fire-flies, broad savannahs
+dark with wild cattle, the volcanic
+islands peopled by marooned sailors, stormy
+promontories, the lonely sand "keys" of
+Jamaica, and the rocky fastnesses of Tortuga.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="MONARCHS_OF_THE_MAIN" id="MONARCHS_OF_THE_MAIN"></a>MONARCHS OF THE MAIN.</h2>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br />
+
+<small>HISTORY OF TORTUGA.</small></h2>
+
+<blockquote><p>The precursors of the Buccaneers&mdash;Description of Tortuga&mdash;Origin
+of the Buccaneers&mdash;Conquest of Tortuga
+by the French&mdash;The hunters, planters, and corsairs&mdash;Le
+Basque takes Maracaibo&mdash;War in Hispaniola&mdash;French
+West Indian Company buy Tortuga&mdash;The
+Governor, M. D'Ogeron.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>Drake, Cavendish, and Oxenham, indeed
+all the naval heroes of Elizabeth's reign, were
+the precursors of the Buccaneers. The captains
+of those "tall ships" that sailed from
+Plymouth Sound, and the green nooks of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span>
+the sunny coast of Devon, to capture stately
+carracks laden deep with silks, spices, pearls,
+and precious stones, the treasure of Potosi
+and Peru, were but Buccaneers under another
+name, agreeing with them in the great principle
+of making war on none but Spaniards,
+but on Spaniards unceasingly. "No peace
+beyond the line" was the motto on the flag
+of both Drake and Morgan.</p>
+
+<p>Sir John Hawkins, who began the slave
+trade, and who was Drake's earliest patron,
+took the town of Rio de la Hacha, and
+struggled desperately with the galleons in
+the port of St. Juan d'Ulloa. Drake sacked
+Nombre de Dios, and, passing across the
+isthmus, stormed Vera Cruz. He destroyed
+St. Domingo and Carthagena, burnt La
+Rancheria, and attacked Porto Rico. But
+still more truly a Buccaneer was John Oxenham,
+one of Drake's followers, who, cruising
+about Panama, captured several bullion vessels;
+but was at last slain, with all his men,
+having fallen in love with a Spanish captive,
+and liberated her son, who surprised him
+with reinforcements from Nombre de Dios.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span>
+Then came Raleigh, more chivalrous than
+them all&mdash;looser in principle, but wiser in
+head. He planned an attack on Panama,
+and ravaged St. Thomas's.</p>
+
+<p>The first Buccaneers were poor French
+hunters, who, driven by the Spaniards out
+of Hispaniola, fled to the neighbouring island
+of Tortuga, and there settled as planters.</p>
+
+<p>This Buccaneer colony of Tortuga arose
+rather by accident than by the design of any
+one ambitious mind. The French had established
+a colony in the almost deserted island
+of St. Christopher's, which had begun to
+flourish when the Spaniards, alarmed at a
+hostile power's vicinity to their mines, to
+which their thoughts then alone tended, put
+a stop to the prosperity of the French settlements
+by frequent attacks made by their
+fleets on their way to New Spain. From the
+just hatred excited by these unprovoked
+forays sprang the first impulse of retaliation.
+These injuries provoked the French, as they
+had done the Dutch, to fit out privateers. But
+a still more powerful motive soon became
+paramount. A spirit of cupidity arose, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span>
+was stimulated by the heated imaginations
+of men poor and angry. Before them lay
+regions of gold, timidly guarded by a vindictive
+but feeble enemy; and Spain became to
+these pioneer settlers what a bedridden miser
+is to the dreams of a needy bravo.</p>
+
+<p>The report of the Dutch successes spread
+through all the ports of France. Sailors
+were the ready bearers of wild tales they
+had themselves half invented. Some hardy adventurers
+of Dieppe fitted out vessels to carry
+on a warfare that retaliation had now rendered
+just, war made legal, and chance rendered
+profitable. The sailor who was to-day
+munching his onion on the quays of Marseilles
+might, a few weeks hence, be lord of
+Carthagena, or rolling in the treasures of a
+Manilla galleon, clothed in Eastern silks,
+and delighted with the perfumes of India.
+Finding their enterprise successful, but St.
+Kitt's too distant to form a convenient depôt
+for their booty, they began to look about for
+some nearer locality. At first they found
+their return voyages to the West Indian
+islands frequently occupying three months,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span>
+which seemed years to men hurrying to store
+up old plunder, and to sally forth for new.
+In search of an asylum, these privateersmen
+touched at Hispaniola, hoping to find some
+lonely island near its shores; but as soon as
+they had landed, and saw the great forests
+full of game, and broad savannahs alive with
+wild cattle, and finding it abandoned by
+the Spaniards, and the Indians nearly all
+dead or emigrated, they determined to settle
+at a place so full of advantages, where they
+could revictual their ships, and remain secure
+and unobserved. The sight of Tortuga,
+a small neighbouring island, rocky, and yet
+not without a harbour, convinced them that
+nature had constructed for their growing
+empire at once a magazine, a citadel, and a
+fortress. They had now a sanctuary and a
+haven, shelter for their booty, and food for
+their men.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards, although not occupying the
+island, were anxious that it should not be
+occupied by others. They had long had a
+foreboding that this island would become a
+resort for pirates, and had just garrisoned it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span>
+with an alfarez and twenty-five men. The
+French had, however, little difficulty in getting
+rid of this small force, the soldiers being
+enraged at finding themselves left by their
+countrymen, without provisions or reinforcements,
+upon a barren rock.</p>
+
+<p>Once masters of the heap of stones, the
+French began to deliberate by what means
+they could retain it. The sight of buildings
+already begun, and the prospect of more food
+than they could get at St. Christopher's,
+determined these restless men to settle on
+the spot they had won. Part of them returned
+to Hispaniola to kill oxen and boars,
+and to salt the flesh for those who would
+remain to plant; and those men who determined
+to build assured the sailors that stores
+of dry meat should always be ready to
+revictual their ships.</p>
+
+<p>The adventurers, having a nucleus for
+their operations, began to widen their operations.
+They became now divided into
+three distinct classes, always intermingling,
+and never very definitely divided, but still
+for the main part separate: the <i>sea rovers</i>, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span>
+flibustiers; the <i>planters</i>, or habitans; and
+the <i>hunters</i>, or buccaneers. For the first class,
+there were many names: the English, following
+an Indian word, called them Buccaneers,
+from the Indian term <i>boucan</i> (dried meat);
+the Dutch denominated them Zee Roovers,
+and the French Flibustiers, or Aventuriers.
+A fourth class, growing by degrees either
+into the Buccaneers or the planters, were the
+apprentices, or <i>engagés</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A few French planters could not have retained
+the island had not their numbers been
+swelled by the addition of many English. In
+a short time, French vessels touched at the
+island, to trade for the booty that now arrived
+more frequently, unintermittingly, and in
+greater quantities. The trade grew less
+speculative and uncertain. French captains
+found it profitable to barter not only for hides
+and meat with the Buccaneers, but with the
+Flibustiers for silver-plate and pieces of eight.
+The high prices paid for wine and brandy
+soon rendered the commerce with Bordeaux
+a matter worthy the attention of the French
+Government. In a few days of Buccaneer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span>
+excess more was spent in barter than could
+have been realised in months of average
+traffic with the more cautious.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards, fully alive to the danger of
+this planter settlement, determined to destroy
+it at a single blow. The design was easy
+of accomplishment, for the Buccaneers had
+grown careless from long impunity, and had
+long since crowned themselves undisputed
+kings of Hispaniola and its dependencies.
+Taking advantage of a time when the English
+corsairs were at sea and the French Buccaneers
+hunting on the mainland, the Spanish
+General of the Indian Fleet landed with a
+handful of soldiers and retook the island in
+an hour. The few planters were overpowered
+before they could run together, the hunters
+before they could seize their arms. Some
+were at once put to the sword, and others
+hung on the nearest trees. The larger portion,
+however, taking advantage of well-known
+lurking places, waited for the night,
+and then escaped to the mainland in their
+canoes. The Spaniards, satisfied with the
+terror they had struck, left the island un-garrisoned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span>
+and returned exultingly to St.
+Domingo. Hearing, however, that there
+were a great many Buccaneers still settled as
+hunters in Hispaniola, and that the wild
+cattle were diminishing by their ravages, the
+general levied some troops to put them down.
+To these men, who were known as the Spanish
+<i>Fifties</i>, we shall hereafter advert.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish fleet was scarcely well out of
+sight before the Buccaneers, angry but unintimidated,
+flocked back to their now desolated
+island, full of rage at the sight of the bodies
+of their companions and the ashes of their
+ruined houses. The English returned headed
+by a Buccaneer named Willis, who gave an
+English character to the new colony. The
+French adventurers, jealous of English interference,
+and fearful that the island would
+fall into the possession of England, left Tortuga,
+and, going to St. Christopher's, informed
+the Governor, the Chevalier de Poncy, of the
+ease with which it could be conquered. De
+Poncy, alive to the scheme and jealous for
+French honour, fitted out an expedition, and
+intrusted the command to M. Le Vasseur, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span>
+brave soldier and good engineer, just arrived
+from France, who levied a force of forty
+French Protestants, and agreed to conquer
+the island for De Poncy and to govern in
+his name, as well as to pay half the expenses
+of the conquest. In a few days he dropped
+anchor in Port Margot, on the north side of
+Hispaniola, about seven leagues from Tortuga.
+He instantly collected a force of forty French
+Buccaneers from the woods and the savannahs,
+and, having arranged his plans, made a descent
+upon the island in the month of April,
+1640. As soon as he had landed, he sent a
+message to the English Governor to say that
+he had come to avenge the insults received by
+the French flag, and to warn him that if he
+did not leave the island with all those of his
+nation in twenty-four hours, he should lay
+waste every plantation with fire and sword.
+The English, feeling their position untenable,
+instantly embarked in a vessel lying in the
+road, without (as &#338;xmelin, a French writer,
+says) striking a blow in self-defence. The
+French population of the island then, rising
+in arms, welcomed the invaders as friends.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Le Vasseur, the bloodless conqueror of
+this new Barataria, was received with shouts
+and acclamations. He at once visited every
+nook of the island that needed defence, and
+prepared to insure it against reconquest
+either by the Spaniards or the English. He
+found it inaccessible on three sides; and on
+the unprotected quarter built a fort, on a
+peak of impregnable rock, rising 600 feet
+above the narrow path which it commanded.
+The summit of this rock was about thirty
+feet square, and could only be ascended by
+steps cut in the stone or by a moveable iron
+ladder. The fort held four guns. A spring
+of water completed the advantages of the spot,
+which was surrounded with walls and fenced
+in with hedges, woods, precipices, and every
+aid that art or nature could furnish. The
+only approach to this steep was a narrow
+avenue in which no more than three men
+could march abreast.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers now flocked to Tortuga
+in greater numbers than before, some to congratulate
+the new governor on his victory,
+and others to enrol themselves as his subjects:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span>
+all who came he received with promises
+of support and protection. The Spaniards,
+in the meanwhile, determined to crush
+this wasp's nest, fitted out at St. Domingo a
+new armament of six vessels, having on
+board 500 or 600 men. They at first anchored
+before the fort, but, receiving a volley,
+moored two leagues lower down, and landed
+their troops. In attempting to storm the
+fort by a <i>coup de main</i>, they were beaten off
+with the loss of 200 men, the garrison sallying
+out and driving them back to their ships.</p>
+
+<p>The now doubly victorious governor was
+hailed as the defender and saviour of Tortuga.
+The news of victory soon reached the ears of
+M. de Poncy, at St. Christopher's, who, at first
+rejoiced at the success, became soon afraid of
+the ambition of his new ally. Fearing that
+he would repudiate the contract, and declare
+himself an independent sovereign, he took
+the precaution of testing his sincerity. He
+sent two of his relations to Tortuga to request
+land as settlers, but really to act as spies. Le
+Vasseur, subtle and penetrating, at once detected
+their object. He received the young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>
+men with great civility, but took care to
+secure their speedy return to St. Christopher's.
+Having now attained the summit of his
+wishes, he became, as many greater men
+have been, intoxicated with power. His
+temper changed, and he grew severe, suspicious,
+intolerant, and despotic. He not
+only bound his subjects in chains, but delighted
+to clank the fetters, and remind them
+of their slavery. He ill-used the planters,
+loaded the merchants with taxes, punished
+the most venial faults, and grew as much
+hated as he had been once beloved. He
+went so far in his tyranny as to forbid the
+exercise of the Catholic religion, to burn the
+churches and expel the priests. The murder
+of such a persecutor has always been
+held a sin easily forgiven by the confessor,
+and lust and superstition soon gave birth to
+murder.</p>
+
+<p>Charlevoix relates an amusing instance of
+the governor's contumacy. De Poncy, informed
+that his vessels had taken a silver
+idol (a Virgin Mary) from some Spanish
+cathedral, wrote to demand its surrender.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span>
+Le Vasseur returned a wooden image by the
+messenger, desiring him to say, that for religious
+purposes, wood or silver was equally
+good. One of his most cruel inventions Le
+Vasseur called his "hell." It seems to have
+resembled the portable iron cages in which
+Louis XI. used to confine his state prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>M. de Poncy, informed of the extraordinary
+change in the character of Le Vasseur,
+endeavoured to beguile him by promises,
+threats, and entreaties. Justice gave him
+now a pretext of enforcing what self-interest
+had long meditated. The toils were
+growing closer round the doomed man, but
+Heaven sent a speedier punishment. Le
+Vasseur, still waiving all openings for formal
+complaint, was exulting in all the glory of
+a small satrapy, when two nephews conspired
+against his life. Cupidity inspired the crime,
+and they easily persuaded themselves that
+God and man alike demanded the expiation.
+One writer calls them simply captains,
+"companions of fortune," and another, the
+nephews of Le Vasseur.</p>
+
+<p>These ungrateful men had already been declared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>
+his heirs, but they had quarrelled with
+him about a mistress he had taken from
+them, and one fault in a friend obliterates
+the remembrance of many virtues. They
+believed that the inhabitants, rejoiced at deliverance
+from such tyranny, would appoint
+them joint governors in the first outburst of
+their gratitude. They shot him from an
+ambush as he was descending from the rock
+fort to the shore, but, only wounding him
+slightly, were obliged to complete the murder
+with a poignard. The wounded man
+called for a priest, and declared himself, with
+his last breath, a steadfast Catholic. He
+seems to have been a dark, wily man, of
+strong passions, tenacious ambition, and ungovernable
+will.</p>
+
+<p>While this crime was perpetrating, De
+Poncy, determined to recover possession of at
+least his share of Tortuga, and weary and
+angry at the subterfuges of Le Vasseur, had
+resolved upon a new expedition. The
+leader was a Chevalier de Fontenoy, a soldier
+of fortune, who, attracted by the sparkle of
+Spanish gold, had just arrived at St. Kitt's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span>
+in a French frigate. Full of chivalry, he at
+once proposed to sail, although informed that
+the place was impregnable, and could only be
+taken by stratagem. While the armament
+was fitting up, he made a cruise round Carthagena,
+on the look out for Spanish prizes,
+and joined M. Feral, a nephew of the general,
+at Port de Paix, a rendezvous twelve leagues
+from Tortuga. Informed there of the murder
+of Le Vasseur, they at once sailed for the
+harbour, and landed 500 men at the spot where
+the Spaniards had formerly been repulsed.
+The two murderers immediately capitulated,
+on condition of being allowed to depart with
+all their uncle's treasure. The Chevalier
+was proclaimed governor, and received with
+as many acclamations as Le Vasseur had
+been before him. The old religion was restored,
+and commerce patronized and protected,
+by royal edict. Two bastions were added to
+the fort, and more guns mounted. The
+Buccaneers crowded back in greater numbers
+than even on Le Vasseur's arrival. Before
+they had only imagined the advantages of
+this conquest, but now they had tasted them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span>
+The Chevalier hailed all Buccaneers as
+friends and brothers, and even himself fitted
+out privateers. The Spanish ships could
+scarcely venture out of port, and one merchant
+alone is known to have lost 300,000
+crowns' worth of merchandise in a single year.</p>
+
+<p>It is easier to conquer than to retain a
+conquest, and vigilance grows blunted by
+success. The Chevalier, too confident in his
+strength, allowed half his population to embark
+in cruisers. The sick, the aged, the
+maimed, laboured in the plantations with
+the slaves. The Spaniards, informed of this,
+landed in force, without resistance. The
+few Buccaneers crowded into the fort, which
+the enemy dared not approach. Discovering,
+however, a mountain that commanded the
+rock, precipitous, but still accessible, they
+determined to plant a battery upon it, and
+drive the Buccaneers from their last foothold.
+With infinite vigour and determination
+they hewed a road to the mountain between
+two rocks. Making frames of wood,
+they lashed on their cannons, and forced
+the slaves and prisoners to drag them to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span>
+summit, and, with a battery of four guns,
+suddenly opened a fire upon the unguarded
+fort. The Chevalier, not expecting this enterprise,
+had just deprived himself of his
+last defence, by cutting down the large
+trees that grew round the walls. In spite
+of all the threats and expostulations of the
+governor, the garrison, galled by this plunging
+fire, at once capitulated. They left the
+island in twenty-four hours, with arms and
+baggage, drums beating, colours flying, and
+match burning, and set sail in two half-scuttled
+vessels lying in the road, having first
+given hostages not to serve against Spain for
+a given time. In another vessel, but alone,
+set sail the two murderers, who, being short
+of food, consummated their crimes by leaving
+the women and children of their company on
+a desert island.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish general, repairing the fort,
+garrisoned it with sixty men, whom he supplied
+with provisions. Fontenoy, repulsed
+in an attempt to recover the island, soon
+afterwards returned to France.</p>
+
+<p>In 1655, when Admiral Penn appeared off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>
+St. Domingo with Cromwell's fleet, the
+Spaniards, to increase their forces in Hispaniola,
+recalled the troop which had held
+Tortuga eighteen months&mdash;the commander
+first blowing up the fort, burning the church,
+the houses, and the magazines, and devastating
+the plantations. Not long afterwards,
+an English refugee of wealth, Elias Ward
+(or, as the French call him, <i>Elyazouärd</i>),
+came from Jamaica, with his family and a
+dozen soldiers, and with an English commission
+from the general, and was soon
+joined by about 120 French and English
+adventurers.</p>
+
+<p>The treaty of the Pyrenees, in 1659, brought
+no repose to the hunters of Hispaniola from
+Spanish inroads. The planters were compelled
+to work armed, and to keep watch at
+night for fear of being murdered in their
+beds. In 1667 the war recommencing, let the
+bloodhounds, who had long been straining in
+the leash, free to raven and devour. De Lisle
+again plundered St. Jago, and obtained 2,500
+piastres ransom, each of his adventurers
+secured 300 crowns, the Spaniards abandoning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span>
+the defiles and carrying off their treasure
+to Conception.</p>
+
+<p>This was the golden age of Buccaneering.
+Vauclin, Ovinet, and Tributor, plundered the
+towns of Cumana, Coro, St. Martha, and Nicaragua.
+Le Basque, with only forty men,
+surprised Maracaibo by night. He seized
+the principal inhabitants and shut them in
+the cathedral, and threatened to instantly cut
+off their heads if the citizens ventured to
+rise in arms. Daylight discovering his feeble
+force, he could obtain no ransom. The Flibustiers
+then retreated, each man driving a
+prisoner before him, a pistol slung in one hand
+and a naked sabre raised over the Spaniard's
+head in the other. These hostages were detained
+twenty-four hours, and released at the
+moment the French departed. This is the
+same Le Basque whom Charlevoix describes
+as cutting out the Margaret from under the
+cannon of Portobello, and winning a million
+piastres. At another time, they retreated
+laden with booty and carrying with them the
+Governor and the principal citizens of St.
+Jago; but the Spaniards, rallying, placed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span>
+themselves, 1,000 in number, in an ambuscade
+by the way, trusting to their numbers and
+expecting an easy victory. The French,
+turning well, scarcely missed a shot, and in a
+short time killed 100 of the enemy's men,
+and, wounding a great many more, drove them
+off after two hours' fighting. They rallied
+and returned in a short time, determined to
+conquer or die; but the French, showing the
+prisoners, declared that if a shot was fired by
+the enemy they would kill them before their
+eyes, and would then sell their own lives
+dearly. This menace frightened the Spaniards,
+and the Flibustiers continued their retreat
+unmolested. Having waited some time
+in vain on the coast for the ransom, they left
+the prisoners unhurt, and returned gaily to
+Tortuga.</p>
+
+<p>In 1663, Spain, finding that France in secret
+encouraged the Buccaneers of Hispaniola,
+gave orders to exterminate every Frenchman
+in the island, promising recompence to those
+who distinguished themselves in the war.
+An old Flemish officer, named Vandelinof,
+who had served with distinction in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>
+Low Country wars, took the command. His
+first stratagem was to attempt to surprise the
+chief French boucan, at Gonaive, on the Brűlé
+Savannah, with 800 men. The hunters, observing
+them, gave the alarm, and, collecting
+100 "brothers," advanced to meet them in a
+defile where the Spanish numbers were of no
+avail. The Fleming was killed at the first
+volley, and after an obstinate struggle the
+Spaniards fled to the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy, after this defeat, returned to their
+old and safer plan of night surprises&mdash;which
+frequently succeeded, owing to the negligent
+watch kept by the Buccaneers. The hunters,
+much harassed by the constant sense of insecurity,
+began to retire every night to the
+small islands round St. Domingo, and seldom
+went alone to the chase. Some boucans,
+such as those at the port of Samana, grew
+rapidly into towns. Near this excellent harbour
+the cattle were unusually abundant, and
+in a few hours the Flibustier could carry his
+hides to his market at Tortuga. Gradually
+French and Dutch vessels began to visit the
+port to buy hides and to trade.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Every morning before starting to the savannah,
+the hunters climbed the highest hill
+to see if any Spaniards were visible. They
+then agreed on a rendezvous for the evening,
+arriving there to the moment. If any one
+was missing he was at once known to be
+taken or killed, and no one was permitted to
+return home till their comerade's death had
+been avenged. One evening the hunters of
+Samana, missing four of the band, marched
+towards St. Jago, and, discovering from some
+prisoners that their companions had been
+massacred, entered a Spanish village and
+slew every one they met.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards too had sometimes their
+revenge. "The river of massacre" near
+Samana was so called from thirty Buccaneers
+who were slain there while fording the river
+laden with hides. Another band of hunters,
+led by Charles Tore, had been hunting at a
+place called the Bois-Brűlé Savannah, and having
+completed the number of skins the merchants
+had contracted for, returned to Samana.
+Crossing a savannah they were surprised by
+an overwhelming force of Spaniards, and, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span>
+spite of a desperate resistance, slain to a
+man. The Buccaneers, irritated by these
+losses, began to think of revenge. When the
+Spaniards destroyed the wild cattle, some
+turned planters about Port de Paix, others
+became Flibustiers.</p>
+
+<p>The death of De Poncy threw the French
+colonies into some disorder, and Tortuga was
+for awhile forgotten both by the home and
+colonial government. During this interval a
+gentleman of Perigord, named Rossy, a retired
+Buccaneer, resolved to resume his old
+profession. Returning to St. Domingo, he
+was hailed as a father by the hunters, who
+proposed to him to recover Tortuga. Rossy,
+knowing that fidelity is the last virtue that
+forsakes the heart, accepted their proposal
+with the enthusiasm of a gambler accustomed
+to such desperate casts. He was soon joined
+by five hundred refugees, burning for conquest
+and revenge. They assembled in
+canoes at a rendezvous in Hispaniola, and
+agreed to land one hundred men on the north
+side of the island and surprise the mountain
+fort. The Spaniards in the town, not even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>
+entrenched, were soon beaten into the fort.
+The garrison of the rock were rather astonished
+to be awoke at break of day by a
+salute from the neighbouring mountain, when
+they could see the enemy still quietly encamped
+below. Sallying out, they could discern no
+opponents, but before they could regain the
+fort were all cut to pieces or made prisoners.
+The survivors were at once thrust into a boat
+and sent to Cuba, and Rossy declared governor.
+He soon after received a commission
+from the French king, together with a permission
+to levy a tax, for the support of his
+dignity, of a tenth of all prizes brought into
+Tortuga. Rossy governed quietly for some
+years, and eventually retired to his native
+country to die, and La Place, his nephew,
+reigned in his stead.</p>
+
+<p>In 1664, the French West India Company
+became masters of Tortuga and the Antilles,
+and appointed M. D'Ogeron, a gentleman of
+Anjou who had failed in commerce, as their
+governor. He proved a good administrator,
+and built magazines and storehouses for
+his grateful and attached people. D'Ogeron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>
+soon established order and prosperity in the
+island, which became a refuge for the red
+flag and the terror of the Spaniards. He
+colonised all the north side of Hispaniola,
+from Port Margot, where he had a house, to
+the three rivers opposite Tortuga. He attracted
+colonists from the Antilles, and
+brought over women from France, in order
+to settle his nomadic and mutinous population.
+In 1661, the West India Company, dissatisfied
+with the profits of their merchandize, resolved
+to relinquish the colony and call in
+their debts; and it was in the St. John, sent
+out for this purpose, that the Buccaneer historian
+&#338;xmelin, whom we shall have frequently
+to quote, first visited Tortuga.
+D'Ogeron, determined not to relinquish a
+settlement already beginning to flourish,
+hastened to France, and persuaded some private
+merchants to continue the trade. They
+promised to fit out twelve vessels annually,
+if he would supply them with back freight.
+He on his part agreed to provide the colonists
+with slaves and to destroy the wild dogs,
+which were committing great ravages among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>
+the herds of Hispaniola. This new company
+did not answer. The inhabitants suffered by
+the monopoly, and grew discontented at only
+being allowed to trade with certain vessels,
+and being obliged to turn their backs on
+better bargains or cheaper merchandize.
+An accident lit the train. M. D'Ogeron
+attempted to prevent their trading with some
+Dutch merchants, and they rose in arms.
+Shots were fired at the governor, and the
+revolters threatened to burn out the planters
+who would not join their flag. But succours
+from the Antilles soon brought them to their
+senses, and, one of their ringleaders being
+hung, they surrendered at discretion. The
+governor, alarmed even at an outbreak that
+he had checked, made in his turn concessions.
+He permitted all French merchants to trade
+upon paying a heavy harbour due, and the
+number of ships soon became too numerous
+for the limited commerce of the place. M.
+D'Ogeron next procured colonists from Brittany
+and Anjou, and eventually, after some
+further exploits, very daring but always unfortunate,
+he was succeeded in command
+by his nephew M. De Poncy.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There are several Tortugas. There is one in
+the Caribbean sea, another near the coast of
+Honduras, a third not far from Carthagena,
+and a fourth in the gulf of California; they
+all derived their names from their shape,
+resembling the turtle which throng in these
+seas.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneer fastness with which we
+have to do is the Tortuga of the North
+Atlantic Ocean, a small rocky island about
+60 leagues only in circumference, and distant
+barely six miles from the north coast of
+Hispaniola. This Tortuga was to the refugee
+hunters of the savannahs what New
+Providence became to the pirates, and the
+Galapagos islands to the South Sea adventurers
+of half a century later. It had only
+one port, the entrance to which formed two
+channels: on two sides it was iron-bound,
+and on the other defended by reefs and
+shoals, less threatening than the cliffs, but
+not less dangerous. Though scantily supplied
+with spring water&mdash;a defect which the natives
+balanced by a free use of "the water of
+life"&mdash;the interior was very fertile and well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span>
+wooded. Palm and sandal wood trees grew
+in profusion; sugar, tobacco, aloes, resin,
+China-root, indigo, cotton, and all sorts of
+tropical plants were the riches of the planters.
+The cultivators were already receiving gifts
+from the earth, which&mdash;liberal benefactor&mdash;she
+gave without expecting a return, for the
+virgin soil needed little seed, care, or nourishment.
+The island was too small for savannahs,
+but the tangled brushwood abounded
+in wild boars.</p>
+
+<p>The harbour had a fine sand bottom, was
+well sheltered from the winds, and was
+walled in by the Coste de Fer rocks.
+Round the habitable part of the shore
+stretched sands, so that it could not be
+approached but by boats. The town consisted
+of only a few store-houses and wine
+shops, and was called the <i>Basse Terre</i>. The
+other five habitable parts of the island were
+Cayona, the Mountain, the Middle Plantation,
+the Ringot, and Mason's Point. A
+seventh, the Capsterre, required only water
+to make it habitable, the land being very
+fertile. To supply the want of springs, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span>
+planters collected the rain water in tanks.
+The soil of the island was alternately sand
+and clay, and from the latter they made
+excellent pottery. The mountains, though
+rocky, and scarcely covered with soil, were
+shaded with trees of great size and beauty,
+the roots of which clung like air plants to
+the bare rock, and, netting them round,
+struck here and there deeper anchors into
+the wider crevices. This timber was so dry
+and tough that, if it was cut and exposed to
+the heat of the sun, it would split with a
+loud noise, and could therefore only be used
+as fuel.</p>
+
+<p>This favoured island boasted all the fruits of
+the Antilles: its tobacco was better than that
+of any other island; its sugar canes attained
+an enormous size, and their juice was sweeter
+than elsewhere; its numerous medicinal
+plants were exported to heal the diseases of
+the Old World. The only four-footed animal
+was the wild boar, originally transplanted
+from Hispaniola. As it soon grew scarce,
+the French governor made it illegal to hunt
+with dogs, and required the hunter to follow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span>
+his prey single-handed and on foot. The
+wood-pigeons were almost the only birds in
+the island. They came in large flocks at
+certain periods of the year; &#338;xmelin says
+that, in two or three hours, without going
+eighty steps from the road, he killed ninety-five
+with his own hand. As soon as they eat
+a certain berry their flesh became bitter as our
+larks do when they move from the stubbles
+into the turnips. A Gascon visitor, once
+complaining of their sudden bitterness, was
+told by a Buccaneer as a joke that his servant
+had forgot to remove the gall. Fish
+abounded round the island, and crabs without
+nippers; the night fishermen carrying torches
+of the candle-wood tree. The shell fish was
+the food of servants and slaves, and was said
+to be so indigestible as to frequently produce
+giddiness and temporary blindness; the
+turtle and manitee, too, formed part of their
+daily diet. The planters were much tormented
+by the white and red land-crabs, or
+tourtourons, which lived in the earth, visited
+the sea to spawn, and at night gnawed the
+sugar-canes and the roots of plants. Their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>
+only venomous reptile was the viper, which
+they tamed to kill mice; in a wild state, it
+fed on poultry or pigeons. From the stomach
+of one &#338;xmelin drew seven pigeons
+and a large fowl, which had been swallowed
+about three hours before, and cooked them
+for his own dinner, verifying the old proverb
+of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." In times
+of scarcity these snakes were eaten for food.
+Besides chameleons and lizards, there were
+small insects with shells like a snail. These
+were considered good to eat and very nourishing.
+When held near the fire, they distilled
+a red oily liquid useful as a rheumatic
+liniment. Though the scorpions and scolopendrias
+were not venomous, nature, always
+just in her compensations, covered the island
+with poisonous shrubs. The most fatal of
+these was the noxious mançanilla. It grew as
+high as a pear tree, had leaves like a wild
+laurel, and bore fruit like an apple; this fruit
+was so deadly, that even fish that ate of it,
+if they did not die, became themselves
+poisonous, and were known by the blackness
+of their teeth. The only antidote was olive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span>
+oil. The Indian fishermen used, as a test,
+to taste the heart of the fish they caught, and
+if it proved bitter they knew at once that
+it had been poisoned, and threw it away.
+The very rain-drops that fell from the leaves
+were deadly to man and beast, and it was as
+dangerous to sleep under its shadow as under
+the upas. The friendly boughs invited the
+traveller (as vice does man) to rest under
+their shade; but when he awoke he found
+himself sick and faint, and covered with
+feverish sores. New-comers were too frequently
+tempted by the sight and odour of
+the fruit, and the only remedy for the rash
+son of Adam was to bind him down, and, in
+spite of heat and pain, to prevent him
+drinking for two or three days. The body
+of the sufferer became at first "red as fire,
+and his tongue black as ink," then a great
+torment of thirst and fever came upon him,
+but slowly passed away. Another poisonous
+shrub resembled the pimento; its berries
+were used by the Indians to rub their eyes,
+giving them, as they believed, a keener sight,
+and enabling them to see the fish deeper in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span>
+the water and to strike them at a greater
+distance with the harpoon. The root of this
+bush was a poison, so deadly that the
+only known antidote for it was its own
+berries, bruised and drunk in wine. Of
+another plant, &#338;xmelin relates an instance
+of a negro girl being poisoned by a rejected
+lover, by merely putting some of its leaves
+between her toes when asleep.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />
+
+<small>MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.</small></h2>
+
+<blockquote><p>Derivation of the words Buccaneer and Flibustier&mdash;The
+three classes&mdash;Dress of the hunters&mdash;West Indian
+scenery&mdash;Method of hunting&mdash;Wild dogs&mdash;Anecdotes&mdash;Wild
+oxen, wild boars, and wild horses&mdash;Buccaneer
+food&mdash;Cow killing&mdash;Spanish method&mdash;Amusements&mdash;Duels&mdash;Adventures
+with the Spanish militia&mdash;The
+hunters driven to sea&mdash;The <i>engagés</i>, or apprentices&mdash;Hide
+curing&mdash;Hardships of the bush life&mdash;The
+planter's <i>engagés</i>&mdash;Cruelties of planters&mdash;The
+<i>matelotage</i>&mdash;Huts&mdash;Food.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>The hunters of the wild cattle in the savannahs
+of Hispaniola were known under the
+designation of Buccaneers as early as the
+year 1630.</p>
+
+<p>They derived this name from <i>boucan</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span>
+old Indian word which their luckless predecessors,
+the Caribs, gave to the hut in which
+they smoked the flesh of the oxen killed in
+hunting, or not unfrequently the limbs of
+their persecutors the Spaniards. They applied
+the same term, from the poverty of an
+undeveloped language, to the <i>barbecue</i>, or
+square wooden frame upon which the meat
+was dried. In course of time this hunters'
+food became known as <i>viande boucanée</i>, and the
+hunters themselves gradually assumed the
+name of Buccaneers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Charlevoix's "Histoire de l'Ile Espagnole," p. 6, vol. ii</p></div>
+
+<p>Their second title of Flibustiers was a
+mere corruption of the English word freebooters&mdash;a
+German term, imported into England
+during the Low Country wars of Elizabeth's
+reign. It has been erroneously traced
+to the Dutch word <i>flyboat</i>; but the Jesuit
+traveller, Charlevoix, asserts that, in fact, this
+species of craft derived its title from being
+first used by the Flibustiers, and not from
+its swiftness. This, however, is evidently a
+mistake, as Drayton and Hakluyt use the
+word; and it seems to be of even earlier
+standing in the French language. The derivation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>
+from the English word freebooter is
+at once seen when the <i>s</i> in Flibu<i>s</i>tier becomes
+lost in pronunciation.</p>
+
+<p>In 1630, a party of French colonists, who
+had failed in an attack on St. Christopher's,
+finding, as we have shown, Hispaniola almost
+deserted by the Spaniards, who neglected the
+Antilles to push their conquests on the mainland,
+landed on the south side and formed a
+settlement, discovering the woods and the
+plains to be teeming with wild oxen and wild
+hogs. The Dutch merchants promised to
+supply them with every necessary, and to
+receive the hides and tallow that they collected
+in exchange for lead, powder, and
+brandy. These first settlers were chiefly
+Normans, and the first trading vessels that
+visited the coast were from Dieppe.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of the Buccaneers, or hunters,
+and the Flibustiers, or sea rovers, as the
+Dutch called them, was contemporaneous.
+From the very beginning many grew weary
+of the chase and became corsairs, at first
+turning their arms against all nations but
+their own, but latterly, as strict privateersmen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span>
+revenging their injuries only on
+the Spaniards, with whom France was frequently
+at war, and generally under the
+authority of regular or forged commissions
+obtained from the Governor of St. Domingo
+or some other French settlement. Between
+the Buccaneers and Flibustiers no impassable
+line was drawn; to chase the wild ox or the
+Spaniard was the same to the greater part of
+the colonists, and on sea or land the hunter's
+musket was an equally deadly weapon.</p>
+
+<p>Two years after the French refugees from
+St. Christopher's had landed on the half-deserted
+shores of Hispaniola, the Flibustiers
+seized the small adjoining island of Tortuga,
+attracted by its safe and well-defended harbour,
+its fertility, and the strength of its
+natural defences. The French and English
+colonists of St. Christopher's began now to
+cultivate the small plantations round the
+harbour, encouraged by the number of French
+trading vessels that visited it, and by the
+riches that the Flibustiers captured from the
+Spaniards. These vessels brought over young
+men from France to be bound to the planters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span>
+for three years as <i>engagés</i>, by a contract that
+legalized the transitory slavery.</p>
+
+<p>There were thus at once established four
+classes of men&mdash;<i>Buccaneers</i>, or hunters;
+<i>planters</i>, or inhabitants; <i>engagés</i>, who were
+apprenticed to either the one or the other;
+and <i>sea-rovers</i>. They governed themselves
+by a sort of democratic compact&mdash;each inhabitant
+being monarch in his own plantation,
+and every Flibustier king on his own
+deck. But the latter was not unfrequently
+deposed by his crew; and the former, if cruel
+to his <i>engagés</i>, was compelled to submit to
+the French governor's interference. Before
+giving any history of the various revolutions
+in Tortuga, or the wars of the Spaniards in
+Hispaniola, we will describe the manners of
+each of the three classes we have mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>And first of the Buccaneers, or hunters, of
+Hispaniola.</p>
+
+<p>These wild men fed on the bodies of the
+cattle they killed in hunting, and by selling
+their hides and tallow obtained money
+enough to buy the necessaries and even the
+luxuries of life,&mdash;for the gambling table and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span>
+the debauch. While the Flibustiers called
+each other "brothers of the coast," the Buccaneers
+were included in the generic term
+"<i>gens de la côté</i>," and in time the names of
+Buccaneer and Flibustier were used indiscriminately.</p>
+
+<p>The hunter's dress consisted of a plain
+shirt, or blouse (Du Tertre calls it a sack),
+belted at the waist with a bit of green hide.
+It was soon dyed a dull purple with the
+blood of the wild bull, and was always
+smeared with grease. "When they returned
+from the chase to the boucan," says
+the above-named writer, "you would say
+that these are the butcher's vilest servants,
+who have been eight days in the slaughterhouse
+without washing." As they frequently
+carried the meat home by cutting a
+hole in the centre, and thrusting their heads
+through it, we may imagine the cannibals
+that they must have looked. They wore
+drawers, or frequently only tight mocassins,
+reaching to the knee; their sandals were of
+bull's hide or hog skin, fastened with leather
+laces.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In &#338;xmelin's <i>Histoire des Aventuriers</i>, the
+hunter is represented with bare feet, but
+this could not have been usual, when we
+remember the danger of chigoes, snakes, and
+scorpions, not to speak of prickly pear coverts
+and thorny brakes. From their leather waist
+belt hung a short, heavy <i>machete</i> or sabre,
+and an alligator skin case of Dutch hunting
+knives. On their heads they wore a leather
+skull-cap, shaped like our modern jockey's,
+with a peak in front. They wore their hair
+falling wildly on their shoulders, and their
+huge beards increased the ferocity of their
+appearance. &#338;xmelin particularly mentions
+the beard, although no existing engraving
+of the Buccaneer chiefs represents them
+with this grim ornament. According to
+Charlevoix, some of them wore a shirt, and
+over this a sort of brewer's apron, or coarse
+sacking tunic, open at the sides. From this
+shirt being always stained with blood, perhaps
+sometimes purposely dipped into it, the
+Abbé Reynal supposes that such a shirt was
+the necessary dress of the Buccaneer. &#338;xmelin
+says that as his vessel approached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>
+St. Domingo, "a Buccaneers' canoe came off
+with six men at the paddles, whose appearance
+excited the astonishment of all those on
+board, who had never before been out of
+France. They wore a small linen tunic and
+short drawers, reaching only half down the
+thigh. It required one to look close to see
+if the shirt was linen or not, so stained was
+it with the blood which had dripped from
+the animals they kill and carry home. All
+of them had large beards, and carried at
+their girdle a case of cayman skin, in which
+were four knives and a bayonet." Like
+the Canadian trappers, or, indeed, sportsmen
+in general, they were peculiarly careful
+of their muskets, which were made expressly
+for them in France, the best makers being
+Brachie of Dieppe, and Gelu of Nantes.
+These guns were about four feet and a half
+long, and were known everywhere as "Buccaneering
+pieces." The stocks were square
+and heavy, with a hollow for the shoulder,
+and they were all made of the same calibre,
+single barrel, and carrying balls sixteen to
+the pound. Every hunter took with him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span>
+fifteen or twenty pounds of powder, the best
+of which came from Cherbourg. They kept
+it in waxed calabashes to secure it from the
+damp, having no shelter or hut that would
+keep out the West Indian rains. Their bullet
+pouch and powder horn hung on either side,
+and their small tents they carried, rolled up
+tight like bandoliers, at their waist, for they
+slept wherever they halted, and generally in
+their clothes.</p>
+
+<p>We have no room and no colours bright
+enough to paint the chief features of the
+Indian woods, the cloven cherry, that resembles
+the arbutus, the cocoa with its purple
+pods, the red <i>bois immortel</i>, the stunted
+bastard cedar, the logwood with its sweet
+blossom and hawthorn-like leaf, the cashew
+with its golden fruit, the oleander, the dock-like
+yam, and the calabash tree.</p>
+
+<p>What Hesperian orchards are those where
+the citron, lemon, and lime cling together,
+and the pine-apple grows in prickly hedges,
+soft custard apples hang out their bags of
+sweetness, and the avocada swings its pears
+big as pumpkins; where the bread-fruit with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span>
+its gigantic leaves, the glossy star apple,
+and the golden shaddock, drop their masses
+of foliage among the dewy and fresh underwood
+of plantains, far below the tall and
+graceful cocoa-nut tree.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Scott depicts with photographic
+exactness and brilliancy every phase of the
+West Indian day, and enables us to imagine
+the light and shade that surrounded the
+strange race of whom we write. At daybreak,
+the land wind moans and shakes the
+dew from the feathery palms; the fireflies
+grow pale, and fade out one after the
+other, like the stars; the deep croaking of the
+frog ceases, and the lizards and crickets are
+silent; the monkeys leave off yelling; the
+snore of the tree toad and the wild cry of
+the tiger-cat are no more heard; but fresh
+sounds arise, and the woods thrill with the
+voices and clatter of an awaking city; the
+measured tap of the woodpecker echoes,
+with the clear, flute-like note of the pavo del
+monte, the shriek of the macaw, and the
+chatter of the parroquet; the pigeon moans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span>
+in the inmost forest, and the gabbling crows
+croak and scream.</p>
+
+<p>At noon, as the breeze continues, and the
+sun grows vertical, the branches grow alive
+with gleaming lizards and coloured birds,
+noisy parrots hop round the wild pine,
+the cattle retreat beneath the trees for shelter,
+to browse the cooler grass, and the
+condouli and passion flowers of all sizes,
+from a soup plate to a thumb ring, shut
+their blossoms; the very humming-birds
+cease to drone and buzz round the orange
+flowers, and the land-crab is heard rustling
+among the dry grass. In the swamps the
+hot mist rises, and the wild fowl flock to the
+reeds and canes in the muddy lagoons, where
+the strong smell of musk denotes the lurking
+alligator; the feathery plumes of the bamboos
+wave not, and the cotton tree moves
+not a limb.</p>
+
+<p>The rainy season brings far different
+scenes: then the sky grows suddenly black,
+the wild ducks fly screaming here and there,
+the carrion crows are whirled bodingly about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span>
+the skies, the smaller birds hurry to shelter,
+the mountain clouds bear down upon the valleys,
+and a low, rushing sound precedes the
+rain. The torrents turn brown and earthy, all
+nature seems to wait the doom with fear.
+The low murmur of the earthquake is still
+more impressive, with the distant thunder
+breaking the deep silence, and the trees bending
+and groaning though the air is still. Besides
+the rains and the earthquakes, the
+tornadoes are still more dreadful visitants,
+when the air in a moment grows full of
+shivered branches, shattered roofs, and uptorn
+canes.</p>
+
+<p>The great features of the West Indian
+forests are the fireflies and the monkeys.
+At night, when the wind is rustling in the
+dry palm leaves, the sparkles of green fire
+break out among the trees like sparks blown
+from a thousand torches; the gloom pulses
+with them as the flame ebbs and flows, and
+the planters' chambers are filled with these
+harmless incendiaries. The yell of the monkeys
+at daybreak has been compared to a
+devils' holiday, to distant thunder, loose iron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span>
+bars in a cart in Fleet Street, bagpipes, and
+drunken men laughing.</p>
+
+<p>To Coleridge we are indebted for word
+pictures of the cabbage tree, and the silk
+cotton tree with their buttressed trunks; the
+banyan with its cloistered arcades; the wild
+plantain with its immense green leaves rent
+in slips, its thick bunches of fruit, and its
+scarlet pendent seed; the mangroves, with
+their branches drooping into the sea; the
+banana, with its jointed leaves; the fern trees,
+twenty feet high; the gold canes, in arrowy
+sheaves; and the feathery palms. Nor do
+we forget the figuera, the bois le Sueur, or
+the wild pine burning like a topaz in a
+calix of emerald. Beneath the broad roof of
+creepers, from which the oriole hangs its
+hammock nest, grow, in a wild jungle of
+beauty, the scarlet cordia, the pink and saffron
+flower fence, the plumeria, and the white
+datura. The flying fish glided by us, says
+H.N. Coleridge, speaking of the Indian seas,
+bonitos and albicores played around the bows,
+dolphins gleamed in our wake, ever and anon
+a shark, and once a great emerald-coloured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span>
+whale, kept us company. Elsewhere he
+describes the silver strand, fringed with
+evergreen drooping mangroves, and the
+long shrouding avenues of thick leaves that
+darkly fringe the blue ocean. By the shore
+grow the dark and stately manchineel,
+beautiful but noxious, the white wood, and
+the bristling sea-side grape, with its broad
+leaves and bunches of pleasant berries. The
+sea birds skim about the waves, and the
+red flamingoes stalk around the sandy shoals,
+while the alligators wallow on the mud banks,
+and the snowy pelicans hold their councils in
+solemn stupidity.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the sea and the shore we wander
+on into the interior, for the West Indian
+vegetation has everywhere a common character,
+and see delighted the forest trees growing
+on the cliffs, knotted and bound together
+with luxuriant festoons of evergreen creepers,
+connecting them in one vast network of
+leaves and branches, the wild pine sparkling
+on the huge limbs of the wayside trees,
+beside it the dagger-like Spanish needle, the
+quilted pimploe, and the maypole aloe shooting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>
+its yellow flowered crown twenty feet
+above the traveller, or amid the dark foliage,
+twines of purple wreaths or lilac jessamine;
+and the woods ringing with the song of birds,
+interrupted at times by strange shrieks or
+moanings of some tropic wanderer; we see
+with these the snowy amaryllis, the gorgeous
+hibiscus with its crown of scarlet, the quivering
+limes and dark glossy orange bushes; we
+rest under the green tamarind or listen to
+the mournful creaking of the sand box tree.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers went in pairs, every hunter
+having his <i>camerade</i> or <i>matelot</i> (sailor), as
+well as his <i>engagés</i>. They had seldom any
+fixed habitation, but pitched their tents where
+the cattle were to be found, building temporary
+sheds, thatched with palm leaves, to
+defend them from the rain and to lodge their
+stock of hides till they could barter it with
+the next vessel for wine, brandy, linen, arms,
+powder, or lead. They would return three
+leagues from the chase to their huts, laden with
+meat and skins, and if they ate in the open
+country it was always with their musket
+cocked and near at hand for fear of surprise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span>
+With their <i>matelots</i> they had everything in
+common. The chief occupation of these voluntary
+outlaws was the chase of the wild ox, that
+of the wild boar being at first a mere amusement,
+or only followed as the means of procuring
+a luxurious meal; at a later period, however,
+many Frenchmen lived by hunting the
+hog, whose flesh they boucaned and sold for
+exportation, its flavour being superior to
+that of any other meat.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers sometimes went in companies
+of ten or twelve, each man having his
+Indian attendant besides his apprentices.
+Before setting out they arranged a spot for
+rendezvous in case of attack. If they remained
+long in one place, they built thatched
+sheds under which to pitch their tents.
+They rose at daybreak to start for the chase,
+leaving one of the band to guard the huts.
+The masters generally went first and alone
+(sometimes the worst shot was left in the tent
+to cook), and the <i>engagés</i> and the dogs followed;
+one hound, the <i>venteur</i>, went in front of all,
+often leading the hunter through wood and
+over rock where no path had ever been.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span>
+When the quarry came in sight the dogs
+barked round it and kept it at bay till the
+hunters could come up and fire. They generally
+aimed at the breast of the bull, or tried
+to hamstring it as soon as possible. Many
+hunters ran down the wild cattle in the
+savannah and attacked it with their dogs. If
+only wounded the ox would rush upon them
+and gore all he met. But this happened
+very seldom, for the men were deadly shots,
+seldom missed their <i>coup</i>, and were always
+sufficiently active, if in danger, to climb the
+tree from behind which they had fired.
+The <i>venteur</i> dog had a peculiar short bark
+by which he summoned the pack to his aid,
+and as soon as they heard it the <i>engagés</i>
+rushed to the rescue. When the beast was
+half flayed, the master took out the largest
+bone and sucked the hot marrow, which
+served him for a meal, giving a bit also to
+the <i>venteur</i>, but not to any other dogs, lest
+they should grow lazy in hunting; but the last
+lagger in the pack had sometimes a bit thrown
+him to incite him to greater exertion. He
+then left the <i>engagés</i> to carry the skin to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span>
+boucan, with a few of the best joints, giving
+the rest to the carrion crows, that soon
+sniffed out the blood. They continued the
+chase till each man had killed an ox, and the
+last returned home, laden like the rest with
+a hide and a portion of raw meat. By this
+time the first comer had prepared dinner,
+roasted some beef, or spitted a whole hog. The
+tables were soon laid; they consisted of a flat
+stone, the fallen trunk of a tree, or a root,
+with no cloth, no napkin, no bread, and no
+wine; pimento and orange juice were sufficient
+sauce for hungry men, and a contented
+mind and a keen appetite never quarrelled
+with rude cooking. This monotonous life
+was only varied by a conflict with a wounded
+bull, or a skirmish with the Spaniards. The
+grand fęte days were when the hunter had
+collected as many hides as he had contracted
+to supply the merchant, and carried them
+to Tortuga, to Cape Tiburon, Samana, or
+St. Domingo, probably to return in a week's
+time, weary of drinking or beggared from
+the gambling table, tired of civilization, and
+restless for the chase.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The wild cattle of Hispaniola&mdash;the oxen,
+hogs, horses, and dogs&mdash;were all sprung from
+the domestic animals originally brought from
+Spain. The dogs were introduced into the
+island to chase the Indians, a cruelty that
+even the mild Columbus practised. Esquemeling
+says, those first conquerors of the New
+World made use of dogs "to range and
+search the intricate thicket of woods and
+forests for those their implacable and unconquerable
+enemies; thus they forced them to
+leave their old refuge and submit to the
+sword, seeing no milder usage would do it.
+Hereupon they killed some of them, and,
+quartering their bodies, placed them on the
+highways, that others might take a warning
+from such a punishment. But this severity
+proved of ill consequence, for, instead of
+frighting them and reducing them to civility,
+they conceived such horror of the Spaniards
+that they resolved to detest and fly their sight
+for ever; hence the greatest part died in caves
+and subterraneous places of the woods and
+mountains, in which places I myself have
+often seen great numbers of human bones.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span>
+The Spaniards, finding no more Indians to
+appear about the woods, turned away a great
+number of dogs they had in their houses;
+and they, finding no masters to keep them,
+betook themselves to the woods and fields to
+hunt for food to preserve their lives, and by
+degrees grew wild."</p>
+
+<p>The young of these maroon dogs the hunters
+were in the habit of bringing up. When
+they found a wild bitch with whelps, they
+generally took away the puppies and brought
+them to their tents, preferring them to any
+other sort of dog. They seem to have been
+between a greyhound and a mastiff. The
+Dutch writer whom we have just quoted
+mentions the singular fact, that these dogs,
+even in a wild state, retained their acquired
+habits. The <i>venteur</i> always led the way, and
+was allowed to dip the first fangs into the victim.
+The wild dogs went in packs of fifty
+or eighty, and were so fierce that they would
+not scruple to attack a whole herd of wild
+boars, bringing down two or three at once.
+They destroyed a vast number of wild cattle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>
+devouring the young as soon as a mare had
+foaled or a cow calved.</p>
+
+<p>"One day," says Esquemeling, "a French
+Buccaneer showed me a strange action of this
+kind. Being in the fields hunting together,
+we heard a great noise of dogs which had
+surrounded a wild boar. Having tame dogs
+with us we left them in custody of our servants,
+being desirous to see the sport. Hence
+my companion and I climbed up two several
+trees, both for security and prospect. The
+wild boar, all alone, stood against a tree, defending
+himself with his tusks from a great
+number of dogs that enclosed him, killed
+with his teeth and wounded several of them.
+This bloody fight continued about an hour,
+the wild boar meanwhile attempting many
+times to escape. At last flying, one dog
+leaped upon his back; and the rest of the
+dogs, perceiving the courage of their companion,
+fastened likewise on the boar, and presently
+killed him. This done, all of them, the
+first only excepted, laid themselves down upon
+the ground about the prey, and there peaceably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span>
+continued till he, the first and most courageous
+of the troop, had eaten as much as he could.
+When this dog had left off, all the rest fell
+in to take their share till nothing was left."</p>
+
+<p>In 1668, the Governor of Tortuga, finding
+these dogs were rendering the wild boar almost
+extinct, and alarmed lest the hunters
+should leave a place where food was growing
+scarce, sent to France for poison to destroy
+these mastiffs, and placed poisoned horse flesh
+in the woods. But although this practice
+was continued for six months, and an incredible
+number were killed, yet the race soon
+appeared almost as numerous as before.</p>
+
+<p>The wild horses went in troops of about
+two or three hundred. They were awkward
+and mis-shapen, small and short-bodied, with
+large heads, long necks, trailing ears, and
+thick legs. They had always a leader, and
+when they met a hunter, stared at him till
+he approached within shot, then gallopped off
+all together. They were only killed for their
+skins, though their flesh was sometimes smoked
+for the use of the sailors. These horses were
+caught by stretching nooses along their tracks,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span>
+in which they got entangled by the neck.
+When taken, they were quickly tamed
+by being kept two or three days without
+food, and were then used to carry hides.
+They were good workers, but easily lamed.
+When a Buccaneer turned them adrift from
+want of food to keep them through the winter,
+they were known to return ten months
+after, or, meeting them in the savannah, begin
+to whine and caress their old masters,
+and suffer themselves to be recaptured.
+They were also killed for the sake of the fat
+about the neck and belly, which the hunters
+used for lamp oil.</p>
+
+<p>The wild oxen were tame unless wounded,
+and their hides were generally from eleven to
+thirteen feet long. They were very strong
+and very swift, in spite of their short and
+slender legs. In the course of a single century
+from their introduction, they had so increased,
+that the French Buccaneers, when
+they landed, seldom went in search of them,
+but waited for them near the shore, at the
+salt pools where they came to drink. The
+herds fed at night on the savannahs, and at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span>
+noon retired to the shelter of the forests. A
+wounded bull would often blockade, for four
+hours, a tree in which a hunter had taken
+refuge, bellowing round the trunk and ploughing
+at the roots with his horns. The French
+hunters generally shot them; but the Spanish
+"hocksers" rode them down on horseback,
+and hamstrung them with a crescent-shaped
+spear, in form something like a cheese-knife
+with a long handle.</p>
+
+<p>The wild boars, when much pressed, adopted
+the same military stratagem as the oxen.
+They threw themselves into the form of a
+hollow square, the sows in the rear and the
+sucking pigs in the middle, the white sabre
+tusks of the boars gleaming outwards towards
+the foe. The dogs always fastened upon the
+defenceless sow in preference to the ferocious
+male, whom they seldom attacked if it got at
+bay under a tree, though it might be alone,
+glaring before the red jaws of eighty yelping
+dogs. The wild boar hunting was less dangerous
+than that of the wild oxen, and less
+profitable. The hogs soon grew scarce, a
+party of hunters sometimes killing 100 in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span>
+day, and only carrying home three or four of
+the fattest. It was not uncommon for solitary
+hunters or <i>engagés</i> who had lost their way
+in the woods to amuse themselves by training
+up the young hogs they found basking
+under the trees, and teaching them to track
+their own species and pull them down by tugging
+at their long leathery ears. &#338;xmelin, the
+most intelligent of the few Buccaneer writers,
+relates his own success in training four
+pigs, whom he taught to follow at his heels
+like dogs, to play with him, and obey his
+orders. When they saw a herd of boars they
+would run forward and decoy them towards
+him. On one occasion, one of them escaped
+into the plains, but returned three days
+after, very complacently heading a herd of
+hogs, of which his master and his <i>matelot</i>
+killed four. It is not many years since that
+an English gamekeeper brought up a pig to
+get his own bread as a pointer.</p>
+
+<p>At first, when the green savannahs were
+spotted black with cattle, the hunters were
+so fastidious that they seldom ate anything
+but the udders of cows, considering bull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span>
+meat too tough. Many a herd was killed,
+as at present in Australia or California, for
+the hide and tallow. If the first animal
+killed in the day's hunt was a cow, an <i>engagé</i>
+was instantly sent to the tent with part
+of the flesh to cook for the evening. When
+the <i>engagés</i> had each gone home with his
+joint and his hide, the Buccaneer followed
+with his own load, his dogs, tired and panting,
+lagging at his heels. If on his way
+back he met a boar, or more oxen, he threw
+down his fardel, slew a fresh victim, and, flaying
+it, hung the hide on a tree out of reach
+of the wild dogs, and came back for it on the
+morrow.</p>
+
+<p>On returning to the boucan, each man set
+to work to stretch (<i>brochéter</i>) his hide, fastening
+it tightly out with fourteen wooden
+pegs, and rubbing it with ashes and salt
+mixed together to make it dry quicker.
+When this was done, they sat down to partake
+of the food that the first comer had by
+this time cooked. The beef they generally
+boiled in the large cauldron which every
+hunter possessed, drawing it out when it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span>
+done with a wooden skewer. A board served
+them for a dish. With a wooden spoon they
+collected the gravy in a calabash; and into
+this they squeezed the juice of a fresh picked
+lemon, a crushed citron, or a little pimento,
+which formed the hunter's favourite sauce,
+<i>pimentado</i>. This being done with all the care
+of a Ude, they seized their hunting knives and
+wooden skewers, and commenced a solemn
+attack upon the ponderous joint. The residue
+they divided among their dogs. Pčre
+Labat, an oily Jesuit if we trust to his
+portrait, describes, with great gusto, a Buccaneer
+feast at which he was present, and at
+which a hog was roasted whole. The
+boucaned meat was used in voyages, or when
+no oxen could be met with.</p>
+
+<p>When they wanted to boucan a pig, they
+first flayed it and took out all the bones.
+The meat they cut in long slips, which they
+placed in mats, and there left it till the next
+day, when they proceeded to smoke it. The
+boucan was a small hut covered close with
+palm-mats, with a low entrance, and no
+chimney or windows: it contained a wooden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span>
+framework seven or eight feet high, on
+which the meat was placed, and underneath
+which a charcoal fire was lit. The fire they
+always fed with the animal's own skin and
+bones, which made the smoke thick and full
+of ammonia. The volatile salt of the bones
+being more readily absorbed by the meat
+than the mere ligneous acid of wood, the
+result of this process was an epicurean
+mouthful far superior to our Westphalia
+hams, and more like our hung beef. &#338;xmelin
+waxes quite eloquent in its praise.
+He says it was so exquisite that it needed no
+cooking; its very look, red as a rose, not to
+mention its delightful fragrance, tempted the
+worst appetite to eat it, whatever it might
+be. The only misfortune was that six
+months after smoking, the meat grew tasteless
+and unfit for use; but when fresh, it
+was thought so wholesome that sick men
+came from a distance to live in a hunter's
+tent and share his food for a time. The first
+thing that passengers visiting the West
+Indies saw was a Buccaneers' canoe bringing
+dry meat for sale. The boucaned meat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span>
+was sold in bales of sixty pounds' weight,
+and their pots of tallow were worth about
+six pieces of eight.</p>
+
+<p>Labat&mdash;no ordinary lover of good cheer, if
+we may judge from his portrait, which represents
+him with cheeks as plump as a pulpit
+cushion, and with fat rolls of double chin&mdash;describes
+the Buccaneer fare with much unction,
+having gone to a hunter's feast,&mdash;a corporeal
+treat intended as a slight return for much
+spiritual food. Each Buccaneer, he says,
+had two skewers, made of clean peeled wood,
+one having two spikes. The boucan itself
+was made of four stakes as thick as a man's
+arm, and about four feet long, struck in the
+ground to form a square five feet long and
+three feet across. On these forked sticks
+they placed cross bars, and upon these the
+spit, binding them all with withes. The
+wild boar, being skinned and gutted, was
+placed whole upon this spit, the stomach
+kept open with a stick. The fire was made
+of charcoal, and put on with bark shovels.
+The interior of the pig was filled with citron
+juice, salt, crushed pimento, and pepper; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span>
+the flesh was constantly pricked, so that this
+juice might penetrate. When the meat was
+ready, the cooks fired off a musket twice, to
+summon the hunters from the woods, while
+banana leaves were placed round for plates.
+If the hunters brought home any birds, they
+at once picked them and threw them into
+the stomach of the pig, as into a pot. If the
+hunters were novices, and brought home
+nothing, they were sent out again to seek it;
+if they were veterans, they were compelled
+to drink as many cups as the best hunter
+had that day killed deer, bulls, or boars. A
+leaf served to hold the pimento sauce, and
+a calabash to drink from, while bananas were
+their substitute for bread. The <i>engagés</i>
+waited on their masters, and one of the
+penalties for clumsy serving was to be compelled
+to drink off a calabash full of sauce.</p>
+
+<p>The English "cow killers" and the French
+hunters were satisfied with getting as many
+hides as they could in the shortest possible
+time, but the Spanish <i>matadores</i> gave the
+trade an air of chivalrous adventure by rivalling
+the feats of the Moorish bull-fighters of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span>
+Granada. They did not use firearms, but
+carried lances with a half-moon blade, employing
+dogs, and, being generally men of
+wealth and planters, had servants on foot
+to encourage them to the attack. When
+they tracked an ox in the woods, they made
+the hounds drive him out into the prairie,
+where the matadors could spur after him,
+and, wheeling round the monster, hamstring
+him or thrust him through with a lance.
+Dampierre describes minutely the Spanish
+mode of hocksing. The horses were trained
+to retreat and advance without even a signal.
+The hocksing-iron, of a half-moon shape,
+measuring six inches horizontally, resembled
+in form a gardener's turf-cutter. The handle,
+some fourteen feet long, was held like a
+lance over the horse's head, a matador's steed
+being always known by its right ear being
+bent down with the weight of the shaft.
+The place to strike the bull was just above
+the hock; when struck the horse instantly
+wheeled to the left, to avoid the charge of
+the wounded ox, who soon broke his nearly
+severed leg, but still limped forward to avenge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span>
+himself on his formidable enemy. Then the
+hockser, riding softly up, struck him with
+his iron again, but this time into a fore leg,
+and at once laid him prostrate, moaning in
+terror and in pain. Then, dismounting, the
+Spaniard took a sharp dagger and stabbed
+the beast behind the horns, severing the
+spinal marrow. This operation the English
+called "polling." The hunter at once remounted,
+and left his skinners to remove
+the hide.</p>
+
+<p>The stately Spaniard delighted in this
+dangerous chase, with all its stratagems,
+surprises, and hair-breadth escapes, when
+life depended on a turn of the bridle or the
+prick of a spur. However pressed for food
+or endangered by enemies, he practised it
+with all the stately ceremonies of the Madrid
+arena. The fiery animal, streaming with
+blood and foam, bellowing with rage and
+pain, frequently trampled and gored the
+dogs and slew both horse and rider. &#338;xmelin
+mentions a bull at Cuba which killed
+three horses in the same day, the lucky rider
+making a solemn pilgrimage to the shrine of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span>
+Our Lady of Guadaloupe when he had given
+his victim the <i>coup de grace</i>.</p>
+
+<p>These Spanish hunters did not rough it
+like the Buccaneers, and kept horses to carry
+their bales. They were particular in their
+food, and ate bread and cassava with
+their beef; drank wine and brandy; and
+were very choice in their fruit and preserves.
+Gay in their dress, they prided
+themselves on their white linen. Every
+separate hunting field had its own customs.
+At Campeachy, where the ground was
+swampy, the logwood-cutters frequently shot
+the oxen from a canoe, and were sometimes
+pursued by a wounded beast, who would try
+to sink the boat. When the woodmen killed
+a bull, they cut it into quarters, and, taking
+out all the bones, cut a hole in the centre
+of each piece large enough to pass their
+heads through, and trudged home with it to
+their tents on the shore. If they grew tired
+or were pursued, they cut off a portion of the
+meat and lightened their load.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards, less poor, greedy, and
+thoughtless than the English and French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span>
+adventurers, killed only the bulls and old
+cows, and left the younger ones to breed.
+The French were notorious for their wanton
+waste, using oxen merely as marks for their
+bullets, and as utterly indifferent to the
+future as Autolycus, who "slept out the
+thought of it." About 1650 the wild cattle
+of Jamaica were entirely destroyed, and the
+Governor procured a fresh supply from Cuba.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever the oxen grew scarce, they
+became wilder and more ferocious. In some
+places no hunter dared to fire at them if
+alone, nor ever ventured into their pastures
+unattended. All animals grow shy if frequently
+pursued, and no fish are so unapproachable
+as those of a much frequented
+stream. Dampierre says that at Beef Island
+the old bulls who had once been wounded,
+when they saw the hunters or heard their
+muskets, would instantly form into a square,
+with their cows in the rear and the calves in
+the middle, turning as the hunters turned,
+and presenting their horns like a cluster of
+bayonets. It then became necessary to beat
+the woods for stragglers. A beast mortally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span>
+wounded always made at the hunter; but
+if only grazed by the bullet it ran away. A
+cow was thought to be more dangerous than
+a bull, as the former charged with its eyes
+open, and the latter with them closed. The
+danger was often imminent. One of Dampierre's
+messmates ventured into the savannah,
+about a mile from the huts, and coming
+within shot of a bull wounded it desperately.
+The bull, however, had strength enough to
+pursue and overtake the logwood-cutter before
+he could load again, to trample him,
+and gore him in the thigh. Then, faint with
+loss of blood, it reeled down dead, and fell
+heavily beside the bleeding and groaning
+hunter. His comerade, coming the next
+morning to seek for the man, found him
+weak and almost dying, and, taking him on
+his back, bore him to his hut, where he was
+soon cured. The rapidity of such cures is
+peculiar to savages, or men who devote their
+whole life to muscular exertion; for the
+flesh of the South Sea Islanders is said to
+close upon a sword as india-rubber does upon
+the knife that cuts it. Often, in the heat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span>
+and excitement of these pursuits, the solitary
+hunter, and still more often, from want of experience
+and from youthful rashness, the <i>engagé</i>,
+would lose his way in the woods, or, falling
+into a forest pool, become a prey of the lurking
+cayman, if not alarmed by the premonitory
+odour of musk that indicated its dangerous
+vicinity. Nature is full of these warnings: and
+the vibrating rattle of the Indian snake has
+saved the life of many a Buccaneer.</p>
+
+<p>Besides an unceasing supply of beef on
+shore, and salted turtle at sea, the Buccaneers
+ate the flesh of deer and of peccavy. On the
+mainland wild turkeys were always within
+shot, and fat monkeys and plump parrots were
+resources for more hungry and less epicurean
+men. The rich fruits of the West Indies,
+needing no cultivation to improve their flavour,
+grew around their huts, and were to be
+had all the year round for the picking. The
+parched hunters delighted in the resinous-flavoured
+mango and the luscious guava as
+much as our modern sailors. In such a
+country every one is a vegetarian; for when
+dinner is over, to be a fruit eater needs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span>
+no hermit-like asceticism. The plantain and
+the yam served them instead of the bread-fruit
+of the Pacific, or the potato of Virginia,
+and the custard-apple took the place of pastry;
+but the great dainty which all their
+chroniclers mention was the large avocado
+pear, which they supposed to be an aphrodisiac.
+This prodigious lemon-coloured fruit
+was allowed to mellow, its soft pulp was then
+scooped out and beaten up in a plate with
+orange and lime juice; but hungry and more
+impatient men ate it at once, with a little salt
+and a roast plantain. A Buccaneer never
+touched an unknown fruit till he had seen
+birds pecking it on the tree. No bird was
+ever seen to touch the blooming but poisonous
+apples of the manchineel, which few animals
+but crabs could eat with impunity; as this
+tree grew by the sea-shore, even fish were
+rendered poisonous by feeding on the fruit
+that fell into the water. The verified stories
+of the manchineel excel the fables related of
+the upas of Batavia. The very dew upon its
+branches poisoned those upon whom it dropped.
+Esquemeling says: "One day, being hugely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span>
+tormented with mosquitoes or gnats, and
+being as yet unacquainted with the nature of
+this tree, I cut a branch to serve me for a fan,
+but all my face was swelled the next day,
+and filled with blisters as if it were burnt, to
+such a degree that I was blind for three days."</p>
+
+<p>The hunters tormented by mosquitoes
+and sand flies used leafy branches for fans,
+and anointed their faces with hog's grease
+to defend themselves from the stings. By
+night in their huts they burned tobacco, without
+which smoke they could not have obtained
+sleep. The mosquitoes were of all sorts, the
+buzzing and the silent, the tormentors by
+day and night; but they dispersed when the
+land breeze rose, or whenever the wind increased.
+The common mosquito was not
+visible by day, but at sunset filled the woods
+with its ominous humming. &#338;xmelin describes
+on one occasion his lying for eight hours
+in the water of a brook to escape their stings;
+sitting on a stone or on the sand, and keeping
+his face, which was above water, covered with
+leaves to protect him from the fiery stings.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers made their pens of reeds,
+and their paper of the leaves of a peculiar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span>
+sort of palm, the outer cuticle of which was
+thin, white, and soft; their ink was the black
+juice of the juniper berries, letters written
+with which turned white in nine days.
+They kept harmless snakes in their houses to
+feed on the rats and mice, just as we do cats,
+or the Copts did the ichneumons. They frequently
+used a handful of fire-flies instead of
+a lantern: Esquemeling, himself a Buccaneer,
+says, that with three of these in his cottage
+at midnight he could see to read in any book,
+however small the print.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers carried in their tobacco
+pouches the horn of an immense sort of
+spider, which Esquemeling describes as big
+as an egg, with feet as long as a crab, and
+four black teeth like a rabbit, its bite
+being sharp but not venomous. These
+teeth or horns they used either as toothpicks
+or pipe-cleaners; they were supposed
+to have the property of preserving the user
+from toothache. They are described as
+about two inches long, black as jet, smooth
+as glass, sharp as a thorn, and a little bent
+at the lower end.</p>
+
+<p>Their favourite toy, the dice, they cut from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span>
+the white ivory-like teeth of the sea-horse.
+Great observers of the use of things, and well
+lessoned in the bitter school of experience,
+they turned every new natural production
+they met with to some useful purpose, uniting
+with the keen sagacity of the hunter the
+shrewd instinct of the savage. Their horsewhips
+they formed from the skin of the back
+of a wild bull or sea-cow. The lashes were
+made of slips of hide, two or three feet long,
+of the full thickness at the bottom, and
+cut square and tapering to the point. These
+thongs they twisted while still green, and then
+hung them up in a hut to dry; in a few weeks
+they shrank and became hard as wood, and
+tough as an American cowhide, an Abyssinian
+scourge, or the far-famed Russian knout.
+From the skin of the manitee they cut straps,
+which they used in their canoes instead of
+the ordinary tholes.</p>
+
+<p>The wild boar hunters frequently lived in
+huts four or five together, and remained for
+months, frequently a year, in the same place,
+supplying the neighbouring planters by contract.
+The most perfect equality reigned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span>
+between the <i>matelots</i>; and if one of them
+wanted powder or lead, he took it from the
+other's store, telling him of the loan, and repaying
+it when able.</p>
+
+<p>When a dispute arose between any of them,
+their associates tried to reconcile the difference.
+A dispute about a shooting wager, or
+the smallest trifle, might give rise to deadly
+feuds between such lawless and vindictive
+exiles, unaccustomed to control, and ready
+to resort to arms. If both still determined
+to have revenge, the musket was the impassive
+arbiter appealed to. The friends of the
+duellists decided at what distance the combatants
+should stand, and made them draw
+lots for the first fire. If one fell dead, the
+bystanders immediately held a sort of inquest,
+at which they decided whether he had
+been fairly dealt with, and examined the
+body to see that the death-shot had been
+fairly fired in front, and not in a cowardly
+or treacherous manner, and handled his musket
+to see whether it was discharged and
+had been in good order. A surgeon then
+opened the orifice of the wound, and if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span>
+decided that the bullet had entered behind,
+or much on one side, they declared the survivor
+a murderer; Lynch law was proclaimed,
+they tied the culprit to a tree, and shot him
+with their muskets. In Tortuga, or near a
+town, this rude justice was never resorted
+to, and, even in the wilder places, was soon
+abandoned as the hunters grew more civilized.
+These duels generally took place on
+the sea beach if the Flibustiers were the
+combatants.</p>
+
+<p>As these men took incessant exercise, were
+indifferent to climate, and fed chiefly on fresh
+meat, they enjoyed good health. They were,
+however, subject to flying fevers that passed
+in a day, and which did not confine them even
+to their tents.</p>
+
+<p>With the Spanish Lanceros, or Fifties
+as they were called by the Buccaneers, the
+hunters were perpetually at war, their intrepid
+infantry being generally successful against
+the hot charges of these yeomanry of the savannahs.
+There were four companies of
+them in Hispaniola, with a hundred spearmen
+in each company; half of these were
+generally on the patrol, while the remainder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span>
+rested, and from their number they derived
+their nickname. Their duty was to surprise
+the isolated hunters, to burn the stores of
+hides, make prisoners of the <i>engagés</i>, and
+guard the Spanish settlers against any sudden
+attack. At other times they were employed
+in killing off the herds of wild cattle that
+furnished the Buccaneers with food, and drew
+fresh bands to the plains where they abounded.
+In great enterprises the whole corps cried
+"boot and saddle," and they took with
+them at all times a few muleteers on foot,
+either to carry their baggage, or to serve as
+scouts in the woods, where the cow-killers
+built their huts. But, in spite of Negro foragers
+and Indian spies, the keener-eyed Buccaneers
+generally escaped, or, if met with,
+broke like raging wolves through their adversaries'
+toils. Accustomed to the bush, inured to
+famine and fatigue, and more indifferent than
+even the Spaniards to climate, the Buccaneers
+were seldom taken prisoners. Unerring
+marksmen, with a spice of the wild beast in
+their blood, they preferred death to flight or
+capture.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is probable that even for this toilsome
+and dangerous pursuit the Spaniards easily
+obtained recruits. Constant sport with the
+wild cattle, abundant food, and a spirit of
+adventure would prove an irresistible bait to
+the bravos of Carthagena, or the matadors
+of Campeachy. The hangers-on of the wineshops
+and the pulque drinkers of Mexico
+would readily embark in any campaign that
+would bring them a few pistoles, and give
+them good food and gay clothing.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin relates several instances of the
+daring escapes of the Buccaneer hunters from
+the blood-thirsting pursuit of the Fifties. It
+was their custom, directly that news reached
+the tents that the Lanceros were out, to issue
+an order that the first man who caught sight
+of the horsemen should inform the rest, in
+order to attack the foe by an ambuscade,
+if they were too numerous to meet in the
+open field. The great aim, on the other
+hand, of the Lanceros, was to wait for a night
+of rain and wind, when the sound of their
+hoofs could not be heard, and to butcher the
+sleepers when their fire-arms were either<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span>
+damp or piled out of reach. Frequently they
+surrounded the hunters when heavy after a
+debauch, and when even the sentinels were
+asleep at the tent doors.</p>
+
+<p>The following anecdote conveys some impression
+of these encounters. A French
+Buccaneer going one day into the savannahs
+to hunt, followed by his <i>engagé</i>, was suddenly
+surrounded by a troop of shouting Lanceros.
+He saw at once that the Fifties had
+at last trapped him. He was surrounded, and
+escape from their swift pursuit, with no tree
+near, was hopeless. But he would not let
+hope desert him so long as the spears were
+still out of his heart. His <i>engagé</i> was as
+brave as himself, and both determined to
+stand at bay and sell their lives dearly. The
+hunter of mad oxen, and the tamer of wild
+horses, need not fear man or devil. The
+master and man put themselves back to back,
+and, laying their common stock of powder
+and bullets in their caps between them, prepared
+for death. The Spaniards, who only
+carried lances, kept coursing round them,
+afraid to narrow in, or venture within shot,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>
+and crying out to them with threats to surrender.
+They next offered them quarter,
+and at last promised to disarm but not hurt
+them, saying they were only executing the
+orders of their general. The two Frenchmen
+replied mockingly, that they would never
+surrender, and wanted no quarter, and that
+the first lancer who approached would pay
+dear for his visit. The Spaniards still hovered
+round, afraid to advance, none of them
+willing to be the first victim, or to play the
+scapegoat for the rest. "C'est le premier
+pas qui coute," and the first step they made
+was backward. After some consultation at
+a safe distance, they finally left the Buccaneers
+still standing threateningly back to
+back, and spurred off, half afraid that the
+Tartars they had nearly caught might turn
+the tables, and advance against them.</p>
+
+<p>The steady persistency of the Buccaneer
+infantry was generally victorious over the
+impetuous but transitory onslaught of the
+Spanish cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>Another time a wild Buccaneer while
+hunting alone was surprised by a similar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span>
+party of mounted pikemen. Seeing that there
+was some distance between him and the
+nearest wood, and that his capture was certain,
+he bethought himself of the following
+<i>ruse</i>. Putting his gun up to his shoulder he
+advanced at a trot, shouting exultingly, "<i>ŕ
+moi, ŕ moi!</i>" as if he was followed by a band
+of scattered companions who had been in
+search of the Spaniards. The cavaliers, believing
+at once that they had fallen into an
+ambush, took flight, to the joy of the ingenious
+hunter, who quickly made his escape,
+laughing, into the neighbouring covert.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards were worn out at last with
+this border warfare, unprofitable because it
+was waged with men who were too poor to
+reward the plunderer, and dangerous because
+fought with every disadvantage of weapon
+and situation. In the savannahs the Spaniards
+were formidable, but in the woods
+they became a certain prey to the musketeer.
+Unable to drive the plunderers out of the
+island, the Spaniards at last foolishly resolved
+to render the island not worth the plunder.
+Orders came from Spain to kill off the wild<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span>
+cattle that Columbus had originally brought
+to the island, and particularly round the
+coast. If the trade with the French vessels
+and the barter of hides for brandy could once
+be arrested, the hunters would be driven from
+the woods by starvation, or perish one by one
+in their dens. They little thought that this
+scheme would succeed, and what would be
+the consequence of such success. The hunters
+turned sea crusaders, and the sea became the
+savannah where they sought their human game.
+Every creek soon thronged with men more
+deadly than the Danish Vikinger: wrecked
+on a habitable shore, they landed as invaders
+and turned hunters as before; driven to
+their boats, they became again adventurers. In
+this name and in that of "soldiers of fortune"
+they delighted: a more honest and less courteous
+age would have termed them pirates.
+By the year 1686, the change from Buccaneer
+to Flibustier had been almost wholly
+effected.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers' <i>engagés</i> led a life very
+little better than those white slaves whom
+the glittering promises of the planters had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span>
+decoyed from France. The existence of the
+former was, however, rendered more bearable
+by their variety of adventure, by better food,
+and by daily recreation. If all day in the hot
+sun he had to toil carrying bales of skins
+from his master's hut towards the shore, we
+must remember that American seamen still
+work contentedly at the same labour in California
+for a sailor's ordinary wages. Mutual
+danger produced necessarily, except in the
+most brutal, a kind of fellowship between the
+master and the servant of the boucan. Up
+at daybreak, the <i>engagé</i> sweltered all day
+through the bush, groaning beneath his burden
+of loathsome hides, but the good meal came
+before sunset, and then the pipes were lit,
+and the brandy went round, and the song was
+sung, and the tale was told, while the hunters
+shot at a mark, or made wagers upon the
+respective skill of their <i>matelots</i> or their
+<i>engagés</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We hear from Charlevoix, that young
+prodigals of good family had been known to
+prefer the canvas tent to the tapestried wall,
+and to have grasped the hunter's musket with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span>
+the hand that might have wielded the general's
+baton or the marshal's staff.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneer's life was not one of mere
+revelry and ease; no luxurious caves or safe
+strongholds served at once for their treasure
+house, their palace, and their fortress. They
+were wandering outlaws; hated both by
+the Spaniards and the Indians, they ate with
+a loaded gun within their reach. The jaguar
+lurked beside them, the coppersnake glared
+at them from his lair. If their foot stumbled,
+they were gored by the ox or ripped up by
+the boar; if they fled they became a prey to
+the cayman of the pool; they were swept
+away as they forded swollen rivers; they
+were swallowed up by that dreadful foretype
+of the Judgment, the earthquake. The shark
+and the sea monster swam by their canoe,
+the carrion crow that fed to-day upon the
+carcase they had left, too often fed to-morrow
+on the slain hunter. The wildest transitions
+of safety and danger, plenty and famine,
+peace and war, health and sickness, surrounded
+their daily life. To-day on the savannah
+dark with the wild herds, to-morrow compelled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span>
+to feast on the flesh of a murdered comerade;
+to-day surrounded by revelling friends, to-morrow
+left alone to die.</p>
+
+<p>The present system of hide curing practised
+in California seems almost identical
+with that employed by the Buccaneers. The
+following extract from Dana's "Three Years
+before the Mast" will convey a correct impression
+of what constituted the greater portion
+of an <i>engagé's</i> labour. He describes the
+shore piled with hides, just out of reach of
+the tide; each skin doubled lengthwise in
+the middle, and nearly as stiff as a board,
+and the whole bundles carried down on
+men's heads from the place of curing to the
+stacks. "When the hide is taken from
+the bullock, holes are cut round it, near the
+edge, and it is staked out to dry, to prevent
+shrinking. They are then to be cured, and are
+carried down to the shore at low tide and
+made fast in small piles, where they lie for
+forty-eight hours, when they are taken out,
+rolled up in wheelbarrows, and thrown into
+vats full of strong brine, where they remain
+for forty-eight hours. The sea water only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span>
+cleans and softens them, the brine pickles
+them. They are then removed from the
+vats, lie on a platform twenty-four hours,
+and are then staked out, still wet and soft;
+the men go over them with knives, cutting
+off all remaining pieces of meat or fat, the
+ears, and any part that would either prevent
+the packing or keeping. A man can clean
+about twenty-five a-day, keeping at his
+work. This cleaning must be done before
+noon, or they get too dry. When the sun has
+been upon them for a few hours they are
+gone over with scrapers to remove the fat
+that the sun brings out; the stakes are then
+pulled up and the hides carefully doubled,
+with the hair outside, and left to dry. About
+the middle of the afternoon, they are turned
+upon the other side, and at sunset piled up
+and turned over. The next day they are
+spread out and opened again, and at night, if
+fully dry, are thrown up on a long horizontal
+pole, five at a time, and beaten with flails
+to get out the dust; thus, being salted,
+scraped, cleaned, dried, and beaten, they
+are stowed away in the warehouses."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneer's life was not spent in quaffing
+sangaree or basking under orange blossoms&mdash;not
+in smoking beside mountains of
+flowers, where the humming-birds fluttered
+like butterflies, and the lizards flashed across
+the sunbeams, shedding jewelled and enchanted
+light. No Indian in the mine, no
+Arab pearl-diver, no worn, pale children at
+an English factory, no galley-slave dying at
+the oar, led such a life as a Buccaneer <i>engagé</i>
+if bound to a cruel master. Imagine a delicate
+youth, of good but poor family, decoyed
+from a Norman country town by the loud-sounding
+promises of a St. Domingo agent,
+specious as a recruiting sergeant, voluble as
+the projector of bubble companies, greedy,
+plausible, and lying. He comes out to the
+El Dorado of his dreams, and is at once taken
+to the hut of some rude Buccaneer. The first
+night is a revel, and his sleep is golden and
+full of visions. The spell is broken at daybreak.
+He has to carry a load of skins,
+weighing some twenty-six pounds, three
+or four leagues, through brakes of prickly
+pear and clumps of canes. The pathless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span>
+way cannot be traversed at greater speed
+than about two hours to a quarter of a league.
+The sun grows vertical, and he is feverish
+and sick at heart. Three years of this purgatory
+are varied by blows and curses. The
+masters too often loaded their servants with
+blows if they dared to faint through weakness,
+hunger, thirst, or fatigue. Some hunters
+had the forbearance to rest on a Sunday,
+induced rather by languor than by piety;
+but on these days the <i>engagé</i> had to rise as
+usual at daybreak, to go out and kill a wild
+boar for the day's feast. This was disembowelled
+and roasted whole, being placed on
+a spit supported on two forked stakes, so that
+the flames might completely surround the
+carcase.</p>
+
+<p>Most Buccaneers, even if they rested on
+Sunday, required their apprentices to carry the
+hides down as usual to the place of shipment,
+fearing that the Spaniards might choose that
+very day to burn the huts and destroy the
+skins. An <i>engagé</i> once complained to his
+master, and reminded him that it was not
+right to work on a Sunday, God himself having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span>
+said to the Jews, "Six days shalt thou
+labour and do all thou hast to do, for the
+seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy
+God." "And I tell you," said the scowling
+Buccaneer, striking the earth with the butt-end
+of his gun and roaring out a dreadful
+curse, "I tell you, six days shalt thou kill
+bulls and skin them, and the seventh day
+thou shalt carry them down to the beach,"
+beating the daring remonstrant as he spoke.
+There was no remedy for these sufferers but
+patience. Time or death alone brought relief.
+Three years soon run out. The mind
+grows hardened under suffering as flesh does
+under the lash. Nature, where she cannot
+heal a wound, teaches us where to find unfailing
+balms. Some grew reckless to blows,
+or learned to ingratiate themselves with their
+masters by their increasing daring or sturdy
+industry. An apprentice whose bullet never
+flew false, or who could run down the wild
+ox on the plain, acquired a fame greater than
+that of his master. They knew that in time
+they themselves would be Buccaneers, and
+could inflict the very cruelties from which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>
+they now suffered. There were instances
+where acts of service to the island, or feats
+of unusual bravery, raised an <i>engagé</i> of a
+single year to the full rank of hunter. An
+apprentice who could bring in more hides than
+even his master, must have been too valuable
+an acquisition to have been lost by a moment
+of spleen. That horrible cases of cruelty did
+occur, there can be no doubt. There were
+no courts of justice in the forest, no stronger
+arm or wiser head to which to appeal. But
+there are always remedies for despair. The
+loaded gun was at hand, the knife in the
+belt, and the poison berries grew by the hut.
+There was the unsubdued passion still at
+liberty in the heart&mdash;there was the will to
+seize the weapon and the hand to use it.
+Providence is fruitful in her remedies of
+evils, and preserves a balance which no sovereignty
+can long disturb. No tyrant can
+shut up the volcano, or chain the earthquake.
+There were always the mountains or the
+Spaniards to take refuge amongst, though
+famine and death dwelt in the den of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span>
+the wild beasts, and, if they fled to the
+Spaniards, they were often butchered as mere
+runaway slaves before they could explain, in
+an unknown language, that they were not
+spies. But still the very impossibility of
+preventing such escapes must have tended to
+temper the severity of the masters. A Flibustier,
+anxious for a crew, must have sometimes
+carried off discontented <i>engagés</i> both
+from the plantations and the ajoupas. The
+following story illustrates the social relations
+of the Buccaneer master and his servant.</p>
+
+<p>A Buccaneer one day, seeing that his apprentice,
+newly arrived from France, could not keep
+up with him, turned round and struck him
+over the head with the lock of his musket.
+The youth fell, stunned, to the ground; and
+the hunter, thinking he was dead, stripped
+him of his arms, and left his body where it
+had fallen and weltering in the blood flowing
+from the wound. On his return to his hut,
+afraid to disclose the truth, he told his companions
+that the lad, who had always skulked
+work, had at last <i>marooned</i> (a Spanish word<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span>
+applied to runaway negroes). A few curses
+were heaped upon him, and no more was
+thought about his disappearance.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the master was out of sight the
+lad had recovered his senses, arisen, pale
+and weak, and attempted to return to the
+tents. Unaccustomed to the woods, he lost
+his way, got off the right track, and finally
+gave himself up as doomed to certain death.
+For some days he remained wandering round
+and round the same spot, without either recovering
+the path or being able to reach the
+shore. Hunger did not at first press him,
+for he ate the meat with which his master
+had loaded him, and ate it raw, not knowing
+the Indian manner of procuring fire, and
+his knives being taken from his belt. Ignorant
+of what fruits were safe to eat, where
+animals fit for food were to be found, and
+not knowing how to kill them unarmed, he
+prepared his mind for the dreadful and lingering
+torture of starvation. But he seems to
+have been of an ingenious and persevering
+disposition, and hope did not altogether forsake
+him. He had too a companion, for one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span>
+of his master's dogs, which had grown fond
+of his playmate, had remained behind with
+his body, licking the hand that had so often
+fed him.</p>
+
+<p>At first he spent whole days vainly searching
+for a path. Very often he climbed up
+a hill, from which he could see the great,
+blue, level sea, stretching out boundless to
+the horizon, and this renewed his hope. He
+looked up, and knew that God's sky was
+above him, and felt that he might be still
+saved. At night he was startled by the
+screams of the monkeys, the bellowing of the
+wild cattle in the distant savannah, or the
+unearthly cry of some solitary and unknown
+bird. Superstition filled him with fears, and
+he felt deserted by man, but tormented by
+the things of evil. The tracks of the wild
+cattle led him far astray. Long ere this his
+faithful dog, driven by hunger, had procured
+food for both. Sometimes beneath the spreading
+boughs of the river-loving yaco-tree, they
+would surprise a basking sow, surrounded by
+a wandering brood of voracious sucklings.
+The dog would cling to the sow, while the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span>
+boy aided him in the pursuit of the errant
+progeny. When they had killed their prey,
+they would lie down and share their meal
+together. The boy learned to like the raw
+meat, and the dog had acquired his appetite
+long before. Experience soon taught
+them where to capture their prey in the quickest
+and surest manner. He caught the puppies
+of a wild dog, and trained them in the
+chase; and he even taught a young wild boar
+that he had caught alive to join in the capture
+of his own species. After having led this life
+for nearly a year, he one day suddenly came
+upon the long-lost path, which soon brought
+him to the sea-shore. His master's tents were
+gone, and, from various appearances, seemed
+to have been long struck.</p>
+
+<p>The lad, now grown accustomed to his wild
+life, resigned himself to his condition, feeling
+sure that, sooner or later, he should meet
+with a party of Buccaneers. His deliverance
+was not long delayed. After about twelve
+months' life in the bush, he fell in with a
+troop of skinners, to whom he related his
+story. They were at first distrustful and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span>
+alarmed, as his master had told them that he
+had <i>marooned</i>, and had joined the Indians.
+His appearance soon convinced them that his
+story was true, and that he was neither a
+<i>maroon</i> nor a deserter, for he was clothed in
+the rags of his <i>engagé's</i> shirt and drawers, and
+had a strip of raw meat hanging from his
+girdle. Two tame boars and three dogs followed
+at his heels, and refused to leave him.
+He at once joined his deliverers, who freed
+him from all obligations to his master, and
+gave him arms, powder, and lead to hunt for
+himself, and he soon became one of the most
+renowned Buccaneers on that coast. It was
+a long time before he could eat roasted meat,
+which not only was distasteful, but made him
+ill. Long after, when flaying a wild boar,
+he was frequently unable to restrain himself
+from eating the flesh raw.</p>
+
+<p>When an apprentice had served three
+years, his master was expected to give him
+as a reward a musket, a pound of powder,
+six pounds of lead, two shirts, two pairs of
+drawers, and a cap. The <i>valets</i>, as the French
+called them, then became comerades, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span>
+ceased to be mere <i>engagés</i>. They took their
+own <i>matelots</i>, and became, in their turn,
+Buccaneers. When they had obtained a sufficient
+quantity of hides, they either sent or
+took them to Tortuga, and brought from
+thence a young apprentice to treat him as
+they themselves had been treated.</p>
+
+<p>The planters' <i>engagés</i> led a life more dreadful
+than that of their wilder brethren. They
+were decoyed from France under the same
+pretences that once filled our streets with the
+peasants' sons of Savoy, and the peasants'
+daughters from Frankfort, or that now lure
+children from the pleasant borders of Como,
+to pine away in a London den. The want
+of sufficient negroes led men to resort to
+all artifices to obtain assistance in cultivating
+the sugar-cane and the tobacco plant.
+In the French Antilles they were sold for
+three years, but often resold in the interim.
+Amongst the English they were bound for
+seven years, and being occasionally sold again
+at their own request, before the expiration of
+this term, they sometimes served fifteen or
+twenty years before they could obtain their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>
+freedom. At Jamaica, if a man could not
+pay even a small debt at a tavern, he was
+sold for six or eight months. The planters
+had agents in France, England, and other
+countries, who sent out these apprentices.
+They were worked much harder than the
+slaves, because their lives, after the expiration
+of the three years, were of no consequence to
+the masters. They were often the victims
+of a disease called "coma," the effect of hard
+usage and climate, and which ended in idiotcy.
+Pčre Labat remarks the quantity of idiots
+in the West Indies, many of whom were
+dangerous, although allowed to go at
+liberty. Many of these worse than slaves
+were of good birth, tender education, and
+weak constitutions, unable to endure even
+the debilitating climate, and much less
+hard labour. Esquemeling, himself originally
+an <i>engagé</i>, gives a most piteous description
+of their sufferings. Insufficient
+food and rest, he says, were the smallest of
+their sufferings. They were frequently
+beaten, and often fell dead at their masters'
+feet. The men thus treated died fast:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span>
+some became dropsical, and others scorbutic.
+A man named Bettesea, a merchant of St.
+Christopher's, was said to have killed more
+than a hundred apprentices with blows and
+stripes. "This inhumanity," says Esquemeling,
+"I have <i>often seen</i> with great grief."
+The following anecdote of human suffering
+equals the cruelty of the Virginian slave
+owner who threw one slave into the vat of
+boiling molasses, and baked another in an
+oven:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A certain planter (of St. Domingo) exercised
+such cruelty towards one of his servants
+as caused him to run away. Having
+absconded for some days in the woods, he
+was at last taken, and brought back to the
+wicked Pharaoh. No sooner had he got him
+but he commanded him to be tied to a tree;
+here he gave him so many lashes on his
+naked back as made his body run with an
+entire stream of blood; then, to make the
+smart of his wounds the greater, he anointed
+him with lemon-juice, mixed with salt and
+pepper. In this miserable posture he left
+him tied to the tree for twenty-four<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span>
+hours, which being past, he began his
+punishment again, lashing him as before,
+so cruelly, that the miserable creature
+gave up the ghost, with these dying
+words, 'I beseech the Almighty God,
+Creator of heaven and earth, that He permit
+the wicked spirit to make thee feel as many
+torments before thy death as thou hast
+caused me to feel before mine.'</p>
+
+<p>"A strange thing, and worthy of astonishment
+and admiration: scarce three or four
+days were past, after this horrible fact,
+when the Almighty Judge, who had heard
+the cries of that tormented wretch, suffered
+the evil one suddenly to possess this
+barbarous and inhuman homicide, so that
+those cruel hands which had punished
+to death the innocent servant were the tormentors
+of his own body, for he beat himself
+and tore his flesh after a miserable manner,
+till he lost the very shape of a man, not
+ceasing to howl and cry without any rest
+by day or night. Thus he continued raving
+till he died."</p>
+
+<p>It was by the endurance of such sufferings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span>
+as these that the early Buccaneers were
+hardened into fanatical monsters like Montbars
+and Lolonnois.</p>
+
+<p>In the early part of his book, Esquemeling
+gives us his own history. A Dutchman
+by birth, he arrived at Tortuga in 1680, when
+the French West India Company, unable to
+turn the island into a depôt, as they had intended,
+were selling off their merchandise
+and their plantations. Esquemeling, as a
+bound <i>engagé</i> of the company, was sold to the
+lieutenant-governor of the island, who treated
+him with great severity, and refused to take
+less than three hundred pieces of eight for
+his freedom. Falling sick through vexation
+and despair, he was sold to a chirurgeon, for
+seventy pieces of eight, who proved kind to
+him, and finally gave him his liberty for 100
+pieces of eight, to be paid after his first
+Flibustier trip.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin was probably sold almost at the
+same time as Esquemeling, and was bought
+by the commandant-general. Not allowed to
+pursue his own profession of a surgeon, he
+was employed in the most laborious and painful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>
+work, transplanting tobacco, or thinning
+the young plants, grating cassava, or pressing
+the juice from the banana. Overworked and
+under fed, associating with slaves, and regarded
+with hatred and suspicion, he scarcely
+received money enough to procure either food
+or clothing; his master refusing, even for the
+inducement of two crowns a-day, to allow
+him to practise as physician. A single year
+of toil at the plantations threw him into dangerous
+ill health; for weeks sheltered only
+under an outhouse, he was kept alive by the
+kindness of a black slave, who brought him
+daily an egg. Feeble as he was, the great
+thirst of a tropical fever compelled him often
+to rise and drag himself to a neighbouring
+tank, that he might drink, even though to
+drink were to die. Recovering from this
+fever, a wolfish hunger was the first sign of
+convalescence, but to appease this he had
+neither food, nor money to buy it. In this
+condition he devoured even unripe oranges,
+green, hard, and bitter, and resorted to other
+extremities which he is ashamed to confess.
+On one occasion as he was descending from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span>
+the rock fort, where his master lived, into
+the town, he met a friend, the secretary of
+the governor, who made him come and dine
+with him, and gave him a parting present of
+a bottle of wine; his master, who had seen
+what had passed, by means of a telescope,
+from his place of vantage, when he returned,
+took away the wine, and threw him into a
+dungeon, accusing him of being a spy and a
+traitor. This prison was a cellar, hollowed
+out of the rock, full of filth and very dark.
+In this he swore &#338;xmelin should rot in spite
+of all the governors in the world. Here he
+was kept for three days, his feet in irons, fed
+only by a little bread and water that they
+passed to him through an aperture, without
+even opening the door. One day, as he lay
+naked on the stone, and in the dark, he felt
+a snake twine itself, cold and slimy, round
+his body, tightening the folds till they grew
+painful, and then sliding off to its hole. On
+the fourth day they opened the door and
+tried to discover if he had told the governor
+anything of his master's cruelties; they then
+set him to dig a plot of ground near the Fort.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span>
+Finding himself left unguarded, he resolved
+to go and complain to the governor, having
+first consulted a good old Capuchin, who
+took compassion on his pale and famished
+aspect. The governor instantly took pity on
+the wretched runaway, fed and clothed him,
+and on his recovery to health placed him
+with a celebrated surgeon of the place, who
+paid his value to his master; the governor
+being unwilling to take him into his own
+service, for fear he should be accused to the
+home authorities of taking away slaves from
+the planters.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>engagés</i> were called to their work
+at daybreak by a shrill whistle (as the
+negroes are now by the hoarse conch shell);
+and the foreman, allowing any who liked to
+smoke, led them to their work. This consisted
+in felling trees and in picking or lopping
+tobacco; the driver stood by them as they
+dug or picked, and struck those who slackened
+or rested, as a captain would do to his galley
+slaves. Whether sick or well they were
+equally obliged to work. They were frequently
+employed in picking mahot, a sort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span>
+of bark used to tie up bales. If they died of
+fatigue they were quietly buried, and there
+an end. Early in the morning one of the
+band had to feed the pigs with potato leaves,
+and prepare his comerades' dinner. They
+boiled their meat, putting peas and chopped
+potatoes into the water. The cook worked
+with the gang, but returned a little sooner
+to prepare his messmates' dinner, while they
+were stripping the tobacco stalk. On feast-days
+and Sundays they had some indulgences.
+&#338;xmelin relates an instance of a
+sick slave being employed to turn a grindstone
+on which his master was sharpening
+his axe; being too weak to do it well, the
+butcher turned round and clove him down
+between the shoulders. The slave fell down,
+bleeding profusely, and died within two
+hours; yet this master was one of a body of
+planters deemed very indulgent in comparison
+to those of some other islands. One
+planter of St. Christopher, named Belle Tęte,
+who came from Dieppe, prided himself on
+having killed 200 <i>engagés</i> who would not
+work, all of whom, he declared, died of sheer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>
+laziness. When they were in the last extremities
+he was in the habit of rubbing their
+mouths with the yolk of an egg, in order
+that he might conscientiously swear he had
+pressed them to take food till the very last.
+Upon a priest one day remonstrating with
+him on his brutality, he replied, with perfect
+effrontery, that he had once been a bound
+<i>engagé</i>, and had never been treated better;
+that he had come all the way to that shore
+to get money, and provided he could get
+it and see his children roll in a coach,
+he did not care himself if the devil carried
+him off.</p>
+
+<p>The following anecdote shows what strange
+modifications of crime this species of slavery
+might occasionally produce. There was a
+rich inhabitant of Guadaloupe, whose father
+became so poor that he was obliged to sell
+himself as an <i>engagé</i>, and by a singular coincidence
+sold himself to a merchant who
+happened to be his son's agent. The poor
+fellow, finding himself his son's servant,
+thought himself well off, but soon found that
+he was treated as brutally as the rest. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span>
+son, finding the father was old and discontented,
+and therefore unable to do much
+work, and afraid to beat him for the sake of
+the scandal, sold him soon after to another
+planter, who treated him better, gave him
+more to eat, and eventually restored him
+to liberty. Of the ten thousand Scotch and
+Irish whom Cromwell sent to the West
+Indies, many became <i>engagés</i>, and finally
+Buccaneers. Many of the old Puritan soldiers,
+who had served in the same wars, were
+enrolled in the same ranks.</p>
+
+<p>The same principle of brotherhood applied
+to the planters as to the ordinary Buccaneers.
+They called each other <i>matelots</i>, and, before
+living together, signed a contract by which
+they agreed to share everything in common.
+Each had the power to dispose of his companion's
+money and goods, and an agreement
+signed by one bound the other also. If the
+one died, the survivor became the inheritor
+of the whole, in preference even to heirs who
+might come from Europe to claim the share
+or attempt to set up a claim. The engagement
+could be broken up whenever either<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span>
+wished it, and was often cancelled in a moment
+of petulance or of transitory vexation.
+A third person was sometimes admitted into
+the brotherhood on the same conditions. By
+this singular custom, friendships were formed
+as firm as those between a Highlander and
+his foster-brother, a Canadian trapper and
+his comerade, or an English sailor and his
+messmate.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>matelotage</i>, or <i>compagnon ŕ bon lot</i>, being
+thus formed, the two planters would go
+to the governor of the island and request a
+grant of land. The officer of the district was
+then sent to measure out what they required,
+of a specified size in a specified spot. The
+usual grant was a plot, two hundred feet wide
+and thirty feet long, as near as possible to the
+sea-shore, as being most convenient for the
+transport of goods, as well as for the ease of
+procuring salt water, which they used in preparing
+the tobacco leaf. When the sea-shore
+was covered with cabins the planters built
+their huts higher up and four deep, those
+nearest to the beach being obliged to allow a
+roadway to those who were the furthest back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span>
+Their lodges, or <i>ajoupas</i>, were raised upon
+ground cleared from wood, the thicket being
+first burnt with the lower branches of the
+larger trees. The trunks, too large to remove,
+were cut down to within two or three feet of
+the earth, and allowed to dry and rot for several
+summers, and finally also consumed by fire.
+The savages, on the other hand, cut down all
+the trees, let them dry as they fell, and then,
+setting the whole alight, reduced it at once
+to ashes, without any clearing, lopping, or
+piling. When about thirty or forty feet of
+ground was thus cleared, they began to plant
+vegetables and cultivate the ground&mdash;peas,
+potatoes, manioc, banana, and figs being the
+daily necessaries of their lives. The banana
+they planted near rivers, no planter residing
+in a place where there was not some well or
+spring. Their <i>casa</i>, or chief lodge, was supported
+by posts fifteen or sixteen feet high,
+thatched with palm branches, rushes, or
+sugar-canes, and walled either with reeds or
+palisades. Inside, they had <i>barbecues</i>, or
+forms rising two or three feet from the
+ground, upon which lay their mattresses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span>
+stuffed with banana leaves, and above it the
+mosquito net of thin white linen, which they
+called a <i>pavillon</i>. A smaller lodge served
+for cooking or for warehousing. Friends and
+neighbours always assisted in building these
+cabins, and were treated in return with
+brandy by the planter. The laws of the society
+obliged the settlers to help each other,
+and this kindness was never refused. The
+same system of mutual support originated
+the Scotch penny weddings and the English
+friendly custom of ploughing a young farmer's
+fields.</p>
+
+<p>Now the <i>ajoupa</i> was built, the tobacco
+ground had to be dug. An enclosure of two
+thousand plants required much care, and was
+obliged to be kept clean and free from weeds.
+They had to be lopped, and transplanted, and
+irrigated, and finally picked and stored. The
+people of Tortuga, the Buccaneers' island,
+exchanged their tobacco with the French
+merchants for hatchets, hoes, knives, sacking,
+and above all for wine and brandy.</p>
+
+<p>From potatoes, which the planters ate for
+breakfast, they extracted maize, a sour but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span>
+pleasant beverage. The cassava root they
+grated for cakes, making a liquor called
+<i>veycon</i> of the residue. From the banana they
+also extracted an intoxicating drink.</p>
+
+<p>With the wild boar hunters they exchanged
+tobacco leaf for dried meat, often
+paying away at one time two or three hundred
+weight of tobacco, and frequently sending
+a servant of their own to the savannahs
+to help the hunter and to supply him with
+powder and shot.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />
+
+<small>THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.</small></h2>
+
+<blockquote><p>Originated in the Spanish persecution of French Hunters&mdash;Customs&mdash;Pay
+and Pensions&mdash;The Mosquito Indians,
+their Habits&mdash;Food&mdash;Lewis Scott, an Englishman,
+first Corsair&mdash;John Davis: takes St. Francisco,
+in Campeachy&mdash;Debauchery&mdash;Love of Gaming&mdash;Religion&mdash;Class
+from which they sprang&mdash;Equality at
+Sea&mdash;Mode of Fighting&mdash;Dress.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>The Flibustiers first began by associating
+together in bands of from fifteen to twenty
+men. Each of them carried the Buccaneer
+musket, holding a ball of sixteen to the
+pound, and had generally pistols at his belt,
+holding bullets of twenty or twenty-four to
+the pound, and besides this they wore a good
+sabre or cutlass. When collected at some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>
+preconcerted rendezvous, generally a key or
+small island off Cuba, they elected a captain,
+and embarked in a canoe, hollowed out
+of the trunk of a single tree in the Indian
+manner. This canoe was either bought by
+the association or the captain. If the latter,
+they agreed to give him the first ship they
+should take. As soon as they had all signed
+the charter-party, or mutual agreement, they
+started for the destined port off which they
+were to cruise. The first Spanish vessel they
+took served to repay the captain and recompense
+themselves. They dressed themselves
+in the rich robes of Castilian grandees over
+their own blooded shirts, and sat down to
+revel in the gilded saloon of the galleon. If
+they found their prize not seaworthy, they
+would take her to some small sand island
+and careen, while the crew helped the Indians
+to turn turtle, and to procure bull's flesh.
+The Spanish crew they kept to assist in careening,
+for they never worked themselves,
+but fought and hunted while the unfortunate
+prisoners were toiling round the fire where the
+pitch boiled, or the turtle was stewing. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span>
+Flibustiers divided the spoil as soon as each
+one had taken an oath that nothing had been
+secreted. When the ship was ready for sea,
+they let the Spaniards go, and kept only
+the slaves. If there were no negroes or Indians,
+they retained a few Spaniards to wait
+upon them. If the prisoners were men of
+consequence, they detained them till they
+could obtain a ransom. Every Flibustier
+brought a certain supply of powder and ball
+for the common stock. Before starting on
+an expedition it was a common thing to
+plunder a Spanish hog-yard, where a thousand
+swine were often collected, surrounding
+the keeper's lodge at night, and shooting
+him if he made any resistance. The tortoise
+fishermen were often forced to fish for them
+gratuitously, although nearly every ship had
+its Mosquito Indian to strike turtle and sea-cow,
+and to fish for the whole boat's crew.
+"No prey, no pay," was the Buccaneers'
+motto. The charter-party specified the
+salary of the captain, surgeon, and carpenter,
+and allowed 200 pieces of eight for
+victualling. The boys had but half a share,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span>
+although it was either their duty or the surgeon's,
+when the rest had boarded, to remain
+behind to fire the former vessel, and then
+retire to the prize.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneer code, worthy of Napoleon
+or Justinian, was equal to the statutes
+of any land, insomuch as it answered
+the want of those for whom it was compiled,
+and seldom required either revision or enlargement.
+It was never appealed from, and
+was seldom found to be unjust or severe.</p>
+
+<p>The captain was allowed five or six
+shares, the master's mate only two, and the
+other officers in proportion, down to the
+lowest mariner. All acts of special bravery
+or merit were rewarded by special grants.
+The man who first caught sight of a prize
+received a hundred crowns. The sailor who
+struck down the enemy's captain, and the first
+boarder who reached the enemy's deck, were
+also distinguished by honours. The surgeon,
+always a great man among a crew whose
+lives so often depended on his skill, received
+200 crowns to supply his medicine chest.
+If they took a prize, he had a share like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span>
+rest. If they had no money to give him,
+he was rewarded with two slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of an eye was recompensed at
+100 crowns, or one slave.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of both eyes with 600 crowns,
+or six slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of a right hand or right leg at
+200 crowns, or two slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of both hands or legs at 600
+crowns, or six slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of a finger or toe at 100 crowns,
+or one slave.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of a foot or leg at 200 crowns,
+or two slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The loss of both legs at 600 crowns, or six
+slaves.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing but death seems to have been
+considered as worth recompensing with more
+than 600 crowns. For any wound, which
+compelled a sailor to carry a <i>canulus</i>, 200
+crowns were given, or two slaves. If a man
+had not even lost a member, but was for the
+present deprived of the use of it, he was still
+entitled to his compensation as much as if
+he had lost it altogether. The maimed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span>
+were allowed to take either money or slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The charter-party drawn up by Sir Henry
+Morgan before his famous expedition, which
+ended in the plunder and destruction of
+Panama, shows several modifications of the
+earlier contract.</p>
+
+<p>To him who struck the enemy's flag, and
+planted the Buccaneers', fifty piastres, besides
+his share.</p>
+
+<p>To him who took a prisoner who brought
+tidings, 100 piastres, besides his share.</p>
+
+<p>For every grenade thrown into an enemy's
+port-hole, five piastres.</p>
+
+<p>To him who took an officer of rank at the
+risk of his life, proportionate reward.</p>
+
+<p>To him who lost two legs, 500 crowns, or
+fifteen slaves.</p>
+
+<p>To him who lost two arms, 800 piastres,
+or eighteen slaves.</p>
+
+<p>To him who lost one leg or one arm, 500
+piastres, or six slaves.</p>
+
+<p>To him who lost an eye, 100 piastres, or
+one slave.</p>
+
+<p>For both eyes, 200 piastres, or two
+slaves.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For the loss of a finger, 100 piastres, or one
+slave. A Flibustier who had a limb crippled,
+received the same pay as if it was lost. A
+wound requiring an issue, was recompensed
+with 500 piastres, or five slaves. These
+shares were all allotted before the general
+division. If a vessel was taken at sea, its
+cargo was divided among the whole fleet, but
+the crew first boarding it received 100 crowns,
+if its value exceeded 10,000 crowns, and for
+every 10,000 crowns' worth of cargo, 100
+went to the men that boarded. The surgeon
+received 200 piastres, besides his share.</p>
+
+<p>The Mosquito Indians were the helots of
+the Buccaneers; they employed them to catch
+fish, and their vessels had generally a small
+canoe, kept for their use, in which they might
+strike tortoise or manitee. These Indians
+used no oars, but a pair of broad-bladed
+paddles, which they held perpendicularly,
+grasping the staff with both hands and putting
+back the water by sheer strength, and
+with very quick, short strokes. Two men
+generally went in the same boat, the one
+sitting in the stern, the other kneeling down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>
+in the head. They both paddled softly till
+they approached the spot where their prey
+lay; they then remained still, looking very
+warily about them, and the one at the head
+then rose up, with his striking-staff in his
+hand. This weapon was about eight feet long,
+almost as thick as a man's arm at the larger
+end, at which there was a hole into which the
+harpoon was put; at the other extremity was
+placed a piece of light (bob) wood, with a hole
+in it, through which the small end of the
+staff came. On this bob wood a line of ten or
+twelve fathoms was neatly wound&mdash;the end
+of the one line being fastened to the wood,
+and the other to the harpoon, the man keeping
+about a fathom of it loose in his hand. When
+he struck, the harpoon came off the shaft, and,
+as the wounded fish swam away, the line ran
+off from the reel. Although the bob and line
+were frequently dragged deep under water,
+and often caught round coral branches or sunk
+wreck, it generally rose to the surface of the
+water. The Indians struggled to recover
+the bob, which they were accustomed to do
+in about a quarter of an hour.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When the sea-cow grew tired and began to
+lie still, they drew in the line, and the monster,
+feeling the harpoon a second time, would often
+make a maddened rush at the canoe. It then
+became necessary that the steersman should be
+nimble in turning the head of the canoe the
+way his companion pointed, as he alone was
+able to see and feel the way the manitee was
+swimming. Directly the fish grew tired, they
+hauled in the line, which the vexed creature
+drew out again a dozen times with ferocious
+but impotent speed. When its strength grew
+quite exhausted, they would drag it up the
+side of their boat and knock it on the head,
+or, pulling it to the shore, made it fast while
+they went out to strike another. From the
+great size of a sea-cow it was always necessary
+to go to shore in order to get it safely
+into their boats; hauling it up in shoal water,
+they upset their canoes, and then rolling the
+fish in righted again with the weight. The
+Indians sometimes paddled one home, and
+towed the other after them. Dampierre
+says he knew two Indians, who every day
+for a week brought two manitee on board<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span>
+his ship, the least not weighing less than
+six hundred pounds, and yet in so small a
+canoe that three Englishmen could row it.</p>
+
+<p>If the fishermen struck a sea-cow that had
+a calf they generally captured both&mdash;the
+mother carrying the young under her side
+fins, and always regarding their safety before
+her own; the young, moreover, would seldom
+desert their mother, and would follow the
+canoe in spite of noise and blows. The least
+sound startled the manitee, but the turtles
+required less care. These fish had certain
+islands near Cuba which they chose to lay
+their eggs in. At certain seasons they came
+from the gulf of Honduras in such vast
+multitudes, that ships, which had lost their
+latitude, very often steered at night, following
+the sound of these clattering shoals. When
+they had been about a month in the Caribbean
+sea they grew fat, and the fishing commenced.
+Salt turtle was the Buccaneers' healthiest
+food, and was supposed to free them from all
+the ailments of debauchery. The Indians
+struck the turtle with a short, sharp, triangular-headed
+iron, not more than an inch long,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span>
+which fitted into a spear handle. The lance
+head was loose and had the usual line attached.
+Their lines they made of the fibrous
+bark of a tree, which they also used for
+their rigging.</p>
+
+<p>The manitee, or sea-cow, was a favourite
+article of food with these wandering seamen.
+It was a monster as big as a horse, and as
+unwieldy as a walrus, with eyes not much
+larger than peas, and a head like a cow.
+Its flesh was white, sweet, and wholesome.
+The tail of a young fish was a dainty, and a
+young sucking-calf, roasted, was an epicure's
+morsel. The head and tail of older animals
+were tough, yet the belly was frequently eaten.</p>
+
+<p>Dampierre speaks of his companions feasting
+on pork and peas, and beef and dough-boys,
+and this nautical coarseness was generally
+found associated with occasional tropical
+luxuriousness. In cases of necessity, wrecked
+sailors fed on sharks, which they first boiled
+and then squeezed dry, and stewed with
+pepper and vinegar. The oil of turtle they
+used instead of butter for their dumplings.
+The best turtle were said to be those that fed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span>
+on land; those that lived on sea-weed, and
+not on grass, being yellow and rank. The
+larger fish needed two men to turn them on
+their backs. The Flibustiers also ate the
+iguanas, or large South American lizards.
+Vast flocks of doves were found in many of
+the islands, sometimes in such abundance
+that a sailor could knock down five or six
+dozen of an afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers' history is a singular example
+of how evil generates evil. The
+Spaniards destroyed the wild cattle, and the
+hunters turned freebooters. Spain discontinued
+trading to prevent piracy, and the
+adventurers, starved for want of gold, made
+descents upon the mainland. The evil grew
+by degrees till the worm they had at first
+trod upon arose in their path an indestructible
+and devastating monster of a hundred
+heads. First single ships, then fleets, were
+swept off by these locusts of the deep; first,
+islands were burnt, then villages sacked,
+and at last cities conquered. First the
+North and then the South Pacific were
+visited, till the whole coast from Panama to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>
+Cape Horn trembled at the very flutter of
+their flag. The first Flibustier, Lewis Scott,
+scared Campeachy with a few canoes.
+Grognet grappled the Lima fleet with a
+whole squadron of pirate craft. The Buccaneer
+spirit arose from revenge, and ended
+in robbery and murder. At first fierce but
+merciful, they grew rapacious, loathsome,
+and bloody. Their early chivalry forsook
+them&mdash;they sank into the enemies of God
+and all mankind, and the last refuse of them
+expired on the gallows of Jamaica, children
+of Cain, unpitied by any, their very courage
+despised, and their crimes detested. At their
+culminating point, united under the sway of
+one great mind, they might have formed a
+large empire in South America, or conquered it
+as tributaries to France or England. Always
+thirsty for gold, they were often chivalrous,
+generous, intrepid, merciful, and disinterested.</p>
+
+<p>A greater evil soon cured the lesser. The
+Spaniards, dreading robbery worse than
+death, ceased in a great measure to trade.
+The poorer merchants were ruined by the
+loss of a single cocoa vessel; the richer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span>
+waited for the convoy of the plate fleets, or
+followed in the wake of the galleon, hoping
+to escape if she was captured, as the chickens
+do when the hen goes cackling up in the
+claws of the kite. For every four vessels
+that once sailed not more than one could be
+now seen. What with the war of France on
+Holland, and England on France, and all on
+Spain, there was little safety for the poor
+trader. Yet those who could risk a loss
+still made great profits. This cessation of
+trade was a poor remedy against the sea
+robber: it was to rob oneself instead of
+being robbed, to commit suicide for fear of
+murder. It was a remedy that saved life,
+but rendered life hateful. The Buccaneers,
+starving for want of prey, remained moodily
+in the rocky fastnesses of Tortuga, like
+famished eagles looking down on a country
+they have devastated. To accomplish greater
+feats they united in bodies, and made forays
+on the coast. They had before remained at
+the threshold&mdash;they now rushed headlong
+into the sanctuary, and they got <i>their</i> bread,
+or rather other people's bread, by daring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span>
+dashes and surprises of towns, leaving them
+only when wrapped in flames or swept by the
+pestilence that always followed in their train.</p>
+
+<p>We may claim for our own nation the first
+pioneer in this new field of enterprise.
+Lewis Scott, an Englishman, led the way by
+sacking the town of St. Francisco, in Campeachy,
+and, compelling the inhabitants to
+pay a ransom, returned safely to Jamaica.
+Where the carcase is there will the eagles
+be gathered together, for no sooner had his
+sails grown small in the distance than Mansweld,
+another Buccaneer, made several successful
+descents upon the same luckless coast,
+unfortunate in its very fertility. He then
+equipped a fleet and attempted to return by
+the kingdom of New Granada to the South
+Sea, passing the town of Carthagena. This
+scheme failed in consequence of a dispute
+arising between the French and English
+crews, who were always quarrelling over their
+respective share of provisions; but in spite
+of this he took the island of St. Catherine,
+and attempted to found a Buccaneer state.</p>
+
+<p>John Davis, a Dutchman, excelled both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span>
+his predecessors in daring. Cruising about
+Jamaica he became a scourge to all the
+Spanish mariners who ventured near the
+coasts of the Caraccas, or his favourite haunts,
+Carthagena and the Boca del Toro, where he
+lay wait for vessels bound to Nicaragua.
+One day he missed his shot, and having
+a long time traversed the sea and taken
+nothing&mdash;a failure which generally drove
+these brave men to some desperate expedient
+to repair their sinking fortunes&mdash;he resolved
+with ninety men to visit the lagoon of Nicaragua,
+and sack the town of Granada. An
+Indian from the shores of the lagoon promised
+to guide him safely and secretly; and
+his crew, with one voice, declared themselves
+ready to follow him wherever he led. By
+night he rowed thirty leagues up the river,
+to the entry of the lake, and concealed his
+ships under the boughs of the trees that grew
+upon the banks; then putting eighty men
+in his three canoes he rowed on to the town,
+leaving ten sailors to guard the vessels. By
+day they hid under the trees; at night they
+pushed on towards the unsuspecting town,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span>
+and reached it on the third midnight&mdash;taking
+it, as he had expected, without a blow and
+by surprise. To a sentinel's challenge they
+replied that they were fishermen returning
+home, and two of the crew, leaping on shore,
+ran their swords through the interrogator,
+to stop further questions which might have
+been less easily answered. Following their
+guide they reached a small covered way
+that led to the right of the town, while another
+Indian towed their canoes to a point
+to which they had agreed each man should
+bring his booty.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they arrived at the town they
+separated into small bands, and were led one
+by one to the houses of the richest inhabitants.
+Here they quietly knocked, and,
+being admitted as friends, seized the inmates
+by the throat and compelled them, on pain
+of death, to surrender all the money and
+jewels that they had. They then roused the
+sacristans of the principal churches, from
+whom they took the keys and carried off all
+the altar plate that could be beaten up
+or rendered portable. The pixes they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span>
+stripped of their gems, gouged out the
+jewelled eyes of virgin idols, and hammered
+up the sacramental cups into convenient
+lumps of metal.</p>
+
+<p>This quiet and undisturbed pillage had
+lasted for two hours without a struggle,
+when some servants, escaping from the adventurers,
+began to ring the alarm bells to
+warn the town, while a few of the already
+plundered citizens, breaking into the marketplace,
+filled the streets with uproar and affright.
+Davis, seeing that the inhabitants
+were beginning to rally from that panic
+which had alone secured his victory, commenced
+a retreat, as the enemy were now
+gathering in armed and threatening numbers.
+In a hollow square, with their booty in the
+centre, the Buccaneers fought their way to
+their boats, amid tumultuous war-cries and
+shouts of derision and exultation. In spite
+of their haste, they were prudent enough to
+carry with them some rich Spaniards, intending
+to exchange them for any of their
+own men they might lose in their retreat.
+On regaining their ships they compelled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span>
+these prisoners to send them as a ransom
+500 cows, with which they revictualled their
+ships for the passage back to Jamaica. They
+had scarcely well weighed anchor before they
+saw 600 mounted Spaniards dash down to the
+shore in the hopes of arresting their retreat.
+A few broadsides were the parting greetings
+of these unwelcome visitors.</p>
+
+<p>This expedition was accomplished in eight
+days. The booty consisted of coined money
+and bullion amounting to about 40,000
+crowns. Esquemeling computes it at 4,000
+pieces of eight, and in ready money, plate, and
+jewels to about 50,000 pieces of eight more.</p>
+
+<p>Thus concluded this adventurous raid, in
+which a town forty leagues inland, and containing
+at least 800 well-armed defenders,
+was stormed and robbed by eighty resolute
+sailors. Davis reached Jamaica in safety
+with his plunder, which was soon put into
+wider circulation by the aid of the dice, the
+tavern keepers, and the courtesans. The
+money once expended, Davis was roused to
+fresh exertion. He associated himself with
+two or three other captains, who, superstitiously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span>
+relying on his good fortune, chose
+him as admiral of a small flotilla of eight or
+nine armed gunboats. The less fortunate
+rewarded him with boundless confidence.
+His first excursion was to the town of St.
+Christopher, in Cuba, to wait for the fleet
+from New Spain, in hopes to cut off some rich
+unwieldy straggler. But the fleet contrived
+to escape his sentinels and pass untouched.
+Davis then sallied forth and sacked a small
+town named St. Augustine of Florida, in spite
+of its castle and garrison of 100 men. He
+suffered little loss; but the inhabitants proved
+very poor, and the booty was small.</p>
+
+<p>In making war against Spain, the hunters
+were mere privateersmen cruising against a
+national enemy; but in their endurance, patience,
+and energy, they stood alone. In their
+onset&mdash;rushing, singing, and dancing through
+fire and flame&mdash;they resembled rather the old
+Barsekars or the first levies of Mohammed.
+But in one point they were very remarkable;
+that they did more, and were yet actuated by
+a lower motive. Almost devoid of religion,
+they fought with all the madness of fanaticism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span>
+against a people themselves constitutionally
+fanatic, but already enervated by climate,
+by sudden wealth, and a long experience of
+contaminating luxury. The galleons of Manilla
+were their final aim, as they gradually
+passed from the devastated shores of South
+America to the Philippine Islands and the
+coasts of Guinea. They had been the instrument
+of Providence, and knew themselves so,
+to avenge the wrongs of the Indian upon
+the Spaniard; they were soon to become the
+first avengers of the Negro. Long years of
+plunder had made the Spaniard and the Creole
+as secretive as the Hindu. At the first intelligence
+of some terrified fisherman, the
+frightened townsman threw his pistoles into
+wells, or mortared them up in the wall of his
+fortresses. Laden mules were driven into
+the interior; the women fled to the nearest
+plantation; the old men barred themselves
+up in the church. Their first thought was
+always flight; their second, to turn and
+strike a blow for all they loved, valued, and
+revered.</p>
+
+<p>The debauchery of the Buccaneers was as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span>
+unequalled as their courage. &#338;xmelin relates
+a story of an Englishman who gave 500
+crowns to his mistress at a single revel. This
+man, who had earned 1,500 crowns by exposing
+himself to desperate dangers, was,
+within three months, sold for a term of three
+years to a planter, to discharge a tavern debt
+which he could not pay. A conqueror of
+Panama might be seen to-morrow driven by
+the overseer's whip among a gang of slaves,
+cutting sugar canes, or picking tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>Another Buccaneer, a Frenchman, surnamed
+Vent-en-Panne, was so addicted to
+play that he lost everything but his shirt.
+Every pistole that he could earn he spent in
+this absorbing vice&mdash;so tempting to men, who
+longed for excitement, were indifferent to
+money, and daily risked their lives for the
+prospect of gain. On one occasion he lost
+500 crowns, his whole share of some recent
+prize-money, besides 300 crowns which he
+had borrowed of a comerade who would now
+lend him no more. Determined to try his
+fortune again, he hired himself as servant at
+the very gambling-house where he had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span>
+ruined, and, by lighting pipes for the players
+and bringing them in wine, earned fifty
+crowns in two days. He staked this, and
+soon won 12,000 crowns. He then paid
+his debts and resolved to lose no more, shipping
+himself on board an English vessel that
+touched at Barbadoes. At Barbadoes he met
+a rich Jew who offered to play him. Unable
+to abstain, he sat down, and won 1,300 crowns
+and 100,000 lbs. of sugar already shipped
+for England, and, in addition to this, a large
+mill and sixty slaves. The Jew, begging
+him to stay and give him his revenge, ran
+and borrowed some money, and returned and
+took up the cards. The Buccaneer consented,
+more from love of play than generosity; and
+the Jew, putting down 1,500 jacobuses, won
+back 100 crowns, and finally all his antagonist's
+previous winnings&mdash;stripping him even
+to the very clothes he wore. The delighted
+winner allowed him for very shame to retain
+his clothes, and gave him money enough to
+return, disconsolate and beggared, to Tortuga.
+Becoming again a Buccaneer, he gained
+6,000 or 7,000 crowns. M. D'Ogeron, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span>
+governor, treating him as a wayward child,
+taking away his money, sent him back to
+France with bills of exchange for the amount.
+Vent-en-Panne, now cured of his vice, took
+to merchandise; but, always unfortunate, was
+killed in his first voyage to the West Indies,
+his vessel being attacked by two Ostende frigates,
+of twenty-four or thirty guns each, which
+were eventually, however, driven off by the
+dead man's crew of only thirty Buccaneers.</p>
+
+<p>When the pleasures of Tortuga or Jamaica
+had swallowed up all the hard-earned winnings
+of these men, they returned to sea, expending
+their last pistoles in powder and
+ball, and leaving heavy scores still unsettled
+with the cabaretiers. They then hastened
+to the quays, or small sandy islands off Cuba,
+to careen their vessels and to salt turtle.
+Sometimes they repaired to Honduras, where
+they had Indian wives; latterly, to the Galapagos
+isles, to the Boca del Toro, or the
+coast of Castilla del Oro.</p>
+
+<p>Some Buccaneers, Esquemeling says, would
+spend 3,000 piastres in a night, not leaving
+themselves even a shirt in the morning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span>
+"My own master," he adds, "would buy a
+whole pipe of wine, and, placing it in the street,
+would force every one that passed by to drink
+with him, threatening also to pistol them in
+case they would not do it. At other times he
+would do the same with barrels of ale or beer;
+and very often with both his hands he would
+throw these liquors about the street, and wet
+the clothes of such as walked by, without regard
+whether he spoiled their apparel or not, or
+whether they were men or women." Port
+Royal was a favourite scene for such carousals.</p>
+
+<p>Even as late as 1694, Montauban gives us
+some idea of the wild debaucheries committed
+by the Buccaneers even at Bourdeaux. "My
+freebooters," he says, "who had not seen
+France for a long time, finding themselves
+now in a great city where pleasure and plenty
+reigned, were not backward to refresh themselves
+after the fatigues they had endured
+while so long absent from their native country.
+They spent a world of money here, and
+proved horribly extravagant. The merchants
+and their hosts made no scruple to advance
+them money, or lend them as much as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span>
+pleased, upon the reputation of their wealth
+and the noise there was throughout the city
+of the valuable prizes whereof they had a
+share. All the nights they spent in such
+divertisements as pleased them best; and
+the days, in running up and down the town
+in masquerade, causing themselves to be
+carried in chairs with lighted flambeaux at
+noon&mdash;of which debauches some died, while
+four of my crew fairly deserted me."</p>
+
+<p>This, it must be remembered, was at a time
+when buccaneering had sunk into privateering&mdash;the
+half-way house to mere piracy. The
+distinguishing mark of the true Buccaneer
+was, that he attacked none but Spaniards.</p>
+
+<p>Of the Buccaneers' estimation of religion,
+Charlevoix gives us some curious accounts.
+He says, "there remained no traces of it
+in their heart, but still, sometimes, from
+time to time, they appeared to meditate
+deeply. They never commenced a combat
+without first embracing each other, in sign
+of reconciliation. They would at such times
+strike themselves rudely on the breast, as if
+they wished to rouse some compunction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span>
+their hearts, and were not able. Once
+escaped from danger, they returned headlong
+to their debauchery, blasphemy, and
+brigandage. The Buccaneers, looking upon
+themselves as worthy fellows, regarded the
+Flibustiers as wretches, but in reality there
+was not much difference. The Buccaneers
+were, perhaps, the less vicious, but the Flibustiers
+preserved a little more of the externals
+of religion; <i>with the exception of a certain
+honour among them, and their abstinence from
+human flesh, few savages were more wicked, and
+a great number of them much less so</i>."</p>
+
+<p>This passage shows a very curious jealousy
+between the hunters and the corsairs, and a singular
+distinction as to religious feeling. Pčre
+Labat, however, speaks of the Flibustiers as
+attending confession immediately after a sea-fight
+with most exemplary devotion. A more
+important distinction than that made by Charlevoix
+was that between the Protestant and
+Roman Catholic adventurers, the latter being
+as superstitious as the former were irreverent.
+Ravenau de Lussan always speaks with horror
+of the blasphemy and irreligion of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span>
+English comerades, one of whom was an old
+trooper of Cromwell's; and Grognet's fleet
+eventually separated from the English ships,
+on account of the latter crews lopping crucifixes
+with their sabres, and firing at images
+with their pistols. A Flibustier captain,
+named Daniel, shot one of his men in a
+Spanish church for behaving irreverently at
+mass; and Ringrose gives an instance of an
+English commander who threw the dice overboard,
+if he found his men gambling on a
+Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>We find Ravenau de Lussan's troop singing
+a <i>Te Deum</i> after victories, and &#338;xmelin
+tells us that prayers were said daily on
+board Flibustier ships.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to say from what class of
+life either the Buccaneers or the Flibustiers
+sprang. The planters often became hunters,
+and the hunters sailors, and the reverse.
+Morgan was a Welsh farmer's son, who ran
+away to sea; Montauban, the son of a Gascon
+gentleman; D'Ogeron had been a captain
+in the French marines; Von Horn, a common
+sailor in an Ostende smack; Dampierre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span>
+was a Somersetshire yeoman, and Esquemeling
+a Dutch planter's apprentice. Charlevoix
+says, "few could bear for many years
+a life so hard and laborious, and the greater
+part only continued in it till they could gain
+enough to become planters. Many, continually
+wasting their money, never earned
+sufficient to buy a plantation; others grew
+so accustomed to the life, and so fond even
+of its hardships and painful risks, that,
+though often heirs to good fortunes, they
+would not leave it to return to France."</p>
+
+<p>The life of M. D'Ogeron, the governor of
+Tortuga, is an example of another class of
+Buccaneers, and of the causes which led to
+the choice of such a profession. At fifteen,
+he was captain of a regiment of marines, and
+in 1656, joining a company intending to
+colonize the Matingo river, he embarked in
+a ship, fitted out at the expense of 17,000
+livres. Disappointed in this bubble, he tried
+to settle at Martinique, but deceived by the
+governor, who withdrew a grant of land, he
+determined to settle with the Buccaneers of
+St. Domingo. Embarking in a ricketty vessel,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span>
+he ran ashore on Hispaniola, and lost all
+his merchandise and provisions. Giving his
+<i>engagés</i> their liberty, he joined the hunters,
+and became distinguished as well for courage
+as virtue. His goods sent from France
+were sold at a loss, and he returned to his
+native country a poor man. Collecting his
+remaining money, he hired <i>engagés</i>, and
+loaded a vessel with wine and brandy.
+Finding the market glutted, he sold his
+cargo at a loss, and was cheated by his Jamaica
+agent. Returning again to France,
+he fitted out a third vessel, and finally
+settled as a planter in Hispaniola. At this
+juncture the French West India Company
+fixed their eyes upon him, and in 1665
+made him governor of their colony.</p>
+
+<p>Ravenau de Lussan illustrates the motives
+that sometimes led the youth of the higher
+classes to turn Buccaneers. He commences
+his book with true French vanity, by saying,
+that few children of Paris, which contains so
+many of the wonders of the world (ten out
+of the eight, we suppose), seek their fortune
+abroad. From a child he was seized with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span>
+passionate disposition for travel, and would
+steal out of his father's house and play truant
+when he was yet scarce seven. He soon
+reached La Vilette and the suburbs, and by
+degrees learnt to lose sight of Paris. With
+this passion arose a desire for a military
+life. The noise of a drum in the street
+transported him with joy. He made a
+friend of an officer, and, offering him his
+sword, joined his company, and witnessed
+the siege of Condé, ending his campaign,
+still unwearied of his new form of life. He
+then became a cadet in a marine regiment.
+The captain drained him of all his money,
+and his father, at a great expense, bought
+him his discharge. Under the Count D'Avegeau
+he entered the French Guards, and
+fought at the siege of St. Guislain. Growing,
+on his return, weary of Paris, he embarked
+again on sea, having nothing but
+voyages in his head; the longest and most
+dangerous appearing to his imagination, he
+says, the most delightful. Travelling by
+land seemed to him long and difficult, and
+he once more chose the sea, deeming it only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span>
+fit for a woman to remain at home ignorant
+of the world. His affectionate parents tried
+in vain to reason him out of this gadding
+humour, and finding him only grow firmer
+and more inflexible, they desisted.</p>
+
+<p>Not caring whither he went, so he could
+get to sea, he embarked in 1697 from Dieppe
+for St. Domingo. Here he remained for five
+months <i>engagé</i> to a French planter, "more a
+Turk than a Frenchman." "But what misery,"
+he says, "soever I have undergone
+with him, I freely forgive him, being resolved
+to forget his name, which I shall not
+mention in this place, because the laws of
+Christianity require that at my hand, though
+as to matters of charity he is not to expect
+much of that in me, since he, on his part,
+has been every way defective in the exercise
+thereof upon my account." But his patience
+at last worn out, and weary of cruelties
+that seemed endless, De Lussan applied
+to M. de Franquesnay, the king's lieutenant,
+who himself gave him shelter in his house
+for six months. He was now in debt, and
+thinking it "honest to pay his creditors," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span>
+joined the freebooters in order to satisfy them,
+not willing to apply again for money to his
+parents. "These borrowings from the Spaniards,"
+he says, "have this advantage attending
+them, that there is no obligation to
+repay them," and there was war between
+the two crowns, so that he was a legal privateersman.
+Selecting a leader, De Lussan
+pitched on De Graff, as a brave corsair, who
+happened to be then at St. Domingo, eager
+to sail. Furnishing himself with arms, at
+the expense of Franquesnay, he joined De
+Graff. "We were," he says, "in a few hours
+satisfied with each other, and became such
+friends as those are wont to be who are about
+to run the same risk of fortune, and apparently
+to die together." The 22nd of November,
+the day he sailed from Petit Guave,
+seemed the happiest of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Dampierre mentions an old Buccaneer, who
+was slain at the taking of Leon. "He was,"
+he says, "a stout, grey-headed old man,
+aged about eighty-four, who had served under
+Oliver Cromwell in the Irish rebellion;
+after which he was at Jamaica, and had followed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span>
+privateering ever since. He would
+not accept the offer our men made him to
+tarry ashore, but said he would venture as
+far as the best of them; but when surrounded
+by the Spaniards he refused "to take quarter,
+but discharged his gun amongst them,
+keeping a pistol still charged; so they shot
+him dead at a distance. His name was
+Swan (<i>rara avis</i>). He was a very merry,
+hearty old man, and always used to declare
+he would never take quarter."</p>
+
+<p>When the adventurers were at sea, they
+lived together as a friendly brotherhood.
+Every morning at ten o'clock the ship's cook
+put the kettle on the fire to boil the salt
+beef for the crew, in fresh water if they had
+plenty, but if they ran short in brine; meal
+was boiled at the same time, and made into
+a thick porridge, which was mixed with the
+gravy and the fat of the meat. The whole
+was then served to the crew on large platters,
+seven men to a plate. If the captain or
+cook helped themselves to a larger share than
+their messmates, any of the republican crew
+had a right to change plates with them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span>
+But, notwithstanding this brotherly equality,
+and in spite of the captain being deposable
+by his crew, there was maintained at all moments
+of necessity the strictest discipline,
+and the most rigid subordination of rank.
+The crews had two meals a day. They always
+said grace before meat: the French Catholics
+singing the canticles of Zecharias, the
+Magnificat, or the Miserere; the English reading
+a chapter from the New Testament, or
+singing a psalm.</p>
+
+<p>Directly a vessel hove in sight, the Flibustiers
+gave chase. If it showed a Spanish
+flag, the guns were run out, and the decks
+cleared; the pikes lashed ready, and every
+man prepared his musket and powder, of
+which he alone was the guardian (and not
+the gunner), these articles being generally
+paid for from the common stock, unless provided
+by the captain.</p>
+
+<p>They first fell on their knees at their
+quarters (each group round its gun), to pray
+God that they might obtain both victory and
+plunder. Then all lay down flat on the deck,
+except the few left to steer and navigate&mdash;proceeding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span>
+to board as soon as their musketeers
+had silenced the enemy's fire. If victorious,
+they put their prisoners on shore, attended
+to the wounded, and took stock of the booty.
+A third part of the crew went on board the
+prize, and a prize captain was chosen by lot.
+No excuse was allowed; and if illness prevented
+the man elected taking the office, his
+<i>matelot</i>, or companion, took his place.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving at Tortuga, they paid a commission
+to the governor, and before dividing
+the spoil, rewarded the captain, the
+surgeons, and the wounded. The whole
+crew then threw into a common heap all they
+possessed above the value of five sous, and
+took an oath on the New Testament, holding
+up their right hands, that they had kept nothing
+back. Any one detected in perjury
+was marooned, and his share either given to
+the rest, to the heirs of the dead, or as a
+bequest to some chapel. The jewels and
+merchandise were sold, and they divided
+the produce.</p>
+
+<p>"It was impossible," says &#338;xmelin, "to
+put any obstacle in the way of men who, animated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span>
+simply by the hope of gain, were capable
+of such great enterprises, having <i>nothing
+but life</i> to lose and all to win. It is true that
+they would not have persisted long in their
+expeditions if they had had neither boats nor
+provisions. For ships they never wanted,
+because they were in the habit of going out
+in small canoes and capturing the largest and
+best provisioned vessels. For harbours they
+could never want, because everybody fled
+before them, and they had but to appear to
+be victorious." This intelligent and animated
+writer concludes his book by expressing
+an opinion that a firm and organized
+resistance by Spain at the outset might have
+stopped the subsequent mischief; but this
+opinion he afterwards qualifies in the following
+words, which, coming from such a writer
+so well acquainted with those of whom he
+writes, speaks volumes in favour of Buccaneer
+prowess: "Je dis <i>peut-ętre</i>, car les aventuriers
+sont de terribles gens."</p>
+
+<p>Charlevoix describes the first Flibustiers as
+going out in canoes with twenty-five or thirty
+men, without pilot or provisions, to capture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span>
+pearl-fishers and surprise small cruisers. If
+they succeeded, they went to Tortuga, bought
+a vessel, and started 150 strong, going to
+Cuba to take in salt turtle, or to Port Margot
+or Bayaha for dried pork or beef&mdash;dividing all
+upon the <i>compagnon ŕ bon lot</i> principle. They
+always said public prayer before starting on
+an expedition, and returned solemn thanks
+to God for victory.</p>
+
+<p>"They were," says a Jesuit writer, "at
+first so crowded in their boats that they had
+scarcely room to lie down; and, as they practised
+no economy in eating, they were always
+short of food. They were also night and day
+exposed to the inclemency of the weather,
+and yet loved so much the independence in
+which they lived, that no one murmured.
+Some sang when others wished to sleep, and
+all were by turns compelled to bear these inconveniences
+without complaint. But one
+may imagine men so little at their ease spared
+no pains to gain more comforts; that the
+sight of a larger and more convenient vessel
+gave them courage sufficient to capture it;
+and that hunger deprived them of all sense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span>
+of the danger of procuring food. They attacked
+all they met without a thought, and
+boarded as soon as possible. A single volley
+would have sunk their vessels; but they were
+skilful in man&#339;uvre, their sailors were very
+active, and they presented to the enemy nothing
+but a prow full of fusiliers, who, firing
+through the portholes, struck the gunners
+with terror. Once on board, nothing could
+prevent them becoming masters of a ship,
+however numerous the crew. The Spaniards'
+blood grew cold when those whom they
+called, and looked upon as, demons came in
+sight, and they frequently surrendered at
+once in order to obtain quarter. If the prize
+was rich their lives were spared; but if the
+cargo proved poor, the Buccaneers often
+threw the crew into the sea in revenge."</p>
+
+<p>Their favourite coasts were the Caraccas,
+Carthagena, Nicaragua, and Campeachy,
+where the ports were numerous and well frequented.
+Their best harbours at the Caraccas
+were Cumana, Canagote, Coro, and
+Maracaibo; at Carthagena, La Rancheria, St.
+Martha, and Portobello. Round Cuba they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span>
+watched for vessels going from New Spain
+to Maracaibo. If going, they found them
+laden with silver; if returning, full of cocoa.
+The prizes to the Caraccas were laden with
+the lace and manufactures of Spain; those
+from Havannah, with leather, Campeachy
+wood, cocoa, tobacco, and Spanish coin.</p>
+
+<p>The dress of the Buccaneer sailors must
+have varied with the changes of the age.
+Retaining their red shirts and leather sandals
+as the working dress of their brotherhood,
+we find them donning all the splendour rummaged
+from Spanish cabins, now wearing the
+plumed hat and laced sword-belt of Charles
+the Second's reign, and now the tufts of ribbons
+of the perfumed court of Louis Quatorze.
+Sprung from all nations and all ranks, some
+of them prided themselves upon the rough
+beard, bare feet, and belted shirt of the rudest
+seaman, while others, like Grammont and De
+Graff, flaunted in the richest costumes of their
+period. They must have passed from the
+long cloak and loose cassock of the Stuart
+reign to the jack-boots and Dutch dress of
+William of Orange; from the laced and flowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span>
+Steenkirk to the fringed cock-hat and
+deep-flapped waistcoat of Queen Anne. In
+the English translation of Esquemeling, Barthelemy
+Portugues, one of the earliest sea-rovers,
+is represented as having his long,
+lank hair parted in the centre and falling on
+his shoulders, and his moustachios long and
+rough. He wears a plain embroidered coat
+with a neck-band, and carries in his arms a
+short, broad sabre, unsheathed, as was the
+habit with many Buccaneer chiefs. Roche
+Braziliano appears in a plain hunter's shirt,
+the strings tying it at the neck being fastened
+in a bow. Lolonnois has the same shirt,
+showing at his neck and puffing through the
+openings of his sleeve, and he carries a naked
+broadsword with a shell guard. In the portrait
+of Sir Henry Morgan we see much more
+affectation of aristocratic dress. He has a
+rich coat of Charles the Second's period, a
+laced cravat tied in a fringed bow with
+long ends, and his broad sword-belt is stiff
+with gold lace. The hunter's shirt, however,
+still shows through the slashed sleeves.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+
+<small>PETER THE GREAT, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.</small></h2>
+
+<blockquote><p>Plunder of Segovia&mdash;Pierre-le-Grand&mdash;Pierre François&mdash;Barthelemy
+Portugues&mdash;His Escapes&mdash;Roche, the Brazilian&mdash;Fanatical
+hatred of Spaniards&mdash;Wrecks and
+Adventures.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>The date of the first organized Buccaneer
+expedition is uncertain. We only know
+that about the year 1654, a large party
+of Buccaneers, French and English, joined
+in an expedition to the continent. They
+ascended, in canoes, a river on the Mosquito
+Shore, a small distance on the south
+side of Cape Gracias ŕ Dios, and after
+labouring for a month against a strong
+stream, full of torrents, left their boats
+and marched to the town of Nueva Segovia,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span>
+which they plundered, and then returned
+down the river.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to trace the exact beginning
+of the Flibustiers, or, as they were soon
+called, the Buccaneers. According to most
+writers, the first successful adventurer known
+at Tortuga was Pierre-le-Grand (Peter the
+Great). He was a native of Dieppe, and his
+greatest enterprise was the capture of the
+vice-admiral of the Spanish <i>flota</i>, while lying
+off Cape Tiburon, on the west side of Hispaniola.
+This he accomplished in a canoe
+with only twenty-eight companions. Setting
+out by the Carycos he surprised his unwieldy
+antagonist in the channel of Bahama, which
+the Spaniards had hitherto passed in perfect
+security. He had been now a long time
+at sea without obtaining any prize worth
+taking, his provisions were all but exhausted,
+and his men, in danger of starving, were
+almost reduced to despair. While hanging
+over the gunwale, listless and discontented,
+the Buccaneers suddenly spied a large vessel
+of the Spanish fleet, separated from the rest
+and fast approaching them. They instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span>
+sailed towards her to ascertain her strength,
+and though they found it to be vastly
+superior to theirs, partly from despair and
+partly from cupidity they resolved at once
+to take it or die in the attempt. It was but
+to die a little quicker if they failed, and the
+blood in their veins might as well be shed in
+a moment as slowly stagnate with famine.
+If they did not conquer they would die, but
+if they did not attack, and escaped notice,
+they would also perish, and by the most painful
+and lingering of deaths. Being now
+come so near that flight was impossible, they
+took a solemn oath to their captain to stand
+by him to the last, and neither to flinch nor
+skulk, partly hoping that the enemy was insufficiently
+armed, and that they might still
+master her. It was in the dusk of the
+evening, and the coming darkness facilitated
+their boarding, and concealed the disadvantage
+of numbers. While they got their arms
+ready they ordered their chirurgeon to bore a
+hole in the sides of the boat, in order that
+the utter hopelessness of their situation might
+impel them to more daring self-devotion, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span>
+they might be forced to attack more vigorously
+and board more quickly. But their
+courage needed no such incitement. With
+no other arms than a sword in one hand
+and a pistol in the other, they immediately
+climbed up the sides of the Spaniard
+and made their way pell-mell to the state
+cabin. There they found the captain and his
+officers playing at cards. Setting a pistol to
+their breasts, they commanded them to deliver
+up the ship. The Spaniards, surprised
+to hear the Buccaneers below, not having
+seen them board, and seeing no boat by which
+they could have arrived (for the surgeon had
+now sunk it, and rejoined his friends through
+a porthole), cried out, in an agony of superstitious
+fear, "Jesu, bless us, these are
+devils!" thinking the men had fallen from
+the clouds, or had been shaken from some
+shooting star. In the mean time Peter's
+kinsfolk fought their way into the gunroom,
+seized the arms, killed a few sailors
+who snatched up swords, and drove the rest
+under hatches.</p>
+
+<p>That very morning some of the Spanish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>
+sailors had told their captain that a pirate
+boat was gaining upon them, but when he
+came up to see, and beheld so small a craft,
+he laughed at their fears of a mere cockle
+shell, and went down again, despising any
+vessel, though it were as big and strong as
+their own. Upon a second alarm, late in the
+day, when his lieutenant asked him if he
+should not get a cannon or two ready, he
+grew angry, and replied, "No, no, rig the
+crane out, and hoist the boat aboard." Peter,
+having taken this rich prize, detained as
+many of the Spanish seamen as he needed,
+and put the rest on shore in Hispaniola,
+which was close at hand. The vessel was
+full of provisions and great riches, and Pierre
+steered at once for France, never returning
+to resume a career so well begun.</p>
+
+<p>The news of this capture set Tortuga in
+an uproar. The planters and hunters of
+Hispaniola burned to follow up a profession
+so glorious and so profitable. It had been
+discovered now that a man's fortune could
+be made by one single scheme of daring and
+enterprise. Not being able to purchase or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span>
+hire boats at Tortuga, they set forth in their
+canoes to seek them elsewhere. Some began
+cruising about Cape de Alvarez, carrying off
+small Spanish vessels that carried hides and
+tobacco to the Havannah. Returning with
+their prizes to Tortuga, they started again for
+Campeachy or New Spain, where they captured
+richer vessels of greater burden. In
+less than a month they had brought into
+harbour two plate vessels, bound from Campeachy
+to the Caraccas, and two other ships
+of great size. In two years no less than
+twenty Buccaneer vessels were equipped at
+Tortuga, and the Spaniards, finding their
+losses increase and transport becoming precarious,
+despatched two large men-of-war to
+defend the coast.</p>
+
+<p>The next scourge of the Spaniard in these
+seas was Pierre François, a native of Dunkirk,
+whose combinative, far-seeing genius
+and dauntless heart soon raised him above
+the level of the mere footpads of the ocean.
+His little brigantine, with a picked crew of
+twenty-six men&mdash;hunters by sea and land&mdash;cruised
+generally about the Cape de la Vela,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span>
+waiting for merchant ships on their way from
+Maracaibo to Campeachy. Pierre had now
+been a long time afloat and taken no prize,
+the usual prelude to great enterprises
+amongst these men, who defied all dangers
+and all enemies. The provisions were running
+short, the boat was leaky, the captain
+moody and silent, and the crew half
+mutinous. To return empty-handed to Tortuga
+was to be a butt for every sneerer, a
+victim to unrelenting creditors; to the men
+beggary, to Pierre a loss of fame and all
+future promotion. But, there being a perfect
+equality in these boats, the crews seldom
+rose in open rebellion; and as every one had
+a voice in the proposal of a scheme, there
+was no one to rail at if the scheme failed.
+At last, amid this suspense, more tedious
+than a tropic calm, one more daring or more
+far-seeing than the rest stood up and suggested
+a visit to the pearl-fishings at the
+Rivičre de la Hache. History, always
+drowsy at critical periods, does not say if
+François was the proposer of this scheme or
+not. We may be sure he was a sturdy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span>
+seconder, and that the plan was carried amid
+wild cheering and waving of hats and guns
+and swords enough to scare the sharks floating
+hungrily round the boat, and frighten
+the glittering flying-fish back into the sea.
+These Rancheria fishings were at a rich
+bank of pearl to which the people of Carthagena
+sent annually twelve vessels, with a
+man-of-war convoy, generally a Spanish armadilla
+with a crew of 200 men, and carrying
+twenty-four pieces of cannon. Every
+vessel had two or three Negro slaves on board,
+who dived for the pearls. These men seldom
+lived long, and were frequently ruptured by
+the exertion of holding breath a quarter of
+an hour below the waves. The time for
+diving was from October till May, when the
+north winds were lulled and the sea calm.</p>
+
+<p>The large vessel was called the <i>Capitana</i>,
+and to this the proceeds of the day were
+brought every night, to prevent any risk
+of fraud or theft. Rather than return unsuccessful,
+Pierre resolved to swoop down upon
+this guarded covey, and carry off the ship
+of war in the sight of all the fleet; a feat as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span>
+dangerous as the abduction of an Irish
+heiress on the brink of marriage. He found
+the fishing boats riding at anchor at the
+mouth of the River de la Hache, and the
+man-of-war scarcely half a league distant.
+In the morning he approached them, and
+they, seeing him hovering at a distance like
+a kite above a farmyard, ran under shelter of
+their guardian's guns, like chickens under
+the hen's wing. Keeping still at a distance,
+they supposed he was afraid to approach, and
+soon allowed their fears to subside. The
+captain of the armadilla, however, took the
+precaution of sending three armed men on
+board each boat, believing the pearls the
+object of the Buccaneer, and left his own
+vessel almost defenceless. The hour had
+come. Furling his sails, Pierre rowed
+along the coast, feigning himself a Spanish
+vessel from Maracaibo, and when near the
+pearl bank, suddenly attacked the vice-admiral
+with eight guns and sixty men, and
+commanded him to surrender. The Spaniards,
+although surprised, made a good defence, but
+at last surrendered after half an-hour's hand-to-hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span>
+fight, before the almost unmanned
+armadilla could approach to render assistance.
+Pierre now sank his own boat, which
+had only been kept afloat by incessant working
+at the pumps. Many men would have
+rested satisfied with such a prize, but Pierre
+knew no Capua, and "thought naught done
+while aught remained to do." He at once
+resolved, by a stratagem, to capture the
+armadilla, and then the whole fleet would
+be his own. The night being very dark,
+and the wind high and favourable, he
+weighed anchor, forcing the prisoners to
+help his own crew. The man-of-war, seeing
+one of its fleet sailing, followed, fearing
+that the sailors were absconding with
+the pearls. As soon as it approached, Pierre
+made all the Spaniards, on pain of instant
+death, shout out "<i>Victoria, victoria!</i> we have
+taken the ladrones," upon which the man-of-war
+drew off, promising to send for the
+prisoners in the morning. Laughing in his
+sleeve, Pierre gave orders for hoisting all sail,
+and stood away for the open sea, putting
+forth all his strength to get out of sight by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span>
+daybreak. But the blood of the murdered
+Spaniards, yet hot upon the deck, was crying
+to heaven against him, and he was pursued.
+He had not got a league before the wind
+fell, and his ship lay like a log on the water,
+just within sight of his pursuers, who kept a
+long way off, burning with impatience and
+shame, and fretting like hounds in leash
+when the boar breaks out. About evening
+the wind rose, after much invocatory
+whistling, many prayers, many curses.
+Pierre, ignorant of the power of his prize,
+and what canvas she could bear, hoisted at
+random every stitch of sail and ran for his
+life, pursued by the armadilla, wrathful,
+white-winged, and swift. Like many a fleet
+runner, Pierre stumbled in his very eagerness
+for speed. He overloaded his vessel with
+sail. The wind grew higher, and howled
+like an avenging spirit, and his mainmast
+fell with the crash of a thunder-split oak.
+But Pierre held firm; he threw his prisoners
+into the hold, nailed down the hatches, and,
+trusting to night to escape, stood boldly
+at bay. He despaired of meeting force by
+force, having only twenty-two sound men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span>
+the rest being, before long, either killed or
+wounded. All in vain; the great bird of
+prey bore down upon him like a hawk upon
+a throstle, gaining, gaining every moment.
+Pierre defended himself courageously, and at
+last surrendered on condition. The Spanish
+captain agreed that the Buccaneers should
+not be employed in carrying, building-stones
+for three or four years like mere negroes, but
+should be set safe on dry land. As yet, the
+deep animosity of the two races had not
+sprung up. The prize they so nearly bore
+off contained above 100,000 pieces of eight
+in pearls, besides provisions and goods. At
+first the captain would have put them all to
+the sword, but his crew persuaded him to
+keep his word. The Frenchmen were then
+thrust down with curses into the same dark
+hold from whence the imprisoned Spaniards
+were now released; so "the whirligig of time
+brings about its revenge." When the crestfallen
+Buccaneers were brought before the
+governor of Carthagena, an outcry arose
+among the populace that the robbers should
+all be hung, to atone for an alfarez whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span>
+they had killed, and who, they said, was worth
+the whole French nation put together. The
+governor, however, though he did not put them
+to death, ungenerously broke the terms of his
+agreement, and compelled his prisoners to
+work at the fortifications of St. Francisco, in
+his own island. After about three years of
+this painful slavery, amid the jeers and contumely
+of the very negroes, they were sent
+to Spain, and from thence escaping one by
+one to France, made their way back to the
+Spanish main, more eager than ever to revenge
+their wrongs at the hands of a nation
+whose riches furnished a ready means of expiation,
+and whose cowardice rendered them
+incapable of frequent retaliation.</p>
+
+<p>The third hero on our stage, equally bold
+and no less memorable, was Barthelemy
+Portugues, a native of Portugal, as his name
+implied.</p>
+
+<p>Roused by the rumours of adventures
+which insured gold and glory, Barthelemy
+(no saint, and certainly more ready to
+flay others than to submit to flaying) sought
+out a small vessel at Jamaica, and fitted it up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span>
+at his own expense. As only his most remarkable
+enterprises are recorded it is probable,
+from his having money, that he was
+already known as a successful Flibustier. This
+boat he armed with four three-pounders, and
+embarked with a crew of thirty men. Leaving
+Kingston with a good wind at his back,
+he set sail to cruise off Cape de Corriente,
+which he knew was the high road where he
+should meet vessels coming from the Caraccas
+or Carthagena, on their way to Campeachy,
+New Spain, or the Havannah. He had not
+been long beating about the Cape&mdash;a point
+rounded with as much care by a Spanish
+merchantman, afraid of Buccaneers, as Cape
+St. Vincent was by the European captain,
+dreading the Salee rovers&mdash;before a great
+vessel, bound from Maracaibo and Carthagena
+to the Havannah, hove in sight. It had a
+crew of seventy men, and carried twenty
+guns, and many passengers and marines.
+The Flibustiers, thinking a Spaniard so well
+armed and manned to be more than their
+match, held one of their republican councils
+round the mast, and refused to attack unless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span>
+the captain wished. He decided that no
+opportunity should be lost, for that nothing
+in any part of the world could be won without
+risk. They instantly gave chase to the
+vessel that quietly awaited their approach,
+as astonished at the attack as a swallow
+would be if it were pursued by a gnat.
+Receiving one flaming broadside, noisy but
+harmless, the half-stripped rovers instantly
+threw themselves on board, but were repulsed
+by the Spaniards, who were numerous, hopeful,
+and brave. Returning to their vessel
+and throwing down their cutlass for the
+musket, they kept up a close fire of small
+arms for five hours without ceasing. Every
+gunner and every reefer was picked off, the
+decks were red, the return fire grew slack
+as the defence grew weaker, and the foe's
+proud courage cooled; the Buccaneers again
+threw themselves on board, and made themselves
+masters of the ship, with the loss of
+only ten men and four wounded. They had
+now only fifteen men left to navigate a vessel
+containing nearly forty prisoners. This number
+was all that were left alive, and of these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span>
+many were maimed with shot wounds or
+gashed with sword cuts. The conquerors'
+first act was to throw the dead overboard,
+officer and sailor, just as they fell, stripping
+off the jewels and ransacking pockets for the
+dead men's doubloons. The living Spaniards,
+wounded and dying, they drove into one
+small boat, and gave them their liberty, afraid
+to keep them as prisoners and unwilling to
+shed their blood. They then set to work to
+splice the rigging and piece the sails, and
+lastly, to rummage for the plunder. They
+found the value of their prize to be 75,000
+crowns, besides 120,000 pounds of cocoa,
+worth about 5000 additional. Having refitted
+the shattered vessel, they would have
+sailed round the island of Jamaica, but a
+contrary wind and current obliged them to
+steer to Cape St. Anthony, the west extremity
+of Cuba, where they landed and took in
+water, of which they were in great want.</p>
+
+<p>They had scarcely hoisted sail to resume
+their course, probably intending to return to
+port to sell their spoil before starting afresh,
+when they unexpectedly fell upon three large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span>
+vessels coming from New Spain to the Havannah,
+who gave chase, as certain of victory
+as three greyhounds bounding after a single
+hare. The Flibustiers, heavy laden with
+plunder, and unable to make way, were almost
+instantly retaken, falling as easy a prey as a
+gorged wolf does to the hunter. In a few
+hours the Buccaneers were under hatches,
+stripped of even their very clothes, and
+counting the moments before execution&mdash;the
+Puritan doling out his hymns, the Catholic
+muttering his Miserere, and the rude Cow-killer
+vowing vengeance if he could but
+escape. Two evenings after a storm arose and
+separated the leash of armed merchantmen.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel containing the luckless Portugues
+arrived first at St. Francisco, Campeachy.
+Barthelemy, who spoke Spanish,
+had been well treated by the captain, who
+did not know what a prize he had taken.
+The news of the capture soon ran through the
+town, the captain became a public man, the
+bells rang, the people flocked to see the
+caged lions, and the principal merchants of
+the place crowded to congratulate him on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span>
+success. Among the curious and timid visitors
+was one who recognised Barthelemy,
+in spite of all his oaths and denials, and
+demanded his surrender. No hate can match
+the hate of injured avarice and frustrated cupidity.
+"This is Barthelemy the Portuguese,"
+he told every one, "the most wicked rascal
+in the world, and who has done more harm to
+Spanish commerce than all the other pirates put
+together." He ran everywhere and declared
+they had at last got hold of the man so
+famous for the many insolences, robberies,
+and murders he had committed on their
+coast, and by whose cruel hands many of
+their kinsmen had perished. The captain,
+rather distrustful&mdash;somewhat favourable to
+Barthelemy, perhaps, considering him as a
+brother seaman, worth any ten land-lubbers,
+and annoyed at the arrogance of the merchant's
+demand&mdash;refused to surrender the
+Portuguese, or to send him on shore. The
+enraged merchant upon this proceeded to the
+governor, who, listening to his complaint,
+sent to demand the Buccaneers in the king's
+name. He was instantly arrested, spite of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span>
+the captain's entreaties, and placed on board
+another vessel, heavily ironed, for fear he
+should escape, as he had done on a former
+occasion. A gibbet was erected, and the
+next day it was resolved to lead him at once
+from his cabin to the place of execution,
+without the hypocritical and useless ceremony
+of even a prejudged trial. For some time
+Portugues remained uncertain of his fate,
+till a Spanish sailor (for he seems to have
+had the power of winning friends) told him
+that the gibbet was already putting together,
+and the rope was ready noosed. In that
+delay was his safety; that very night he
+resolved to escape, or perish by a quicker or
+less disgraceful death. No doubt, with that
+strange mixture of religion remaining in the
+minds of most Buccaneers, he prayed to God
+or the saints to aid him.</p>
+
+<p>He soon freed himself from his irons. Discovering
+in his cabin two of those large
+earthen jars in which wine was brought from
+Spain to the Indies, he closed over the orifices,
+and hung them to his side with cords,
+being probably unable to swim, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span>
+distance too far to the shore. Finding that
+he could not elude the vigilance of the sleepless
+sentinel that paced at his door, he
+stabbed him with a knife he had secretly
+purchased, and let himself noiselessly down,
+from the mainchains into the water, floating
+to land without the splash that a swimmer
+would have made in still water. Once on
+land he concealed himself in a wood, prepared
+to bear any danger, and glad at heart to
+endure starvation rather than suffer a public
+and shameful death. He was too cunning to
+set off at once on a route that would be explored,
+but hid himself among trees half
+covered with water, in order to prevent the
+possibility of his being tracked by the maroon
+bloodhounds&mdash;a common stratagem with the
+moss-troopers, who found the sound of running
+water drown the noise of their movements
+and the murmur of their breathing, and
+destroy all traces of their track. Bruce and
+Wallace had long before escaped by the
+artifice that now saved a robber and a murderer.
+His must have been anxious nights,
+varied by the shouts of negroes, the deep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span>
+bay of the dogs, the oaths of the Spaniards,
+the discharge of fire-arms, the toll of the
+alarm bell, the glare of beacons; and the flash
+of torches. For these three days he lived on
+yams and other roots growing around him.
+From a tree in which he sometimes harboured
+he had the satisfaction of seeing his pursuers
+search the wood in vain, and finally relinquish
+the pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>Believing that the danger had now in
+some degree decreased, the lion-hearted sailor
+determined to push for the Golpho Triste,
+forty leagues distant, where he hoped to find
+a Buccaneer ship careening. He arrived
+there after fourteen days of incredible endurance.
+He started in the evening from
+the seashore, within sight of the lit-up town
+where a black gibbet was still standing bodingly
+against the sky. His forced marches
+were full of terrible dangers and perils. He
+had no provisions with him, and nothing but
+a small calabash of water hung at his side.
+Hunger and thirst strode beside him, the wild
+beast glared in his path, the Spanish voices
+seemed to pursue him. His subsistence was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span>
+the raw shell-fish that he found washed
+among the rocks upon the shore, fresh or
+putrid he had no time to consider. He had
+streams to ford, dark with caymans, and he
+had to traverse woods where the jaguars
+howled. Whenever he came to a stream
+unusually dark, deep, and dangerous, and
+where no ford was visible (for he could
+not swim), he threw in large stones as he
+waded to scare away the crocodiles that
+lurked round the shallows. In one spot he
+travelled five or six leagues swinging like a
+sloth from bough to bough of a pathless wood
+of mangroves, never once setting foot upon
+the ground. His day's progress was often
+scarcely perceptible. At one river more than
+usually deep he found an old plank, which
+had drifted ashore when the seaman was
+washed off, and from this he obtained some
+large rusty nails. Extracting these nails, he
+sharpened them on a stone with great labour,
+and used them to cut down some branches of
+trees, which he joined together with osiers
+and pliable twigs, and slowly constructed a
+raft. Hunger, thirst, heat, and fear beset<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span>
+him round; and the voice of the sea, always
+on his right hand, came to him like the
+hungry howl of death. In these fourteen
+nights he must have literally tasted death,
+and anticipated the horrors of hell.</p>
+
+<p>"Fortune favors the brave." He found
+a Buccaneer vessel in the gulf, and he was
+saved. The crew were old companions of
+his, newly arrived from Jamaica and from
+England. He related to them his adversities
+and his misfortunes. All listened eagerly to
+adventures that might to-morrow be their
+own. He thought alone of revenge, and told
+them that if they chose he would give them
+a ship worth a whole fleet of their canoes.
+He desired their help. He only asked for
+one boat and thirty men. With these he
+promised to return to Campeachy and capture
+the vessel that had taken him but fourteen
+days before. They soon granted his request,
+the boat was at once equipped, and he sailed
+along the coast, passing for a smuggler
+bringing contraband goods. In eight days
+he arrived at Campeachy, undauntedly and
+without noise boarding the vessel at midnight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span>
+They were challenged by the sentinel.
+Barthelemy, who spoke good Spanish,
+replied, in a low voice, "We are part of the
+crew returning with goods from land, on
+which no duty has been paid." The sentinel,
+hoping for a share, or at least some hush-money,
+did not repeat the question. Allowing
+him no time to detect the trick, they
+stabbed him, and, rushing forward, overpowered
+the watch. Cutting the cable, they
+surprised the sleepers in their cabins, and,
+weighing anchor, soon compelled the Spaniards,
+by a resolute attack, to surrender; and,
+setting sail from the port, rejoined their
+exulting comrades, unpursued by any vessel.
+Great was the joy of the adventurers in becoming
+possessors of so brave a ship. Portugues
+was now again rich and powerful,
+though but lately a condemned prisoner
+in the very vessel upon whose deck he now
+stood the lord of all. With this cargo of
+rich merchandise Barthelemy intended to
+achieve enterprises, for though the Spaniards'
+plate had been all disembarked at Campeachy,
+the booty was still large.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span>
+But let no hunter halloo till he is out of the
+wood, and no sailor laugh till he gets into
+port. While he was making his voyage to
+Jamaica, and already counting his profits as
+certain, a terrible storm arose off the isle of
+Pinos, on the south of Cuba, which drove his
+prize against the Jardine rocks, where she
+went to pieces. Portugues and his companions
+escaped in a canoe to Jamaica, and
+before long started on new adventures.
+What eventually became of him we know
+not, but we are told that "he was never fortunate
+after." Whether he swung on the
+Campeachy gibbet after all, became a prey
+to the Darien man-eater, was pierced by the
+Greek bullet, or was devoured by the sea,
+long expecting its victim, we shall never
+know. He sails away from Kingston with
+colours flying, and wanders away into unknown
+deeps.</p>
+
+<p>Of this wild man's end nothing was ever
+known. He was living at Jamaica when
+Esquemeling left for England. His bones,
+perhaps, still whiten on some Indian bay,
+with the sea moaning around that nameless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span>
+dust for ever&mdash;doomed to destroy man, but
+lamenting the very desolation it occasions.</p>
+
+<p>This Roche Braziliano (or Roc, the Brazilian,
+as the English adventurers called him,)
+was born at Groninghen, in East Friezeland;
+and his own name being forgotten, he was
+called the Brazilian, because his parents had
+been Dutch settlers in the Brazils. Roche
+was taught the Indian and Portuguese languages
+at an early age, and, when the latter
+nation retook the Brazils, removed with his
+parents to the French Antilles, where he
+learned French. Disliking the nation, he
+passed into Jamaica. Here he learned to
+speak English, and, settling among our
+more congenial race, became attached to the
+country of his adoption. But he had lingered
+too long in the desert to have much taste for
+even Goshen. He had already acquired the
+Arab's love for wandering, and poverty
+combined to lead him into an adventurer's
+ship. Into this mode of life all restless
+talent and love of enterprise was now driven.</p>
+
+<p>After only three voyages, Roche became
+commander of a brig whose crew had mutinied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span>
+from their captain and offered him the
+command. In a few days, this almost untried
+man had the good fortune to capture a
+large vessel coming from New Spain with a
+great quantity of plate on board. On his
+arrival in Jamaica, Roc became at once the
+acknowledged leader of all the Vikinger of
+the Spanish main&mdash;their first sailor, their
+hero, and their model. He soon grew so
+terrible that the Spanish mothers used his
+name as a hushword to their children.</p>
+
+<p>Roc is described as having a stalwart and
+vigorous body. He was of ordinary height,
+but stout and muscular. His face was wide
+and short, his cheek-bones prominent, and
+his eyebrows bushy and of unusual size. He
+was skilful in the use of all Indian and Catholic
+(Spanish) arms, a good hunter, a good
+fisherman, and a good shot&mdash;as skilful a pilot
+as he was a brave soldier. He generally
+carried a naked sabre resting on his arm,
+and made no scruple of cutting down any of
+his crew who were idle, mutinous, or cowardly.
+He was much dreaded even in Jamaica,
+and particularly when drunk, says his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span>
+candid biographer. At those times he would
+frequently run a-muck through the streets,
+beating and wounding any one he met, especially
+if they dared to oppose or resist him.
+In his sober moments he was esteemed and
+feared, but he too often abandoned himself
+to every sort of debauchery.</p>
+
+<p>In Roc we see the first indication of a
+new phase of Buccaneering life&mdash;<i>a fanatical
+hatred of the Spaniard</i>. The sailor, at first
+a mere privateersman at sea, and a hunter on
+shore, was now a legal robber, with a spice
+of the crusader: a chivalrous Vendetta feeling
+had become superadded to the mere love of
+booty. A thirst for gold had proved irresistible:
+what would it be now when it became
+heightened by a thirst for blood?</p>
+
+<p>To the Spaniards Roc was always very
+barbarous and cruel, out of an inveterate
+hatred to that nation. He seldom gave them
+quarter, and treated them with untiring
+ferocity. He taxed his invention for new
+modes of torture, revenging upon them by a
+rather indirect mode of retaliation the wrongs
+inflicted upon his parents by the Portuguese.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span>
+He is said to have even roasted alive some of
+his prisoners on wooden spits, like boucaned
+boars, because they refused to disclose the
+hog-yards where he might victual his ships.
+By the Spaniards he was reported to be
+really an apostate outlaw of their own nation,
+this being the only way in which they
+could account for his needless and useless
+cruelties.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, as he was cruising on the
+coast of Campeachy, a dismal tempest, says
+the chronicler, "surprised him so violently"
+that his ship was wrecked, himself and his
+crew only escaping with their muskets, a
+little powder, and a few bullets, much more
+useful, however, than gold on such a coast.
+They reached shore not far from Golpho
+Triste, the scene of Barthelemy's escape.
+Roc was not the man to be cast down by an
+accident no more regarded by true adventurers
+than the upsetting of a coach by an
+ordinary traveller. Getting ashore in a
+canoe, he determined to march quickly
+along the coast, and repair to the gulf, a
+well-known haunt of the members of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span>
+craft. Roc bade his men be of good heart,
+and he would bring them safe out of every
+danger, and, giving them hope, the promise
+was already half accomplished. Getting
+on the main road, they proceeded on
+their march through a hostile country, with
+the air of men who had conquered the whole
+Indies. They had already reached a desert
+track, and were grown fatigued, hungry,
+and thirsty, when some Indians gave the
+alarm, and the Spaniards were soon down
+upon them, to the number of one hundred
+well-armed and well-mounted horsemen, while
+the Buccaneers were but thirty men.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Roc saw the enemy, the Brazilian
+cried out, "Courage, <i>mes frčres</i>, we
+are hungry now, but, Caramba, you shall
+soon have a dinner if you follow me," and
+then, perceiving the imminent danger, he
+encouraged his men, telling them they were
+better soldiers than the Spaniards, and that
+they ought rather to die fighting under their
+arms as became men of courage, than to surrender,
+and have their lives pressed out by
+the extremest torments. Seeing their commander's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span>
+courage, the wrecked men resolved
+to attack, instead of waiting tamely for the
+enemy's approach, and, facing the Spaniards,
+they at once discharged their guns so dexterously,
+that they killed a horseman with
+almost every shot. After an hour's hot
+fighting, the Spaniards fled. The adventurers
+lost only two men, two more being
+lamed. Stripping the dead, they took
+from them every valuable, and despatched
+the wounded with the butt-end of their
+muskets. They then feasted on the wine
+and brandy they found in their knapsacks,
+or at their saddle bows, and declared themselves
+ready to attack as many again; and having
+finished their meal, they mounted on the
+stray horses, and proceeded on their march.</p>
+
+<p>The victors had not gone more than two
+days' journey before they caught sight of a
+well-manned Spanish vessel, lying off the
+shore beneath. It had come to protect the
+boats which landed the men who cut the
+Campeachy dyewood. Roc saw that the
+poultry-yard knew nothing of the kite that
+was hovering near. He instantly concealed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span>
+his band, and went with six comerades into
+a thicket near the beach to watch. Here
+they passed the night. At daybreak the
+Spaniards, pulling to shore in their canoe,
+were received in a courteous but unexpected
+manner by the Buccaneers. Roc instantly
+summoned his men, boarded and took the
+vessel. The little man-of-war contained
+little plate, but, what was of equal use, two
+hundred weight of salt, with which he salted
+down a few of the horses which he killed.
+The remaining horses he gave to his Spanish
+prisoners, telling them laughingly, that the
+beasts were worth more than the vessel,
+and that once on their backs on dry land
+no rascal need fear drowning.</p>
+
+<p>A Buccaneer's first thought on obtaining
+one prize was to gain another as soon as
+possible. Roc had still twenty-six man
+by him, and a good vessel to move in. He
+soon took a ship, bound to Maracaibo from
+New Spain, laden with merchandise and
+money designed to buy a cargo of cocoa-nuts.
+With this they repaired to Jamaica, letting
+the vessel scorch in harbour till their money<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span>
+was all gone. Having spent all, Braziliano
+put out to sea again, impatient of poverty
+and resolved to trust to fortune, for he was
+her favourite child. He sailed for the rendezvous
+at Campeachy, and after fifteen days
+started in a canoe to hover round the port,
+beating about like a hawk in search of prey.</p>
+
+<p>He was soon after captured and taken with
+his men before a Spanish governor, who cast
+them into a dungeon, intending to hang them
+every one. But fortune only hid her smiles
+for a moment, and had not deserted him.
+Roc, as subtle as he was intrepid, had not yet
+exhausted his wiles. He was at bay and the
+dogs were gathered round, but they had not
+yet got him by the throat. He made friends
+with the slave who brought him food, and
+promised to give him money to buy his freedom
+if he would aid his scheme. He did not
+wish to compromise the slave: he only wished
+him to be the bearer of a letter to the governor.
+The slave told the governor that he
+had been put on shore in the bay by some
+Buccaneers and had been ordered to deliver
+the letter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span>
+The letter was an angry threat, supposed
+to be indited by the captain of a French
+vessel lying in the offing. It advised the
+governor "to have a care how he used those
+persons he had in his custody, for in case he
+should do them any harm, they did swear
+unto him, they would never give quarter
+unto any person of the Spanish nation that
+should fall into their hands." The governor,
+lifting up his eyes and twisting his moustachios
+at the threat, was intimidated, and
+became anxious to get rid as soon as possible
+of such dangerous prisoners, for Campeachy had
+already been taken once by the adventurers,
+and he feared what mischief the companions
+who visited Spanish towns might do. He
+began now to treat his prisoners with greater
+kindness, and on the first opportunity sent
+for them, and, exacting a simple oath that
+they would abandon piracy, shipped them on
+board the galleon fleet bound for Spain. Roc,
+with his usual versatility, soon made himself
+so much beloved that the Spanish captain
+offered to take him as a sailor, and he accepted
+the offer. During this single voyage to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span>
+Spain he made a sum of no less than 500
+crowns by selling the officers fish that he
+struck in the Indian manner with arrows and
+harpoons from the main-chains. His comerades,
+whom he never forgot, were treated
+with consideration on his account.</p>
+
+<p>On his arrival in Spain, Roc, in spite of his
+oath, which had been exacted by fear of
+death, and therefore absolvable by any priest,
+lost no time in getting back to Jamaica,
+where he arrived without a vessel to call his
+own, but in other respects in better circumstances
+than when he left. He joined himself
+at once to two French adventurers.</p>
+
+<p>The chief of these, named Tributor, was an
+old Buccaneer of great experience. They
+determined to land upon the peninsula of
+Yucatan, in hopes of taking the town of
+Merida. Roc, who had been there before as
+a prisoner, and had doubtless proposed the
+scheme, served as guide, but some Indians
+got upon their trail and alarmed the Spaniards,
+who fortified the place and prepared for an
+attack. On the Buccaneers' arrival they found
+the town well garrisoned and defended, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span>
+while they were still debating whether to
+advance or retreat, the question was abruptly
+decided for them by a body of the enemy's
+horsemen who fell upon their rear, cut half
+of them to pieces, and made the rest prisoners.
+The wily Roc, never taken much by surprise,
+contrived to escape, but old Tributor
+and his men were all captured. &#338;xmelin
+expresses his wonder at Roc's escape, because
+he had always held it vile cowardliness to
+allow another man to strike before himself.
+"Hitherto he had been the last to yield, even
+when he was overborne by enemies, and had
+been heard to say that he preferred death to
+dishonour." <i>Nemo mortalium</i>, &amp;c.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span>
+</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />
+
+<small>LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.</small></h2>
+
+<blockquote><p>Lolonnois&mdash;His stratagem&mdash;His cruelty&mdash;His partner,
+Michael le Basque&mdash;Takes Maracaibo&mdash;Tortures the
+citizens&mdash;Sacks the town&mdash;Takes Gibraltar&mdash;Attempt
+on Merida&mdash;Famine and pestilence&mdash;Division of spoil&mdash;Takes
+St. Pedro&mdash;Burns Veragua&mdash;Wrecked in
+Honduras&mdash;Attacked by Indians&mdash;Killed and eaten
+by the savages.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>The Spanish ships now decreased in
+number, merchants relinquishing a trade so
+uncertain and perilous. The consequence of
+this was that the Buccaneers, finding their
+sea cruises grow less profitable, began to
+venture upon the mainland, and attack towns
+and even cities.</p>
+
+<p>The first Buccaneer who distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span>
+himself in this wider field of action was
+Francis Lolonnois. He was born among the
+sands of Olonne, in Poictou, and drew his
+<i>nom de guerre</i> from that wild and fitting birthplace.
+He quitted France in early life, and
+embarked at Rochelle as an <i>engagé</i> for the
+Caribbean Islands, where he served the customary
+slavery of three years. Having heard
+much during this servitude of the hunters of
+Hispaniola, he sailed for that island as soon
+as his apprenticeship had expired, and he
+was again a free adventurer. He first bound
+himself as a valet to a hunter, and finally
+became himself a Buccaneer, having now
+passed through all the usual experiences of
+a young West Indian colonist. Spending
+some time upon the savannahs, he became
+restless and tired of shore, and desirous of
+enlisting as a freebooter under the red flag.
+Repairing to Tortuga, the head-quarters of
+Flibustier enterprise, he enrolled himself
+among the rovers of the sea, with whom he
+made many voyages as simple mariner or
+companion. From the first day he trod
+plank he is said to have shown himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span>
+destined to attain high distinction, surpassing
+all the "Brothers" in adroitness, agility,
+and daring.</p>
+
+<p>In these floating republics talent soon rose
+to the surface. Lolonnois was elected master
+of a vessel, with which he took many prizes,
+but at last lost everything by a storm which
+wrecked his ship, drowned his men, sank his
+cargo, and cast him bleeding and naked upon
+a savage shore. His courage and conduct,
+however, had won the admiration of the Governor
+of Tortuga, M. de la Place, whose
+island he had enriched by the frequent sale
+of prizes, and who launched him again in
+a new ship to encounter once more all the
+fury of the sea, the hurricane, and the
+Spaniard. Fortune was at first favourable
+to him, and he acquired great riches. His
+name became so dreaded by the Indians and
+the Spaniards that they chose rather to die
+or drown than surrender to one who never
+knew the word mercy. He never learned
+how to chain fortune to his mast, and
+was soon a second time wrecked at Campeachy.
+The men were all saved, but on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span>
+reaching land were pursued and killed by
+the Spaniards. Lolonnois, himself severely
+wounded, saved his life by a stratagem.
+Mixing the sand of the shore with the blood
+flowing from his wounds, he smeared his face
+and body, and hid himself dexterously under
+a heap of dead, remaining there till the
+Spaniards had carried off one or two of his
+less severely wounded companions into Campeachy.
+As soon as they were gone he arose
+with a grim smile from his lurking place
+among the slain, and betook himself to the
+woods. He then washed his now stiffened
+wounds in a river, and bound up his gashes
+as he could. As soon as they were healed
+(the flesh of these men soon healed), he put
+on the dress of a slain Spaniard, and made
+his way boldly into the neighbouring city.
+In the suburbs he entered into conversation
+with some slaves he met, whom he bribed
+by an offer of freedom if they would obey
+him and follow his guidance.</p>
+
+<p>They listened to his proposal, and, stealing
+their master's canoe, brought it to the sea-shore,
+where Lolonnois lay concealed. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span>
+before this the disguised Buccaneer had
+gone rambling fearlessly through the enemy's
+town, witnessing the rejoicings made at his
+own supposed death; for his companions,
+who were kept close prisoners in a dungeon,
+had been asked what had become of their
+captain, to which they had always replied that
+he was dead, upon which the Spaniards lit
+up bonfires in their open squares, thanking
+God for their deliverance from so cruel a
+pirate.</p>
+
+<p>The flames of these fires were red upon
+the bay when Lolonnois and the slaves
+pushed off their canoe and made haste to
+escape. They reached Tortuga in safety,
+and Lolonnois kept his promise, and set the
+slaves at liberty&mdash;although, if he had been
+base and worthless enough, he could have
+refitted his boat with the profits of their sale.
+He now thought only of revenging himself
+on the Spaniards for their cruelty in murdering
+the survivors of a wreck. He spent
+whole days in considering how he could
+capture a vessel and restore himself to his
+former reputation for skill and fortune. By<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span>
+some extraordinary plan, Esquemeling&mdash;who
+writes always with affected horror of the
+men amongst whom he lived&mdash;says, with
+"craft and subtlety," he soon obtained a
+third ship, with a crew of twenty-one men
+and a surgeon. Being well provided with
+arms and necessaries&mdash;how provided by a
+penniless man it is impossible to guess&mdash;he
+resolved to visit De Los Cayos, a village
+on the south side of Cuba, where he knew
+vessels from the Havannah passed to the port
+of Boca de Estera, where they purchase
+tobacco, sugar, and hides, coming generally
+in small boats, for the sea ran very shallow.
+At this place meat was also obtained to
+victual the Spanish fleets.</p>
+
+<p>Here Lolonnois was very sanguine of booty,
+but some fishermen's boats, observing him,
+alarmed the town. One of these canoes they
+captured, and, placing in it a crew of eleven
+men, proceeded to coast about the Bayes du
+Nord. The Buccaneers kept at some distance
+from each other, in hopes of sooner
+surrounding their prey, for each of their
+crews was strong enough to capture any merchant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span>
+vessel that had not more than fifteen
+or sixteen unarmed men on board. They remained
+some months beating off and on Cuba,
+but caught nothing, although this was the
+very height of the commercial season. After
+a long delay of wonder and vexation, they
+learned the cause of their failure from the
+crew of a fishing-boat which they captured,
+who told them that the people of Cayos would
+not venture to sea because they knew that
+they were there. It would be dangerous
+for them to remain, they added, for the chief
+merchants of the port had instantly despatched
+a "vessel overland" to the Governor
+of Havannah, telling him that Lolonnois
+had come in two canoes to destroy them, and
+begging him to send and destroy the "ladrones."
+The governor could with difficulty
+at first be persuaded to listen to the petition,
+because he had just received letters from
+Campeachy bidding him rejoice at the death
+of that pirate; but, aroused by the continued
+importunities of his angry petitioners,
+he at last sent a ship to their relief.</p>
+
+<p>This ship carried ten guns, and had a crew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span>
+of ninety young, vigorous, and well-armed
+men, to whom he gave at parting an express
+command that they should not return into
+his presence without having first destroyed
+those pirates. He sent with them a negro hangman,
+desiring him to kill on the spot all they
+should take, except Lolonnois, the captain,
+who was to be brought alive in triumph to
+the Havannah. The ship had scarcely arrived
+at Cayos when the pirate, advertised of its
+approach, came to seek it at its moorings in
+the river Estera. Lolonnois cried out, when
+he saw it loom in the distance, "Courage,
+mes camarades! courage, mes bons frčres!
+we shall soon be well mounted." Capturing
+some fishermen busy with their nets, he
+forced them at night to show him the entrance
+of the port.</p>
+
+<p>Rowing very quietly in the shadow of the
+trees that bordered the river's banks and hid
+their approach, they arrived under the vessel's
+side a little after two o'clock in the morning&mdash;not
+long before daybreak. The watch on
+board the ship hailed them, and asked them
+whence they came and if they had seen any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span>
+pirates? They made one of the fishermen
+who guided them reply in Spanish that they
+had seen no pirates or anything else; and
+this made the Spaniards believe that Lolonnois
+had fled at their approach. The Buccaneers
+instantly began to open fire on both
+sides from their canoes. The Spaniards, who
+kept good guard, returned the fire, but without
+much effect, for their enemies lay down
+flat in their boats, and the trees served them
+as gabions. The Spaniards fought bravely, in
+spite of the suddenness and vigour of the attack,
+and made some use of their great guns.
+The combat lasted from dawn till midday,
+the crew of the vessel discharging ineffectual
+volleys of musketry, which seldom injured
+the assailants, whose bullets, on the other
+hand, killed or wounded every moment some
+of the Havannah youth. When the firing
+began to slacken, Lolonnois pulled his canoes
+out into the stream, and boarded the vessel,
+which almost instantly surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>Those who survived were beaten down
+under the hatches, while the wounded on the
+decks received the <i>coup de grace</i>. When this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span>
+had been done, Lolonnois commanded his
+men to bring up the prisoners one by one
+from the hold, cutting off their heads as they
+came up with his own hand, and tasting their
+blood. The negro hangman, seeing the fate
+of his predecessors, threw himself passionately
+at the feet of the Buccaneer chief, and exclaimed
+in Spanish, "If you will not kill me
+I will tell you the truth." Lolonnois, supposing
+he had some secret to tell, bade him
+speak on. But he refused to open his lips
+further till life were promised him; upon the
+promise being made, the trembling wretch
+exclaimed, "Senor capitan, Monsieur, the
+governor of the Havannah, not doubting but
+that this well-armed frigate would have taken
+the strongest of your vessels, sent me on
+board to serve as executioner, and to hang all
+the prisoners that his men took, in order to
+intimidate your nation, so that they should
+not dare ever to approach a Spanish vessel."
+Esquemeling, who always exaggerates the
+cruelty of his quondam companions, says,
+Lolonnois, making the black confess what he
+thought fit, commanded him to be murdered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span>
+with the rest; but &#338;xmelin gives a more
+probable version. At the negro's mention
+of his being a hangman he grew furious, and
+but for his words, "I give thee quarter and
+even liberty because I promised it thee,"
+would certainly have put him to death. He
+then slew all the rest of the crew but one man,
+whom he spared in order to send him back
+with a letter to the governor of the Havannah.
+The letter ran thus: "I have returned
+your kindness by doing to your men what
+they designed to do to me and my companions.
+I shall never henceforward give
+quarter to any Spaniard whatsoever, and I
+have great hopes of executing upon your own
+person the very same punishment I have
+done upon those you sent against me. It
+would be better for you to cut your throat
+than to fall into my power."</p>
+
+<p>The governor, enraged at the loss of his
+ship and crew, and exasperated by the insolent
+daring of the letter, swore in the presence
+of many that he would not grant quarter to
+any pirate who fell into his hands. Furious
+that two canoes, with twenty-two half-naked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span>
+men, should be able to deride the might of
+Spain in his person, he instantly sent round
+word to the neighbouring Indian forts to
+hang all their French and English prisoners,
+instead of, as usual, embarking them for Spain.
+The citizens of Havannah, hearing of this
+imprudent bravado, sent a deputation to the
+governor to represent to him that, for one
+Englishman or Frenchman that the Spaniards
+captured, the Buccaneers took every day a
+hundred of their people, that the men of
+Havannah were obliged to get their living
+by trading, that life was far dearer to
+them than mere money, which was all the
+Buccaneers wanted; and lastly, that all their
+fishermen would be daily exposed to danger,
+the Buccaneers having frequent opportunity
+for reprisal. Upon this the angry governor
+was at last persuaded to bridle his passion
+and remit the severity of his oath.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois, now provided with a good ship,
+resolved to cruise from port to port to obtain
+provisions and men. Off Maracaibo he surprised
+a ship laden with plate, outward-bound
+to buy cocoa-nuts, and with this prize returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span>
+to Tortuga, much to his own satisfaction
+and the general joy of that strange
+colony of runaway slaves, disbanded soldiers,
+hunters, privateersmen, pirates, Puritans, and
+papists. He had not been long in port
+before he planned an expedition to Maracaibo,
+joining another adventurer in equipping a
+body of five hundred men. In Tortuga he
+found prisoners for guides, and disbanded
+adventurers resolute enough to be his companions.
+His partner was Michael le Basque,
+a Buccaneer who had retired very rich, and
+was now major of the island. He had done
+great actions in Europe, and bore the repute
+of being a good soldier. Lolonnois was to
+rule by sea and Le Basque by land.</p>
+
+<p>Le Basque knew all the avenues of Maracaibo,
+and had lately taken in a prize two
+Indians, who knew the port well and offered
+to act both as pilots and guides. Le Basque
+had consented to join Lolonnois, struck by the
+daring and comprehension of his plans, and
+Lolonnois was overjoyed at the alliance of so
+tried a man. Notice was instantly given to
+all the unemployed Buccaneers that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span>
+were planning a great expedition with much
+chance of booty. All who were willing to join
+them were to come by a certain day to the
+rendezvous either at Tortuga or Bayala, on
+the north side of Hispaniola; at the latter place
+he revictualled his fleet, took some French
+hunters as volunteers into his company,
+careened his vessels, and procured beef and
+pork by the chase.</p>
+
+<p>His fleet consisted of eight small ships, of
+which his own, the largest, carried only
+twenty pieces of cannon; his crews amounted
+altogether to about four hundred men. Setting
+sail from Bayala the last day in July,
+while doubling Ponta del Espada (Sword
+Point), the eastern cape of Hispaniola, Lolonnois
+overtook two Spanish vessels coming from
+Porto Rico to New Spain, and one of these
+Lolonnois insisted on capturing with his own
+hand, sending in his fleet to Savona. The
+Spaniards, although they had an opportunity
+for two whole hours, refused to fly, and, being
+well armed, prepared for a desperate resistance;
+the combat lasted for three hours.
+The ship carried sixteen guns, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span>
+manned by fifty fighting men. They found
+in her a cargo of 120,000 pounds' weight of
+cocoa, 40,000 pieces of eight, and the value
+of 10,000 more in jewels. Lolonnois instantly
+sent this prize back to Tortuga to be
+unloaded, with orders to return to the rendezvous
+at Savona. On their way to this
+place, his vanguard had also been in luck,
+having met with a Spanish vessel bringing
+military stores and money from Cumana for
+the garrisons of Hispaniola. In this vessel,
+which they took without any resistance,
+though armed with eight guns, they found
+7,000 pounds' weight of powder, a great number
+of muskets and other arms, together with
+12,000 pieces of eight.</p>
+
+<p>These successes encouraged the adventurers,
+and to superstitious men seemed like
+promises of good fortune and success. The
+generosity of the governor of Tortuga also
+tended to heighten their spirits. M. D'Ogeron,
+the French governor, had been greatly delighted
+at the early arrival of so rich a prize,
+worth, at the lowest calculation, 180,000
+livres, and threw open all his store-houses for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span>
+the use of the prize crew. Ordering her to
+be quickly unloaded, he sent her back to
+Lolonnois full of provisions and necessaries.
+Many persons who had come from France
+with the governor now joined an expedition
+which had begun so auspiciously, desirous of
+gaining a fortune with the same rapidity as
+the older colonists. By hazarding a little
+money a planter could obtain a chance
+of sharing in the plunder of a distant city
+without moving from under the shadow of
+his tamarind tree, and the governor's approval
+threw an air of legal government patronage
+over the expedition. D'Ogeron even sent
+his two nephews on board, young gallants
+newly arrived from France, and one of whom
+afterwards ruled the island in the room of
+his uncle. With a fleet recruited with men
+in room of those killed by the fever or the
+Spaniards, and full of hope and spirits, Lolonnois
+sailed for Maracaibo. His own vessel
+he gave to his comrade Anthony du Puis, and
+went himself on board the <i>Cacaoyere</i>, as the
+largest prize was called.</p>
+
+<p>Before sailing, he reviewed his little invincible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span>
+armada. His own new frigate
+carried sixteen guns and 120 men. His
+vice-admiral, Moses Vauclin, had ten guns
+and ninety men; and his <i>matelot</i>, Le Basque,
+sailed in a vessel called <i>La Poudričre</i>, because
+it contained all the powder, the ammunition,
+and the money for the sailors' pay. It carried
+twenty pieces of cannon and ninety men.
+Pierre le Picard steered a brigantine with
+forty men. Moses had equipped another of
+the same size, and the two other smaller vessels
+were each managed by a crew of thirty
+men. Every sailor was armed with a good
+musket, a brace of pistols, and a strong sabre.
+At this review Lolonnois first disclosed his
+whole plan, which was to visit Maracaibo, in
+the province of New Venezuela, and to pillage
+all the towns that border the lake. He then
+produced his guides, one of whom had been
+a pilot over the bar at Maracaibo, and who
+vouched for the ease with which the attack
+could be made. Shouts and clamour announced
+the universal satisfaction
+at the proposal. They all agreed to follow
+him, and took an oath that they would obey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span>
+him implicitly on the penalty of being
+mulcted of their booty. The usual <i>chasse-partie</i>,
+or Buccaneers' agreement, was then
+drawn up, specifying the exact share that
+each one should receive of the spoil, from the
+captain down to the boys of the ships, and
+not forgetting the wounded and the guides.</p>
+
+<p>Venezuela, or "little Venice," derived its
+name from its being very low land, and
+only preserved from frequent inundation by
+artificial means. At six or seven leagues'
+distance from the Bay of Maracaibo, or Gulf
+of Venezuela, are two small islands&mdash;the
+island of the Watch Tower and the island of
+the Pigeons. Between these two islands runs
+a channel of fresh water&mdash;as wide across
+as an eight-pound shot can carry, about sixty
+leagues long, and thirty broad&mdash;which empties
+itself into the sea. On the Isla de las
+Vigilias stood a hill surmounted by a watch-tower;
+on the Isla de las Palombas a fort to
+impede the entrance of vessels, which were
+obliged to come very near, the channel being
+narrowed by two sand-banks, which left
+only fourteen feet water. The sand-drifts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span>
+were very numerous; some of them, particularly
+one called El Tablazo, not having
+more than six feet water.</p>
+
+<p>"West hereof," says Esquemeling&mdash;for we
+must describe the past, not the present city&mdash;"is
+the city of Maracaibo, very pleasant to
+the view, its houses being built along the
+shore, having delightful prospects all round.
+The city may contain three or four thousand
+persons, slaves included, all which make a
+town of reasonable bigness. There are judged
+to be about 800 persons able to bear arms, all
+Spaniards. Here are one parish church, well
+built and adorned, four monasteries, and one
+hospital. The city is governed by a deputy-governor,
+substituted by the governor of the
+Caraccas. The trade here exercised is mostly
+in hides and tobacco. The inhabitants possess
+great numbers of cattle and many plantations,
+which extend thirty leagues in the
+country, especially towards the great town of
+Gibraltar, where are gathered great quantities
+of cocoa nuts, and all other garden fruits,
+which serve for the regale and sustenance of
+the inhabitants of Maracaibo, whose territories<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span>
+are much drier than those of Gibraltar.
+Hither those of Maracaibo send great quantities
+of flesh, they making returns in oranges,
+lemons, and other fruits; for the inhabitants
+of Gibraltar want flesh, not being capable of
+feeding cows and sheep."</p>
+
+<p>The inner lake within the great bar, so
+difficult to cross, was fed by upwards of
+seventy streams, of which several were navigable.
+The two capes on either side of the
+gulf were named respectively Cape St.
+Roman and the Cape of Caquibacoa. The
+east side, though frequently flooded, was
+unhealthy, but very fertile, something resembling
+the Maremma, where, according
+to an Italian proverb, a man gets rich in six
+months and dies in seven.</p>
+
+<p>In the bay itself, ten or twelve leagues
+from the lake, are the two islands of Onega
+and Las Monges. On the east side, near the
+<i>embouchure</i>, there was a fishermen's village
+called Barbacoa, where the Indians lived in
+trees to escape the floods; for, after great
+rains, the lands were often overflowed in broad
+tracts of two or three leagues. A few miles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span>
+from this was the town of Gibraltar, where
+the best cocoa in the Indies was grown, as
+well as the celebrated "priests' tobacco."
+Beyond this twenty leagues of jurisdiction,
+rose mountains perpetually covered with snow,
+contrasting remarkably with the swampy
+fields and the rich tropical vegetation of the
+well-irrigated district below. On the other
+side of these mountains lay the mother city
+of Merida, between which, during the summer
+alone, mules carried merchandise to
+Gibraltar; the cocoa and tobacco of Merida
+being exchanged for Peruvian flour and the
+fruits of Gibraltar. Near this latter town
+were rich plantations and wooded districts,
+abounding with the tall cedars from which
+the Indians scooped out solid <i>piraguas</i>, or
+canoes, capable of carrying thirty tons, which
+were rigged with one large sail.</p>
+
+<p>The territory of Gibraltar was flat, and
+naturally fertile, watered by rivers and
+brooks, besides being artificially irrigated by
+small channels, necessary in the frequent
+droughts. Everything desirable for food and
+pleasant to the sight grew here in abundance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span>
+the air was filled with birds as beautiful as
+wandering blossoms, and the rivers teemed
+with many-coloured fish. But into this
+Indian Paradise death had entered, and these
+swamps were the lairs of the deadliest fevers
+that devastate humanity. In the rainy season
+the merchants left Gibraltar, just as the
+rich do Rome, and retired to Merida or
+Maracaibo to escape the pestilence that
+walked not merely in darkness but even
+in the bright noon. At six leagues from
+this town and its 1,500 inhabitants, ran
+a river navigable by vessels of fifty tons'
+burthen.</p>
+
+<p>Maracaibo itself had a spacious and secure
+port, and was well adapted for building vessels,
+owing to the abundance of timber in the
+neighbourhood. In the small island of Borrica
+were fed great numbers of goats, which
+were bred chiefly for their skins. In curious
+contradistinction to all this bustle of commerce,
+life, and wealth, on the south-east
+border of the lake lived the Bravo-Indians, a
+savage race, who had never been subdued by
+the Spaniard. They also, like the fishermen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span>
+dwelt in huts built in the branches of
+the mangrove trees at the very edge of the
+water, safe from the floods, and from the
+equally annoying, though less fatal, visitation
+of the mosquitoes. Beyond them to the
+west spread a dry and arid country&mdash;where
+nothing but cacti and stunted, bitter shrubs
+grew, so thorny as to be almost impassable
+by the traveller&mdash;waste and barren. Here
+the Spaniards pastured a few flocks, and the
+only houses were the huts of the armed
+shepherds who tended the lonely herds.
+These cattle were killed chiefly for their fat
+and hides, the flesh being left for the flocks
+of merchant birds&mdash;a sort of vulture, four or
+five of whom would pick an ox to the bone
+in a day or two.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois, arriving at one of the islands in
+the gulf, landed and took in provisions, not
+wishing to arrive at the bar till daybreak, in
+hopes of surprising the fort; and anchoring,
+out of sight of the watch-tower weighed
+anchor in the evening from the island of
+Onega, and sailed all night, but was seen by
+the sentinels, who immediately made signals<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span>
+to the fort, which discharged its cannon and
+announced the approach of an enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Mooring off the bar, Lolonnois lost no time
+in landing to attack the fort that guarded the
+very door through which he must pass. The
+batteries consisted of simple gabions or baskets
+masked with turf, and concealing fourteen
+pieces of cannon and 250 men, with
+flanking earthworks thrown up to protect the
+gunners. Lolonnois and Le Basque landed
+at a league from the fort, and advanced at
+the head of their men. The governor, seeing
+them land, had prepared an ambuscade, in
+hopes of attacking them at the same time in
+flank and rear. The Buccaneers, discovering
+this, got before the Spaniards, and routed
+them so utterly that not a single man returned
+to the fort, which was instantly attacked
+"with the usual desperation of this
+sort of people," says Esquemeling. The
+fighting continued for three hours. The
+Buccaneers, aiming with hunters' precision,
+killed so many of the Spaniards, and reduced
+their numbers so terribly, that the survivors
+could not prevent the savage swordsmen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span>
+storming the embrasures, slaying half the
+survivors, and taking the rest prisoners. A
+few survivors are said by one writer to have
+fled in confusion into Maracaibo, crying, "The
+pirates will presently be here with 2,000
+men."</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the day Lolonnois spent in destroying
+the fort he had captured, first signalling
+his ships to come in as the danger was
+over. His men levelled the earth ramparts,
+spiked the guns, buried the dead, and sent
+the wounded on board the fleet. The next
+day, very early in the morning, the ships
+weighed anchor and directed their course, in
+close-winged phalanx, like a flock of locusts,
+towards the doomed city of Maracaibo, now
+only six leagues distant. They made but
+slow way, in spite of all their impatience, for
+there was very little wind; and it was not
+till the next morning that they drew in sight
+of the town, standing pleasantly on the cool
+shore, with its galleries of shaded balconies,
+its towers and steeples&mdash;the goal to which
+they steered.</p>
+
+<p>Suspicious of ambuscades after the danger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span>
+at the bar, Lolonnois put his men into
+canoes, and pulled to shore under protection
+of salvos from his great guns, which he
+ordered to be pointed at the woods which
+lined the beach. Half the men went in the
+canoes, and half remained on board; but
+these furious discharges were thrown away,
+the Spaniards having long since fled. To
+their great astonishment, the town itself was
+deserted. The people, remembering the horrors
+of a former Buccaneer descent, when
+Maracaibo had been "sacked to the uttermost,"
+had escaped to Gibraltar in their boats
+and canoes, taking with them all the jewels
+and money they could carry.</p>
+
+<p>To the alarmed friends who received them,
+they said that the fort of the bar had been
+taken, and nothing been saved, nor any
+soldiers escaped. At Gibraltar they believed
+themselves safe, thinking the Buccaneers
+would pillage the unfortunate and defenceless
+town and then retreat over the bar.</p>
+
+<p>The hungry sailors, who had lived scantily
+for four weeks, found the deserted houses
+well provided with flour, bread, pork, poultry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span>
+and brandy, and with these they made good
+cheer. The warehouses were brimming with
+merchandise, the cellars were flowing with
+Spanish wine. The more prudent fell to
+plunder, the more thoughtless to revel. The
+former class probably embraced the older, and
+the latter the younger men. Each party
+abused the vice from which he abstained,
+and gave himself up without scruple to his
+own more favourite indulgence. But soon
+the man weary of wine began to plunder, and
+the man loaded with pieces of eight began to
+drink. The moment that plunder ceased,
+waste began, and prudence and folly alike
+ended the day,&mdash;poor and drunk. The commanders
+at once seized on the best houses,
+indulging their natural love of order and
+justice, by placing sentinels at the larger
+shops and warehouses.</p>
+
+<p>The great monastery of the Cordeliers
+served them as a guard-house, for a long
+time the abode of thieves, yet never so manifestly
+as now; for a long time the shrine of
+mammon, yet now for the first time filled by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span>
+his avowed worshippers. Had the town not
+been deserted, that night would have heard
+the groans of the victim of cruelty; as it was,
+it echoed only with the songs and shouts of
+debauchery. The Buccaneer had reached
+his Capua, but there were no Judiths ready
+to slay these Holofernes in their drunken
+sleep. Perhaps a night surprise would have
+failed. These men were still the vigilant
+hunters and the watchful sailors; sunken
+rocks and lurking Spaniards, breakers and
+wild bulls, reefs and wild panthers had
+taught them never to sleep unguarded and
+unwatched.</p>
+
+<p>The next day a fresh source of plunder
+was opened. Lolonnois&mdash;for Le Basque's
+command, even by land, seems to have been
+secondary&mdash;sent a body of 160 men to reconnoitre
+the neighbouring woods, where some
+of the inhabitants were, it was supposed, concealed.
+They returned the same night, discharging
+their guns, and dragging after them
+a miserable weeping train of twenty prisoners,
+men, women, and children; and, besides this,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span>
+a sack of 20,000 pieces of eight, and many
+mules, laden with household goods and
+merchandise.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the prisoners were at once racked,
+to make them confess where they had hidden
+their riches, but neither pain nor fear could
+extort their secret. Lolonnois, who valued
+not murdering, though in cold blood, ten or
+twelve Spaniards, drew his cutlass and hacked
+one of them to pieces before all his companions;
+and while the pale, tortured men
+were still writhing and groaning by his side,
+declared, "If you do not confess and declare
+where you have the rest of your goods, I will
+do the like to all your companions." In
+spite of all these horrible cruelties and inhuman
+threats, only one was found base
+enough to offer to conduct the Buccaneers to
+a place where the rest of the fugitives were
+hidden. When they arrived there, they
+found their coming had been announced,
+the riches had been removed to another
+place, and the Spaniards had fled. The
+exiles now changed their hiding-places
+daily, and, amid the universal danger and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span>
+distrust, a father would not even rely on
+his own son.</p>
+
+<p>After fifteen days "taking stock" at Maracaibo,
+Lolonnois marched towards Gibraltar,
+intending afterwards to sack Merida, as at
+these places he expected to find the wealth
+transported from the City of the Lake. Several
+of his prisoners offered to serve as guides,
+but warned him that he would find the place
+strong and fortified. "No matter," cried the
+Buccaneer, "the better sign that it is worth
+taking."</p>
+
+<p>Gibraltar was already prepared. The
+inhabitants, expecting Lolonnois, had entreated
+aid from the governor of Merida, a
+stout old soldier who had served in Flanders.
+He sent back word, that they need take no
+care, for he hoped in a little while to exterminate
+the pirates. He had soon after this
+hopeful bravado entered the town at the
+head of 400 well-armed men, and was soon
+joined by an equal number of armed townsmen,
+whom he at once enrolled. On the
+side of the town towards the sea he raised
+with great rapidity a battery, mounting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span>
+twenty guns, well protected by baskets of
+earth, and flanked by a smaller traverse of
+eight pieces. He lastly barricaded a narrow
+passage to the town, through which the
+pirates, he knew, must pass, and opened
+another path leading to a swampy wood
+that was quite impassable.</p>
+
+<p>Three days after leaving Maracaibo Lolonnois
+approached Gibraltar, and, seeing the
+royal standard hung out, perceived there
+were breakers ahead, and called a general
+council, one of those republican gatherings
+that distinguished the Buccaneer armies, and
+remind us of the less unanimous consultations
+that Xenophon describes. He confessed
+that the difficulty of the enterprise was great,
+seeing the Spaniards had had so much time
+to put themselves in a state of defence, and
+had now got together a large force and much
+ammunition; "but have a good courage,"
+said he, "we must either defend ourselves
+like good soldiers or lose our lives with all
+the riches we have got. Do as I shall do, who
+am your captain. At other times we have
+fought with fewer men than we have now,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span>
+and yet have overcome a greater number of
+enemies than can be in this town; <i>the more
+they are the more riches we shall gain</i>." His
+men all cried out, with one voice, that they
+would follow and obey him. "'Tis well,"
+he replied, "but know ye, the first man who
+will show any fear or the least apprehension
+thereof, I will pistol him with my own hands."</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers cast anchor near the shore,
+about three-quarters of a league from the
+town, and the next day before sunrise landed
+to the number of 380 determined men, each
+armed with a cutlass, a brace of pistols, and
+thirty charges of powder and bullets. On
+the shore they all shook hands with one
+another, many for the last time, and began
+their march, Lolonnois exclaiming, "Come,
+<i>mes frčres</i>, follow me and have good courage."
+Their guide, ignorant of what the governor
+of Merida had done, led them in all good
+faith up the barricaded way, where, to his
+surprise, he found the paths in one place
+blocked up with large trees, newly cut, and
+in another swamped so that the soft mud
+reached up above their thighs.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois, seeing the passage hopeless,
+attempted the narrow way, which had been
+carefully cleared as a trap for them. Here
+only six men could go abreast, and the shots
+of the town ploughed incessantly down the
+path. At the same time the Spaniards, in a
+small terraced battery of six guns, beat their
+drums and hung out their silk flags. The
+adventurers, harassed by the fire that they
+could not return, and slipping on the swampy
+path, grew vexed and impatient. "Courage,
+my brothers," cried their leader, "we must
+beat these fellows or die; follow me, and if I
+fall don't give in for that." With these
+words he ran full butt, with head down like
+a mad bull, against the Spaniards, followed
+by all his men, as daring but less patient than
+himself. Cutting down boughs they made
+a rude pathway, firm and sure, over the deep
+mud. When within about a pistol shot from
+the entrenchments, they began again to sink
+up to their knees, and the enemy's grape-shot
+fell thick and hot upon the impeded ranks.
+Many dropped, but their last words were
+always, "Courage, never flinch, <i>mes frčres</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span>
+and you'll win it yet." All this time they
+could scarce see or hear, so blinded and
+deafened were they by the thunder and fire.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of this discomfiture the
+Spaniards suddenly broke through the gloom,
+just as they got out of the wood and trod
+upon firmer ground, and drove them back by
+a furious onslaught, many of them being
+killed and wounded. They then attempted
+the other passage again, but without success,
+and finding the Spaniards would not sally
+out, and the gabions too heavy to tear up by
+hand, Lolonnois resorted to the old stratagem,
+so successful at Hastings, by which the very
+impatience of courage is made to prove fatal
+to an enemy.</p>
+
+<p>At a preconcerted signal the Buccaneers
+began to retreat, upon which the defenders
+of the battery, exclaiming, "They fly, they
+fly; follow, follow," sallied forth in disorder
+to the pursuit, shouting and firing like an
+undisciplined rabble. Once out of gun-shot
+of the batteries, the pursued turned into
+pursuers, and falling on the foe, sword in
+hand, slew about 200. Fighting their way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span>
+through those who survived, the Buccaneers
+soon became masters of all the fortifications.
+Not more than 100 out of the 600 defenders
+remained alive, and these, as Falstaff says,
+would have to limp to the town-end and beg
+for life. The brave old governor lay dead
+among his foremost men.</p>
+
+<p>The survivors who could crawl or run
+hid themselves in the woods, impeded in
+their flight by the very obstructions they
+had themselves raised. The men in the
+battery surrendered, and obtained quarter.
+Neither Lolonnois nor Le Basque was
+scratched, but forty of their companions perished,
+and eighty were grievously wounded.
+The greater part of these died through the
+fevers and subsequent pestilence. 500 dead
+Spaniards were found, but many more had
+hidden themselves, to die alone in peace.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneers, now masters of Gibraltar,
+pulled down the Spanish colours from tower
+and steeple, and hoisted their own red or
+black flag. Making prisoners of all they
+met, they shut them up under guard in the
+chief church, where they erected a battery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span>
+of great guns, in case the Spaniards should
+attempt to rally in a fit of despair. They
+then collected the dead bodies of the Spaniards,
+and, piling them up, scarred and gashed,
+in two large canoes, towed them out a quarter
+of a league to sea, and scuttled them.
+They then gathered from every house, rich
+or poor, all the plate, merchandise, and
+household stuff, which was not too hot or
+too heavy to carry off, as rapacious as the
+borderer who stopped wistfully opposite the
+hay-stack, wishing it had but four legs,
+that he might make it "gang awa' wi' the
+rest." The Spaniards having buried their
+treasure, as usual, armed parties were sent
+into the surrounding woods to search for
+buried money, and to bring in hunters and
+planters as prisoners to torture. Hung up
+by the beard, or burnt with gun-matches,
+the wretched sufferers were forced to confess
+the hiding-places.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois soon turned the fertile country
+into a smoking black desert, and, still insatiable
+for money and blood, planned an expedition
+over the snow mountains to Merida, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span>
+reluctantly relinquished it when he found
+his men unwilling to risk what they had got
+for the mere uncertainly of getting more,
+though Merida was only forty leagues distant.
+They had now 150 prisoners, besides
+500 slaves, and many women and children,
+many of whom were dying daily of famine,
+so short were provisions already in a city in
+which the small army had been encamped
+only eighteen days.</p>
+
+<p>When they had spent six weeks in the
+town, Lolonnois determined to return, nothing
+now being left to pillage. Disease
+and famine were worse enemies than the
+Spaniard or the Indian, and cared for neither
+steel nor lead. A pestilential disease appeared
+in consequence of the numerous dead
+bodies left in the woods exposed to the wild
+beasts and the birds. Those that lay nearest
+to the walls had been strewn over with
+earth, the rest were left to taint the air, and
+slay the living&mdash;a putrid fever broke out;
+the Spaniards killed more of the enemy after
+their death than they had done in their life.
+The Frenchmen's wounds, already closing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span>
+began now to re-open, the sick died daily,
+and the strongest pined and sickened; all
+longed to return, even plunder grew distasteful
+to them without health, and once more
+at sea they hoped soon to be well.</p>
+
+<p>Men who had been revelling in the plenty
+of two captured cities, could not return without
+impatience to the restraints of a time of
+scarcity. Gibraltar always depending upon
+Maracaibo for its meat, and not well supplied
+with flour, was, in fact, like a miser dying
+for want of a loaf, while his storehouses were
+brimmed over with gold. The little meat
+and flour were quickly consumed by the Buccaneers,
+who left their prisoners to shift for
+themselves. The cattle they soon appropriated,
+giving the mules' and asses' flesh to
+those Spaniards whose hunger was strong
+enough to conquer their disgust. A few of
+the women were allowed better fare, and
+many who had become the mistresses
+of their captors were well treated by their
+lovers. Some of these were mere slaves,
+others were voluntary concubines, but the
+greater part had been compelled, by poverty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span>
+and fear, to abandon their fathers and husbands.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois, sending four of his prisoners into
+the woods, demanded a ransom of 80,000
+pieces of eight within two days, threatening
+the fugitives to burn the town to ashes if
+his desire was not acceded to. The Spaniards,
+already half-beggared, disagreed about the
+ransom; the bolder and the more avaricious
+refused to pay a piastre, the old, the timid,
+and the more generous preferred poverty to such
+a loss. Some said it would serve as a
+mere bribe to allure a third adventurer, and
+others declared it was the only means of saving
+Merida. While they were thus disputing
+the two days passed, and the debate was
+put an end to by the sight of flame ascending
+above the roofs. The city was already
+fired in two or three places, when the inhabitants,
+promising to bring the ransom, persuaded
+the Buccaneers to assist in quenching
+the flames, not, however, till the chief houses
+were burned, and the chief monastery was
+ruined.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin merely says that Lolonnois set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span>
+fire to the four corners of the town, and in
+six hours reduced the whole to ashes. Palm-thatch
+and cedar walls burn quick, and the
+sea-breeze was there to fan the flames, while
+the Buccaneers were learned in the art of
+destruction. Lolonnois then collected his
+men by beat of drum, and embarked his
+booty. Before he sailed, he sent two of his
+prisoners again into the woods, to tell the
+inhabitants that all the prisoners in his
+hands would be at once put to death if the
+ransom were not paid. All prisoners who
+had not paid their ransom he took with him,
+even the slaves being valued at so much, and
+having put on board all riches that were
+movable, and a large sum of money as a ransom
+for what was immovable, the Buccaneer
+fleet returned to Maracaibo. The city, now
+partly repeopled, was thrown again into disorder,
+nor much lessened when three or four
+prisoners came to the governor, bearing a
+demand from Lolonnois to pay at once 30,000
+pieces of eight down upon his deck, or to
+expect a second sack, and the fate of Gibraltar.
+While these terms were under concession,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span>
+and the Spanish merchants were
+chaffering with the sailors, as a lowland
+farmer might have done with a highland
+<i>cateran</i>, a party of well-inclined Flibustiers,
+unwilling to waste their time, rowed on
+shore, and stripped the great church of its
+pictures, images, carvings, clocks, and bells,
+even to the very cross on its steeple, piously
+desiring to erect a chapel at Tortuga, where
+there was much need of spiritual instruction.
+The Spaniards at last agreed to pay
+for their ransom and liberty 20,000 piastres,
+10,000 pieces of eight, and 500 cows, provided
+the fleet would do no further injury,
+and depart at once, and the blessing of Maracaibo
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>We can imagine the trembling and suppressed
+joy with which the people of Maracaibo
+must have beheld the fleet sail slowly
+out of their harbour, all eyes on board bent
+onward to the horizon and the golden future&mdash;none
+looking back with a moment's regret
+upon the misery and the black ruin left
+behind. How many orphans must have
+cursed them as they sailed, and how many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span>
+widows! Three days after the embarkation,
+to the horror of the city, a vessel with a red
+flag at its masthead was seen re-entering
+the harbour, but only, as it soon appeared,
+to demand a pilot to take the fleet over the
+bar.</p>
+
+<p>On their way to Hispaniola, Lolonnois
+touched at the Isle de la Vacca, intending to
+stay there and divide the spoil. This island
+was inhabited by French Buccaneers, who
+sold the flesh of the animals they killed to
+vessels in want of victual. But a dispute
+arising here, the fleet again set out to disband
+the crew at Gouaves in Hispaniola.</p>
+
+<p>They arrived in two months, and, unlading
+the whole "cargazon of riches," proceeded
+to make a dividend of their prizes
+and their gains. Lolonnois and the other
+captains began by taking a solemn oath in
+public, that they had concealed and held
+back no portion of the spoil, but had thrown
+all without reserve into the public stock.
+The ceremony of this oath must have been an
+imposing sight: wild groups of half-stripped
+sailors, wounded men, and female captives,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span>
+negroes and Indians, Spanish soldiers
+and mulatto fishermen, and in the middle
+piled bales of silks, heaps of glittering coin,
+and rich stuffs streaming over scattered arms
+and costly jewels, while, looking on, perhaps
+wistfully, leaning on their muskets, a
+few hunters fresh from the savannahs, bull's-hide
+sandals on their feet, and long knives
+hanging from their belts. After the captains
+had taken the oath, the common <i>matelots</i>,
+down even to the cabin boys, took the
+vow that they had given up all their spoil, to
+be shared equally by those who had equally
+ventured their lives to win it.</p>
+
+<p>After an exact calculation, the total value
+of their profits in jewels and money was
+discovered to be 260,000 crowns, not including
+100,000 crowns' worth of church furniture
+and a cargo of tobacco. On the final
+division every man received money, silk,
+and linen to the value of about 100 pieces
+of eight. The surgeon and the wounded
+were as usual paid first. The slaves were
+then sold by auction, and their purchase-money
+divided among the various crews.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span>
+The uncoined plate was weighed, and sold
+at the rate of ten pieces of eight to a pound;
+the jewels were sold at false and fanciful
+prices, and were generally undervalued,
+owing to the ignorance of the arbitrators.
+A Buccaneer always preferred coin to jewels,
+and jewels, as being portable, to heavy
+merchandise, which they often threw overboard
+or wantonly destroyed. The adventurers
+then all took the oath a second time,
+and proceeded to apportion the shares of such
+as had fallen, handing them to the <i>matelots</i>,
+or messmate, to forward to their heirs or
+nearest relations. We do not know whether,
+in peculiar cases, a <i>matelot</i> became his <i>camarade's</i>
+heir.</p>
+
+<p>The dividend over, they returned to Tortuga,
+amid the general rejoicing of all over
+whom love or cupidity had any power. "For
+three weeks, while their money lasted," says
+&#338;xmelin, probably an eye witness of the
+scene, "there was nothing but dances, feasts,
+and protestations of unceasing friendship."
+The <i>cabaretiers</i> and the gambling-house
+keepers soon revenged the cruelties of Maracaibo.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span>
+The proud captors of that luckless
+city in a few weeks were hungry beggars,
+basking on the quay of Tortuga, straining
+their eyes to catch sight of some vessel that
+might take them on board, and relieve them
+from that reaction of wretchedness. They
+were jeered at as mad spendthrifts by the
+very men who had urged them to their folly.
+The love of courtesans grew colder as the
+pieces of eight diminished, and men were
+refused charity by the very wretches whom
+their foolish generosity had lately enriched.
+No doubt watches were fried and bank-bills
+eaten as sandwiches, just as they were during
+the war at Portsmouth or at Dover. The
+prudent were those who made the money
+spin out a day longer than their fellows, and
+the wildest were those who had found out
+that two dice-boxes and two fiddlers ran
+through the burdensome money a little faster
+than only one dice-box and one fiddler.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Buccaneers, skilful with the
+cards, added to their store and returned at
+once to France, resolved to turn merchants,
+and trade with the Indies they had wasted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span>
+The extravagant prices paid by these men for
+wine, and particularly brandy, rendered that
+trade a source of great profit. Just before
+the return of the fleet two French vessels
+had arrived at Tortuga laden with spirits,
+which at first sold at very moderate rates,
+but ultimately, from the great demand and
+the limited means of supply, reached an
+exorbitant price, a gallon selling for as much
+as four pieces of eight.</p>
+
+<p>The tavern-keepers and the <i>filles de joie</i>
+obtained most of the money so dearly earned,
+and lavished it as those from whom they
+won it had done. Cards and dice helped
+those who had not struck a blow at the
+Spaniard, to now quietly spoil the captors.
+The story of Sampson and Dalilah was daily
+acted. Even the governor hastened to
+benefit by the expedition. He bought a
+cargo of cocoa of the Buccaneers, and
+shipped it at once to France in Lolonnois'
+vessel, giving scarcely a twentieth part of
+its value, and realising a profit of Ł120,000.
+The adventurers did not grudge him this
+bargain, as he had risked everything for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span>
+Tortuga, and had suffered considerable losses.
+"M. D'Ogeron," says &#338;xmelin, with some
+<i>naďveté</i>, "aimait les 'honnętes gens,' les
+obligeait sans cesse, et ne les lassait jamais
+manquer de rien."</p>
+
+<p>Neither Lolonnois' talent, rank, nor courage
+kept him further from the tavern door than
+the meanest of his crew. The poor drudge
+of a negro that served as a butt to the sailors
+could not give way to baser debauchery. It
+was the voice of the cannon alone that
+roused him to great actions. On land he
+was a Caliban, at sea a Barbarossa. In spite
+of his great booty, in a few short weeks he
+was poorer than his crew. Tortuga was to
+him the Circe's island that transformed him
+into a beast. As soon as his foot trod the
+plank, he became again the wily and the
+wise Ulysses: the first in daring or in
+suffering, ready to endure or to attack, above
+his fellow men in patience and impatience.
+His expenses were large, and when the
+prizes ceased to come in he was soon reduced
+to live upon his capital, and that quickly
+melted away in open-house feasting and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span>
+entertainments given to the governor. He
+had been before he returned, moreover, so
+burdened with debts that even his prize-money
+could not have defrayed them. There
+was but one means of release&mdash;another expedition.
+Let the Spanish mother clasp her
+child closer to her breast, for she knows not
+how soon she may have to part with it for
+ever. Is there no comet that may warn an
+unprepared and a doomed people?</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois had now acquired great repute
+at Tortuga. He was known to be brave,
+and, what is a rare combination, prudent.
+Under his guidance men who had forgot his
+previous misfortunes, thought themselves
+secure of gold, and without glory gold is not
+to be won. He needed now no entreaties to
+induce men to fill his ships; the difficulty
+was in selecting from the volunteers. Those
+who had before stayed behind now determined
+to venture; those who had once followed
+him were already driven by mere
+poverty to enlist. The privations of land
+were intolerable to men who had just revelled
+in riches&mdash;the privations of sea could be endured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span>
+by the mere force of habit. The
+planters threw by their hoes, and quitted the
+hut for the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>The towns of Nicaragua were now to share
+the fate of those of Venezuela. About 700
+men and six ships formed the expedition. Lolonnois
+himself sailed in a large "flute" which
+he had brought from Maracaibo with 300 men;
+the other adventurers embarked in five smaller
+vessels. Having careened and revictualled
+at Bayala, in Hispaniola, he steered for
+Matamana, a port on the south side of Cuba.
+He here informed his companions of the plan
+of the expedition, and produced an Indian
+of Nicaragua who had offered to serve as
+guide. He assured them of the riches of
+the country, and expressed his belief that
+they could surprise the place before the
+inhabitants had secreted their money. His
+proposal was received with the usual unhesitating
+applause.</p>
+
+<p>At Matamana, Lolonnois collected by force
+all the canoes of the tortoise fishermen, much
+to their grief and dismay, these poor men
+having no other means of subsistence but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span>
+fishing. These boats he needed to take him up
+the channel of Nicaragua, which was too shallow
+for vessels of any larger burthen. While
+attempting to round Cape Gracias ŕ Dios,
+the fleet was arrested by what the Spanish
+sailors call a "furious calm"&mdash;a sad and
+tedious imprisonment to men to whom every
+delay involved the success of their enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all their endeavours, they were
+carried by the current into the Gulf of Honduras.
+Both wind and tide being against
+them, the smaller vessels&mdash;better sailers and
+more manageable than that of Lolonnois&mdash;made
+more way than he could do; but were
+obliged to wait for him, and stay for his
+orders, being quite powerless without him and
+his 300 men.</p>
+
+<p>They spent nearly a month in trying to
+recover their path, but all in vain, losing
+in two hours what they gained in two days,
+and, their provisions running short, put
+ashore to revictual.</p>
+
+<p>Touching at the first land they could reach,
+they sent their canoes up the river Xagua&mdash;their
+guides bringing them to the villages<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span>
+of the "long-eared Indians," a race tributary
+to Spain, whose traders bartered knives and
+mirrors with them for cocoa. The Buccaneers
+burned their huts and carried off their
+millet, hogs, and poultry, loading the canoes
+with all the food they could bring away to
+their impatient comerades, who determined
+to remain here till the unfavourable weather
+had passed, and burn and pillage along the
+whole borders of the gulf. The Indian provisions
+proved but scanty for so numerous a
+band, but were divided equally among the
+ships that were seeking food like locusts,
+and moving daily on to new pastures.</p>
+
+<p>A council of war was now held to discuss
+their position. Some were for discontinuing
+the expedition, since the provisions ran so
+short. The oldest and most experienced
+proposed plundering round the gulf till the
+bad season had passed; and this plan was
+decided on. Having rifled a few villages,
+they came to Puerto Cavallo, a place where
+Spanish ships frequently anchored, and which
+contained two storehouses full of cochineal,
+indigo, hides, &amp;c., from Guatimala. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span>
+happened then to be lying in the port a
+Spanish vessel of twenty-four guns and sixteen
+patarerros. Its cargo, however, was
+nearly all unloaded and carried up into the
+interior to be exchanged in barter with the
+Indians. This ship was instantly seized;
+and Lolonnois, landing without any resistance,
+burned the magazines and all the houses,
+and made many prisoners. The Spaniards
+he put to the torture to induce them to confess.
+If any refused to answer, he pulled
+out their tongues, or cut them to pieces with
+his hanger, "desiring," says Esquemeling,
+"to do so to every Spaniard in the world."
+Many, terrified by the rack, promised to confess,
+really having nothing to disclose. These
+men were always cruelly put to death in revenge.
+One mulatto was bound hand and
+foot and thrown alive into the sea to intimidate
+the rest, and to induce two survivors to
+show the French chief the nearest road to
+the neighbouring town of San Pedro.</p>
+
+<p>For this expedition Lolonnois selected 300
+men, leaving his lieutenant, Moses Vauclin,
+to govern in his absence, and despatching a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span>
+few of his small flotilla to help him by a diversion
+on the coast. Before starting, he
+told his companions that he would never
+refuse to march at their head, but that he
+should kill with his own hand "the first who
+turned tail." San Pedro was only ten leagues
+distant. He had not proceeded three before
+he fell into an ambuscade.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards' favourite scheme of attack
+was the treacherous surprise&mdash;a mere sort of
+attempt at wholesale assassination&mdash;seldom
+successful, and always exasperating the
+enemy to greater cruelties. They had now
+entrenched themselves behind gabions in a
+narrow road, impassable on either side with
+trees and strong thickets. Lolonnois instantly
+striking down the guides, whether
+innocent or guilty, charged the enemy with
+desperate courage, and put them to flight
+after a long encounter, ending in a total rout.
+They killed a few Buccaneers and left many
+of their own men dead upon the ground.
+The wounded Spaniards, being first questioned
+as to the distance from San Pedro, and
+the best way to get there, were instantly beheaded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span>
+The prisoners informed him that
+some runaway slaves, escaped from Porto
+Cavallo, had told them of the intended attack
+on San Pedro. Determined to prevent
+this, they had planned the ambuscade, and
+two other still stronger earthworks which
+awaited him further on. To prevent connivance,
+or any possible treachery, Lolonnois
+then had the Spaniards brought before him
+one by one, and demanded of each in turn if
+there was no means of getting into another
+and less guarded road. On their each denying
+that there was, he grew frenzied and
+almost mad at the thoughts of such inevitable
+danger, and had them all murdered but two;
+and then, in ungovernable passion, he ripped
+open with his cutlass the breast of one of
+these survivors, who was bound to a tree.
+Esquemeling asserts that he even tore out
+his heart and gnawed it "like a ravenous
+wolf," swearing and shouting that he would
+serve them all alike if they did not show him
+another way. The miserable survivor, willing
+to save his life at any risk, his memory
+or invention quickened by the imminent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span>
+danger, conducted him into another path, but
+so bad a one that Lolonnois preferred to return
+to the old one in spite of all its perils,
+so difficult, slow, and laborious was the march.
+He now seems to have grown almost fevered
+with rage, anxiety, and vexation. "Mon
+Dieu," he growled, "les Espagnols me le
+payeront," and he cursed the delay that kept
+him from the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that in these men a
+fanatical and almost superstitious hatred of
+the enemy had sprung up, inflamed by
+mutual cruelties, for forgiveness was not the
+chief virtue of the victorious Spaniard. To
+the Buccaneer the Spaniard seemed cruel,
+cowardly, treacherous, and degraded; to the
+Spaniard the Buccaneer seemed a monster
+scarcely human&mdash;bloody, voluptuous, faithless,
+and rapacious.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening the chief fell into a
+second ambuscade, which, says Esquemeling,
+"he assaulted with such horrible fury" that
+in less than an hour's time he routed the
+Spaniards and killed the greater part of
+them, the rest flying to the third ambush,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span>
+which was planted about two leagues from
+the town. The Spaniards had thought, by
+these repeated attacks, to destroy the enemy
+piecemeal, and for this object, which they
+did not attain, frittered their forces into small
+and useless detachments.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois and his people, weary with
+fighting and marching, and half-fainting
+with hunger and thirst, lay down in the
+wood that night, and slept till the morning,
+the <i>matelots</i> keeping good watch and ward,
+and guarding their sleeping companions. At
+daybreak they resumed their journey, with
+confidence increased by the clear light and
+with bodies invigorated by rest. The third
+ambuscade was stronger and more advantageously
+placed than even the two preceding.
+They attacked it with showers of fire-balls,
+and drove out the enemy, slaying without
+mercy, and giving no quarter. "No quarter,
+no quarter," cried their ferocious leader, still
+thirsty for human blood, when they would
+have stayed their hands, from exhaustion
+rather than from pity. "The more we kill
+here, the less we shall meet in the town,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span>
+was his war-cry. Very few of the enemy
+escaped to San Pedro, the greater part being
+either slain or wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Before they ventured to make the final attack,
+the Buccaneers rested to look to their
+arms and prepare their ammunition. In vain
+they attempted to discover a second approach.
+There was but one, and that was well barricaded,
+and planted all round with thorny
+shrubs, which the best shod traveller could
+not pass, much less barefooted men, clad only
+in a shirt and drawers. These thorns, &#338;xmelin
+says, were more dangerous than those
+crow's-feet used in Europe to annoy cavalry.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois, seeing that no other way was
+left, and that delay would imply fear in his
+own men, and excite hope in the enemy, resolved
+to storm the works, in spite of the rage
+and despair of a well-armed and superior
+force, sheltered from shot and commanding
+his approach. "The Spaniards," says Esquemeling,
+"posted behind the said defences,
+seeing the pirates come, began to ply them
+with their great guns; but these, perceiving
+them ready to fire, used to stoop down, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span>
+then the shot was made to fall upon the defendants
+with fire-balls and naked swords,
+killing many of the town." Driven back
+for a time, they renewed the attack with
+fewer men; husbanding their shot, for they
+were now short of powder; never shooting
+at a long distance; and seldom firing but with
+great deliberation when an enemy's head appeared
+above the rampart; and occasionally
+giving a general discharge, in which nearly
+every bullet killed an enemy. Several times
+the Buccaneers advanced to the very mouths
+of the guns, and, throwing down fire-balls
+into the works, leaped after them, sword in
+hand, through the embrasures; but only to
+be again driven back.</p>
+
+<p>This obstinate combat, so eager on both
+sides, had lasted about four hours, and
+night was fast approaching, when Lolonnois,
+ordering a last furious attack, put the now
+weakened Spaniards to flight, a great number
+of them being killed as soon as they turned
+their backs. The citizens then hung out a
+white flag, and, coming to a parley, agreed
+to surrender the town on condition of receiving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span>
+two hours' respite. During this time,
+Lolonnois found that he had lost about thirty
+men, ten more being wounded. This demand
+of two hours was employed by the towns-people
+in loading themselves with their
+riches and preparing for flight&mdash;the Buccaneers
+virtuously abstaining from any molestation
+till the time had duly expired, and
+then pursuing the fugitives and plundering
+them of every <i>maravedi</i>. But neither their
+self-denial nor their vigilance was well rewarded,
+for fortune gave them nothing but
+a few leather sacks full of indigo, the rest,
+even in that short time, having been buried
+or destroyed&mdash;a disappointment which, we
+think, no reasonable person can regret.
+Lolonnois had particularly ordered that not
+only all the goods should be seized, but that
+every fugitive should be made prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>The Buccaneer chief, having stayed a few
+days at San Pedro, and "committed most
+horrid insolences," was anxious to send for
+a new reinforcement, and attack the town of
+Guatimala&mdash;a place a long way distant, and
+defended by 400 men. On his men as usual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span>
+refusing to accede to an apparently rash project,
+Lolonnois contented himself by pillaging
+San Pedro, intending to impress a recollection
+of his visit upon the grateful inhabitants
+by burning their town. He obtained no
+great booty, for the inhabitants were a poor
+people, trading in nothing but dyes. If he
+had chosen to carry away their stores of indigo,
+he might have realised more than
+40,000 crowns; but the Buccaneers cared
+for nothing but coin and bullion, and were too
+ignorant, too lazy, and too improvident to
+stop their debauches by loading their vessels
+with a perishable cargo of uncertain value.</p>
+
+<p>Having remained now eighteen days in San
+Pedro without obtaining much, for the West
+Indian Spaniard had already learned to hide
+as skilfully as the Hindoo ryot, Lolonnois
+called together his prisoners, and demanded
+from them a ransom as the condition of
+sparing their town. They doggedly answered,
+with all the insolence of despair, that he had
+taken from them all they had, and that they
+had nothing more to give; that they could
+not coin without gold, and that, as far as they
+went, he might do what he liked to the town.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois then reduced the town to ashes,
+and, marching to the sea-side to rejoin
+his companions, found that they had been
+employing their time, innocently and usefully,
+in capturing the fishing-boats of
+Guatimala. Some Indians, newly taken,
+informed him that a <i>hourque</i>, a vessel of 800
+tons, bringing goods from Spain to the Honduras,
+was then lying in the great river of
+Guatimala. Resolving to careen and victual
+at the islands on the other side of the gulf, they
+left two canoes at the mouth of the river to give
+notice when the vessel should venture forth.</p>
+
+<p>The time spent in thus watching outside
+the covert, they devoted to turtle fishing,
+dividing themselves into parties, each having
+his own station to prevent disputes. Their
+nets they made of the bark of the macoa tree;
+a natural pitch or bitumen for their boats they
+found in fused heaps upon the shore. The formation
+of this pitch, or "wax," as Esquemeling
+calls it, the sailors attributed to wild
+bees; the hollow trees in which they built
+being torn down by storms and swept down
+into the sea. The rest of their time&mdash;which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span>
+never seems to have been wearisome, unless
+the subsequent mutiny indicates it, for these
+men had the tenacity of a slot-hound in the
+pursuit of blood&mdash;was spent in cruises among
+those Indians of the coast of Yucatan, who
+seek for amber on the shore. These tribes
+were the willing serfs of Spain, having served
+them without resistance for a full century.
+The Spaniards had, as they believed, converted
+the whole nation to Christianity by
+sending a priest to them once a-week, but,
+on their sudden return to idolatry, had
+begun to persecute them, angry at their own
+failure.</p>
+
+<p>According to the Buccaneers' account, these
+Indian chiefs worshipped each a peculiar
+spirit, to whom they offered sacrifices of fire,
+burning incense of sweet-scented gums.
+They had a singular custom of carrying their
+new-born children into their temples, and
+leaving them for a night in a hole filled with
+wood-ashes, generally in an open place,
+untended, and where wild beasts could enter.
+Leaving the child here they found in the
+morning the foot-prints of some wild beast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span>
+on the ashes. To this animal, whatever it
+might be, jaguar, snake, or cayman, they dedicated
+the child, whose patron god it became.
+To this animal the child prayed for vengeance
+against its enemies, and to it he offered
+sacrifices.</p>
+
+<p>Their marriages were accompanied by a
+very beautiful and simple ceremony. A
+young man, having satisfied his intended
+bride's father as to his fitness to manage a
+plantation, was presented with a bow and
+arrow. He then visits the maiden, and puts
+on her head a wreath of green leaves and
+sweet-smelling flowers, taking off the crown
+usually worn by virgins. A meeting of her
+relations is then called, the maize juice is
+drunk, and the day after marriage the bride's
+garland is torn to pieces with cries and
+lamentations.</p>
+
+<p>In these islands the Buccaneers found
+canoes of the Aregues Indians, which must
+have drifted 600 leagues. They had remained
+turtle-fishing and amber-seeking about three
+months, when the welcome tidings came that
+the enemy's vessel had ventured out. All<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span>
+hands were now employed in preparing the
+careening ships. It was, however, at last
+agreed to wait for its return, when, as they
+expected, it would not only contain merchandise
+but money. They therefore sent their
+canoes to observe her motions, and, hearing of
+the ambuscade, the Spaniards returned to
+port. Lolonnois, as weary of delay as a greyhound
+is vexed by a hare's repeated doubling,
+determined to do what Mahomet did when
+the mountain would not go to him; since
+the Spaniards would not come to him, he
+went himself to the Spaniards. Informed of
+their approach by spies, Indians or fishermen,
+the vessel was prepared to receive him. The
+decks were cleared, the boarding-nettings
+up, and the guns double-shotted. The
+Spaniard carried fifty-six pieces of cannon,
+and the crew were well provided with hand
+grenades, torches, fusees, and fire-balls,
+especially on the quarter-deck and bows, and
+a crew of some 130 men stood armed and
+threatening at their quarters. But Lolonnois
+cared for none of these things, and the rich
+cargo shone, to his eye, through the ship's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span>
+transparent sides. With his small craft of
+twenty-two guns, with a single fly-boat as
+his only ally, he boldly attacked the enemy,
+but was at first beaten off.</p>
+
+<p>To the Buccaneer a slight check was
+almost a certain precursor of victory; waiting
+till about sixty of the Spanish sailors had
+fallen from the fire of his deadly musketry,
+when their courage slackened, and the smoke
+of their powder lay in a dark mist round
+the bulwarks, hiding his movements, he
+boarded with four canoes, well manned. In
+spite of the brave defence, the Buccaneers
+fought with such fury that they forced the
+Spaniards to surrender.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois then sent his boats up the river
+to secure a small patache, which they knew
+lay near at hand, laden with plate, indigo,
+and cochineal. But the inhabitants, alarmed
+at the capture of the larger vessel, swept
+away from under their very eyes, saved the
+patache by preventing her departure.</p>
+
+<p>The booty of the prize was much less than
+was expected, the vessel being already almost
+entirely unladen. Its cargo consisted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span>
+of iron and paper, and it still contained 20,000
+reams of paper, and 100 tons of iron bars,
+which had served as ballast. The few bales
+of merchandise were nothing but linens,
+serges, and cloth, thread, and a few jars
+of wine. In the return cargo there would
+have been at least a million in specie. These
+heterogeneous articles were of no use to men
+who wanted nothing but coin or jewels, lead
+or powder. Dividing the paper, they used
+it for napkins, and other useless trifles, and
+several jars of almond and olive-oil were
+wasted in the same reckless manner.</p>
+
+<p>Having now accomplished their purpose,
+without much return for their three months'
+patience, Lolonnois called a general council
+of the fleet, and declared his intention of
+going to Guatimala. Upon this announcement
+a division arose in the assembly, and
+the hoarse murmurs of a coming tempest
+were heard around the speaker. Many of
+the adventurers, new to the trade, could no
+longer conceal their weariness and their disappointment.
+They had set sail from Tortuga
+with the feeling with which a country<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span>
+boy comes to London. They had believed
+that pieces of eight grew on the trees like
+pears, and had overlooked the dragons that
+guarded the Hesperian trees. Having seen
+their predecessors return home laden with
+the plunder of Maracaibo, many had overlooked
+the toil and dangers by which it was
+won, in the sight of the joy and prodigality
+with which it was lavished; they had seen
+only the rich pearls, and forgotten the stormy
+seas from which they had been gathered.
+They were weary of the hardships, and mutinous
+for want of food. The mere seeker
+for gold could not endure what was submitted
+to by those who were desirous of earning
+distinction. The older hands laughed at
+their pinings, derided their complaints, and
+swore that they would rather die and starve
+there, than return home with empty purses,
+to be the scorn and laughing-stock of all
+Hispaniola. The majority of the experienced
+men, foreseeing that the voyage to
+Nicaragua would not succeed, and was "little
+to their purpose," separated from Lolonnois,
+and set sail secretly in the swift sailing vessel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span>
+that Moses Vauclin had captured in the port
+of Cavallo, and which he now commanded,
+boasting, with reason, that it was the swiftest
+sailing vessel that had been seen in the West
+Indies for fifty years. With Moses Vauclin
+went Pierre le Picard, who, seeing others
+desert Lolonnois, resolved to do the same.</p>
+
+<p>Steering homewards, the fugitives coasted
+along the whole continent till they came to
+Costa Rica, where they landed a good party,
+marched up to Veraguas, and burnt the town,
+pillaging the Spaniards, who made a stout
+resistance, carrying off a few prisoners, and
+obtaining a scanty booty of some seven or
+eight pounds' worth of gold, which their slaves
+washed from the mud of the rivers. Alarmed
+at the multitude of Spaniards that began to
+gather round them, the marauders abandoned
+their design of attacking the town of Nata,
+on the south sea-coast, although many rich
+merchants lived there, whose slaves worked
+in the gold-washings of Veraguas. Returning
+to Tortuga, these undisciplined men, impatient
+of poverty, united themselves under
+the flag of a noble adventurer, the Chevalier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span>
+du Plessis, who had just arrived in the Indies,
+poor and proud, and prepared to cruise against
+the Spaniard in those seas. Vauclin being
+an experienced pilot, well acquainted with
+the turtle islands, and every key and reef the
+surf washed from California to Cape Horn,
+was taken into favour by the titled privateersman,
+who promised him the first prize he
+captured, if he would sail in his company.
+But a serious difficulty arose in the execution
+of this liberal promise, for the Chevalier
+was soon after shot through the head while
+grappling with a Spanish ship of thirty-six
+guns, and Moses was elected captain in his
+stead. In his first cruise, the brave deserter
+was fortunate enough to take a cocoa
+vessel from the Havannah, with a cargo
+valued at 150,000 livres.</p>
+
+<p>During this time, Lolonnois and his men
+remained alone and deserted in the gulf of
+Honduras. He was now in some distress,
+short of provisions, and in a vessel too "great
+to get out at the reflux of those seas." His
+300 men had no food but that which they
+contrived to kill daily on shore, living chiefly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span>
+on the flesh of parrots and monkeys. By
+day they generally fished or hunted, by
+night, taking advantage of the land breeze,
+they sailed painfully on till they rounded Cape
+Gracios ŕ Dios, and slowly the Pearl Islands
+hove in sight. Staunch and inexorable, Lolonnois,
+amid all the tedium of this enervating
+idleness, still nourished the project of
+making a swoop down upon Nicaragua, intending
+to leave his cumbrous vessel behind,
+and row up the river St. John in canoes, until
+he reached the lake. But the same reason
+that made his vessel lag behind those
+of his companions, now drove it ashore in a
+shallow near Cape Gracias, where it drew too
+much water to be extricated. In vain he
+unloaded his guns and iron, and used every
+means that experience and ingenuity could
+suggest to lighten the ship, and float her again
+into deep water. Always firm and resolute,
+Lolonnois at once determined to break her to
+pieces on the sand-shoal, and with her planks
+and nails to construct a boat.</p>
+
+<p>His men, with perfect <i>sang froid</i>, not even
+impatient at the loss, much less afraid of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span>
+danger, escaping to land, began to build
+Indian <i>ajoupas</i>, or huts. Lolonnois, accustomed
+to such reverses, concealed his chagrin,
+if he even felt any. Regardless of himself,
+he adjured his men to lose no courage, for
+he knew of a means of escape, and, what was
+more, a way to make their fortune yet, before
+they returned to Tortuga. Prepared for
+every emergency, and even for the longest
+delay, part of the crew were at once employed
+in planting peas and other vegetables,
+the remainder in fishing and hunting, all
+but the few who worked busily at the boat
+in which Nicaragua was to be visited. In
+spite of desertion, failure, wreck, and famine,
+Lolonnois held on to the plan of the expedition,
+which he deemed cowardly and shameful to
+abandon. The men, confident in the sagacity
+and courage of their leader, surrendered
+themselves like children to his guidance.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians of the Perlas Islands, on
+which they had struck, were a fierce and
+untamable race, strong and agile, swift as
+horses, hardy divers, brave but cruel, warlike,
+and man-eaters. Their wooden clubs were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span>
+jagged with crocodiles' teeth; they had no
+bows or arrows, but used lances a fathom
+and a-half long. They built no huts, and
+lived on fruits grown in plantations cleared
+from the forest. Fishers and swimmers, they
+were so dexterous as to be able to bring up
+with a rope an anchor of 600 cwt. from a
+rock, a feat which Esquemeling himself saw
+a few of them perform. The seamen in vain
+attempted to propitiate these wild freemen, to
+serve them as guides or hunters. At last,
+finding a great number together, and pursuing
+the fugitives, they tracked five men and
+four women to a cave, and took much pains
+to propitiate them. The captives remaining
+obstinately silent, as if from fear, in spite
+of the food that was given them, were
+dismissed with presents of knives and beads.
+They left, promising to return; "but soon
+forgot their <i>benefactors</i>," says Esquemeling,
+disgustfully. The sailors believed that at
+night all the Indians swam to a neighbouring
+island, as they never saw either boat or
+Indian again.</p>
+
+<p>Some time before this the Frenchmen's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span>
+terror had been excited by the discovery that
+these Indians were cannibals. Two Buccaneers,
+a Frenchman and a Spaniard, had
+straggled into the woods in search of game.
+Pursued by a troop of savages, the latter,
+after a desperate struggle, was captured, and
+heard of no more; the former, the swifter
+footed of the two, escaped. A few days
+after, an armed party of a dozen Flibustiers,
+led by this survivor, went into the same
+part of the forest to see if they could find
+any traces of the Indian encampment. Near
+the place where the Spaniard had fallen into
+the ambush they discovered the ashes of a
+fire, still warm, and among the embers some
+human bones, well scraped, and a white man's
+hand with two fingers half roasted, but still
+unconsumed.</p>
+
+<p>For six months, till the long-boat was
+completed, the Buccaneers lived on Spanish
+wheat, bananas, and on the fruits and green
+crops which they had sown on landing.
+Their bread they baked in portable ovens
+saved from the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois now once more prepared to carry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span>
+out his unabandoned project. With part of
+his crew he resolved to row up the river of
+Nicaragua, to capture some canoes, and return
+to fetch away those whom the new boat
+would not hold. The men cast lots for the
+choice of sailing with him. He took about
+one-half of the shipwrecked crew with him,
+part in the long-boat and part in a skiff
+which had been saved when the larger vessel
+drove on the bank. They arrived in a few
+days at Desaguadera, near Nicaragua, but
+attacked on the beach by an overpowering
+number of Spaniards and Indians, they were
+driven back to their boats, with the loss of
+many men, and escaped with difficulty,
+beaten and desponding.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois, now fairly at bay with fortune,
+still resolved neither to return to Tortuga
+ragged and penniless, nor to rejoin his comerades
+till he had obtained a sufficient number
+of canoes to embark his companions. In
+order the better to obtain provisions he divided
+his men into two bands. The one
+party proceeded to the Cape Gracias ŕ Dios,
+where they were well received; the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span>
+sailed to Boca del Toro, on the coast of
+Carthagena, where adventurers frequently
+repaired for turtle and other provisions, intending
+to embark in the first friendly vessel
+that should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>Nicaragua was still destined to remain
+unscathed. "God Almighty," says Esquemeling,
+who writes with some bitterness, and
+probably much hypocrisy, "the time of His
+divine justice being now come, had appointed
+the Indians of Darien to be the instruments
+and executioners thereof." Landing at a
+place called the La Pointe ŕ Diegue to obtain
+fresh water, Lolonnois and his men, weary of
+"wave, and wind, and oar," drew their canoes
+to land, and threw up entrenchments, knowing
+that they were now in the neighbourhood
+of the Bravo Indians, the most savage race
+known on the mainland&mdash;as cruel as sharks,
+and as numerous and greedy of blood as
+the vultures. He himself and a few others,
+passing the river, near the Gulf of Darien,
+landed in order to sack a town and obtain
+provisions. Here this modern Ulysses found
+a termination to his troubles and his life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span>
+for, being taken prisoner by the Indians, he
+was killed, chopped to pieces, and devoured.
+Many of his companions were also burnt
+alive, and but a few escaped to Tortuga, by
+the detail of their horrors to check for a few
+days the love of adventure in the minds of
+its restless and impetuous adventurers.</p>
+
+<p>Esquemeling, or his English translator&mdash;who
+generally considers it necessary to conclude
+his chapters with a sanctimonious
+moral, a snuffle of the nose, and a lifting up
+of the eyes&mdash;says, "Hither Lolonnois came
+(brought by his evil conscience that cried for
+punishment), thinking to act his cruelties;
+but the Indians, within a few days after his
+arrival, took him prisoner, throwing his body
+limb by limb into the fire, and his ashes into
+the air (<i>virtuous indignation</i>), that no trace or
+memory might remain of such an infamous,
+inhuman creature.... Thus ends the
+history, the life, and the miserable death of
+that infernal wretch, Lolonnois, who, full of
+horrid, execrable, and enormous deeds, and
+debtor to so much innocent blood, died by
+cruel and butcherly hands, such as his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span>
+were in the course of his life." Towards the
+conclusion of his malediction Esquemeling's
+wrath unfortunately gets much the better of
+his grammar.</p>
+
+<p>The men left behind in the island de las
+Perlas, after long waiting for their companions&mdash;who
+had only escaped Scylla to
+run into Charybdis&mdash;were taken off by an
+English adventurer, who, collecting a body
+of 500 men, resolved on an expedition to the
+mainland. Ascending the river Moustique,
+near Cape Gracias, he sailed on, expecting
+to find some inlet to the lake of Nicaragua,
+round which Lolonnois' men still hovered.
+The expedition started full of hope, for the
+shipwrecked men were rejoiced at ending ten
+months of suffering, anxiety, and privation.</p>
+
+<p>The result was worse than mere disappointment.
+In fifteen days they reached no
+Spanish town, but only some poor Indian
+villages, which they found deserted by the
+natives, who, aware of their coming, had
+fled, carrying off all the produce of their
+plantations. These they burnt in their rage,
+and marched recklessly onwards. They had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span>
+carried no provision with them, expecting to
+find everywhere sufficient; and, to render
+their condition worse, had brought all their
+500 men, except five or six who were left
+to guard each vessel. "These their hopes,"
+says Esquemeling&mdash;turning up as usual the
+whites of his eyes&mdash;who looks with great
+contempt on all unsuccessful attempts at
+thieving, "were found totally vain, <i>as not
+being grounded</i>." In a few days the hope of
+plunder, which had first animated them, grew
+clouded by despondency. Scarcity rapidly
+became want, and they were reduced to such
+extreme necessity and hunger that they
+gathered the plants that grew on the river's
+bank for food. In a fortnight their courage
+and vigour had entirely gone; their hearts
+sank, and their bodies were wasted by famine.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the river they took to the woods,
+seeking for Indian villages where they might
+obtain food. Ranging up and down the
+woods for some days in a fruitless search, they
+returned to the river, now their only guide,
+and struck back towards the point of coast
+where their ships lay. In this laborious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span>
+journey they were reduced to much extremity&mdash;eating
+their shoes, their leather belts,
+and the very sheaths of their knives and
+swords. They grew at last so ravenous as
+to resolve to kill and devour the first Indian
+they could meet; but they could not obtain
+one either for food or as a guide. Some fell
+sick, and, fainting by the wayside, were left
+to perish. Many were killed and eaten by
+the Indians, and others died of starvation.
+At last they reached the shore, and, finding
+some comfort and relief to their present
+miseries, at once set sail to encounter
+more. After remaining some time on land,
+they re-embarked, but a quarrel arising
+between the French and English Buccaneers,
+who seldom kept long friends, they separated
+into small parties, and engaged in fresh expeditions.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="p6"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+
+<small>ALEXANDRE BRAS-DE-FER, AND MONTBARS
+THE EXTERMINATOR.</small></h2>
+
+<blockquote><p>Bras-de-Fer compared to Alexander the Great&mdash;His adventures
+and stratagems&mdash;Montbars&mdash;Anecdotes of
+his childhood&mdash;Goes to sea&mdash;His first fight&mdash;Meets
+and joins the Buccaneers&mdash;Defeats the Spanish Fifties&mdash;His
+uncle killed&mdash;His revenge&mdash;The negro vessel&mdash;Adam
+and Anne le Roux plunder Santiago.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>We now come to a class of Buccaneers who
+lived at we scarcely know what period, although
+they were probably contemporaries of
+&#338;xmelin. Their adventures, though on a
+narrower scale, are perhaps more interesting
+than those that had subsequently taken place,
+and are valuable as illustrations of manners.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin relates, in his usual shrewd and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span>
+vivacious manner, the singular exploits of
+Alexandre Bras-de-Fer, a French adventurer,
+with whom he was acquainted, and who,
+unlike his contemporaries, never joined in
+large expeditions, preferring the promptitude
+of a single swift cruiser, with none to share
+his risks or subtract from his booty. His life
+seems to have been crowded with romantic
+and strange incidents. His character appears
+to have been a strange combination of
+bravery and chivalry, a love of rapine, and
+a fantastic vanity. &#338;xmelin says naďvely,
+that this modern Alexander was as great a
+man among the adventurers of Tortuga as
+the ancient Alexander was among the conquerors
+of the East. Nor does he see much
+difference between the two worthies, except
+that the Macedonian was the adventurer
+upon the larger scale.</p>
+
+<p>Our Alexandre was vigorous in body and
+handsome in feature&mdash;so, at least, vouches
+&#338;xmelin, who, a surgeon by profession, once
+cured him of a severe wound that he had received&mdash;a
+cure which, if Alexandre had been
+generous (which he was not, in this instance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span>
+at least), might have made the doctor's fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Bras-de-Fer displayed as great judgment in
+the conception of his enterprises as he did
+courage in the carrying them out. His
+head and hand worked well together, and he
+seldom had to fight his way out of dangers
+into which his own incautiousness had led
+him. The vessel which he commanded he
+called the <i>Ph&#339;nix</i>, because it was of such a
+unique and peculiar structure that it was said
+to be among vessels what the ph&#339;nix was
+fabled to be among birds.</p>
+
+<p>Alexandre always went alone, in preference
+to crowding in a fleet. His pride or
+his prudence may have given him a fondness
+for solitary cruises, for the <i>Ph&#339;nix</i> was a bird
+of prey. A picked crew and a single swift
+vessel had many advantages over a rebellious
+flotilla&mdash;and subordinate captains were often
+mutinous if not treacherous. If solitude increased
+his risk, it also increased his probability
+of success.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin, the only writer who mentions
+Alexandre, relates but one of his adventures,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span>
+which he took down, as he tells us, from
+the hero's own lips. The rest of his exploits
+he suppresses, either from a fear of being
+tedious or a dread of being considered a mere
+romancer.</p>
+
+<p>On the occasion of which he speaks,
+Alexandre was bound upon an expedition of
+great consequence&mdash;which, however, as it
+did not succeed, the narrator, with a wise
+modesty, does not think worth mentioning.
+After lying some time imprisoned in a tedious
+calm, his prayers for a change of weather
+were answered by a great storm, that blew
+up the sea into mountains&mdash;wind and fire
+seeming to struggle together in the air for
+the possession of the helpless ship and its
+pale crew. The furious thunder drowned
+the very roar of the sea, and the masts soon
+went by the board. The lightning, striking
+its burning arrows through the deck, set fire
+to the powder-magazine, and blew up the
+part of the vessel in which it was stored.
+Half of the crew were hurled into the air,
+and were killed before they reached the boiling
+sea that eagerly waited for their fall. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span>
+remainder of the crew, finding the vessel
+going down by the head, took to swimming,
+and soon reached dry land: Alexandre&mdash;strong
+and brawny, brave, but desirous of
+life, and always awake to the means of its
+preservation&mdash;by no means the last, setting
+an example at once of prudence, coolness,
+and decision. On shaking the brine from
+their limbs and looking around, the wrecked
+men found that they had been thrown upon
+a tract of land as much to be dreaded by the
+Buccaneer as the realm of Polyphemus was
+by the wise Ulysses. They stood upon an
+island near the Boca del Drago (Dragon's
+Mouth), inhabited by a tribe of Indians,
+fierce and cruel cannibals. Remaining for
+some time upon the shore, they exerted themselves
+in recovering what they could from
+the scorched driftings of the wreck. Amongst
+other things they saved&mdash;what was more
+valuable than food, because they presented
+the means of saving their lives for the present
+and for the future&mdash;a number of their
+hunters' muskets, sufficient to arm all their
+number, together with a quantity of powder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span>
+and lead for bullets. Without either of the
+three requisites the other two had been useless.
+They now gathered courage from the possibility
+of escape, and determined to secure
+themselves from the Indians, reconnoitre the
+place for fear of surprise, and after that remain
+patiently encamped till some friendly
+vessel should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>One day, while some of the band were
+smoking, singing, and talking, their past
+dangers already half forgotten in the desire of
+escaping the present by encountering fresh
+in the future, the sentinels on the look-out
+hill gave the signal of an approaching vessel.
+On all rushing to the spot, the keener eyes
+detected a large ship, dark against the grey
+horizon. It presently discharged a gun at
+the shore, and in the direction in which they
+stood. Preparing for the worst, Alexandre
+and his men hid themselves in a wooded
+hollow and held a council of war. Some
+were of opinion that they should wait for
+the stranger's arrival, and then quietly beg
+the captain to take them on board. The
+more impatient and lawless, less pacific in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span>
+such an emergency, believed that such a
+plan would lead, if the vessel proved, as it
+probably would, a Spaniard, to their all being
+taken prisoners, and at once strung from the
+yard-arm, without inquiry, as Frenchmen
+and pirates. Bras-de-Fer spoke last, and
+crushed all opposition by his voice and
+gesture. He was for war to the death, and
+escape at any risk. Better Spanish rope
+than Indian fire, better pistol shot than
+starvation. Quick in decision and firm in
+execution, he had at once determined not
+merely to stand on the defensive, but at all
+risks to assume the aggressive. The adventurers
+yielded as if an angel had spoken, for
+Alexandre had more than the usual ascendancy
+of a leader over them. Both his mind
+and body were of a more athletic bulk and
+iron mould. He could dare and suffer more.
+His active and his passive, his moral and
+physical courage, were greater than theirs.
+They loved him because he shared their
+dangers, and did not humiliate them by the
+assumption of his real superiority. He wore
+the crown, but he was not always dazzling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span>
+their eyes with its oppressive glitter. They
+respected him, because he could control both
+his own passions and those of the men whom
+he led to victory and never to defeat. The
+success of his victories he doubled by the
+prudence with which they were followed up,
+and the skill with which he conducted a retreat
+rendered his very defeats in themselves
+successes.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel, which proved to be a Spanish
+merchant ship, with war equipments, approached
+nearer, standing off and on, attracted
+by the fruit and flowers whose perfume
+spread over the level sea, and allured by that
+fragrance, a sure proof of the existence of
+good water not far from the shore. The
+boats were lowered, and a well-armed party
+landed with much caution. The captain
+marched at their head, followed by his best
+soldiers, dreading an ambuscade of the Indians
+of that coast, who were known to be
+warlike and treacherous, but not suspecting
+the Buccaneers, who kept themselves in the
+wood, ready to swoop down upon their prey,
+like the kite upon the dovecote.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Already well acquainted with the paths
+and foot-tracks, Alexandre's men crept quietly
+through the trees, which grew thick and
+dark, and, defiling by secret avenues, surrounded
+the principal approach by which the
+Spaniards had already entered, in good order
+and on the alert, but with apprehensions
+already subsiding. The adventurers being
+very inferior in number and scantily armed,
+kept themselves hidden, waiting for chance
+to give them some momentary advantage.
+When the enemy was well encircled in
+the defile, mistaking perhaps the lighted
+matches for fire-flies among the branches, the
+French suddenly opened a murderous fire upon
+the soldiers, who found themselves girt by a
+belt of flame, coming from they knew not
+where. A pilgrim seeing a volcano opening
+at his feet could not be more astonished.
+The Spaniards, seeing no enemies to aim at,
+withheld their fire, thinking that the Indians
+were burning the forest. The absence of
+arrows, and the report of muskets, convinced
+them more deadly enemies awaited them,
+and that Europeans and not Indians were the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span>
+preparers of the ambush. With much promptitude,
+instead of flying in a foolish headlong
+rout, they threw themselves upon their faces;
+and the captain gave the word of command
+not to fire till the enemy came in sight, being
+ignorant yet of their number and their nation.</p>
+
+<p>The adventurers looked through the loopholes
+which they had cut in the thick
+underwood for the passage of their firearms,
+to see what effect their volley had produced,
+the smoke now clearing away and permitting
+them to see more clearly. To their astonishment
+they could see no one; the enemy had
+vanished, as if blown to pieces by the fire.
+They began to think that they had retreated,
+although they had heard no sound of their
+retreat; they could scarcely believe that they
+were all dead.</p>
+
+<p>Alexandre's impatience soon decided the
+question; determined to conquer, he chafed at
+the delay and mystery. His resolution was
+soon made. He left his ambush and broke
+out from the wood into the open. The mystery
+was quickly solved, for he was instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span>
+attacked by the Spaniards, who, when they
+saw him break cover, sprang up to their
+feet, with a shout, as swift as the foes of Cadmus.
+Alexandre, retreating for a moment
+to make his spring the surer, leaped upon the
+hostile captain and aimed a blow at his head
+with his sabre, which was warded off by a
+large scull-cap, from which the steel glanced.
+Bras-de-Fer was about to repeat his blow
+with better effect, when his foot caught in a
+root and he fell. Closely pressed by his
+antagonist, and requiring all his skill to save
+his life, rising up, with his left hand and
+with his strong right arm, he struck the uplifted
+sabre from the hand of his enemy.
+This lucky blow of a defenceless man gave
+Alexandre time to leap up and call the adventurers,
+who had not then left the ambush,
+and were now pouring out on every side,
+pressing the enemy in the rear and on the
+flank. Having made a great carnage among
+the Spaniards, the Flibustiers, at a signal
+from Alexandre, closed in, and, bearing down
+upon the craven and terrified foe sword in
+hand, slew them to a man, taking special<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span>
+care that not a single one should escape, for
+fear of spreading an alarm.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish crew remaining to keep guard
+in the vessel, had heard the sound of musketry,
+and at once supposed that their people
+had fallen in with some hostile Indians, but
+knowing that their troops were brave and
+numerous, and believing they could easily
+cut a few savages to pieces, they sent no reinforcement,
+but contented themselves by
+discharging a noisy broadside to turn the
+scale of the supposed battle, and increase the
+terror of the fugitives. On the other hand,
+the victorious adventurers lost no time in
+following up their ambush by an ingenious
+stratagem. They stripped the dead, and
+arrayed themselves in their dress and arms.
+They then collected a quantity of their own
+Indian arrows, which they had previously
+taken from savages which they had killed.
+Then pulling their broad-brimmed Panama
+hats over their eyes (even the captain's, with
+a red gash through it), and shouldering their
+arms, imitating the Spanish march, and uttering
+shouts of "victory, victory," proceeded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span>
+to the shore at the point nearest the vessel.
+The guards on board, seeing their supposed
+companions returned so soon, victorious,
+laden with spoil, and each one carrying a
+sheaf of arrows, received them with open
+arms as they clambered up by the main-chains.
+Before they could recover from their
+astonishment, the Buccaneers were masters
+of the vessel. There was scarcely any struggle,
+for only the sailors and a few marines
+had been left on board. The surprise was
+complete and sudden, and the most watchful
+might be pardoned for being deluded by such
+an artifice. The adventurers found the vessel
+laden with costly merchandise, and soon
+started with it upon a trip of a very different
+nature from that for which it had been first
+intended.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin laments that in many other adventures
+which Alexandre told him, he found
+that he passed too lightly over his own exploits,
+and attributed all the glory to the
+courage of his companions. But when his
+comerades related the story, they were not so
+generous to him as he had been to them, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span>
+either from envy or shame, suppressed many
+of his noblest actions. He concludes his
+sketch of the two Alexanders with incomparable
+<i>naďveté</i> in the following manner: "Au
+reste, je ne prétends pas que la comparaison
+soit toute-ŕ-fait juste, car s'il y a quelque
+rapport, <i>il y a encore plus de différence</i>. En
+effet il étoit aussi brave que téméraire, et lui
+étoit brave que prudent. Alexandre aymoit
+le vin, et lui l'eau-de-vie. Aussi Alexandre
+fuyoit les femmes par grandeur d'âme, et luy
+les cherchoit par tendresse de c&#339;ur; et pour
+preuve de ce que je dis il s'en trouve
+une assez belle dans le vaisseau dont j'ay
+parlé, qu'il préféra ŕ tout l'avantage du
+butin."</p>
+
+<p>"To conclude: if I have compared him to
+the Great Alexander, I do not pretend that
+the comparison is altogether just; for, if there
+are some points of resemblance, there are
+many more of difference. Of a truth, the
+one Alexander was as brave as he was headstrong,
+the other as brave as he was prudent;
+the one loved wine, and the other brandy;
+the one fled from women through real greatness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span>
+of heart, the other sought them from a
+natural tenderness of soul; and, as a proof of
+what I say, he met a beautiful woman in the
+vessel of which I have spoken, whom he
+valued more than all the other spoil."</p>
+
+<p>Providence, a French moral philosopher
+ventures to suggest, raised up the Buccaneers
+to revenge on the Spaniards all the sufferings
+and injustices of the Indians. The Spaniard
+was the scourge of the Indian, and the
+Buccaneer the scourge of the Spaniard.</p>
+
+<p>Lolonnois and Montbars are always considered
+as equal claimants for the hateful
+pre-eminence of being the most ferocious of
+the whole Buccaneer brotherhood, considering
+them from their origin to their extinction.
+But the sovereignty of blood must be
+at once awarded to Lolonnois. Montbars
+seldom killed a Spaniard who begged for
+mercy, while Lolonnois delighted to spurn
+them from his feet, and slew all he could
+without pity, or even regard for ransom. It
+was from the very lips of Lolonnois that
+&#338;xmelin was informed that Montbars was
+sprung from one of the best families in Languedoc.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span>
+He was well educated, but soon
+disregarded every other study to practise
+martial exercise, and particularly shooting.
+These warlike sports he pursued with a concentrated,
+unremitting eagerness, approaching
+insanity. Even as a boy, when firing
+with his cross-bow, he said he only wished
+to shoot well that he might know how to
+kill a Spaniard. His mind had already become
+filled with a generous but cruel determination,
+which grew rapidly into monomania.
+The animal force of a strong but ill-balanced
+mind all grew to this point, and his thoughts
+by day, and his dreams by night, became
+but a reiteration and reblending of the one
+master passion. No one ever became his
+confidant, but the following is the general
+explanation given of the deeds of his after
+life. It is said that, in his early childhood,
+Montbars had read of the almost incredible
+cruelties practised by the Spaniards during
+the conquest of America. In the Antilles,
+they had exhibited the horrors of the Inquisition
+in broad daylight. Fanaticism, avarice,
+and ambition had ruled like a trinity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span>
+devils over the beautiful regions, desolated
+and plague-smitten; whole nations had become
+extinct, and the name of Christ was
+polluted into the mere cypher of an armed
+and aggressive commerce. These books had
+impressed the gloomy boy with a deep, absorbing,
+fanatical hatred of the conquerors,
+and a fierce pity for the conquered. He believed
+himself marked out by God as the
+Gideon sent to their relief. Dreams of riches
+and gratified ambition spurred him unconsciously
+to the task. He thought and dreamed
+of nothing but the murdered Indians. He
+inquired eagerly from travellers for news
+from America, and testified prodigious and
+ungovernable joy when he heard that the
+Spaniards had been defeated by the Caribs
+or the Bravos.</p>
+
+<p>He indeed knew by heart every deed of
+atrocity that history recorded of his enemies,
+and would dilate on each one with a rude and
+impatient eloquence. The following story
+he was frequently accustomed to relate, and
+to gloat over with a look that indicated a
+mind capable of even greater cruelty, if once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span>
+led away by a fanatic spirit of retaliation.
+A Spaniard, the story ran, was once upon a
+time appointed governor of an Indian province,
+which was inhabited by a fierce and
+warlike race of savages. He proved a cruel
+governor, unforgiving in his resentments,
+and insatiable in his avarice. The Indians,
+unable any longer to endure either his barbarities
+or his exactions, seized him, and,
+showing him gold, told him that they had
+at last been able, by great good luck, to find
+enough to satisfy his demands. They then
+held him firm, and melting the ore, poured it
+down his throat till he expired in torments
+under their hands.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, Montbars openly showed
+that his reason was somewhat disturbed, and
+that, on the one subject of his thoughts, he had
+ceased to be able to reflect calmly. While a
+boy, he had to take part in a comedy which
+was to be acted by himself and the fellow-students
+of the college, for his friends either
+ignored or disregarded his dreams and fancies.
+Amongst other scenes was a prologue, in
+the shape of a dialogue between a Spaniard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span>
+and a Frenchman. Montbars was to represent
+the Frenchman, and his companion
+the Spaniard. The Spaniard, appearing first
+upon the stage, began to utter a thousand
+invectives against France, mingled with
+much ribald rhodomontade, and Montbars
+became excited, and could not contain his
+impatience. To his heated mind the mimic
+scene became a reality. He broke in upon
+the stage, furiously interrupted his comerade
+in the middle of his speech, and, loading him
+with blows, would certainly have put him
+to death on the spot, as "a Spanish liar and
+murderer," had the combatants not been
+separated by the terrified bystanders.</p>
+
+<p>His father, rich, and loving his son much,
+perhaps all the better for these wayward eccentricities,
+which, he believed, contact of
+the world and the pleasures of youth would
+soon drive from his memory, desired to enrol
+him in the army, or induce him to enter
+some profession. But to all his questions and
+entreaties the boy only replied, that all he
+wanted was "to fight against the Spaniards."
+Seeing that his friends would oppose his project,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span>
+he ran away from his father's house,
+and took refuge at Havre with an uncle
+who commanded one of the French king's
+ships. He was about to start on a cruise
+against Spain, with whom France was then
+at war, and, pleased at the boy's avowed attachment
+to a maritime life, wrote to his
+father, approving of the boy's resolution.
+The father reluctantly gave what could be
+construed into a consent, and in a few days
+the vessel sailed.</p>
+
+<p>During the voyage out, the young fanatic
+evinced the greatest eagerness for an engagement,
+and directly a vessel appeared in sight
+ran to arm himself, hoping it might be a
+Spaniard. At length, one did in reality appear,
+and he had an opportunity of distinguishing
+himself against his declared enemies.
+They gave chase to the Spanish vessel, and
+received her broadside. The elder Montbars,
+seeing his nephew intoxicated with joy,
+and, disregarding all risk of exposure, determining
+to throw away his life, clapped him
+under hatches, as a reckless boy, and only
+let him rush out when the boarding commenced,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span>
+and the enemy's vessel was evidently
+their own. The liberated youth led the boarders
+with all the calmness of a veteran man-of-war's-man.
+Leaping, sabre in hand, upon
+the foe, he fought with them pell-mell, broke
+through their thickest ranks, and, followed
+by a few whom his courage animated to rival
+his own rashness, rushed twice from end to
+end of the Spanish vessel, mowing down all
+he met to the right and left. The Spaniards
+were refused quarter, those who escaped the
+sword perished in the sea, and Montbars,
+to whom the honour of the victory was unanimously
+awarded, refused quarter to a single
+one. The prize was found full of spoil, the
+hold crammed with riches, containing 30,000
+bales of cotton, 2000 bales of silk, besides
+Indian stuffs, 2000 packets of incense, and
+1000 of cloves, which made up the treasure.
+In addition to all this, they found a small
+casket of diamonds, the case clasped with
+iron, and fastened with four locks, which alone
+outvalued all the bulkier merchandise. While
+his uncle and the sailors exulted over these
+treasures, Montbars was counting the dead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span>
+Spaniards, and gloating over the first victims
+of the hecatomb he still hoped to slay. Blood,
+and not booty, was his object.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the young victor, a few Spanish
+sailors and officers had been spared in the
+general carnage. From these survivors they
+learnt that two other vessels had been parted
+from them in a storm, near where they then
+were (St. Domingo), and that their rendezvous
+had been fixed at Port Margot. Captain
+Montbars determined to wait for them
+there, and to capture them by the stratagem
+of sending the captured vessel with its Spanish
+colours out to meet them, as a decoy.
+While the French vessel and its prize lay
+waiting at the rendezvous, some huntsmen's
+boats came off to sea, bringing boucaned
+meat to barter for brandy. The Buccaneers
+apologised for bringing so little meat, saying,
+"that a band of Spanish Fifties had
+lately ravaged their district, burnt their hides,
+stolen their dried meat, and burnt their
+boucans."</p>
+
+<p>"And why do you suffer it?" said Montbars,
+impetuously, for he had been listening eagerly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span>
+all this time, to the recital of a new proof
+of Spanish perfidy.</p>
+
+<p>"We do not suffer it," answered the
+huntsmen, roughly. "The Spaniards know
+well what sort of people we are, and they
+chose a time when we were all away cow-killing;
+but our day is coming. We are
+now collecting our companions, who have
+suffered worse than we have; we have given
+notice far and wide, and if the fifty grow to
+1000, we shall soon bring them to bay."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are willing," says Montbars, "I
+will march at your head. I do not want to
+command you, but to expose myself first, to
+show you what I am ready to do against
+these accursed Spaniards."</p>
+
+<p>The old hunters, astonished at the daring
+of a mere youth, and glad of another musket,
+accepted his proposal. His uncle, unable to
+rein him in, and already weary of so hot-brained
+a volunteer, yielded to his entreaties.
+He permitted him to go, giving him a party
+of seamen to guard him, and supplied him
+with but few provisions, in hopes of bringing
+him quickly back. He threatened, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span>
+parting, to leave him behind if he was not
+on board to the very hour, then calling him
+a foolish madcap, and cursing him for a hair-brain,
+he dismissed him with his blessing,
+swearing the next minute there wasn't a
+braver lad at that moment treading a plank.</p>
+
+<p>Montbars departed with some uneasiness,
+not caring about his uncle's advice or the
+scantiness of provisions, but only afraid that
+he might miss the Spaniards on land, and be
+absent also when the Spanish vessels were
+attacked. He wanted no greater inducement
+to hurry his return than the prospect
+of a naval engagement. He had scarcely
+landed with his men, when the hunters
+brought them into a small savannah surrounded
+by hills and woods. They had not taken
+many steps across this broad hunting-ground
+before they saw some mounted Spaniards
+appear in the distance&mdash;these men were part
+of a troop that had collected, hearing that the
+Buccaneers were assembling to attack them.</p>
+
+<p>Montbars, transported with rage at the
+sight of a Spaniard, would have rushed at
+once upon them, single-handed, but an old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span>
+experienced Buccaneer caught him by the
+arm: "Stop," said he, "there is plenty of
+time, and, if you do what I tell you, not one
+of these fellows shall escape." These words,
+"not one," would at any time have arrested
+Montbars, and they did so then. The old
+Buccaneer, crying a halt, bade the men
+turn their backs on the Spaniards, as if they
+had not seen them. He next unrolled the
+linen tent, which he carried in the usual
+fashion of his craft, and began to pitch it,
+followed by all his companions, who did the
+same, imitating their fugleman, without inquiry,
+trusting to the address that had often
+before delivered them out of danger. They
+then drew out their brandy flasks and affected
+to prepare for a revel, intending to deceive
+the Spaniards, who, they knew, would give
+them time to drink, in hopes of surprising
+them, an easy prey, when asleep. The
+empty horns were passed round with jokes,
+and songs, and shouts, and the corked flasks
+circulated as merrily as if the feast had been
+a real one. Without appearing to observe,
+they could see the Spanish patrols disappear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span>
+over the ridge of the hill, to warn their men
+in the valley to prepare for a night surprise.
+The Buccaneer leader, passing the signal
+from hand to hand, sent an <i>engagé</i> into the
+woods to quickly rouse all the "brothers" in
+the neighbourhood, to bid them come and
+help them, and to prepare an ambush in the
+opposite forest. In the mean time, other
+scouts were sent to watch the motions of the
+enemy, to be sure that they were coming, and
+were not making any flank movement.</p>
+
+<p>At dusk the Buccaneers slipped quietly from
+beneath their tents, and crept into the adjacent
+woods. Here they found their companions
+and their <i>engagés</i> already assembled and
+eager for the attack. Montbars, weary of
+all preparations, was now burning to see
+the Spaniards, declared they never would
+come, and that they had better go out and
+surprise them while night lasted; but the
+Spaniards were purposely delaying, knowing
+that the longer they delayed the deeper would
+be the sleep of the revellers. At daybreak,
+they could see a dark troop beginning to
+move forward over the ridge, and soon to descend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span>
+the hill into the plain in good order, a
+small detachment marching before them as a
+forlorn hope. The Buccaneers, well posted
+and unobserved, waited for them, sure of
+their prey, for the tents being pitched at some
+distance one from the other, they could see
+every movement of the Spaniards. As they
+drew nearer, the Fifties broke into small
+troops, and each encircled a tent. To their
+astonishment, at that moment the wood grew a
+flame, and a hot rolling fire led on the advancing
+Buccaneers, who, breaking out with yell
+and shout, very terrible in the silence of the
+dawning, overthrew horse and rider. Montbars,
+inspired by the fever of the onslaught,
+which always seemed for a moment to
+restore the balance of his mind, leaped on a
+horse, whose rider he had killed, and headed
+the attack. Wherever resistance was made,
+he rode in, charging every knot of troopers
+as they attempted to rally. Hurrying on too
+far beyond his companions, while breaking
+into the heart of the squadron, he was surrounded,
+and would have been quickly overpowered
+had he not been rescued by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span>
+determined rush of his men. More furious
+at this escape, he pursued the scattered
+enemy right and left, with increased fury,
+inflicting blows as dreadful as they were
+unusual. One of the Buccaneers, seeing
+many of his men suffering from the Indian
+arrows, cried out to the Indians, in Spanish,
+pointing to Montbars, "Do you not see
+that God has sent you a liberator, who fights
+for you, to deliver you from the Spaniards,
+and yet you still fight for your tyrants?"
+Hearing these words, and astonished at
+Montbars' contempt for death, the archers
+changed sides and turned their arrows against
+the Spaniards, who fled, overwhelmed by this
+new misfortune, and perhaps impelled by an
+undefinable and superstitious terror.</p>
+
+<p>Montbars looked upon this day as the
+happiest in his life. He had seen the Indians
+he had so pitied fighting by his side, and
+regarding him as their protector. Cleaving
+down a wounded Spaniard, who clung to his
+knees and begged for mercy, he cried, "I
+would it were the last of this accursed race."
+An eye witness of the battle describes the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span>
+carnage as horrible&mdash;the living trampling on
+the living, and stumbling over the dying and
+the dead. The Buccaneers and the Indians,
+rejoicing in their liberty and their revenge,
+entreated Montbars to follow up his successes,
+and wanted at once to ravage the Spanish
+plantations, and extirpate the survivors, while
+they were still discouraged. Montbars gladly
+consented to the proposal, and was about
+to march exultingly at their head, when the
+boom of a cannon was heard. It was the
+report of a gun from his uncle's vessel, and
+he could not resist obeying a signal that
+might be the signal of an approaching battle.
+He instantly hurried back, but found, to his
+annoyance, that the signal had been only
+fired as a warning to announce the hour of
+instant sailing.</p>
+
+<p>The hunters, already attached to their
+young leader, refused to leave him, and the
+Indians were afraid to abide the vengeance
+of the Spaniards. They were all therefore
+at once placed on board the prize, and supplied
+with muskets and sabres. The delighted
+uncle appointed Montbars as captain,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span>
+with an old officer, under the name of
+lieutenant, to act as his guardian.</p>
+
+<p>After eight days' sail, Montbars was
+attacked, at the mouth of a large key, by
+four Spanish vessels, each one larger than
+his own. They surrounded him so suddenly
+that he had no time to escape, and he lay
+amongst them like a wolf at bay. They
+formed, in fact, the van of the great Indian
+plate fleet, which was, every year, as eagerly
+expected by the king of Spain as it was by
+all the marauders of the Spanish main. The elder
+Montbars, bold and hardy, unhesitatingly
+attacked two of the vessels, and several
+times drove back their boarders. Although
+gouty himself and unable to move, the
+staunch old Gascon shouted his orders from
+his elbow chair; and, cursing alternately the
+enemy and the disease, defended his ship
+to the last extremity. Having fought for
+more than three hours with ferocious obstinacy,
+and seeing his young hero terribly
+pressed by his two adversaries, he resolved
+upon a final effort, the last struggle of a wild
+beast that feels the knife is at his throat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span>
+Firing a tremendous broadside, he attacked
+both his enemies with such fury that he
+sank them and himself, and died "laughing"
+in all the exultation of that revenge which is
+the only victory of despair.</p>
+
+<p>Montbars the younger made great exertions
+to save himself and to avenge his uncle.
+The old lion was dead, but the cub had much
+life in him yet. He sank one of his antagonists
+with a crashing shot and boarded the
+other. His Indians, seeing their leader enter
+the Spanish vessel at one end, threw themselves
+into the water and clambered promptly
+up the other. Their war-cries and arrows
+produced a powerful diversion, and took the
+Spaniards by surprise. Throwing many into
+the sea, they killed others, while Montbars
+put all that resisted to the sword. In a
+short time he was master of a vessel larger
+even than those that had been sunk. The
+friendly Indians, who now looked upon him
+as an invincible demigod, he employed in
+a fruitless search for his uncle's body. Conquerors
+and conquered were destined to remain
+locked in each other's arms, and piled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span>
+over with bloody trophies of burnt wreck until
+the day that the sea should give up her dead.</p>
+
+<p>The hunters renewed their proposal of a
+descent upon the mainland, and Montbars
+agreed to any scheme which would enable
+him to avenge his uncle and his friends. He
+had formerly lived to avenge the wrongs of
+others, to these were now added his own.
+The governor of the province, hearing of the
+contemplated attack, prepared an ambuscade
+of negroes and militiamen. Putting himself
+at the head of 800 men, divided into three
+battalions, his wings strengthened with
+cavalry and his van guarded with cannon, he
+prepared to prevent the landing of the "Exterminator."</p>
+
+<p>These preparations only increased the
+ardour of Montbars. It seemed cowardly
+to ravage an unprotected country: its devastation,
+after defeating its defenders, was a
+reward of conquest. Montbars was the
+first to leap from the canoes, and the first to
+rush upon the Spanish pikes. The front
+battalion was soon repulsed, and some Indians
+taking the reserve force in the flank, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span>
+were driven back in great disorder. Montbars,
+hotly pursuing, made a prodigious
+carnage of the enemy, and carried fire and
+sword far into the interior.</p>
+
+<p>One day, while at sea, the young captain,
+already a veteran in experience, was obliged
+to put into a bay to careen. To his great
+surprise, although the place was a mere track
+of sand, he saw some Spaniards on a distant
+plain, marching in good order and well-armed.
+Fearing that if they saw his men they would
+take to flight, he sent a few of his favourite
+Indians to decoy them towards him. Then
+falling upon them with fury as they cried
+out for quarter Montbars shouted, in
+Spanish, that they had nothing to hope for till
+they had killed himself and all his men.
+These dreadful words, together with his revengeful
+looks, drove them to take up their
+arms and fight with dogged and brutal despair,
+till they were slain almost to a man.
+Advancing into the country in search of more
+human prey, Montbars carried off the arms
+of the Spaniards and a great quantity of
+fruits and provisions.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It appeared, from a survivor, that the
+Spaniards had arrived in that country in a
+singular manner. They had formed the
+crew in guard of a vessel full of negro slaves
+who had conspired together to drive the ship
+on shore. They had secretly bored holes in
+the ship's hold, in which they had placed
+pluggets, which they drew out, and replaced,
+unseen, and in a moment. While the
+Spaniards were seated together, talking with
+their usual stately, stolid phlegm, this unaccountable
+leak would break out and fill the
+cabin, or drench them in their hammocks.
+The slaves never seemed alarmed, but always
+astonished, and filled the air with interjections,
+in the Congo language. The water
+rushing in pell-mell, even the ship's carpenter
+did not know from where, drove all
+hands, at great danger to the ship, almost to
+leave the helm to save the cargo, which was
+already damaged. The negroes, quiet and
+orderly, would generally succeed, after a time,
+in stopping the leak, and excited general admiration
+by their promptitude and naval skill.
+All then went on well for a time; but with
+the least wind or storm the leak recommenced,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span>
+till the very captain began reluctantly to
+confess, with tears in his eyes, that they were
+all as good as lost, for the vessel was dangerous,
+and not seaworthy. In the middle
+of the night, or at meal time, this supernatural
+leak would recommence, till the pumps
+were all but worn out, and the men faint
+with want of sleep. One day, when the vessel
+was skirting a reef, the negroes watched
+the opportunity, and the leak commenced
+with redoubled fury, the slaves howling as
+if from the very disquietness of their hearts.
+The Spaniards, thinking all hope lost, and
+the vessel, as they declared, already beginning
+to settle down, abandoned the ship, and
+threw themselves on that very tongue of
+land where Montbars afterwards surprised
+them. The trick had been cleverly planned
+and cleverly executed, but a hitch in the
+machinery had nearly ruined all. One of
+the blacks, more timid or less sagacious than
+the rest, seeing the water pour in with more
+than usual impetuosity, and on all sides, lost
+his presence of mind. Not able at once,
+in his panic, to find the hole which he had
+to stop, he believed that his companions had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span>
+also failed, and that all was indeed lost, and,
+throwing himself overboard without inquiring,
+he joined the Spaniards, who were thanking
+God (prematurely) for their deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>Looking back for his companions, to his
+horror he saw a dozen of them tugging at
+the helm, and putting out wildly to sea.
+The truth flashed upon him, and he knew in
+a moment that his safety was a loss. Giving
+way to uncontrollable despair, he tore his wool,
+and stamped his feet, and cursed his fetish,
+and stretched out his hands, as if to stay the
+parting vessel. The Spaniards, astonished
+at this apparently passionate desire to be
+drowned, began slowly to discover the successful
+stratagem. They looked: "Demonio,
+St. Antonio!"&mdash;the vessel did not sink, but
+glided swiftly out to sea. They could see
+the blacks laughing, pulling at the ropes,
+and grinning from the port-holes. They
+turned with fury on the unhappy survivor,
+and put him to the torture till he confessed
+the truth.</p>
+
+<p>And this story completes all that history
+has preserved of one of the strangest combinations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span>
+of fanatic and soldier that has ever
+appeared since the days of Loyola. In another
+age, and under other circumstances, he
+might have become a second Mohammed.
+Equally remorseless, his ambition, though
+narrower, seems to have been no less fervid.
+If he was cruel, we must allow him to have
+been sincere even in his fanaticism. Daring,
+untiring, of unequalled courage, and unmatched
+resolution, the cruelty of the Spaniards
+he put down by greater cruelty. He
+passes from us into unknown seas, and we
+hear of him no more. He died probably unconscious
+of crime, unpitying and unpitied.</p>
+
+<p>&#338;xmelin, who saw Montbars at Honduras,
+describes him as active, vivacious, and
+full of fire, like all the Gascons. He was of
+tall stature, erect and firm, his air grand,
+noble, and martial. His complexion was
+sun-burnt, and the colour of his eyes could
+not be discerned under the deep, arched
+vaulting of his bushy eyebrows. His very
+glance in battle was said to intimidate the
+Spaniards, and to drive them to despair.</p>
+
+<p>In 1659, Santiago was pillaged by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span>
+Flibustiers, in revenge for the murder of
+twelve Frenchmen, who had been shot by a
+Spanish captain, who took them from a
+Flemish vessel, sparing only a woman, and
+a child who hid itself under the robe of a
+monk.</p>
+
+<p>Determined on retaliation, the people of
+the coast assembled to the number of 500.
+Obtaining an English commission, they embarked
+on board a frigate from Nantes, and
+a number of small craft&mdash;De L'Isle being
+their commander, and Adam, Lormel, and
+Anne le Roux their lieutenants. They
+landed at Puerto de Plata, "le Dimanche
+des Rameaux," and marched upon St. Jago
+at daybreak. Passing over the bodies of the
+guards, they rushed to the governor's house,
+and surprised him in bed. He, knowing
+French, threw himself on his knees, and told
+them that peace was about to be declared
+between the two nations. They replied, that
+they carried an English commission, and,
+reproaching him for his cruelties, bade him
+either prepare for death, or pay down
+60,000 crowns. Part of this ransom he instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span>
+paid in hides. The pillage of the
+town lasted twenty-four hours, and nothing
+was spared; the very bells were carried from
+the churches, and the altars stripped of their
+plate. No violence, however, we are glad to
+record, was offered to the women, the Brotherhood
+having agreed, that any such offender
+should lose his share of the spoil.</p>
+
+<p class="center p6">END OF VOL. I.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"></a></span></p>
+<p class="center p6">LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.</p>
+
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+<p class="p6">&nbsp;</p>
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+<p class="center">INTERESTING NEW WORKS.</p>
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+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE<br />
+
+<big>RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.</big><br />
+
+By TORRENS M'CULLAGH, Esq.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>2 vols. post 8vo.</small></p>
+
+<p>"We feel assured that Mr. M'Cullagh's Work will be received with general
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+has, we think, proved himself an exceedingly proper person to undertake it.
+His narrative is lucid and pleasant, sound and hearty in sentiment, and sensible
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+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">SKETCHES, LEGAL AND POLITICAL,<br />
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+BY THE LATE RIGHT HONOURABLE<br />
+
+<big>RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.</big></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>2 vols. post 8vo.</small></p>
+
+<p class="center">OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.</p>
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+
+<p>"Of the great power and brilliancy of these papers there can be no second
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+mind."</p>
+
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+
+<p class="center"><i>Also, just ready,</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">MR. CURRAN'S SKETCHES OF THE IRISH BAR.<br />
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+
+<p class="center"><small>2 vols. post 8vo.</small></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a></span></p>
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+
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+
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+and delectable gossip, and full of sound and discreet views of persons and
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+<p class="center">LIVES<br />
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+OF THE<br />
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+<big>QUEENS OF ENGLAND.</big><br />
+
+BY AGNES STRICKLAND.<br />
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+Dedicated by Express Permission to her Majesty.<br />
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+literature, the publishers again beg to direct attention to the
+following extract from the author's preface:&mdash;"A revised
+edition of the 'Lives of the Queens of England', embodying
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+since the appearance of earlier impressions, is now offered to
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+with the consort of William the Conqueror, occupies
+that most interesting and important period of our national chronology,
+from the death of the last monarch of the Anglo-Saxon
+line, Edward the Confessor, to the demise of the last sovereign
+of the royal house of Stuart, Queen Anne, and comprises therein
+thirty queens who have worn the crown-matrimonial, and four
+the regal diadem of this realm. We have related the parentage
+of every queen, described her education, traced the influence
+of family connexions and national habits on her conduct, both
+public and private, and given a concise outline of the domestic,
+as well as the general history of her times, and its effects on
+her character, and we have done so with singleness of heart,
+unbiassed by selfish interests or narrow views. Such as they
+were in life we have endeavoured to portray them, both in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a></span>
+good and ill, without regard to any other considerations than
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+might be regarded as a national work, honourable to the
+female character, and generally useful to society, has encouraged
+us to the completion of the task."</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="center">OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE TIMES.</p>
+
+<p>"These volumes have the fascination of romance united to the integrity of
+history. The work is written by a lady of considerable learning, indefatigable
+industry, and careful judgment. All these qualifications for a biographer and
+an historian she has brought to bear upon the subject of her volumes, and from
+them has resulted a narrative interesting to all, and more particularly interesting
+to that portion of the community to whom the more refined researches of
+literature afford pleasure and instruction. The whole work should be read,
+and no doubt will be read, by all who are anxious for information. It is a lucid
+arrangement of facts, derived from authentic sources, exhibiting a combination
+of industry, learning, judgment, and impartiality, not often met with in biographers
+of crowned heads."</p>
+
+<p class="center">MORNING HERALD.</p>
+
+<p>"A remarkable and truly great historical work. In this series of biographies,
+in which the severe truth of history takes almost the wildness of romance, it is
+the singular merit of Miss Strickland that her research has enabled her to throw
+new light on many doubtful passages, to bring forth fresh facts, and to render
+every portion of our annals which she has described an interesting and valuable
+study. She has given a most valuable contribution to the history of England,
+and we have no hesitation in affirming that no one can be said to possess an
+accurate knowledge of the history of the country who has not studied this truly
+national work, which, in this new edition, has received all the aids that further
+research on the part of the author, and of embellishment on the part of the publishers,
+could tend to make it still more valuable, and still more attractive, than
+it had been in its original form."</p>
+
+<p class="center">MORNING CHRONICLE.</p>
+
+<p>"A most valuable and entertaining work. There is certainly no lady of our
+day who has devoted her pen to so beneficial a purpose as Miss Strickland. Nor
+is there any other whose works possess a deeper or more enduring interest."</p>
+
+<p class="center">MORNING POST.</p>
+
+<p>"We must pronounce Miss Strickland beyond all comparison the most entertaining
+historian in the English language. She is certainly a woman of powerful
+and active mind, as well as of scrupulous justice and honesty of purpose."</p>
+
+<p class="center">QUARTERLY REVIEW.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Strickland has made a very judicious use of many authentic MS. authorities
+not previously collected, and the result is a most interesting addition
+to our biographical library."</p>
+
+<p class="center">ATHENĆUM.</p>
+
+<p>"A valuable contribution to historical knowledge. It contains a mass of every
+kind of historical matter of interest, which industry and research could collect.
+We have derived much entertainment and instruction from the work."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">CHEAP EDITION OF<br />
+
+PEPYS' DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.</p>
+
+<p><i>Now ready, a New and Cheap Edition, printed uniformly with the
+last edition of</i> <span class="smcap">Evelyn's Diary</span>, <i>and comprising all the recent
+Notes and Emendations, Indexes, &amp;c., in Four Volumes, post octavo,
+with Portraits, price 6s. per Volume, handsomely bound, of the</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF<br />
+
+<big>SAMUEL PEPYS, F.R.S.,</big><br />
+
+SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES II.<br />
+AND JAMES II.<br />
+
+EDITED BY RICHARD LORD BRAYBROOKE.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p>The authority of <span class="smcap">Pepys</span>, as an historian and illustrator of
+a considerable portion of the seventeenth century, has been
+so fully acknowledged by every scholar and critic, that it
+is now scarcely necessary to remind the reader of the advantages
+he possessed for producing the most complete and
+trustworthy record of events, and the most agreeable picture
+of society and manners, to be found in the literature of any
+nation. In confidential communication with the reigning
+sovereigns, holding high official employment, placed at the
+head of the Scientific and Learned of a period remarkable
+for intellectual impulse, mingling in every circle, and observing
+everything and everybody whose characteristics were
+worth noting down; and possessing, moreover, an intelligence
+peculiarly fitted for seizing the most graphic points in
+whatever he attempted to delineate, <span class="smcap">Pepys</span> may be considered
+the most valuable as well as the most entertaining of our
+National Historians.</p>
+
+<p>A New and Cheap Edition of this work, comprising all the
+restored passages and the additional annotations that have
+been called for by the vast advances in antiquarian and historical
+knowledge during the last twenty years, will doubtless
+be regarded as one of the most agreeable additions that could
+be made to the library of the general reader.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="center">OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON PEPYS' DIARY.</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.</p>
+
+<p>"Without making any exception in favour of any other production
+of ancient or modern diarists, we unhesitatingly characterise this journal
+as the most remarkable production of its kind which has ever been
+given to the world. Pepys' Diary makes us comprehend the great
+historical events of the age, and the people who bore a part in them,
+and gives us more clear glimpses into the true English life of the times
+than all the other memorials of them that have come down to our own."</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.</p>
+
+<p>"There is much in Pepys' Diary that throws a distinct and vivid
+light over the picture of England and its government during the period
+succeeding the Restoration. If, quitting the broad path of history, we
+look for minute information concerning ancient manners and customs,
+the progress of arts and sciences, and the various branches of antiquity,
+we have never seen a mine so rich as these volumes. The variety of
+Pepys' tastes and pursuits led him into almost every department of
+life. He was a man of business, a man of information, a man of whim,
+and, to a certain degree, a man of pleasure. He was a statesman, a
+<i>bel-esprit</i>, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an
+unwearied, as well as an universal, learner, and whatever he saw found
+its way into his tablets."</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE ATHENĆUM.</p>
+
+<p>"The best book of its kind in the English language. The new
+matter is extremely curious, and occasionally far more characteristic
+and entertaining than the old. The writer is seen in a clearer light,
+and the reader is taken into his inmost soul. Pepys' Diary is the ablest
+picture of the age in which the writer lived, and a work of standard importance
+in English literature."</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE EXAMINER.</p>
+
+<p>"We place a high value on Pepys' Diary as the richest and most
+delightful contribution ever made to the history of English life and
+manners in the latter half of the seventeenth century."</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM TAIT'S MAGAZINE.</p>
+
+<p>"We owe Pepys a debt of gratitude for the rare and curious information
+he has bequeathed to us in this most amusing and interesting work.
+His Diary is valuable, as depicting to us many of the most important
+characters of the times. Its author has bequeathed to us the records of
+his heart&mdash;the very reflection of his energetic mind; and his quaint but
+happy narrative clears up numerous disputed points&mdash;throws light into
+many of the dark corners of history, and lays bare the hidden substratum
+of events which gave birth to, and supported the visible progress of, the
+nation."</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE MORNING POST.</p>
+
+<p>"Of all the records that have ever been published, Pepys' Diary
+gives us the most vivid and trustworthy picture of the times, and the
+clearest view of the state of English public affairs and of English
+society during the reign of Charles II. We see there, as in a map,
+the vices of the monarch, the intrigues of the Cabinet, the wanton follies
+of the court, and the many calamities to which the nation was subjected
+during the memorable period of fire, plague, and general licentiousness."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">IMPORTANT NEW HISTORICAL WORK.</p>
+
+<p><i>Now ready, in 2 vols. post 8vo, embellished with Portraits, price 21s. bound,</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">THE QUEENS<br />
+BEFORE THE CONQUEST.<br />
+
+BY MRS. MATTHEW HALL.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="center">OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">FROM THE LITERARY GAZETTE.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Hall's work presents a clear and connected series of records of the early
+female sovereigns of England, of whom only a few scattered anecdotes have
+hitherto been familiarly known to general readers. The book is of great interest,
+as containing many notices of English life and manners in the remote times of
+our British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish ancestors."</p>
+
+<p class="center">SUNDAY TIMES.</p>
+
+<p>"These volumes open up a new and interesting page of history to the majority
+of readers. What Miss Strickland has achieved for English Queens since the
+Norman era, has been accomplished by Mrs. Hall on behalf of the royal ladies
+who, as wives of Saxon kings, have influenced the destinies of Britain."</p>
+
+<p class="center">SUN.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Hall may be congratulated on having successfully accomplished a very
+arduous undertaking. Her volumes form a useful introduction to the usual
+commencement of English history."</p>
+
+<p class="center">CRITIC.</p>
+
+<p>"The most instructive history we possess of the pre-Conquest period. It
+should take its place by the side of Miss Strickland's 'Lives of the Queens.'"</p>
+
+<p class="center">OBSERVER.</p>
+
+<p>"Of all our female historico-biographical writers, Mrs. Hall seems to us to be
+one of the most painstaking, erudite, and variously and profoundly accomplished.
+Her valuable volumes contain not only the lives of the Queens before the Conquest,
+but a very excellent history of England previously to the Norman
+dynasty."</p>
+
+<p class="center">BELL'S MESSENGER.</p>
+
+<p>"These interesting volumes have been compiled with judgment, discretion,
+and taste. Mrs. Hall has spared neither pains nor labour to make her history
+worthy of the characters she has essayed to illustrate. The book is, in every
+sense, an addition of decided value to the annals of the British people."</p>
+
+<p class="center">NEW QUARTERLY REVIEW.</p>
+
+<p>"These volumes have long been a desideratum, and will be hailed as a useful,
+and indeed essential, introduction to Miss Strickland's world-famous biographical
+history."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center"><big>THE PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE</big><br />
+OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.<br />
+
+<big>BY SIR BERNARD BURKE,</big><br />
+
+ULSTER KING OF ARMS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED FROM
+THE PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS OF
+THE NOBILITY, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p class="center">With 1500 Engravings of ARMS. In 1 vol. (comprising as much matter
+as twenty ordinary volumes), 38s. bound.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="center">The following is a List of the Principal Contents of this Standard Work:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div style="float:left; width:45%; padding-right:1em;">
+<p>I. A full and interesting history of
+each order of the English Nobility,
+showing its origin, rise, titles, immunities,
+privileges, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>II. A complete Memoir of the Queen
+and Royal Family, forming a brief
+genealogical History of the Sovereign of
+this country, and deducing the descent
+of the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts,
+and Guelphs, through their various
+ramifications. To this section is appended
+a list of those Peers and others
+who inherit the distinguished honour
+of Quartering the Royal Arms of
+Plantagenet.</p>
+
+<p>III. An Authentic table of Precedence.</p>
+
+<p>IV. A perfect <span class="smcap">History of All the
+Peers and Baronets</span>, with the
+fullest details of their ancestors and
+descendants, and particulars respecting
+every collateral member of each family,
+and all intermarriages, &amp;c.</p>
+</div>
+<div style="float:left; width:45%; padding-left:1em;">
+<p>V. The Spiritual Lords.</p>
+
+<p>VI. Foreign Noblemen, subjects by
+birth of the British Crown.</p>
+
+<p>VII. Extinct Peerages, of which
+descendants still exist.</p>
+
+<p>VIII. Peerages claimed.</p>
+
+<p>IX. Surnames of Peers and Peeresses,
+with Heirs Apparent and Presumptive.</p>
+
+<p>X. Courtesy titles of Eldest Sons.</p>
+
+<p>XI. Peerages of the Three Kingdoms
+in order of Precedence.</p>
+
+<p>XII. Baronets in order of Precedence.</p>
+
+<p>XIII. Privy Councillors of England
+and Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>XIV. Daughters of Peers married to
+Commoners.</p>
+
+<p>XV. <span class="smcap">All the Orders of Knighthood</span>,
+with every Knight and all the
+Knights Bachelors.</p>
+
+<p>XVI. Mottoes translated, with poetical
+illustrations.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p>"The most complete, the most convenient, and the cheapest work of the kind
+ever given to the public."&mdash;<i>Sun</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The best genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage,
+and the first authority on all questions affecting the aristocracy."&mdash;<i>Globe</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"For the amazing quantity of personal and family history, admirable arrangement
+of details, and accuracy of information, this genealogical and heraldic
+dictionary is without a rival. It is now the standard and acknowledged book of
+reference upon all questions touching pedigree, and direct or collateral affinity
+with the titled aristocracy. The lineage of each distinguished house is deduced
+through all the various ramifications. Every collateral branch, however remotely
+connected, is introduced; and the alliances are so carefully inserted, as to show,
+in all instances, the connexion which so intimately exists between the titled and
+untitled aristocracy. We have also much most entertaining historical matter,
+and many very curious and interesting family traditions. The work is, in fact, a
+complete cyclopćdia of the whole titled classes of the empire, supplying all the
+information that can possibly be desired on the subject."&mdash;<i>Morning Post</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+
+
+<p  class="center">CHEAP EDITION OF THE<br />
+DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF<br />
+
+JOHN EVELYN, F.R.S.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Now completed, with Portraits, in Four Volumes, post octavo (either of
+which may be had separately), price 6s. each, handsomely bound,</i><br />
+
+COMPRISING ALL THE IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL NOTES, LETTERS, AND OTHER
+ILLUSTRATIONS LAST MADE.</p>
+
+<p>"We rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of Evelyn. It is
+intended as a companion to the recent edition of Pepys, and presents similar claims
+to interest and notice. Evelyn was greatly above the vast majority of his contemporaries,
+and the Diary which records the incidents in his long life, extending
+over the greater part of a century, is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable
+and interesting books in the language. Evelyn took part in the breaking out of
+the civil war against Charles I., and he lived to see William of Orange ascend the
+throne. Through the days of Strafford and Land, to those of Sancroft and Ken, he
+was the steady friend of moderation and peace in the English Church. He
+interceded alike for the royalist and the regicide; he was the correspondent of
+Cowley, the patron of Jeremy Taylor, the associate and fellow-student of Boyle;
+and over all the interval between Vandyck and Kneller, between the youth of
+Milton and the old age of Dryden, poetry and the arts found him an intelligent
+adviser, and a cordial friend. There are, on the whole, very few men of whom
+England has more reason to be proud. He stands among the first in the list of
+Gentlemen. We heartily commend so good an edition of this English classic."&mdash;<i>Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p>"This work is a necessary companion to the popular histories of our country,
+to Hume, Hallam, Macaulay, and Lingard.&mdash;<i>Sun.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF ENGLAND.<br />
+
+By MRS. EVERETT GREEN,<br />
+
+EDITOR OF THE "LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES."<br />
+
+6 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 10s. 6d. each, bound.
+Either of which may be had separately.</p>
+
+<p>"This work is a worthy companion to Miss Strickland's admirable 'Queens
+of England.' That celebrated work, although its heroines were, for the most
+part, foreign Princesses, related almost entirely to the history of this country.
+The Princesses of England, on the contrary, are themselves English, but their
+lives are nearly all connected with foreign nations. Their biographies, consequently,
+afford us a glimpse of the manners and customs of the chief European
+kingdoms, a circumstance which not only gives to the work the charm of variety,
+but which is likely to render it peculiarly useful to the general reader, as it links
+together by association the contemporaneous history of various nations. We
+cordially commend Mrs. Green's production to general attention; it is (necessarily)
+as useful as history, and fully as entertaining as romance."&mdash;<i>Sun.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+
+
+<p  class="center">SIR B. BURKE'S DICTIONARY OF THE<br />
+
+EXTINCT, DORMANT, AND ABEYANT PEERAGES<br />
+
+OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.</p>
+
+<p>Beautifully printed, in 1 vol, 8vo, containing 800 double-column pages,
+21s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>This work connects, in many instances, the new with the old nobility, and it
+will in all cases show the cause which has influenced the revival of an extinct
+dignity in a new creation. It should be particularly noticed, that this new work
+appertains nearly as much to extant as to extinct persons of distinction; for
+though dignities pass away, it rarely occurs that whole families do.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">HISTORY OF THE LANDED GENTRY.<br />
+
+A Genealogical Dictionary<br />
+
+OF THE WHOLE OF THE UNTITLED ARISTOCRACY
+OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.<br />
+
+By SIR BERNARD BURKE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">A new and improved Edition, in 1 vol., uniform with the "Peerage."</p>
+
+
+<p>&#9755;<span class="smcap">The Purchasers</span> of the earlier editions of the Dictionary of the Landed
+Gentry are requested to take notice that</p>
+
+<p class="center">A COPIOUS INDEX</p>
+
+<p>has been compiled with great care and at great expense, containing <span class="smcap">REFERENCES
+TO THE NAMES OF EVERY PERSON</span> (upwards of 100,000) <span class="smcap">MENTIONED IN THE
+WORK</span>, and may be had bound uniformly with the work: price, 5s.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">ROMANTIC RECORDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY.<br />
+
+By SIR BERNARD BURKE.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Second and Cheaper Edition</span>, 2 vols., post 8vo, 21s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"The most curious incidents, the most stirring tales, and the most remarkable
+circumstances connected with the histories, public and private, of our noble houses
+and aristocratic families, are here given in a shape which will preserve them
+in the library, and render them the favorite study of those who are interested
+in the romance of real life. These stories, with all the reality of established fact,
+read with as much spirit as the tales of Boccaccio, and are as full of strange
+matter for reflection and amazement."&mdash;<i>Britannia.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+
+<p class="center">REVELATIONS OF PRINCE TALLEYRAND.</p>
+
+<p>Second Edition, 1 volume, post 8vo, with Portrait, 10s. 6d. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"We have perused this work with extreme interest. It is a portrait of Talleyrand
+drawn by his own hand."&mdash;<i>Morning Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>"A more interesting work has not issued from the press for many years. It is
+in truth a most complete Boswell sketch of the greatest diplomatist of the age."&mdash;<i>Sunday
+Times.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I.<br />
+
+By I. DISRAELI.</p>
+
+<p>A NEW EDITION. REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, AND EDITED BY
+HIS SON, THE RT. HON. B. DISRAELI, M.P. 2 vols., 8vo, 28s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"By far the most important work on the important age of Charles I. that
+modern times have produced."&mdash;<i>Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">MEMOIRS OF SCIPIO DE RICCI,<br />
+
+LATE BISHOP OF PISTOIA AND PRATO;<br />
+
+REFORMER OF CATHOLICISM IN TUSCANY.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition, 2 vols. 8vo, 12s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>The leading feature of this important work is its application to the great
+question now at issue between our Protestant and Catholic fellow-subjects. It
+contains a complete <i>exposé</i> of the Romish Church Establishment during the
+eighteenth century, and of the abuses of the Jesuits throughout the greater
+part of Europe. Many particulars of the most thrilling kind are brought to
+light.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">HISTORIC SCENES.<br />
+
+By AGNES STRICKLAND.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Author of "Lives of the Queens of England," &amp;c. 1 vol., post 8vo,
+elegantly bound, with Portrait of the Author, 10s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p>"This attractive volume is replete with interest. Like Miss Strickland's
+former works, it will be found, we doubt not, in the hands of youthful branches
+of a family as well as in those of their parents, to all and each of whom it
+cannot fail to be alike amusing and instructive."&mdash;<i>Britannia.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"></a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">MEMOIRS OF PRINCE ALBERT;<br />
+
+AND THE HOUSE OF SAXONY.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Second Edition, revised, with Additions, by Authority.
+1 vol., post 8vo, with Portrait, bound, 6s.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">MADAME CAMPAN'S MEMOIRS<br />
+
+OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition, 2 vols. 8vo, with Portraits, price 7s.</p>
+
+<p>"We have seldom perused so entertaining a work. It is as a mirror of the
+most splendid Court in Europe, at a time when the monarchy had not been shorn
+of any of its beams, that it is particularly worthy of attention."&mdash;<i>Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">3 vols., small 8vo, 15s.</p>
+
+<p>"A curious and entertaining piece of domestic biography of a most extraordinary
+person, under circumstances almost unprecedented."&mdash;<i>New Monthly.</i></p>
+
+<p>"An extremely amusing book, full of anecdotes and traits of character of
+kings, princes, nobles, generals," &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Morning Journal.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">MEMOIRS OF A HUNGARIAN LADY.<br />
+
+MADAME PULSZKY.</p>
+
+<p class="center">WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 2 vols., 12s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Worthy of a place by the side of the Memoirs of Madame de Staël and
+Madame Campan."&mdash;<i>Globe.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">MEMOIRS OF A GREEK LADY,<br />
+
+THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF THE LATE
+QUEEN CAROLINE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 2 vols., post 8vo, price 12s. bound.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">Now ready, Part XI., price 5s., of<br />
+
+M.A. THIERS' HISTORY OF FRANCE<br />
+
+UNDER NAPOLEON.</p>
+
+<p class="center">A SEQUEL TO HIS HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.</p>
+
+<p>As guardian to the archives of the state, M. Thiers had access to diplomatic
+papers and other documents of the highest importance, hitherto known only to a
+privileged few. From private sources M. Thiers has also derived much valuable
+information. Many interesting memoirs, diaries, and letters, all hitherto unpublished,
+and most of them destined for political reasons to remain so, have been
+placed at his disposal; while all the leading characters of the empire, who were
+alive when the author undertook the present history, have supplied him with a
+mass of incidents and anecdotes which have never before appeared in print.</p>
+
+<p>N.B. Any of the Parts may, for the present, be had separately, at 5s. each;
+and subscribers are recommended to complete their sets as soon as possible, to
+prevent disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>*<sub>*</sub>* The public are requested to be particular in giving their orders for
+"<span class="smcap">Colburn's Authorised Translation.</span>"</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">RUSSIA UNDER THE AUTOCRAT NICHOLAS I.<br />
+
+<span class="smcap">By</span> IVAN GOLOVINE, <span class="smcap">a Russian Subject</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., with a full-length Portrait of the
+Emperor, 10s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"These are volumes of an extremely interesting nature, emanating from the
+pen of a Russian, noble by birth, who has escaped beyond the reach of the Czar's
+power. The merits of the work are very considerable. It throws a new light on
+the state of the empire&mdash;its aspect, political and domestic&mdash;its manners; the
+<i>employés</i> about the palace, court, and capital; its police; its spies; its depraved
+society," &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Sunday Times.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE,</p>
+
+<p>Comprising the Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in Japan, with
+an Account of British Commercial Intercourse with that Country.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By CAPTAIN GOLOWNIN.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">New</span> and <span class="smcap">Cheaper Edition</span>. 2 vols. post 8vo, 10s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"No European has been able, from personal observation and experience, to communicate
+a tenth part of the intelligence furnished by this writer."&mdash;<i>British
+Review.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF<br />
+
+SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B.,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Minister Plenipotentiary at the Courts of Dresden, Copenhagen, and Vienna,
+from 1769 to 1793; with Biographical Memoirs of</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">QUEEN CAROLINE MATILDA, SISTER OF GEORGE III.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition. Two vols., post 8vo, with Portraits, 15s. bound.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+
+<p class="center">THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS;<br />
+
+OR, ROMANCE AND REALITIES OF EASTERN TRAVEL.<br />
+
+By ELIOT WARBURTON, Esq.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Cheap Edition</span>, revised in 1 vol., with numerous Illustrations, 6s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"A book calculated to prove more practically useful was never penned than
+the 'Crescent and the Cross'&mdash;a work which surpasses all others in its homage
+for the sublime and its love for the beautiful in those famous regions consecrated
+to everlasting immortality in the annals of the prophets&mdash;and which no other
+modern writer has ever depicted with a pencil at once so reverent and as picturesque."&mdash;<i>Sun.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">LORD LINDSAY'S LETTERS ON THE HOLY LAND.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Fourth Edition</span>, Revised, 1 vol., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 6s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Lindsay has felt and recorded what he saw with the wisdom of a philosopher,
+and the faith of an enlightened Christian."&mdash;<i>Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">NARRATIVE OF A<br />
+
+TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE AT NINEVEH;</p>
+
+<p class="center">With Remarks on the Chaldeans, Nestorians, Yexidees, &amp;c.<br />
+
+By the Rev. J.P. FLETCHER.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition. Two vols., post 8vo, 12s. bound.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">ADVENTURES IN GEORGIA, CIRCASSIA, AND RUSSIA.<br />
+
+By Lieutenant-Colonel G. POULETT CAMERON, C.B., K.T.S., &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p class="center">2 vols., post 8vo, bound, 12s.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">CAPTAINS KING AND FITZROY.<br />
+
+NARRATIVE OF THE TEN TEARS' VOYAGE ROUND
+THE WORLD,<br />
+
+OF H.M.S. ADVENTURE AND BEAGLE.</p>
+
+<p>Cheaper Edition, in 2 large vols. 8vo, with Maps, Charts, and upwards
+of Sixty Illustrations, by Landseer, and other eminent Artists,
+price 1<i>l.</i> 11s. 6d. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the most interesting narratives of voyaging that it has fallen to our
+lot to notice, and which must always occupy a distinguished space in the history
+of scientific navigation."&mdash;<i>Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321"></a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S CAMPAIGN<br />
+
+IN THE NETHERLANDS IN 1815.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Comprising the Battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. Illustrated by
+Official Documents.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By WILLIAM MUDFORD, Esq.</p>
+
+<p class="center">1 vol., 4to, with Thirty Coloured Plates, Portraits, Maps, Plans, &amp;c., bound, 21s.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">STORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR.<br />
+
+A COMPANION VOLUME TO MR. GLEIG'S<br />
+
+"STORY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO."</p>
+
+<p class="center">With Six Portraits and Map, 5s. bound.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">THE NEMESIS IN CHINA;<br />
+
+COMPRISING A COMPLETE<br />
+
+HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THAT COUNTRY.<br />
+
+From Notes of Captain W.H. HALL, R.N.</p>
+
+<p class="center">1 vol., Plates, 6s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Capt. Hall's narrative of the services of the <i>Nemesis</i> is full of interest, and
+will, we are sure, be valuable hereafter, as affording most curious materials for
+the history of steam navigation."&mdash;<i>Quarterly Review.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">CAPTAIN CRAWFORD'S NAVAL REMINISCENCES;<br />
+
+COMPRISING MEMOIRS OF<br />
+
+ADMIRALS SIR E. OWEN, SIR B. HALLOWELL CAREW,
+AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED COMMANDERS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">2 vols., post 8vo, with Portraits, 12s. bound.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER.<br />
+
+WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.</p>
+
+<p>Being the Memoirs of EDWARD COSTELLO, of the Rifle Brigade,
+and late Captain in the British Legion. Cheap Edition, with
+Portrait, 3s. 6d. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"An excellent book of its class. A true and vivid picture of a soldier's life."&mdash;<i>Athenćum.</i></p>
+
+<p>"This highly interesting volume is filled with details and anecdotes of the most
+startling character, and well deserves a place in the library of every regiment
+in the service."&mdash;<i>Naval and Military Gazette.</i></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"></a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF<br />
+
+MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND, OF SUNNYSIDE.<br />
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Third and Cheaper Edition, 1 vol., 6s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing half so true or so touching in the delineation of Scottish character
+has appeared since Galt published his 'Annals of the Parish,' and this is purer
+and deeper than Galt, and even more absolutely and simply true."&mdash;<i>Lord Jeffrey.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition, in 3 vols., price 10s. 6d., half-bound,</p>
+
+<p class="center">FORTUNE: A STORY OF LONDON LIFE.<br />
+
+By D.T. COULTON, Esq.</p>
+
+<p>"A brilliant novel. A more vivid picture of various phases of society has not
+been painted since 'Vivian Grey' first dazzled and confounded the world; but it
+is the biting satire of fashionable life, the moral anatomy of high society, which
+will attract all readers. In every sense of the word, 'Fortune' is an excellent
+novel."&mdash;<i>Observer.</i></p>
+
+<p>"'Fortune' is not a romance, but a novel. All is reality about it: the time,
+the characters, and the incidents. In its reality consists its charm and its
+merit. It is, indeed, an extraordinary work, and has introduced to the world
+of fiction a new writer of singular ability, with a genius more that of Bulwer
+than any to whom we can compare it."&mdash;<i>Critic.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">THE MODERN ORLANDO.<br />
+
+By Dr. CROLY.</p>
+
+<p>"By far the best thing of the kind that has been written since Byron."&mdash;<i>Literary
+Gazette.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p class="center">THE HALL AND THE HAMLET.<br />
+
+By WILLIAM HOWITT.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Author of "The Book of the Seasons," "Rural Life in England," &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., post 8vo, 12s. bound.</p>
+
+<p>"This work is full of delightful sketches and sweet and enchanting pictures
+of rural life, and we have no doubt will be read not only at the homestead of the
+farmer, but at the mansion of the squire, or the castle of the lord, with gratification
+and delight."&mdash;<i>Sunday Times.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<p class="center">PUBLISHED FOR HENRY COLBURN,<br />
+
+BY HIS SUCCESSORS, HURST &amp; BLACKETT,<br />
+
+GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.</p>
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<p>Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<p>Mismatched quotation marks in one paragraph of Chapter III
+were left as in the original.</p>
+<p>Pg 26: nomade changed to nomadic<br />
+<br />
+Pg 41: Manchete changed to Machete</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I (OF 3)***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3), by
+Walter Thornbury
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)
+       Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers
+
+
+Author: Walter Thornbury
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 21, 2012  [eBook #38631]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I
+(OF 3)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Adam Buchbinder, Rory OConor, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from scanned images of
+public domain material generously made available by the Google Books
+Library Project (http://books.google.com/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work.
+      Volume II: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38632
+      Volume III: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38633
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      the the Google Books Library Project. See
+      http://books.google.com/books?vid=PCYCAAAAYAAJ&id
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN;
+
+Or,
+
+Adventures of the Buccaneers.
+
+by
+
+GEORGE W. THORNBURY, ESQ.
+
+"One foot on sea and one on shore,
+To one thing constant never."
+                MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
+
+In Three Volumes.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London:
+Hurst and Blackett, Publishers,
+Successors to Henry Colburn,
+13, Great Marlborough Street.
+1855.
+
+London: Sercombe and Jack, 16 Great Windmill Street.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+
+CHAPTER I.--THE PRECURSORS OF THE BUCCANEERS.
+
+History of Tortuga--Description of the island--Origin of the
+Buccaneers--Conquest of Tortuga by the French and English--Hunters,
+planters, and corsairs--Le Basque takes Maracaibo--War with the
+Spaniards of Hispaniola--The French West Indian Company buy
+Tortuga--Their various governors                                      1
+
+CHAPTER II.--MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.
+
+Indian derivation of the word Buccaneer--Flibustier--The three
+classes--Dress of the hunters--West Indian scenery--Method of
+hunting--Wild dogs--Anecdotes--Wild oxen--Wild boars and wild
+horses--Buccaneer dainties--Cow-killing, English, French, and Spanish
+methods--Amusements--Duels--Adventures--Conflicts with the Fifties, or
+Spanish militia--The hunters driven to sea--Turn corsairs--The hunters'
+_engages_, or apprentices--Hide curing--Hardships of the bush life--The
+planters' _engages_--Cruelties of planters--The _matelotage_--Huts,
+manners, and food                                                    35
+
+CHAPTER III.--THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.
+
+Originated in the Spanish persecution of French hunters--Customs--"No
+peace beyond the line"--"No prey, no pay"--Pay and pensions--Their
+helots the Mosquito Indians--Lewis Scott, an Englishman, the first
+Corsair--John Davis takes St. Francis in Campeachy--Their
+debauchery--Gambling--Religion--Classes from which they sprang--Equality
+at sea--Mode of fighting--Food--Dress                               111
+
+CHAPTER IV.--PIERRE-LE-GRAND, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.
+
+Plunder of Segovia--Pierre-le-Grand--Peter Francis--Captures of Spanish
+vessels--Mode of capture--Barthelemy Portugese--His escapes and
+victories--Roche the Brazilian--Fanatical hatred of the Spaniards--His
+wrecks and adventures                                               152
+
+CHAPTER V.--LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.
+
+Lolonnois' stratagems--His cruelty--His partner, Michael le
+Basque--Takes Maracaibo--Tortures the citizens--Sacks the town--Takes
+Gibraltar--Attempt on Merida--Famine and pestilence--Retreat--Division
+of spoil--Ransom--Takes St. Pedro--Burns Veragua--Wrecked in the Gulf of
+Honduras--Attacked by Indians--Killed and eaten by the savages      188
+
+CHAPTER VI.--ALEXANDRE BRAS DE FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
+
+Bras de Fer compared by French writers to Alexander the Great--His
+exploits and stratagems--Montbars--Anecdote of his childhood--Goes to
+sea--His first naval engagement--Joins the Buccaneers--Defeats the
+Spanish Fifties--His uncle killed--His revenge--Anecdote of the negro
+vessel--Adam and Anne le Roux plunder Santiago                      267
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+I claim for this book, at least originality. But this originality,
+unfortunately, if it attaches interest to an author's labours, adds also
+to his responsibilities.
+
+The history of the Buccaneers has hitherto remained unwritten. Three or
+four forgotten volumes contain literally all that is recorded of the
+wars and conquests of these extraordinary men. Of these volumes two are
+French, one Dutch, and one in English. The majority of our readers,
+therefore, it is probable, know nothing more of the freebooters but
+their name, confound them with the mere pirates of two centuries later,
+and derive their knowledge of their manners from those dozen lines of
+the Abbe Reynal, that have been transferred from historian to
+historian, and from writer to writer, for the last two centuries.
+
+The chief records of Buccaneer adventurers are drawn literally from only
+three books. The first of these is _Oexmelin's Histoire des Aventuriers_.
+12mo. Paris, 1688. Oexmelin was a Frenchman, who went out to St. Domingo
+as a planter's apprentice or _engage_, and eventually became surgeon in
+the Buccaneer fleet--knew Lolonnois, and accompanied Sir Henry Morgan to
+Panama.
+
+The second is _Esquemeling's Zee Roovers_. Amsterdam. 4to. 1684.--A book
+constantly mistaken by booksellers and in catalogues for Oexmelin.
+Esquemeling was a Dutch _engage_ at St. Domingo, and his book is an
+English translation from the Dutch. The writer appears of humbler birth
+than Oexmelin, but served also at Panama.
+
+The third is _Ringrose's History of the Cruises of Sharpe, &c._ This
+man, who served with Dampier, seems to have been an ignorant sailor, and
+a mere log-keeper.
+
+The fourth is _Ravenau de Lussan's Narrative_. De Lussan was a young
+French officer of fortune, who served in some of Ringrose's cruises.
+This is a book written by a vivacious and keen observer, but is less
+complete than Oexmelin's, but equally full of anecdote, and very amusing.
+
+For secondary authorities we come to the French Jesuit historians of the
+West Indian Islands, diffuse Rochefort, the gossiping _bon vivant_
+Labat; Tertre, dry and prejudiced; Charlevoix, careful, condensed, and
+entertaining; and Raynal, polished, classical, second-hand, and
+declamatory.
+
+The English secondaries are, Dampier, with his companions, Wafer and
+Cowley. Several old pamphlets contain quaint versions of Morgan's
+conquest of Panama; and in 1817, Burney, in his "History of Discoveries
+in the South Sea," devotes many chapters to a dry but very imperfect
+abridgment of Buccaneer adventure, omitting carefully everything that
+gives either life or colour. Captain Southey, in his "History of the
+West Indies," supplies many odd scraps of old voyages, and presents many
+scattered figures, but attempts no picture.
+
+Nor has modern fiction, however short of material, discovered these new
+and virgin mines. Mrs. Hall has a novel, it is true, called _The
+Buccaneer_, the scene of which is, however, laid in England; and Angus
+B. Reach has skimmed the same subject, but has evidently not even read
+half the three existing authorities. Dana, the American poet, has a poem
+called the Buccaneer, but this is merely a collection of lines on the
+sea. Sir Walter Scott's Bertram, although he had been a Buccaneer, is a
+mere ruffian, who would do for any age, and Scott himself places
+Morgan's conquest of Panama in the reign of Charles I., when it actually
+took place in that of Charles II., fifty years later.
+
+Defoe himself, little conscious of the rich region he was treading,
+sketched a Buccaneer sailor when he re-christened Alexander Selkirk
+Robinson Crusoe, and condensed all the spirit of Dampier into a book
+still read as eagerly by the man as by the boy.
+
+When I find a writer of Scott's profundity of reading and depth of
+research placing the great event of Buccaneer history fifty years
+before its time, booksellers mistaking a Dutch for a French writer, and
+living historians confounding the Flibustiers of Tortuga, who attacked
+only the Spaniards, with their degraded successors the pirates of New
+Providence, who robbed all nations and even their own without mercy, I
+think I have proved that my book is not a superfluity.
+
+It is seldom that an author can invite the whole reading world to peruse
+the self-rewarding labour of his student life. Mine is no book for a
+sect, a clique, a profession, or a trade. It brings new scenes and new
+creations to the novel reader, jaded with worn-out types of conventional
+existence. It supplies the historian with a page of English, French, and
+Spanish history that the capricious muse of history has hitherto kept in
+MS. It traces the foundation of our colonial empire. To the psychologist
+it furnishes deep matter for thought, while the philosopher may see in
+these pages humanity in a new aspect, and man's soul exposed to new
+temptations.
+
+What Dampier has described and Defoe drawn materials from, no man can
+dare to assert is wanting in interest. The readers to whom these books
+are new will be astonished to find the adventures of Xenophon paralleled
+in De Lussan's retreat over the Isthmus, and Swift forestalled in his
+conception of some of the oddest customs of Lilliput. Oexmelin, I may
+boldly assert, is a much more amusing writer than half our historians, a
+keen and enlightened observer, who looked upon Buccaneering as a
+chivalrous life, in which the sea knight got equally hard knocks as the
+land hero, but more money.
+
+If my characters are not so grand as those of history, I can present to
+my reader men as greedy of gold, ambitious and sagacious as Pizarro or
+Cortes, and as reckless as Alexander, and as cruel as Caesar. If the
+Buccaneers were but insects, bred from the putrefactions of a decaying
+empire, their plans were at least gigantic, and their courage
+unprecedented.
+
+Anomalous beings, hunters by land and sea, scaring whole fleets with a
+few canoes, sacking cities with a few grenadiers, devastating every
+coast from California to Cape Horn, they only needed a common principle
+of union to have founded an aggressive republic, as wealthy as Venice
+and as warlike as Carthage. One great mind and the New World had been
+their own.
+
+But from the first Providence sowed amongst them the seeds of
+discord--difference of religion and difference of race. Never settling,
+their race had its ranks renewed, not by descendants, but by fresh
+recruits, men with new interests and lower aims. In less than a century
+the Brotherhood had passed away, their virtues were forgotten and their
+vices alone remembered.
+
+The Buccaneers were robbers, yet they sought something beyond gold.
+Mansvelt took the island of St. Catherine, and planned a republic, and
+Morgan contemplated the destruction of the Bravo Indians. They were
+outlaws, and yet religious robbers, yet generous and regardful of the
+minutest delicacies of honour; lovers of freedom, yet obeying the
+sternest discipline; cruel, yet tender to their friends.
+
+All the light and shade of the darkest fiction look poor beside the
+adventures of these men. Catholics, Protestants, Puritans, gallants,
+officers, common seamen, farmers' sons, men of rank, hunters, sailors,
+planters, murderers, fanatics, Creoles, Spaniards, negroes, astrologers,
+monks, pilots, guides, merchants--all pass before us in a motley and
+ever-changing masquerade. The backgrounds to these scenes are the wooded
+shores of the West Indian Islands, woods sparkling at night with
+fire-flies, broad savannahs dark with wild cattle, the volcanic islands
+peopled by marooned sailors, stormy promontories, the lonely sand "keys"
+of Jamaica, and the rocky fastnesses of Tortuga.
+
+
+
+
+MONARCHS OF THE MAIN.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+HISTORY OF TORTUGA.
+
+    The precursors of the Buccaneers--Description of Tortuga--Origin of
+    the Buccaneers--Conquest of Tortuga by the French--The hunters,
+    planters, and corsairs--Le Basque takes Maracaibo--War in
+    Hispaniola--French West Indian Company buy Tortuga--The Governor, M.
+    D'Ogeron.
+
+
+Drake, Cavendish, and Oxenham, indeed all the naval heroes of
+Elizabeth's reign, were the precursors of the Buccaneers. The captains
+of those "tall ships" that sailed from Plymouth Sound, and the green
+nooks of the sunny coast of Devon, to capture stately carracks laden
+deep with silks, spices, pearls, and precious stones, the treasure of
+Potosi and Peru, were but Buccaneers under another name, agreeing with
+them in the great principle of making war on none but Spaniards, but on
+Spaniards unceasingly. "No peace beyond the line" was the motto on the
+flag of both Drake and Morgan.
+
+Sir John Hawkins, who began the slave trade, and who was Drake's
+earliest patron, took the town of Rio de la Hacha, and struggled
+desperately with the galleons in the port of St. Juan d'Ulloa. Drake
+sacked Nombre de Dios, and, passing across the isthmus, stormed Vera
+Cruz. He destroyed St. Domingo and Carthagena, burnt La Rancheria, and
+attacked Porto Rico. But still more truly a Buccaneer was John Oxenham,
+one of Drake's followers, who, cruising about Panama, captured several
+bullion vessels; but was at last slain, with all his men, having fallen
+in love with a Spanish captive, and liberated her son, who surprised him
+with reinforcements from Nombre de Dios. Then came Raleigh, more
+chivalrous than them all--looser in principle, but wiser in head. He
+planned an attack on Panama, and ravaged St. Thomas's.
+
+The first Buccaneers were poor French hunters, who, driven by the
+Spaniards out of Hispaniola, fled to the neighbouring island of Tortuga,
+and there settled as planters.
+
+This Buccaneer colony of Tortuga arose rather by accident than by the
+design of any one ambitious mind. The French had established a colony in
+the almost deserted island of St. Christopher's, which had begun to
+flourish when the Spaniards, alarmed at a hostile power's vicinity to
+their mines, to which their thoughts then alone tended, put a stop to
+the prosperity of the French settlements by frequent attacks made by
+their fleets on their way to New Spain. From the just hatred excited by
+these unprovoked forays sprang the first impulse of retaliation. These
+injuries provoked the French, as they had done the Dutch, to fit out
+privateers. But a still more powerful motive soon became paramount. A
+spirit of cupidity arose, which was stimulated by the heated
+imaginations of men poor and angry. Before them lay regions of gold,
+timidly guarded by a vindictive but feeble enemy; and Spain became to
+these pioneer settlers what a bedridden miser is to the dreams of a
+needy bravo.
+
+The report of the Dutch successes spread through all the ports of
+France. Sailors were the ready bearers of wild tales they had themselves
+half invented. Some hardy adventurers of Dieppe fitted out vessels to
+carry on a warfare that retaliation had now rendered just, war made
+legal, and chance rendered profitable. The sailor who was to-day
+munching his onion on the quays of Marseilles might, a few weeks hence,
+be lord of Carthagena, or rolling in the treasures of a Manilla galleon,
+clothed in Eastern silks, and delighted with the perfumes of India.
+Finding their enterprise successful, but St. Kitt's too distant to form
+a convenient depot for their booty, they began to look about for some
+nearer locality. At first they found their return voyages to the West
+Indian islands frequently occupying three months, which seemed years to
+men hurrying to store up old plunder, and to sally forth for new. In
+search of an asylum, these privateersmen touched at Hispaniola, hoping
+to find some lonely island near its shores; but as soon as they had
+landed, and saw the great forests full of game, and broad savannahs
+alive with wild cattle, and finding it abandoned by the Spaniards, and
+the Indians nearly all dead or emigrated, they determined to settle at a
+place so full of advantages, where they could revictual their ships, and
+remain secure and unobserved. The sight of Tortuga, a small neighbouring
+island, rocky, and yet not without a harbour, convinced them that nature
+had constructed for their growing empire at once a magazine, a citadel,
+and a fortress. They had now a sanctuary and a haven, shelter for their
+booty, and food for their men.
+
+The Spaniards, although not occupying the island, were anxious that it
+should not be occupied by others. They had long had a foreboding that
+this island would become a resort for pirates, and had just garrisoned
+it with an alfarez and twenty-five men. The French had, however, little
+difficulty in getting rid of this small force, the soldiers being
+enraged at finding themselves left by their countrymen, without
+provisions or reinforcements, upon a barren rock.
+
+Once masters of the heap of stones, the French began to deliberate by
+what means they could retain it. The sight of buildings already begun,
+and the prospect of more food than they could get at St. Christopher's,
+determined these restless men to settle on the spot they had won. Part
+of them returned to Hispaniola to kill oxen and boars, and to salt the
+flesh for those who would remain to plant; and those men who determined
+to build assured the sailors that stores of dry meat should always be
+ready to revictual their ships.
+
+The adventurers, having a nucleus for their operations, began to widen
+their operations. They became now divided into three distinct classes,
+always intermingling, and never very definitely divided, but still for
+the main part separate: the _sea rovers_, or flibustiers; the
+_planters_, or habitans; and the _hunters_, or buccaneers. For the first
+class, there were many names: the English, following an Indian word,
+called them Buccaneers, from the Indian term _boucan_ (dried meat); the
+Dutch denominated them Zee Roovers, and the French Flibustiers, or
+Aventuriers. A fourth class, growing by degrees either into the
+Buccaneers or the planters, were the apprentices, or _engages_.
+
+A few French planters could not have retained the island had not their
+numbers been swelled by the addition of many English. In a short time,
+French vessels touched at the island, to trade for the booty that now
+arrived more frequently, unintermittingly, and in greater quantities.
+The trade grew less speculative and uncertain. French captains found it
+profitable to barter not only for hides and meat with the Buccaneers,
+but with the Flibustiers for silver-plate and pieces of eight. The high
+prices paid for wine and brandy soon rendered the commerce with Bordeaux
+a matter worthy the attention of the French Government. In a few days of
+Buccaneer excess more was spent in barter than could have been realised
+in months of average traffic with the more cautious.
+
+The Spaniards, fully alive to the danger of this planter settlement,
+determined to destroy it at a single blow. The design was easy of
+accomplishment, for the Buccaneers had grown careless from long
+impunity, and had long since crowned themselves undisputed kings of
+Hispaniola and its dependencies. Taking advantage of a time when the
+English corsairs were at sea and the French Buccaneers hunting on the
+mainland, the Spanish General of the Indian Fleet landed with a handful
+of soldiers and retook the island in an hour. The few planters were
+overpowered before they could run together, the hunters before they
+could seize their arms. Some were at once put to the sword, and others
+hung on the nearest trees. The larger portion, however, taking advantage
+of well-known lurking places, waited for the night, and then escaped to
+the mainland in their canoes. The Spaniards, satisfied with the terror
+they had struck, left the island un-garrisoned, and returned exultingly
+to St. Domingo. Hearing, however, that there were a great many
+Buccaneers still settled as hunters in Hispaniola, and that the wild
+cattle were diminishing by their ravages, the general levied some troops
+to put them down. To these men, who were known as the Spanish _Fifties_,
+we shall hereafter advert.
+
+The Spanish fleet was scarcely well out of sight before the Buccaneers,
+angry but unintimidated, flocked back to their now desolated island,
+full of rage at the sight of the bodies of their companions and the
+ashes of their ruined houses. The English returned headed by a Buccaneer
+named Willis, who gave an English character to the new colony. The
+French adventurers, jealous of English interference, and fearful that
+the island would fall into the possession of England, left Tortuga, and,
+going to St. Christopher's, informed the Governor, the Chevalier de
+Poncy, of the ease with which it could be conquered. De Poncy, alive to
+the scheme and jealous for French honour, fitted out an expedition, and
+intrusted the command to M. Le Vasseur, a brave soldier and good
+engineer, just arrived from France, who levied a force of forty French
+Protestants, and agreed to conquer the island for De Poncy and to govern
+in his name, as well as to pay half the expenses of the conquest. In a
+few days he dropped anchor in Port Margot, on the north side of
+Hispaniola, about seven leagues from Tortuga. He instantly collected a
+force of forty French Buccaneers from the woods and the savannahs, and,
+having arranged his plans, made a descent upon the island in the month
+of April, 1640. As soon as he had landed, he sent a message to the
+English Governor to say that he had come to avenge the insults received
+by the French flag, and to warn him that if he did not leave the island
+with all those of his nation in twenty-four hours, he should lay waste
+every plantation with fire and sword. The English, feeling their
+position untenable, instantly embarked in a vessel lying in the road,
+without (as Oexmelin, a French writer, says) striking a blow in
+self-defence. The French population of the island then, rising in arms,
+welcomed the invaders as friends.
+
+Le Vasseur, the bloodless conqueror of this new Barataria, was received
+with shouts and acclamations. He at once visited every nook of the
+island that needed defence, and prepared to insure it against reconquest
+either by the Spaniards or the English. He found it inaccessible on
+three sides; and on the unprotected quarter built a fort, on a peak of
+impregnable rock, rising 600 feet above the narrow path which it
+commanded. The summit of this rock was about thirty feet square, and
+could only be ascended by steps cut in the stone or by a moveable iron
+ladder. The fort held four guns. A spring of water completed the
+advantages of the spot, which was surrounded with walls and fenced in
+with hedges, woods, precipices, and every aid that art or nature could
+furnish. The only approach to this steep was a narrow avenue in which no
+more than three men could march abreast.
+
+The Buccaneers now flocked to Tortuga in greater numbers than before,
+some to congratulate the new governor on his victory, and others to
+enrol themselves as his subjects: all who came he received with
+promises of support and protection. The Spaniards, in the meanwhile,
+determined to crush this wasp's nest, fitted out at St. Domingo a new
+armament of six vessels, having on board 500 or 600 men. They at first
+anchored before the fort, but, receiving a volley, moored two leagues
+lower down, and landed their troops. In attempting to storm the fort by
+a _coup de main_, they were beaten off with the loss of 200 men, the
+garrison sallying out and driving them back to their ships.
+
+The now doubly victorious governor was hailed as the defender and
+saviour of Tortuga. The news of victory soon reached the ears of M. de
+Poncy, at St. Christopher's, who, at first rejoiced at the success,
+became soon afraid of the ambition of his new ally. Fearing that he
+would repudiate the contract, and declare himself an independent
+sovereign, he took the precaution of testing his sincerity. He sent two
+of his relations to Tortuga to request land as settlers, but really to
+act as spies. Le Vasseur, subtle and penetrating, at once detected their
+object. He received the young men with great civility, but took care to
+secure their speedy return to St. Christopher's. Having now attained the
+summit of his wishes, he became, as many greater men have been,
+intoxicated with power. His temper changed, and he grew severe,
+suspicious, intolerant, and despotic. He not only bound his subjects in
+chains, but delighted to clank the fetters, and remind them of their
+slavery. He ill-used the planters, loaded the merchants with taxes,
+punished the most venial faults, and grew as much hated as he had been
+once beloved. He went so far in his tyranny as to forbid the exercise of
+the Catholic religion, to burn the churches and expel the priests. The
+murder of such a persecutor has always been held a sin easily forgiven
+by the confessor, and lust and superstition soon gave birth to murder.
+
+Charlevoix relates an amusing instance of the governor's contumacy. De
+Poncy, informed that his vessels had taken a silver idol (a Virgin Mary)
+from some Spanish cathedral, wrote to demand its surrender. Le Vasseur
+returned a wooden image by the messenger, desiring him to say, that for
+religious purposes, wood or silver was equally good. One of his most
+cruel inventions Le Vasseur called his "hell." It seems to have
+resembled the portable iron cages in which Louis XI. used to confine his
+state prisoners.
+
+M. de Poncy, informed of the extraordinary change in the character of Le
+Vasseur, endeavoured to beguile him by promises, threats, and
+entreaties. Justice gave him now a pretext of enforcing what
+self-interest had long meditated. The toils were growing closer round
+the doomed man, but Heaven sent a speedier punishment. Le Vasseur, still
+waiving all openings for formal complaint, was exulting in all the glory
+of a small satrapy, when two nephews conspired against his life.
+Cupidity inspired the crime, and they easily persuaded themselves that
+God and man alike demanded the expiation. One writer calls them simply
+captains, "companions of fortune," and another, the nephews of Le
+Vasseur.
+
+These ungrateful men had already been declared his heirs, but they had
+quarrelled with him about a mistress he had taken from them, and one
+fault in a friend obliterates the remembrance of many virtues. They
+believed that the inhabitants, rejoiced at deliverance from such
+tyranny, would appoint them joint governors in the first outburst of
+their gratitude. They shot him from an ambush as he was descending from
+the rock fort to the shore, but, only wounding him slightly, were
+obliged to complete the murder with a poignard. The wounded man called
+for a priest, and declared himself, with his last breath, a steadfast
+Catholic. He seems to have been a dark, wily man, of strong passions,
+tenacious ambition, and ungovernable will.
+
+While this crime was perpetrating, De Poncy, determined to recover
+possession of at least his share of Tortuga, and weary and angry at the
+subterfuges of Le Vasseur, had resolved upon a new expedition. The
+leader was a Chevalier de Fontenoy, a soldier of fortune, who, attracted
+by the sparkle of Spanish gold, had just arrived at St. Kitt's in a
+French frigate. Full of chivalry, he at once proposed to sail, although
+informed that the place was impregnable, and could only be taken by
+stratagem. While the armament was fitting up, he made a cruise round
+Carthagena, on the look out for Spanish prizes, and joined M. Feral, a
+nephew of the general, at Port de Paix, a rendezvous twelve leagues from
+Tortuga. Informed there of the murder of Le Vasseur, they at once sailed
+for the harbour, and landed 500 men at the spot where the Spaniards had
+formerly been repulsed. The two murderers immediately capitulated, on
+condition of being allowed to depart with all their uncle's treasure.
+The Chevalier was proclaimed governor, and received with as many
+acclamations as Le Vasseur had been before him. The old religion was
+restored, and commerce patronized and protected, by royal edict. Two
+bastions were added to the fort, and more guns mounted. The Buccaneers
+crowded back in greater numbers than even on Le Vasseur's arrival.
+Before they had only imagined the advantages of this conquest, but now
+they had tasted them. The Chevalier hailed all Buccaneers as friends
+and brothers, and even himself fitted out privateers. The Spanish ships
+could scarcely venture out of port, and one merchant alone is known to
+have lost 300,000 crowns' worth of merchandise in a single year.
+
+It is easier to conquer than to retain a conquest, and vigilance grows
+blunted by success. The Chevalier, too confident in his strength,
+allowed half his population to embark in cruisers. The sick, the aged,
+the maimed, laboured in the plantations with the slaves. The Spaniards,
+informed of this, landed in force, without resistance. The few
+Buccaneers crowded into the fort, which the enemy dared not approach.
+Discovering, however, a mountain that commanded the rock, precipitous,
+but still accessible, they determined to plant a battery upon it, and
+drive the Buccaneers from their last foothold. With infinite vigour and
+determination they hewed a road to the mountain between two rocks.
+Making frames of wood, they lashed on their cannons, and forced the
+slaves and prisoners to drag them to the summit, and, with a battery of
+four guns, suddenly opened a fire upon the unguarded fort. The
+Chevalier, not expecting this enterprise, had just deprived himself of
+his last defence, by cutting down the large trees that grew round the
+walls. In spite of all the threats and expostulations of the governor,
+the garrison, galled by this plunging fire, at once capitulated. They
+left the island in twenty-four hours, with arms and baggage, drums
+beating, colours flying, and match burning, and set sail in two
+half-scuttled vessels lying in the road, having first given hostages not
+to serve against Spain for a given time. In another vessel, but alone,
+set sail the two murderers, who, being short of food, consummated their
+crimes by leaving the women and children of their company on a desert
+island.
+
+The Spanish general, repairing the fort, garrisoned it with sixty men,
+whom he supplied with provisions. Fontenoy, repulsed in an attempt to
+recover the island, soon afterwards returned to France.
+
+In 1655, when Admiral Penn appeared off St. Domingo with Cromwell's
+fleet, the Spaniards, to increase their forces in Hispaniola, recalled
+the troop which had held Tortuga eighteen months--the commander first
+blowing up the fort, burning the church, the houses, and the magazines,
+and devastating the plantations. Not long afterwards, an English refugee
+of wealth, Elias Ward (or, as the French call him, _Elyazouaerd_), came
+from Jamaica, with his family and a dozen soldiers, and with an English
+commission from the general, and was soon joined by about 120 French and
+English adventurers.
+
+The treaty of the Pyrenees, in 1659, brought no repose to the hunters of
+Hispaniola from Spanish inroads. The planters were compelled to work
+armed, and to keep watch at night for fear of being murdered in their
+beds. In 1667 the war recommencing, let the bloodhounds, who had long
+been straining in the leash, free to raven and devour. De Lisle again
+plundered St. Jago, and obtained 2,500 piastres ransom, each of his
+adventurers secured 300 crowns, the Spaniards abandoning the defiles
+and carrying off their treasure to Conception.
+
+This was the golden age of Buccaneering. Vauclin, Ovinet, and Tributor,
+plundered the towns of Cumana, Coro, St. Martha, and Nicaragua. Le
+Basque, with only forty men, surprised Maracaibo by night. He seized the
+principal inhabitants and shut them in the cathedral, and threatened to
+instantly cut off their heads if the citizens ventured to rise in arms.
+Daylight discovering his feeble force, he could obtain no ransom. The
+Flibustiers then retreated, each man driving a prisoner before him, a
+pistol slung in one hand and a naked sabre raised over the Spaniard's
+head in the other. These hostages were detained twenty-four hours, and
+released at the moment the French departed. This is the same Le Basque
+whom Charlevoix describes as cutting out the Margaret from under the
+cannon of Portobello, and winning a million piastres. At another time,
+they retreated laden with booty and carrying with them the Governor and
+the principal citizens of St. Jago; but the Spaniards, rallying, placed
+themselves, 1,000 in number, in an ambuscade by the way, trusting to
+their numbers and expecting an easy victory. The French, turning well,
+scarcely missed a shot, and in a short time killed 100 of the enemy's
+men, and, wounding a great many more, drove them off after two hours'
+fighting. They rallied and returned in a short time, determined to
+conquer or die; but the French, showing the prisoners, declared that if
+a shot was fired by the enemy they would kill them before their eyes,
+and would then sell their own lives dearly. This menace frightened the
+Spaniards, and the Flibustiers continued their retreat unmolested.
+Having waited some time in vain on the coast for the ransom, they left
+the prisoners unhurt, and returned gaily to Tortuga.
+
+In 1663, Spain, finding that France in secret encouraged the Buccaneers
+of Hispaniola, gave orders to exterminate every Frenchman in the island,
+promising recompence to those who distinguished themselves in the war.
+An old Flemish officer, named Vandelinof, who had served with
+distinction in the Low Country wars, took the command. His first
+stratagem was to attempt to surprise the chief French boucan, at
+Gonaive, on the Brule Savannah, with 800 men. The hunters, observing
+them, gave the alarm, and, collecting 100 "brothers," advanced to meet
+them in a defile where the Spanish numbers were of no avail. The Fleming
+was killed at the first volley, and after an obstinate struggle the
+Spaniards fled to the mountains.
+
+The enemy, after this defeat, returned to their old and safer plan of
+night surprises--which frequently succeeded, owing to the negligent
+watch kept by the Buccaneers. The hunters, much harassed by the constant
+sense of insecurity, began to retire every night to the small islands
+round St. Domingo, and seldom went alone to the chase. Some boucans,
+such as those at the port of Samana, grew rapidly into towns. Near this
+excellent harbour the cattle were unusually abundant, and in a few hours
+the Flibustier could carry his hides to his market at Tortuga. Gradually
+French and Dutch vessels began to visit the port to buy hides and to
+trade.
+
+Every morning before starting to the savannah, the hunters climbed the
+highest hill to see if any Spaniards were visible. They then agreed on a
+rendezvous for the evening, arriving there to the moment. If any one was
+missing he was at once known to be taken or killed, and no one was
+permitted to return home till their comerade's death had been avenged.
+One evening the hunters of Samana, missing four of the band, marched
+towards St. Jago, and, discovering from some prisoners that their
+companions had been massacred, entered a Spanish village and slew every
+one they met.
+
+The Spaniards too had sometimes their revenge. "The river of massacre"
+near Samana was so called from thirty Buccaneers who were slain there
+while fording the river laden with hides. Another band of hunters, led
+by Charles Tore, had been hunting at a place called the Bois-Brule
+Savannah, and having completed the number of skins the merchants had
+contracted for, returned to Samana. Crossing a savannah they were
+surprised by an overwhelming force of Spaniards, and, in spite of a
+desperate resistance, slain to a man. The Buccaneers, irritated by these
+losses, began to think of revenge. When the Spaniards destroyed the wild
+cattle, some turned planters about Port de Paix, others became
+Flibustiers.
+
+The death of De Poncy threw the French colonies into some disorder, and
+Tortuga was for awhile forgotten both by the home and colonial
+government. During this interval a gentleman of Perigord, named Rossy, a
+retired Buccaneer, resolved to resume his old profession. Returning to
+St. Domingo, he was hailed as a father by the hunters, who proposed to
+him to recover Tortuga. Rossy, knowing that fidelity is the last virtue
+that forsakes the heart, accepted their proposal with the enthusiasm of
+a gambler accustomed to such desperate casts. He was soon joined by five
+hundred refugees, burning for conquest and revenge. They assembled in
+canoes at a rendezvous in Hispaniola, and agreed to land one hundred men
+on the north side of the island and surprise the mountain fort. The
+Spaniards in the town, not even entrenched, were soon beaten into the
+fort. The garrison of the rock were rather astonished to be awoke at
+break of day by a salute from the neighbouring mountain, when they could
+see the enemy still quietly encamped below. Sallying out, they could
+discern no opponents, but before they could regain the fort were all cut
+to pieces or made prisoners. The survivors were at once thrust into a
+boat and sent to Cuba, and Rossy declared governor. He soon after
+received a commission from the French king, together with a permission
+to levy a tax, for the support of his dignity, of a tenth of all prizes
+brought into Tortuga. Rossy governed quietly for some years, and
+eventually retired to his native country to die, and La Place, his
+nephew, reigned in his stead.
+
+In 1664, the French West India Company became masters of Tortuga and the
+Antilles, and appointed M. D'Ogeron, a gentleman of Anjou who had failed
+in commerce, as their governor. He proved a good administrator, and
+built magazines and storehouses for his grateful and attached people.
+D'Ogeron soon established order and prosperity in the island, which
+became a refuge for the red flag and the terror of the Spaniards. He
+colonised all the north side of Hispaniola, from Port Margot, where he
+had a house, to the three rivers opposite Tortuga. He attracted
+colonists from the Antilles, and brought over women from France, in
+order to settle his nomadic and mutinous population. In 1661, the West
+India Company, dissatisfied with the profits of their merchandize,
+resolved to relinquish the colony and call in their debts; and it was in
+the St. John, sent out for this purpose, that the Buccaneer historian
+Oexmelin, whom we shall have frequently to quote, first visited Tortuga.
+D'Ogeron, determined not to relinquish a settlement already beginning to
+flourish, hastened to France, and persuaded some private merchants to
+continue the trade. They promised to fit out twelve vessels annually, if
+he would supply them with back freight. He on his part agreed to provide
+the colonists with slaves and to destroy the wild dogs, which were
+committing great ravages among the herds of Hispaniola. This new
+company did not answer. The inhabitants suffered by the monopoly, and
+grew discontented at only being allowed to trade with certain vessels,
+and being obliged to turn their backs on better bargains or cheaper
+merchandize. An accident lit the train. M. D'Ogeron attempted to prevent
+their trading with some Dutch merchants, and they rose in arms. Shots
+were fired at the governor, and the revolters threatened to burn out the
+planters who would not join their flag. But succours from the Antilles
+soon brought them to their senses, and, one of their ringleaders being
+hung, they surrendered at discretion. The governor, alarmed even at an
+outbreak that he had checked, made in his turn concessions. He permitted
+all French merchants to trade upon paying a heavy harbour due, and the
+number of ships soon became too numerous for the limited commerce of the
+place. M. D'Ogeron next procured colonists from Brittany and Anjou, and
+eventually, after some further exploits, very daring but always
+unfortunate, he was succeeded in command by his nephew M. De Poncy.
+
+There are several Tortugas. There is one in the Caribbean sea, another
+near the coast of Honduras, a third not far from Carthagena, and a
+fourth in the gulf of California; they all derived their names from
+their shape, resembling the turtle which throng in these seas.
+
+The Buccaneer fastness with which we have to do is the Tortuga of the
+North Atlantic Ocean, a small rocky island about 60 leagues only in
+circumference, and distant barely six miles from the north coast of
+Hispaniola. This Tortuga was to the refugee hunters of the savannahs
+what New Providence became to the pirates, and the Galapagos islands to
+the South Sea adventurers of half a century later. It had only one port,
+the entrance to which formed two channels: on two sides it was
+iron-bound, and on the other defended by reefs and shoals, less
+threatening than the cliffs, but not less dangerous. Though scantily
+supplied with spring water--a defect which the natives balanced by a
+free use of "the water of life"--the interior was very fertile and well
+wooded. Palm and sandal wood trees grew in profusion; sugar, tobacco,
+aloes, resin, China-root, indigo, cotton, and all sorts of tropical
+plants were the riches of the planters. The cultivators were already
+receiving gifts from the earth, which--liberal benefactor--she gave
+without expecting a return, for the virgin soil needed little seed,
+care, or nourishment. The island was too small for savannahs, but the
+tangled brushwood abounded in wild boars.
+
+The harbour had a fine sand bottom, was well sheltered from the winds,
+and was walled in by the Coste de Fer rocks. Round the habitable part of
+the shore stretched sands, so that it could not be approached but by
+boats. The town consisted of only a few store-houses and wine shops, and
+was called the _Basse Terre_. The other five habitable parts of the
+island were Cayona, the Mountain, the Middle Plantation, the Ringot, and
+Mason's Point. A seventh, the Capsterre, required only water to make it
+habitable, the land being very fertile. To supply the want of springs,
+the planters collected the rain water in tanks. The soil of the island
+was alternately sand and clay, and from the latter they made excellent
+pottery. The mountains, though rocky, and scarcely covered with soil,
+were shaded with trees of great size and beauty, the roots of which
+clung like air plants to the bare rock, and, netting them round, struck
+here and there deeper anchors into the wider crevices. This timber was
+so dry and tough that, if it was cut and exposed to the heat of the sun,
+it would split with a loud noise, and could therefore only be used as
+fuel.
+
+This favoured island boasted all the fruits of the Antilles: its tobacco
+was better than that of any other island; its sugar canes attained an
+enormous size, and their juice was sweeter than elsewhere; its numerous
+medicinal plants were exported to heal the diseases of the Old World.
+The only four-footed animal was the wild boar, originally transplanted
+from Hispaniola. As it soon grew scarce, the French governor made it
+illegal to hunt with dogs, and required the hunter to follow his prey
+single-handed and on foot. The wood-pigeons were almost the only birds
+in the island. They came in large flocks at certain periods of the year;
+Oexmelin says that, in two or three hours, without going eighty steps
+from the road, he killed ninety-five with his own hand. As soon as they
+eat a certain berry their flesh became bitter as our larks do when they
+move from the stubbles into the turnips. A Gascon visitor, once
+complaining of their sudden bitterness, was told by a Buccaneer as a
+joke that his servant had forgot to remove the gall. Fish abounded round
+the island, and crabs without nippers; the night fishermen carrying
+torches of the candle-wood tree. The shell fish was the food of servants
+and slaves, and was said to be so indigestible as to frequently produce
+giddiness and temporary blindness; the turtle and manitee, too, formed
+part of their daily diet. The planters were much tormented by the white
+and red land-crabs, or tourtourons, which lived in the earth, visited
+the sea to spawn, and at night gnawed the sugar-canes and the roots of
+plants. Their only venomous reptile was the viper, which they tamed to
+kill mice; in a wild state, it fed on poultry or pigeons. From the
+stomach of one Oexmelin drew seven pigeons and a large fowl, which had
+been swallowed about three hours before, and cooked them for his own
+dinner, verifying the old proverb of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." In
+times of scarcity these snakes were eaten for food. Besides chameleons
+and lizards, there were small insects with shells like a snail. These
+were considered good to eat and very nourishing. When held near the
+fire, they distilled a red oily liquid useful as a rheumatic liniment.
+Though the scorpions and scolopendrias were not venomous, nature, always
+just in her compensations, covered the island with poisonous shrubs. The
+most fatal of these was the noxious mancanilla. It grew as high as a
+pear tree, had leaves like a wild laurel, and bore fruit like an apple;
+this fruit was so deadly, that even fish that ate of it, if they did not
+die, became themselves poisonous, and were known by the blackness of
+their teeth. The only antidote was olive oil. The Indian fishermen
+used, as a test, to taste the heart of the fish they caught, and if it
+proved bitter they knew at once that it had been poisoned, and threw it
+away. The very rain-drops that fell from the leaves were deadly to man
+and beast, and it was as dangerous to sleep under its shadow as under
+the upas. The friendly boughs invited the traveller (as vice does man)
+to rest under their shade; but when he awoke he found himself sick and
+faint, and covered with feverish sores. New-comers were too frequently
+tempted by the sight and odour of the fruit, and the only remedy for the
+rash son of Adam was to bind him down, and, in spite of heat and pain,
+to prevent him drinking for two or three days. The body of the sufferer
+became at first "red as fire, and his tongue black as ink," then a great
+torment of thirst and fever came upon him, but slowly passed away.
+Another poisonous shrub resembled the pimento; its berries were used by
+the Indians to rub their eyes, giving them, as they believed, a keener
+sight, and enabling them to see the fish deeper in the water and to
+strike them at a greater distance with the harpoon. The root of this
+bush was a poison, so deadly that the only known antidote for it was its
+own berries, bruised and drunk in wine. Of another plant, Oexmelin
+relates an instance of a negro girl being poisoned by a rejected lover,
+by merely putting some of its leaves between her toes when asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.
+
+    Derivation of the words Buccaneer and Flibustier--The three
+    classes--Dress of the hunters--West Indian scenery--Method of
+    hunting--Wild dogs--Anecdotes--Wild oxen, wild boars, and wild
+    horses--Buccaneer food--Cow killing--Spanish
+    method--Amusements--Duels--Adventures with the Spanish militia--The
+    hunters driven to sea--The _engages_, or apprentices--Hide
+    curing--Hardships of the bush life--The planter's
+    _engages_--Cruelties of planters--The _matelotage_--Huts--Food.
+
+
+The hunters of the wild cattle in the savannahs of Hispaniola were known
+under the designation of Buccaneers as early as the year 1630.
+
+They derived this name from _boucan_,[1] an old Indian word which their
+luckless predecessors, the Caribs, gave to the hut in which they smoked
+the flesh of the oxen killed in hunting, or not unfrequently the limbs
+of their persecutors the Spaniards. They applied the same term, from the
+poverty of an undeveloped language, to the _barbecue_, or square wooden
+frame upon which the meat was dried. In course of time this hunters'
+food became known as _viande boucanee_, and the hunters themselves
+gradually assumed the name of Buccaneers.
+
+[1] Charlevoix's "Histoire de l'Ile Espagnole," p. 6, vol. ii
+
+Their second title of Flibustiers was a mere corruption of the English
+word freebooters--a German term, imported into England during the Low
+Country wars of Elizabeth's reign. It has been erroneously traced to the
+Dutch word _flyboat_; but the Jesuit traveller, Charlevoix, asserts
+that, in fact, this species of craft derived its title from being first
+used by the Flibustiers, and not from its swiftness. This, however, is
+evidently a mistake, as Drayton and Hakluyt use the word; and it seems
+to be of even earlier standing in the French language. The derivation
+from the English word freebooter is at once seen when the _s_ in
+Flibu_s_tier becomes lost in pronunciation.
+
+In 1630, a party of French colonists, who had failed in an attack on St.
+Christopher's, finding, as we have shown, Hispaniola almost deserted by
+the Spaniards, who neglected the Antilles to push their conquests on the
+mainland, landed on the south side and formed a settlement, discovering
+the woods and the plains to be teeming with wild oxen and wild hogs. The
+Dutch merchants promised to supply them with every necessary, and to
+receive the hides and tallow that they collected in exchange for lead,
+powder, and brandy. These first settlers were chiefly Normans, and the
+first trading vessels that visited the coast were from Dieppe.
+
+The origin of the Buccaneers, or hunters, and the Flibustiers, or sea
+rovers, as the Dutch called them, was contemporaneous. From the very
+beginning many grew weary of the chase and became corsairs, at first
+turning their arms against all nations but their own, but latterly, as
+strict privateersmen, revenging their injuries only on the Spaniards,
+with whom France was frequently at war, and generally under the
+authority of regular or forged commissions obtained from the Governor of
+St. Domingo or some other French settlement. Between the Buccaneers and
+Flibustiers no impassable line was drawn; to chase the wild ox or the
+Spaniard was the same to the greater part of the colonists, and on sea
+or land the hunter's musket was an equally deadly weapon.
+
+Two years after the French refugees from St. Christopher's had landed on
+the half-deserted shores of Hispaniola, the Flibustiers seized the small
+adjoining island of Tortuga, attracted by its safe and well-defended
+harbour, its fertility, and the strength of its natural defences. The
+French and English colonists of St. Christopher's began now to cultivate
+the small plantations round the harbour, encouraged by the number of
+French trading vessels that visited it, and by the riches that the
+Flibustiers captured from the Spaniards. These vessels brought over
+young men from France to be bound to the planters for three years as
+_engages_, by a contract that legalized the transitory slavery.
+
+There were thus at once established four classes of men--_Buccaneers_,
+or hunters; _planters_, or inhabitants; _engages_, who were apprenticed
+to either the one or the other; and _sea-rovers_. They governed
+themselves by a sort of democratic compact--each inhabitant being
+monarch in his own plantation, and every Flibustier king on his own
+deck. But the latter was not unfrequently deposed by his crew; and the
+former, if cruel to his _engages_, was compelled to submit to the French
+governor's interference. Before giving any history of the various
+revolutions in Tortuga, or the wars of the Spaniards in Hispaniola, we
+will describe the manners of each of the three classes we have
+mentioned.
+
+And first of the Buccaneers, or hunters, of Hispaniola.
+
+These wild men fed on the bodies of the cattle they killed in hunting,
+and by selling their hides and tallow obtained money enough to buy the
+necessaries and even the luxuries of life,--for the gambling table and
+the debauch. While the Flibustiers called each other "brothers of the
+coast," the Buccaneers were included in the generic term "_gens de la
+cote_," and in time the names of Buccaneer and Flibustier were used
+indiscriminately.
+
+The hunter's dress consisted of a plain shirt, or blouse (Du Tertre
+calls it a sack), belted at the waist with a bit of green hide. It was
+soon dyed a dull purple with the blood of the wild bull, and was always
+smeared with grease. "When they returned from the chase to the boucan,"
+says the above-named writer, "you would say that these are the butcher's
+vilest servants, who have been eight days in the slaughterhouse without
+washing." As they frequently carried the meat home by cutting a hole in
+the centre, and thrusting their heads through it, we may imagine the
+cannibals that they must have looked. They wore drawers, or frequently
+only tight mocassins, reaching to the knee; their sandals were of bull's
+hide or hog skin, fastened with leather laces.
+
+In Oexmelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers_, the hunter is represented with
+bare feet, but this could not have been usual, when we remember the
+danger of chigoes, snakes, and scorpions, not to speak of prickly pear
+coverts and thorny brakes. From their leather waist belt hung a short,
+heavy _machete_ or sabre, and an alligator skin case of Dutch hunting
+knives. On their heads they wore a leather skull-cap, shaped like our
+modern jockey's, with a peak in front. They wore their hair falling
+wildly on their shoulders, and their huge beards increased the ferocity
+of their appearance. Oexmelin particularly mentions the beard, although
+no existing engraving of the Buccaneer chiefs represents them with this
+grim ornament. According to Charlevoix, some of them wore a shirt, and
+over this a sort of brewer's apron, or coarse sacking tunic, open at the
+sides. From this shirt being always stained with blood, perhaps
+sometimes purposely dipped into it, the Abbe Reynal supposes that such a
+shirt was the necessary dress of the Buccaneer. Oexmelin says that as his
+vessel approached St. Domingo, "a Buccaneers' canoe came off with six
+men at the paddles, whose appearance excited the astonishment of all
+those on board, who had never before been out of France. They wore a
+small linen tunic and short drawers, reaching only half down the thigh.
+It required one to look close to see if the shirt was linen or not, so
+stained was it with the blood which had dripped from the animals they
+kill and carry home. All of them had large beards, and carried at their
+girdle a case of cayman skin, in which were four knives and a bayonet."
+Like the Canadian trappers, or, indeed, sportsmen in general, they were
+peculiarly careful of their muskets, which were made expressly for them
+in France, the best makers being Brachie of Dieppe, and Gelu of Nantes.
+These guns were about four feet and a half long, and were known
+everywhere as "Buccaneering pieces." The stocks were square and heavy,
+with a hollow for the shoulder, and they were all made of the same
+calibre, single barrel, and carrying balls sixteen to the pound. Every
+hunter took with him fifteen or twenty pounds of powder, the best of
+which came from Cherbourg. They kept it in waxed calabashes to secure it
+from the damp, having no shelter or hut that would keep out the West
+Indian rains. Their bullet pouch and powder horn hung on either side,
+and their small tents they carried, rolled up tight like bandoliers, at
+their waist, for they slept wherever they halted, and generally in their
+clothes.
+
+We have no room and no colours bright enough to paint the chief features
+of the Indian woods, the cloven cherry, that resembles the arbutus, the
+cocoa with its purple pods, the red _bois immortel_, the stunted bastard
+cedar, the logwood with its sweet blossom and hawthorn-like leaf, the
+cashew with its golden fruit, the oleander, the dock-like yam, and the
+calabash tree.
+
+What Hesperian orchards are those where the citron, lemon, and lime
+cling together, and the pine-apple grows in prickly hedges, soft custard
+apples hang out their bags of sweetness, and the avocada swings its
+pears big as pumpkins; where the bread-fruit with its gigantic leaves,
+the glossy star apple, and the golden shaddock, drop their masses of
+foliage among the dewy and fresh underwood of plantains, far below the
+tall and graceful cocoa-nut tree.
+
+Michael Scott depicts with photographic exactness and brilliancy every
+phase of the West Indian day, and enables us to imagine the light and
+shade that surrounded the strange race of whom we write. At daybreak,
+the land wind moans and shakes the dew from the feathery palms; the
+fireflies grow pale, and fade out one after the other, like the stars;
+the deep croaking of the frog ceases, and the lizards and crickets are
+silent; the monkeys leave off yelling; the snore of the tree toad and
+the wild cry of the tiger-cat are no more heard; but fresh sounds arise,
+and the woods thrill with the voices and clatter of an awaking city; the
+measured tap of the woodpecker echoes, with the clear, flute-like note
+of the pavo del monte, the shriek of the macaw, and the chatter of the
+parroquet; the pigeon moans in the inmost forest, and the gabbling
+crows croak and scream.
+
+At noon, as the breeze continues, and the sun grows vertical, the
+branches grow alive with gleaming lizards and coloured birds, noisy
+parrots hop round the wild pine, the cattle retreat beneath the trees
+for shelter, to browse the cooler grass, and the condouli and passion
+flowers of all sizes, from a soup plate to a thumb ring, shut their
+blossoms; the very humming-birds cease to drone and buzz round the
+orange flowers, and the land-crab is heard rustling among the dry grass.
+In the swamps the hot mist rises, and the wild fowl flock to the reeds
+and canes in the muddy lagoons, where the strong smell of musk denotes
+the lurking alligator; the feathery plumes of the bamboos wave not, and
+the cotton tree moves not a limb.
+
+The rainy season brings far different scenes: then the sky grows
+suddenly black, the wild ducks fly screaming here and there, the carrion
+crows are whirled bodingly about the skies, the smaller birds hurry to
+shelter, the mountain clouds bear down upon the valleys, and a low,
+rushing sound precedes the rain. The torrents turn brown and earthy, all
+nature seems to wait the doom with fear. The low murmur of the
+earthquake is still more impressive, with the distant thunder breaking
+the deep silence, and the trees bending and groaning though the air is
+still. Besides the rains and the earthquakes, the tornadoes are still
+more dreadful visitants, when the air in a moment grows full of shivered
+branches, shattered roofs, and uptorn canes.
+
+The great features of the West Indian forests are the fireflies and the
+monkeys. At night, when the wind is rustling in the dry palm leaves, the
+sparkles of green fire break out among the trees like sparks blown from
+a thousand torches; the gloom pulses with them as the flame ebbs and
+flows, and the planters' chambers are filled with these harmless
+incendiaries. The yell of the monkeys at daybreak has been compared to a
+devils' holiday, to distant thunder, loose iron bars in a cart in Fleet
+Street, bagpipes, and drunken men laughing.
+
+To Coleridge we are indebted for word pictures of the cabbage tree, and
+the silk cotton tree with their buttressed trunks; the banyan with its
+cloistered arcades; the wild plantain with its immense green leaves rent
+in slips, its thick bunches of fruit, and its scarlet pendent seed; the
+mangroves, with their branches drooping into the sea; the banana, with
+its jointed leaves; the fern trees, twenty feet high; the gold canes, in
+arrowy sheaves; and the feathery palms. Nor do we forget the figuera,
+the bois le Sueur, or the wild pine burning like a topaz in a calix of
+emerald. Beneath the broad roof of creepers, from which the oriole hangs
+its hammock nest, grow, in a wild jungle of beauty, the scarlet cordia,
+the pink and saffron flower fence, the plumeria, and the white datura.
+The flying fish glided by us, says H.N. Coleridge, speaking of the
+Indian seas, bonitos and albicores played around the bows, dolphins
+gleamed in our wake, ever and anon a shark, and once a great
+emerald-coloured whale, kept us company. Elsewhere he describes the
+silver strand, fringed with evergreen drooping mangroves, and the long
+shrouding avenues of thick leaves that darkly fringe the blue ocean. By
+the shore grow the dark and stately manchineel, beautiful but noxious,
+the white wood, and the bristling sea-side grape, with its broad leaves
+and bunches of pleasant berries. The sea birds skim about the waves, and
+the red flamingoes stalk around the sandy shoals, while the alligators
+wallow on the mud banks, and the snowy pelicans hold their councils in
+solemn stupidity.
+
+Leaving the sea and the shore we wander on into the interior, for the
+West Indian vegetation has everywhere a common character, and see
+delighted the forest trees growing on the cliffs, knotted and bound
+together with luxuriant festoons of evergreen creepers, connecting them
+in one vast network of leaves and branches, the wild pine sparkling on
+the huge limbs of the wayside trees, beside it the dagger-like Spanish
+needle, the quilted pimploe, and the maypole aloe shooting its yellow
+flowered crown twenty feet above the traveller, or amid the dark
+foliage, twines of purple wreaths or lilac jessamine; and the woods
+ringing with the song of birds, interrupted at times by strange shrieks
+or moanings of some tropic wanderer; we see with these the snowy
+amaryllis, the gorgeous hibiscus with its crown of scarlet, the
+quivering limes and dark glossy orange bushes; we rest under the green
+tamarind or listen to the mournful creaking of the sand box tree.
+
+The Buccaneers went in pairs, every hunter having his _camerade_ or
+_matelot_ (sailor), as well as his _engages_. They had seldom any fixed
+habitation, but pitched their tents where the cattle were to be found,
+building temporary sheds, thatched with palm leaves, to defend them from
+the rain and to lodge their stock of hides till they could barter it
+with the next vessel for wine, brandy, linen, arms, powder, or lead.
+They would return three leagues from the chase to their huts, laden with
+meat and skins, and if they ate in the open country it was always with
+their musket cocked and near at hand for fear of surprise. With their
+_matelots_ they had everything in common. The chief occupation of these
+voluntary outlaws was the chase of the wild ox, that of the wild boar
+being at first a mere amusement, or only followed as the means of
+procuring a luxurious meal; at a later period, however, many Frenchmen
+lived by hunting the hog, whose flesh they boucaned and sold for
+exportation, its flavour being superior to that of any other meat.
+
+The Buccaneers sometimes went in companies of ten or twelve, each man
+having his Indian attendant besides his apprentices. Before setting out
+they arranged a spot for rendezvous in case of attack. If they remained
+long in one place, they built thatched sheds under which to pitch their
+tents. They rose at daybreak to start for the chase, leaving one of the
+band to guard the huts. The masters generally went first and alone
+(sometimes the worst shot was left in the tent to cook), and the
+_engages_ and the dogs followed; one hound, the _venteur_, went in front
+of all, often leading the hunter through wood and over rock where no
+path had ever been. When the quarry came in sight the dogs barked round
+it and kept it at bay till the hunters could come up and fire. They
+generally aimed at the breast of the bull, or tried to hamstring it as
+soon as possible. Many hunters ran down the wild cattle in the savannah
+and attacked it with their dogs. If only wounded the ox would rush upon
+them and gore all he met. But this happened very seldom, for the men
+were deadly shots, seldom missed their _coup_, and were always
+sufficiently active, if in danger, to climb the tree from behind which
+they had fired. The _venteur_ dog had a peculiar short bark by which he
+summoned the pack to his aid, and as soon as they heard it the _engages_
+rushed to the rescue. When the beast was half flayed, the master took
+out the largest bone and sucked the hot marrow, which served him for a
+meal, giving a bit also to the _venteur_, but not to any other dogs,
+lest they should grow lazy in hunting; but the last lagger in the pack
+had sometimes a bit thrown him to incite him to greater exertion. He
+then left the _engages_ to carry the skin to the boucan, with a few of
+the best joints, giving the rest to the carrion crows, that soon sniffed
+out the blood. They continued the chase till each man had killed an ox,
+and the last returned home, laden like the rest with a hide and a
+portion of raw meat. By this time the first comer had prepared dinner,
+roasted some beef, or spitted a whole hog. The tables were soon laid;
+they consisted of a flat stone, the fallen trunk of a tree, or a root,
+with no cloth, no napkin, no bread, and no wine; pimento and orange
+juice were sufficient sauce for hungry men, and a contented mind and a
+keen appetite never quarrelled with rude cooking. This monotonous life
+was only varied by a conflict with a wounded bull, or a skirmish with
+the Spaniards. The grand fete days were when the hunter had collected as
+many hides as he had contracted to supply the merchant, and carried them
+to Tortuga, to Cape Tiburon, Samana, or St. Domingo, probably to return
+in a week's time, weary of drinking or beggared from the gambling table,
+tired of civilization, and restless for the chase.
+
+The wild cattle of Hispaniola--the oxen, hogs, horses, and dogs--were
+all sprung from the domestic animals originally brought from Spain. The
+dogs were introduced into the island to chase the Indians, a cruelty
+that even the mild Columbus practised. Esquemeling says, those first
+conquerors of the New World made use of dogs "to range and search the
+intricate thicket of woods and forests for those their implacable and
+unconquerable enemies; thus they forced them to leave their old refuge
+and submit to the sword, seeing no milder usage would do it. Hereupon
+they killed some of them, and, quartering their bodies, placed them on
+the highways, that others might take a warning from such a punishment.
+But this severity proved of ill consequence, for, instead of frighting
+them and reducing them to civility, they conceived such horror of the
+Spaniards that they resolved to detest and fly their sight for ever;
+hence the greatest part died in caves and subterraneous places of the
+woods and mountains, in which places I myself have often seen great
+numbers of human bones. The Spaniards, finding no more Indians to
+appear about the woods, turned away a great number of dogs they had in
+their houses; and they, finding no masters to keep them, betook
+themselves to the woods and fields to hunt for food to preserve their
+lives, and by degrees grew wild."
+
+The young of these maroon dogs the hunters were in the habit of bringing
+up. When they found a wild bitch with whelps, they generally took away
+the puppies and brought them to their tents, preferring them to any
+other sort of dog. They seem to have been between a greyhound and a
+mastiff. The Dutch writer whom we have just quoted mentions the singular
+fact, that these dogs, even in a wild state, retained their acquired
+habits. The _venteur_ always led the way, and was allowed to dip the
+first fangs into the victim. The wild dogs went in packs of fifty or
+eighty, and were so fierce that they would not scruple to attack a whole
+herd of wild boars, bringing down two or three at once. They destroyed a
+vast number of wild cattle, devouring the young as soon as a mare had
+foaled or a cow calved.
+
+"One day," says Esquemeling, "a French Buccaneer showed me a strange
+action of this kind. Being in the fields hunting together, we heard a
+great noise of dogs which had surrounded a wild boar. Having tame dogs
+with us we left them in custody of our servants, being desirous to see
+the sport. Hence my companion and I climbed up two several trees, both
+for security and prospect. The wild boar, all alone, stood against a
+tree, defending himself with his tusks from a great number of dogs that
+enclosed him, killed with his teeth and wounded several of them. This
+bloody fight continued about an hour, the wild boar meanwhile attempting
+many times to escape. At last flying, one dog leaped upon his back; and
+the rest of the dogs, perceiving the courage of their companion,
+fastened likewise on the boar, and presently killed him. This done, all
+of them, the first only excepted, laid themselves down upon the ground
+about the prey, and there peaceably continued till he, the first and
+most courageous of the troop, had eaten as much as he could. When this
+dog had left off, all the rest fell in to take their share till nothing
+was left."
+
+In 1668, the Governor of Tortuga, finding these dogs were rendering the
+wild boar almost extinct, and alarmed lest the hunters should leave a
+place where food was growing scarce, sent to France for poison to
+destroy these mastiffs, and placed poisoned horse flesh in the woods.
+But although this practice was continued for six months, and an
+incredible number were killed, yet the race soon appeared almost as
+numerous as before.
+
+The wild horses went in troops of about two or three hundred. They were
+awkward and mis-shapen, small and short-bodied, with large heads, long
+necks, trailing ears, and thick legs. They had always a leader, and when
+they met a hunter, stared at him till he approached within shot, then
+gallopped off all together. They were only killed for their skins,
+though their flesh was sometimes smoked for the use of the sailors.
+These horses were caught by stretching nooses along their tracks, in
+which they got entangled by the neck. When taken, they were quickly
+tamed by being kept two or three days without food, and were then used
+to carry hides. They were good workers, but easily lamed. When a
+Buccaneer turned them adrift from want of food to keep them through the
+winter, they were known to return ten months after, or, meeting them in
+the savannah, begin to whine and caress their old masters, and suffer
+themselves to be recaptured. They were also killed for the sake of the
+fat about the neck and belly, which the hunters used for lamp oil.
+
+The wild oxen were tame unless wounded, and their hides were generally
+from eleven to thirteen feet long. They were very strong and very swift,
+in spite of their short and slender legs. In the course of a single
+century from their introduction, they had so increased, that the French
+Buccaneers, when they landed, seldom went in search of them, but waited
+for them near the shore, at the salt pools where they came to drink. The
+herds fed at night on the savannahs, and at noon retired to the shelter
+of the forests. A wounded bull would often blockade, for four hours, a
+tree in which a hunter had taken refuge, bellowing round the trunk and
+ploughing at the roots with his horns. The French hunters generally shot
+them; but the Spanish "hocksers" rode them down on horseback, and
+hamstrung them with a crescent-shaped spear, in form something like a
+cheese-knife with a long handle.
+
+The wild boars, when much pressed, adopted the same military stratagem
+as the oxen. They threw themselves into the form of a hollow square, the
+sows in the rear and the sucking pigs in the middle, the white sabre
+tusks of the boars gleaming outwards towards the foe. The dogs always
+fastened upon the defenceless sow in preference to the ferocious male,
+whom they seldom attacked if it got at bay under a tree, though it might
+be alone, glaring before the red jaws of eighty yelping dogs. The wild
+boar hunting was less dangerous than that of the wild oxen, and less
+profitable. The hogs soon grew scarce, a party of hunters sometimes
+killing 100 in a day, and only carrying home three or four of the
+fattest. It was not uncommon for solitary hunters or _engages_ who had
+lost their way in the woods to amuse themselves by training up the young
+hogs they found basking under the trees, and teaching them to track
+their own species and pull them down by tugging at their long leathery
+ears. Oexmelin, the most intelligent of the few Buccaneer writers,
+relates his own success in training four pigs, whom he taught to follow
+at his heels like dogs, to play with him, and obey his orders. When they
+saw a herd of boars they would run forward and decoy them towards him.
+On one occasion, one of them escaped into the plains, but returned three
+days after, very complacently heading a herd of hogs, of which his
+master and his _matelot_ killed four. It is not many years since that an
+English gamekeeper brought up a pig to get his own bread as a pointer.
+
+At first, when the green savannahs were spotted black with cattle, the
+hunters were so fastidious that they seldom ate anything but the udders
+of cows, considering bull meat too tough. Many a herd was killed, as at
+present in Australia or California, for the hide and tallow. If the
+first animal killed in the day's hunt was a cow, an _engage_ was
+instantly sent to the tent with part of the flesh to cook for the
+evening. When the _engages_ had each gone home with his joint and his
+hide, the Buccaneer followed with his own load, his dogs, tired and
+panting, lagging at his heels. If on his way back he met a boar, or more
+oxen, he threw down his fardel, slew a fresh victim, and, flaying it,
+hung the hide on a tree out of reach of the wild dogs, and came back for
+it on the morrow.
+
+On returning to the boucan, each man set to work to stretch
+(_brocheter_) his hide, fastening it tightly out with fourteen wooden
+pegs, and rubbing it with ashes and salt mixed together to make it dry
+quicker. When this was done, they sat down to partake of the food that
+the first comer had by this time cooked. The beef they generally boiled
+in the large cauldron which every hunter possessed, drawing it out when
+it was done with a wooden skewer. A board served them for a dish. With
+a wooden spoon they collected the gravy in a calabash; and into this
+they squeezed the juice of a fresh picked lemon, a crushed citron, or a
+little pimento, which formed the hunter's favourite sauce, _pimentado_.
+This being done with all the care of a Ude, they seized their hunting
+knives and wooden skewers, and commenced a solemn attack upon the
+ponderous joint. The residue they divided among their dogs. Pere Labat,
+an oily Jesuit if we trust to his portrait, describes, with great gusto,
+a Buccaneer feast at which he was present, and at which a hog was
+roasted whole. The boucaned meat was used in voyages, or when no oxen
+could be met with.
+
+When they wanted to boucan a pig, they first flayed it and took out all
+the bones. The meat they cut in long slips, which they placed in mats,
+and there left it till the next day, when they proceeded to smoke it.
+The boucan was a small hut covered close with palm-mats, with a low
+entrance, and no chimney or windows: it contained a wooden framework
+seven or eight feet high, on which the meat was placed, and underneath
+which a charcoal fire was lit. The fire they always fed with the
+animal's own skin and bones, which made the smoke thick and full of
+ammonia. The volatile salt of the bones being more readily absorbed by
+the meat than the mere ligneous acid of wood, the result of this process
+was an epicurean mouthful far superior to our Westphalia hams, and more
+like our hung beef. Oexmelin waxes quite eloquent in its praise. He says
+it was so exquisite that it needed no cooking; its very look, red as a
+rose, not to mention its delightful fragrance, tempted the worst
+appetite to eat it, whatever it might be. The only misfortune was that
+six months after smoking, the meat grew tasteless and unfit for use; but
+when fresh, it was thought so wholesome that sick men came from a
+distance to live in a hunter's tent and share his food for a time. The
+first thing that passengers visiting the West Indies saw was a
+Buccaneers' canoe bringing dry meat for sale. The boucaned meat was
+sold in bales of sixty pounds' weight, and their pots of tallow were
+worth about six pieces of eight.
+
+Labat--no ordinary lover of good cheer, if we may judge from his
+portrait, which represents him with cheeks as plump as a pulpit cushion,
+and with fat rolls of double chin--describes the Buccaneer fare with
+much unction, having gone to a hunter's feast,--a corporeal treat
+intended as a slight return for much spiritual food. Each Buccaneer, he
+says, had two skewers, made of clean peeled wood, one having two spikes.
+The boucan itself was made of four stakes as thick as a man's arm, and
+about four feet long, struck in the ground to form a square five feet
+long and three feet across. On these forked sticks they placed cross
+bars, and upon these the spit, binding them all with withes. The wild
+boar, being skinned and gutted, was placed whole upon this spit, the
+stomach kept open with a stick. The fire was made of charcoal, and put
+on with bark shovels. The interior of the pig was filled with citron
+juice, salt, crushed pimento, and pepper; and the flesh was constantly
+pricked, so that this juice might penetrate. When the meat was ready,
+the cooks fired off a musket twice, to summon the hunters from the
+woods, while banana leaves were placed round for plates. If the hunters
+brought home any birds, they at once picked them and threw them into the
+stomach of the pig, as into a pot. If the hunters were novices, and
+brought home nothing, they were sent out again to seek it; if they were
+veterans, they were compelled to drink as many cups as the best hunter
+had that day killed deer, bulls, or boars. A leaf served to hold the
+pimento sauce, and a calabash to drink from, while bananas were their
+substitute for bread. The _engages_ waited on their masters, and one of
+the penalties for clumsy serving was to be compelled to drink off a
+calabash full of sauce.
+
+The English "cow killers" and the French hunters were satisfied with
+getting as many hides as they could in the shortest possible time, but
+the Spanish _matadores_ gave the trade an air of chivalrous adventure by
+rivalling the feats of the Moorish bull-fighters of Granada. They did
+not use firearms, but carried lances with a half-moon blade, employing
+dogs, and, being generally men of wealth and planters, had servants on
+foot to encourage them to the attack. When they tracked an ox in the
+woods, they made the hounds drive him out into the prairie, where the
+matadors could spur after him, and, wheeling round the monster,
+hamstring him or thrust him through with a lance. Dampierre describes
+minutely the Spanish mode of hocksing. The horses were trained to
+retreat and advance without even a signal. The hocksing-iron, of a
+half-moon shape, measuring six inches horizontally, resembled in form a
+gardener's turf-cutter. The handle, some fourteen feet long, was held
+like a lance over the horse's head, a matador's steed being always known
+by its right ear being bent down with the weight of the shaft. The place
+to strike the bull was just above the hock; when struck the horse
+instantly wheeled to the left, to avoid the charge of the wounded ox,
+who soon broke his nearly severed leg, but still limped forward to
+avenge himself on his formidable enemy. Then the hockser, riding softly
+up, struck him with his iron again, but this time into a fore leg, and
+at once laid him prostrate, moaning in terror and in pain. Then,
+dismounting, the Spaniard took a sharp dagger and stabbed the beast
+behind the horns, severing the spinal marrow. This operation the English
+called "polling." The hunter at once remounted, and left his skinners to
+remove the hide.
+
+The stately Spaniard delighted in this dangerous chase, with all its
+stratagems, surprises, and hair-breadth escapes, when life depended on a
+turn of the bridle or the prick of a spur. However pressed for food or
+endangered by enemies, he practised it with all the stately ceremonies
+of the Madrid arena. The fiery animal, streaming with blood and foam,
+bellowing with rage and pain, frequently trampled and gored the dogs and
+slew both horse and rider. Oexmelin mentions a bull at Cuba which killed
+three horses in the same day, the lucky rider making a solemn pilgrimage
+to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadaloupe when he had given his victim
+the _coup de grace_.
+
+These Spanish hunters did not rough it like the Buccaneers, and kept
+horses to carry their bales. They were particular in their food, and ate
+bread and cassava with their beef; drank wine and brandy; and were very
+choice in their fruit and preserves. Gay in their dress, they prided
+themselves on their white linen. Every separate hunting field had its
+own customs. At Campeachy, where the ground was swampy, the
+logwood-cutters frequently shot the oxen from a canoe, and were
+sometimes pursued by a wounded beast, who would try to sink the boat.
+When the woodmen killed a bull, they cut it into quarters, and, taking
+out all the bones, cut a hole in the centre of each piece large enough
+to pass their heads through, and trudged home with it to their tents on
+the shore. If they grew tired or were pursued, they cut off a portion of
+the meat and lightened their load.
+
+The Spaniards, less poor, greedy, and thoughtless than the English and
+French adventurers, killed only the bulls and old cows, and left the
+younger ones to breed. The French were notorious for their wanton waste,
+using oxen merely as marks for their bullets, and as utterly indifferent
+to the future as Autolycus, who "slept out the thought of it." About
+1650 the wild cattle of Jamaica were entirely destroyed, and the
+Governor procured a fresh supply from Cuba.
+
+Whenever the oxen grew scarce, they became wilder and more ferocious. In
+some places no hunter dared to fire at them if alone, nor ever ventured
+into their pastures unattended. All animals grow shy if frequently
+pursued, and no fish are so unapproachable as those of a much frequented
+stream. Dampierre says that at Beef Island the old bulls who had once
+been wounded, when they saw the hunters or heard their muskets, would
+instantly form into a square, with their cows in the rear and the calves
+in the middle, turning as the hunters turned, and presenting their horns
+like a cluster of bayonets. It then became necessary to beat the woods
+for stragglers. A beast mortally wounded always made at the hunter; but
+if only grazed by the bullet it ran away. A cow was thought to be more
+dangerous than a bull, as the former charged with its eyes open, and the
+latter with them closed. The danger was often imminent. One of
+Dampierre's messmates ventured into the savannah, about a mile from the
+huts, and coming within shot of a bull wounded it desperately. The bull,
+however, had strength enough to pursue and overtake the logwood-cutter
+before he could load again, to trample him, and gore him in the thigh.
+Then, faint with loss of blood, it reeled down dead, and fell heavily
+beside the bleeding and groaning hunter. His comerade, coming the next
+morning to seek for the man, found him weak and almost dying, and,
+taking him on his back, bore him to his hut, where he was soon cured.
+The rapidity of such cures is peculiar to savages, or men who devote
+their whole life to muscular exertion; for the flesh of the South Sea
+Islanders is said to close upon a sword as india-rubber does upon the
+knife that cuts it. Often, in the heat and excitement of these
+pursuits, the solitary hunter, and still more often, from want of
+experience and from youthful rashness, the _engage_, would lose his way
+in the woods, or, falling into a forest pool, become a prey of the
+lurking cayman, if not alarmed by the premonitory odour of musk that
+indicated its dangerous vicinity. Nature is full of these warnings: and
+the vibrating rattle of the Indian snake has saved the life of many a
+Buccaneer.
+
+Besides an unceasing supply of beef on shore, and salted turtle at sea,
+the Buccaneers ate the flesh of deer and of peccavy. On the mainland
+wild turkeys were always within shot, and fat monkeys and plump parrots
+were resources for more hungry and less epicurean men. The rich fruits
+of the West Indies, needing no cultivation to improve their flavour,
+grew around their huts, and were to be had all the year round for the
+picking. The parched hunters delighted in the resinous-flavoured mango
+and the luscious guava as much as our modern sailors. In such a country
+every one is a vegetarian; for when dinner is over, to be a fruit eater
+needs no hermit-like asceticism. The plantain and the yam served them
+instead of the bread-fruit of the Pacific, or the potato of Virginia,
+and the custard-apple took the place of pastry; but the great dainty
+which all their chroniclers mention was the large avocado pear, which
+they supposed to be an aphrodisiac. This prodigious lemon-coloured fruit
+was allowed to mellow, its soft pulp was then scooped out and beaten up
+in a plate with orange and lime juice; but hungry and more impatient men
+ate it at once, with a little salt and a roast plantain. A Buccaneer
+never touched an unknown fruit till he had seen birds pecking it on the
+tree. No bird was ever seen to touch the blooming but poisonous apples
+of the manchineel, which few animals but crabs could eat with impunity;
+as this tree grew by the sea-shore, even fish were rendered poisonous by
+feeding on the fruit that fell into the water. The verified stories of
+the manchineel excel the fables related of the upas of Batavia. The very
+dew upon its branches poisoned those upon whom it dropped. Esquemeling
+says: "One day, being hugely tormented with mosquitoes or gnats, and
+being as yet unacquainted with the nature of this tree, I cut a branch
+to serve me for a fan, but all my face was swelled the next day, and
+filled with blisters as if it were burnt, to such a degree that I was
+blind for three days."
+
+The hunters tormented by mosquitoes and sand flies used leafy branches
+for fans, and anointed their faces with hog's grease to defend
+themselves from the stings. By night in their huts they burned tobacco,
+without which smoke they could not have obtained sleep. The mosquitoes
+were of all sorts, the buzzing and the silent, the tormentors by day and
+night; but they dispersed when the land breeze rose, or whenever the
+wind increased. The common mosquito was not visible by day, but at
+sunset filled the woods with its ominous humming. Oexmelin describes on
+one occasion his lying for eight hours in the water of a brook to escape
+their stings; sitting on a stone or on the sand, and keeping his face,
+which was above water, covered with leaves to protect him from the fiery
+stings.
+
+The Buccaneers made their pens of reeds, and their paper of the leaves
+of a peculiar sort of palm, the outer cuticle of which was thin, white,
+and soft; their ink was the black juice of the juniper berries, letters
+written with which turned white in nine days. They kept harmless snakes
+in their houses to feed on the rats and mice, just as we do cats, or the
+Copts did the ichneumons. They frequently used a handful of fire-flies
+instead of a lantern: Esquemeling, himself a Buccaneer, says, that with
+three of these in his cottage at midnight he could see to read in any
+book, however small the print.
+
+The Buccaneers carried in their tobacco pouches the horn of an immense
+sort of spider, which Esquemeling describes as big as an egg, with feet
+as long as a crab, and four black teeth like a rabbit, its bite being
+sharp but not venomous. These teeth or horns they used either as
+toothpicks or pipe-cleaners; they were supposed to have the property of
+preserving the user from toothache. They are described as about two
+inches long, black as jet, smooth as glass, sharp as a thorn, and a
+little bent at the lower end.
+
+Their favourite toy, the dice, they cut from the white ivory-like teeth
+of the sea-horse. Great observers of the use of things, and well
+lessoned in the bitter school of experience, they turned every new
+natural production they met with to some useful purpose, uniting with
+the keen sagacity of the hunter the shrewd instinct of the savage. Their
+horsewhips they formed from the skin of the back of a wild bull or
+sea-cow. The lashes were made of slips of hide, two or three feet long,
+of the full thickness at the bottom, and cut square and tapering to the
+point. These thongs they twisted while still green, and then hung them
+up in a hut to dry; in a few weeks they shrank and became hard as wood,
+and tough as an American cowhide, an Abyssinian scourge, or the
+far-famed Russian knout. From the skin of the manitee they cut straps,
+which they used in their canoes instead of the ordinary tholes.
+
+The wild boar hunters frequently lived in huts four or five together,
+and remained for months, frequently a year, in the same place, supplying
+the neighbouring planters by contract. The most perfect equality
+reigned between the _matelots_; and if one of them wanted powder or
+lead, he took it from the other's store, telling him of the loan, and
+repaying it when able.
+
+When a dispute arose between any of them, their associates tried to
+reconcile the difference. A dispute about a shooting wager, or the
+smallest trifle, might give rise to deadly feuds between such lawless
+and vindictive exiles, unaccustomed to control, and ready to resort to
+arms. If both still determined to have revenge, the musket was the
+impassive arbiter appealed to. The friends of the duellists decided at
+what distance the combatants should stand, and made them draw lots for
+the first fire. If one fell dead, the bystanders immediately held a sort
+of inquest, at which they decided whether he had been fairly dealt with,
+and examined the body to see that the death-shot had been fairly fired
+in front, and not in a cowardly or treacherous manner, and handled his
+musket to see whether it was discharged and had been in good order. A
+surgeon then opened the orifice of the wound, and if he decided that
+the bullet had entered behind, or much on one side, they declared the
+survivor a murderer; Lynch law was proclaimed, they tied the culprit to
+a tree, and shot him with their muskets. In Tortuga, or near a town,
+this rude justice was never resorted to, and, even in the wilder places,
+was soon abandoned as the hunters grew more civilized. These duels
+generally took place on the sea beach if the Flibustiers were the
+combatants.
+
+As these men took incessant exercise, were indifferent to climate, and
+fed chiefly on fresh meat, they enjoyed good health. They were, however,
+subject to flying fevers that passed in a day, and which did not confine
+them even to their tents.
+
+With the Spanish Lanceros, or Fifties as they were called by the
+Buccaneers, the hunters were perpetually at war, their intrepid infantry
+being generally successful against the hot charges of these yeomanry of
+the savannahs. There were four companies of them in Hispaniola, with a
+hundred spearmen in each company; half of these were generally on the
+patrol, while the remainder rested, and from their number they derived
+their nickname. Their duty was to surprise the isolated hunters, to burn
+the stores of hides, make prisoners of the _engages_, and guard the
+Spanish settlers against any sudden attack. At other times they were
+employed in killing off the herds of wild cattle that furnished the
+Buccaneers with food, and drew fresh bands to the plains where they
+abounded. In great enterprises the whole corps cried "boot and saddle,"
+and they took with them at all times a few muleteers on foot, either to
+carry their baggage, or to serve as scouts in the woods, where the
+cow-killers built their huts. But, in spite of Negro foragers and Indian
+spies, the keener-eyed Buccaneers generally escaped, or, if met with,
+broke like raging wolves through their adversaries' toils. Accustomed to
+the bush, inured to famine and fatigue, and more indifferent than even
+the Spaniards to climate, the Buccaneers were seldom taken prisoners.
+Unerring marksmen, with a spice of the wild beast in their blood, they
+preferred death to flight or capture.
+
+It is probable that even for this toilsome and dangerous pursuit the
+Spaniards easily obtained recruits. Constant sport with the wild cattle,
+abundant food, and a spirit of adventure would prove an irresistible
+bait to the bravos of Carthagena, or the matadors of Campeachy. The
+hangers-on of the wineshops and the pulque drinkers of Mexico would
+readily embark in any campaign that would bring them a few pistoles, and
+give them good food and gay clothing.
+
+Oexmelin relates several instances of the daring escapes of the Buccaneer
+hunters from the blood-thirsting pursuit of the Fifties. It was their
+custom, directly that news reached the tents that the Lanceros were out,
+to issue an order that the first man who caught sight of the horsemen
+should inform the rest, in order to attack the foe by an ambuscade, if
+they were too numerous to meet in the open field. The great aim, on the
+other hand, of the Lanceros, was to wait for a night of rain and wind,
+when the sound of their hoofs could not be heard, and to butcher the
+sleepers when their fire-arms were either damp or piled out of reach.
+Frequently they surrounded the hunters when heavy after a debauch, and
+when even the sentinels were asleep at the tent doors.
+
+The following anecdote conveys some impression of these encounters. A
+French Buccaneer going one day into the savannahs to hunt, followed by
+his _engage_, was suddenly surrounded by a troop of shouting Lanceros.
+He saw at once that the Fifties had at last trapped him. He was
+surrounded, and escape from their swift pursuit, with no tree near, was
+hopeless. But he would not let hope desert him so long as the spears
+were still out of his heart. His _engage_ was as brave as himself, and
+both determined to stand at bay and sell their lives dearly. The hunter
+of mad oxen, and the tamer of wild horses, need not fear man or devil.
+The master and man put themselves back to back, and, laying their common
+stock of powder and bullets in their caps between them, prepared for
+death. The Spaniards, who only carried lances, kept coursing round them,
+afraid to narrow in, or venture within shot, and crying out to them
+with threats to surrender. They next offered them quarter, and at last
+promised to disarm but not hurt them, saying they were only executing
+the orders of their general. The two Frenchmen replied mockingly, that
+they would never surrender, and wanted no quarter, and that the first
+lancer who approached would pay dear for his visit. The Spaniards still
+hovered round, afraid to advance, none of them willing to be the first
+victim, or to play the scapegoat for the rest. "C'est le premier pas qui
+coute," and the first step they made was backward. After some
+consultation at a safe distance, they finally left the Buccaneers still
+standing threateningly back to back, and spurred off, half afraid that
+the Tartars they had nearly caught might turn the tables, and advance
+against them.
+
+The steady persistency of the Buccaneer infantry was generally
+victorious over the impetuous but transitory onslaught of the Spanish
+cavalry.
+
+Another time a wild Buccaneer while hunting alone was surprised by a
+similar party of mounted pikemen. Seeing that there was some distance
+between him and the nearest wood, and that his capture was certain, he
+bethought himself of the following _ruse_. Putting his gun up to his
+shoulder he advanced at a trot, shouting exultingly, "_a moi, a moi!_"
+as if he was followed by a band of scattered companions who had been in
+search of the Spaniards. The cavaliers, believing at once that they had
+fallen into an ambush, took flight, to the joy of the ingenious hunter,
+who quickly made his escape, laughing, into the neighbouring covert.
+
+The Spaniards were worn out at last with this border warfare,
+unprofitable because it was waged with men who were too poor to reward
+the plunderer, and dangerous because fought with every disadvantage of
+weapon and situation. In the savannahs the Spaniards were formidable,
+but in the woods they became a certain prey to the musketeer. Unable to
+drive the plunderers out of the island, the Spaniards at last foolishly
+resolved to render the island not worth the plunder. Orders came from
+Spain to kill off the wild cattle that Columbus had originally brought
+to the island, and particularly round the coast. If the trade with the
+French vessels and the barter of hides for brandy could once be
+arrested, the hunters would be driven from the woods by starvation, or
+perish one by one in their dens. They little thought that this scheme
+would succeed, and what would be the consequence of such success. The
+hunters turned sea crusaders, and the sea became the savannah where they
+sought their human game. Every creek soon thronged with men more deadly
+than the Danish Vikinger: wrecked on a habitable shore, they landed as
+invaders and turned hunters as before; driven to their boats, they
+became again adventurers. In this name and in that of "soldiers of
+fortune" they delighted: a more honest and less courteous age would have
+termed them pirates. By the year 1686, the change from Buccaneer to
+Flibustier had been almost wholly effected.
+
+The Buccaneers' _engages_ led a life very little better than those white
+slaves whom the glittering promises of the planters had decoyed from
+France. The existence of the former was, however, rendered more bearable
+by their variety of adventure, by better food, and by daily recreation.
+If all day in the hot sun he had to toil carrying bales of skins from
+his master's hut towards the shore, we must remember that American
+seamen still work contentedly at the same labour in California for a
+sailor's ordinary wages. Mutual danger produced necessarily, except in
+the most brutal, a kind of fellowship between the master and the servant
+of the boucan. Up at daybreak, the _engage_ sweltered all day through
+the bush, groaning beneath his burden of loathsome hides, but the good
+meal came before sunset, and then the pipes were lit, and the brandy
+went round, and the song was sung, and the tale was told, while the
+hunters shot at a mark, or made wagers upon the respective skill of
+their _matelots_ or their _engages_.
+
+We hear from Charlevoix, that young prodigals of good family had been
+known to prefer the canvas tent to the tapestried wall, and to have
+grasped the hunter's musket with the hand that might have wielded the
+general's baton or the marshal's staff.
+
+The Buccaneer's life was not one of mere revelry and ease; no luxurious
+caves or safe strongholds served at once for their treasure house, their
+palace, and their fortress. They were wandering outlaws; hated both by
+the Spaniards and the Indians, they ate with a loaded gun within their
+reach. The jaguar lurked beside them, the coppersnake glared at them
+from his lair. If their foot stumbled, they were gored by the ox or
+ripped up by the boar; if they fled they became a prey to the cayman of
+the pool; they were swept away as they forded swollen rivers; they were
+swallowed up by that dreadful foretype of the Judgment, the earthquake.
+The shark and the sea monster swam by their canoe, the carrion crow that
+fed to-day upon the carcase they had left, too often fed to-morrow on
+the slain hunter. The wildest transitions of safety and danger, plenty
+and famine, peace and war, health and sickness, surrounded their daily
+life. To-day on the savannah dark with the wild herds, to-morrow
+compelled to feast on the flesh of a murdered comerade; to-day
+surrounded by revelling friends, to-morrow left alone to die.
+
+The present system of hide curing practised in California seems almost
+identical with that employed by the Buccaneers. The following extract
+from Dana's "Three Years before the Mast" will convey a correct
+impression of what constituted the greater portion of an _engage's_
+labour. He describes the shore piled with hides, just out of reach of
+the tide; each skin doubled lengthwise in the middle, and nearly as
+stiff as a board, and the whole bundles carried down on men's heads from
+the place of curing to the stacks. "When the hide is taken from the
+bullock, holes are cut round it, near the edge, and it is staked out to
+dry, to prevent shrinking. They are then to be cured, and are carried
+down to the shore at low tide and made fast in small piles, where they
+lie for forty-eight hours, when they are taken out, rolled up in
+wheelbarrows, and thrown into vats full of strong brine, where they
+remain for forty-eight hours. The sea water only cleans and softens
+them, the brine pickles them. They are then removed from the vats, lie
+on a platform twenty-four hours, and are then staked out, still wet and
+soft; the men go over them with knives, cutting off all remaining pieces
+of meat or fat, the ears, and any part that would either prevent the
+packing or keeping. A man can clean about twenty-five a-day, keeping at
+his work. This cleaning must be done before noon, or they get too dry.
+When the sun has been upon them for a few hours they are gone over with
+scrapers to remove the fat that the sun brings out; the stakes are then
+pulled up and the hides carefully doubled, with the hair outside, and
+left to dry. About the middle of the afternoon, they are turned upon the
+other side, and at sunset piled up and turned over. The next day they
+are spread out and opened again, and at night, if fully dry, are thrown
+up on a long horizontal pole, five at a time, and beaten with flails to
+get out the dust; thus, being salted, scraped, cleaned, dried, and
+beaten, they are stowed away in the warehouses."
+
+The Buccaneer's life was not spent in quaffing sangaree or basking under
+orange blossoms--not in smoking beside mountains of flowers, where the
+humming-birds fluttered like butterflies, and the lizards flashed across
+the sunbeams, shedding jewelled and enchanted light. No Indian in the
+mine, no Arab pearl-diver, no worn, pale children at an English factory,
+no galley-slave dying at the oar, led such a life as a Buccaneer
+_engage_ if bound to a cruel master. Imagine a delicate youth, of good
+but poor family, decoyed from a Norman country town by the loud-sounding
+promises of a St. Domingo agent, specious as a recruiting sergeant,
+voluble as the projector of bubble companies, greedy, plausible, and
+lying. He comes out to the El Dorado of his dreams, and is at once taken
+to the hut of some rude Buccaneer. The first night is a revel, and his
+sleep is golden and full of visions. The spell is broken at daybreak. He
+has to carry a load of skins, weighing some twenty-six pounds, three or
+four leagues, through brakes of prickly pear and clumps of canes. The
+pathless way cannot be traversed at greater speed than about two hours
+to a quarter of a league. The sun grows vertical, and he is feverish and
+sick at heart. Three years of this purgatory are varied by blows and
+curses. The masters too often loaded their servants with blows if they
+dared to faint through weakness, hunger, thirst, or fatigue. Some
+hunters had the forbearance to rest on a Sunday, induced rather by
+languor than by piety; but on these days the _engage_ had to rise as
+usual at daybreak, to go out and kill a wild boar for the day's feast.
+This was disembowelled and roasted whole, being placed on a spit
+supported on two forked stakes, so that the flames might completely
+surround the carcase.
+
+Most Buccaneers, even if they rested on Sunday, required their
+apprentices to carry the hides down as usual to the place of shipment,
+fearing that the Spaniards might choose that very day to burn the huts
+and destroy the skins. An _engage_ once complained to his master, and
+reminded him that it was not right to work on a Sunday, God himself
+having said to the Jews, "Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou
+hast to do, for the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
+"And I tell you," said the scowling Buccaneer, striking the earth with
+the butt-end of his gun and roaring out a dreadful curse, "I tell you,
+six days shalt thou kill bulls and skin them, and the seventh day thou
+shalt carry them down to the beach," beating the daring remonstrant as
+he spoke. There was no remedy for these sufferers but patience. Time or
+death alone brought relief. Three years soon run out. The mind grows
+hardened under suffering as flesh does under the lash. Nature, where she
+cannot heal a wound, teaches us where to find unfailing balms. Some grew
+reckless to blows, or learned to ingratiate themselves with their
+masters by their increasing daring or sturdy industry. An apprentice
+whose bullet never flew false, or who could run down the wild ox on the
+plain, acquired a fame greater than that of his master. They knew that
+in time they themselves would be Buccaneers, and could inflict the very
+cruelties from which they now suffered. There were instances where acts
+of service to the island, or feats of unusual bravery, raised an
+_engage_ of a single year to the full rank of hunter. An apprentice who
+could bring in more hides than even his master, must have been too
+valuable an acquisition to have been lost by a moment of spleen. That
+horrible cases of cruelty did occur, there can be no doubt. There were
+no courts of justice in the forest, no stronger arm or wiser head to
+which to appeal. But there are always remedies for despair. The loaded
+gun was at hand, the knife in the belt, and the poison berries grew by
+the hut. There was the unsubdued passion still at liberty in the
+heart--there was the will to seize the weapon and the hand to use it.
+Providence is fruitful in her remedies of evils, and preserves a balance
+which no sovereignty can long disturb. No tyrant can shut up the
+volcano, or chain the earthquake. There were always the mountains or the
+Spaniards to take refuge amongst, though famine and death dwelt in the
+den of the wild beasts, and, if they fled to the Spaniards, they were
+often butchered as mere runaway slaves before they could explain, in an
+unknown language, that they were not spies. But still the very
+impossibility of preventing such escapes must have tended to temper the
+severity of the masters. A Flibustier, anxious for a crew, must have
+sometimes carried off discontented _engages_ both from the plantations
+and the ajoupas. The following story illustrates the social relations of
+the Buccaneer master and his servant.
+
+A Buccaneer one day, seeing that his apprentice, newly arrived from
+France, could not keep up with him, turned round and struck him over the
+head with the lock of his musket. The youth fell, stunned, to the
+ground; and the hunter, thinking he was dead, stripped him of his arms,
+and left his body where it had fallen and weltering in the blood flowing
+from the wound. On his return to his hut, afraid to disclose the truth,
+he told his companions that the lad, who had always skulked work, had at
+last _marooned_ (a Spanish word applied to runaway negroes). A few
+curses were heaped upon him, and no more was thought about his
+disappearance.
+
+Soon after the master was out of sight the lad had recovered his senses,
+arisen, pale and weak, and attempted to return to the tents.
+Unaccustomed to the woods, he lost his way, got off the right track, and
+finally gave himself up as doomed to certain death. For some days he
+remained wandering round and round the same spot, without either
+recovering the path or being able to reach the shore. Hunger did not at
+first press him, for he ate the meat with which his master had loaded
+him, and ate it raw, not knowing the Indian manner of procuring fire,
+and his knives being taken from his belt. Ignorant of what fruits were
+safe to eat, where animals fit for food were to be found, and not
+knowing how to kill them unarmed, he prepared his mind for the dreadful
+and lingering torture of starvation. But he seems to have been of an
+ingenious and persevering disposition, and hope did not altogether
+forsake him. He had too a companion, for one of his master's dogs,
+which had grown fond of his playmate, had remained behind with his body,
+licking the hand that had so often fed him.
+
+At first he spent whole days vainly searching for a path. Very often he
+climbed up a hill, from which he could see the great, blue, level sea,
+stretching out boundless to the horizon, and this renewed his hope. He
+looked up, and knew that God's sky was above him, and felt that he might
+be still saved. At night he was startled by the screams of the monkeys,
+the bellowing of the wild cattle in the distant savannah, or the
+unearthly cry of some solitary and unknown bird. Superstition filled him
+with fears, and he felt deserted by man, but tormented by the things of
+evil. The tracks of the wild cattle led him far astray. Long ere this
+his faithful dog, driven by hunger, had procured food for both.
+Sometimes beneath the spreading boughs of the river-loving yaco-tree,
+they would surprise a basking sow, surrounded by a wandering brood of
+voracious sucklings. The dog would cling to the sow, while the boy
+aided him in the pursuit of the errant progeny. When they had killed
+their prey, they would lie down and share their meal together. The boy
+learned to like the raw meat, and the dog had acquired his appetite long
+before. Experience soon taught them where to capture their prey in the
+quickest and surest manner. He caught the puppies of a wild dog, and
+trained them in the chase; and he even taught a young wild boar that he
+had caught alive to join in the capture of his own species. After having
+led this life for nearly a year, he one day suddenly came upon the
+long-lost path, which soon brought him to the sea-shore. His master's
+tents were gone, and, from various appearances, seemed to have been long
+struck.
+
+The lad, now grown accustomed to his wild life, resigned himself to his
+condition, feeling sure that, sooner or later, he should meet with a
+party of Buccaneers. His deliverance was not long delayed. After about
+twelve months' life in the bush, he fell in with a troop of skinners, to
+whom he related his story. They were at first distrustful and alarmed,
+as his master had told them that he had _marooned_, and had joined the
+Indians. His appearance soon convinced them that his story was true, and
+that he was neither a _maroon_ nor a deserter, for he was clothed in the
+rags of his _engage's_ shirt and drawers, and had a strip of raw meat
+hanging from his girdle. Two tame boars and three dogs followed at his
+heels, and refused to leave him. He at once joined his deliverers, who
+freed him from all obligations to his master, and gave him arms, powder,
+and lead to hunt for himself, and he soon became one of the most
+renowned Buccaneers on that coast. It was a long time before he could
+eat roasted meat, which not only was distasteful, but made him ill. Long
+after, when flaying a wild boar, he was frequently unable to restrain
+himself from eating the flesh raw.
+
+When an apprentice had served three years, his master was expected to
+give him as a reward a musket, a pound of powder, six pounds of lead,
+two shirts, two pairs of drawers, and a cap. The _valets_, as the French
+called them, then became comerades, and ceased to be mere _engages_.
+They took their own _matelots_, and became, in their turn, Buccaneers.
+When they had obtained a sufficient quantity of hides, they either sent
+or took them to Tortuga, and brought from thence a young apprentice to
+treat him as they themselves had been treated.
+
+The planters' _engages_ led a life more dreadful than that of their
+wilder brethren. They were decoyed from France under the same pretences
+that once filled our streets with the peasants' sons of Savoy, and the
+peasants' daughters from Frankfort, or that now lure children from the
+pleasant borders of Como, to pine away in a London den. The want of
+sufficient negroes led men to resort to all artifices to obtain
+assistance in cultivating the sugar-cane and the tobacco plant. In the
+French Antilles they were sold for three years, but often resold in the
+interim. Amongst the English they were bound for seven years, and being
+occasionally sold again at their own request, before the expiration of
+this term, they sometimes served fifteen or twenty years before they
+could obtain their freedom. At Jamaica, if a man could not pay even a
+small debt at a tavern, he was sold for six or eight months. The
+planters had agents in France, England, and other countries, who sent
+out these apprentices. They were worked much harder than the slaves,
+because their lives, after the expiration of the three years, were of no
+consequence to the masters. They were often the victims of a disease
+called "coma," the effect of hard usage and climate, and which ended in
+idiotcy. Pere Labat remarks the quantity of idiots in the West Indies,
+many of whom were dangerous, although allowed to go at liberty. Many of
+these worse than slaves were of good birth, tender education, and weak
+constitutions, unable to endure even the debilitating climate, and much
+less hard labour. Esquemeling, himself originally an _engage_, gives a
+most piteous description of their sufferings. Insufficient food and
+rest, he says, were the smallest of their sufferings. They were
+frequently beaten, and often fell dead at their masters' feet. The men
+thus treated died fast: some became dropsical, and others scorbutic. A
+man named Bettesea, a merchant of St. Christopher's, was said to have
+killed more than a hundred apprentices with blows and stripes. "This
+inhumanity," says Esquemeling, "I have _often seen_ with great grief."
+The following anecdote of human suffering equals the cruelty of the
+Virginian slave owner who threw one slave into the vat of boiling
+molasses, and baked another in an oven:--
+
+"A certain planter (of St. Domingo) exercised such cruelty towards one
+of his servants as caused him to run away. Having absconded for some
+days in the woods, he was at last taken, and brought back to the wicked
+Pharaoh. No sooner had he got him but he commanded him to be tied to a
+tree; here he gave him so many lashes on his naked back as made his body
+run with an entire stream of blood; then, to make the smart of his
+wounds the greater, he anointed him with lemon-juice, mixed with salt
+and pepper. In this miserable posture he left him tied to the tree for
+twenty-four hours, which being past, he began his punishment again,
+lashing him as before, so cruelly, that the miserable creature gave up
+the ghost, with these dying words, 'I beseech the Almighty God, Creator
+of heaven and earth, that He permit the wicked spirit to make thee feel
+as many torments before thy death as thou hast caused me to feel before
+mine.'
+
+"A strange thing, and worthy of astonishment and admiration: scarce
+three or four days were past, after this horrible fact, when the
+Almighty Judge, who had heard the cries of that tormented wretch,
+suffered the evil one suddenly to possess this barbarous and inhuman
+homicide, so that those cruel hands which had punished to death the
+innocent servant were the tormentors of his own body, for he beat
+himself and tore his flesh after a miserable manner, till he lost the
+very shape of a man, not ceasing to howl and cry without any rest by day
+or night. Thus he continued raving till he died."
+
+It was by the endurance of such sufferings as these that the early
+Buccaneers were hardened into fanatical monsters like Montbars and
+Lolonnois.
+
+In the early part of his book, Esquemeling gives us his own history. A
+Dutchman by birth, he arrived at Tortuga in 1680, when the French West
+India Company, unable to turn the island into a depot, as they had
+intended, were selling off their merchandise and their plantations.
+Esquemeling, as a bound _engage_ of the company, was sold to the
+lieutenant-governor of the island, who treated him with great severity,
+and refused to take less than three hundred pieces of eight for his
+freedom. Falling sick through vexation and despair, he was sold to a
+chirurgeon, for seventy pieces of eight, who proved kind to him, and
+finally gave him his liberty for 100 pieces of eight, to be paid after
+his first Flibustier trip.
+
+Oexmelin was probably sold almost at the same time as Esquemeling, and
+was bought by the commandant-general. Not allowed to pursue his own
+profession of a surgeon, he was employed in the most laborious and
+painful work, transplanting tobacco, or thinning the young plants,
+grating cassava, or pressing the juice from the banana. Overworked and
+under fed, associating with slaves, and regarded with hatred and
+suspicion, he scarcely received money enough to procure either food or
+clothing; his master refusing, even for the inducement of two crowns
+a-day, to allow him to practise as physician. A single year of toil at
+the plantations threw him into dangerous ill health; for weeks sheltered
+only under an outhouse, he was kept alive by the kindness of a black
+slave, who brought him daily an egg. Feeble as he was, the great thirst
+of a tropical fever compelled him often to rise and drag himself to a
+neighbouring tank, that he might drink, even though to drink were to
+die. Recovering from this fever, a wolfish hunger was the first sign of
+convalescence, but to appease this he had neither food, nor money to buy
+it. In this condition he devoured even unripe oranges, green, hard, and
+bitter, and resorted to other extremities which he is ashamed to
+confess. On one occasion as he was descending from the rock fort, where
+his master lived, into the town, he met a friend, the secretary of the
+governor, who made him come and dine with him, and gave him a parting
+present of a bottle of wine; his master, who had seen what had passed,
+by means of a telescope, from his place of vantage, when he returned,
+took away the wine, and threw him into a dungeon, accusing him of being
+a spy and a traitor. This prison was a cellar, hollowed out of the rock,
+full of filth and very dark. In this he swore Oexmelin should rot in
+spite of all the governors in the world. Here he was kept for three
+days, his feet in irons, fed only by a little bread and water that they
+passed to him through an aperture, without even opening the door. One
+day, as he lay naked on the stone, and in the dark, he felt a snake
+twine itself, cold and slimy, round his body, tightening the folds till
+they grew painful, and then sliding off to its hole. On the fourth day
+they opened the door and tried to discover if he had told the governor
+anything of his master's cruelties; they then set him to dig a plot of
+ground near the Fort. Finding himself left unguarded, he resolved to go
+and complain to the governor, having first consulted a good old
+Capuchin, who took compassion on his pale and famished aspect. The
+governor instantly took pity on the wretched runaway, fed and clothed
+him, and on his recovery to health placed him with a celebrated surgeon
+of the place, who paid his value to his master; the governor being
+unwilling to take him into his own service, for fear he should be
+accused to the home authorities of taking away slaves from the planters.
+
+The _engages_ were called to their work at daybreak by a shrill whistle
+(as the negroes are now by the hoarse conch shell); and the foreman,
+allowing any who liked to smoke, led them to their work. This consisted
+in felling trees and in picking or lopping tobacco; the driver stood by
+them as they dug or picked, and struck those who slackened or rested, as
+a captain would do to his galley slaves. Whether sick or well they were
+equally obliged to work. They were frequently employed in picking mahot,
+a sort of bark used to tie up bales. If they died of fatigue they were
+quietly buried, and there an end. Early in the morning one of the band
+had to feed the pigs with potato leaves, and prepare his comerades'
+dinner. They boiled their meat, putting peas and chopped potatoes into
+the water. The cook worked with the gang, but returned a little sooner
+to prepare his messmates' dinner, while they were stripping the tobacco
+stalk. On feast-days and Sundays they had some indulgences. Oexmelin
+relates an instance of a sick slave being employed to turn a grindstone
+on which his master was sharpening his axe; being too weak to do it
+well, the butcher turned round and clove him down between the shoulders.
+The slave fell down, bleeding profusely, and died within two hours; yet
+this master was one of a body of planters deemed very indulgent in
+comparison to those of some other islands. One planter of St.
+Christopher, named Belle Tete, who came from Dieppe, prided himself on
+having killed 200 _engages_ who would not work, all of whom, he
+declared, died of sheer laziness. When they were in the last
+extremities he was in the habit of rubbing their mouths with the yolk of
+an egg, in order that he might conscientiously swear he had pressed them
+to take food till the very last. Upon a priest one day remonstrating
+with him on his brutality, he replied, with perfect effrontery, that he
+had once been a bound _engage_, and had never been treated better; that
+he had come all the way to that shore to get money, and provided he
+could get it and see his children roll in a coach, he did not care
+himself if the devil carried him off.
+
+The following anecdote shows what strange modifications of crime this
+species of slavery might occasionally produce. There was a rich
+inhabitant of Guadaloupe, whose father became so poor that he was
+obliged to sell himself as an _engage_, and by a singular coincidence
+sold himself to a merchant who happened to be his son's agent. The poor
+fellow, finding himself his son's servant, thought himself well off, but
+soon found that he was treated as brutally as the rest. The son,
+finding the father was old and discontented, and therefore unable to do
+much work, and afraid to beat him for the sake of the scandal, sold him
+soon after to another planter, who treated him better, gave him more to
+eat, and eventually restored him to liberty. Of the ten thousand Scotch
+and Irish whom Cromwell sent to the West Indies, many became _engages_,
+and finally Buccaneers. Many of the old Puritan soldiers, who had served
+in the same wars, were enrolled in the same ranks.
+
+The same principle of brotherhood applied to the planters as to the
+ordinary Buccaneers. They called each other _matelots_, and, before
+living together, signed a contract by which they agreed to share
+everything in common. Each had the power to dispose of his companion's
+money and goods, and an agreement signed by one bound the other also. If
+the one died, the survivor became the inheritor of the whole, in
+preference even to heirs who might come from Europe to claim the share
+or attempt to set up a claim. The engagement could be broken up whenever
+either wished it, and was often cancelled in a moment of petulance or
+of transitory vexation. A third person was sometimes admitted into the
+brotherhood on the same conditions. By this singular custom, friendships
+were formed as firm as those between a Highlander and his
+foster-brother, a Canadian trapper and his comerade, or an English
+sailor and his messmate.
+
+The _matelotage_, or _compagnon a bon lot_, being thus formed, the two
+planters would go to the governor of the island and request a grant of
+land. The officer of the district was then sent to measure out what they
+required, of a specified size in a specified spot. The usual grant was a
+plot, two hundred feet wide and thirty feet long, as near as possible to
+the sea-shore, as being most convenient for the transport of goods, as
+well as for the ease of procuring salt water, which they used in
+preparing the tobacco leaf. When the sea-shore was covered with cabins
+the planters built their huts higher up and four deep, those nearest to
+the beach being obliged to allow a roadway to those who were the
+furthest back. Their lodges, or _ajoupas_, were raised upon ground
+cleared from wood, the thicket being first burnt with the lower branches
+of the larger trees. The trunks, too large to remove, were cut down to
+within two or three feet of the earth, and allowed to dry and rot for
+several summers, and finally also consumed by fire. The savages, on the
+other hand, cut down all the trees, let them dry as they fell, and then,
+setting the whole alight, reduced it at once to ashes, without any
+clearing, lopping, or piling. When about thirty or forty feet of ground
+was thus cleared, they began to plant vegetables and cultivate the
+ground--peas, potatoes, manioc, banana, and figs being the daily
+necessaries of their lives. The banana they planted near rivers, no
+planter residing in a place where there was not some well or spring.
+Their _casa_, or chief lodge, was supported by posts fifteen or sixteen
+feet high, thatched with palm branches, rushes, or sugar-canes, and
+walled either with reeds or palisades. Inside, they had _barbecues_, or
+forms rising two or three feet from the ground, upon which lay their
+mattresses stuffed with banana leaves, and above it the mosquito net of
+thin white linen, which they called a _pavillon_. A smaller lodge served
+for cooking or for warehousing. Friends and neighbours always assisted
+in building these cabins, and were treated in return with brandy by the
+planter. The laws of the society obliged the settlers to help each
+other, and this kindness was never refused. The same system of mutual
+support originated the Scotch penny weddings and the English friendly
+custom of ploughing a young farmer's fields.
+
+Now the _ajoupa_ was built, the tobacco ground had to be dug. An
+enclosure of two thousand plants required much care, and was obliged to
+be kept clean and free from weeds. They had to be lopped, and
+transplanted, and irrigated, and finally picked and stored. The people
+of Tortuga, the Buccaneers' island, exchanged their tobacco with the
+French merchants for hatchets, hoes, knives, sacking, and above all for
+wine and brandy.
+
+From potatoes, which the planters ate for breakfast, they extracted
+maize, a sour but pleasant beverage. The cassava root they grated for
+cakes, making a liquor called _veycon_ of the residue. From the banana
+they also extracted an intoxicating drink.
+
+With the wild boar hunters they exchanged tobacco leaf for dried meat,
+often paying away at one time two or three hundred weight of tobacco,
+and frequently sending a servant of their own to the savannahs to help
+the hunter and to supply him with powder and shot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.
+
+    Originated in the Spanish persecution of French
+    Hunters--Customs--Pay and Pensions--The Mosquito Indians, their
+    Habits--Food--Lewis Scott, an Englishman, first Corsair--John Davis:
+    takes St. Francisco, in Campeachy--Debauchery--Love of
+    Gaming--Religion--Class from which they sprang--Equality at
+    Sea--Mode of Fighting--Dress.
+
+
+The Flibustiers first began by associating together in bands of from
+fifteen to twenty men. Each of them carried the Buccaneer musket,
+holding a ball of sixteen to the pound, and had generally pistols at his
+belt, holding bullets of twenty or twenty-four to the pound, and besides
+this they wore a good sabre or cutlass. When collected at some
+preconcerted rendezvous, generally a key or small island off Cuba, they
+elected a captain, and embarked in a canoe, hollowed out of the trunk of
+a single tree in the Indian manner. This canoe was either bought by the
+association or the captain. If the latter, they agreed to give him the
+first ship they should take. As soon as they had all signed the
+charter-party, or mutual agreement, they started for the destined port
+off which they were to cruise. The first Spanish vessel they took served
+to repay the captain and recompense themselves. They dressed themselves
+in the rich robes of Castilian grandees over their own blooded shirts,
+and sat down to revel in the gilded saloon of the galleon. If they found
+their prize not seaworthy, they would take her to some small sand island
+and careen, while the crew helped the Indians to turn turtle, and to
+procure bull's flesh. The Spanish crew they kept to assist in careening,
+for they never worked themselves, but fought and hunted while the
+unfortunate prisoners were toiling round the fire where the pitch
+boiled, or the turtle was stewing. The Flibustiers divided the spoil as
+soon as each one had taken an oath that nothing had been secreted. When
+the ship was ready for sea, they let the Spaniards go, and kept only the
+slaves. If there were no negroes or Indians, they retained a few
+Spaniards to wait upon them. If the prisoners were men of consequence,
+they detained them till they could obtain a ransom. Every Flibustier
+brought a certain supply of powder and ball for the common stock. Before
+starting on an expedition it was a common thing to plunder a Spanish
+hog-yard, where a thousand swine were often collected, surrounding the
+keeper's lodge at night, and shooting him if he made any resistance. The
+tortoise fishermen were often forced to fish for them gratuitously,
+although nearly every ship had its Mosquito Indian to strike turtle and
+sea-cow, and to fish for the whole boat's crew. "No prey, no pay," was
+the Buccaneers' motto. The charter-party specified the salary of the
+captain, surgeon, and carpenter, and allowed 200 pieces of eight for
+victualling. The boys had but half a share, although it was either
+their duty or the surgeon's, when the rest had boarded, to remain behind
+to fire the former vessel, and then retire to the prize.
+
+The Buccaneer code, worthy of Napoleon or Justinian, was equal to the
+statutes of any land, insomuch as it answered the want of those for whom
+it was compiled, and seldom required either revision or enlargement. It
+was never appealed from, and was seldom found to be unjust or severe.
+
+The captain was allowed five or six shares, the master's mate only two,
+and the other officers in proportion, down to the lowest mariner. All
+acts of special bravery or merit were rewarded by special grants. The
+man who first caught sight of a prize received a hundred crowns. The
+sailor who struck down the enemy's captain, and the first boarder who
+reached the enemy's deck, were also distinguished by honours. The
+surgeon, always a great man among a crew whose lives so often depended
+on his skill, received 200 crowns to supply his medicine chest. If they
+took a prize, he had a share like the rest. If they had no money to
+give him, he was rewarded with two slaves.
+
+The loss of an eye was recompensed at 100 crowns, or one slave.
+
+The loss of both eyes with 600 crowns, or six slaves.
+
+The loss of a right hand or right leg at 200 crowns, or two slaves.
+
+The loss of both hands or legs at 600 crowns, or six slaves.
+
+The loss of a finger or toe at 100 crowns, or one slave.
+
+The loss of a foot or leg at 200 crowns, or two slaves.
+
+The loss of both legs at 600 crowns, or six slaves.
+
+Nothing but death seems to have been considered as worth recompensing
+with more than 600 crowns. For any wound, which compelled a sailor to
+carry a _canulus_, 200 crowns were given, or two slaves. If a man had
+not even lost a member, but was for the present deprived of the use of
+it, he was still entitled to his compensation as much as if he had lost
+it altogether. The maimed were allowed to take either money or slaves.
+
+The charter-party drawn up by Sir Henry Morgan before his famous
+expedition, which ended in the plunder and destruction of Panama, shows
+several modifications of the earlier contract.
+
+To him who struck the enemy's flag, and planted the Buccaneers', fifty
+piastres, besides his share.
+
+To him who took a prisoner who brought tidings, 100 piastres, besides
+his share.
+
+For every grenade thrown into an enemy's port-hole, five piastres.
+
+To him who took an officer of rank at the risk of his life,
+proportionate reward.
+
+To him who lost two legs, 500 crowns, or fifteen slaves.
+
+To him who lost two arms, 800 piastres, or eighteen slaves.
+
+To him who lost one leg or one arm, 500 piastres, or six slaves.
+
+To him who lost an eye, 100 piastres, or one slave.
+
+For both eyes, 200 piastres, or two slaves.
+
+For the loss of a finger, 100 piastres, or one slave. A Flibustier who
+had a limb crippled, received the same pay as if it was lost. A wound
+requiring an issue, was recompensed with 500 piastres, or five slaves.
+These shares were all allotted before the general division. If a vessel
+was taken at sea, its cargo was divided among the whole fleet, but the
+crew first boarding it received 100 crowns, if its value exceeded 10,000
+crowns, and for every 10,000 crowns' worth of cargo, 100 went to the men
+that boarded. The surgeon received 200 piastres, besides his share.
+
+The Mosquito Indians were the helots of the Buccaneers; they employed
+them to catch fish, and their vessels had generally a small canoe, kept
+for their use, in which they might strike tortoise or manitee. These
+Indians used no oars, but a pair of broad-bladed paddles, which they
+held perpendicularly, grasping the staff with both hands and putting
+back the water by sheer strength, and with very quick, short strokes.
+Two men generally went in the same boat, the one sitting in the stern,
+the other kneeling down in the head. They both paddled softly till they
+approached the spot where their prey lay; they then remained still,
+looking very warily about them, and the one at the head then rose up,
+with his striking-staff in his hand. This weapon was about eight feet
+long, almost as thick as a man's arm at the larger end, at which there
+was a hole into which the harpoon was put; at the other extremity was
+placed a piece of light (bob) wood, with a hole in it, through which the
+small end of the staff came. On this bob wood a line of ten or twelve
+fathoms was neatly wound--the end of the one line being fastened to the
+wood, and the other to the harpoon, the man keeping about a fathom of it
+loose in his hand. When he struck, the harpoon came off the shaft, and,
+as the wounded fish swam away, the line ran off from the reel. Although
+the bob and line were frequently dragged deep under water, and often
+caught round coral branches or sunk wreck, it generally rose to the
+surface of the water. The Indians struggled to recover the bob, which
+they were accustomed to do in about a quarter of an hour.
+
+When the sea-cow grew tired and began to lie still, they drew in the
+line, and the monster, feeling the harpoon a second time, would often
+make a maddened rush at the canoe. It then became necessary that the
+steersman should be nimble in turning the head of the canoe the way his
+companion pointed, as he alone was able to see and feel the way the
+manitee was swimming. Directly the fish grew tired, they hauled in the
+line, which the vexed creature drew out again a dozen times with
+ferocious but impotent speed. When its strength grew quite exhausted,
+they would drag it up the side of their boat and knock it on the head,
+or, pulling it to the shore, made it fast while they went out to strike
+another. From the great size of a sea-cow it was always necessary to go
+to shore in order to get it safely into their boats; hauling it up in
+shoal water, they upset their canoes, and then rolling the fish in
+righted again with the weight. The Indians sometimes paddled one home,
+and towed the other after them. Dampierre says he knew two Indians, who
+every day for a week brought two manitee on board his ship, the least
+not weighing less than six hundred pounds, and yet in so small a canoe
+that three Englishmen could row it.
+
+If the fishermen struck a sea-cow that had a calf they generally
+captured both--the mother carrying the young under her side fins, and
+always regarding their safety before her own; the young, moreover, would
+seldom desert their mother, and would follow the canoe in spite of noise
+and blows. The least sound startled the manitee, but the turtles
+required less care. These fish had certain islands near Cuba which they
+chose to lay their eggs in. At certain seasons they came from the gulf
+of Honduras in such vast multitudes, that ships, which had lost their
+latitude, very often steered at night, following the sound of these
+clattering shoals. When they had been about a month in the Caribbean sea
+they grew fat, and the fishing commenced. Salt turtle was the
+Buccaneers' healthiest food, and was supposed to free them from all the
+ailments of debauchery. The Indians struck the turtle with a short,
+sharp, triangular-headed iron, not more than an inch long, which fitted
+into a spear handle. The lance head was loose and had the usual line
+attached. Their lines they made of the fibrous bark of a tree, which
+they also used for their rigging.
+
+The manitee, or sea-cow, was a favourite article of food with these
+wandering seamen. It was a monster as big as a horse, and as unwieldy as
+a walrus, with eyes not much larger than peas, and a head like a cow.
+Its flesh was white, sweet, and wholesome. The tail of a young fish was
+a dainty, and a young sucking-calf, roasted, was an epicure's morsel.
+The head and tail of older animals were tough, yet the belly was
+frequently eaten.
+
+Dampierre speaks of his companions feasting on pork and peas, and beef
+and dough-boys, and this nautical coarseness was generally found
+associated with occasional tropical luxuriousness. In cases of
+necessity, wrecked sailors fed on sharks, which they first boiled and
+then squeezed dry, and stewed with pepper and vinegar. The oil of turtle
+they used instead of butter for their dumplings. The best turtle were
+said to be those that fed on land; those that lived on sea-weed, and
+not on grass, being yellow and rank. The larger fish needed two men to
+turn them on their backs. The Flibustiers also ate the iguanas, or large
+South American lizards. Vast flocks of doves were found in many of the
+islands, sometimes in such abundance that a sailor could knock down five
+or six dozen of an afternoon.
+
+The Buccaneers' history is a singular example of how evil generates
+evil. The Spaniards destroyed the wild cattle, and the hunters turned
+freebooters. Spain discontinued trading to prevent piracy, and the
+adventurers, starved for want of gold, made descents upon the mainland.
+The evil grew by degrees till the worm they had at first trod upon arose
+in their path an indestructible and devastating monster of a hundred
+heads. First single ships, then fleets, were swept off by these locusts
+of the deep; first, islands were burnt, then villages sacked, and at
+last cities conquered. First the North and then the South Pacific were
+visited, till the whole coast from Panama to Cape Horn trembled at the
+very flutter of their flag. The first Flibustier, Lewis Scott, scared
+Campeachy with a few canoes. Grognet grappled the Lima fleet with a
+whole squadron of pirate craft. The Buccaneer spirit arose from revenge,
+and ended in robbery and murder. At first fierce but merciful, they grew
+rapacious, loathsome, and bloody. Their early chivalry forsook
+them--they sank into the enemies of God and all mankind, and the last
+refuse of them expired on the gallows of Jamaica, children of Cain,
+unpitied by any, their very courage despised, and their crimes detested.
+At their culminating point, united under the sway of one great mind,
+they might have formed a large empire in South America, or conquered it
+as tributaries to France or England. Always thirsty for gold, they were
+often chivalrous, generous, intrepid, merciful, and disinterested.
+
+A greater evil soon cured the lesser. The Spaniards, dreading robbery
+worse than death, ceased in a great measure to trade. The poorer
+merchants were ruined by the loss of a single cocoa vessel; the richer
+waited for the convoy of the plate fleets, or followed in the wake of
+the galleon, hoping to escape if she was captured, as the chickens do
+when the hen goes cackling up in the claws of the kite. For every four
+vessels that once sailed not more than one could be now seen. What with
+the war of France on Holland, and England on France, and all on Spain,
+there was little safety for the poor trader. Yet those who could risk a
+loss still made great profits. This cessation of trade was a poor remedy
+against the sea robber: it was to rob oneself instead of being robbed,
+to commit suicide for fear of murder. It was a remedy that saved life,
+but rendered life hateful. The Buccaneers, starving for want of prey,
+remained moodily in the rocky fastnesses of Tortuga, like famished
+eagles looking down on a country they have devastated. To accomplish
+greater feats they united in bodies, and made forays on the coast. They
+had before remained at the threshold--they now rushed headlong into the
+sanctuary, and they got _their_ bread, or rather other people's bread,
+by daring dashes and surprises of towns, leaving them only when wrapped
+in flames or swept by the pestilence that always followed in their
+train.
+
+We may claim for our own nation the first pioneer in this new field of
+enterprise. Lewis Scott, an Englishman, led the way by sacking the town
+of St. Francisco, in Campeachy, and, compelling the inhabitants to pay a
+ransom, returned safely to Jamaica. Where the carcase is there will the
+eagles be gathered together, for no sooner had his sails grown small in
+the distance than Mansweld, another Buccaneer, made several successful
+descents upon the same luckless coast, unfortunate in its very
+fertility. He then equipped a fleet and attempted to return by the
+kingdom of New Granada to the South Sea, passing the town of Carthagena.
+This scheme failed in consequence of a dispute arising between the
+French and English crews, who were always quarrelling over their
+respective share of provisions; but in spite of this he took the island
+of St. Catherine, and attempted to found a Buccaneer state.
+
+John Davis, a Dutchman, excelled both his predecessors in daring.
+Cruising about Jamaica he became a scourge to all the Spanish mariners
+who ventured near the coasts of the Caraccas, or his favourite haunts,
+Carthagena and the Boca del Toro, where he lay wait for vessels bound to
+Nicaragua. One day he missed his shot, and having a long time traversed
+the sea and taken nothing--a failure which generally drove these brave
+men to some desperate expedient to repair their sinking fortunes--he
+resolved with ninety men to visit the lagoon of Nicaragua, and sack the
+town of Granada. An Indian from the shores of the lagoon promised to
+guide him safely and secretly; and his crew, with one voice, declared
+themselves ready to follow him wherever he led. By night he rowed thirty
+leagues up the river, to the entry of the lake, and concealed his ships
+under the boughs of the trees that grew upon the banks; then putting
+eighty men in his three canoes he rowed on to the town, leaving ten
+sailors to guard the vessels. By day they hid under the trees; at night
+they pushed on towards the unsuspecting town, and reached it on the
+third midnight--taking it, as he had expected, without a blow and by
+surprise. To a sentinel's challenge they replied that they were
+fishermen returning home, and two of the crew, leaping on shore, ran
+their swords through the interrogator, to stop further questions which
+might have been less easily answered. Following their guide they reached
+a small covered way that led to the right of the town, while another
+Indian towed their canoes to a point to which they had agreed each man
+should bring his booty.
+
+As soon as they arrived at the town they separated into small bands, and
+were led one by one to the houses of the richest inhabitants. Here they
+quietly knocked, and, being admitted as friends, seized the inmates by
+the throat and compelled them, on pain of death, to surrender all the
+money and jewels that they had. They then roused the sacristans of the
+principal churches, from whom they took the keys and carried off all the
+altar plate that could be beaten up or rendered portable. The pixes
+they stripped of their gems, gouged out the jewelled eyes of virgin
+idols, and hammered up the sacramental cups into convenient lumps of
+metal.
+
+This quiet and undisturbed pillage had lasted for two hours without a
+struggle, when some servants, escaping from the adventurers, began to
+ring the alarm bells to warn the town, while a few of the already
+plundered citizens, breaking into the marketplace, filled the streets
+with uproar and affright. Davis, seeing that the inhabitants were
+beginning to rally from that panic which had alone secured his victory,
+commenced a retreat, as the enemy were now gathering in armed and
+threatening numbers. In a hollow square, with their booty in the centre,
+the Buccaneers fought their way to their boats, amid tumultuous
+war-cries and shouts of derision and exultation. In spite of their
+haste, they were prudent enough to carry with them some rich Spaniards,
+intending to exchange them for any of their own men they might lose in
+their retreat. On regaining their ships they compelled these prisoners
+to send them as a ransom 500 cows, with which they revictualled their
+ships for the passage back to Jamaica. They had scarcely well weighed
+anchor before they saw 600 mounted Spaniards dash down to the shore in
+the hopes of arresting their retreat. A few broadsides were the parting
+greetings of these unwelcome visitors.
+
+This expedition was accomplished in eight days. The booty consisted of
+coined money and bullion amounting to about 40,000 crowns. Esquemeling
+computes it at 4,000 pieces of eight, and in ready money, plate, and
+jewels to about 50,000 pieces of eight more.
+
+Thus concluded this adventurous raid, in which a town forty leagues
+inland, and containing at least 800 well-armed defenders, was stormed
+and robbed by eighty resolute sailors. Davis reached Jamaica in safety
+with his plunder, which was soon put into wider circulation by the aid
+of the dice, the tavern keepers, and the courtesans. The money once
+expended, Davis was roused to fresh exertion. He associated himself with
+two or three other captains, who, superstitiously relying on his good
+fortune, chose him as admiral of a small flotilla of eight or nine armed
+gunboats. The less fortunate rewarded him with boundless confidence. His
+first excursion was to the town of St. Christopher, in Cuba, to wait for
+the fleet from New Spain, in hopes to cut off some rich unwieldy
+straggler. But the fleet contrived to escape his sentinels and pass
+untouched. Davis then sallied forth and sacked a small town named St.
+Augustine of Florida, in spite of its castle and garrison of 100 men. He
+suffered little loss; but the inhabitants proved very poor, and the
+booty was small.
+
+In making war against Spain, the hunters were mere privateersmen
+cruising against a national enemy; but in their endurance, patience, and
+energy, they stood alone. In their onset--rushing, singing, and dancing
+through fire and flame--they resembled rather the old Barsekars or the
+first levies of Mohammed. But in one point they were very remarkable;
+that they did more, and were yet actuated by a lower motive. Almost
+devoid of religion, they fought with all the madness of fanaticism
+against a people themselves constitutionally fanatic, but already
+enervated by climate, by sudden wealth, and a long experience of
+contaminating luxury. The galleons of Manilla were their final aim, as
+they gradually passed from the devastated shores of South America to the
+Philippine Islands and the coasts of Guinea. They had been the
+instrument of Providence, and knew themselves so, to avenge the wrongs
+of the Indian upon the Spaniard; they were soon to become the first
+avengers of the Negro. Long years of plunder had made the Spaniard and
+the Creole as secretive as the Hindu. At the first intelligence of some
+terrified fisherman, the frightened townsman threw his pistoles into
+wells, or mortared them up in the wall of his fortresses. Laden mules
+were driven into the interior; the women fled to the nearest plantation;
+the old men barred themselves up in the church. Their first thought was
+always flight; their second, to turn and strike a blow for all they
+loved, valued, and revered.
+
+The debauchery of the Buccaneers was as unequalled as their courage.
+Oexmelin relates a story of an Englishman who gave 500 crowns to his
+mistress at a single revel. This man, who had earned 1,500 crowns by
+exposing himself to desperate dangers, was, within three months, sold
+for a term of three years to a planter, to discharge a tavern debt which
+he could not pay. A conqueror of Panama might be seen to-morrow driven
+by the overseer's whip among a gang of slaves, cutting sugar canes, or
+picking tobacco.
+
+Another Buccaneer, a Frenchman, surnamed Vent-en-Panne, was so addicted
+to play that he lost everything but his shirt. Every pistole that he
+could earn he spent in this absorbing vice--so tempting to men, who
+longed for excitement, were indifferent to money, and daily risked their
+lives for the prospect of gain. On one occasion he lost 500 crowns, his
+whole share of some recent prize-money, besides 300 crowns which he had
+borrowed of a comerade who would now lend him no more. Determined to try
+his fortune again, he hired himself as servant at the very
+gambling-house where he had been ruined, and, by lighting pipes for the
+players and bringing them in wine, earned fifty crowns in two days. He
+staked this, and soon won 12,000 crowns. He then paid his debts and
+resolved to lose no more, shipping himself on board an English vessel
+that touched at Barbadoes. At Barbadoes he met a rich Jew who offered to
+play him. Unable to abstain, he sat down, and won 1,300 crowns and
+100,000 lbs. of sugar already shipped for England, and, in addition to
+this, a large mill and sixty slaves. The Jew, begging him to stay and
+give him his revenge, ran and borrowed some money, and returned and took
+up the cards. The Buccaneer consented, more from love of play than
+generosity; and the Jew, putting down 1,500 jacobuses, won back 100
+crowns, and finally all his antagonist's previous winnings--stripping
+him even to the very clothes he wore. The delighted winner allowed him
+for very shame to retain his clothes, and gave him money enough to
+return, disconsolate and beggared, to Tortuga. Becoming again a
+Buccaneer, he gained 6,000 or 7,000 crowns. M. D'Ogeron, the governor,
+treating him as a wayward child, taking away his money, sent him back to
+France with bills of exchange for the amount. Vent-en-Panne, now cured
+of his vice, took to merchandise; but, always unfortunate, was killed in
+his first voyage to the West Indies, his vessel being attacked by two
+Ostende frigates, of twenty-four or thirty guns each, which were
+eventually, however, driven off by the dead man's crew of only thirty
+Buccaneers.
+
+When the pleasures of Tortuga or Jamaica had swallowed up all the
+hard-earned winnings of these men, they returned to sea, expending their
+last pistoles in powder and ball, and leaving heavy scores still
+unsettled with the cabaretiers. They then hastened to the quays, or
+small sandy islands off Cuba, to careen their vessels and to salt
+turtle. Sometimes they repaired to Honduras, where they had Indian
+wives; latterly, to the Galapagos isles, to the Boca del Toro, or the
+coast of Castilla del Oro.
+
+Some Buccaneers, Esquemeling says, would spend 3,000 piastres in a
+night, not leaving themselves even a shirt in the morning. "My own
+master," he adds, "would buy a whole pipe of wine, and, placing it in
+the street, would force every one that passed by to drink with him,
+threatening also to pistol them in case they would not do it. At other
+times he would do the same with barrels of ale or beer; and very often
+with both his hands he would throw these liquors about the street, and
+wet the clothes of such as walked by, without regard whether he spoiled
+their apparel or not, or whether they were men or women." Port Royal was
+a favourite scene for such carousals.
+
+Even as late as 1694, Montauban gives us some idea of the wild
+debaucheries committed by the Buccaneers even at Bourdeaux. "My
+freebooters," he says, "who had not seen France for a long time, finding
+themselves now in a great city where pleasure and plenty reigned, were
+not backward to refresh themselves after the fatigues they had endured
+while so long absent from their native country. They spent a world of
+money here, and proved horribly extravagant. The merchants and their
+hosts made no scruple to advance them money, or lend them as much as
+they pleased, upon the reputation of their wealth and the noise there
+was throughout the city of the valuable prizes whereof they had a share.
+All the nights they spent in such divertisements as pleased them best;
+and the days, in running up and down the town in masquerade, causing
+themselves to be carried in chairs with lighted flambeaux at noon--of
+which debauches some died, while four of my crew fairly deserted me."
+
+This, it must be remembered, was at a time when buccaneering had sunk
+into privateering--the half-way house to mere piracy. The distinguishing
+mark of the true Buccaneer was, that he attacked none but Spaniards.
+
+Of the Buccaneers' estimation of religion, Charlevoix gives us some
+curious accounts. He says, "there remained no traces of it in their
+heart, but still, sometimes, from time to time, they appeared to
+meditate deeply. They never commenced a combat without first embracing
+each other, in sign of reconciliation. They would at such times strike
+themselves rudely on the breast, as if they wished to rouse some
+compunction in their hearts, and were not able. Once escaped from
+danger, they returned headlong to their debauchery, blasphemy, and
+brigandage. The Buccaneers, looking upon themselves as worthy fellows,
+regarded the Flibustiers as wretches, but in reality there was not much
+difference. The Buccaneers were, perhaps, the less vicious, but the
+Flibustiers preserved a little more of the externals of religion; _with
+the exception of a certain honour among them, and their abstinence from
+human flesh, few savages were more wicked, and a great number of them
+much less so_."
+
+This passage shows a very curious jealousy between the hunters and the
+corsairs, and a singular distinction as to religious feeling. Pere
+Labat, however, speaks of the Flibustiers as attending confession
+immediately after a sea-fight with most exemplary devotion. A more
+important distinction than that made by Charlevoix was that between the
+Protestant and Roman Catholic adventurers, the latter being as
+superstitious as the former were irreverent. Ravenau de Lussan always
+speaks with horror of the blasphemy and irreligion of his English
+comerades, one of whom was an old trooper of Cromwell's; and Grognet's
+fleet eventually separated from the English ships, on account of the
+latter crews lopping crucifixes with their sabres, and firing at images
+with their pistols. A Flibustier captain, named Daniel, shot one of his
+men in a Spanish church for behaving irreverently at mass; and Ringrose
+gives an instance of an English commander who threw the dice overboard,
+if he found his men gambling on a Sunday.
+
+We find Ravenau de Lussan's troop singing a _Te Deum_ after victories,
+and Oexmelin tells us that prayers were said daily on board Flibustier
+ships.
+
+It is difficult to say from what class of life either the Buccaneers or
+the Flibustiers sprang. The planters often became hunters, and the
+hunters sailors, and the reverse. Morgan was a Welsh farmer's son, who
+ran away to sea; Montauban, the son of a Gascon gentleman; D'Ogeron had
+been a captain in the French marines; Von Horn, a common sailor in an
+Ostende smack; Dampierre was a Somersetshire yeoman, and Esquemeling a
+Dutch planter's apprentice. Charlevoix says, "few could bear for many
+years a life so hard and laborious, and the greater part only continued
+in it till they could gain enough to become planters. Many, continually
+wasting their money, never earned sufficient to buy a plantation; others
+grew so accustomed to the life, and so fond even of its hardships and
+painful risks, that, though often heirs to good fortunes, they would not
+leave it to return to France."
+
+The life of M. D'Ogeron, the governor of Tortuga, is an example of
+another class of Buccaneers, and of the causes which led to the choice
+of such a profession. At fifteen, he was captain of a regiment of
+marines, and in 1656, joining a company intending to colonize the
+Matingo river, he embarked in a ship, fitted out at the expense of
+17,000 livres. Disappointed in this bubble, he tried to settle at
+Martinique, but deceived by the governor, who withdrew a grant of land,
+he determined to settle with the Buccaneers of St. Domingo. Embarking in
+a ricketty vessel, he ran ashore on Hispaniola, and lost all his
+merchandise and provisions. Giving his _engages_ their liberty, he
+joined the hunters, and became distinguished as well for courage as
+virtue. His goods sent from France were sold at a loss, and he returned
+to his native country a poor man. Collecting his remaining money, he
+hired _engages_, and loaded a vessel with wine and brandy. Finding the
+market glutted, he sold his cargo at a loss, and was cheated by his
+Jamaica agent. Returning again to France, he fitted out a third vessel,
+and finally settled as a planter in Hispaniola. At this juncture the
+French West India Company fixed their eyes upon him, and in 1665 made
+him governor of their colony.
+
+Ravenau de Lussan illustrates the motives that sometimes led the youth
+of the higher classes to turn Buccaneers. He commences his book with
+true French vanity, by saying, that few children of Paris, which
+contains so many of the wonders of the world (ten out of the eight, we
+suppose), seek their fortune abroad. From a child he was seized with a
+passionate disposition for travel, and would steal out of his father's
+house and play truant when he was yet scarce seven. He soon reached La
+Vilette and the suburbs, and by degrees learnt to lose sight of Paris.
+With this passion arose a desire for a military life. The noise of a
+drum in the street transported him with joy. He made a friend of an
+officer, and, offering him his sword, joined his company, and witnessed
+the siege of Conde, ending his campaign, still unwearied of his new form
+of life. He then became a cadet in a marine regiment. The captain
+drained him of all his money, and his father, at a great expense, bought
+him his discharge. Under the Count D'Avegeau he entered the French
+Guards, and fought at the siege of St. Guislain. Growing, on his return,
+weary of Paris, he embarked again on sea, having nothing but voyages in
+his head; the longest and most dangerous appearing to his imagination,
+he says, the most delightful. Travelling by land seemed to him long and
+difficult, and he once more chose the sea, deeming it only fit for a
+woman to remain at home ignorant of the world. His affectionate parents
+tried in vain to reason him out of this gadding humour, and finding him
+only grow firmer and more inflexible, they desisted.
+
+Not caring whither he went, so he could get to sea, he embarked in 1697
+from Dieppe for St. Domingo. Here he remained for five months _engage_
+to a French planter, "more a Turk than a Frenchman." "But what misery,"
+he says, "soever I have undergone with him, I freely forgive him, being
+resolved to forget his name, which I shall not mention in this place,
+because the laws of Christianity require that at my hand, though as to
+matters of charity he is not to expect much of that in me, since he, on
+his part, has been every way defective in the exercise thereof upon my
+account." But his patience at last worn out, and weary of cruelties that
+seemed endless, De Lussan applied to M. de Franquesnay, the king's
+lieutenant, who himself gave him shelter in his house for six months. He
+was now in debt, and thinking it "honest to pay his creditors," he
+joined the freebooters in order to satisfy them, not willing to apply
+again for money to his parents. "These borrowings from the Spaniards,"
+he says, "have this advantage attending them, that there is no
+obligation to repay them," and there was war between the two crowns, so
+that he was a legal privateersman. Selecting a leader, De Lussan pitched
+on De Graff, as a brave corsair, who happened to be then at St. Domingo,
+eager to sail. Furnishing himself with arms, at the expense of
+Franquesnay, he joined De Graff. "We were," he says, "in a few hours
+satisfied with each other, and became such friends as those are wont to
+be who are about to run the same risk of fortune, and apparently to die
+together." The 22nd of November, the day he sailed from Petit Guave,
+seemed the happiest of his life.
+
+Dampierre mentions an old Buccaneer, who was slain at the taking of
+Leon. "He was," he says, "a stout, grey-headed old man, aged about
+eighty-four, who had served under Oliver Cromwell in the Irish
+rebellion; after which he was at Jamaica, and had followed privateering
+ever since. He would not accept the offer our men made him to tarry
+ashore, but said he would venture as far as the best of them; but when
+surrounded by the Spaniards he refused "to take quarter, but discharged
+his gun amongst them, keeping a pistol still charged; so they shot him
+dead at a distance. His name was Swan (_rara avis_). He was a very
+merry, hearty old man, and always used to declare he would never take
+quarter."
+
+When the adventurers were at sea, they lived together as a friendly
+brotherhood. Every morning at ten o'clock the ship's cook put the kettle
+on the fire to boil the salt beef for the crew, in fresh water if they
+had plenty, but if they ran short in brine; meal was boiled at the same
+time, and made into a thick porridge, which was mixed with the gravy and
+the fat of the meat. The whole was then served to the crew on large
+platters, seven men to a plate. If the captain or cook helped themselves
+to a larger share than their messmates, any of the republican crew had a
+right to change plates with them. But, notwithstanding this brotherly
+equality, and in spite of the captain being deposable by his crew, there
+was maintained at all moments of necessity the strictest discipline, and
+the most rigid subordination of rank. The crews had two meals a day.
+They always said grace before meat: the French Catholics singing the
+canticles of Zecharias, the Magnificat, or the Miserere; the English
+reading a chapter from the New Testament, or singing a psalm.
+
+Directly a vessel hove in sight, the Flibustiers gave chase. If it
+showed a Spanish flag, the guns were run out, and the decks cleared; the
+pikes lashed ready, and every man prepared his musket and powder, of
+which he alone was the guardian (and not the gunner), these articles
+being generally paid for from the common stock, unless provided by the
+captain.
+
+They first fell on their knees at their quarters (each group round its
+gun), to pray God that they might obtain both victory and plunder. Then
+all lay down flat on the deck, except the few left to steer and
+navigate--proceeding to board as soon as their musketeers had silenced
+the enemy's fire. If victorious, they put their prisoners on shore,
+attended to the wounded, and took stock of the booty. A third part of
+the crew went on board the prize, and a prize captain was chosen by lot.
+No excuse was allowed; and if illness prevented the man elected taking
+the office, his _matelot_, or companion, took his place.
+
+On arriving at Tortuga, they paid a commission to the governor, and
+before dividing the spoil, rewarded the captain, the surgeons, and the
+wounded. The whole crew then threw into a common heap all they possessed
+above the value of five sous, and took an oath on the New Testament,
+holding up their right hands, that they had kept nothing back. Any one
+detected in perjury was marooned, and his share either given to the
+rest, to the heirs of the dead, or as a bequest to some chapel. The
+jewels and merchandise were sold, and they divided the produce.
+
+"It was impossible," says Oexmelin, "to put any obstacle in the way of
+men who, animated simply by the hope of gain, were capable of such
+great enterprises, having _nothing but life_ to lose and all to win. It
+is true that they would not have persisted long in their expeditions if
+they had had neither boats nor provisions. For ships they never wanted,
+because they were in the habit of going out in small canoes and
+capturing the largest and best provisioned vessels. For harbours they
+could never want, because everybody fled before them, and they had but
+to appear to be victorious." This intelligent and animated writer
+concludes his book by expressing an opinion that a firm and organized
+resistance by Spain at the outset might have stopped the subsequent
+mischief; but this opinion he afterwards qualifies in the following
+words, which, coming from such a writer so well acquainted with those of
+whom he writes, speaks volumes in favour of Buccaneer prowess: "Je dis
+_peut-etre_, car les aventuriers sont de terribles gens."
+
+Charlevoix describes the first Flibustiers as going out in canoes with
+twenty-five or thirty men, without pilot or provisions, to capture
+pearl-fishers and surprise small cruisers. If they succeeded, they went
+to Tortuga, bought a vessel, and started 150 strong, going to Cuba to
+take in salt turtle, or to Port Margot or Bayaha for dried pork or
+beef--dividing all upon the _compagnon a bon lot_ principle. They always
+said public prayer before starting on an expedition, and returned solemn
+thanks to God for victory.
+
+"They were," says a Jesuit writer, "at first so crowded in their boats
+that they had scarcely room to lie down; and, as they practised no
+economy in eating, they were always short of food. They were also night
+and day exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and yet loved so much
+the independence in which they lived, that no one murmured. Some sang
+when others wished to sleep, and all were by turns compelled to bear
+these inconveniences without complaint. But one may imagine men so
+little at their ease spared no pains to gain more comforts; that the
+sight of a larger and more convenient vessel gave them courage
+sufficient to capture it; and that hunger deprived them of all sense of
+the danger of procuring food. They attacked all they met without a
+thought, and boarded as soon as possible. A single volley would have
+sunk their vessels; but they were skilful in manoeuvre, their sailors
+were very active, and they presented to the enemy nothing but a prow
+full of fusiliers, who, firing through the portholes, struck the gunners
+with terror. Once on board, nothing could prevent them becoming masters
+of a ship, however numerous the crew. The Spaniards' blood grew cold
+when those whom they called, and looked upon as, demons came in sight,
+and they frequently surrendered at once in order to obtain quarter. If
+the prize was rich their lives were spared; but if the cargo proved
+poor, the Buccaneers often threw the crew into the sea in revenge."
+
+Their favourite coasts were the Caraccas, Carthagena, Nicaragua, and
+Campeachy, where the ports were numerous and well frequented. Their best
+harbours at the Caraccas were Cumana, Canagote, Coro, and Maracaibo; at
+Carthagena, La Rancheria, St. Martha, and Portobello. Round Cuba they
+watched for vessels going from New Spain to Maracaibo. If going, they
+found them laden with silver; if returning, full of cocoa. The prizes to
+the Caraccas were laden with the lace and manufactures of Spain; those
+from Havannah, with leather, Campeachy wood, cocoa, tobacco, and Spanish
+coin.
+
+The dress of the Buccaneer sailors must have varied with the changes of
+the age. Retaining their red shirts and leather sandals as the working
+dress of their brotherhood, we find them donning all the splendour
+rummaged from Spanish cabins, now wearing the plumed hat and laced
+sword-belt of Charles the Second's reign, and now the tufts of ribbons
+of the perfumed court of Louis Quatorze. Sprung from all nations and all
+ranks, some of them prided themselves upon the rough beard, bare feet,
+and belted shirt of the rudest seaman, while others, like Grammont and
+De Graff, flaunted in the richest costumes of their period. They must
+have passed from the long cloak and loose cassock of the Stuart reign to
+the jack-boots and Dutch dress of William of Orange; from the laced and
+flowing Steenkirk to the fringed cock-hat and deep-flapped waistcoat of
+Queen Anne. In the English translation of Esquemeling, Barthelemy
+Portugues, one of the earliest sea-rovers, is represented as having his
+long, lank hair parted in the centre and falling on his shoulders, and
+his moustachios long and rough. He wears a plain embroidered coat with a
+neck-band, and carries in his arms a short, broad sabre, unsheathed, as
+was the habit with many Buccaneer chiefs. Roche Braziliano appears in a
+plain hunter's shirt, the strings tying it at the neck being fastened in
+a bow. Lolonnois has the same shirt, showing at his neck and puffing
+through the openings of his sleeve, and he carries a naked broadsword
+with a shell guard. In the portrait of Sir Henry Morgan we see much more
+affectation of aristocratic dress. He has a rich coat of Charles the
+Second's period, a laced cravat tied in a fringed bow with long ends,
+and his broad sword-belt is stiff with gold lace. The hunter's shirt,
+however, still shows through the slashed sleeves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+PETER THE GREAT, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.
+
+    Plunder of Segovia--Pierre-le-Grand--Pierre Francois--Barthelemy
+    Portugues--His Escapes--Roche, the Brazilian--Fanatical hatred of
+    Spaniards--Wrecks and Adventures.
+
+
+The date of the first organized Buccaneer expedition is uncertain. We
+only know that about the year 1654, a large party of Buccaneers, French
+and English, joined in an expedition to the continent. They ascended, in
+canoes, a river on the Mosquito Shore, a small distance on the south
+side of Cape Gracias a Dios, and after labouring for a month against a
+strong stream, full of torrents, left their boats and marched to the
+town of Nueva Segovia, which they plundered, and then returned down the
+river.
+
+It is difficult to trace the exact beginning of the Flibustiers, or, as
+they were soon called, the Buccaneers. According to most writers, the
+first successful adventurer known at Tortuga was Pierre-le-Grand (Peter
+the Great). He was a native of Dieppe, and his greatest enterprise was
+the capture of the vice-admiral of the Spanish _flota_, while lying off
+Cape Tiburon, on the west side of Hispaniola. This he accomplished in a
+canoe with only twenty-eight companions. Setting out by the Carycos he
+surprised his unwieldy antagonist in the channel of Bahama, which the
+Spaniards had hitherto passed in perfect security. He had been now a
+long time at sea without obtaining any prize worth taking, his
+provisions were all but exhausted, and his men, in danger of starving,
+were almost reduced to despair. While hanging over the gunwale, listless
+and discontented, the Buccaneers suddenly spied a large vessel of the
+Spanish fleet, separated from the rest and fast approaching them. They
+instantly sailed towards her to ascertain her strength, and though they
+found it to be vastly superior to theirs, partly from despair and partly
+from cupidity they resolved at once to take it or die in the attempt. It
+was but to die a little quicker if they failed, and the blood in their
+veins might as well be shed in a moment as slowly stagnate with famine.
+If they did not conquer they would die, but if they did not attack, and
+escaped notice, they would also perish, and by the most painful and
+lingering of deaths. Being now come so near that flight was impossible,
+they took a solemn oath to their captain to stand by him to the last,
+and neither to flinch nor skulk, partly hoping that the enemy was
+insufficiently armed, and that they might still master her. It was in
+the dusk of the evening, and the coming darkness facilitated their
+boarding, and concealed the disadvantage of numbers. While they got
+their arms ready they ordered their chirurgeon to bore a hole in the
+sides of the boat, in order that the utter hopelessness of their
+situation might impel them to more daring self-devotion, that they
+might be forced to attack more vigorously and board more quickly. But
+their courage needed no such incitement. With no other arms than a sword
+in one hand and a pistol in the other, they immediately climbed up the
+sides of the Spaniard and made their way pell-mell to the state cabin.
+There they found the captain and his officers playing at cards. Setting
+a pistol to their breasts, they commanded them to deliver up the ship.
+The Spaniards, surprised to hear the Buccaneers below, not having seen
+them board, and seeing no boat by which they could have arrived (for the
+surgeon had now sunk it, and rejoined his friends through a porthole),
+cried out, in an agony of superstitious fear, "Jesu, bless us, these are
+devils!" thinking the men had fallen from the clouds, or had been shaken
+from some shooting star. In the mean time Peter's kinsfolk fought their
+way into the gunroom, seized the arms, killed a few sailors who snatched
+up swords, and drove the rest under hatches.
+
+That very morning some of the Spanish sailors had told their captain
+that a pirate boat was gaining upon them, but when he came up to see,
+and beheld so small a craft, he laughed at their fears of a mere cockle
+shell, and went down again, despising any vessel, though it were as big
+and strong as their own. Upon a second alarm, late in the day, when his
+lieutenant asked him if he should not get a cannon or two ready, he grew
+angry, and replied, "No, no, rig the crane out, and hoist the boat
+aboard." Peter, having taken this rich prize, detained as many of the
+Spanish seamen as he needed, and put the rest on shore in Hispaniola,
+which was close at hand. The vessel was full of provisions and great
+riches, and Pierre steered at once for France, never returning to resume
+a career so well begun.
+
+The news of this capture set Tortuga in an uproar. The planters and
+hunters of Hispaniola burned to follow up a profession so glorious and
+so profitable. It had been discovered now that a man's fortune could be
+made by one single scheme of daring and enterprise. Not being able to
+purchase or hire boats at Tortuga, they set forth in their canoes to
+seek them elsewhere. Some began cruising about Cape de Alvarez, carrying
+off small Spanish vessels that carried hides and tobacco to the
+Havannah. Returning with their prizes to Tortuga, they started again for
+Campeachy or New Spain, where they captured richer vessels of greater
+burden. In less than a month they had brought into harbour two plate
+vessels, bound from Campeachy to the Caraccas, and two other ships of
+great size. In two years no less than twenty Buccaneer vessels were
+equipped at Tortuga, and the Spaniards, finding their losses increase
+and transport becoming precarious, despatched two large men-of-war to
+defend the coast.
+
+The next scourge of the Spaniard in these seas was Pierre Francois, a
+native of Dunkirk, whose combinative, far-seeing genius and dauntless
+heart soon raised him above the level of the mere footpads of the ocean.
+His little brigantine, with a picked crew of twenty-six men--hunters by
+sea and land--cruised generally about the Cape de la Vela, waiting for
+merchant ships on their way from Maracaibo to Campeachy. Pierre had now
+been a long time afloat and taken no prize, the usual prelude to great
+enterprises amongst these men, who defied all dangers and all enemies.
+The provisions were running short, the boat was leaky, the captain moody
+and silent, and the crew half mutinous. To return empty-handed to
+Tortuga was to be a butt for every sneerer, a victim to unrelenting
+creditors; to the men beggary, to Pierre a loss of fame and all future
+promotion. But, there being a perfect equality in these boats, the crews
+seldom rose in open rebellion; and as every one had a voice in the
+proposal of a scheme, there was no one to rail at if the scheme failed.
+At last, amid this suspense, more tedious than a tropic calm, one more
+daring or more far-seeing than the rest stood up and suggested a visit
+to the pearl-fishings at the Riviere de la Hache. History, always drowsy
+at critical periods, does not say if Francois was the proposer of this
+scheme or not. We may be sure he was a sturdy seconder, and that the
+plan was carried amid wild cheering and waving of hats and guns and
+swords enough to scare the sharks floating hungrily round the boat, and
+frighten the glittering flying-fish back into the sea. These Rancheria
+fishings were at a rich bank of pearl to which the people of Carthagena
+sent annually twelve vessels, with a man-of-war convoy, generally a
+Spanish armadilla with a crew of 200 men, and carrying twenty-four
+pieces of cannon. Every vessel had two or three Negro slaves on board,
+who dived for the pearls. These men seldom lived long, and were
+frequently ruptured by the exertion of holding breath a quarter of an
+hour below the waves. The time for diving was from October till May,
+when the north winds were lulled and the sea calm.
+
+The large vessel was called the _Capitana_, and to this the proceeds of
+the day were brought every night, to prevent any risk of fraud or theft.
+Rather than return unsuccessful, Pierre resolved to swoop down upon this
+guarded covey, and carry off the ship of war in the sight of all the
+fleet; a feat as dangerous as the abduction of an Irish heiress on the
+brink of marriage. He found the fishing boats riding at anchor at the
+mouth of the River de la Hache, and the man-of-war scarcely half a
+league distant. In the morning he approached them, and they, seeing him
+hovering at a distance like a kite above a farmyard, ran under shelter
+of their guardian's guns, like chickens under the hen's wing. Keeping
+still at a distance, they supposed he was afraid to approach, and soon
+allowed their fears to subside. The captain of the armadilla, however,
+took the precaution of sending three armed men on board each boat,
+believing the pearls the object of the Buccaneer, and left his own
+vessel almost defenceless. The hour had come. Furling his sails, Pierre
+rowed along the coast, feigning himself a Spanish vessel from Maracaibo,
+and when near the pearl bank, suddenly attacked the vice-admiral with
+eight guns and sixty men, and commanded him to surrender. The Spaniards,
+although surprised, made a good defence, but at last surrendered after
+half an-hour's hand-to-hand fight, before the almost unmanned armadilla
+could approach to render assistance. Pierre now sank his own boat, which
+had only been kept afloat by incessant working at the pumps. Many men
+would have rested satisfied with such a prize, but Pierre knew no Capua,
+and "thought naught done while aught remained to do." He at once
+resolved, by a stratagem, to capture the armadilla, and then the whole
+fleet would be his own. The night being very dark, and the wind high and
+favourable, he weighed anchor, forcing the prisoners to help his own
+crew. The man-of-war, seeing one of its fleet sailing, followed, fearing
+that the sailors were absconding with the pearls. As soon as it
+approached, Pierre made all the Spaniards, on pain of instant death,
+shout out "_Victoria, victoria!_ we have taken the ladrones," upon which
+the man-of-war drew off, promising to send for the prisoners in the
+morning. Laughing in his sleeve, Pierre gave orders for hoisting all
+sail, and stood away for the open sea, putting forth all his strength to
+get out of sight by daybreak. But the blood of the murdered Spaniards,
+yet hot upon the deck, was crying to heaven against him, and he was
+pursued. He had not got a league before the wind fell, and his ship lay
+like a log on the water, just within sight of his pursuers, who kept a
+long way off, burning with impatience and shame, and fretting like
+hounds in leash when the boar breaks out. About evening the wind rose,
+after much invocatory whistling, many prayers, many curses. Pierre,
+ignorant of the power of his prize, and what canvas she could bear,
+hoisted at random every stitch of sail and ran for his life, pursued by
+the armadilla, wrathful, white-winged, and swift. Like many a fleet
+runner, Pierre stumbled in his very eagerness for speed. He overloaded
+his vessel with sail. The wind grew higher, and howled like an avenging
+spirit, and his mainmast fell with the crash of a thunder-split oak. But
+Pierre held firm; he threw his prisoners into the hold, nailed down the
+hatches, and, trusting to night to escape, stood boldly at bay. He
+despaired of meeting force by force, having only twenty-two sound men,
+the rest being, before long, either killed or wounded. All in vain; the
+great bird of prey bore down upon him like a hawk upon a throstle,
+gaining, gaining every moment. Pierre defended himself courageously, and
+at last surrendered on condition. The Spanish captain agreed that the
+Buccaneers should not be employed in carrying, building-stones for three
+or four years like mere negroes, but should be set safe on dry land. As
+yet, the deep animosity of the two races had not sprung up. The prize
+they so nearly bore off contained above 100,000 pieces of eight in
+pearls, besides provisions and goods. At first the captain would have
+put them all to the sword, but his crew persuaded him to keep his word.
+The Frenchmen were then thrust down with curses into the same dark hold
+from whence the imprisoned Spaniards were now released; so "the
+whirligig of time brings about its revenge." When the crestfallen
+Buccaneers were brought before the governor of Carthagena, an outcry
+arose among the populace that the robbers should all be hung, to atone
+for an alfarez whom they had killed, and who, they said, was worth the
+whole French nation put together. The governor, however, though he did
+not put them to death, ungenerously broke the terms of his agreement,
+and compelled his prisoners to work at the fortifications of St.
+Francisco, in his own island. After about three years of this painful
+slavery, amid the jeers and contumely of the very negroes, they were
+sent to Spain, and from thence escaping one by one to France, made their
+way back to the Spanish main, more eager than ever to revenge their
+wrongs at the hands of a nation whose riches furnished a ready means of
+expiation, and whose cowardice rendered them incapable of frequent
+retaliation.
+
+The third hero on our stage, equally bold and no less memorable, was
+Barthelemy Portugues, a native of Portugal, as his name implied.
+
+Roused by the rumours of adventures which insured gold and glory,
+Barthelemy (no saint, and certainly more ready to flay others than to
+submit to flaying) sought out a small vessel at Jamaica, and fitted it
+up at his own expense. As only his most remarkable enterprises are
+recorded it is probable, from his having money, that he was already
+known as a successful Flibustier. This boat he armed with four
+three-pounders, and embarked with a crew of thirty men. Leaving Kingston
+with a good wind at his back, he set sail to cruise off Cape de
+Corriente, which he knew was the high road where he should meet vessels
+coming from the Caraccas or Carthagena, on their way to Campeachy, New
+Spain, or the Havannah. He had not been long beating about the Cape--a
+point rounded with as much care by a Spanish merchantman, afraid of
+Buccaneers, as Cape St. Vincent was by the European captain, dreading
+the Salee rovers--before a great vessel, bound from Maracaibo and
+Carthagena to the Havannah, hove in sight. It had a crew of seventy men,
+and carried twenty guns, and many passengers and marines. The
+Flibustiers, thinking a Spaniard so well armed and manned to be more
+than their match, held one of their republican councils round the mast,
+and refused to attack unless the captain wished. He decided that no
+opportunity should be lost, for that nothing in any part of the world
+could be won without risk. They instantly gave chase to the vessel that
+quietly awaited their approach, as astonished at the attack as a swallow
+would be if it were pursued by a gnat. Receiving one flaming broadside,
+noisy but harmless, the half-stripped rovers instantly threw themselves
+on board, but were repulsed by the Spaniards, who were numerous,
+hopeful, and brave. Returning to their vessel and throwing down their
+cutlass for the musket, they kept up a close fire of small arms for five
+hours without ceasing. Every gunner and every reefer was picked off, the
+decks were red, the return fire grew slack as the defence grew weaker,
+and the foe's proud courage cooled; the Buccaneers again threw
+themselves on board, and made themselves masters of the ship, with the
+loss of only ten men and four wounded. They had now only fifteen men
+left to navigate a vessel containing nearly forty prisoners. This number
+was all that were left alive, and of these many were maimed with shot
+wounds or gashed with sword cuts. The conquerors' first act was to throw
+the dead overboard, officer and sailor, just as they fell, stripping off
+the jewels and ransacking pockets for the dead men's doubloons. The
+living Spaniards, wounded and dying, they drove into one small boat, and
+gave them their liberty, afraid to keep them as prisoners and unwilling
+to shed their blood. They then set to work to splice the rigging and
+piece the sails, and lastly, to rummage for the plunder. They found the
+value of their prize to be 75,000 crowns, besides 120,000 pounds of
+cocoa, worth about 5000 additional. Having refitted the shattered
+vessel, they would have sailed round the island of Jamaica, but a
+contrary wind and current obliged them to steer to Cape St. Anthony, the
+west extremity of Cuba, where they landed and took in water, of which
+they were in great want.
+
+They had scarcely hoisted sail to resume their course, probably
+intending to return to port to sell their spoil before starting afresh,
+when they unexpectedly fell upon three large vessels coming from New
+Spain to the Havannah, who gave chase, as certain of victory as three
+greyhounds bounding after a single hare. The Flibustiers, heavy laden
+with plunder, and unable to make way, were almost instantly retaken,
+falling as easy a prey as a gorged wolf does to the hunter. In a few
+hours the Buccaneers were under hatches, stripped of even their very
+clothes, and counting the moments before execution--the Puritan doling
+out his hymns, the Catholic muttering his Miserere, and the rude
+Cow-killer vowing vengeance if he could but escape. Two evenings after a
+storm arose and separated the leash of armed merchantmen.
+
+The vessel containing the luckless Portugues arrived first at St.
+Francisco, Campeachy. Barthelemy, who spoke Spanish, had been well
+treated by the captain, who did not know what a prize he had taken. The
+news of the capture soon ran through the town, the captain became a
+public man, the bells rang, the people flocked to see the caged lions,
+and the principal merchants of the place crowded to congratulate him on
+his success. Among the curious and timid visitors was one who
+recognised Barthelemy, in spite of all his oaths and denials, and
+demanded his surrender. No hate can match the hate of injured avarice
+and frustrated cupidity. "This is Barthelemy the Portuguese," he told
+every one, "the most wicked rascal in the world, and who has done more
+harm to Spanish commerce than all the other pirates put together." He
+ran everywhere and declared they had at last got hold of the man so
+famous for the many insolences, robberies, and murders he had committed
+on their coast, and by whose cruel hands many of their kinsmen had
+perished. The captain, rather distrustful--somewhat favourable to
+Barthelemy, perhaps, considering him as a brother seaman, worth any ten
+land-lubbers, and annoyed at the arrogance of the merchant's
+demand--refused to surrender the Portuguese, or to send him on shore.
+The enraged merchant upon this proceeded to the governor, who, listening
+to his complaint, sent to demand the Buccaneers in the king's name. He
+was instantly arrested, spite of the captain's entreaties, and placed
+on board another vessel, heavily ironed, for fear he should escape, as
+he had done on a former occasion. A gibbet was erected, and the next day
+it was resolved to lead him at once from his cabin to the place of
+execution, without the hypocritical and useless ceremony of even a
+prejudged trial. For some time Portugues remained uncertain of his fate,
+till a Spanish sailor (for he seems to have had the power of winning
+friends) told him that the gibbet was already putting together, and the
+rope was ready noosed. In that delay was his safety; that very night he
+resolved to escape, or perish by a quicker or less disgraceful death. No
+doubt, with that strange mixture of religion remaining in the minds of
+most Buccaneers, he prayed to God or the saints to aid him.
+
+He soon freed himself from his irons. Discovering in his cabin two of
+those large earthen jars in which wine was brought from Spain to the
+Indies, he closed over the orifices, and hung them to his side with
+cords, being probably unable to swim, and the distance too far to the
+shore. Finding that he could not elude the vigilance of the sleepless
+sentinel that paced at his door, he stabbed him with a knife he had
+secretly purchased, and let himself noiselessly down, from the
+mainchains into the water, floating to land without the splash that a
+swimmer would have made in still water. Once on land he concealed
+himself in a wood, prepared to bear any danger, and glad at heart to
+endure starvation rather than suffer a public and shameful death. He was
+too cunning to set off at once on a route that would be explored, but
+hid himself among trees half covered with water, in order to prevent the
+possibility of his being tracked by the maroon bloodhounds--a common
+stratagem with the moss-troopers, who found the sound of running water
+drown the noise of their movements and the murmur of their breathing,
+and destroy all traces of their track. Bruce and Wallace had long before
+escaped by the artifice that now saved a robber and a murderer. His must
+have been anxious nights, varied by the shouts of negroes, the deep bay
+of the dogs, the oaths of the Spaniards, the discharge of fire-arms, the
+toll of the alarm bell, the glare of beacons; and the flash of torches.
+For these three days he lived on yams and other roots growing around
+him. From a tree in which he sometimes harboured he had the satisfaction
+of seeing his pursuers search the wood in vain, and finally relinquish
+the pursuit.
+
+Believing that the danger had now in some degree decreased, the
+lion-hearted sailor determined to push for the Golpho Triste, forty
+leagues distant, where he hoped to find a Buccaneer ship careening. He
+arrived there after fourteen days of incredible endurance. He started in
+the evening from the seashore, within sight of the lit-up town where a
+black gibbet was still standing bodingly against the sky. His forced
+marches were full of terrible dangers and perils. He had no provisions
+with him, and nothing but a small calabash of water hung at his side.
+Hunger and thirst strode beside him, the wild beast glared in his path,
+the Spanish voices seemed to pursue him. His subsistence was the raw
+shell-fish that he found washed among the rocks upon the shore, fresh or
+putrid he had no time to consider. He had streams to ford, dark with
+caymans, and he had to traverse woods where the jaguars howled. Whenever
+he came to a stream unusually dark, deep, and dangerous, and where no
+ford was visible (for he could not swim), he threw in large stones as he
+waded to scare away the crocodiles that lurked round the shallows. In
+one spot he travelled five or six leagues swinging like a sloth from
+bough to bough of a pathless wood of mangroves, never once setting foot
+upon the ground. His day's progress was often scarcely perceptible. At
+one river more than usually deep he found an old plank, which had
+drifted ashore when the seaman was washed off, and from this he obtained
+some large rusty nails. Extracting these nails, he sharpened them on a
+stone with great labour, and used them to cut down some branches of
+trees, which he joined together with osiers and pliable twigs, and
+slowly constructed a raft. Hunger, thirst, heat, and fear beset him
+round; and the voice of the sea, always on his right hand, came to him
+like the hungry howl of death. In these fourteen nights he must have
+literally tasted death, and anticipated the horrors of hell.
+
+"Fortune favors the brave." He found a Buccaneer vessel in the gulf, and
+he was saved. The crew were old companions of his, newly arrived from
+Jamaica and from England. He related to them his adversities and his
+misfortunes. All listened eagerly to adventures that might to-morrow be
+their own. He thought alone of revenge, and told them that if they chose
+he would give them a ship worth a whole fleet of their canoes. He
+desired their help. He only asked for one boat and thirty men. With
+these he promised to return to Campeachy and capture the vessel that had
+taken him but fourteen days before. They soon granted his request, the
+boat was at once equipped, and he sailed along the coast, passing for a
+smuggler bringing contraband goods. In eight days he arrived at
+Campeachy, undauntedly and without noise boarding the vessel at
+midnight. They were challenged by the sentinel. Barthelemy, who spoke
+good Spanish, replied, in a low voice, "We are part of the crew
+returning with goods from land, on which no duty has been paid." The
+sentinel, hoping for a share, or at least some hush-money, did not
+repeat the question. Allowing him no time to detect the trick, they
+stabbed him, and, rushing forward, overpowered the watch. Cutting the
+cable, they surprised the sleepers in their cabins, and, weighing
+anchor, soon compelled the Spaniards, by a resolute attack, to
+surrender; and, setting sail from the port, rejoined their exulting
+comrades, unpursued by any vessel. Great was the joy of the adventurers
+in becoming possessors of so brave a ship. Portugues was now again rich
+and powerful, though but lately a condemned prisoner in the very vessel
+upon whose deck he now stood the lord of all. With this cargo of rich
+merchandise Barthelemy intended to achieve enterprises, for though the
+Spaniards' plate had been all disembarked at Campeachy, the booty was
+still large. But let no hunter halloo till he is out of the wood, and
+no sailor laugh till he gets into port. While he was making his voyage
+to Jamaica, and already counting his profits as certain, a terrible
+storm arose off the isle of Pinos, on the south of Cuba, which drove his
+prize against the Jardine rocks, where she went to pieces. Portugues and
+his companions escaped in a canoe to Jamaica, and before long started on
+new adventures. What eventually became of him we know not, but we are
+told that "he was never fortunate after." Whether he swung on the
+Campeachy gibbet after all, became a prey to the Darien man-eater, was
+pierced by the Greek bullet, or was devoured by the sea, long expecting
+its victim, we shall never know. He sails away from Kingston with
+colours flying, and wanders away into unknown deeps.
+
+Of this wild man's end nothing was ever known. He was living at Jamaica
+when Esquemeling left for England. His bones, perhaps, still whiten on
+some Indian bay, with the sea moaning around that nameless dust for
+ever--doomed to destroy man, but lamenting the very desolation it
+occasions.
+
+This Roche Braziliano (or Roc, the Brazilian, as the English adventurers
+called him,) was born at Groninghen, in East Friezeland; and his own
+name being forgotten, he was called the Brazilian, because his parents
+had been Dutch settlers in the Brazils. Roche was taught the Indian and
+Portuguese languages at an early age, and, when the latter nation retook
+the Brazils, removed with his parents to the French Antilles, where he
+learned French. Disliking the nation, he passed into Jamaica. Here he
+learned to speak English, and, settling among our more congenial race,
+became attached to the country of his adoption. But he had lingered too
+long in the desert to have much taste for even Goshen. He had already
+acquired the Arab's love for wandering, and poverty combined to lead him
+into an adventurer's ship. Into this mode of life all restless talent
+and love of enterprise was now driven.
+
+After only three voyages, Roche became commander of a brig whose crew
+had mutinied from their captain and offered him the command. In a few
+days, this almost untried man had the good fortune to capture a large
+vessel coming from New Spain with a great quantity of plate on board. On
+his arrival in Jamaica, Roc became at once the acknowledged leader of
+all the Vikinger of the Spanish main--their first sailor, their hero,
+and their model. He soon grew so terrible that the Spanish mothers used
+his name as a hushword to their children.
+
+Roc is described as having a stalwart and vigorous body. He was of
+ordinary height, but stout and muscular. His face was wide and short,
+his cheek-bones prominent, and his eyebrows bushy and of unusual size.
+He was skilful in the use of all Indian and Catholic (Spanish) arms, a
+good hunter, a good fisherman, and a good shot--as skilful a pilot as he
+was a brave soldier. He generally carried a naked sabre resting on his
+arm, and made no scruple of cutting down any of his crew who were idle,
+mutinous, or cowardly. He was much dreaded even in Jamaica, and
+particularly when drunk, says his candid biographer. At those times he
+would frequently run a-muck through the streets, beating and wounding
+any one he met, especially if they dared to oppose or resist him. In his
+sober moments he was esteemed and feared, but he too often abandoned
+himself to every sort of debauchery.
+
+In Roc we see the first indication of a new phase of Buccaneering
+life--_a fanatical hatred of the Spaniard_. The sailor, at first a mere
+privateersman at sea, and a hunter on shore, was now a legal robber,
+with a spice of the crusader: a chivalrous Vendetta feeling had become
+superadded to the mere love of booty. A thirst for gold had proved
+irresistible: what would it be now when it became heightened by a thirst
+for blood?
+
+To the Spaniards Roc was always very barbarous and cruel, out of an
+inveterate hatred to that nation. He seldom gave them quarter, and
+treated them with untiring ferocity. He taxed his invention for new
+modes of torture, revenging upon them by a rather indirect mode of
+retaliation the wrongs inflicted upon his parents by the Portuguese. He
+is said to have even roasted alive some of his prisoners on wooden
+spits, like boucaned boars, because they refused to disclose the
+hog-yards where he might victual his ships. By the Spaniards he was
+reported to be really an apostate outlaw of their own nation, this being
+the only way in which they could account for his needless and useless
+cruelties.
+
+On one occasion, as he was cruising on the coast of Campeachy, a dismal
+tempest, says the chronicler, "surprised him so violently" that his ship
+was wrecked, himself and his crew only escaping with their muskets, a
+little powder, and a few bullets, much more useful, however, than gold
+on such a coast. They reached shore not far from Golpho Triste, the
+scene of Barthelemy's escape. Roc was not the man to be cast down by an
+accident no more regarded by true adventurers than the upsetting of a
+coach by an ordinary traveller. Getting ashore in a canoe, he determined
+to march quickly along the coast, and repair to the gulf, a well-known
+haunt of the members of their craft. Roc bade his men be of good heart,
+and he would bring them safe out of every danger, and, giving them hope,
+the promise was already half accomplished. Getting on the main road,
+they proceeded on their march through a hostile country, with the air of
+men who had conquered the whole Indies. They had already reached a
+desert track, and were grown fatigued, hungry, and thirsty, when some
+Indians gave the alarm, and the Spaniards were soon down upon them, to
+the number of one hundred well-armed and well-mounted horsemen, while
+the Buccaneers were but thirty men.
+
+As soon as Roc saw the enemy, the Brazilian cried out, "Courage, _mes
+freres_, we are hungry now, but, Caramba, you shall soon have a dinner
+if you follow me," and then, perceiving the imminent danger, he
+encouraged his men, telling them they were better soldiers than the
+Spaniards, and that they ought rather to die fighting under their arms
+as became men of courage, than to surrender, and have their lives
+pressed out by the extremest torments. Seeing their commander's
+courage, the wrecked men resolved to attack, instead of waiting tamely
+for the enemy's approach, and, facing the Spaniards, they at once
+discharged their guns so dexterously, that they killed a horseman with
+almost every shot. After an hour's hot fighting, the Spaniards fled. The
+adventurers lost only two men, two more being lamed. Stripping the dead,
+they took from them every valuable, and despatched the wounded with the
+butt-end of their muskets. They then feasted on the wine and brandy they
+found in their knapsacks, or at their saddle bows, and declared
+themselves ready to attack as many again; and having finished their
+meal, they mounted on the stray horses, and proceeded on their march.
+
+The victors had not gone more than two days' journey before they caught
+sight of a well-manned Spanish vessel, lying off the shore beneath. It
+had come to protect the boats which landed the men who cut the Campeachy
+dyewood. Roc saw that the poultry-yard knew nothing of the kite that was
+hovering near. He instantly concealed his band, and went with six
+comerades into a thicket near the beach to watch. Here they passed the
+night. At daybreak the Spaniards, pulling to shore in their canoe, were
+received in a courteous but unexpected manner by the Buccaneers. Roc
+instantly summoned his men, boarded and took the vessel. The little
+man-of-war contained little plate, but, what was of equal use, two
+hundred weight of salt, with which he salted down a few of the horses
+which he killed. The remaining horses he gave to his Spanish prisoners,
+telling them laughingly, that the beasts were worth more than the
+vessel, and that once on their backs on dry land no rascal need fear
+drowning.
+
+A Buccaneer's first thought on obtaining one prize was to gain another
+as soon as possible. Roc had still twenty-six man by him, and a good
+vessel to move in. He soon took a ship, bound to Maracaibo from New
+Spain, laden with merchandise and money designed to buy a cargo of
+cocoa-nuts. With this they repaired to Jamaica, letting the vessel
+scorch in harbour till their money was all gone. Having spent all,
+Braziliano put out to sea again, impatient of poverty and resolved to
+trust to fortune, for he was her favourite child. He sailed for the
+rendezvous at Campeachy, and after fifteen days started in a canoe to
+hover round the port, beating about like a hawk in search of prey.
+
+He was soon after captured and taken with his men before a Spanish
+governor, who cast them into a dungeon, intending to hang them every
+one. But fortune only hid her smiles for a moment, and had not deserted
+him. Roc, as subtle as he was intrepid, had not yet exhausted his wiles.
+He was at bay and the dogs were gathered round, but they had not yet got
+him by the throat. He made friends with the slave who brought him food,
+and promised to give him money to buy his freedom if he would aid his
+scheme. He did not wish to compromise the slave: he only wished him to
+be the bearer of a letter to the governor. The slave told the governor
+that he had been put on shore in the bay by some Buccaneers and had been
+ordered to deliver the letter. The letter was an angry threat, supposed
+to be indited by the captain of a French vessel lying in the offing. It
+advised the governor "to have a care how he used those persons he had in
+his custody, for in case he should do them any harm, they did swear unto
+him, they would never give quarter unto any person of the Spanish nation
+that should fall into their hands." The governor, lifting up his eyes
+and twisting his moustachios at the threat, was intimidated, and became
+anxious to get rid as soon as possible of such dangerous prisoners, for
+Campeachy had already been taken once by the adventurers, and he feared
+what mischief the companions who visited Spanish towns might do. He
+began now to treat his prisoners with greater kindness, and on the first
+opportunity sent for them, and, exacting a simple oath that they would
+abandon piracy, shipped them on board the galleon fleet bound for Spain.
+Roc, with his usual versatility, soon made himself so much beloved that
+the Spanish captain offered to take him as a sailor, and he accepted the
+offer. During this single voyage to Spain he made a sum of no less than
+500 crowns by selling the officers fish that he struck in the Indian
+manner with arrows and harpoons from the main-chains. His comerades,
+whom he never forgot, were treated with consideration on his account.
+
+On his arrival in Spain, Roc, in spite of his oath, which had been
+exacted by fear of death, and therefore absolvable by any priest, lost
+no time in getting back to Jamaica, where he arrived without a vessel to
+call his own, but in other respects in better circumstances than when he
+left. He joined himself at once to two French adventurers.
+
+The chief of these, named Tributor, was an old Buccaneer of great
+experience. They determined to land upon the peninsula of Yucatan, in
+hopes of taking the town of Merida. Roc, who had been there before as a
+prisoner, and had doubtless proposed the scheme, served as guide, but
+some Indians got upon their trail and alarmed the Spaniards, who
+fortified the place and prepared for an attack. On the Buccaneers'
+arrival they found the town well garrisoned and defended, and while
+they were still debating whether to advance or retreat, the question was
+abruptly decided for them by a body of the enemy's horsemen who fell
+upon their rear, cut half of them to pieces, and made the rest
+prisoners. The wily Roc, never taken much by surprise, contrived to
+escape, but old Tributor and his men were all captured. Oexmelin
+expresses his wonder at Roc's escape, because he had always held it vile
+cowardliness to allow another man to strike before himself. "Hitherto he
+had been the last to yield, even when he was overborne by enemies, and
+had been heard to say that he preferred death to dishonour." _Nemo
+mortalium_, &c.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.
+
+    Lolonnois--His stratagem--His cruelty--His partner, Michael le
+    Basque--Takes Maracaibo--Tortures the citizens--Sacks the
+    town--Takes Gibraltar--Attempt on Merida--Famine and
+    pestilence--Division of spoil--Takes St. Pedro--Burns
+    Veragua--Wrecked in Honduras--Attacked by Indians--Killed and eaten
+    by the savages.
+
+
+The Spanish ships now decreased in number, merchants relinquishing a
+trade so uncertain and perilous. The consequence of this was that the
+Buccaneers, finding their sea cruises grow less profitable, began to
+venture upon the mainland, and attack towns and even cities.
+
+The first Buccaneer who distinguished himself in this wider field of
+action was Francis Lolonnois. He was born among the sands of Olonne, in
+Poictou, and drew his _nom de guerre_ from that wild and fitting
+birthplace. He quitted France in early life, and embarked at Rochelle as
+an _engage_ for the Caribbean Islands, where he served the customary
+slavery of three years. Having heard much during this servitude of the
+hunters of Hispaniola, he sailed for that island as soon as his
+apprenticeship had expired, and he was again a free adventurer. He first
+bound himself as a valet to a hunter, and finally became himself a
+Buccaneer, having now passed through all the usual experiences of a
+young West Indian colonist. Spending some time upon the savannahs, he
+became restless and tired of shore, and desirous of enlisting as a
+freebooter under the red flag. Repairing to Tortuga, the head-quarters
+of Flibustier enterprise, he enrolled himself among the rovers of the
+sea, with whom he made many voyages as simple mariner or companion. From
+the first day he trod plank he is said to have shown himself destined
+to attain high distinction, surpassing all the "Brothers" in adroitness,
+agility, and daring.
+
+In these floating republics talent soon rose to the surface. Lolonnois
+was elected master of a vessel, with which he took many prizes, but at
+last lost everything by a storm which wrecked his ship, drowned his men,
+sank his cargo, and cast him bleeding and naked upon a savage shore. His
+courage and conduct, however, had won the admiration of the Governor of
+Tortuga, M. de la Place, whose island he had enriched by the frequent
+sale of prizes, and who launched him again in a new ship to encounter
+once more all the fury of the sea, the hurricane, and the Spaniard.
+Fortune was at first favourable to him, and he acquired great riches.
+His name became so dreaded by the Indians and the Spaniards that they
+chose rather to die or drown than surrender to one who never knew the
+word mercy. He never learned how to chain fortune to his mast, and was
+soon a second time wrecked at Campeachy. The men were all saved, but on
+reaching land were pursued and killed by the Spaniards. Lolonnois,
+himself severely wounded, saved his life by a stratagem. Mixing the sand
+of the shore with the blood flowing from his wounds, he smeared his face
+and body, and hid himself dexterously under a heap of dead, remaining
+there till the Spaniards had carried off one or two of his less severely
+wounded companions into Campeachy. As soon as they were gone he arose
+with a grim smile from his lurking place among the slain, and betook
+himself to the woods. He then washed his now stiffened wounds in a
+river, and bound up his gashes as he could. As soon as they were healed
+(the flesh of these men soon healed), he put on the dress of a slain
+Spaniard, and made his way boldly into the neighbouring city. In the
+suburbs he entered into conversation with some slaves he met, whom he
+bribed by an offer of freedom if they would obey him and follow his
+guidance.
+
+They listened to his proposal, and, stealing their master's canoe,
+brought it to the sea-shore, where Lolonnois lay concealed. But before
+this the disguised Buccaneer had gone rambling fearlessly through the
+enemy's town, witnessing the rejoicings made at his own supposed death;
+for his companions, who were kept close prisoners in a dungeon, had been
+asked what had become of their captain, to which they had always replied
+that he was dead, upon which the Spaniards lit up bonfires in their open
+squares, thanking God for their deliverance from so cruel a pirate.
+
+The flames of these fires were red upon the bay when Lolonnois and the
+slaves pushed off their canoe and made haste to escape. They reached
+Tortuga in safety, and Lolonnois kept his promise, and set the slaves at
+liberty--although, if he had been base and worthless enough, he could
+have refitted his boat with the profits of their sale. He now thought
+only of revenging himself on the Spaniards for their cruelty in
+murdering the survivors of a wreck. He spent whole days in considering
+how he could capture a vessel and restore himself to his former
+reputation for skill and fortune. By some extraordinary plan,
+Esquemeling--who writes always with affected horror of the men amongst
+whom he lived--says, with "craft and subtlety," he soon obtained a third
+ship, with a crew of twenty-one men and a surgeon. Being well provided
+with arms and necessaries--how provided by a penniless man it is
+impossible to guess--he resolved to visit De Los Cayos, a village on the
+south side of Cuba, where he knew vessels from the Havannah passed to
+the port of Boca de Estera, where they purchase tobacco, sugar, and
+hides, coming generally in small boats, for the sea ran very shallow. At
+this place meat was also obtained to victual the Spanish fleets.
+
+Here Lolonnois was very sanguine of booty, but some fishermen's boats,
+observing him, alarmed the town. One of these canoes they captured, and,
+placing in it a crew of eleven men, proceeded to coast about the Bayes
+du Nord. The Buccaneers kept at some distance from each other, in hopes
+of sooner surrounding their prey, for each of their crews was strong
+enough to capture any merchant vessel that had not more than fifteen or
+sixteen unarmed men on board. They remained some months beating off and
+on Cuba, but caught nothing, although this was the very height of the
+commercial season. After a long delay of wonder and vexation, they
+learned the cause of their failure from the crew of a fishing-boat which
+they captured, who told them that the people of Cayos would not venture
+to sea because they knew that they were there. It would be dangerous for
+them to remain, they added, for the chief merchants of the port had
+instantly despatched a "vessel overland" to the Governor of Havannah,
+telling him that Lolonnois had come in two canoes to destroy them, and
+begging him to send and destroy the "ladrones." The governor could with
+difficulty at first be persuaded to listen to the petition, because he
+had just received letters from Campeachy bidding him rejoice at the
+death of that pirate; but, aroused by the continued importunities of his
+angry petitioners, he at last sent a ship to their relief.
+
+This ship carried ten guns, and had a crew of ninety young, vigorous,
+and well-armed men, to whom he gave at parting an express command that
+they should not return into his presence without having first destroyed
+those pirates. He sent with them a negro hangman, desiring him to kill
+on the spot all they should take, except Lolonnois, the captain, who was
+to be brought alive in triumph to the Havannah. The ship had scarcely
+arrived at Cayos when the pirate, advertised of its approach, came to
+seek it at its moorings in the river Estera. Lolonnois cried out, when
+he saw it loom in the distance, "Courage, mes camarades! courage, mes
+bons freres! we shall soon be well mounted." Capturing some fishermen
+busy with their nets, he forced them at night to show him the entrance
+of the port.
+
+Rowing very quietly in the shadow of the trees that bordered the river's
+banks and hid their approach, they arrived under the vessel's side a
+little after two o'clock in the morning--not long before daybreak. The
+watch on board the ship hailed them, and asked them whence they came and
+if they had seen any pirates? They made one of the fishermen who guided
+them reply in Spanish that they had seen no pirates or anything else;
+and this made the Spaniards believe that Lolonnois had fled at their
+approach. The Buccaneers instantly began to open fire on both sides from
+their canoes. The Spaniards, who kept good guard, returned the fire, but
+without much effect, for their enemies lay down flat in their boats, and
+the trees served them as gabions. The Spaniards fought bravely, in spite
+of the suddenness and vigour of the attack, and made some use of their
+great guns. The combat lasted from dawn till midday, the crew of the
+vessel discharging ineffectual volleys of musketry, which seldom injured
+the assailants, whose bullets, on the other hand, killed or wounded
+every moment some of the Havannah youth. When the firing began to
+slacken, Lolonnois pulled his canoes out into the stream, and boarded
+the vessel, which almost instantly surrendered.
+
+Those who survived were beaten down under the hatches, while the wounded
+on the decks received the _coup de grace_. When this had been done,
+Lolonnois commanded his men to bring up the prisoners one by one from
+the hold, cutting off their heads as they came up with his own hand, and
+tasting their blood. The negro hangman, seeing the fate of his
+predecessors, threw himself passionately at the feet of the Buccaneer
+chief, and exclaimed in Spanish, "If you will not kill me I will tell
+you the truth." Lolonnois, supposing he had some secret to tell, bade
+him speak on. But he refused to open his lips further till life were
+promised him; upon the promise being made, the trembling wretch
+exclaimed, "Senor capitan, Monsieur, the governor of the Havannah, not
+doubting but that this well-armed frigate would have taken the strongest
+of your vessels, sent me on board to serve as executioner, and to hang
+all the prisoners that his men took, in order to intimidate your nation,
+so that they should not dare ever to approach a Spanish vessel."
+Esquemeling, who always exaggerates the cruelty of his quondam
+companions, says, Lolonnois, making the black confess what he thought
+fit, commanded him to be murdered with the rest; but Oexmelin gives a
+more probable version. At the negro's mention of his being a hangman he
+grew furious, and but for his words, "I give thee quarter and even
+liberty because I promised it thee," would certainly have put him to
+death. He then slew all the rest of the crew but one man, whom he spared
+in order to send him back with a letter to the governor of the Havannah.
+The letter ran thus: "I have returned your kindness by doing to your men
+what they designed to do to me and my companions. I shall never
+henceforward give quarter to any Spaniard whatsoever, and I have great
+hopes of executing upon your own person the very same punishment I have
+done upon those you sent against me. It would be better for you to cut
+your throat than to fall into my power."
+
+The governor, enraged at the loss of his ship and crew, and exasperated
+by the insolent daring of the letter, swore in the presence of many that
+he would not grant quarter to any pirate who fell into his hands.
+Furious that two canoes, with twenty-two half-naked men, should be able
+to deride the might of Spain in his person, he instantly sent round word
+to the neighbouring Indian forts to hang all their French and English
+prisoners, instead of, as usual, embarking them for Spain. The citizens
+of Havannah, hearing of this imprudent bravado, sent a deputation to the
+governor to represent to him that, for one Englishman or Frenchman that
+the Spaniards captured, the Buccaneers took every day a hundred of their
+people, that the men of Havannah were obliged to get their living by
+trading, that life was far dearer to them than mere money, which was all
+the Buccaneers wanted; and lastly, that all their fishermen would be
+daily exposed to danger, the Buccaneers having frequent opportunity for
+reprisal. Upon this the angry governor was at last persuaded to bridle
+his passion and remit the severity of his oath.
+
+Lolonnois, now provided with a good ship, resolved to cruise from port
+to port to obtain provisions and men. Off Maracaibo he surprised a ship
+laden with plate, outward-bound to buy cocoa-nuts, and with this prize
+returned to Tortuga, much to his own satisfaction and the general joy
+of that strange colony of runaway slaves, disbanded soldiers, hunters,
+privateersmen, pirates, Puritans, and papists. He had not been long in
+port before he planned an expedition to Maracaibo, joining another
+adventurer in equipping a body of five hundred men. In Tortuga he found
+prisoners for guides, and disbanded adventurers resolute enough to be
+his companions. His partner was Michael le Basque, a Buccaneer who had
+retired very rich, and was now major of the island. He had done great
+actions in Europe, and bore the repute of being a good soldier.
+Lolonnois was to rule by sea and Le Basque by land.
+
+Le Basque knew all the avenues of Maracaibo, and had lately taken in a
+prize two Indians, who knew the port well and offered to act both as
+pilots and guides. Le Basque had consented to join Lolonnois, struck by
+the daring and comprehension of his plans, and Lolonnois was overjoyed
+at the alliance of so tried a man. Notice was instantly given to all the
+unemployed Buccaneers that they were planning a great expedition with
+much chance of booty. All who were willing to join them were to come by
+a certain day to the rendezvous either at Tortuga or Bayala, on the
+north side of Hispaniola; at the latter place he revictualled his fleet,
+took some French hunters as volunteers into his company, careened his
+vessels, and procured beef and pork by the chase.
+
+His fleet consisted of eight small ships, of which his own, the largest,
+carried only twenty pieces of cannon; his crews amounted altogether to
+about four hundred men. Setting sail from Bayala the last day in July,
+while doubling Ponta del Espada (Sword Point), the eastern cape of
+Hispaniola, Lolonnois overtook two Spanish vessels coming from Porto
+Rico to New Spain, and one of these Lolonnois insisted on capturing with
+his own hand, sending in his fleet to Savona. The Spaniards, although
+they had an opportunity for two whole hours, refused to fly, and, being
+well armed, prepared for a desperate resistance; the combat lasted for
+three hours. The ship carried sixteen guns, and was manned by fifty
+fighting men. They found in her a cargo of 120,000 pounds' weight of
+cocoa, 40,000 pieces of eight, and the value of 10,000 more in jewels.
+Lolonnois instantly sent this prize back to Tortuga to be unloaded, with
+orders to return to the rendezvous at Savona. On their way to this
+place, his vanguard had also been in luck, having met with a Spanish
+vessel bringing military stores and money from Cumana for the garrisons
+of Hispaniola. In this vessel, which they took without any resistance,
+though armed with eight guns, they found 7,000 pounds' weight of powder,
+a great number of muskets and other arms, together with 12,000 pieces of
+eight.
+
+These successes encouraged the adventurers, and to superstitious men
+seemed like promises of good fortune and success. The generosity of the
+governor of Tortuga also tended to heighten their spirits. M. D'Ogeron,
+the French governor, had been greatly delighted at the early arrival of
+so rich a prize, worth, at the lowest calculation, 180,000 livres, and
+threw open all his store-houses for the use of the prize crew. Ordering
+her to be quickly unloaded, he sent her back to Lolonnois full of
+provisions and necessaries. Many persons who had come from France with
+the governor now joined an expedition which had begun so auspiciously,
+desirous of gaining a fortune with the same rapidity as the older
+colonists. By hazarding a little money a planter could obtain a chance
+of sharing in the plunder of a distant city without moving from under
+the shadow of his tamarind tree, and the governor's approval threw an
+air of legal government patronage over the expedition. D'Ogeron even
+sent his two nephews on board, young gallants newly arrived from France,
+and one of whom afterwards ruled the island in the room of his uncle.
+With a fleet recruited with men in room of those killed by the fever or
+the Spaniards, and full of hope and spirits, Lolonnois sailed for
+Maracaibo. His own vessel he gave to his comrade Anthony du Puis, and
+went himself on board the _Cacaoyere_, as the largest prize was called.
+
+Before sailing, he reviewed his little invincible armada. His own new
+frigate carried sixteen guns and 120 men. His vice-admiral, Moses
+Vauclin, had ten guns and ninety men; and his _matelot_, Le Basque,
+sailed in a vessel called _La Poudriere_, because it contained all the
+powder, the ammunition, and the money for the sailors' pay. It carried
+twenty pieces of cannon and ninety men. Pierre le Picard steered a
+brigantine with forty men. Moses had equipped another of the same size,
+and the two other smaller vessels were each managed by a crew of thirty
+men. Every sailor was armed with a good musket, a brace of pistols, and
+a strong sabre. At this review Lolonnois first disclosed his whole plan,
+which was to visit Maracaibo, in the province of New Venezuela, and to
+pillage all the towns that border the lake. He then produced his guides,
+one of whom had been a pilot over the bar at Maracaibo, and who vouched
+for the ease with which the attack could be made. Shouts and clamour
+announced the universal satisfaction at the proposal. They all agreed to
+follow him, and took an oath that they would obey him implicitly on the
+penalty of being mulcted of their booty. The usual _chasse-partie_, or
+Buccaneers' agreement, was then drawn up, specifying the exact share
+that each one should receive of the spoil, from the captain down to the
+boys of the ships, and not forgetting the wounded and the guides.
+
+Venezuela, or "little Venice," derived its name from its being very low
+land, and only preserved from frequent inundation by artificial means.
+At six or seven leagues' distance from the Bay of Maracaibo, or Gulf of
+Venezuela, are two small islands--the island of the Watch Tower and the
+island of the Pigeons. Between these two islands runs a channel of fresh
+water--as wide across as an eight-pound shot can carry, about sixty
+leagues long, and thirty broad--which empties itself into the sea. On
+the Isla de las Vigilias stood a hill surmounted by a watch-tower; on
+the Isla de las Palombas a fort to impede the entrance of vessels, which
+were obliged to come very near, the channel being narrowed by two
+sand-banks, which left only fourteen feet water. The sand-drifts were
+very numerous; some of them, particularly one called El Tablazo, not
+having more than six feet water.
+
+"West hereof," says Esquemeling--for we must describe the past, not the
+present city--"is the city of Maracaibo, very pleasant to the view, its
+houses being built along the shore, having delightful prospects all
+round. The city may contain three or four thousand persons, slaves
+included, all which make a town of reasonable bigness. There are judged
+to be about 800 persons able to bear arms, all Spaniards. Here are one
+parish church, well built and adorned, four monasteries, and one
+hospital. The city is governed by a deputy-governor, substituted by the
+governor of the Caraccas. The trade here exercised is mostly in hides
+and tobacco. The inhabitants possess great numbers of cattle and many
+plantations, which extend thirty leagues in the country, especially
+towards the great town of Gibraltar, where are gathered great quantities
+of cocoa nuts, and all other garden fruits, which serve for the regale
+and sustenance of the inhabitants of Maracaibo, whose territories are
+much drier than those of Gibraltar. Hither those of Maracaibo send great
+quantities of flesh, they making returns in oranges, lemons, and other
+fruits; for the inhabitants of Gibraltar want flesh, not being capable
+of feeding cows and sheep."
+
+The inner lake within the great bar, so difficult to cross, was fed by
+upwards of seventy streams, of which several were navigable. The two
+capes on either side of the gulf were named respectively Cape St. Roman
+and the Cape of Caquibacoa. The east side, though frequently flooded,
+was unhealthy, but very fertile, something resembling the Maremma,
+where, according to an Italian proverb, a man gets rich in six months
+and dies in seven.
+
+In the bay itself, ten or twelve leagues from the lake, are the two
+islands of Onega and Las Monges. On the east side, near the
+_embouchure_, there was a fishermen's village called Barbacoa, where the
+Indians lived in trees to escape the floods; for, after great rains, the
+lands were often overflowed in broad tracts of two or three leagues. A
+few miles from this was the town of Gibraltar, where the best cocoa in
+the Indies was grown, as well as the celebrated "priests' tobacco."
+Beyond this twenty leagues of jurisdiction, rose mountains perpetually
+covered with snow, contrasting remarkably with the swampy fields and the
+rich tropical vegetation of the well-irrigated district below. On the
+other side of these mountains lay the mother city of Merida, between
+which, during the summer alone, mules carried merchandise to Gibraltar;
+the cocoa and tobacco of Merida being exchanged for Peruvian flour and
+the fruits of Gibraltar. Near this latter town were rich plantations and
+wooded districts, abounding with the tall cedars from which the Indians
+scooped out solid _piraguas_, or canoes, capable of carrying thirty
+tons, which were rigged with one large sail.
+
+The territory of Gibraltar was flat, and naturally fertile, watered by
+rivers and brooks, besides being artificially irrigated by small
+channels, necessary in the frequent droughts. Everything desirable for
+food and pleasant to the sight grew here in abundance, the air was
+filled with birds as beautiful as wandering blossoms, and the rivers
+teemed with many-coloured fish. But into this Indian Paradise death had
+entered, and these swamps were the lairs of the deadliest fevers that
+devastate humanity. In the rainy season the merchants left Gibraltar,
+just as the rich do Rome, and retired to Merida or Maracaibo to escape
+the pestilence that walked not merely in darkness but even in the bright
+noon. At six leagues from this town and its 1,500 inhabitants, ran a
+river navigable by vessels of fifty tons' burthen.
+
+Maracaibo itself had a spacious and secure port, and was well adapted
+for building vessels, owing to the abundance of timber in the
+neighbourhood. In the small island of Borrica were fed great numbers of
+goats, which were bred chiefly for their skins. In curious
+contradistinction to all this bustle of commerce, life, and wealth, on
+the south-east border of the lake lived the Bravo-Indians, a savage
+race, who had never been subdued by the Spaniard. They also, like the
+fishermen, dwelt in huts built in the branches of the mangrove trees at
+the very edge of the water, safe from the floods, and from the equally
+annoying, though less fatal, visitation of the mosquitoes. Beyond them
+to the west spread a dry and arid country--where nothing but cacti and
+stunted, bitter shrubs grew, so thorny as to be almost impassable by the
+traveller--waste and barren. Here the Spaniards pastured a few flocks,
+and the only houses were the huts of the armed shepherds who tended the
+lonely herds. These cattle were killed chiefly for their fat and hides,
+the flesh being left for the flocks of merchant birds--a sort of
+vulture, four or five of whom would pick an ox to the bone in a day or
+two.
+
+Lolonnois, arriving at one of the islands in the gulf, landed and took
+in provisions, not wishing to arrive at the bar till daybreak, in hopes
+of surprising the fort; and anchoring, out of sight of the watch-tower
+weighed anchor in the evening from the island of Onega, and sailed all
+night, but was seen by the sentinels, who immediately made signals to
+the fort, which discharged its cannon and announced the approach of an
+enemy.
+
+Mooring off the bar, Lolonnois lost no time in landing to attack the
+fort that guarded the very door through which he must pass. The
+batteries consisted of simple gabions or baskets masked with turf, and
+concealing fourteen pieces of cannon and 250 men, with flanking
+earthworks thrown up to protect the gunners. Lolonnois and Le Basque
+landed at a league from the fort, and advanced at the head of their men.
+The governor, seeing them land, had prepared an ambuscade, in hopes of
+attacking them at the same time in flank and rear. The Buccaneers,
+discovering this, got before the Spaniards, and routed them so utterly
+that not a single man returned to the fort, which was instantly attacked
+"with the usual desperation of this sort of people," says Esquemeling.
+The fighting continued for three hours. The Buccaneers, aiming with
+hunters' precision, killed so many of the Spaniards, and reduced their
+numbers so terribly, that the survivors could not prevent the savage
+swordsmen storming the embrasures, slaying half the survivors, and
+taking the rest prisoners. A few survivors are said by one writer to
+have fled in confusion into Maracaibo, crying, "The pirates will
+presently be here with 2,000 men."
+
+The rest of the day Lolonnois spent in destroying the fort he had
+captured, first signalling his ships to come in as the danger was over.
+His men levelled the earth ramparts, spiked the guns, buried the dead,
+and sent the wounded on board the fleet. The next day, very early in the
+morning, the ships weighed anchor and directed their course, in
+close-winged phalanx, like a flock of locusts, towards the doomed city
+of Maracaibo, now only six leagues distant. They made but slow way, in
+spite of all their impatience, for there was very little wind; and it
+was not till the next morning that they drew in sight of the town,
+standing pleasantly on the cool shore, with its galleries of shaded
+balconies, its towers and steeples--the goal to which they steered.
+
+Suspicious of ambuscades after the danger at the bar, Lolonnois put his
+men into canoes, and pulled to shore under protection of salvos from his
+great guns, which he ordered to be pointed at the woods which lined the
+beach. Half the men went in the canoes, and half remained on board; but
+these furious discharges were thrown away, the Spaniards having long
+since fled. To their great astonishment, the town itself was deserted.
+The people, remembering the horrors of a former Buccaneer descent, when
+Maracaibo had been "sacked to the uttermost," had escaped to Gibraltar
+in their boats and canoes, taking with them all the jewels and money
+they could carry.
+
+To the alarmed friends who received them, they said that the fort of the
+bar had been taken, and nothing been saved, nor any soldiers escaped. At
+Gibraltar they believed themselves safe, thinking the Buccaneers would
+pillage the unfortunate and defenceless town and then retreat over the
+bar.
+
+The hungry sailors, who had lived scantily for four weeks, found the
+deserted houses well provided with flour, bread, pork, poultry, and
+brandy, and with these they made good cheer. The warehouses were
+brimming with merchandise, the cellars were flowing with Spanish wine.
+The more prudent fell to plunder, the more thoughtless to revel. The
+former class probably embraced the older, and the latter the younger
+men. Each party abused the vice from which he abstained, and gave
+himself up without scruple to his own more favourite indulgence. But
+soon the man weary of wine began to plunder, and the man loaded with
+pieces of eight began to drink. The moment that plunder ceased, waste
+began, and prudence and folly alike ended the day,--poor and drunk. The
+commanders at once seized on the best houses, indulging their natural
+love of order and justice, by placing sentinels at the larger shops and
+warehouses.
+
+The great monastery of the Cordeliers served them as a guard-house, for
+a long time the abode of thieves, yet never so manifestly as now; for a
+long time the shrine of mammon, yet now for the first time filled by
+his avowed worshippers. Had the town not been deserted, that night would
+have heard the groans of the victim of cruelty; as it was, it echoed
+only with the songs and shouts of debauchery. The Buccaneer had reached
+his Capua, but there were no Judiths ready to slay these Holofernes in
+their drunken sleep. Perhaps a night surprise would have failed. These
+men were still the vigilant hunters and the watchful sailors; sunken
+rocks and lurking Spaniards, breakers and wild bulls, reefs and wild
+panthers had taught them never to sleep unguarded and unwatched.
+
+The next day a fresh source of plunder was opened. Lolonnois--for Le
+Basque's command, even by land, seems to have been secondary--sent a
+body of 160 men to reconnoitre the neighbouring woods, where some of the
+inhabitants were, it was supposed, concealed. They returned the same
+night, discharging their guns, and dragging after them a miserable
+weeping train of twenty prisoners, men, women, and children; and,
+besides this, a sack of 20,000 pieces of eight, and many mules, laden
+with household goods and merchandise.
+
+Some of the prisoners were at once racked, to make them confess where
+they had hidden their riches, but neither pain nor fear could extort
+their secret. Lolonnois, who valued not murdering, though in cold blood,
+ten or twelve Spaniards, drew his cutlass and hacked one of them to
+pieces before all his companions; and while the pale, tortured men were
+still writhing and groaning by his side, declared, "If you do not
+confess and declare where you have the rest of your goods, I will do the
+like to all your companions." In spite of all these horrible cruelties
+and inhuman threats, only one was found base enough to offer to conduct
+the Buccaneers to a place where the rest of the fugitives were hidden.
+When they arrived there, they found their coming had been announced, the
+riches had been removed to another place, and the Spaniards had fled.
+The exiles now changed their hiding-places daily, and, amid the
+universal danger and distrust, a father would not even rely on his own
+son.
+
+After fifteen days "taking stock" at Maracaibo, Lolonnois marched
+towards Gibraltar, intending afterwards to sack Merida, as at these
+places he expected to find the wealth transported from the City of the
+Lake. Several of his prisoners offered to serve as guides, but warned
+him that he would find the place strong and fortified. "No matter,"
+cried the Buccaneer, "the better sign that it is worth taking."
+
+Gibraltar was already prepared. The inhabitants, expecting Lolonnois,
+had entreated aid from the governor of Merida, a stout old soldier who
+had served in Flanders. He sent back word, that they need take no care,
+for he hoped in a little while to exterminate the pirates. He had soon
+after this hopeful bravado entered the town at the head of 400
+well-armed men, and was soon joined by an equal number of armed
+townsmen, whom he at once enrolled. On the side of the town towards the
+sea he raised with great rapidity a battery, mounting twenty guns, well
+protected by baskets of earth, and flanked by a smaller traverse of
+eight pieces. He lastly barricaded a narrow passage to the town, through
+which the pirates, he knew, must pass, and opened another path leading
+to a swampy wood that was quite impassable.
+
+Three days after leaving Maracaibo Lolonnois approached Gibraltar, and,
+seeing the royal standard hung out, perceived there were breakers ahead,
+and called a general council, one of those republican gatherings that
+distinguished the Buccaneer armies, and remind us of the less unanimous
+consultations that Xenophon describes. He confessed that the difficulty
+of the enterprise was great, seeing the Spaniards had had so much time
+to put themselves in a state of defence, and had now got together a
+large force and much ammunition; "but have a good courage," said he, "we
+must either defend ourselves like good soldiers or lose our lives with
+all the riches we have got. Do as I shall do, who am your captain. At
+other times we have fought with fewer men than we have now, and yet
+have overcome a greater number of enemies than can be in this town; _the
+more they are the more riches we shall gain_." His men all cried out,
+with one voice, that they would follow and obey him. "'Tis well," he
+replied, "but know ye, the first man who will show any fear or the least
+apprehension thereof, I will pistol him with my own hands."
+
+The Buccaneers cast anchor near the shore, about three-quarters of a
+league from the town, and the next day before sunrise landed to the
+number of 380 determined men, each armed with a cutlass, a brace of
+pistols, and thirty charges of powder and bullets. On the shore they all
+shook hands with one another, many for the last time, and began their
+march, Lolonnois exclaiming, "Come, _mes freres_, follow me and have
+good courage." Their guide, ignorant of what the governor of Merida had
+done, led them in all good faith up the barricaded way, where, to his
+surprise, he found the paths in one place blocked up with large trees,
+newly cut, and in another swamped so that the soft mud reached up above
+their thighs.
+
+Lolonnois, seeing the passage hopeless, attempted the narrow way, which
+had been carefully cleared as a trap for them. Here only six men could
+go abreast, and the shots of the town ploughed incessantly down the
+path. At the same time the Spaniards, in a small terraced battery of six
+guns, beat their drums and hung out their silk flags. The adventurers,
+harassed by the fire that they could not return, and slipping on the
+swampy path, grew vexed and impatient. "Courage, my brothers," cried
+their leader, "we must beat these fellows or die; follow me, and if I
+fall don't give in for that." With these words he ran full butt, with
+head down like a mad bull, against the Spaniards, followed by all his
+men, as daring but less patient than himself. Cutting down boughs they
+made a rude pathway, firm and sure, over the deep mud. When within about
+a pistol shot from the entrenchments, they began again to sink up to
+their knees, and the enemy's grape-shot fell thick and hot upon the
+impeded ranks. Many dropped, but their last words were always, "Courage,
+never flinch, _mes freres_, and you'll win it yet." All this time they
+could scarce see or hear, so blinded and deafened were they by the
+thunder and fire.
+
+In the midst of this discomfiture the Spaniards suddenly broke through
+the gloom, just as they got out of the wood and trod upon firmer ground,
+and drove them back by a furious onslaught, many of them being killed
+and wounded. They then attempted the other passage again, but without
+success, and finding the Spaniards would not sally out, and the gabions
+too heavy to tear up by hand, Lolonnois resorted to the old stratagem,
+so successful at Hastings, by which the very impatience of courage is
+made to prove fatal to an enemy.
+
+At a preconcerted signal the Buccaneers began to retreat, upon which the
+defenders of the battery, exclaiming, "They fly, they fly; follow,
+follow," sallied forth in disorder to the pursuit, shouting and firing
+like an undisciplined rabble. Once out of gun-shot of the batteries, the
+pursued turned into pursuers, and falling on the foe, sword in hand,
+slew about 200. Fighting their way through those who survived, the
+Buccaneers soon became masters of all the fortifications. Not more than
+100 out of the 600 defenders remained alive, and these, as Falstaff
+says, would have to limp to the town-end and beg for life. The brave old
+governor lay dead among his foremost men.
+
+The survivors who could crawl or run hid themselves in the woods,
+impeded in their flight by the very obstructions they had themselves
+raised. The men in the battery surrendered, and obtained quarter.
+Neither Lolonnois nor Le Basque was scratched, but forty of their
+companions perished, and eighty were grievously wounded. The greater
+part of these died through the fevers and subsequent pestilence. 500
+dead Spaniards were found, but many more had hidden themselves, to die
+alone in peace.
+
+The Buccaneers, now masters of Gibraltar, pulled down the Spanish
+colours from tower and steeple, and hoisted their own red or black flag.
+Making prisoners of all they met, they shut them up under guard in the
+chief church, where they erected a battery of great guns, in case the
+Spaniards should attempt to rally in a fit of despair. They then
+collected the dead bodies of the Spaniards, and, piling them up, scarred
+and gashed, in two large canoes, towed them out a quarter of a league to
+sea, and scuttled them. They then gathered from every house, rich or
+poor, all the plate, merchandise, and household stuff, which was not too
+hot or too heavy to carry off, as rapacious as the borderer who stopped
+wistfully opposite the hay-stack, wishing it had but four legs, that he
+might make it "gang awa' wi' the rest." The Spaniards having buried
+their treasure, as usual, armed parties were sent into the surrounding
+woods to search for buried money, and to bring in hunters and planters
+as prisoners to torture. Hung up by the beard, or burnt with
+gun-matches, the wretched sufferers were forced to confess the
+hiding-places.
+
+Lolonnois soon turned the fertile country into a smoking black desert,
+and, still insatiable for money and blood, planned an expedition over
+the snow mountains to Merida, but reluctantly relinquished it when he
+found his men unwilling to risk what they had got for the mere
+uncertainly of getting more, though Merida was only forty leagues
+distant. They had now 150 prisoners, besides 500 slaves, and many women
+and children, many of whom were dying daily of famine, so short were
+provisions already in a city in which the small army had been encamped
+only eighteen days.
+
+When they had spent six weeks in the town, Lolonnois determined to
+return, nothing now being left to pillage. Disease and famine were worse
+enemies than the Spaniard or the Indian, and cared for neither steel nor
+lead. A pestilential disease appeared in consequence of the numerous
+dead bodies left in the woods exposed to the wild beasts and the birds.
+Those that lay nearest to the walls had been strewn over with earth, the
+rest were left to taint the air, and slay the living--a putrid fever
+broke out; the Spaniards killed more of the enemy after their death than
+they had done in their life. The Frenchmen's wounds, already closing,
+began now to re-open, the sick died daily, and the strongest pined and
+sickened; all longed to return, even plunder grew distasteful to them
+without health, and once more at sea they hoped soon to be well.
+
+Men who had been revelling in the plenty of two captured cities, could
+not return without impatience to the restraints of a time of scarcity.
+Gibraltar always depending upon Maracaibo for its meat, and not well
+supplied with flour, was, in fact, like a miser dying for want of a
+loaf, while his storehouses were brimmed over with gold. The little meat
+and flour were quickly consumed by the Buccaneers, who left their
+prisoners to shift for themselves. The cattle they soon appropriated,
+giving the mules' and asses' flesh to those Spaniards whose hunger was
+strong enough to conquer their disgust. A few of the women were allowed
+better fare, and many who had become the mistresses of their captors
+were well treated by their lovers. Some of these were mere slaves,
+others were voluntary concubines, but the greater part had been
+compelled, by poverty and fear, to abandon their fathers and husbands.
+
+Lolonnois, sending four of his prisoners into the woods, demanded a
+ransom of 80,000 pieces of eight within two days, threatening the
+fugitives to burn the town to ashes if his desire was not acceded to.
+The Spaniards, already half-beggared, disagreed about the ransom; the
+bolder and the more avaricious refused to pay a piastre, the old, the
+timid, and the more generous preferred poverty to such a loss. Some said
+it would serve as a mere bribe to allure a third adventurer, and others
+declared it was the only means of saving Merida. While they were thus
+disputing the two days passed, and the debate was put an end to by the
+sight of flame ascending above the roofs. The city was already fired in
+two or three places, when the inhabitants, promising to bring the
+ransom, persuaded the Buccaneers to assist in quenching the flames, not,
+however, till the chief houses were burned, and the chief monastery was
+ruined.
+
+Oexmelin merely says that Lolonnois set fire to the four corners of the
+town, and in six hours reduced the whole to ashes. Palm-thatch and cedar
+walls burn quick, and the sea-breeze was there to fan the flames, while
+the Buccaneers were learned in the art of destruction. Lolonnois then
+collected his men by beat of drum, and embarked his booty. Before he
+sailed, he sent two of his prisoners again into the woods, to tell the
+inhabitants that all the prisoners in his hands would be at once put to
+death if the ransom were not paid. All prisoners who had not paid their
+ransom he took with him, even the slaves being valued at so much, and
+having put on board all riches that were movable, and a large sum of
+money as a ransom for what was immovable, the Buccaneer fleet returned
+to Maracaibo. The city, now partly repeopled, was thrown again into
+disorder, nor much lessened when three or four prisoners came to the
+governor, bearing a demand from Lolonnois to pay at once 30,000 pieces
+of eight down upon his deck, or to expect a second sack, and the fate of
+Gibraltar. While these terms were under concession, and the Spanish
+merchants were chaffering with the sailors, as a lowland farmer might
+have done with a highland _cateran_, a party of well-inclined
+Flibustiers, unwilling to waste their time, rowed on shore, and stripped
+the great church of its pictures, images, carvings, clocks, and bells,
+even to the very cross on its steeple, piously desiring to erect a
+chapel at Tortuga, where there was much need of spiritual instruction.
+The Spaniards at last agreed to pay for their ransom and liberty 20,000
+piastres, 10,000 pieces of eight, and 500 cows, provided the fleet would
+do no further injury, and depart at once, and the blessing of Maracaibo
+with them.
+
+We can imagine the trembling and suppressed joy with which the people of
+Maracaibo must have beheld the fleet sail slowly out of their harbour,
+all eyes on board bent onward to the horizon and the golden future--none
+looking back with a moment's regret upon the misery and the black ruin
+left behind. How many orphans must have cursed them as they sailed, and
+how many widows! Three days after the embarkation, to the horror of the
+city, a vessel with a red flag at its masthead was seen re-entering the
+harbour, but only, as it soon appeared, to demand a pilot to take the
+fleet over the bar.
+
+On their way to Hispaniola, Lolonnois touched at the Isle de la Vacca,
+intending to stay there and divide the spoil. This island was inhabited
+by French Buccaneers, who sold the flesh of the animals they killed to
+vessels in want of victual. But a dispute arising here, the fleet again
+set out to disband the crew at Gouaves in Hispaniola.
+
+They arrived in two months, and, unlading the whole "cargazon of
+riches," proceeded to make a dividend of their prizes and their gains.
+Lolonnois and the other captains began by taking a solemn oath in
+public, that they had concealed and held back no portion of the spoil,
+but had thrown all without reserve into the public stock. The ceremony
+of this oath must have been an imposing sight: wild groups of
+half-stripped sailors, wounded men, and female captives, negroes and
+Indians, Spanish soldiers and mulatto fishermen, and in the middle piled
+bales of silks, heaps of glittering coin, and rich stuffs streaming over
+scattered arms and costly jewels, while, looking on, perhaps wistfully,
+leaning on their muskets, a few hunters fresh from the savannahs,
+bull's-hide sandals on their feet, and long knives hanging from their
+belts. After the captains had taken the oath, the common _matelots_,
+down even to the cabin boys, took the vow that they had given up all
+their spoil, to be shared equally by those who had equally ventured
+their lives to win it.
+
+After an exact calculation, the total value of their profits in jewels
+and money was discovered to be 260,000 crowns, not including 100,000
+crowns' worth of church furniture and a cargo of tobacco. On the final
+division every man received money, silk, and linen to the value of about
+100 pieces of eight. The surgeon and the wounded were as usual paid
+first. The slaves were then sold by auction, and their purchase-money
+divided among the various crews. The uncoined plate was weighed, and
+sold at the rate of ten pieces of eight to a pound; the jewels were sold
+at false and fanciful prices, and were generally undervalued, owing to
+the ignorance of the arbitrators. A Buccaneer always preferred coin to
+jewels, and jewels, as being portable, to heavy merchandise, which they
+often threw overboard or wantonly destroyed. The adventurers then all
+took the oath a second time, and proceeded to apportion the shares of
+such as had fallen, handing them to the _matelots_, or messmate, to
+forward to their heirs or nearest relations. We do not know whether, in
+peculiar cases, a _matelot_ became his _camarade's_ heir.
+
+The dividend over, they returned to Tortuga, amid the general rejoicing
+of all over whom love or cupidity had any power. "For three weeks, while
+their money lasted," says Oexmelin, probably an eye witness of the scene,
+"there was nothing but dances, feasts, and protestations of unceasing
+friendship." The _cabaretiers_ and the gambling-house keepers soon
+revenged the cruelties of Maracaibo. The proud captors of that luckless
+city in a few weeks were hungry beggars, basking on the quay of Tortuga,
+straining their eyes to catch sight of some vessel that might take them
+on board, and relieve them from that reaction of wretchedness. They were
+jeered at as mad spendthrifts by the very men who had urged them to
+their folly. The love of courtesans grew colder as the pieces of eight
+diminished, and men were refused charity by the very wretches whom their
+foolish generosity had lately enriched. No doubt watches were fried and
+bank-bills eaten as sandwiches, just as they were during the war at
+Portsmouth or at Dover. The prudent were those who made the money spin
+out a day longer than their fellows, and the wildest were those who had
+found out that two dice-boxes and two fiddlers ran through the
+burdensome money a little faster than only one dice-box and one fiddler.
+
+Some of the Buccaneers, skilful with the cards, added to their store and
+returned at once to France, resolved to turn merchants, and trade with
+the Indies they had wasted. The extravagant prices paid by these men
+for wine, and particularly brandy, rendered that trade a source of great
+profit. Just before the return of the fleet two French vessels had
+arrived at Tortuga laden with spirits, which at first sold at very
+moderate rates, but ultimately, from the great demand and the limited
+means of supply, reached an exorbitant price, a gallon selling for as
+much as four pieces of eight.
+
+The tavern-keepers and the _filles de joie_ obtained most of the money
+so dearly earned, and lavished it as those from whom they won it had
+done. Cards and dice helped those who had not struck a blow at the
+Spaniard, to now quietly spoil the captors. The story of Sampson and
+Dalilah was daily acted. Even the governor hastened to benefit by the
+expedition. He bought a cargo of cocoa of the Buccaneers, and shipped it
+at once to France in Lolonnois' vessel, giving scarcely a twentieth part
+of its value, and realising a profit of L120,000. The adventurers did
+not grudge him this bargain, as he had risked everything for Tortuga,
+and had suffered considerable losses. "M. D'Ogeron," says Oexmelin, with
+some _naivete_, "aimait les 'honnetes gens,' les obligeait sans cesse,
+et ne les lassait jamais manquer de rien."
+
+Neither Lolonnois' talent, rank, nor courage kept him further from the
+tavern door than the meanest of his crew. The poor drudge of a negro
+that served as a butt to the sailors could not give way to baser
+debauchery. It was the voice of the cannon alone that roused him to
+great actions. On land he was a Caliban, at sea a Barbarossa. In spite
+of his great booty, in a few short weeks he was poorer than his crew.
+Tortuga was to him the Circe's island that transformed him into a beast.
+As soon as his foot trod the plank, he became again the wily and the
+wise Ulysses: the first in daring or in suffering, ready to endure or to
+attack, above his fellow men in patience and impatience. His expenses
+were large, and when the prizes ceased to come in he was soon reduced to
+live upon his capital, and that quickly melted away in open-house
+feasting and entertainments given to the governor. He had been
+before he returned, moreover, so burdened with debts that even his
+prize-money could not have defrayed them. There was but one means of
+release--another expedition. Let the Spanish mother clasp her child
+closer to her breast, for she knows not how soon she may have to part
+with it for ever. Is there no comet that may warn an unprepared and a
+doomed people?
+
+Lolonnois had now acquired great repute at Tortuga. He was known to be
+brave, and, what is a rare combination, prudent. Under his guidance men
+who had forgot his previous misfortunes, thought themselves secure of
+gold, and without glory gold is not to be won. He needed now no
+entreaties to induce men to fill his ships; the difficulty was in
+selecting from the volunteers. Those who had before stayed behind now
+determined to venture; those who had once followed him were already
+driven by mere poverty to enlist. The privations of land were
+intolerable to men who had just revelled in riches--the privations of
+sea could be endured by the mere force of habit. The planters threw by
+their hoes, and quitted the hut for the cabin.
+
+The towns of Nicaragua were now to share the fate of those of Venezuela.
+About 700 men and six ships formed the expedition. Lolonnois himself
+sailed in a large "flute" which he had brought from Maracaibo with 300
+men; the other adventurers embarked in five smaller vessels. Having
+careened and revictualled at Bayala, in Hispaniola, he steered for
+Matamana, a port on the south side of Cuba. He here informed his
+companions of the plan of the expedition, and produced an Indian of
+Nicaragua who had offered to serve as guide. He assured them of the
+riches of the country, and expressed his belief that they could surprise
+the place before the inhabitants had secreted their money. His proposal
+was received with the usual unhesitating applause.
+
+At Matamana, Lolonnois collected by force all the canoes of the tortoise
+fishermen, much to their grief and dismay, these poor men having no
+other means of subsistence but fishing. These boats he needed to take
+him up the channel of Nicaragua, which was too shallow for vessels of
+any larger burthen. While attempting to round Cape Gracias a Dios, the
+fleet was arrested by what the Spanish sailors call a "furious calm"--a
+sad and tedious imprisonment to men to whom every delay involved the
+success of their enterprise.
+
+In spite of all their endeavours, they were carried by the current into
+the Gulf of Honduras. Both wind and tide being against them, the smaller
+vessels--better sailers and more manageable than that of Lolonnois--made
+more way than he could do; but were obliged to wait for him, and stay
+for his orders, being quite powerless without him and his 300 men.
+
+They spent nearly a month in trying to recover their path, but all in
+vain, losing in two hours what they gained in two days, and, their
+provisions running short, put ashore to revictual.
+
+Touching at the first land they could reach, they sent their canoes up
+the river Xagua--their guides bringing them to the villages of the
+"long-eared Indians," a race tributary to Spain, whose traders bartered
+knives and mirrors with them for cocoa. The Buccaneers burned their huts
+and carried off their millet, hogs, and poultry, loading the canoes with
+all the food they could bring away to their impatient comerades, who
+determined to remain here till the unfavourable weather had passed, and
+burn and pillage along the whole borders of the gulf. The Indian
+provisions proved but scanty for so numerous a band, but were divided
+equally among the ships that were seeking food like locusts, and moving
+daily on to new pastures.
+
+A council of war was now held to discuss their position. Some were for
+discontinuing the expedition, since the provisions ran so short. The
+oldest and most experienced proposed plundering round the gulf till the
+bad season had passed; and this plan was decided on. Having rifled a few
+villages, they came to Puerto Cavallo, a place where Spanish ships
+frequently anchored, and which contained two storehouses full of
+cochineal, indigo, hides, &c., from Guatimala. There happened then to
+be lying in the port a Spanish vessel of twenty-four guns and sixteen
+patarerros. Its cargo, however, was nearly all unloaded and carried up
+into the interior to be exchanged in barter with the Indians. This ship
+was instantly seized; and Lolonnois, landing without any resistance,
+burned the magazines and all the houses, and made many prisoners. The
+Spaniards he put to the torture to induce them to confess. If any
+refused to answer, he pulled out their tongues, or cut them to pieces
+with his hanger, "desiring," says Esquemeling, "to do so to every
+Spaniard in the world." Many, terrified by the rack, promised to
+confess, really having nothing to disclose. These men were always
+cruelly put to death in revenge. One mulatto was bound hand and foot and
+thrown alive into the sea to intimidate the rest, and to induce two
+survivors to show the French chief the nearest road to the neighbouring
+town of San Pedro.
+
+For this expedition Lolonnois selected 300 men, leaving his lieutenant,
+Moses Vauclin, to govern in his absence, and despatching a few of his
+small flotilla to help him by a diversion on the coast. Before starting,
+he told his companions that he would never refuse to march at their
+head, but that he should kill with his own hand "the first who turned
+tail." San Pedro was only ten leagues distant. He had not proceeded
+three before he fell into an ambuscade.
+
+The Spaniards' favourite scheme of attack was the treacherous
+surprise--a mere sort of attempt at wholesale assassination--seldom
+successful, and always exasperating the enemy to greater cruelties. They
+had now entrenched themselves behind gabions in a narrow road,
+impassable on either side with trees and strong thickets. Lolonnois
+instantly striking down the guides, whether innocent or guilty, charged
+the enemy with desperate courage, and put them to flight after a long
+encounter, ending in a total rout. They killed a few Buccaneers and left
+many of their own men dead upon the ground. The wounded Spaniards, being
+first questioned as to the distance from San Pedro, and the best way to
+get there, were instantly beheaded. The prisoners informed him that
+some runaway slaves, escaped from Porto Cavallo, had told them of the
+intended attack on San Pedro. Determined to prevent this, they had
+planned the ambuscade, and two other still stronger earthworks which
+awaited him further on. To prevent connivance, or any possible
+treachery, Lolonnois then had the Spaniards brought before him one by
+one, and demanded of each in turn if there was no means of getting into
+another and less guarded road. On their each denying that there was, he
+grew frenzied and almost mad at the thoughts of such inevitable danger,
+and had them all murdered but two; and then, in ungovernable passion, he
+ripped open with his cutlass the breast of one of these survivors, who
+was bound to a tree. Esquemeling asserts that he even tore out his heart
+and gnawed it "like a ravenous wolf," swearing and shouting that he
+would serve them all alike if they did not show him another way. The
+miserable survivor, willing to save his life at any risk, his memory or
+invention quickened by the imminent danger, conducted him into another
+path, but so bad a one that Lolonnois preferred to return to the old one
+in spite of all its perils, so difficult, slow, and laborious was the
+march. He now seems to have grown almost fevered with rage, anxiety, and
+vexation. "Mon Dieu," he growled, "les Espagnols me le payeront," and he
+cursed the delay that kept him from the enemy.
+
+There is no doubt that in these men a fanatical and almost superstitious
+hatred of the enemy had sprung up, inflamed by mutual cruelties, for
+forgiveness was not the chief virtue of the victorious Spaniard. To the
+Buccaneer the Spaniard seemed cruel, cowardly, treacherous, and
+degraded; to the Spaniard the Buccaneer seemed a monster scarcely
+human--bloody, voluptuous, faithless, and rapacious.
+
+That same evening the chief fell into a second ambuscade, which, says
+Esquemeling, "he assaulted with such horrible fury" that in less than an
+hour's time he routed the Spaniards and killed the greater part of them,
+the rest flying to the third ambush, which was planted about two
+leagues from the town. The Spaniards had thought, by these repeated
+attacks, to destroy the enemy piecemeal, and for this object, which they
+did not attain, frittered their forces into small and useless
+detachments.
+
+Lolonnois and his people, weary with fighting and marching, and
+half-fainting with hunger and thirst, lay down in the wood that night,
+and slept till the morning, the _matelots_ keeping good watch and ward,
+and guarding their sleeping companions. At daybreak they resumed their
+journey, with confidence increased by the clear light and with bodies
+invigorated by rest. The third ambuscade was stronger and more
+advantageously placed than even the two preceding. They attacked it with
+showers of fire-balls, and drove out the enemy, slaying without mercy,
+and giving no quarter. "No quarter, no quarter," cried their ferocious
+leader, still thirsty for human blood, when they would have stayed their
+hands, from exhaustion rather than from pity. "The more we kill here,
+the less we shall meet in the town," was his war-cry. Very few of the
+enemy escaped to San Pedro, the greater part being either slain or
+wounded.
+
+Before they ventured to make the final attack, the Buccaneers rested to
+look to their arms and prepare their ammunition. In vain they attempted
+to discover a second approach. There was but one, and that was well
+barricaded, and planted all round with thorny shrubs, which the best
+shod traveller could not pass, much less barefooted men, clad only in a
+shirt and drawers. These thorns, Oexmelin says, were more dangerous than
+those crow's-feet used in Europe to annoy cavalry.
+
+Lolonnois, seeing that no other way was left, and that delay would imply
+fear in his own men, and excite hope in the enemy, resolved to storm the
+works, in spite of the rage and despair of a well-armed and superior
+force, sheltered from shot and commanding his approach. "The Spaniards,"
+says Esquemeling, "posted behind the said defences, seeing the pirates
+come, began to ply them with their great guns; but these, perceiving
+them ready to fire, used to stoop down, and then the shot was made to
+fall upon the defendants with fire-balls and naked swords, killing many
+of the town." Driven back for a time, they renewed the attack with fewer
+men; husbanding their shot, for they were now short of powder; never
+shooting at a long distance; and seldom firing but with great
+deliberation when an enemy's head appeared above the rampart; and
+occasionally giving a general discharge, in which nearly every bullet
+killed an enemy. Several times the Buccaneers advanced to the very
+mouths of the guns, and, throwing down fire-balls into the works, leaped
+after them, sword in hand, through the embrasures; but only to be again
+driven back.
+
+This obstinate combat, so eager on both sides, had lasted about four
+hours, and night was fast approaching, when Lolonnois, ordering a last
+furious attack, put the now weakened Spaniards to flight, a great number
+of them being killed as soon as they turned their backs. The citizens
+then hung out a white flag, and, coming to a parley, agreed to surrender
+the town on condition of receiving two hours' respite. During this
+time, Lolonnois found that he had lost about thirty men, ten more being
+wounded. This demand of two hours was employed by the towns-people in
+loading themselves with their riches and preparing for flight--the
+Buccaneers virtuously abstaining from any molestation till the time had
+duly expired, and then pursuing the fugitives and plundering them of
+every _maravedi_. But neither their self-denial nor their vigilance was
+well rewarded, for fortune gave them nothing but a few leather sacks
+full of indigo, the rest, even in that short time, having been buried or
+destroyed--a disappointment which, we think, no reasonable person can
+regret. Lolonnois had particularly ordered that not only all the goods
+should be seized, but that every fugitive should be made prisoner.
+
+The Buccaneer chief, having stayed a few days at San Pedro, and
+"committed most horrid insolences," was anxious to send for a new
+reinforcement, and attack the town of Guatimala--a place a long way
+distant, and defended by 400 men. On his men as usual refusing to
+accede to an apparently rash project, Lolonnois contented himself by
+pillaging San Pedro, intending to impress a recollection of his visit
+upon the grateful inhabitants by burning their town. He obtained no
+great booty, for the inhabitants were a poor people, trading in nothing
+but dyes. If he had chosen to carry away their stores of indigo, he
+might have realised more than 40,000 crowns; but the Buccaneers cared
+for nothing but coin and bullion, and were too ignorant, too lazy, and
+too improvident to stop their debauches by loading their vessels with a
+perishable cargo of uncertain value.
+
+Having remained now eighteen days in San Pedro without obtaining much,
+for the West Indian Spaniard had already learned to hide as skilfully as
+the Hindoo ryot, Lolonnois called together his prisoners, and demanded
+from them a ransom as the condition of sparing their town. They doggedly
+answered, with all the insolence of despair, that he had taken from them
+all they had, and that they had nothing more to give; that they could
+not coin without gold, and that, as far as they went, he might do what
+he liked to the town.
+
+Lolonnois then reduced the town to ashes, and, marching to the sea-side
+to rejoin his companions, found that they had been employing their time,
+innocently and usefully, in capturing the fishing-boats of Guatimala.
+Some Indians, newly taken, informed him that a _hourque_, a vessel of
+800 tons, bringing goods from Spain to the Honduras, was then lying in
+the great river of Guatimala. Resolving to careen and victual at the
+islands on the other side of the gulf, they left two canoes at the mouth
+of the river to give notice when the vessel should venture forth.
+
+The time spent in thus watching outside the covert, they devoted to
+turtle fishing, dividing themselves into parties, each having his own
+station to prevent disputes. Their nets they made of the bark of the
+macoa tree; a natural pitch or bitumen for their boats they found in
+fused heaps upon the shore. The formation of this pitch, or "wax," as
+Esquemeling calls it, the sailors attributed to wild bees; the hollow
+trees in which they built being torn down by storms and swept down into
+the sea. The rest of their time--which never seems to have been
+wearisome, unless the subsequent mutiny indicates it, for these men had
+the tenacity of a slot-hound in the pursuit of blood--was spent in
+cruises among those Indians of the coast of Yucatan, who seek for amber
+on the shore. These tribes were the willing serfs of Spain, having
+served them without resistance for a full century. The Spaniards had, as
+they believed, converted the whole nation to Christianity by sending a
+priest to them once a-week, but, on their sudden return to idolatry, had
+begun to persecute them, angry at their own failure.
+
+According to the Buccaneers' account, these Indian chiefs worshipped
+each a peculiar spirit, to whom they offered sacrifices of fire, burning
+incense of sweet-scented gums. They had a singular custom of carrying
+their new-born children into their temples, and leaving them for a night
+in a hole filled with wood-ashes, generally in an open place, untended,
+and where wild beasts could enter. Leaving the child here they found in
+the morning the foot-prints of some wild beast on the ashes. To this
+animal, whatever it might be, jaguar, snake, or cayman, they dedicated
+the child, whose patron god it became. To this animal the child prayed
+for vengeance against its enemies, and to it he offered sacrifices.
+
+Their marriages were accompanied by a very beautiful and simple
+ceremony. A young man, having satisfied his intended bride's father as
+to his fitness to manage a plantation, was presented with a bow and
+arrow. He then visits the maiden, and puts on her head a wreath of green
+leaves and sweet-smelling flowers, taking off the crown usually worn by
+virgins. A meeting of her relations is then called, the maize juice is
+drunk, and the day after marriage the bride's garland is torn to pieces
+with cries and lamentations.
+
+In these islands the Buccaneers found canoes of the Aregues Indians,
+which must have drifted 600 leagues. They had remained turtle-fishing
+and amber-seeking about three months, when the welcome tidings came that
+the enemy's vessel had ventured out. All hands were now employed in
+preparing the careening ships. It was, however, at last agreed to wait
+for its return, when, as they expected, it would not only contain
+merchandise but money. They therefore sent their canoes to observe her
+motions, and, hearing of the ambuscade, the Spaniards returned to port.
+Lolonnois, as weary of delay as a greyhound is vexed by a hare's
+repeated doubling, determined to do what Mahomet did when the mountain
+would not go to him; since the Spaniards would not come to him, he went
+himself to the Spaniards. Informed of their approach by spies, Indians
+or fishermen, the vessel was prepared to receive him. The decks were
+cleared, the boarding-nettings up, and the guns double-shotted. The
+Spaniard carried fifty-six pieces of cannon, and the crew were well
+provided with hand grenades, torches, fusees, and fire-balls, especially
+on the quarter-deck and bows, and a crew of some 130 men stood armed and
+threatening at their quarters. But Lolonnois cared for none of these
+things, and the rich cargo shone, to his eye, through the ship's
+transparent sides. With his small craft of twenty-two guns, with a
+single fly-boat as his only ally, he boldly attacked the enemy, but was
+at first beaten off.
+
+To the Buccaneer a slight check was almost a certain precursor of
+victory; waiting till about sixty of the Spanish sailors had fallen from
+the fire of his deadly musketry, when their courage slackened, and the
+smoke of their powder lay in a dark mist round the bulwarks, hiding his
+movements, he boarded with four canoes, well manned. In spite of the
+brave defence, the Buccaneers fought with such fury that they forced the
+Spaniards to surrender.
+
+Lolonnois then sent his boats up the river to secure a small patache,
+which they knew lay near at hand, laden with plate, indigo, and
+cochineal. But the inhabitants, alarmed at the capture of the larger
+vessel, swept away from under their very eyes, saved the patache by
+preventing her departure.
+
+The booty of the prize was much less than was expected, the vessel being
+already almost entirely unladen. Its cargo consisted of iron and paper,
+and it still contained 20,000 reams of paper, and 100 tons of iron bars,
+which had served as ballast. The few bales of merchandise were nothing
+but linens, serges, and cloth, thread, and a few jars of wine. In the
+return cargo there would have been at least a million in specie. These
+heterogeneous articles were of no use to men who wanted nothing but coin
+or jewels, lead or powder. Dividing the paper, they used it for napkins,
+and other useless trifles, and several jars of almond and olive-oil were
+wasted in the same reckless manner.
+
+Having now accomplished their purpose, without much return for their
+three months' patience, Lolonnois called a general council of the fleet,
+and declared his intention of going to Guatimala. Upon this announcement
+a division arose in the assembly, and the hoarse murmurs of a coming
+tempest were heard around the speaker. Many of the adventurers, new to
+the trade, could no longer conceal their weariness and their
+disappointment. They had set sail from Tortuga with the feeling with
+which a country boy comes to London. They had believed that pieces of
+eight grew on the trees like pears, and had overlooked the dragons that
+guarded the Hesperian trees. Having seen their predecessors return home
+laden with the plunder of Maracaibo, many had overlooked the toil and
+dangers by which it was won, in the sight of the joy and prodigality
+with which it was lavished; they had seen only the rich pearls, and
+forgotten the stormy seas from which they had been gathered. They were
+weary of the hardships, and mutinous for want of food. The mere seeker
+for gold could not endure what was submitted to by those who were
+desirous of earning distinction. The older hands laughed at their
+pinings, derided their complaints, and swore that they would rather die
+and starve there, than return home with empty purses, to be the scorn
+and laughing-stock of all Hispaniola. The majority of the experienced
+men, foreseeing that the voyage to Nicaragua would not succeed, and was
+"little to their purpose," separated from Lolonnois, and set sail
+secretly in the swift sailing vessel that Moses Vauclin had captured in
+the port of Cavallo, and which he now commanded, boasting, with reason,
+that it was the swiftest sailing vessel that had been seen in the West
+Indies for fifty years. With Moses Vauclin went Pierre le Picard, who,
+seeing others desert Lolonnois, resolved to do the same.
+
+Steering homewards, the fugitives coasted along the whole continent till
+they came to Costa Rica, where they landed a good party, marched up to
+Veraguas, and burnt the town, pillaging the Spaniards, who made a stout
+resistance, carrying off a few prisoners, and obtaining a scanty booty
+of some seven or eight pounds' worth of gold, which their slaves washed
+from the mud of the rivers. Alarmed at the multitude of Spaniards that
+began to gather round them, the marauders abandoned their design of
+attacking the town of Nata, on the south sea-coast, although many rich
+merchants lived there, whose slaves worked in the gold-washings of
+Veraguas. Returning to Tortuga, these undisciplined men, impatient of
+poverty, united themselves under the flag of a noble adventurer, the
+Chevalier du Plessis, who had just arrived in the Indies, poor and
+proud, and prepared to cruise against the Spaniard in those seas.
+Vauclin being an experienced pilot, well acquainted with the turtle
+islands, and every key and reef the surf washed from California to Cape
+Horn, was taken into favour by the titled privateersman, who promised
+him the first prize he captured, if he would sail in his company. But a
+serious difficulty arose in the execution of this liberal promise, for
+the Chevalier was soon after shot through the head while grappling with
+a Spanish ship of thirty-six guns, and Moses was elected captain in his
+stead. In his first cruise, the brave deserter was fortunate enough to
+take a cocoa vessel from the Havannah, with a cargo valued at 150,000
+livres.
+
+During this time, Lolonnois and his men remained alone and deserted in
+the gulf of Honduras. He was now in some distress, short of provisions,
+and in a vessel too "great to get out at the reflux of those seas." His
+300 men had no food but that which they contrived to kill daily on
+shore, living chiefly on the flesh of parrots and monkeys. By day they
+generally fished or hunted, by night, taking advantage of the land
+breeze, they sailed painfully on till they rounded Cape Gracias a Dios,
+and slowly the Pearl Islands hove in sight. Staunch and inexorable,
+Lolonnois, amid all the tedium of this enervating idleness, still
+nourished the project of making a swoop down upon Nicaragua, intending
+to leave his cumbrous vessel behind, and row up the river St. John in
+canoes, until he reached the lake. But the same reason that made his
+vessel lag behind those of his companions, now drove it ashore in a
+shallow near Cape Gracias, where it drew too much water to be
+extricated. In vain he unloaded his guns and iron, and used every means
+that experience and ingenuity could suggest to lighten the ship, and
+float her again into deep water. Always firm and resolute, Lolonnois at
+once determined to break her to pieces on the sand-shoal, and with her
+planks and nails to construct a boat.
+
+His men, with perfect _sang froid_, not even impatient at the loss, much
+less afraid of danger, escaping to land, began to build Indian
+_ajoupas_, or huts. Lolonnois, accustomed to such reverses, concealed
+his chagrin, if he even felt any. Regardless of himself, he adjured his
+men to lose no courage, for he knew of a means of escape, and, what was
+more, a way to make their fortune yet, before they returned to Tortuga.
+Prepared for every emergency, and even for the longest delay, part of
+the crew were at once employed in planting peas and other vegetables,
+the remainder in fishing and hunting, all but the few who worked busily
+at the boat in which Nicaragua was to be visited. In spite of desertion,
+failure, wreck, and famine, Lolonnois held on to the plan of the
+expedition, which he deemed cowardly and shameful to abandon. The men,
+confident in the sagacity and courage of their leader, surrendered
+themselves like children to his guidance.
+
+The Indians of the Perlas Islands, on which they had struck, were a
+fierce and untamable race, strong and agile, swift as horses, hardy
+divers, brave but cruel, warlike, and man-eaters. Their wooden clubs
+were jagged with crocodiles' teeth; they had no bows or arrows, but
+used lances a fathom and a-half long. They built no huts, and lived on
+fruits grown in plantations cleared from the forest. Fishers and
+swimmers, they were so dexterous as to be able to bring up with a rope
+an anchor of 600 cwt. from a rock, a feat which Esquemeling himself saw
+a few of them perform. The seamen in vain attempted to propitiate these
+wild freemen, to serve them as guides or hunters. At last, finding a
+great number together, and pursuing the fugitives, they tracked five men
+and four women to a cave, and took much pains to propitiate them. The
+captives remaining obstinately silent, as if from fear, in spite of the
+food that was given them, were dismissed with presents of knives and
+beads. They left, promising to return; "but soon forgot their
+_benefactors_," says Esquemeling, disgustfully. The sailors believed
+that at night all the Indians swam to a neighbouring island, as they
+never saw either boat or Indian again.
+
+Some time before this the Frenchmen's terror had been excited by the
+discovery that these Indians were cannibals. Two Buccaneers, a Frenchman
+and a Spaniard, had straggled into the woods in search of game. Pursued
+by a troop of savages, the latter, after a desperate struggle, was
+captured, and heard of no more; the former, the swifter footed of the
+two, escaped. A few days after, an armed party of a dozen Flibustiers,
+led by this survivor, went into the same part of the forest to see if
+they could find any traces of the Indian encampment. Near the place
+where the Spaniard had fallen into the ambush they discovered the ashes
+of a fire, still warm, and among the embers some human bones, well
+scraped, and a white man's hand with two fingers half roasted, but still
+unconsumed.
+
+For six months, till the long-boat was completed, the Buccaneers lived
+on Spanish wheat, bananas, and on the fruits and green crops which they
+had sown on landing. Their bread they baked in portable ovens saved from
+the wreck.
+
+Lolonnois now once more prepared to carry out his unabandoned project.
+With part of his crew he resolved to row up the river of Nicaragua, to
+capture some canoes, and return to fetch away those whom the new boat
+would not hold. The men cast lots for the choice of sailing with him. He
+took about one-half of the shipwrecked crew with him, part in the
+long-boat and part in a skiff which had been saved when the larger
+vessel drove on the bank. They arrived in a few days at Desaguadera,
+near Nicaragua, but attacked on the beach by an overpowering number of
+Spaniards and Indians, they were driven back to their boats, with the
+loss of many men, and escaped with difficulty, beaten and desponding.
+
+Lolonnois, now fairly at bay with fortune, still resolved neither to
+return to Tortuga ragged and penniless, nor to rejoin his comerades till
+he had obtained a sufficient number of canoes to embark his companions.
+In order the better to obtain provisions he divided his men into two
+bands. The one party proceeded to the Cape Gracias a Dios, where they
+were well received; the other sailed to Boca del Toro, on the coast of
+Carthagena, where adventurers frequently repaired for turtle and other
+provisions, intending to embark in the first friendly vessel that should
+arrive.
+
+Nicaragua was still destined to remain unscathed. "God Almighty," says
+Esquemeling, who writes with some bitterness, and probably much
+hypocrisy, "the time of His divine justice being now come, had appointed
+the Indians of Darien to be the instruments and executioners thereof."
+Landing at a place called the La Pointe a Diegue to obtain fresh water,
+Lolonnois and his men, weary of "wave, and wind, and oar," drew their
+canoes to land, and threw up entrenchments, knowing that they were now
+in the neighbourhood of the Bravo Indians, the most savage race known on
+the mainland--as cruel as sharks, and as numerous and greedy of blood as
+the vultures. He himself and a few others, passing the river, near the
+Gulf of Darien, landed in order to sack a town and obtain provisions.
+Here this modern Ulysses found a termination to his troubles and his
+life, for, being taken prisoner by the Indians, he was killed, chopped
+to pieces, and devoured. Many of his companions were also burnt alive,
+and but a few escaped to Tortuga, by the detail of their horrors to
+check for a few days the love of adventure in the minds of its restless
+and impetuous adventurers.
+
+Esquemeling, or his English translator--who generally considers it
+necessary to conclude his chapters with a sanctimonious moral, a snuffle
+of the nose, and a lifting up of the eyes--says, "Hither Lolonnois came
+(brought by his evil conscience that cried for punishment), thinking to
+act his cruelties; but the Indians, within a few days after his arrival,
+took him prisoner, throwing his body limb by limb into the fire, and his
+ashes into the air (_virtuous indignation_), that no trace or memory
+might remain of such an infamous, inhuman creature.... Thus ends the
+history, the life, and the miserable death of that infernal wretch,
+Lolonnois, who, full of horrid, execrable, and enormous deeds, and
+debtor to so much innocent blood, died by cruel and butcherly hands,
+such as his own were in the course of his life." Towards the conclusion
+of his malediction Esquemeling's wrath unfortunately gets much the
+better of his grammar.
+
+The men left behind in the island de las Perlas, after long waiting for
+their companions--who had only escaped Scylla to run into
+Charybdis--were taken off by an English adventurer, who, collecting a
+body of 500 men, resolved on an expedition to the mainland. Ascending
+the river Moustique, near Cape Gracias, he sailed on, expecting to find
+some inlet to the lake of Nicaragua, round which Lolonnois' men still
+hovered. The expedition started full of hope, for the shipwrecked men
+were rejoiced at ending ten months of suffering, anxiety, and privation.
+
+The result was worse than mere disappointment. In fifteen days they
+reached no Spanish town, but only some poor Indian villages, which they
+found deserted by the natives, who, aware of their coming, had fled,
+carrying off all the produce of their plantations. These they burnt in
+their rage, and marched recklessly onwards. They had carried no
+provision with them, expecting to find everywhere sufficient; and, to
+render their condition worse, had brought all their 500 men, except five
+or six who were left to guard each vessel. "These their hopes," says
+Esquemeling--turning up as usual the whites of his eyes--who looks with
+great contempt on all unsuccessful attempts at thieving, "were found
+totally vain, _as not being grounded_." In a few days the hope of
+plunder, which had first animated them, grew clouded by despondency.
+Scarcity rapidly became want, and they were reduced to such extreme
+necessity and hunger that they gathered the plants that grew on the
+river's bank for food. In a fortnight their courage and vigour had
+entirely gone; their hearts sank, and their bodies were wasted by
+famine.
+
+Leaving the river they took to the woods, seeking for Indian villages
+where they might obtain food. Ranging up and down the woods for some
+days in a fruitless search, they returned to the river, now their only
+guide, and struck back towards the point of coast where their ships lay.
+In this laborious journey they were reduced to much extremity--eating
+their shoes, their leather belts, and the very sheaths of their knives
+and swords. They grew at last so ravenous as to resolve to kill and
+devour the first Indian they could meet; but they could not obtain one
+either for food or as a guide. Some fell sick, and, fainting by the
+wayside, were left to perish. Many were killed and eaten by the Indians,
+and others died of starvation. At last they reached the shore, and,
+finding some comfort and relief to their present miseries, at once set
+sail to encounter more. After remaining some time on land, they
+re-embarked, but a quarrel arising between the French and English
+Buccaneers, who seldom kept long friends, they separated into small
+parties, and engaged in fresh expeditions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ALEXANDRE BRAS-DE-FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
+
+    Bras-de-Fer compared to Alexander the Great--His adventures and
+    stratagems--Montbars--Anecdotes of his childhood--Goes to sea--His
+    first fight--Meets and joins the Buccaneers--Defeats the Spanish
+    Fifties--His uncle killed--His revenge--The negro vessel--Adam and
+    Anne le Roux plunder Santiago.
+
+
+We now come to a class of Buccaneers who lived at we scarcely know what
+period, although they were probably contemporaries of Oexmelin. Their
+adventures, though on a narrower scale, are perhaps more interesting
+than those that had subsequently taken place, and are valuable as
+illustrations of manners.
+
+Oexmelin relates, in his usual shrewd and vivacious manner, the singular
+exploits of Alexandre Bras-de-Fer, a French adventurer, with whom he was
+acquainted, and who, unlike his contemporaries, never joined in large
+expeditions, preferring the promptitude of a single swift cruiser, with
+none to share his risks or subtract from his booty. His life seems to
+have been crowded with romantic and strange incidents. His character
+appears to have been a strange combination of bravery and chivalry, a
+love of rapine, and a fantastic vanity. Oexmelin says naively, that this
+modern Alexander was as great a man among the adventurers of Tortuga as
+the ancient Alexander was among the conquerors of the East. Nor does he
+see much difference between the two worthies, except that the Macedonian
+was the adventurer upon the larger scale.
+
+Our Alexandre was vigorous in body and handsome in feature--so, at
+least, vouches Oexmelin, who, a surgeon by profession, once cured him of
+a severe wound that he had received--a cure which, if Alexandre had been
+generous (which he was not, in this instance at least), might have made
+the doctor's fortune.
+
+Bras-de-Fer displayed as great judgment in the conception of his
+enterprises as he did courage in the carrying them out. His head and
+hand worked well together, and he seldom had to fight his way out of
+dangers into which his own incautiousness had led him. The vessel which
+he commanded he called the _Phoenix_, because it was of such a unique and
+peculiar structure that it was said to be among vessels what the phoenix
+was fabled to be among birds.
+
+Alexandre always went alone, in preference to crowding in a fleet. His
+pride or his prudence may have given him a fondness for solitary
+cruises, for the _Phoenix_ was a bird of prey. A picked crew and a single
+swift vessel had many advantages over a rebellious flotilla--and
+subordinate captains were often mutinous if not treacherous. If solitude
+increased his risk, it also increased his probability of success.
+
+Oexmelin, the only writer who mentions Alexandre, relates but one of his
+adventures, which he took down, as he tells us, from the hero's own
+lips. The rest of his exploits he suppresses, either from a fear of
+being tedious or a dread of being considered a mere romancer.
+
+On the occasion of which he speaks, Alexandre was bound upon an
+expedition of great consequence--which, however, as it did not succeed,
+the narrator, with a wise modesty, does not think worth mentioning.
+After lying some time imprisoned in a tedious calm, his prayers for a
+change of weather were answered by a great storm, that blew up the sea
+into mountains--wind and fire seeming to struggle together in the air
+for the possession of the helpless ship and its pale crew. The furious
+thunder drowned the very roar of the sea, and the masts soon went by the
+board. The lightning, striking its burning arrows through the deck, set
+fire to the powder-magazine, and blew up the part of the vessel in which
+it was stored. Half of the crew were hurled into the air, and were
+killed before they reached the boiling sea that eagerly waited for their
+fall. The remainder of the crew, finding the vessel going down by the
+head, took to swimming, and soon reached dry land: Alexandre--strong and
+brawny, brave, but desirous of life, and always awake to the means of
+its preservation--by no means the last, setting an example at once of
+prudence, coolness, and decision. On shaking the brine from their limbs
+and looking around, the wrecked men found that they had been thrown upon
+a tract of land as much to be dreaded by the Buccaneer as the realm of
+Polyphemus was by the wise Ulysses. They stood upon an island near the
+Boca del Drago (Dragon's Mouth), inhabited by a tribe of Indians, fierce
+and cruel cannibals. Remaining for some time upon the shore, they
+exerted themselves in recovering what they could from the scorched
+driftings of the wreck. Amongst other things they saved--what was more
+valuable than food, because they presented the means of saving their
+lives for the present and for the future--a number of their hunters'
+muskets, sufficient to arm all their number, together with a quantity of
+powder and lead for bullets. Without either of the three requisites the
+other two had been useless. They now gathered courage from the
+possibility of escape, and determined to secure themselves from the
+Indians, reconnoitre the place for fear of surprise, and after that
+remain patiently encamped till some friendly vessel should arrive.
+
+One day, while some of the band were smoking, singing, and talking,
+their past dangers already half forgotten in the desire of escaping the
+present by encountering fresh in the future, the sentinels on the
+look-out hill gave the signal of an approaching vessel. On all rushing
+to the spot, the keener eyes detected a large ship, dark against the
+grey horizon. It presently discharged a gun at the shore, and in the
+direction in which they stood. Preparing for the worst, Alexandre and
+his men hid themselves in a wooded hollow and held a council of war.
+Some were of opinion that they should wait for the stranger's arrival,
+and then quietly beg the captain to take them on board. The more
+impatient and lawless, less pacific in such an emergency, believed that
+such a plan would lead, if the vessel proved, as it probably would, a
+Spaniard, to their all being taken prisoners, and at once strung from
+the yard-arm, without inquiry, as Frenchmen and pirates. Bras-de-Fer
+spoke last, and crushed all opposition by his voice and gesture. He was
+for war to the death, and escape at any risk. Better Spanish rope than
+Indian fire, better pistol shot than starvation. Quick in decision and
+firm in execution, he had at once determined not merely to stand on the
+defensive, but at all risks to assume the aggressive. The adventurers
+yielded as if an angel had spoken, for Alexandre had more than the usual
+ascendancy of a leader over them. Both his mind and body were of a more
+athletic bulk and iron mould. He could dare and suffer more. His active
+and his passive, his moral and physical courage, were greater than
+theirs. They loved him because he shared their dangers, and did not
+humiliate them by the assumption of his real superiority. He wore the
+crown, but he was not always dazzling their eyes with its oppressive
+glitter. They respected him, because he could control both his own
+passions and those of the men whom he led to victory and never to
+defeat. The success of his victories he doubled by the prudence with
+which they were followed up, and the skill with which he conducted a
+retreat rendered his very defeats in themselves successes.
+
+The vessel, which proved to be a Spanish merchant ship, with war
+equipments, approached nearer, standing off and on, attracted by the
+fruit and flowers whose perfume spread over the level sea, and allured
+by that fragrance, a sure proof of the existence of good water not far
+from the shore. The boats were lowered, and a well-armed party landed
+with much caution. The captain marched at their head, followed by his
+best soldiers, dreading an ambuscade of the Indians of that coast, who
+were known to be warlike and treacherous, but not suspecting the
+Buccaneers, who kept themselves in the wood, ready to swoop down upon
+their prey, like the kite upon the dovecote.
+
+Already well acquainted with the paths and foot-tracks, Alexandre's men
+crept quietly through the trees, which grew thick and dark, and,
+defiling by secret avenues, surrounded the principal approach by which
+the Spaniards had already entered, in good order and on the alert, but
+with apprehensions already subsiding. The adventurers being very
+inferior in number and scantily armed, kept themselves hidden, waiting
+for chance to give them some momentary advantage. When the enemy was
+well encircled in the defile, mistaking perhaps the lighted matches for
+fire-flies among the branches, the French suddenly opened a murderous
+fire upon the soldiers, who found themselves girt by a belt of flame,
+coming from they knew not where. A pilgrim seeing a volcano opening at
+his feet could not be more astonished. The Spaniards, seeing no enemies
+to aim at, withheld their fire, thinking that the Indians were burning
+the forest. The absence of arrows, and the report of muskets, convinced
+them more deadly enemies awaited them, and that Europeans and not
+Indians were the preparers of the ambush. With much promptitude,
+instead of flying in a foolish headlong rout, they threw themselves upon
+their faces; and the captain gave the word of command not to fire till
+the enemy came in sight, being ignorant yet of their number and their
+nation.
+
+The adventurers looked through the loopholes which they had cut in the
+thick underwood for the passage of their firearms, to see what effect
+their volley had produced, the smoke now clearing away and permitting
+them to see more clearly. To their astonishment they could see no one;
+the enemy had vanished, as if blown to pieces by the fire. They began to
+think that they had retreated, although they had heard no sound of their
+retreat; they could scarcely believe that they were all dead.
+
+Alexandre's impatience soon decided the question; determined to conquer,
+he chafed at the delay and mystery. His resolution was soon made. He
+left his ambush and broke out from the wood into the open. The mystery
+was quickly solved, for he was instantly attacked by the Spaniards,
+who, when they saw him break cover, sprang up to their feet, with a
+shout, as swift as the foes of Cadmus. Alexandre, retreating for a
+moment to make his spring the surer, leaped upon the hostile captain and
+aimed a blow at his head with his sabre, which was warded off by a large
+scull-cap, from which the steel glanced. Bras-de-Fer was about to repeat
+his blow with better effect, when his foot caught in a root and he fell.
+Closely pressed by his antagonist, and requiring all his skill to save
+his life, rising up, with his left hand and with his strong right arm,
+he struck the uplifted sabre from the hand of his enemy. This lucky blow
+of a defenceless man gave Alexandre time to leap up and call the
+adventurers, who had not then left the ambush, and were now pouring out
+on every side, pressing the enemy in the rear and on the flank. Having
+made a great carnage among the Spaniards, the Flibustiers, at a signal
+from Alexandre, closed in, and, bearing down upon the craven and
+terrified foe sword in hand, slew them to a man, taking special care
+that not a single one should escape, for fear of spreading an alarm.
+
+The Spanish crew remaining to keep guard in the vessel, had heard the
+sound of musketry, and at once supposed that their people had fallen in
+with some hostile Indians, but knowing that their troops were brave and
+numerous, and believing they could easily cut a few savages to pieces,
+they sent no reinforcement, but contented themselves by discharging a
+noisy broadside to turn the scale of the supposed battle, and increase
+the terror of the fugitives. On the other hand, the victorious
+adventurers lost no time in following up their ambush by an ingenious
+stratagem. They stripped the dead, and arrayed themselves in their dress
+and arms. They then collected a quantity of their own Indian arrows,
+which they had previously taken from savages which they had killed. Then
+pulling their broad-brimmed Panama hats over their eyes (even the
+captain's, with a red gash through it), and shouldering their arms,
+imitating the Spanish march, and uttering shouts of "victory, victory,"
+proceeded to the shore at the point nearest the vessel. The guards on
+board, seeing their supposed companions returned so soon, victorious,
+laden with spoil, and each one carrying a sheaf of arrows, received them
+with open arms as they clambered up by the main-chains. Before they
+could recover from their astonishment, the Buccaneers were masters of
+the vessel. There was scarcely any struggle, for only the sailors and a
+few marines had been left on board. The surprise was complete and
+sudden, and the most watchful might be pardoned for being deluded by
+such an artifice. The adventurers found the vessel laden with costly
+merchandise, and soon started with it upon a trip of a very different
+nature from that for which it had been first intended.
+
+Oexmelin laments that in many other adventures which Alexandre told him,
+he found that he passed too lightly over his own exploits, and
+attributed all the glory to the courage of his companions. But when his
+comerades related the story, they were not so generous to him as he had
+been to them, and, either from envy or shame, suppressed many of his
+noblest actions. He concludes his sketch of the two Alexanders with
+incomparable _naivete_ in the following manner: "Au reste, je ne
+pretends pas que la comparaison soit toute-a-fait juste, car s'il y a
+quelque rapport, _il y a encore plus de difference_. En effet il etoit
+aussi brave que temeraire, et lui etoit brave que prudent. Alexandre
+aymoit le vin, et lui l'eau-de-vie. Aussi Alexandre fuyoit les femmes
+par grandeur d'ame, et luy les cherchoit par tendresse de coeur; et pour
+preuve de ce que je dis il s'en trouve une assez belle dans le vaisseau
+dont j'ay parle, qu'il prefera a tout l'avantage du butin."
+
+"To conclude: if I have compared him to the Great Alexander, I do not
+pretend that the comparison is altogether just; for, if there are some
+points of resemblance, there are many more of difference. Of a truth,
+the one Alexander was as brave as he was headstrong, the other as brave
+as he was prudent; the one loved wine, and the other brandy; the one
+fled from women through real greatness of heart, the other sought them
+from a natural tenderness of soul; and, as a proof of what I say, he met
+a beautiful woman in the vessel of which I have spoken, whom he valued
+more than all the other spoil."
+
+Providence, a French moral philosopher ventures to suggest, raised up
+the Buccaneers to revenge on the Spaniards all the sufferings and
+injustices of the Indians. The Spaniard was the scourge of the Indian,
+and the Buccaneer the scourge of the Spaniard.
+
+Lolonnois and Montbars are always considered as equal claimants for the
+hateful pre-eminence of being the most ferocious of the whole Buccaneer
+brotherhood, considering them from their origin to their extinction. But
+the sovereignty of blood must be at once awarded to Lolonnois. Montbars
+seldom killed a Spaniard who begged for mercy, while Lolonnois delighted
+to spurn them from his feet, and slew all he could without pity, or even
+regard for ransom. It was from the very lips of Lolonnois that Oexmelin
+was informed that Montbars was sprung from one of the best families in
+Languedoc. He was well educated, but soon disregarded every other study
+to practise martial exercise, and particularly shooting. These warlike
+sports he pursued with a concentrated, unremitting eagerness,
+approaching insanity. Even as a boy, when firing with his cross-bow, he
+said he only wished to shoot well that he might know how to kill a
+Spaniard. His mind had already become filled with a generous but cruel
+determination, which grew rapidly into monomania. The animal force of a
+strong but ill-balanced mind all grew to this point, and his thoughts by
+day, and his dreams by night, became but a reiteration and reblending of
+the one master passion. No one ever became his confidant, but the
+following is the general explanation given of the deeds of his after
+life. It is said that, in his early childhood, Montbars had read of the
+almost incredible cruelties practised by the Spaniards during the
+conquest of America. In the Antilles, they had exhibited the horrors of
+the Inquisition in broad daylight. Fanaticism, avarice, and ambition had
+ruled like a trinity of devils over the beautiful regions, desolated
+and plague-smitten; whole nations had become extinct, and the name of
+Christ was polluted into the mere cypher of an armed and aggressive
+commerce. These books had impressed the gloomy boy with a deep,
+absorbing, fanatical hatred of the conquerors, and a fierce pity for the
+conquered. He believed himself marked out by God as the Gideon sent to
+their relief. Dreams of riches and gratified ambition spurred him
+unconsciously to the task. He thought and dreamed of nothing but the
+murdered Indians. He inquired eagerly from travellers for news from
+America, and testified prodigious and ungovernable joy when he heard
+that the Spaniards had been defeated by the Caribs or the Bravos.
+
+He indeed knew by heart every deed of atrocity that history recorded of
+his enemies, and would dilate on each one with a rude and impatient
+eloquence. The following story he was frequently accustomed to relate,
+and to gloat over with a look that indicated a mind capable of even
+greater cruelty, if once led away by a fanatic spirit of retaliation. A
+Spaniard, the story ran, was once upon a time appointed governor of an
+Indian province, which was inhabited by a fierce and warlike race of
+savages. He proved a cruel governor, unforgiving in his resentments, and
+insatiable in his avarice. The Indians, unable any longer to endure
+either his barbarities or his exactions, seized him, and, showing him
+gold, told him that they had at last been able, by great good luck, to
+find enough to satisfy his demands. They then held him firm, and melting
+the ore, poured it down his throat till he expired in torments under
+their hands.
+
+On one occasion, Montbars openly showed that his reason was somewhat
+disturbed, and that, on the one subject of his thoughts, he had ceased
+to be able to reflect calmly. While a boy, he had to take part in a
+comedy which was to be acted by himself and the fellow-students of the
+college, for his friends either ignored or disregarded his dreams and
+fancies. Amongst other scenes was a prologue, in the shape of a dialogue
+between a Spaniard and a Frenchman. Montbars was to represent the
+Frenchman, and his companion the Spaniard. The Spaniard, appearing first
+upon the stage, began to utter a thousand invectives against France,
+mingled with much ribald rhodomontade, and Montbars became excited, and
+could not contain his impatience. To his heated mind the mimic scene
+became a reality. He broke in upon the stage, furiously interrupted his
+comerade in the middle of his speech, and, loading him with blows, would
+certainly have put him to death on the spot, as "a Spanish liar and
+murderer," had the combatants not been separated by the terrified
+bystanders.
+
+His father, rich, and loving his son much, perhaps all the better for
+these wayward eccentricities, which, he believed, contact of the world
+and the pleasures of youth would soon drive from his memory, desired to
+enrol him in the army, or induce him to enter some profession. But to
+all his questions and entreaties the boy only replied, that all he
+wanted was "to fight against the Spaniards." Seeing that his friends
+would oppose his project, he ran away from his father's house, and took
+refuge at Havre with an uncle who commanded one of the French king's
+ships. He was about to start on a cruise against Spain, with whom France
+was then at war, and, pleased at the boy's avowed attachment to a
+maritime life, wrote to his father, approving of the boy's resolution.
+The father reluctantly gave what could be construed into a consent, and
+in a few days the vessel sailed.
+
+During the voyage out, the young fanatic evinced the greatest eagerness
+for an engagement, and directly a vessel appeared in sight ran to arm
+himself, hoping it might be a Spaniard. At length, one did in reality
+appear, and he had an opportunity of distinguishing himself against his
+declared enemies. They gave chase to the Spanish vessel, and received
+her broadside. The elder Montbars, seeing his nephew intoxicated with
+joy, and, disregarding all risk of exposure, determining to throw away
+his life, clapped him under hatches, as a reckless boy, and only let him
+rush out when the boarding commenced, and the enemy's vessel was
+evidently their own. The liberated youth led the boarders with all the
+calmness of a veteran man-of-war's-man. Leaping, sabre in hand, upon the
+foe, he fought with them pell-mell, broke through their thickest ranks,
+and, followed by a few whom his courage animated to rival his own
+rashness, rushed twice from end to end of the Spanish vessel, mowing
+down all he met to the right and left. The Spaniards were refused
+quarter, those who escaped the sword perished in the sea, and Montbars,
+to whom the honour of the victory was unanimously awarded, refused
+quarter to a single one. The prize was found full of spoil, the hold
+crammed with riches, containing 30,000 bales of cotton, 2000 bales of
+silk, besides Indian stuffs, 2000 packets of incense, and 1000 of
+cloves, which made up the treasure. In addition to all this, they found
+a small casket of diamonds, the case clasped with iron, and fastened
+with four locks, which alone outvalued all the bulkier merchandise.
+While his uncle and the sailors exulted over these treasures, Montbars
+was counting the dead Spaniards, and gloating over the first victims of
+the hecatomb he still hoped to slay. Blood, and not booty, was his
+object.
+
+In spite of the young victor, a few Spanish sailors and officers had
+been spared in the general carnage. From these survivors they learnt
+that two other vessels had been parted from them in a storm, near where
+they then were (St. Domingo), and that their rendezvous had been fixed
+at Port Margot. Captain Montbars determined to wait for them there, and
+to capture them by the stratagem of sending the captured vessel with its
+Spanish colours out to meet them, as a decoy. While the French vessel
+and its prize lay waiting at the rendezvous, some huntsmen's boats came
+off to sea, bringing boucaned meat to barter for brandy. The Buccaneers
+apologised for bringing so little meat, saying, "that a band of Spanish
+Fifties had lately ravaged their district, burnt their hides, stolen
+their dried meat, and burnt their boucans."
+
+"And why do you suffer it?" said Montbars, impetuously, for he had been
+listening eagerly all this time, to the recital of a new proof of
+Spanish perfidy.
+
+"We do not suffer it," answered the huntsmen, roughly. "The Spaniards
+know well what sort of people we are, and they chose a time when we were
+all away cow-killing; but our day is coming. We are now collecting our
+companions, who have suffered worse than we have; we have given notice
+far and wide, and if the fifty grow to 1000, we shall soon bring them to
+bay."
+
+"If you are willing," says Montbars, "I will march at your head. I do
+not want to command you, but to expose myself first, to show you what I
+am ready to do against these accursed Spaniards."
+
+The old hunters, astonished at the daring of a mere youth, and glad of
+another musket, accepted his proposal. His uncle, unable to rein him in,
+and already weary of so hot-brained a volunteer, yielded to his
+entreaties. He permitted him to go, giving him a party of seamen to
+guard him, and supplied him with but few provisions, in hopes of
+bringing him quickly back. He threatened, on parting, to leave him
+behind if he was not on board to the very hour, then calling him a
+foolish madcap, and cursing him for a hair-brain, he dismissed him with
+his blessing, swearing the next minute there wasn't a braver lad at that
+moment treading a plank.
+
+Montbars departed with some uneasiness, not caring about his uncle's
+advice or the scantiness of provisions, but only afraid that he might
+miss the Spaniards on land, and be absent also when the Spanish vessels
+were attacked. He wanted no greater inducement to hurry his return than
+the prospect of a naval engagement. He had scarcely landed with his men,
+when the hunters brought them into a small savannah surrounded by hills
+and woods. They had not taken many steps across this broad
+hunting-ground before they saw some mounted Spaniards appear in the
+distance--these men were part of a troop that had collected, hearing
+that the Buccaneers were assembling to attack them.
+
+Montbars, transported with rage at the sight of a Spaniard, would have
+rushed at once upon them, single-handed, but an old experienced
+Buccaneer caught him by the arm: "Stop," said he, "there is plenty of
+time, and, if you do what I tell you, not one of these fellows shall
+escape." These words, "not one," would at any time have arrested
+Montbars, and they did so then. The old Buccaneer, crying a halt, bade
+the men turn their backs on the Spaniards, as if they had not seen them.
+He next unrolled the linen tent, which he carried in the usual fashion
+of his craft, and began to pitch it, followed by all his companions, who
+did the same, imitating their fugleman, without inquiry, trusting to the
+address that had often before delivered them out of danger. They then
+drew out their brandy flasks and affected to prepare for a revel,
+intending to deceive the Spaniards, who, they knew, would give them time
+to drink, in hopes of surprising them, an easy prey, when asleep. The
+empty horns were passed round with jokes, and songs, and shouts, and the
+corked flasks circulated as merrily as if the feast had been a real one.
+Without appearing to observe, they could see the Spanish patrols
+disappear over the ridge of the hill, to warn their men in the valley
+to prepare for a night surprise. The Buccaneer leader, passing the
+signal from hand to hand, sent an _engage_ into the woods to quickly
+rouse all the "brothers" in the neighbourhood, to bid them come and help
+them, and to prepare an ambush in the opposite forest. In the mean time,
+other scouts were sent to watch the motions of the enemy, to be sure
+that they were coming, and were not making any flank movement.
+
+At dusk the Buccaneers slipped quietly from beneath their tents, and
+crept into the adjacent woods. Here they found their companions and
+their _engages_ already assembled and eager for the attack. Montbars,
+weary of all preparations, was now burning to see the Spaniards,
+declared they never would come, and that they had better go out and
+surprise them while night lasted; but the Spaniards were purposely
+delaying, knowing that the longer they delayed the deeper would be the
+sleep of the revellers. At daybreak, they could see a dark troop
+beginning to move forward over the ridge, and soon to descend the hill
+into the plain in good order, a small detachment marching before them as
+a forlorn hope. The Buccaneers, well posted and unobserved, waited for
+them, sure of their prey, for the tents being pitched at some distance
+one from the other, they could see every movement of the Spaniards. As
+they drew nearer, the Fifties broke into small troops, and each
+encircled a tent. To their astonishment, at that moment the wood grew a
+flame, and a hot rolling fire led on the advancing Buccaneers, who,
+breaking out with yell and shout, very terrible in the silence of the
+dawning, overthrew horse and rider. Montbars, inspired by the fever of
+the onslaught, which always seemed for a moment to restore the balance
+of his mind, leaped on a horse, whose rider he had killed, and headed
+the attack. Wherever resistance was made, he rode in, charging every
+knot of troopers as they attempted to rally. Hurrying on too far beyond
+his companions, while breaking into the heart of the squadron, he was
+surrounded, and would have been quickly overpowered had he not been
+rescued by a determined rush of his men. More furious at this escape,
+he pursued the scattered enemy right and left, with increased fury,
+inflicting blows as dreadful as they were unusual. One of the
+Buccaneers, seeing many of his men suffering from the Indian arrows,
+cried out to the Indians, in Spanish, pointing to Montbars, "Do you not
+see that God has sent you a liberator, who fights for you, to deliver
+you from the Spaniards, and yet you still fight for your tyrants?"
+Hearing these words, and astonished at Montbars' contempt for death, the
+archers changed sides and turned their arrows against the Spaniards, who
+fled, overwhelmed by this new misfortune, and perhaps impelled by an
+undefinable and superstitious terror.
+
+Montbars looked upon this day as the happiest in his life. He had seen
+the Indians he had so pitied fighting by his side, and regarding him as
+their protector. Cleaving down a wounded Spaniard, who clung to his
+knees and begged for mercy, he cried, "I would it were the last of this
+accursed race." An eye witness of the battle describes the carnage as
+horrible--the living trampling on the living, and stumbling over the
+dying and the dead. The Buccaneers and the Indians, rejoicing in their
+liberty and their revenge, entreated Montbars to follow up his
+successes, and wanted at once to ravage the Spanish plantations, and
+extirpate the survivors, while they were still discouraged. Montbars
+gladly consented to the proposal, and was about to march exultingly at
+their head, when the boom of a cannon was heard. It was the report of a
+gun from his uncle's vessel, and he could not resist obeying a signal
+that might be the signal of an approaching battle. He instantly hurried
+back, but found, to his annoyance, that the signal had been only fired
+as a warning to announce the hour of instant sailing.
+
+The hunters, already attached to their young leader, refused to leave
+him, and the Indians were afraid to abide the vengeance of the
+Spaniards. They were all therefore at once placed on board the prize,
+and supplied with muskets and sabres. The delighted uncle appointed
+Montbars as captain, with an old officer, under the name of lieutenant,
+to act as his guardian.
+
+After eight days' sail, Montbars was attacked, at the mouth of a large
+key, by four Spanish vessels, each one larger than his own. They
+surrounded him so suddenly that he had no time to escape, and he lay
+amongst them like a wolf at bay. They formed, in fact, the van of the
+great Indian plate fleet, which was, every year, as eagerly expected by
+the king of Spain as it was by all the marauders of the Spanish main.
+The elder Montbars, bold and hardy, unhesitatingly attacked two of the
+vessels, and several times drove back their boarders. Although gouty
+himself and unable to move, the staunch old Gascon shouted his orders
+from his elbow chair; and, cursing alternately the enemy and the
+disease, defended his ship to the last extremity. Having fought for more
+than three hours with ferocious obstinacy, and seeing his young hero
+terribly pressed by his two adversaries, he resolved upon a final
+effort, the last struggle of a wild beast that feels the knife is at his
+throat. Firing a tremendous broadside, he attacked both his enemies
+with such fury that he sank them and himself, and died "laughing" in all
+the exultation of that revenge which is the only victory of despair.
+
+Montbars the younger made great exertions to save himself and to avenge
+his uncle. The old lion was dead, but the cub had much life in him yet.
+He sank one of his antagonists with a crashing shot and boarded the
+other. His Indians, seeing their leader enter the Spanish vessel at one
+end, threw themselves into the water and clambered promptly up the
+other. Their war-cries and arrows produced a powerful diversion, and
+took the Spaniards by surprise. Throwing many into the sea, they killed
+others, while Montbars put all that resisted to the sword. In a short
+time he was master of a vessel larger even than those that had been
+sunk. The friendly Indians, who now looked upon him as an invincible
+demigod, he employed in a fruitless search for his uncle's body.
+Conquerors and conquered were destined to remain locked in each other's
+arms, and piled over with bloody trophies of burnt wreck until the day
+that the sea should give up her dead.
+
+The hunters renewed their proposal of a descent upon the mainland, and
+Montbars agreed to any scheme which would enable him to avenge his uncle
+and his friends. He had formerly lived to avenge the wrongs of others,
+to these were now added his own. The governor of the province, hearing
+of the contemplated attack, prepared an ambuscade of negroes and
+militiamen. Putting himself at the head of 800 men, divided into three
+battalions, his wings strengthened with cavalry and his van guarded with
+cannon, he prepared to prevent the landing of the "Exterminator."
+
+These preparations only increased the ardour of Montbars. It seemed
+cowardly to ravage an unprotected country: its devastation, after
+defeating its defenders, was a reward of conquest. Montbars was the
+first to leap from the canoes, and the first to rush upon the Spanish
+pikes. The front battalion was soon repulsed, and some Indians taking
+the reserve force in the flank, they were driven back in great
+disorder. Montbars, hotly pursuing, made a prodigious carnage of the
+enemy, and carried fire and sword far into the interior.
+
+One day, while at sea, the young captain, already a veteran in
+experience, was obliged to put into a bay to careen. To his great
+surprise, although the place was a mere track of sand, he saw some
+Spaniards on a distant plain, marching in good order and well-armed.
+Fearing that if they saw his men they would take to flight, he sent a
+few of his favourite Indians to decoy them towards him. Then falling
+upon them with fury as they cried out for quarter Montbars shouted, in
+Spanish, that they had nothing to hope for till they had killed himself
+and all his men. These dreadful words, together with his revengeful
+looks, drove them to take up their arms and fight with dogged and brutal
+despair, till they were slain almost to a man. Advancing into the
+country in search of more human prey, Montbars carried off the arms of
+the Spaniards and a great quantity of fruits and provisions.
+
+It appeared, from a survivor, that the Spaniards had arrived in that
+country in a singular manner. They had formed the crew in guard of a
+vessel full of negro slaves who had conspired together to drive the ship
+on shore. They had secretly bored holes in the ship's hold, in which
+they had placed pluggets, which they drew out, and replaced, unseen, and
+in a moment. While the Spaniards were seated together, talking with
+their usual stately, stolid phlegm, this unaccountable leak would break
+out and fill the cabin, or drench them in their hammocks. The slaves
+never seemed alarmed, but always astonished, and filled the air with
+interjections, in the Congo language. The water rushing in pell-mell,
+even the ship's carpenter did not know from where, drove all hands, at
+great danger to the ship, almost to leave the helm to save the cargo,
+which was already damaged. The negroes, quiet and orderly, would
+generally succeed, after a time, in stopping the leak, and excited
+general admiration by their promptitude and naval skill. All then went
+on well for a time; but with the least wind or storm the leak
+recommenced, till the very captain began reluctantly to confess, with
+tears in his eyes, that they were all as good as lost, for the vessel
+was dangerous, and not seaworthy. In the middle of the night, or at meal
+time, this supernatural leak would recommence, till the pumps were all
+but worn out, and the men faint with want of sleep. One day, when the
+vessel was skirting a reef, the negroes watched the opportunity, and the
+leak commenced with redoubled fury, the slaves howling as if from the
+very disquietness of their hearts. The Spaniards, thinking all hope
+lost, and the vessel, as they declared, already beginning to settle
+down, abandoned the ship, and threw themselves on that very tongue of
+land where Montbars afterwards surprised them. The trick had been
+cleverly planned and cleverly executed, but a hitch in the machinery had
+nearly ruined all. One of the blacks, more timid or less sagacious than
+the rest, seeing the water pour in with more than usual impetuosity, and
+on all sides, lost his presence of mind. Not able at once, in his panic,
+to find the hole which he had to stop, he believed that his companions
+had also failed, and that all was indeed lost, and, throwing himself
+overboard without inquiring, he joined the Spaniards, who were thanking
+God (prematurely) for their deliverance.
+
+Looking back for his companions, to his horror he saw a dozen of them
+tugging at the helm, and putting out wildly to sea. The truth flashed
+upon him, and he knew in a moment that his safety was a loss. Giving way
+to uncontrollable despair, he tore his wool, and stamped his feet, and
+cursed his fetish, and stretched out his hands, as if to stay the
+parting vessel. The Spaniards, astonished at this apparently passionate
+desire to be drowned, began slowly to discover the successful stratagem.
+They looked: "Demonio, St. Antonio!"--the vessel did not sink, but
+glided swiftly out to sea. They could see the blacks laughing, pulling
+at the ropes, and grinning from the port-holes. They turned with fury on
+the unhappy survivor, and put him to the torture till he confessed the
+truth.
+
+And this story completes all that history has preserved of one of the
+strangest combinations of fanatic and soldier that has ever appeared
+since the days of Loyola. In another age, and under other circumstances,
+he might have become a second Mohammed. Equally remorseless, his
+ambition, though narrower, seems to have been no less fervid. If he was
+cruel, we must allow him to have been sincere even in his fanaticism.
+Daring, untiring, of unequalled courage, and unmatched resolution, the
+cruelty of the Spaniards he put down by greater cruelty. He passes from
+us into unknown seas, and we hear of him no more. He died probably
+unconscious of crime, unpitying and unpitied.
+
+Oexmelin, who saw Montbars at Honduras, describes him as active,
+vivacious, and full of fire, like all the Gascons. He was of tall
+stature, erect and firm, his air grand, noble, and martial. His
+complexion was sun-burnt, and the colour of his eyes could not be
+discerned under the deep, arched vaulting of his bushy eyebrows. His
+very glance in battle was said to intimidate the Spaniards, and to drive
+them to despair.
+
+In 1659, Santiago was pillaged by the Flibustiers, in revenge for the
+murder of twelve Frenchmen, who had been shot by a Spanish captain, who
+took them from a Flemish vessel, sparing only a woman, and a child who
+hid itself under the robe of a monk.
+
+Determined on retaliation, the people of the coast assembled to the
+number of 500. Obtaining an English commission, they embarked on board a
+frigate from Nantes, and a number of small craft--De L'Isle being their
+commander, and Adam, Lormel, and Anne le Roux their lieutenants. They
+landed at Puerto de Plata, "le Dimanche des Rameaux," and marched upon
+St. Jago at daybreak. Passing over the bodies of the guards, they rushed
+to the governor's house, and surprised him in bed. He, knowing French,
+threw himself on his knees, and told them that peace was about to be
+declared between the two nations. They replied, that they carried an
+English commission, and, reproaching him for his cruelties, bade him
+either prepare for death, or pay down 60,000 crowns. Part of this ransom
+he instantly paid in hides. The pillage of the town lasted twenty-four
+hours, and nothing was spared; the very bells were carried from the
+churches, and the altars stripped of their plate. No violence, however,
+we are glad to record, was offered to the women, the Brotherhood having
+agreed, that any such offender should lose his share of the spoil.
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.
+
+
+INTERESTING NEW WORKS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+
+RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.
+
+By TORRENS M'CULLAGH, Esq.
+
+2 vols. post 8vo.
+
+"We feel assured that Mr. M'Cullagh's Work will be received with general
+satisfaction."--_Literary Gazette._
+
+"Such a man as Sheil eminently deserved a biography, and Mr. M'Cullagh
+has, we think, proved himself an exceedingly proper person to undertake
+it. His narrative is lucid and pleasant, sound and hearty in sentiment,
+and sensible in dissertation; altogether we may emphatically call this
+an excellent biography."--_Daily News._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SKETCHES, LEGAL AND POLITICAL,
+
+BY THE LATE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+
+RICHARD LALOR SHEIL.
+
+2 vols. post 8vo.
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+ATHENAEUM.
+
+"We cordially recommend these sketches as interesting in matter and
+brilliant in composition. Their literary merit is very great."
+
+MESSENGER.
+
+"These volumes will delight the student and charm the general reader."
+
+DUBLIN EVENING MAIL.
+
+"These volumes contain more matter of high and enduring interest to all
+classes of readers than any publication of equal extent, professing to
+illustrate the social and literary position or treat of the domestic
+manners and history of our country."
+
+DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.
+
+"Of the great power and brilliancy of these papers there can be no
+second opinion. In the British senate, as in his own native land, the
+name of Richard Lalor Sheil will be long remembered in connexion with
+eloquence and learning and with genius. In these volumes he has left a
+memorial of all the gems of his rich and varied intellect--every phase
+and line of his versatile and prolific mind."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Also, just ready,_
+
+MR. CURRAN'S SKETCHES OF THE IRISH BAR.
+
+WITH A SELECTION OF OTHER PAPERS, LEGAL, LITERARY, AND POLITICAL.
+
+2 vols. post 8vo.
+
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF MISS BURNEY'S DIARY.
+
+_In Seven Volumes, small 8vo,_ EMBELLISHED WITH PORTRAITS, _Price only
+3s. each, elegantly bound, either of which may be had separately,_
+
+  DIARY AND LETTERS
+  OF
+  MADAME D'ARBLAY,
+
+AUTHOR OF "EVELINA," "CECILIA," &c.
+
+INCLUDING THE PERIOD OF
+
+HER RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+EDINBURGH REVIEW.
+
+"Madame D'Arblay lived to be classic. Time set on her fame, before she
+went hence, that seal which is seldom set except on the fame of the
+departed. All those whom we have been accustomed to revere as
+intellectual patriarchs seemed children when compared with her; for
+Burke had sat up all night to read her writings, and Johnson had
+pronounced her superior to Fielding, when Rogers was still a schoolboy,
+and Southey still in petticoats. Her Diary is written in her earliest
+and best manner; in true woman's English, clear, natural, and lively. It
+ought to be consulted by every person who wishes to be well acquainted
+with the history of our literature and our manners."
+
+TIMES.
+
+"Miss Burney's work ought to be placed beside Boswell's 'Life,' to which
+it forms an excellent supplement."
+
+LITERARY GAZETTE.
+
+"This publication will take its place in the libraries beside Walpole
+and Boswell."
+
+MESSENGER.
+
+"This work may be considered a kind of supplement to Boswell's Life of
+Johnson. It is a beautiful picture of society as it existed in manners,
+taste, and literature, in the reign of George the Third, drawn by a
+pencil as vivid and brilliant as that of any of the celebrated persons
+who composed the circle."
+
+POST.
+
+"Miss Burney's Diary, sparkling with wit, teeming with lively anecdote
+and delectable gossip, and full of sound and discreet views of persons
+and things, will be perused with interest by all classes of readers."
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF THE LIVES OF THE QUEENS.
+
+_Now in course of Publication, in Eight Volumes, post octavo (comprising
+from 600 to 700 pages each), Price only 7s. 6d. per Volume, elegantly
+bound, either of which may be had separately, to complete sets_,
+
+LIVES
+
+OF THE
+
+QUEENS OF ENGLAND.
+
+BY AGNES STRICKLAND.
+
+Dedicated by Express Permission to her Majesty.
+
+EMBELLISHED WITH PORTRAITS OF EVERY QUEEN,
+
+BEAUTIFULLY ENGRAVED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES.
+
+In announcing a cheap Edition of this important and interesting work,
+which has been considered unique in biographical literature, the
+publishers again beg to direct attention to the following extract from
+the author's preface:--"A revised edition of the 'Lives of the Queens of
+England', embodying the important collections which have been brought to
+light since the appearance of earlier impressions, is now offered to the
+world, embellished with Portraits of every Queen, from authentic and
+properly verified sources. The series, commencing with the consort of
+William the Conqueror, occupies that most interesting and important
+period of our national chronology, from the death of the last monarch of
+the Anglo-Saxon line, Edward the Confessor, to the demise of the last
+sovereign of the royal house of Stuart, Queen Anne, and comprises
+therein thirty queens who have worn the crown-matrimonial, and four the
+regal diadem of this realm. We have related the parentage of every
+queen, described her education, traced the influence of family
+connexions and national habits on her conduct, both public and private,
+and given a concise outline of the domestic, as well as the general
+history of her times, and its effects on her character, and we have done
+so with singleness of heart, unbiassed by selfish interests or narrow
+views. Such as they were in life we have endeavoured to portray them,
+both in good and ill, without regard to any other considerations than
+the development of the _facts_. Their sayings, their doings, their
+manners, their costume, will be found faithfully chronicled in this
+work, which also includes the most interesting of their letters. The
+hope that the 'Lives of the Queens of England' might be regarded as a
+national work, honourable to the female character, and generally useful
+to society, has encouraged us to the completion of the task."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+FROM THE TIMES.
+
+"These volumes have the fascination of romance united to the integrity
+of history. The work is written by a lady of considerable learning,
+indefatigable industry, and careful judgment. All these qualifications
+for a biographer and an historian she has brought to bear upon the
+subject of her volumes, and from them has resulted a narrative
+interesting to all, and more particularly interesting to that portion of
+the community to whom the more refined researches of literature afford
+pleasure and instruction. The whole work should be read, and no doubt
+will be read, by all who are anxious for information. It is a lucid
+arrangement of facts, derived from authentic sources, exhibiting a
+combination of industry, learning, judgment, and impartiality, not often
+met with in biographers of crowned heads."
+
+MORNING HERALD.
+
+"A remarkable and truly great historical work. In this series of
+biographies, in which the severe truth of history takes almost the
+wildness of romance, it is the singular merit of Miss Strickland that
+her research has enabled her to throw new light on many doubtful
+passages, to bring forth fresh facts, and to render every portion of our
+annals which she has described an interesting and valuable study. She
+has given a most valuable contribution to the history of England, and we
+have no hesitation in affirming that no one can be said to possess an
+accurate knowledge of the history of the country who has not studied
+this truly national work, which, in this new edition, has received all
+the aids that further research on the part of the author, and of
+embellishment on the part of the publishers, could tend to make it still
+more valuable, and still more attractive, than it had been in its
+original form."
+
+MORNING CHRONICLE.
+
+"A most valuable and entertaining work. There is certainly no lady of
+our day who has devoted her pen to so beneficial a purpose as Miss
+Strickland. Nor is there any other whose works possess a deeper or more
+enduring interest."
+
+MORNING POST.
+
+"We must pronounce Miss Strickland beyond all comparison the most
+entertaining historian in the English language. She is certainly a woman
+of powerful and active mind, as well as of scrupulous justice and
+honesty of purpose."
+
+QUARTERLY REVIEW.
+
+"Miss Strickland has made a very judicious use of many authentic MS.
+authorities not previously collected, and the result is a most
+interesting addition to our biographical library."
+
+ATHENAEUM.
+
+"A valuable contribution to historical knowledge. It contains a mass of
+every kind of historical matter of interest, which industry and research
+could collect. We have derived much entertainment and instruction from
+the work."
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF
+
+PEPYS' DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+_Now ready, a New and Cheap Edition, printed uniformly with the last
+edition of_ EVELYN'S DIARY, _and comprising all the recent Notes and
+Emendations, Indexes, &c., in Four Volumes, post octavo, with Portraits,
+price 6s. per Volume, handsomely bound, of the_
+
+DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
+
+SAMUEL PEPYS, F.R.S.,
+
+SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II.
+
+EDITED BY RICHARD LORD BRAYBROOKE.
+
+The authority of PEPYS, as an historian and illustrator of a
+considerable portion of the seventeenth century, has been so fully
+acknowledged by every scholar and critic, that it is now scarcely
+necessary to remind the reader of the advantages he possessed for
+producing the most complete and trustworthy record of events, and the
+most agreeable picture of society and manners, to be found in the
+literature of any nation. In confidential communication with the
+reigning sovereigns, holding high official employment, placed at the
+head of the Scientific and Learned of a period remarkable for
+intellectual impulse, mingling in every circle, and observing everything
+and everybody whose characteristics were worth noting down; and
+possessing, moreover, an intelligence peculiarly fitted for seizing the
+most graphic points in whatever he attempted to delineate, PEPYS may be
+considered the most valuable as well as the most entertaining of our
+National Historians.
+
+A New and Cheap Edition of this work, comprising all the restored
+passages and the additional annotations that have been called for by the
+vast advances in antiquarian and historical knowledge during the last
+twenty years, will doubtless be regarded as one of the most agreeable
+additions that could be made to the library of the general reader.
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON PEPYS' DIARY.
+
+FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.
+
+"Without making any exception in favour of any other production of
+ancient or modern diarists, we unhesitatingly characterise this journal
+as the most remarkable production of its kind which has ever been given
+to the world. Pepys' Diary makes us comprehend the great historical
+events of the age, and the people who bore a part in them, and gives us
+more clear glimpses into the true English life of the times than all the
+other memorials of them that have come down to our own."
+
+FROM THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.
+
+"There is much in Pepys' Diary that throws a distinct and vivid light
+over the picture of England and its government during the period
+succeeding the Restoration. If, quitting the broad path of history, we
+look for minute information concerning ancient manners and customs, the
+progress of arts and sciences, and the various branches of antiquity, we
+have never seen a mine so rich as these volumes. The variety of Pepys'
+tastes and pursuits led him into almost every department of life. He was
+a man of business, a man of information, a man of whim, and, to a
+certain degree, a man of pleasure. He was a statesman, a _bel-esprit_, a
+virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an unwearied, as
+well as an universal, learner, and whatever he saw found its way into
+his tablets."
+
+FROM THE ATHENAEUM.
+
+"The best book of its kind in the English language. The new matter is
+extremely curious, and occasionally far more characteristic and
+entertaining than the old. The writer is seen in a clearer light, and
+the reader is taken into his inmost soul. Pepys' Diary is the ablest
+picture of the age in which the writer lived, and a work of standard
+importance in English literature."
+
+FROM THE EXAMINER.
+
+"We place a high value on Pepys' Diary as the richest and most
+delightful contribution ever made to the history of English life and
+manners in the latter half of the seventeenth century."
+
+FROM TAIT'S MAGAZINE.
+
+"We owe Pepys a debt of gratitude for the rare and curious information
+he has bequeathed to us in this most amusing and interesting work. His
+Diary is valuable, as depicting to us many of the most important
+characters of the times. Its author has bequeathed to us the records of
+his heart--the very reflection of his energetic mind; and his quaint but
+happy narrative clears up numerous disputed points--throws light into
+many of the dark corners of history, and lays bare the hidden substratum
+of events which gave birth to, and supported the visible progress of,
+the nation."
+
+FROM THE MORNING POST.
+
+"Of all the records that have ever been published, Pepys' Diary gives us
+the most vivid and trustworthy picture of the times, and the clearest
+view of the state of English public affairs and of English society
+during the reign of Charles II. We see there, as in a map, the vices of
+the monarch, the intrigues of the Cabinet, the wanton follies of the
+court, and the many calamities to which the nation was subjected during
+the memorable period of fire, plague, and general licentiousness."
+
+IMPORTANT NEW HISTORICAL WORK.
+
+_Now ready, in 2 vols. post 8vo, embellished with Portraits, price 21s.
+bound,_
+
+THE QUEENS BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
+
+BY MRS. MATTHEW HALL.
+
+OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
+
+FROM THE LITERARY GAZETTE.
+
+"Mrs. Hall's work presents a clear and connected series of records of
+the early female sovereigns of England, of whom only a few scattered
+anecdotes have hitherto been familiarly known to general readers. The
+book is of great interest, as containing many notices of English life
+and manners in the remote times of our British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish
+ancestors."
+
+SUNDAY TIMES.
+
+"These volumes open up a new and interesting page of history to the
+majority of readers. What Miss Strickland has achieved for English
+Queens since the Norman era, has been accomplished by Mrs. Hall on
+behalf of the royal ladies who, as wives of Saxon kings, have influenced
+the destinies of Britain."
+
+SUN.
+
+"Mrs. Hall may be congratulated on having successfully accomplished a
+very arduous undertaking. Her volumes form a useful introduction to the
+usual commencement of English history."
+
+CRITIC.
+
+"The most instructive history we possess of the pre-Conquest period. It
+should take its place by the side of Miss Strickland's 'Lives of the
+Queens.'"
+
+OBSERVER.
+
+"Of all our female historico-biographical writers, Mrs. Hall seems to us
+to be one of the most painstaking, erudite, and variously and profoundly
+accomplished. Her valuable volumes contain not only the lives of the
+Queens before the Conquest, but a very excellent history of England
+previously to the Norman dynasty."
+
+BELL'S MESSENGER.
+
+"These interesting volumes have been compiled with judgment, discretion,
+and taste. Mrs. Hall has spared neither pains nor labour to make her
+history worthy of the characters she has essayed to illustrate. The book
+is, in every sense, an addition of decided value to the annals of the
+British people."
+
+NEW QUARTERLY REVIEW.
+
+"These volumes have long been a desideratum, and will be hailed as a
+useful, and indeed essential, introduction to Miss Strickland's
+world-famous biographical history."
+
+
+THE PEERAGE AND BARONETAGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
+
+BY SIR BERNARD BURKE,
+
+ULSTER KING OF ARMS.
+
+A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED FROM THE PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS OF
+THE NOBILITY, &c.
+
+With 1500 Engravings of ARMS. In 1 vol. (comprising as much matter as
+twenty ordinary volumes), 38s. bound.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following is a List of the Principal Contents of this Standard
+Work:--
+
+I. A full and interesting history of each order of the English Nobility,
+showing its origin, rise, titles, immunities, privileges, &c.
+
+II. A complete Memoir of the Queen and Royal Family, forming a brief
+genealogical History of the Sovereign of this country, and deducing the
+descent of the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, and Guelphs, through their
+various ramifications. To this section is appended a list of those Peers
+and others who inherit the distinguished honour of Quartering the Royal
+Arms of Plantagenet.
+
+III. An Authentic table of Precedence.
+
+IV. A perfect HISTORY OF ALL THE PEERS AND BARONETS, with the fullest
+details of their ancestors and descendants, and particulars respecting
+every collateral member of each family, and all intermarriages, &c.
+
+V. The Spiritual Lords.
+
+VI. Foreign Noblemen, subjects by birth of the British Crown.
+
+VII. Extinct Peerages, of which descendants still exist.
+
+VIII. Peerages claimed.
+
+IX. Surnames of Peers and Peeresses, with Heirs Apparent and
+Presumptive.
+
+X. Courtesy titles of Eldest Sons.
+
+XI. Peerages of the Three Kingdoms in order of Precedence.
+
+XII. Baronets in order of Precedence.
+
+XIII. Privy Councillors of England and Ireland.
+
+XIV. Daughters of Peers married to Commoners.
+
+XV. ALL THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, with every Knight and all the Knights
+Bachelors.
+
+XVI. Mottoes translated, with poetical illustrations.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The most complete, the most convenient, and the cheapest work of the
+kind ever given to the public."--_Sun_.
+
+"The best genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the Peerage and
+Baronetage, and the first authority on all questions affecting the
+aristocracy."--_Globe_.
+
+"For the amazing quantity of personal and family history, admirable
+arrangement of details, and accuracy of information, this genealogical
+and heraldic dictionary is without a rival. It is now the standard and
+acknowledged book of reference upon all questions touching pedigree, and
+direct or collateral affinity with the titled aristocracy. The lineage
+of each distinguished house is deduced through all the various
+ramifications. Every collateral branch, however remotely connected, is
+introduced; and the alliances are so carefully inserted, as to show, in
+all instances, the connexion which so intimately exists between the
+titled and untitled aristocracy. We have also much most entertaining
+historical matter, and many very curious and interesting family
+traditions. The work is, in fact, a complete cyclopaedia of the whole
+titled classes of the empire, supplying all the information that can
+possibly be desired on the subject."--_Morning Post_.
+
+
+
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF THE DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
+
+JOHN EVELYN, F.R.S.
+
+_Now completed, with Portraits, in Four Volumes, post octavo (either of
+which may be had separately), price 6s. each, handsomely bound,_
+
+COMPRISING ALL THE IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL NOTES, LETTERS, AND OTHER
+ILLUSTRATIONS LAST MADE.
+
+"We rejoice to welcome this beautiful and compact edition of Evelyn. It
+is intended as a companion to the recent edition of Pepys, and presents
+similar claims to interest and notice. Evelyn was greatly above the vast
+majority of his contemporaries, and the Diary which records the
+incidents in his long life, extending over the greater part of a
+century, is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable and interesting
+books in the language. Evelyn took part in the breaking out of the civil
+war against Charles I., and he lived to see William of Orange ascend the
+throne. Through the days of Strafford and Land, to those of Sancroft and
+Ken, he was the steady friend of moderation and peace in the English
+Church. He interceded alike for the royalist and the regicide; he was
+the correspondent of Cowley, the patron of Jeremy Taylor, the associate
+and fellow-student of Boyle; and over all the interval between Vandyck
+and Kneller, between the youth of Milton and the old age of Dryden,
+poetry and the arts found him an intelligent adviser, and a cordial
+friend. There are, on the whole, very few men of whom England has more
+reason to be proud. He stands among the first in the list of Gentlemen.
+We heartily commend so good an edition of this English
+classic."--_Examiner._
+
+"This work is a necessary companion to the popular histories of our
+country, to Hume, Hallam, Macaulay, and Lingard.--_Sun._
+
+
+LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF ENGLAND.
+
+By MRS. EVERETT GREEN,
+
+EDITOR OF THE "LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES."
+
+6 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 10s. 6d. each, bound. Either of
+which may be had separately.
+
+"This work is a worthy companion to Miss Strickland's admirable 'Queens
+of England.' That celebrated work, although its heroines were, for the
+most part, foreign Princesses, related almost entirely to the history of
+this country. The Princesses of England, on the contrary, are themselves
+English, but their lives are nearly all connected with foreign nations.
+Their biographies, consequently, afford us a glimpse of the manners and
+customs of the chief European kingdoms, a circumstance which not only
+gives to the work the charm of variety, but which is likely to render it
+peculiarly useful to the general reader, as it links together by
+association the contemporaneous history of various nations. We cordially
+commend Mrs. Green's production to general attention; it is
+(necessarily) as useful as history, and fully as entertaining as
+romance."--_Sun._
+
+
+
+
+SIR B. BURKE'S DICTIONARY OF THE
+
+EXTINCT, DORMANT, AND ABEYANT PEERAGES
+
+OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.
+
+Beautifully printed, in 1 vol, 8vo, containing 800 double-column pages,
+21s. bound.
+
+This work connects, in many instances, the new with the old nobility,
+and it will in all cases show the cause which has influenced the revival
+of an extinct dignity in a new creation. It should be particularly
+noticed, that this new work appertains nearly as much to extant as to
+extinct persons of distinction; for though dignities pass away, it
+rarely occurs that whole families do.
+
+
+HISTORY OF THE LANDED GENTRY.
+
+A Genealogical Dictionary
+
+OF THE WHOLE OF THE UNTITLED ARISTOCRACY OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND
+IRELAND.
+
+By SIR BERNARD BURKE.
+
+A new and improved Edition, in 1 vol., uniform with the "Peerage."
+
+
+-->THE PURCHASERS of the earlier editions of the Dictionary of the Landed
+Gentry are requested to take notice that
+
+A COPIOUS INDEX
+
+has been compiled with great care and at great expense, containing
+REFERENCES TO THE NAMES OF EVERY PERSON (upwards of 100,000) MENTIONED
+IN THE WORK, and may be had bound uniformly with the work: price, 5s.
+
+
+ROMANTIC RECORDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY.
+
+By SIR BERNARD BURKE.
+
+SECOND AND CHEAPER EDITION, 2 vols., post 8vo, 21s. bound.
+
+"The most curious incidents, the most stirring tales, and the most
+remarkable circumstances connected with the histories, public and
+private, of our noble houses and aristocratic families, are here given
+in a shape which will preserve them in the library, and render them the
+favorite study of those who are interested in the romance of real life.
+These stories, with all the reality of established fact, read with as
+much spirit as the tales of Boccaccio, and are as full of strange matter
+for reflection and amazement."--_Britannia._
+
+
+
+
+REVELATIONS OF PRINCE TALLEYRAND.
+
+Second Edition, 1 volume, post 8vo, with Portrait, 10s. 6d. bound.
+
+"We have perused this work with extreme interest. It is a portrait of
+Talleyrand drawn by his own hand."--_Morning Post._
+
+"A more interesting work has not issued from the press for many years.
+It is in truth a most complete Boswell sketch of the greatest
+diplomatist of the age."--_Sunday Times._
+
+
+THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I.
+
+By I. DISRAELI.
+
+A NEW EDITION. REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, AND EDITED BY HIS SON, THE RT.
+HON. B. DISRAELI, M.P. 2 vols., 8vo, 28s. bound.
+
+"By far the most important work on the important age of Charles I. that
+modern times have produced."--_Quarterly Review._
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF SCIPIO DE RICCI,
+
+LATE BISHOP OF PISTOIA AND PRATO;
+
+REFORMER OF CATHOLICISM IN TUSCANY.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols. 8vo, 12s. bound.
+
+The leading feature of this important work is its application to the
+great question now at issue between our Protestant and Catholic
+fellow-subjects. It contains a complete _expose_ of the Romish Church
+Establishment during the eighteenth century, and of the abuses of the
+Jesuits throughout the greater part of Europe. Many particulars of the
+most thrilling kind are brought to light.
+
+
+HISTORIC SCENES.
+
+By AGNES STRICKLAND.
+
+Author of "Lives of the Queens of England," &c. 1 vol., post 8vo,
+elegantly bound, with Portrait of the Author, 10s. 6d.
+
+"This attractive volume is replete with interest. Like Miss Strickland's
+former works, it will be found, we doubt not, in the hands of youthful
+branches of a family as well as in those of their parents, to all and
+each of whom it cannot fail to be alike amusing and
+instructive."--_Britannia._
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF PRINCE ALBERT;
+
+AND THE HOUSE OF SAXONY.
+
+Second Edition, revised, with Additions, by Authority. 1 vol., post 8vo,
+with Portrait, bound, 6s.
+
+
+MADAME CAMPAN'S MEMOIRS
+
+OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols. 8vo, with Portraits, price 7s.
+
+"We have seldom perused so entertaining a work. It is as a mirror of the
+most splendid Court in Europe, at a time when the monarchy had not been
+shorn of any of its beams, that it is particularly worthy of
+attention."--_Chronicle._
+
+
+LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.
+
+3 vols., small 8vo, 15s.
+
+"A curious and entertaining piece of domestic biography of a most
+extraordinary person, under circumstances almost unprecedented."--_New
+Monthly._
+
+"An extremely amusing book, full of anecdotes and traits of character of
+kings, princes, nobles, generals," &c.--_Morning Journal._
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF A HUNGARIAN LADY.
+
+MADAME PULSZKY.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 2 vols., 12s. bound.
+
+"Worthy of a place by the side of the Memoirs of Madame de Stael and
+Madame Campan."--_Globe._
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF A GREEK LADY,
+
+THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF THE LATE QUEEN CAROLINE.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF. 2 vols., post 8vo, price 12s. bound.
+
+
+
+
+Now ready, Part XI., price 5s., of
+
+M.A. THIERS' HISTORY OF FRANCE
+
+UNDER NAPOLEON.
+
+A SEQUEL TO HIS HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
+
+As guardian to the archives of the state, M. Thiers had access to
+diplomatic papers and other documents of the highest importance,
+hitherto known only to a privileged few. From private sources M. Thiers
+has also derived much valuable information. Many interesting memoirs,
+diaries, and letters, all hitherto unpublished, and most of them
+destined for political reasons to remain so, have been placed at his
+disposal; while all the leading characters of the empire, who were alive
+when the author undertook the present history, have supplied him with a
+mass of incidents and anecdotes which have never before appeared in
+print.
+
+N.B. Any of the Parts may, for the present, be had separately, at 5s.
+each; and subscribers are recommended to complete their sets as soon as
+possible, to prevent disappointment.
+
+***The public are requested to be particular in giving their orders for
+"COLBURN'S AUTHORISED TRANSLATION."
+
+
+RUSSIA UNDER THE AUTOCRAT NICHOLAS I.
+
+BY IVAN GOLOVINE, A RUSSIAN SUBJECT.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., with a full-length Portrait of the Emperor,
+10s. bound.
+
+"These are volumes of an extremely interesting nature, emanating from
+the pen of a Russian, noble by birth, who has escaped beyond the reach
+of the Czar's power. The merits of the work are very considerable. It
+throws a new light on the state of the empire--its aspect, political and
+domestic--its manners; the _employes_ about the palace, court, and
+capital; its police; its spies; its depraved society," &c.--_Sunday
+Times._
+
+
+JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE,
+
+Comprising the Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in Japan, with an
+Account of British Commercial Intercourse with that Country.
+
+By CAPTAIN GOLOWNIN.
+
+NEW and CHEAPER EDITION. 2 vols. post 8vo, 10s. bound.
+
+"No European has been able, from personal observation and experience, to
+communicate a tenth part of the intelligence furnished by this
+writer."--_British Review._
+
+
+MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF
+
+SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B.,
+
+_Minister Plenipotentiary at the Courts of Dresden, Copenhagen, and
+Vienna, from 1769 to 1793; with Biographical Memoirs of_
+
+QUEEN CAROLINE MATILDA, SISTER OF GEORGE III.
+
+Cheaper Edition. Two vols., post 8vo, with Portraits, 15s. bound.
+
+
+
+
+THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS;
+
+OR, ROMANCE AND REALITIES OF EASTERN TRAVEL.
+
+By ELIOT WARBURTON, Esq.
+
+CHEAP EDITION, revised in 1 vol., with numerous Illustrations, 6s.
+bound.
+
+"A book calculated to prove more practically useful was never penned
+than the 'Crescent and the Cross'--a work which surpasses all others in
+its homage for the sublime and its love for the beautiful in those
+famous regions consecrated to everlasting immortality in the annals of
+the prophets--and which no other modern writer has ever depicted with a
+pencil at once so reverent and as picturesque."--_Sun._
+
+
+LORD LINDSAY'S LETTERS ON THE HOLY LAND.
+
+FOURTH EDITION, Revised, 1 vol., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 6s.
+bound.
+
+"Lord Lindsay has felt and recorded what he saw with the wisdom of a
+philosopher, and the faith of an enlightened Christian."--_Quarterly
+Review._
+
+
+NARRATIVE OF A
+
+TWO YEARS' RESIDENCE AT NINEVEH;
+
+With Remarks on the Chaldeans, Nestorians, Yexidees, &c.
+
+By the Rev. J.P. FLETCHER.
+
+Cheaper Edition. Two vols., post 8vo, 12s. bound.
+
+
+ADVENTURES IN GEORGIA, CIRCASSIA, AND RUSSIA.
+
+By Lieutenant-Colonel G. POULETT CAMERON, C.B., K.T.S., &c.
+
+2 vols., post 8vo, bound, 12s.
+
+
+CAPTAINS KING AND FITZROY.
+
+NARRATIVE OF THE TEN TEARS' VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,
+
+OF H.M.S. ADVENTURE AND BEAGLE.
+
+Cheaper Edition, in 2 large vols. 8vo, with Maps, Charts, and upwards of
+Sixty Illustrations, by Landseer, and other eminent Artists, price 1_l._
+11s. 6d. bound.
+
+"One of the most interesting narratives of voyaging that it has fallen
+to our lot to notice, and which must always occupy a distinguished space
+in the history of scientific navigation."--_Quarterly Review._
+
+
+
+
+THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S CAMPAIGN
+
+IN THE NETHERLANDS IN 1815.
+
+Comprising the Battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. Illustrated
+by Official Documents.
+
+By WILLIAM MUDFORD, Esq.
+
+1 vol., 4to, with Thirty Coloured Plates, Portraits, Maps, Plans, &c.,
+bound, 21s.
+
+
+STORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR.
+
+A COMPANION VOLUME TO MR. GLEIG'S
+
+"STORY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO."
+
+With Six Portraits and Map, 5s. bound.
+
+
+THE NEMESIS IN CHINA;
+
+COMPRISING A COMPLETE
+
+HISTORY OF THE WAR IN THAT COUNTRY.
+
+From Notes of Captain W.H. HALL, R.N.
+
+1 vol., Plates, 6s. bound.
+
+"Capt. Hall's narrative of the services of the _Nemesis_ is full of
+interest, and will, we are sure, be valuable hereafter, as affording
+most curious materials for the history of steam navigation."--_Quarterly
+Review._
+
+
+CAPTAIN CRAWFORD'S NAVAL REMINISCENCES;
+
+COMPRISING MEMOIRS OF
+
+ADMIRALS SIR E. OWEN, SIR B. HALLOWELL CAREW, AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED
+COMMANDERS.
+
+2 vols., post 8vo, with Portraits, 12s. bound.
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER.
+
+WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
+
+Being the Memoirs of EDWARD COSTELLO, of the Rifle Brigade, and late
+Captain in the British Legion. Cheap Edition, with Portrait, 3s. 6d.
+bound.
+
+"An excellent book of its class. A true and vivid picture of a soldier's
+life."--_Athenaeum._
+
+"This highly interesting volume is filled with details and anecdotes of
+the most startling character, and well deserves a place in the library
+of every regiment in the service."--_Naval and Military Gazette._
+
+
+
+
+PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF
+
+MRS. MARGARET MAITLAND, OF SUNNYSIDE.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF.
+
+Third and Cheaper Edition, 1 vol., 6s. bound.
+
+"Nothing half so true or so touching in the delineation of Scottish
+character has appeared since Galt published his 'Annals of the Parish,'
+and this is purer and deeper than Galt, and even more absolutely and
+simply true."--_Lord Jeffrey._
+
+
+Cheaper Edition, in 3 vols., price 10s. 6d., half-bound,
+
+FORTUNE: A STORY OF LONDON LIFE.
+
+By D.T. COULTON, Esq.
+
+"A brilliant novel. A more vivid picture of various phases of society
+has not been painted since 'Vivian Grey' first dazzled and confounded
+the world; but it is the biting satire of fashionable life, the moral
+anatomy of high society, which will attract all readers. In every sense
+of the word, 'Fortune' is an excellent novel."--_Observer._
+
+"'Fortune' is not a romance, but a novel. All is reality about it: the
+time, the characters, and the incidents. In its reality consists its
+charm and its merit. It is, indeed, an extraordinary work, and has
+introduced to the world of fiction a new writer of singular ability,
+with a genius more that of Bulwer than any to whom we can compare
+it."--_Critic._
+
+
+THE MODERN ORLANDO.
+
+By Dr. CROLY.
+
+"By far the best thing of the kind that has been written since
+Byron."--_Literary Gazette._
+
+
+THE HALL AND THE HAMLET.
+
+By WILLIAM HOWITT.
+
+Author of "The Book of the Seasons," "Rural Life in England," &c.
+
+Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., post 8vo, 12s. bound.
+
+"This work is full of delightful sketches and sweet and enchanting
+pictures of rural life, and we have no doubt will be read not only at
+the homestead of the farmer, but at the mansion of the squire, or the
+castle of the lord, with gratification and delight."--_Sunday Times._
+
+
+PUBLISHED FOR HENRY COLBURN,
+
+BY HIS SUCCESSORS, HURST & BLACKETT,
+
+GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+  Mismatched quotation marks in one paragraph of Chapter III
+  were left as in the original.
+
+  Pg 26: nomade changed to nomadic
+
+  Pg 41: Manchete changed to Machete
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I
+(OF 3)***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 38631.txt or 38631.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/6/3/38631
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
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