1631. Captain Henry Hawley arrived at Barbadoes, appointed by Lord Carlisle to supersede Sir William Tufton as governor. Sir William Tufton procured the signatures of some of the planters to a petition against Hawley: this petition Hawley construed into an act of mutiny, on the part of Tufton, for which he had him tried and shot by the sentence of a court-martial. King Charles I. granted a charter to a second company, for a trade to Africa for thirty-one years. Sir Richard Young and Sir Kenelm Digby were at the head of this company: they erected forts and warehouses upon the coast of Guinea at a great expence; but so many private adventurers, of all nations, broke in upon them, as in effect to force the trade open, and so it continued till after the Restoration. 1632. When the freebooters took possession of the island of Tortuga, it was garrisoned by only twenty-five Spaniards, who considering themselves in a kind of banishment, surrendered at the first summons: it was as much a matter of joy to them to quit the island, as to the others to obtain possession. The intelligence of its capture was soon known at St. Christopher's, and many of the inhabitants of that island removed thither, some of whom applied themselves to the culture of tobacco. Vessels from Dieppe traded with the island, and brought out Europeans, under the names of Engagés, whom they sold for three years, and from whom their purchasers exacted the same services as from slaves: so that the colony was composed of four sorts of persons- Buccaneers', who B. Edwards, vol. i. p. 325.; vol. ii. p. 52. "The Buccaneers are so called from the word boucan, which is a sort of wooden grid-iron, made of several sticks placed upon four forks, upon which the Boucaniers broil their hogs, sometimes quite whole, with which they feed themselves, without eating any bread. They were at this time, "une sorte de gens remassez,' men from all countries, rendered expert and active by the necessity of their exercise, which was to go in chase of cattle to obtain their hides, and from being chased themselves by the Spaniards, who never gave them any quarter. As they would never suffer any chiefs, they passed for undisci Charlevoix, tom. iii. p. 10. plined men, and the greater part had sought refuge in these places, and were reduced to this way of life, to avoid the punishments due to the crimes which they had committed in Europe, and which could be proved on many of them. "In general they were without any habitation or fixed house, but only rendezvoused where the cattle were to be found, and some sheds which were covered with leaves, to defend them from the rain, and to lodge the hides of the animals which they had killed, until some vessels should pass, to barter for them with wine, brandy, linen, arms, powder, balls, and some other employed themselves in hunting; freebooters, or pirates, that plundered by sea; the inhabitants, who cultivated the lands; and the engagés: these lived together upon very good terms, under a sort of democratic government; every free person had despotic power in his house, and every captain on board his vessel. Sir Thomas Warner sent a small number of his followers from St. Christopher's, and planted a colony in Montserrat, and sent his son with another to Antigua': those to Montserrat were chiefly Irish and Roman Catholics; the separation appears to have been partly occasioned by local attachments and religious dissensions. Some merchants of Zealand sent over a small colony to Tobago; but before they were able thoroughly to establish themselves, the Indians, assisted by the Spaniards, destroyed them all. They also sent another colony to St. Eustatia, an island strong by nature: they were anxious to have some place of safety to refresh their ships which traded with the islands possessed by the English and French. The French had abandoned St. Eustatia from want of water: this inconvenience the Dutch remedied by making tanks. Charlevoix, tom. iii. p. 11. Edwards, vol. i. pp. 473. 496. Dr. J. Campbell's Political Survey, vol. ii. p. 674. 690. Davis's History of the Caribbee Islands, p. 170. Du Tertre, tom. i. p. 27. 38. utensils which they needed, and which are the only moveables of the Buccaneers. "I will not trouble myself to prove that their life was laborious and full of danger: it is sufficient to say, that they hunted every day, that they were dressed in a pair of drawers, or, at most, in a shirt, shod with the skin of a hog's leg, fastened on the top and behind the foot with "equillettes" of the same skin, girdled round the middle of their body by a sack, which served them to sleep in, as a defence against the innumerable insects which bit and sucked the blood from all parts of their bodies which were left uncovered. "When they had killed a beast, they skinned it with difficulty, and contented themselves with breaking the bones of the legs, and sucking the warm marrow, throwing away the rest. They then went in search of a hog, which they brought with their skins to the boucan, sometimes two or three leagues: if they eat in the open country, it was always with their musket cocked ("bande"), and very often back to back, for fear of being surprised by the Spanish Mulattoes, who killed them without mercy, and sometimes in the night stuck their lance into the sack where they the chase to the boucan, you would say that these are the butcher's vilest servants, who have been eight days in the slaughterhouse without washing themselves. I have seen some who had lived this miserable life for twenty years, without seeing a priest, and without eating bread."-Du Tertre, tom. iii. p. 141. "Le R. P. Raymond, dans son Dictionnaire, donne une raison de ce qu'il y a si peu de poux dans les Indes, et dans tous les pays chauds, qui me semble assez probable: car, il dit, que c'est à cause que suant presque tousjours, les serositez, qui sortent par ses sueurs sont plus pures et moins propres à engendrer des vermines." Du Tertre, tom. ii. p. 352. 1 "We are informed by Ferdinand Columbus, that the Indian name (for Antigua) was Jamaica. It is a singular circumstance, that this word, which, in the language of the larger islands, signified a country abounding in springs, should in the dialect of the Caribs have been applied to an island that has not a single spring or rivulet of fresh water in it.”— Edwards, vol. i. p. 473. 2 See 1600.-But the history does not give its authority; and Davis says, about The French engagés, finding that their masters did not allow them to work for themselves at the expiration of the term of servitude, were on the point of asserting their rights by force. M. d'Enambuc restored tranquillity to the colony, by ordering all who had served their three years to be set at liberty, and directing, from that time forwards, that no person should be obliged to serve more than three years. The number of Caribs in Dominica amounted to 938. These lived in thirty-two huts or carbets. The number of French upon the island was 349, with twenty-three free Mulattoes, and 338 Negro-slaves. 1633. Captain Henry Hawley was recalled from the government of Barbadoes by the Earl of Carlisle: he left his brother-in-law, Richard Peers, as deputy-governor. 1634. The Dutch took possession of Curacoa, which they immediately converted into a depôt of merchandize, and established a contraband trade with the inhabitants of Terra Firma for cacao and hides. M. d'Olive, Lieutenant-General of St. Christopher's, under M. d'Enambuc, having resolved to establish himself upon one of the adjacent islands, sent the Sieur Guillaume d'Orange, and some other friends to examine the islands of Dominica, Martinique, and Guadaloupe, and report to him which of the three they judged the fittest for a colony. Upon their recommending Guadaloupe, d'Olive Coke's West Indies, vol. ii. p. 333. 1 "What happened to the English gos vernor of Mountserrat shews clearly the prodigious aversion which this nation (the Caribs) have to servitude; for on having taken some of them from Dominica, he employed all sorts of means to make them work, but it was impossible for him to subdue them; for though he loaded them with heavy chains, to prevent their running away, they nevertheless dragged them to the sea-side, to seize any canoe, or to look out for some pirague of their nation, to carry them back to their homes: so that, seeing their obstinacy, he had their eyes Univ. Hist. vol. xxxvi. p. 187. put out; but this rigour availed him nothing, for they preferred being left to die of grief and hunger to living as slaves."— Du Tertre, tom. ii. P. 485. For the honour of Englishmen, and for the sake of human nature, it is to be hoped that this is false. 2 "Nine miles distant from Guadalupea, towarde the east, there are sixe small islandes, named Todos Sanctos, or Barbata : these are full of rocks, and barren; yet necessary to be known to such as use to traveil the seas of those coastes."-Peter Martyr, 3 D. 9 C. p. 145.. embarked for France, to obtain from the Company a commission for the establishment. The French Company, finding that the produce of the island of St. Christopher's was not brought to Europe in their ships, complained to the King, and obtained a declaration, which was dated the 25th of November, by which the captains of all vessels going to America, were forbidden to traffic at St. Christopher's without leave from the Company. The property of the inhabitants was seized in the harbours, and several of them thrown into prison. Any vessel trading to the island without permission from the Company', was to be confiscated, hull and cargo, and to pay 1000 livres penalty. This order so enraged the colonists, that they resolved to send all their produce to Holland. About sixty persons, several of them Frenchmen, under the presidency of a Captain Marshall, constructed dwellings on the banks of the Surinam, and planted tobacco: they went great part of the year to sea, but returned regularly to sow and to reap. Captain Henry Hawley was sent out by the Earl of Carlisle to be again governor of Barbadoes. 1635. February 14th, the French Company granted MM. d'Olive and du Plessis a commission to colonize Guadaloupe: they were to command jointly for ten years-to carry out only French subjects, and those to be Catholics-and not to traffic with foreigners. The company were to have the tenth of the produce, except tobacco and cotton. Every man was to pay sixty pounds of tobacco for six years, or forty pounds of cotton, when tobacco was not grown after the six years, the inhabitants were to pay a hundred pounds of tobacco, or fifty pounds of cotton, besides the tenth of the other merchandize. But as the company only advanced 1500 livres, MM. d'Olive and du Plessis obtained permission from the company for some merchants at Dieppe to assist in the undertaking, by sending out 2500 men and women at their own expence, who were under an obligation to serve for three years. The merchants were to pay 10,000 livres for this permission, which entitled them to an exclusive trade, the same as the company, for six years, and to twenty pounds of tobacco or cotton per annum from each of the Du Tertre, tom. i. pp. 41. 44. 66. 69. Universal History, "Toutes les flotes d'Espagne, en allant aux Indes, estoient obligées, par Arrest du Bolinbroke's Voyage to Demerary, p. 342 vol. xxxvi. p. 187. eaux dans cette isle, et l'ont tousjours faut jusqu'à ce qu'elle ayt este habitée par les men they sent out, over and above the claims of the company and they were to import their tobacco free of duty. Upon the 25th of May, MM. d'Olive and du Plessis, with 550 men, sailed from Dieppe to colonize Guadaloupe. Four Dominican friars went with them-Pierre Pelican, Raymond Breton, Nicholas Bruchy, and Pierre Gryphon : Cardinal Richelieu having obtained permission from Pope Urban VIII. for them to go. This apostolic brief was considered as tacitly annulling the grant, made by Pope Alexander VI., of those countries to Ferdinand and Isabella, which forbid, under pain of excommunication, any persons from going there without leave from the Spanish monarchs. June 26th, they arrived at Martinico', and at first thought of staying there. The Dominicans planted the cross with the usual ceremonies, and after singing the hymn "Vexilla regis," D'Olive and Du Plessis fastened to the bottom of the cross the arms of France, painted upon an escutcheon; after which, Te Deum was sung amid the discharge of artillery from the ships. Upon the 28th they altered their resolution, and went to Guadaloupe and upon their landing, divided the men and stores between the two commanders, who settled themselves about three musket-shots apart, a small river running between them. D'Olive began to build a small fort, which he named Fort St. Pierre, because he had taken possession of the island and hoisted the arms of France upon the vigil of St. Peter's day. They had been ordered to touch at the island of Barboudas (then inhabited by the English) for provisions: but the pilot refused to go there: so that, in less than two months after landing, D'Olive was obliged to put them upon short allowance, and their flour failing entirely, more than half of them died. Part of the remainder were sent to St. Christopher's for assistance, with some sick, most of whom died. Permission was now given the men to seek for turtle in the bays, which was before forbidden, because the flesh was supposed to occasion flux. Many of these poor famished wretches died in consequence of eating it in great quantities, and the survivors appeared more like skeletons than living creatures. Some of those that had been sent to St. Christopher's returned with a very insufficient supply. The allowance was now five ounces of dough every day, but this was not served out till after mid-day: they were to work till then before it was distributed. Some sought refuge among the savages, who received them with great kindness: those who remained devoured the most loathsome substances the surgeons' ointments; their own belts boiled down Du Tertre, tom. i. pp. 70. 75, 76, 77, 78, 79. "La Martinique que les sauvages nommoient Madanina."-Du Tertre, t. ii. p. 23. It may have been some account of these adventures which suggested to Beaumont and Fletcher the following passage in the "Sea Voyage." The speakers have been wrecked on the coast of a desert island, |