"When we arrived at the hut, (they being bound again by the Englishmen, for fear of escaping) we found them stark naked, expecting their fatal tragedy: there were three lusty men, well shaped, with straight and good limbs, between thirty and five and thirty years old; and five women, two of them might be from thirty to forty, two more not above four and twenty; and the last, a comely tall maiden of about seventeen. Indeed, all the women were very agreeable, both in proportion and features, except that they were tawny, which their modest behaviour, and other graces, made amends for, when they afterwards came to be clothed.
"This naked appearance, together with their miserable circumstances, was no very comfortable sight to my Spaniards, who, for their parts, I may venture, Sir, without flattery, to say, are men of the best behaviour, calmest tempers, and sweetest nature, that can possibly be; for they immediately ordered Friday's father to see if he knew any of them, or if he understood what they could say. No sooner did the old Indian appear, but he looked at them with great seriousness; yet, as they were not of his nation, they were utter strangers to him, and none could understand his speech or signs, but one woman. This was enough to answer the design, which was to assure them they would not be killed, being fallen into the hands of Christians, who abhorred such barbarity. When they were fully satisfied of this, they expressed their joy by such strange gestures, and uncommon tones, as it is not possible for me to describe. But the woman their interpreter, was ordered next to enquire, whether they were content to be servants, and would work for the men who had brought them hither to save their lives? Hereupon, (being at this time unbound) they fell a capering and dancing, one taking this thing upon her shoulders, and the other that, intimating, that they were willing to do any thing for them. But now, Sir, having women among us, and dreading that it might occasion some strife, if not blood, I asked the three men 'what they would do, and how they intended to use these creatures, whether as servants or women?' One of them very pertly and readily answered, 'they would use them as both,' Gentlemen, said I as you are your own masters, I am not going to restrain you from that; but methinks, for avoiding dissentions among you, I would only desire you to engage, that none of you will take more than one for a woman or wife, and that having taken this one, none else should presume to touch her; for though we have not yet a priestly authority to marry you, yet it is but reasonable, that whoever thus takes a woman, should be obliged to maintain her, since nobody has any thing to do with her; and this, indeed, appeared so just to all present, that it was unanimously agreed to. The Englishmen then asked my Spaniards, 'whether they designed to take any of them? but they all answered, No; some declaring they had already wives in Spain; and others that they cared not to join with infidels. On the reverse, the Englishmen took each of them a temporary wife, and so set up a new method of living. As to Friday's father, the Spaniards, and the three savage servants we had taken in the late battle, they all lived with me in our ancient castle; and indeed we supplied the main part of the island with food, as necessity required. But the most remarkable part of the story is, how these Englishmen, who had been so much at variance, should agree about the choice of those women; yet they took a way good enough to prevent quarreling among themselves. They let the five women in one of their huts, and going themselves to the other, drew lots which should have the first choice. Now, he that had the first lot went to the hut, and fetched out her he chose; and it is remarkable, that he took her that was the most homely and eldest of the number, which made the rest of the Englishmen exceedingly merry; the Spaniards themselves could not help but smile at it; but as it happened, the fellow had the best thought, in choosing one fit for application and business; and indeed she proved the best wife of all the parcel.
"But when the poor creatures perceived themselves placed in a row, and separated one by one, they were again seized with an unspeakable terror, as now thinking they were going to be slain in earnest; and when the Englishmen came to take the first, the rest set up a lamentable cry, clasped their arms around her neck, and hanging about her, took their last farewell, as they thought, in such trembling agonies, and affectionate embraces, as would have softened the hardest heart in the world, and made the driest eyes melt into tears; nor could they be persuaded but that they were going to die, till such time as Friday's father made them sensible that the Englishmen had chosen them for their wives, which ended all their terror and concern upon this occasion.
"Well, after this, the Englishmen went to work, and being assisted by my good natured Spaniards, in a few hours they, erected every one of them a new hut or tent for their separate lodging, since those they had already were, filled with tools, household stuff, and provision. They all continued on the north shore of the island, but separate as before; the three wicked ones pitching farther off, and the two honest men nearer our castle; so that the island seemed to be peopled in three places, three towns beginning to be built for that purpose. And here I cannot but remark, what is very common, that the two honest men had the worst wives, (I mean as to industry, cleanliness, and ingenuity) while the three reprobates enjoyed women of quite contrary qualities.
"But another observation I made was, in favour of the two honest men, to show what disparity there is between a diligent application to business, on the one hand, and a slothful negligent, and idle temper, on the other. Both of them had the same parcel of ground laid out, and corn to sow, sufficient either in their cultivation or their planting. The two honest men had a multitude of young trees planted about their habitations, so that when you approached near them, nothing appeared but a wood, very pleasing and delightful. Every thing they did prospered and flourished: their grapes, planted in order, seemed as though managed in a vineyard and were infinitely preferable to any of the others. Nor were they wanting to find out a place of retreat, but dug a cave in the most retired part of a thick wood, to secure their wives and children, with their provision and chiefest goods, surrounded with innumerable stakes, and having a most subtle entrance, in case any mischief should happen either from their fellow countrymen, or the devouring savages.
"As to the reprobates, (though I must own they were much more civilized than before) instead of delightful wood surrounding their dwellings, we found the words of King Solomon too truly verified: I went by the vineyard of the slothful, and it was all overgrown with thorns. In many places their crop was obliterated by weeds: the hedges having several gaps in them, the wild goats had got in, and eaten up the corn, and here and there was a dead bush to stop these gaps for the present, which was no more than shutting the stable door after the steed was stolen away. But as to their wives, they (as I observed before) were more diligent, and cleanly enough, especially in their victuals, being instructed by one of the honest men, who had been a cook's mate on board a ship: & very well it was so, for as he cooked himself, his companion and their families lived as well as the idle husbands, who did nothing but loiter about, fetch turtle's eggs, catch fish and birds, and do any thing but work, and lived accordingly; while the diligent lived very handsomely and plentifully, in the most comfortable manner.
"And now, Sir, I come to lay before your eyes a scene quite different from any thing that ever happened to us before, and perhaps ever befel you in all the time of your residence on this island. I shall inform you of its original in the following manner.
"One morning, Sir, very early, there came five or six canoes of Indians on shore, indisputably upon their old custom of devouring their prisoners. All that we had to do upon such an occasion, was to lie concealed, that they, not having any notice of inhabitants, might depart quietly after performing their bloody execution: whoever first discovered the savages, was to give notice to all the three plantations to keep within doors, and then a proper scout was to be placed to give intelligence of their departure. But notwithstanding these wise measures, an unhappy disaster discovered us to the savages, which was like to have caused the desolation of the whole island; for, after the savages were gone off in their canoes, some of my Spaniards and I looking abroad; and being inflamed with a curiosity to see what they had been doing, to our great amazement beheld three savages fast asleep on the ground, who, either being gorged, could not awake when the others went off, or having wandered too far into the woods, did not come back in time.
"What to do with them as first, we could not tell; as for slaves we had enough of them already; and as to killing them, neither Christianity or humanity would suffer us to shed the blood of persons who never did us wrong. We perceived they had no boat left them to transport them to their own nation; and that, by letting them wander about, they might discover us, and inform the first savages that should happen to land upon the same bloody occasion, which information might entirely ruin us; and therefore I counselled my Spaniards to secure them, and set them about some work or other, till we could better dispose of them.
"Hereupon we all went back, and making them awake, took them prisoners. It is impossible to express the horror they were in, especially when bound, as thinking they were going to be murdered and eaten, but we soon eased them of their fear as to that point. We first took them to the bower, where the chief of our country work lay as keeping goats, planting corn, &c and then carried them to the two Englishmen's habitation, to help them in their business; but happy it was for us all we did not carry them to our castle, as by the sequel will appear. The Englishmen, indeed, found them work to do; but whether they did not guard them strictly, or that they thought they could not better themselves, I cannot tell; but certainly one of them ran away into the woods, and they could not hear of him for a long time after.