[1] Mickle’s Camoens.
[2] Mickle.
[3] How affecting is Peter Martyr’s account of these poor Lucayans, thus fraudulently decoyed from their native countries. “Many of them, in the anguish of despair, obstinately refuse all manner of sustenance, and retiring to desert caves and unfrequented woods, silently give up the ghost. Others, repairing to the sea-coast on the northern side of Hispaniola, cast many a longing look towards that part of the ocean where they suppose their own islands to be situated; and as the sea-breeze rises, they eagerly inhale it—fondly believing that it has lately visited their own happy valleys, and comes fraught with the breath of those they love, their wives and their children. With this idea, they continue for hours on the coast, until nature becomes utterly exhausted, when, stretching out their arms towards the ocean, as if to take a last embrace of their distant country and relatives, they sink down and expire without a groan.... One of them, who was more desirous of life, or had greater courage than most of his countrymen, took upon him a bold and difficult piece of work. Having been used to build cottages in his native country, he procured instruments of stone, and cut down a large spongy tree, called jaruma (the bombax, or wild cotton), the body of which he dexterously scooped into a canoe. He then provided himself with oars, some Indian corn, and a few gourds of water, and prevailed on another man and woman to embark with him on a voyage to the Lucayos. Their navigation was prosperous for near two hundred miles, and they were almost within sight of their long-lost shores, when unfortunately they were met by a Spanish ship, which brought them back to slavery and sorrow! The canoe is still preserved in Hispaniola as a curiosity, considering the circumstances under which it was made.”—Decad. vii.
[4] In less than fifty years from the arrival of the Spaniards, not more than two hundred Indians could be found in Hispaniola; and Sir Francis Drake states that when he touched there in 1585, not one was remaining; yet so little were the Spaniards benefited by their cruelty, that they were actually obliged to convert pieces of leather into money!—See Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii.
[5] Las Casas, in his zeal for the Indians, has been charged with exaggerating the numbers destroyed, but no one has attempted to deny the following fact asserted by him: “I once beheld four or five principal Indians roasted alive at a slow fire; and as the miserable victims poured forth dreadful screams, which disturbed the commanding officer in his afternoon slumbers—he sent word that they should be strangled; but the officer on guard (I know his name—I know his relatives in Seville) would not suffer it; but causing their mouths to be gagged, that their cries might not be heard, he stirred up the fire with his own hands, and roasted them deliberately till they all expired. I saw it myself!!!”
[6] Clavigero gives a curious account of the mode in which Cortez took possession of the province of Tabasco, on the plains of Coutla, where he killed eight hundred of the natives, and founded a small city in memory thereof, calling it Madonna della Victoria! Here he put on his shield, unsheathed his sword, and gave three stabs with it to a large tree which was in the principal village, declaring that if any person durst oppose his possession, he would defend it with that sword.
[7] Thus called by Herrera. Bernal Diaz also calls Teuhtlile, Teudili. It is singular that scarcely two writers, ancient or modern, call the same South American person by the same name. Our modern travellers not only differ from the Spanish historians, but from one another. Even the familiar name of Montezuma, is Moctezuma and Motezuma; that of Guatimozin, Guatimotzin and Quauhtemotzin. The same confusion prevails amongst our authors, in nearly all the proper names of America, Asia, or Africa.
[8] Engravings of these may be seen in Clavigero.
[9] The Ithualco of other authors.
[10] Clavigero says only six days.