Читать книгу The History of Cuba (Vol. 1-5) - Willis Fletcher Johnson - Страница 32

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The wonderful impetus which the discoverers and explorers of Spain gave to the spirit of adventure by opening to the world the gates of a new and strange world, promptly began to bear fruit among those nations who had always been daring navigators. Young men with no ties, either of family or profession, to hold them, were suddenly fired with the desire to see the new continent which the genius of Columbus and his associates had brought within their reach, and set out in quest of what promised to be a precious new experience. Most of these men were fairly well educated and sensed the importance of all these enterprises. They set out as eager observers and they did not fail to record their observations and impressions in the frank and unadorned manner of unsophisticated onlookers. Some kept a daily record of their experiences, others jotted down what seemed to them the most striking incidents; still others embodied their reflections on what they had seen and heard in letters that were sent home whenever an occasion presented itself.

Out of this great mass of personal records of travel in the New World a number stand out as deserving of more than passing notice, and though a careful perusal of these books shows a tendency on the part of some authors to repeat what they had heard or read in the reports of their predecessors, there is something worth noting in every individual volume. Among the writers who were evidently the source from which many authors drew to corroborate and complete their personal observations is Tordesillas Herrera, his Spanish Majesty's Chief Chronicler, traces of whose "Description of the West Indies," which was translated into Dutch, English, French and other languages are found in many books. The writings of that worthy prelate and Champion of the Indians, Bartolomeo de Las Casas, have also been drawn upon by many writers. Almost amusing in the light of later day events, is a copiously illustrated little book in which a pious German translator dwells with unctuous self-righteousness on the cruelties practised by the Spaniards upon the natives of the islands.

Herrera thus relates the story of the first settlement of Cuba in the second volume of "A Description of the West Indies," which was translated into Dutch, English, French and other languages and appeared in English in the year 1625:

"This same year 1511, the Admiral Don James Columbus, resolved to make settlements in Cuba, knowing it to be an island, the soil good, populous and abounding in provisions. To this purpose he made use of James Velasquez, being the wealthiest and best belov'd of all the first Spanish inhabitants in Hispaniola. Besides he was a Man of Experience, of a mild and affable Temper, tho' he knew how to maintain his authority; of Body well-shap'd, of Complexion fair, and very discreet. As soon as it was known in Hispaniola that James Velasquez was going to make settlements in Cuba, Abundance of People resolv'd to bear him Company, some because, as has been said, he was belov'd and others because they were ruin'd and in Debt. All these, being about three hundred Men, rendezvous'd in the Town of Salvatiena de la Zavana to embark aboard four ships, this Place being at the Extremity of Hispaniola. Before we proceed any further, it is fit to observe that the Province of Guahaba lying next to Cuba, the Distance between the two Points being but eighteen Leagues, many Indians went over to Cuba in their Canoes and among them pass'd over, with as many of his Men as could, a Cazique of the said Province of Guahaba, call'd Hatuey, a brave and discreet Man. He settled on the nearest Country known by the name of Mazci, and possessing himself of that Part kept the People as Subjects, but not as Slaves; for it was never found in the Indies that any Difference was made between a free people or even their own Children and Slaves, unless it were in New Spain, and the other Provinces, where they us'd to sacrifice Prisoners to their Idols which was not practis'd in these Islands. This Cazique Hatuey, fearing that the Spaniards would at some Time pass over into Cuba, always kept Spies to know what was doing in Hispaniola and being inform'd of the Admiral's design, he assembled his People who it is likely were of the most martial, and putting them in Mind of their many sufferings under the Spaniards told them: 'They did all that for a great Lord they were very fond of, which he would show them' and then taking some Gold out of a little Palm Tree Basket, added 'This is the Lord whom they serve, him they follow, and as you have already heard, they are about passing over hither, only to seek this Lord, therefore let us make a Festival, and dance to him, to the End that when they come, he may order them not to do us harm.' Accordingly they all began to sing and dance till they were quite tir'd, for it was their Custom to dance as long as they could stand, from nightfall till break of Day, and these Dances were as in Hispaniola, to the Musick of their Songs, and tho' fifty thousand Men and Women were assembled, no one differ'd in the least from the rest in the Motions of their Hands, Feet and Bodies; but those of Cuba far exceeded the natives of Hispaniola, their Songs being more agreeable. When they were Spent with Singing and Dancing before the little Basket of Gold, Hatuey bid them not to Keep the Lord of the Christians in any Place whatsoever, for if he were in their Bowels, they would fetch him out, and therefore they should cast him in the River under Water, where they would not find him, and so they did."

Following is a description of the natives of Cuba, quoted from the same work:

"The first inhabitants of this Island were the same as those of the Lucayos, a good sort of People and well temper'd. They had Caziques and Towns of two or three hundred houses with several Families in each of them as was usual in Hispaniola. They had no Religion as having no Temples or Idols or Sacrifices; but they had the physicians or conjuring Priests as in Hispaniola, who it was thought had Communication with the Devil and their questions answered by him. They fasted three or four months to obtain this Favour, eating nothing but the juice of Herbs, and when reduced to extreme weakness they were worthy of that hellish Apparition, and to be inform'd whether the Season of the Year would be favorable or otherwise, what Children would be born, whether those born would live, and such like questions. These were their Oracles, and these Conjurers they call'd Behiques, who led the People in so many Superstitions and Fopperies, during the Sick by blowing on them, and such other exterior actions, mumbling some Word between their Teeth. These People of Cuba knew that Heaven, the Earth and other Things had been created, and said that they had much Information concerning the Flood, and the world had been destroy'd by water from three Persons that came three several ways. Men of above seventy years of age said that an old Man knowing the Deluge was to come, built a great Ship and went into it with his Family and Abundance of Animals, then he sent out a Crow which did not return, staying to feed on the dead Bodies, and afterward return'd with a green Branch; in the other Particulars, as far as Noah's Sons covering him when drunk, and then they scoffing at it; adding that the Indians descended from the latter, and therefore had no Coats nor Cloaks; but that the Spaniards, descending from the other that cover'd him, were therefore cloath'd and had Horses. What has been here said, was told by an Indian of above seventy years of age to Gabriel de Cabrera who one Day quarreling with him called him Dog, whereupon he call'd, Why he abus'd and call'd him Dog, since they were Brethren, as descending from the Sons of him that made the great Ship, with all the rest that has been said before."

Herrera's description of the island may have inspired many writers coming after him; it had, however, the advantage of giving one of the earliest and therefore most spontaneous impressions on record. Here is a sample of his descriptive power:

"This Island is very much wooded, for Man may travel along it almost two hundred and thirty leagues, always under Trees of several Sorts, and particularly sweet scented and red Cedars, as thick as an Ox, of which they made such large Canoes that they would contain fifty or sixty Persons, and of this Sort there were once great numbers in Cuba. There are Storax Trees, and if a Man in the Morning gets upon a high Place the Vapors that rise from the Earth perfectly smell of Storax coming from the fire the Indians make at night, and drawn up when the Sun rises. Another Sort of Trees produce a Fruit call'd Xaguas, as big as veal kidneys, which being beaten and laid by four or five days, tho' not gather'd ripe, are full of Liquor like Honey, and better tasted than the sweetest Pears. There are abundance of wild Vines that run up high, bearing grapes, and Wine has been made of them, but somewhat aigre, and there being an infinite Quantity of them throughout all the Island, the Spaniards were wont to say they had seen a Vineyard that extended two hundred and thirty Leagues. Some of the Trunks of these Vines are as thick as a Man's Body, which proceeded from extraordinary Moisture and Fertility of the Soil. All the Island is very pleasant and more temperate than Hispaniola, very healthy, has safer Harbors for many Ships than if they had been made by Art, as is that of Santiago on the Southern Coast being in the shape of a Cross, that of Xagua is scarce to be matched in the World, the Ships pass into it through a narrow Mouth, not above a Cross bow Shot over and then turned into the open Part of it, which is about ten Leagues in Compass with three little islands so posited, that they may make fast their Ships to Stakes on them, and they will never budge, all the Compass being shelter'd by Mountains, as if they were in a House, and there the Indians had Pens to shut up the Fish. On the north Side there are good Harbours, the best being that which was call'd de Carenas, and now the Havana, so large that few can compare to it; and twenty Leagues to the Eastward of it is that of Matanzas, which is not very safe. About the middle of the Island is another good Port, call'd del Principe, and almost at the End that of Baracoa, where much good Ebony is cut; between which there are other good anchoring places, tho' not large."

In a volume entitled "Voyages and Travels" and edited by Raymond Beazley, there is a record of travels in Mexico 1568–1585 by one John Chilton, which says on the title-page: "A Notable Discourse of Master John Chilton, touching the people, manners, mines, metals, riches, forces and other memorable things of the West Indies seen and noted by himself in the time of his travels continued in those parts the space of seventeen or eighteen years." He writes of Havana:

"Merchants after travelling from Nicaragua, Honduras, Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, Jamaica and all other places in the Indies arrive there, on their return to Spain; for that in this port they take in victuals and water and the most part of their landing. Here they meet from all the foresaid places, always in the beginning of May by the King's commandment. At the entrance of this port, it is so narrow that there can scarce come in two ships together, although it be above six fathoms deep in the narrowest place of it.

"In the north side of the coming in, there standeth a tower in which there watcheth every day a man to descry the call of ships which he can see on the sea; and as many as he discovereth so many banners he setteth upon the tower, that the people of the town (which standeth within the port about a mile from the tower) may understand thereof.

"Under this tower there lieth a sandy shore, where men may easily go aland; and by the tower there runneth a hill along by the water's side, which easily with small store of ordnance, subdueth the town and port. The port within is so large that there may easily ride a thousand sail of ships, without anchor or cable; for no wind is able to hurt them.

"There inhabit within the town of Havana about three hundred Spaniards and about sixty soldiers; which the King maintaineth there, for the keeping of a certain castle which he hath of late erected, which hath planted in it about twelve pieces of small ordnance. It is compassed round with a small ditch, where through at their pleasure, they may let in the sea.

"About two leagues from Havana there lieth another town called Guanabacoa, in which there are dwelling about one hundred Indians; and from this place sixty Leagues there lieth another town named Bahama, situated on the north side of the island. The chiefest city of the island of Cuba which is above two hundred miles in length, is also called Cuba (Santiago de Cuba); where dwelleth a Bishop and about 200 Spaniards; which town standeth on the south side of the island about a hundred leagues from Havana.

"All the trade of this island is cattle; which they kill only for the hides that are brought thence into Spain. For which end the Spaniards maintain there many negroes to kill the cattle, and foster a great number of hogs, which being killed are cut into small pieces that dry in the sun; and so make provisions for the ships which come for Spain."

Many books of West Indian travel are by French writers, among them an anonymous "Relation des voyages et des decouvertes que las Espagnols on fait," Jean de Laët's "Histoire du Nouveau Monde," Jean Baptiste Labat's "Nouveau Voyage aux îles de l'Amérique," François Coréal's "Relation des Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" and that interesting work entitled "Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans les îles et Terra Firma de l'Amérique," which does not give the name of the author, but bears on its title-page the name of the printer, "Gervais Clouzier au Palais, à la seconde Boutique sur les degrés en montant pour aller à la Ste. Chapelle au Voyageur MDCLXXI" and is dedicated to the Duc de Luynes, a peer of France. There is also the work of a Dutchman, Linschoten: "Histoire de la Navigation de Jean Hugues de Linschoten," which has been translated into English, French and other languages.

Jan Huygens van Linschoten was a born traveler. His favorite reading had always been books of travel and as the news of the exploits of foreign mariners in the New World came pouring into Holland, this young Dutchman was seized with an irresistible longing to see those far-off worlds. He frankly speaks in his book of travel of the difficulties he encountered in trying to persuade his family to approve of his venture, and whether they did or not, he set out for Lisbon as the place where he would be most likely to obtain passage. He arrived there just after the death of Alba. He found the Peninsula in great commotion which even interrupted the regular routine of overseas traffic. But a man of daring puts his trust in chance, and chance favored the venturesome youth by an extraordinary opportunity.

There was at that time a noble Dominican monk in Lisbon, Fra Vincente Fonseca, scion of a distinguished family. He had been a preacher to King Sebastian of Portugal, had done missionary work in Africa and been later attached to the court of Madrid as confessor of Philip II. The archbishopric of the West Indies having become vacant, Fonseca was appointed, but he was unwilling to accept this position, dreading the long voyage and a repetition of some unpleasant experiences which he had had in Africa. The king, however, insisted, promised to recall him in four or five years and held out to him the lure of rich revenues. So Fra Fonseca finally accepted, and Jan Huygens van Linschoten succeeded in obtaining a position in the retinue of the prelate. Linschoten's brother, who was secretary to the king, being tired of court life, had also asked to be sent overseas and was about to sail as scribe on board a vessel going to the Levant. But on learning of his brother's luck, he decided also to go to the West Indies and joined the fleet waiting to embark in some professional capacity. There were five vessels; the Admiral ship called San Felipe, the Vice-Admiral San Diego, the third was San Laurente, the fourth San Francisco and the fifth San Salvador. The two brothers boarded the latter, and set sail on Good Friday, the eighth of April, 1583.

Jan Huygens van Linschoten has this to say of Cuba:

"Cuba is a very large island belonging to the Antille group, first discovered by Christopher Colomb in 1492, and called by him Jeanne et Ferdinande and also Alpha and Omega. It has also by others been called Island of Santiago, after the name of the principal town, so considered on account of the great harbor and big trade. To the east it has the island of San Domingo, to the west Yucatan, to the north the extremity of Florida and the Lucaya islands, to the South the island of Jamaica. The island of Cuba is greater in length than in width; it measures from one end to the other three hundred leagues, from North to South seventy and in width it is only fifteen and in some places nineteen leagues. The center of the island is at 91 degrees longitude and twenty latitude. The island has long been considered part of the continent on account of its size, of which one ought not to be surprised, for the inhabitants themselves seem not to know its limits and since the arrival of the Spaniards they know no better, being a people, naked and simple and contented with their government and bothering about no other. The ground is rough and hilly. The sea makes inlets in various places; there are small rivers, the good waters of which carry gold and copper. The air is moderately warm, sometimes a little cold. You find there dye-stuffs for linen and furs. The island is full of shady woods, ponds and beautiful fresh water rivers; you also find plenty of ponds the waters of which are naturally salt. The forests contain wild boars. The rivers frequently yield gold.

"In this island are six cities, inhabited by Spaniards, the first and principal of which is San Jago, which is the seat of the archbishop; but Havana is the principal mercantile center of the island and there they build ships. Two notable things were remarked on this island by Gonsalo Onetano. One is a valley between two mountains, of the length of two or three Spanish leagues, where you find boulders by nature so round that they could not be rounded better, and in such quantity that they could serve as ballast for several ships, that use cannon balls instead of lead or iron. The other is a mountain, not far from the coast, from which there is a constant flow of pitch to the coast and wherever the wind may divert it. The residents and Spaniards use this pitch to tar their vessels.

"The inhabitants of this island are like those of the island of Spain (Hispaniola) though a little different in language. Both men and women go about naked. In their marriage a strange custom prevails; the husband is not the first to approach his wife. If he is a gentleman, he invites all gentlemen to precede him; if he is a merchant, he invites the merchants, if he is a peasant, he asks the gentlemen and the priests. The men can for the slightest cause abandon the women; but the wives cannot desert their husband for any reason whatsoever. The men are very inconstant and lead a bad life. The soil produces big worms and serpents or snakes that are not poisonous so the people eat them without danger. And these snakes feed on certain little animals called Guabiniquinazes, of which sometimes seven or eight are found in their stomach, although they are as big as hares, resembling a fox, the head of a weasel, the tail of a fox, the hair long like a deer's, color somewhat reddish, and the flesh tender and wholesome. This island should be well populated; but it is not so at present, unless it be by some Spaniards, who have exterminated the greater number of natives, of which many died of starvation."

The Sieur Jean de Laët d'Anners, whose History of the New World bears the imprint of Bonaventure and Elzevir, Printers of the University of Leyden, also gives a description of Cuba as it was in the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. He says:

"There are few towns in proportion to the size of the island; Santiago ranks first, both for its age and name; it was built by Diego Velasco. At the south coast of the island about 20 degrees North Latitude, opposite Hispaniola, almost two miles from the sea, in the depth of a harbor which one may well pronounce the first among the large and safe harbors of the New World. For the ocean enters through a narrow inlet and is received by a large bay, like a gulf, with several little islands; it is so safe a port that one does not need to cast anchor. This city was once well populated, but now the population is reduced to a very small number. It has a cathedral church and a bishop Suffragans of the archbishopric of San Domingo and a monastery of the Minorite brothers. It is owned by the Lieutenant-Governor of the island. The chief articles of trade are ox-skins and sugar. Three miles from the town are rich mines of copper, which is now extracted from high mountains, called for that reason by the Spaniards Sierras de Cobre.

"Near this town to the East about thirty miles is the town of Baracoa, built by the same Velasco on the North Coast The forests near this town yield very good ebony and according to other reports Brazilian redwood.

"The third city is San Salvador or Bayamo from the name of the province, built by the same Velasco, thirty miles from Santiago, which surpasses all other towns of the island by good air, fertile soil and beautiful plains; it is in the center of the island, but merchandise is brought from the sea by the river Caute, which is opposite. Among the treasures of this island are certain stones of divers size, but all perfectly round, so they could serve as cannon balls; they are said to be so numerous on the shores of the river bearing the name of the town, that they seem to have rained from the sky. Oniedo says they are found in a marshy valley almost midway between this city and Santiago.

"Puerto de Principe ranks fourth; town and harbor, much esteemed by mariners, are to the north of the island, forty leagues from Santiago northwest. Not far are springs of bitumen, which Monardes mentions (and which the Indians use as remedy for chills). I believe they are the naptha of the ancients.

"Santi Spiritus of forty to fifty houses is more a village than a town and its harbor is good only for barges and sloops. But vessels stop there on their way from Santiago, Bayamo and Puerto Principe to Havana.

"Trinite-Trinidad—once populated by Indians, now almost deserted, has an inconvenient harbor and was the scene of some shipwrecks.

"Havana receives the sea by a narrow but deep inlet, enlarging into a wide bay, with coasts at first diverging and then meeting, capable of holding a thousand vessels as if in a safe bosom. All the Spanish fleets coming from the meridional continent, New Spain and the islands, loaded with a variety of merchandise and an abundance of gold and silver, stop there to take on water and necessary victuals, and when a sufficient number has collected, in September or later, they go out together or in two fleets through the straits of Bahama towards Spain: The city has besides the garrison (the number of which is uncertain, although the king sends the pay for a thousand soldiers and more) three hundred Spanish families, some Portuguese and a large number of slaves. The governor of the island and the other royal officers reside there. It surpasses not only the other cities of the island, but almost all of America by the size and safety of her port, her wealth and her commerce. The neighboring forests furnish a great abundance of excellent woods, which they use to build their ships, which is a very great convenience. They have also tried to work some copper mines not far from the town; but without success, either because the veins failed, or the laborers were too ignorant or the expense was greater than the profit."

Many of the writers of these books of travel dwell at length upon the wealth of precious woods found on the island. One of them makes a list which contains the following: l'acana, called vegetable iron, cedar, majagna (mahogany) frijolillo, a wood with shaded veins, granadillo, a wood light purple in color, ebony, yew and many others. Wood was so plentiful that it was even used instead of metal in machinery. Foreigners visiting the first sugar refinery in Cuba, which was in 1532 founded by Brigadier Gonzales de Velosa, associated with the veedor Cristobal de Tapia and his brother, found the machines made of hard wood. The variety of fruits is also commented upon by the travelers that visited Cuba in the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. They mention among the fruit trees abundant in Cuba the cocoa trees of Los Remedios, the ubiquitous banana, the orange, the West India chestnut, the fruit-bearing palms, guesima, garoubier, yaya and others.

François Coréal's "Relation des Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" also contains some interesting data and goes into the causes of the decline of Spanish power in the West Indies. Coréal, who seems to be of Spanish origin or at least citizenship, says among other things:

"There grows in Porto Rico a guiac tree, the wood of which was considered a sovereign remedy against small-pox. Indians sometimes told me, were it but for that wood, one should be glad that America was discovered. These Indians often asked me whether there are any drugs against small pox growing in Europe; and when I told them that many excellent antivenereal remedies came from the West Indies, they remarked with some common sense and not without a touch of irony, that God had much kindness for the Castellanos, having given them their gold, their wives and even their guiac."

In another part of the very readable work he says:

"It is certain the Spaniards owe the rapidity of their conquest of America to the sudden (and almost miraculous) fear with which the Indians were seized at the approach of the new enemy. It seems that without it we would have had much more trouble; but artillery was unknown to these Americans, so was military discipline, which we understood better than they, so they with extraordinary rapidity cleared for us the roads to the South Sea and on to Chili and the Straits of Magellan. This facility of our conquest made for carelessness, which from that time through the luxury and idleness of our people increased, until it became almost inconceivable. As our people rather scorned the Indians and considered them almost a sort of intermediary creature between man and beast, it was believed that lands so easily conquered could not be as easily lost; and there was some reason for this belief, for at that time Spain had no rival on the sea, there was nothing to fear from the Indians themselves, who could not hold out against us conquerors. Later we had even less fear, for the Spanish monarchy became a formidable power to all Europe and when it ceased to be so, interests and politics had so changed that one was obliged to leave us in peaceful ownership of a possession which could have been taken from us as easily as we had conquered it.

"This is according to my opinion the main cause of the decline of Spanish power in America. There are others which are no less real. As soon as one has set foot in the New World, you are confronted with an endless lot of plunderers and marauders, who call themselves soldiers, ravage the beautiful country, pillage the treasures of the Indians, torture the inhabitants and rob them of their property and freedom, under a thousand pretences unworthy of Christianity and of Spanish generosity. So that several of these nations which at the beginning favored the Spaniards, became in time their most mortal enemies. These plunderers, I cannot call them anything else, ruined at the outset the authority of the King and by their wickedness hindered all the good that one could have expected from the friendship of native residents. Royal authority being poorly upheld by these bad subjects of the King, and the facile abundance which they had found, having plunged them into all sorts of vice, their pride made them look upon the Indians as their slaves and even as property acquired by the sword, which succeeded in spoiling our position with the natives. It is quite certain that these people would not wish for more than to throw off the yoke of servitude under which they sigh to-day as did their ancestors before them."

The author of the book printed by Gervais Glouzier, "Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans les îles et la Terra Firma de l'Amérique pendant la dernière guerre avec l'Angleterre, etc." also dwells upon the policy pursued by certain Spanish adventurers and officials towards the natives of the islands:

"The Spaniards pretended to have recognized the natives of these islands as being anthropophagous, and asked the king of Castile permission to capture them, i.e., to take and make them slaves (which they did elsewhere without permission), so they did not approach the Antilles except armed, and in the character of enemies; and the Indians who inhabited them prepared to make upon them the most cruel war, as soon as they saw vessels off their coasts, be it openly or from ambush in the woods, or by surprise attacks, when the strangers wanted to take water or leave the vessels, which irritated these people and many a Spaniard regretted having obliged them to go to such extremities.

"Things of this kind happened in the Antilles during the fifteenth century when the Spaniards were busy making other discoveries, wherever gold or silver attracted them and for the conservation of which and the exploitation of mines they could not furnish a sufficient number of men. They had no idea of settling down to cultivate the soil of these lands, and waiting only to procure the convenience of taking on water or leaving their invalids to recuperate on St. Christopher island, they made peace with the Indians who inhabited this island, and continued to treat as enemies all those of other islands.

"When at the end of this century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the English and French sailed on the seas of America, the first with more considerable forces like those conducted by Drake, Walter Raleigh, Kenits and others, and the French with less armaments, the voyages of the ones and the others in those little frequented climates made some other compatriots conceive the idea of establishing themselves on American soil and found colonies, which would furnish subsistence to a considerable number of their nation and serve as retreat to those vessels where they could renew their supplies. In this way in 1625 two adventurers, the one French, named d'Enemène 'de la maison de Duil en Normandie,' the other also a gentleman, an Englishman named V. Varnard, moved by the same desire landed on the same day on St. Christopher's, which they had chosen for their purpose and from there all the French and British settlements in the Antilles radiated."

These records of visits to the West Indies by Dutch, English, French and other travellers following in the wake of the great discoverers and explorers, rise almost to the importance of documentary evidence, when they attempt to deal with such questions as the attitude of the Spaniards towards the natives of the New World. But mainly they are narratives, setting down simply and unpretentiously the impressions made upon European visitors by the bigness of dimensions and proportions and the abundance of natural products of all sorts. There is a spirit of wonderment at the riches so profusely bestowed upon this Western world; but there is not yet a trace of the jealousy so apparent in later writings, when commercial rivalry had divided the nations of Europe into hostile camps and finally arrayed all of them against Spain. Though not always written by men who had set out in pursuit of adventure, they convey to the reader a breath of the oldtime romance of travel in countries the plants and animals and native residents of which are so many objects of curious interest. But viewed as a whole, these books are full of information, at times strangely quickened by an individual human touch, and read at leisure in a certain order, reconstruct the panorama of West Indian life in a period which had no parallel in the history of the world.