affirm that on the death of a cacique, the greatest part, if not all his most favourite women, were immolated; and that they

established a friendly intercourse with the natives, and fixed thirty-nine men with arms and ammunition in the fort, prepared to quit Hispaniola, and return to Spain with the tidings of his astonishing adventure. He had not long left the island, before the band of robbers whom he had unfortunately left behind him, threw off all restraint. The haughty, licentious, and tyrannical dispositions of these Spaniards, who were now no longer overawed by the presence of Columbus, burst forth with the most uncontroulable violence. Their insatiable thirst for gold, carried them into the interior of the country; and their repeated inquiries after the precious metal, when the natives had no more to bestow, soon sunk them in their estimation. Their modes of conduct soon made them troublesome companions, and, from considering them as a superior race of beings, the natives would not allow them, in point of behaviour, to stand on an equal footing with themselves.

Before the Spaniards had rendered themselves thus suspicious, burdensome, and offensive, they were considered as a superior race of men. On their approaching to any of the Indian villages, the cacique, or some venerable Indian, went forth to meet them with every demonstration of respect. The common Indians in the mean while prostrated themselves before them, kissing their hands and feet, with a fondness approaching even to adoration. The trifling presents which the Spaniards bestowed, were received as favours of a most inestimable value, and were preserved with a degree of sacred veneration. The presence of the Spaniards was thought even to sanctify their dwellings, and they viewed their departure with the sincerest regret." They gave the natives red caps, glass beads, pins, and knives, and little bells, and received gold in return." But the period of tranquillity was nearly at an end. The depredations of the Spaniards at length awakened the islanders from their supineness, and provoked them to revenge the insults which they had received. The natives with Cuanaboa the Charaibean chief at their head, attacked the Spaniards, most probably while they were engaged in some of their depredatory exploits, and completely cut them off, leaving not a single man alive. Having destroyed the Spaniards, they next proceeded to demolish the fort, which in the presence of Columbus they had contributed to raise.

The natives however were by no means unanimous on this occasion. Guacanahari, the cacique who had interested himself so much in the misfortunes of Columbus, was quite averse to the violent measures to which his countrymen had resorted in the case of the Spaniards; and he had defended them to the last extremity against the more violent and formidable tribe of Cuanaboa. On the return of Columbus from Europe, this venerable man appeared before him, covered with wounds which he had received in the defence of those marauders whom Columbus had left behind, and who had fallen victims to the irritated fury of the enraged Indians. At the same time he informed Columbus of the whole procedure; and pointed out Cuanaboa, as one who had borne an active part in the murder of the Spaniards,

By the relation which Columbus received from Guacanahari, “it appeared clear to him (says Raynal) that the Spaniards had drawn this misfortune upon themselves, by their haughty, licentious, and tyrannical behaviour.” Cuanaboa was however seized by the order of Columbus, who had now landed with considerable forces, capable of subduing, or acting towards the natives at his discretion. Cuanaboa being in the possession of the Spaniards, they had nothing further to fear from his prowess, and his followers were now left without a leader. He was put on board of a ship in order to be carried to Spain, to take his trial for the crimes which were preferred against him, but the ship foundered on her passage, and Cuanaboa and all the Spanish scamen perished; "the ship their coffin, and the sea their grave!"

submitted to their sufferings without any astonishing complaints. The despotism of the cacique inculcated a veneration, which operated much the same both in his life-time and after his death. Religion was introduced to give sanction to acts of barbarous absurdity. To resist the will of the cacique was not only base but impious; and he who offended this established rule, committed a crime which hardly admitted of any expiation. The commands of the monarch were implicitly obeyed, whe

The beautiful Anacoana being now left a widow, resided in the territory of Xaraguay, of which she became a female cacique by the death of her brother Behechio. Her territories extended from the fertile plains on which Leogane is now situated, to the western extremity of the island. "She had always

(says Robertson) courted the friendship of the Spaniards, and loaded them with benefits; but some of the adherents of Roldan, having settled in her country, were so much exasperated at her endeavouring to restrain their excesses, that they accused her of having formed a plan to throw off the yoke, and to exterminate the Spaniards. Ovando, though he well knew what little credit was due to such profligate men, marched without further inquiry towards Xaragua or Xaraguay, with three hundred foot and seventy horsemen.

"To prevent the Indians taking any alarm at this hostile appearance, he gave out that his sole intention was to visit Añacoana, to whom his countrymen had been so much indebted, in the most respectful manner; and to regulate with her the mode of levying the tribute payable to the king of Spain.

"Anacoana, in order to receive this illustrious guest with due honours, assembled the principal men in her dominions, to the number of three hundred; and advancing at the head of these, accompanied by a great crowd of persons of inferior rank, she welcomed Ovando with songs and dances according to the mole of the country, and conducted him to the place of her residence. There he was feasted for many days with all the kindness of simple hospitality, and amused with the games and spectacles usual among the native Americans upon such occasions of mirth and festivity. But amid the security which this inspired, Ovando was meditating the destruction of his unsuspicious entertainer and her subjects. And the mean perfidy with which he executed his scheme, equalled his barbarity in forming it.

"Under the colour of exhibiting to the Indians the parade of an European tournament, he advanced with his troops in battle-array towards the house in which Anacoana and the chiefs who attended her, were assembled. The infantry took possession of the avenues which led to the village. The horsemen surrounded the house. These movements were the objects of adiniration without any mixture of fear, until upon a signal which had been concerted, the Spaniards suddenly drew their swords, and rushed upon the Indians, defenceless, and astonished at an act of treachery which exceeded the conception of undesigning men. In a moment Anacoana was secured. All her attendants were seized and bound. Fire was then set to the house, and, without any examination or conviction, all these unhappy persons, the most illustrious in their own country, were consumed in the flames.

"Anacoana was reserved for a more ignominious fate. She was carried in chains to St. Domingo, the capital of the island, and after the formality of a trial before Spanish judges, she was condemned upon the evidence of those very men who had betrayed her, to be publicly hanged." Robertson's History of America.

It is useless to animadvert on the above narrative. The crimes which were, committed by the Spaniards, are of such a flagrant nature, as to exhaust all the variety of language."

ther cruel or absurd; and the lives of his subjects depended on the cacique's voice. The declaration of his will and pleasure was sufficient to ensure obedience; he was under no necessity to assign reasons for his mandate; his judgment was deemed the fountain of rectitude, and his will was law. A dominion thus acquired over the mind of man, and guaranteed by the hopes and fears of another life, can have no bounds set to its operations. Superstition rivets the chain which ignorance and power conspired to forge; it binds its captives through life with more than iron fetters; and even death, among the natives of Hispaniola, was not able to dissolve the charm. Where the monarch is absolute, and governs his subjects without laws, an extensive empire can afford but little variety. The cruelty or humanity of the prince may appear in his decisions; but all that we behold, are either the incidents which rather belong to the private biography of the man than to the institutions of the politician, or the felicity and woe which alternately succeed each other. In such a situation the mind has no field in which to expatiate, and the power of selection hardly lies within its reach. Discrimination admits, in such cases, but of one division; on one side we behold unlimited power, and on the other the most abject submission; in that it is perfect despotism, and in this it is a horde of slaves.

Of their religious rites, and their views of an hereafter, something yet remains to be said; it would be treating them with injustice to pass over this article in silence, though the recital will place their theology in no very favourable point of view.

It has been generally granted, and with justice, that no nation has yet been found, totally destitute of all knowledge of a supreme Being, and without any expectation of a future state. The views which have been entertained by savage nations, have indeed been at all times very obscure; but the facts themselves have been received, and some traces of them have always been discovered in every age and nation of the world.

"The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." Rom. i. 20. The evidence is therefore of universal application, and its language is too plain to be misunderstood. It is true that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God; neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools; and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds,

and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever." Rom. i. 21-25.

The passages I have quoted, are suitable more or less to every unenlightened nation; but certain it is that they are fully applicable to the tribes of whom we speak. Or perhaps we may rather say that the tribes themselves are applicable to these scriptures, and afford us another demonstrative evidence that the sacred writings came forth from God. And though the natural man may refuse his assent to these truths, as they are conveyed in the language of authority, yet when living evidences bear such a strong resemblance to these previous declarations, the mind must labour under difficulties in attempting to escape from its own convictions.

That these islanders were at once idolatrous and superstitious, are conclusions which seem necessarily to arise from their condition. But the deplorable ignorance into which they were sunk, and the absurdities which incorporated themselves with their creed, serve to tell us how much we are indebted to that revelation, which God, through Jesus Christ, has been pleased to bestow.

Like most other savage tribes, these islanders believed in a plurality of gods. They conceived however that there was one, whose power was omnipotent, and whose nature was immortal. To this God they ascribed creation, for they had not been instructed in those schools which teach mankind that the world was made by chance. But though they admitted a supreme Being, and even some of those attributes which are inseparable from his nature, they had so interwoven these truths with fable, and corrupted them by absurdity, that they frequently defeated their own intentions, and contradicted their professional belief. One absurdity frequently leads to another. The mind that has admitted the first error, can hardly afterwards stand firmly on its guard; it plunges deeper and deeper into the ocean which lies before it, till, without a compass and without a guide, it sinks overwhelmed in an unfathomable abyss.

To the supreme Being, though they admitted some of his essential attributes, they assigned a father and a mother; and though they distinguished them by a variety of appellations, they did not seem to annex to their conceptions of these imaginary deities any particular notions, either of power, or of good or evil. They merely allowed them an existence, but beyond this their knowledge of their excellencies or defects did not pre

tend to pass. They however imagined that these aged beings were of a spiritual nature, that they were capable of transporting themselves from one abode to another, but that their proper places of residence were in the sun and moon.

But though they allowed of a supreme God, to whose goodness they gave the fullest credit, they imagined, like most other savage nations, that he was utterly regardless of the world and its inhabitants. They conceived that, highest in felicity as well as power, he had committed the government of the world, and of all sublunary things, to the management of inferior agents or genii, which they called zemi, who by their power produced the various changes of moral and physical evil, which are seen here below. These subordinate beings to whom the Almighty had committed the government and direction of the world, they considered as of a malignant nature, aiming at the subversion of the original and grand design of God. Their devotions were therefore of a gloomy kind; and were calculated to fill their minds with frightful conceptions, and horrid apprehensions. The tribute of grateful acknowledgment for favours previously received, flowing from a susceptibility of soul, formed no part of their religious exercises; they were neither cheered by confidence, nor enlivened by hope. To avert impending danger, and conciliate the esteem of those malicious demons, who were constantly contriving how to counteract the purposes of God, and to render human life afflictive and intolerable, was the principal object which they had in view. It was an acknowledgment of inferiority without gratitude, and a gloomy submission which was a stranger to love.

But these malignant deities were not accessible to the multitude without the intervention of the priest. They had an idol temple in almost every village, and bohitos or priests who interposed between them and the zami or zemi which they invoked. But it was only on particular occasions that the multitude were permitted to enter the house appropriated to their consecrated idols. The bohitos were always at hand, and could carry the requests and invocations of the rabble, and bring back the auricular responses which the zemi had made. The bohitos were, on all occasions, the interpreters of the zemi's answers, and could procure or avert by their prayers the dangers which threatened to imbitter life. The bohitos and zemi were in close alliance, and were capable of managing the giddy throng.

Through the mediation of the bohitos, the caciques extended their dominion over the people, as conveniency directed their power. The cacique and bohito rarely differed in opinion; they understood each other's business, and managed matters with no contemptible dexterity.. The former proposed, and the latter:

VOL. I.

P