6c HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. i. 



many contemporary historians confirm his opinion. It 

 appears likewise from the information of Las Casas, 

 the bishop of Chiapa, to the emperor Charles V. that 

 most of the natives of Trinidadf were of the same 

 nation; the extent and natural strength of that island, 

 as of the others above-mentioned,, having protected 

 them, in a great measure., from the depredations of* 

 the Charaibes, 



V. 



I have elsewhere related that they were considered 

 by these barbarians as descended from a colony of Ar- 

 rowauks, a people of Guiana; and there can be no good 

 reason to suppose that the Charaibes were misinform- 

 ed in this particular. The evidence of Raleigh, and 

 others who visited both Guiana and Trinidad two cen- 

 turies ago, might be adduced in support of their opi- 

 nion. These voyagers pronounce the ancient inhabi- 

 tants of Trinidad to belong precisely to the Arwacks 

 or Arrowauk nation of the continent; a race of Indi- 

 ans to whose noble qualities the most honourable tes- 

 timony is borne by every traveller that has visited 

 them, and recorded his observations. And here, all 

 inquiry concerning the origin of our islanders seems to 

 terminate. It is indeed extremely probable that all 

 the various nations of this part of the new world, ex- 

 cept only the Charaibes, emigrated anciently from the 



f Trinidad was discovered by Columbus in his third voyage, and was 

 named by him after the Holy Trinity, because says Herrera, having been 

 in great danger, in a violent storm, he made a vow to give that name to 

 the first land he should find; soon after which a sailor, in the main- 

 top, saw three points of land, whereby the name fitted every way to hia 

 vow. 



