AMONG THE CARIBS. 77 



attention. They were trained to war from their in- 

 fancy. As soon as they could walk, their intrepid 

 mothers put in their hands the bow and arrow, and 

 prepared them to take an early part in the hardy 

 enterprises of their fathers. Their distant roamings 

 by sea made them observant and intelligent. The 

 natives of the other islands only knew how to divide 

 time by day and night, by the sun and moon ; whereas 

 these had acquired some knowledge of the stars, by 

 which to calculate the times and seasons." 



This is the account, drawn mainly from Irving, of 

 the discovery and condition of the first cannibals ever 

 beheld by white men. This second voyage of Colum- 

 bus commenced under flattering auspices : to find at 

 the outset a new people, a new fruit ; to add to the 

 language at least two new words — Carib and Can- 

 nibal, — this were enough to satisfy any explorer. 



But Columbus was in search of gold. He could not 

 brook delay in a country where the precious metal did 

 not exist ; and though the forests were filled with 

 countless trees possessing spicy gums and rare virtues, 

 he could not stop to put them to the test. He sailed 

 away north after capturing some women and children. 



The mind of the great admiral was keenly alive to 

 any opportunity for serving his sovereigns and himself. 

 Finding no gold, he looked about for some means of 

 making it. He sent the captive Caribs home to Spain 

 to be sold as slaves. And this is how the great and 

 good Columbus proposed to reimburse his sovereigns 

 for their outlay, and to furnish the colony with live- 

 stock. K In this way the peaceful islanders would be 

 freed from warlike and inhuman neighbors ; the royal 

 revenue would be greatly enriched, and a vast number 



