78 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



of souls would be snatched from perdition, and carried, 

 as it were, by main force to heaven." 



Though the gentle and humane Isabella w r ould not 

 listen to this monstrous scheme, there is little likeli- 

 hood that it would have succeeded with the Caribs ; 

 for those old conquistador cs, though valiant inquisi- 

 tors, rarely measured swords with these antagonists 

 who loved to fight. Although, a matter of history, 

 the followers of Columbus murdered more than a mil- 

 lion of the peaceful inhabitants of the larger islands — 

 Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Porto Rico — who were dis- 

 covered in a state of happiness and innocence, they 

 always evaded encounters with the "Pagan Cannibals." 

 Thus to the prowess of their ancestors are the Caribs 

 of the present day indebted for their existence, when 

 not a vestige remains of the more numerous but peace- 

 ful tribes north of them. 



But I did not intend, in digressing, to follow the 

 voyages of Columbus ; to describe how he converted 

 these fair islands, teeming with happy life, into hells 

 of misery, and left behind him and his monsters a trail 

 of blood and fire. It was merely to begin at the be- 

 ginning, to bring before you the Carib as he was when 

 found, nearly four centuries ago, and to show, by con- 

 trast with his present life, how he has been almost 

 civilized out of existence. 



I had been a month in the interior of Dominica, 

 living in the woods, hunting new birds, and enjoying 

 the novel experiences of camp life in tropical moun- 

 tains. From time to time came reports from the Carib 

 country, that only strengthened the determination I had 

 formed of penetrating to their stronghold. That they 

 lived secluded from the world, held no intercourse 



