NO. 14 ARCHEOLOGY OF BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS STRONG I3 



respectively, maize, yucca, potatoes, and various medicinal plants were 

 abundant. The inhabitants " are of hyh and goodly stature, well 

 lymmed and portioned, both men and women covering their privie 

 partes with fyne breeches of gossampinc cotton, wrought with divers 

 colours ". The natives, to make themselves beautiful in their own eyes, 

 painted their bodies red and black with " the iuyce of certayne apples 

 which they plant in their gardens for the same purpose ". Plant, 

 flower, and knot designs were employed for such paintings, according 

 to the fancy of the individual. Peter Martyr concludes with the 

 statement that: " Their language differeth utterly from theirs of the 

 Ilandes neere about them [the Greater Antilles?]." 



The death of Isabella in 1504 was a sad blow to the Indians of the 

 Caribbean, for she had been much interested in her new subjects and 

 had ordered that they be well treated. The bars having been let down 

 by Ferdinand, enslavement of the natives went on apace and both the 

 Greater and Lesser Antilles were soon depleted of their native 

 population. Since the importation of negro slaves into the Spanish 

 Dominions was forbidden, expeditions were soon sent far afield in 

 search of captives to work the mines. The peaceful inhabitants of the 

 Bay Islands did not escape, and from 1516 to 1526 suffered several 

 raids by Spaniards from Cuba and Jamaica. Since the enslavement 

 of Indians who took up arms against the Spanish or were cannibals 

 was permitted, it was simple enough to justify these expeditions at 

 home. One of the first of these raids occurred in 15 16, when two 

 vessels from Cuba rounded up a great number of Indian slaves on 

 the Bay Islands. They were battened below hatches, and the larger 

 vessel sailed to Cul^a, leaving the men with the smaller vessel to 

 round up the survivors. Arriving at Santiago, the Spaniards left only 

 a few of their number on guard while the others went ashore. Ap- 

 prised of their departure by the ensuing silence, the Indians broke 

 out, killed the guards, and hoisting the sails, made their way without 

 compass or chart across more than 650 miles of open sea to their 

 island homes. On their arrival they fell upon the remaining Spaniards 

 and soon drove them away. Unfortunately, this act of poetic justice 

 was soon upset by the arrival of more Spaniards from Cuba, who, 

 after a desperate fight, broke down the Indian resistance and sailed 

 away with some 400 slaves." It is not remarkable that after such 

 happenings as these, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba with two 

 other leaders, returning from Yucatan in 15 17, received such a hot 



" For more details see Herrera, 1601, Dec. II, Lib. II, Cap. VII ; also Squier, 

 1858, pp. 605-606; and Conzemius, 1928, pp. 59-62. 



