AVES ISLAND. 139 



Dias had given Captain Gibbs and Charles Lang, on the 12th or 

 13th of December, a paper in Spanish, which we generally understood 

 was a protection against the squadron that he said was coming down, 

 and an order not to disturb us. We heard that afternoon that he 

 wanted Captain Gibbs to sign a paper in Spanish, saying he would 

 allow his soldiers to stay there and keep everybody but our parties off, 

 and feed them, while he was gone down to Laguayra, and see what 

 his government wanted to be done, and what the United States had 

 agreed to about the island. Captain Gibbs refused for several hours ; 

 said he did not read Spanish, and he would not sign anything ; and 

 that unless the United States had agreed to give up the island, the 

 Venezuelans had no right, and he would not acknowledge any, and 

 he had no right to sign any paper, and it might commit him, Dias 

 ; said over and over again that it did not acknowledge his claim, and 

 that he did not want any such thing ; and after talking smooth 

 awhile, then he would blow and talk big, and then coax again; 

 and he went round among all hands and seemed a good deal 

 troubled, as if he had his hands full. Finally, towards night. Cap- 

 tain Gibbs, through his representations, signed his paper, and Lang 

 also, and he then cleared out, leaving several of his soldiers there and 

 one man who was an officer. We had to give these fellows victuals 

 and clothes and drink and tobacco and cigars, and shelter to sleep 

 on, for about two weeks, but they were all too lazy to work. I never 

 saw such a gang of worthless human beings in the whole course of my 

 life. When the second party came to the island^ the fellows ashore 

 undertook to salute them, and one of them got wounded in firing the 

 cannon by his ignorance and awkwardness, and they took him away 

 to St. Thomas for a doctor, and he died. They came back and landed 

 more men late at night, on Christmas or the day after, and stationed 

 their soldiers, with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, all around, 

 and pretty soon announced that they took possession, and that we 

 should not take any more guano, and must go off the next day. 

 They said we should not hoist our flag any more. Their sentinels 

 were kept stationed around our stores, and at the pits, and on the 

 wharves, and at the flag-staff, all night, and kept there till morn- 

 ing, and till we went away. They helped themselves to all they 

 wanted. In the morning Captain Gibbs did hoist our flag, in spite 

 of the sentinel at the liberty-pole, and hailed the vessels to send their 

 crews ashore. Our party wanted to lick the vagabonds off the island 

 and take the schooner. We could have tied the whole concern in 

 fifteen minutes, and captured their vessels besides ; but some of Lang's 

 party were not disposed to go in for the fight, and Captain Gibbs said 

 he did not know what the United States government might have done 

 about the island ; and it seemed that our minister must have known 

 the vessels were coming down, and that it would be best, on the 

 whole, not to have any bloodshed, but to make it necessary for the 

 Venezuelans to show force and demonstrations, and then come home 

 and report the facts to the President, and see if he would let our 

 country be run over and cowed down, and such a set rob American 

 property with impunity. We never saw any United States ship-of- 

 war down there, but several of other nations. I think there ought to 



