28 THE SEA. 



Gulf of Honduras, where all suffered severely from want of provisions. Roast monkey was 

 their main sustenance. At last, near Cape Gracias a Dios, his ship struck on a sandbank 

 near the little island, one of the group named De las Puertas, and although they threw 

 overboard the guns, iron, and other weighty things on the ship, she stuck fast, and no 

 art could remove her. They were forced to break her up, and build themselves a boat to 

 get away. The islands were inhabited by some Indians, who are described as being very 

 tall and nimble, running as fast as a fleet horse, and enormously strong; " at diving 

 also," says the chronicler, " they are very dexterous and hardy. From the bottom of the sea I 

 saw them take up an anchor of six hundred-weight, tying a cable to it with great dexterity, 

 and pulling it from a rock. 1 " Their arms were of wood, and in place of iron points crocodiles' 

 teeth were often used. They had plantations of bananas, potatoes, and other fruits and 

 vegetables. They occasionally indulged in cannibalism. Two of the men, a Frenchman and 

 a Spaniard, went into the woods, where they lost themselves. A party of Indians pursued 

 them. They defended themselves with their swords, but were at last forced to flee; the nimbler 

 of the two, the Frenchman, escaped, but the Spaniard was taken. Some days after, twelve 

 well-armed pirates, conducted by the above-mentioned Frenchman, reached the place where the 

 Spaniard had been left. Here they found the evidences that the Indians had camped and 

 made a fire, and at a small distance discovered a man's bones well roasted, and with shreds 

 of fleyh, ill scraped off, adhering to them. A human hand, with but two fingers remaining, was 

 also found, and they could only conclude that these were the last of the poor Spaniard, as 

 he was never heard of again. 



Their boat was now finished, and they determined to make for the river of Nicaragua. 

 She could not hold the number, and to avoid disputes they cast lots who should go or stay. 

 Lolonois and half his men embarked in the long-boat and in the skiff which they had before, 

 the other half remaining ashore. At the river of Nicaragua that ill-fortune assailed the pirate 

 leader which of long time had been reserved for him as a punishment due to the multitude of 

 horrible crimes committed in his wicked and licentious life. Here he met with both Spaniards 

 and Indians, who, jointly setting upon him and his companions, were killed on the place. 

 Lolonois with those that remained alive, had much ado to escape aboard their boats ; yet, 

 notwithstanding this great loss, he resolved not to return to those he had left at the Isle of 

 Puertas without taking some boats such as he sought. To this effect he determined to go on 

 to the coasts of Carthagena; but "God Almighty," says Esquemeling u the time of His 

 divine justice being now come had appointed the Indians of Darien to be the instruments 

 and executioners thereof. These Indians of Darien were esteemed as bravoes, or wild savage 

 Indians, by the neighbouring Spaniards, who never could civilise them. Hither Lolonois 

 tame (brought by his evil conscience that cried for punishment), thinking to act his cruelties; 

 but the Indians, within a few days after his arrival, took him prisoner, and tore him in 

 pieces alive, throwing his body limb by limb into the fire, and his ashes into the air, that 

 no trace or memory might remain of such an infamous, inhuman creature. One of his 

 companions gave me an exact account of the tragedy, affirming that himself had escaped 

 the same punishment with the greatest difficulty. He believed also that many of his comrades 

 who were taken in that encounter by those Indians were, as their cruel captain, torn in 

 pieces and burnt alive. Thus ends the history, the life, and miserable death of that infernal 



