314 ISLES OF SUMMEE. 



ing. He did not merely tarnish his reputation, but he earned 

 for himself eternal infamy, and the scorn and contempt of good 

 men in all future times, by a royal order under which the entire 

 native population of the Bahamas were conveyed to Hispaniola, 

 and forced to labor in its mines. The removal was brought about 

 by the grossest fraud. The '' children of the sun" promised to 

 take them to those Elysian isles where they could enjoy the society 

 of their dead ancestors, and revel with them in supreme and never 

 ending delights. Subjected to tasks to which they were unaccus- 

 tomed, andfor which they were unfitted, disappointed and broken 

 hearted, it did not require many years for death to do for them 

 all that the Spaniards had promised; 



*•' The whole race sank beneath the oppressor's rod. 

 And left a blank among the works of God." 



The "heavenly men" proved to be greater demons than any 

 those unfortunate islanders had ever, by prayer and sacrifice, 

 endeavored to appease and conciliate. 



For a time the Bahamas were without human inhabitants; 



" Still nature spread her fruitful sweetness round. 

 Breathed on the air, and brooded on the ground." 



The fairy isles lost nothing of their charming loveliness; the 

 Boft, perfumed, and medicated air retained all its healing and 

 attractive qualities; while the ocean kissed with its crested waves 

 the white beaches and honey-combed shores, and ceaselessly 

 uttered its regretful murmurs. 



Capt. William Sayle, an English navigator, entered the harbor 

 of Nassau in the year 1607, and gave to the island of Xew Provi- 

 dence its present name, in commemoration of his escape from 

 threatened shipwreck. England claimed the Bahamas as an 



