172 TRINIDAD. 



fair average and ratio of mortality in the colony under ordinary 

 circumstances. 



When first discovered by Columbus, Trinidad was apparently 

 well populated, being then inhabited by Yaos, Caribs, Chaymas^ 

 and other tribes of the Carib-Tamanaco family. How these tribes 

 were first treated by the invaders it is difficult to say ; but there is 

 reason to believe, that they did not receive a much better usage 

 than their unfortunate brethren of the other islands, and of the 

 neighbouring continent. At a later period, however, their rem- 

 nant tribes were formed into several missions throughout the 

 island, namely, at Tacarigua, Arouca, Cuare, Cumana, Siparia, 

 Montserrat, Savannah Grande, Araim, and Toco. But, in 

 Trinidad, as in other parts of the New World, the poor Indians 

 have resisted the pressure of civilisation, and finally sunk under the 

 ascendancy of a more intelligent race. In the year 1783, the 

 Indian population amounted to 2,032 souls, who, at the capitula- 

 tion of the island, had declined, according to official returns, to 

 1,082 individuals. In the year 1830 there still existed 689 sur- 

 vivors of that race ; the ratio of mortality among them being, in 

 the same year, 3*49, and that of births 3*75 per cent. At present 

 there cannot be above 200 or 300 Indians in the colony, so that 

 the aborigines may be said to be almost extinct. The natural 

 inquiry arises, what were the causes productive of this general 

 decrease ? Did they emigrate to the neighbouring continent, or 

 have they died away in the island ? It is highly probable that 

 many did seek a refuge and home in the virgin forests of Vene- 

 zuela; but I also coincide in opinion with some judicious observers, 

 who trace the approximate extinction of these tribes to the 

 marked preference manifested by the Indian women towards the 

 negroes and the whites, by whom they were kindly treated, whilst 

 they were regarded by their husbands, of kindred race, more as 

 slaves and beasts of burden, than as equals or companions. As a 

 consequence of those connections, there exists at present, in the 

 colony, a certain number of individuals of Indian descent, but of 

 mixed blood. 



I have already mentioned that it was only after the granting 

 of the second cedula by the Spanish government, in the year 

 1783, that Trinidad may date any ostensible settlement. En- 

 couraged by the liberal offers made by that cedula, colonists 

 thronged from Grenada, St. Vincent, and the French Islands, 



