LOGWOOD. 341 



cutters at Laguna de Terminos, so that in a year or 

 two the number of settlers was greatly increased, 

 and they transported large quantities of wood both 

 to Jamaica and New England. The Spaniards for 

 many years made no expostulations or complaints, 

 and the English log wood- cutters continued to in- 

 crease and flourish. 



At first a sufficiency of wood was found near the 

 coast, but when this, after a time, became exhausted, 

 the settlers gradually penetrated farther into the 

 country, where they planted Indian provisions, and 

 built houses. The jealousy of the Spaniards was at 

 length excited by this growing colony, and suddenly 

 evinced itself very unceremoniously by the seizure of 

 two English ships laden with logwood. The settlers 

 of Laguna immediately made reprisals by taking 

 possession of a Spanish bark. These mutual acts 

 of violence were only the commencement of a series 

 of hostilities, and after suffering much annoyance, 

 the English settlers were, in 1680, forcibly ejected 

 by the Spaniards from the island of Trist and from 

 Laguna de Terminos. This triumph on the part of 

 their adversaries was, however, but transitory, and in 

 two or three months the English were again cutting 

 their logwood, and trading in it more extensively 

 than ever. Notwithstanding the continued opposi- 

 tion of the Spaniards the indefatigable settlers still 

 contrived to increase their supply of that article, for 

 whose possession they hazarded so much. Inde- 

 pendent of the vexatious warfare by which they 

 were constantly harassed, the lives of these poor 

 wood-cutters were marked with hardship and priva- 

 tion ; sometimes they worked up to their knees in 

 water, and they were always tormented by the stings 

 of innumerable insects. 



We learn from Dampier that the commodities sent 

 from Jamaica to procure a return cargo of logwood 



