Book I. Mand of BARBADOS. 
Tine 3 found no Inhabitants upon att: Arrival. itvavan we ought 
- not to conclude too haftily, .that. there never: were any, until what. is 
“offered to’ prove the contrary, be» fully confidered, : I was, indeed; once 
partly inclined to that Opinion, induced ‘to. “it ‘frond the. Remateaele of 
this, from the whole Clufter of IMlands, viz. St. Lucia, Dominico, Mary- 
Galant; Guardaloup,, St. Chri ipopher's, Antigua, and St. Vincent ; which. 
Fu 
_ Jatt, tho’ neareft, ‘is about. one Wandaets Miles . diftant: And on moft 
r of thefe are’ in Sight of one another, they’ ‘are more convenient for mu- 
tual: Commerce in’ Time. of Peace; and’ ‘Embarkation in Time of Wat... 
And what gives feveral of thefe the ‘Advantage over this Ifland, with re- 
“gard: to an Indian Settlement, is their-far greater Number of | open ‘Bays 
and Rivers, ftored with Tortoifes, and. almoft. an * ‘incredible Plenty of 
’ Fith. ) But as we have. late Inftances of their, coming hither from | - 
» Sa Vir incent’ 3, in their {mall Canoes, or Perriawgets, even. for their Plea-. 
_fure, I concluded, that: they. might formerly, moré probably, come for 
their Intereft 5 efpecially at certain Seafons of the Year, when the Fifh- 
ing, or Game, in the other ‘Tflands, Brew. either feanty” or By, by being . 
too ‘often difturbed. » 
'Phefe probable Conjectures, upon a : faecher” Ingiiiry, were, corrobo= 
Fated by the Suffrage of many aged Perfons; fevéral of whom were be- 
tween eighty and ninety Years: old, who, not only agreed in’ their re- 
“ceived Tradition, that there were Talis formerly in this Iland, but like- 
wife fome of them.added farther, that their frequent Arrival to, or De- 
‘parture from it, was always in. the Wane of .the Moon, for the. Benefit of 
Tight » Nights ; ; and that when a Difference arofe. between them and 
; # ‘the Engh, ih, the Indians retired to their Faftneffes in the Woods ; and 
that in their: Way. down to their Canoes, they would artfully hide them- ©. 
* felves with Coverings of green Boughs, to elude the Search of the Exgiifh.. 
"Now, fince the Parents of thefe aged Perfons, who give this Account, . > 
Weise cil ieaicte be old enough. to be Eye-witnefles ‘of thefe: ‘Things ; fuch, and a : 
_ early a Teftimony, where’ they .had ‘no ‘apparent Tadneernent to deviate » 
from the Truth, -muft, at: leaft; be allow’d to carry with it the ufual ~ 
_ Weight and Credit. in fie Cafes till thefe Conje@ures, ftrengthened a 
» Tradition, and. confirm’ d by apparent, Fats, grow to fuch a Deere of. 
 Certaitity, ag to-leave every Doubt inexcufable. * 
The Method: I thall take -to prove their former (6) Rehdense j in this 
Ifland (which to: Pofterity may be ferviceable) will be to.make it appear, . 
Beh That there are feveral Places, in this Ifland, called, to this Day, 
after their Names. Secondly, ‘That in thefe ' very Places, there afe daily dug 
- up.fuch. Marks: of their former Refidence, as were ' peculiar to Indians. 
Thirdly, I fhall compare. thefe feyeral Bate ce: with thofe confefledly fa- 
tisfactory one in. almoft pe Cat T pik he by obletvings that 
“oh SD Ae 
the ° 
(6) Tam iigendansd: in this fami: Digreffion from the Subject, a many Greek and” Roman Au- - 
thors ; efpecially by the: ‘Example of ite Cafar, who, in his Commentaries, carefully traces the Origin, 
ae 3 well as ceicriaes the > Magne and Cuftoms, of the different Heations whofe Porintries he treats of. 
