AMONG THE CARIBS. "7 
attention. They were trained to war from their in- 
fancy. As soon as they could walk, their intrepid 
mothers put in their hands the bow and arrow, and 
prepared them to take an early part in the hardy 
enterprises of their fathers. Their distant roamings 
by sea made them observant and intelligent. The 
natives of the other islands only knew how to divide 
time by day and night, by the sun and moon; whereas 
these had acquired some knowledge of the stars, by 
which to calculate the times and seasons.” 
This is the account, drawn mainly from Irving, of 
the discovery and condition of the first cannibals ever 
beheld by white men. This second voyage of Colum- 
bus commenced under flattering auspices: to find at 
the outset a new people, a new fruit; to add to the 
language at least two new words — Carzd and Can- 
nibal, — this were enough to satisfy any explorer. 
But Columbus was in search of gold. He could not 
brook delay in a country where the precious metal did 
not exist; and though the forests were filled with 
countless trees possessing spicy gums and rare virtues, 
he could not stop to put them to the test. He sailed 
away north after capturing some women and children. 
The mind of the great admiral was keenly alive to 
any opportunity for serving his sovereigns, and himself. 
Finding no gold, he looked about for some means of 
making it. He sent the captive Caribs home to Spain 
to be sold as slaves. And this is how the great and 
good Columbus proposed to reimburse his sovereigns 
for their outlay, and to furnish the colony with live- 
stock. “In this way the peaceful islanders would be 
freed from warlike and inhuman neighbors; the royal 
revenue would be greatly enriched, and a vast number 
