33° 



AMERICA. 



Chap. XIV. 



The Situati 

 on, i>clcri- 



rtion and 

 ate of St. 

 Jm*h it Por- 

 to Kin, 



The Cafique 



Taguara's, 



Experiment. 



The Avarice 

 and Cruelty 

 of the Spa- 

 niards. 



Ceremonies 

 of the old 

 Natives. 



twelve years^ notwithstanding it flood behind a fcraggy Mountain, in a defart 

 place far up in the Countrey ; but their thirft after Gold, of which fome Veins 

 were difcover'dthere,made themdifpence with all other inconveniences : yet at laft 

 beginning to be weary of thisdefolate and barren place of Settlement,they remov'd 

 to Guanica, water'd by many Rivers, whofe Sands had great quantities ofGold- 

 duft. Not flaying long there, they went four Leagues farther, and call'd their 

 new Plantation Soto Major. Laftly, returning again, they fetled themfelves in the 

 former Valley Guanica, and built the forc-mention'd Town St. Germans by the Ri- 

 ver Guaorabo, which makes an inconvenient Haven. 

 • Juan de Porto <Hico (lands Eaft ward at the beginning of the North Coaft,on a fmall 

 Pemnfula, joyn'd to the Ifland by an high Iflbmus call'd Puente de Aguilar. Near the 

 Mouth of the Haven lies on a rifing Hill the Fort Mono Empittado, built triangular 

 by John de Texila and Baptijla jintonelli (who alfo planted there forty Guns}, and fur- 

 rounded with the Sea, which renders it a well fortifi'd place. The Governor Diego 

 Mende^. de Valde^ had in it fifteen hundred Men and eighty Horfes, when the fore- 

 mentioned valiant Duke of Cumberland with a far lefs number fell upon him in the 

 Year i ^7. and not onely took the City Porto <%jco y but feveral other Fortifications . 

 and befidesan invaluable mafs of Treafure he carried away eighty Guns. Sometime 

 before this Defeat the Spaniards under the Government of Chrijiopber ,Son to the Portu* 

 guefe Duke of Camigna, were Invaded by the Cannibals, and all that were then up- 

 6t\ the place utterly deftroy'd, none of them efcaping but the Bifliop and his Ser- 

 vants, who betimes fled away with the Church Ornaments $ fo that the Iflanders 

 from that time were put out of doubt that the Spaniards were mortal, for they fup- 

 pos'd them immortal when firft they faw their great Ships, and heard the noife of 

 their thundering Cannon, 



Hugh Linfchot relates, That the Cafique Taguara threw a Spaniard into the Water, 

 to try whether he would drown or norland feeing him wholly deprived of Life, he 

 concluded by confequence that the reft of them were mortal, and thereupon he fet 

 upon them when they were feekingfor Gold, and kill'd above a hundred and fifty 

 of them. 



Peter Martyr relates farther, That thefe People, though very expert in Arms, yet 

 were oftentimes beaten by the Cannibals, who at one time carried above five 

 thoufand People out of Porto <%ico for their Winter Provifions. 



Nor was their Condition better'd after the Spaniards conquer'd theIfland,forthofe 

 that could not furnifh them with Gold, were certain of Death : Nor were their 

 Cruelties in other places undivulg'd to this People before their Arrival » where- 

 upon (as is related by Peter Ordonne^ de QtreUos) the Cafique HatVey being inform'd 

 of the Spaniards Approach, took an Oath from his Subjects, That they fhould never 

 difcover where the Gold lay, though they fhould be put to death for it 5 For (faid 

 he) Gold is their God, for Tbhicb they make fo many cur fed Blood-batbs where -ever they come ; 

 therefore throty the Gold into fome Very deep Waters , for y>ben the Spanifh God is funk, the 

 Spaniards will lofe their Courage, and not plague usfo much for it* 



Many were the Idolatrous Ceremonies of the old Natives of this Place, which 

 would be too tedious to relate . but amongft the reft, they annually kept a great 

 Feaft, at which the Cafiquet fummon'd all their Subjects to a. Temple appointed for 

 that purpofe, where the Priefts had prepar'd an Idol ready fet forth in all its Pa- 

 geantry 5 near which the Cafique plac'd himfelf, when upon the beating of a Drum 

 all the Commonalty came alfo into the Temple ; the Men painted with divers Co- 

 lours, having on their Heads Plumes of Feathers, about their Necks, Legs, and 

 Arms, Strings of Sea-fliells. The Married Women had a light Covering about 



their 



