TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



27 



occasionally trying his hands at the other. In either 

 case he lived at constant enmity with the Spaniards. 

 With the passing of time the sea attracted more and 

 more away from their former pursuits. Even the 

 planters who were beginning to filter into the new 

 settlements found the attraction of 6 coursing 9 

 against the Spaniards to be irresistible. Great ex- 

 tremes of fortune such as these to which the bucca- 

 neers were subject, have always exercised an attrac- 

 tion over minds of an adventurous stamp. Fortune, 

 if fickle one day, might the next bring incredible 

 bounty, and the buccaneer who sweltered in a tro- 

 pical sea, with starvation staring him an the face, 

 dreamed of some day rolling in the oriental wealth 

 of a Spanish argosy." 



Such were the times in which these rude men 

 lived ; they were encouraged by Kings, Queens, 

 Princes and noblemen of the different nations 

 opposed to Spain, and it was no wonder that all who 

 could indulged in it. On the continent Cromwell 

 allied himself with France against England's for- 

 mer enemy Spain, and demanded that free com- 

 mercial intercourse should be allowed by Spain 

 between England and South America, while also 

 stipulating the entire immunity of English subjects 

 from the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Spain re- 

 taliated by declaring war, and inflicted considerable 

 damage on English shipping. Cromwell thereupon 

 sent to the West Indies, under Penn as Admiral, and 

 Venables as Commander of the land forces, a fleet of 

 ships which succeeded in taking Jamaica, which ever 



