TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



25 



were in every case sprung from domestic animals 

 originally brought from Spain. For as the abori- 

 gines in the Greater Antilles decreased in numbers 

 under the heavy yoke of their conquerors, and as the 

 Spaniards themselves turned their backs upon the 

 Antilles for the richer allurements of the continent, 

 less and less land was left under cultivation ; and 

 cattle, hogs, horses and even dogs ran wild, increased 

 at a rapid rate and soon filled the broad savanas and 

 deep w r oods which covered the greater part of these 

 lands." 



66 In course of time we find in Hispaniola and 

 Jamaica scattered groups of hunters, mostly English 

 and French, who gained a rude living by killing 

 wild cattle for their skins, and curing the flesh to 

 supply the needs of passing vessels. The origin of 

 these men we do not know. They may have been 

 deserters from ships, crews of wrecked vessels, or 

 even chance marooners. In any case the charm of 

 their half-savage, independent mode of life must 

 have attracted others, and a fairly regular traffic 

 sprung up between them and the ubiquitous Dutch 

 traders whom they supplied with hides, tallow and 

 cured meat, in return for the few crude necessities 

 and luxuries they required." 



66 The term 6 buccaneer ' though usually applied 

 to the corsairs who in the seventeenth Century 

 ravaged the Spanish possessions in the West Indies 

 and South Seas, should really be restricted to these 

 cattle-hunters of Hispaniola and Jamaica. The 

 flesh of the wild-cattle (when killed) was cured by 



