24 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



of adventurers to the West Indies. An account of 

 Trinidad Then and Now, would not, in my opinion, 

 be complete which did not give a brief resume of the 

 adventures and romantic doings of that class of 

 adventurers, generally known as sea-rovers, free- 

 booters, buccaneers and corsairs, who played so 

 conspicuous a part not only in the history of Trini- 

 dad but also of the West Indies in general. Fortu- 

 nately Trinidad suffered less from their depredations 

 than any other of the West Indian islands ; but as 

 subsequent events show, they, indirectly, contributed 

 a striking part to its early history under British rule, 

 for when they were driven from other islands, these 

 pirates made it their rendezvous for committing de- 

 predations on them which eventually led to the 

 capture of Trinidad by the English.* 



Jamaica was discovered by Columbus in 1494, 

 and was for a short time taken possession of by the 

 Spaniards, but finding greater attraction on the 

 mainland they, after an attempt to establish a colony, 

 deserted it, leaving behind them a large quan- 

 tity of stock, which in course of time, running wild, 

 gave rise to the term " Buccaneer,'' — afterwards 

 merging into ' 1 pirates and free-booters. " 



Again quoting Haring : " In the second half of 

 the sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth 

 centuries, strangers who visited the great Spanish is- 

 lands of Hispaniola,t Jamaica or Porto Eico, usually 

 remarked the extraordinary number of wild cattle 

 and boars found roaming upon them. These herds 



* See Instructions to Abercromby, page 39. f Hayti. 



