A TRIP TO TRINIDAD. 



375 



twigs only, and we often found four or five of these 

 in one tree. The young birds defended themselves 

 valiantly with their bills, which were already six or 

 seven inches long, while the old ones flew above our 

 heads uttering hoarse and mournful cries; but the 

 streams of blood continued to trickle down the trees, 

 for the sailors were armed with clubs and cutlasses. 

 Though we expostulated with them against this 

 cruelty and useless tormenting, they would not 

 desist ; these men, accustomed to long obedience in 

 the solitude of the sea, take a singular pleasure in 

 exercising a cruel dominion over the animal crea- 

 tion whenever an opportunity presents itself. The 

 ground was covered with wounded birds, struggling 

 with death, so that this retired spot, which before 

 our arrival was the abode of peace, seemed now to 

 exclaim, Man has entered here. 



The sky was covered with a reddish vapor, which 

 began to dissipate in the southwest, and we enter- 

 tained the disappointed hope of seeing the Isle of 

 Pines. These regions possess a charm that is want- 

 ing in the greater part of the New "World, for they 

 recall to the mind memories which cluster round the 

 greatest names of the Spanish monarchy : Columbus 

 and Hernan Cortes. It was on the southern coast 

 of the island of Cuba, between the Bay of Jagua and 

 the Isle of Pines, that Columbus, during his second 



