34 



nent. They extend this assertion event to the 

 independant hordes who wander on the east 

 of the Esmeralda, between the sources of the 

 Rio JBranco and the Essequibo. We may con- 

 ceive, that the fury and despair, with which the 

 unhappy Caribbees defended themselves against 

 the Spaniards, when in 1504 a royal decree* 

 declared them slaves, may have contributed to 

 the reputation they have acquired of ferocity. 

 The first idea of attacking this nation, and de- 

 priving it of liberty and of it's natural rights, 

 is owing to Christopher Columbus-}-, who, being 

 a man of the fifteenth century, was not always 

 so humane, as he is said to be in the eighteenth 

 from hatred of his detractors. Subsequently 

 the licenciado Rodrigo de Figueroa was appoint- 

 ed by the court in 1520, to decide which of 

 the tribes of South America might be regarded 

 as of Caribbee race, or as cannibals ; and which 

 were Guatiaos^, that is, Indians of peace, and 



* " Dati erant in praedam Caribes ex diplomate regio. 

 Missus est Johannes Poncius qui Caribum terras depopuletur 

 et in servitutem obscoenos hominum voratores redigat." Petr. 

 Mart. Ocean., Dec. 1, lib. p. 26, A j te Dec. 3, lib. vi, p. 57, 

 C. Goraara, Hist, de Ind. fol. exxix. 



+ Pedro Munoz, Hist, del Nuevo Mondo, p. 199. 



J I had some trouble in discovering the origin of this de- 

 nomination, become so important from the fatal decrees of 

 Figueroa. The Spanish historians often employ the word 

 guatiao to designate a branch of nations. " La isla Marga- 

 rita entre las islas de Caribes y de Indios Guatiaos, amigos 



