3/G 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



of St. Domingo and its abandonment by the Spaniards, it was 

 taken possession of, early in the sixteenth century, by a number 

 of French wanderers who had been driven out of St. Chris- 

 topher ; and their numbers were soon augmented by adventurers 

 from all quarters. 



As they had neither wives nor children, they generally lived 

 together by twos for mutual protection and assistance: when 

 one died, the survivor inherited his property, unless a will was 

 found bequeathing it to some relative in Europe. Bolts, locks, 

 and all kinds of fastenings were prohibited among them, the 

 maxim of "honor among thieves" being considered a more efficient 

 safeguard. The dress of a buccaneer consisted of a shirt dipped 

 m the blood of an animal just slain, a leathern girdle in which 

 hung pistols and a short sabre, a hat with feathers, — but without 

 a rim, except a fragment in guise of a visor to pull it on and off, — 

 and shoes of untanned hide, without stockings. Each man had 

 a heavy musket and usually a pack of twenty or thirty dogs. 

 Their business was, at the outset, cattle-hunting ; and they sold 

 hides to the Dutch who resorted to the island to purchase them. 

 They possessed servants and slaves, consisting of persons de- 

 coyed to the West Indies and induced to bind themselves for a 

 certain number of years. They treated them with great severity. 

 The following epigrammatic conversation is reported as having 

 taken place between an apprentice and a buccaneer. "Master," 

 said the servant, " God has forbidden the practice of working on 

 the Sabbath : does he not say, 4 Six days shalt thou labor ; and on 

 the seventh shalt thou rest' ? " "But I say unto thee," returned 

 the buccaneer, " six days shalt thou kill cattle ; and on the 

 seventh shalt thou carry their hides to the shore." 



The Spaniards inhabiting other portions of St. Domingo con- 

 ceived the idea of ridding the island of the buccaneers by de- 

 stroying all the wild cattle ; and this was carried into execution 

 by a general chase. The buccaneers abandoned St. Domingo 

 and took refuge in the mountainous and well-wooded island of 



