The Spaniards had not learnt as yet to account for the difference of seasons in this opposite part of the globe; they were astonished to hear the voice of this supposed nightingale singing in the midst of December, and considered it a proof that there was no winter in this happy climate: They returned to the ships enraptured with the beauty of the country; surpassing, as they said, even the luxuriant plains of Cordova. All that they complained of was, that they saw no signs of riches among the natives. And here it is im possible to refrain from dwelling on the picture given by the first discoverers, of the state of manners in this eventful island before the arrival

of the white men. the people of Hayti

According to their accounts,

existed in that state of primitive and savage simplicity, which some philosophers have fondly pictured as the most enviable on earth; surrounded by natural blessings, without even a knowledge of artificial wants. The fertile earth produced the chief part of their food almost without culture, their rivers and seacoast abounded with fish, and they caught the

utia, the guana, and a variety of birds. This, to beings of their frugal and temperate habits, was great abundance, and what nature furnished thus spontaneously, they willingly shared with all the world. Hospitality, we are told, was with them a law of nature universally observed; there was no need of being known to receive its succours, every house was as open to the stranger as his own*. Columbus, too, in a letter to Luis de St. Angel, observes, "True it is that after they felt confidence, and lost their fear of us, they were so liberal with what they possessed, that it would not be believed by those who had not seen it. If any thing was asked of them, they never said no, but rather gave it cheerfully, and showed as much amity as if they gave their very hearts; and whether the thing were of value, or of little price, they were content with whatever was given in return. In all these islands it appears to me that the men are all content with one wife, but they give twenty to their chieftain or king. The women seem to work more than the

Charlevoix. Hist, St. Doming., 1. i,

men; and I have not been able to understand whether they possess individual property; but rather think that whatever one has all the rest share, especially in all articles of provisions *.'

One of the most pleasing descriptions of the inhabitants of this island is given by old Peter Martyr, who gathered it, as he says, from the conversations of the admiral himself. "It is certain," says he, "that the land among these people is as common as the sun and water; and

so little, that in so large a country they have rather superfluity than scarceness; so that they seem to live in the golden world, without toil, living in open gardens; not entrenched with dykes, divided with hedges, or defended with walls. They deal truly one with another, without laws, without books, and without judges. They take him for an evil and mischievous man, who taketh pleasure in doing hurt to another; and albeit they delight not in superfluities, yet they

Letter of Columbus to Luis de St. Angel, Navarrete, t. i., p. 167.

make provision for the increase of such roots whereof they make their bread, contented with such simple diet, whereby health is preserved and disease avoided *.”

Much of this picture may be overcoloured by the imagination, but it is generally confirmed by contemporary historians. They all concur in representing the life of these islanders as approaching to the golden state of poetical felicity; living under the absolute but patriarchal and easy rule of their caciques, free from pride, with few wants, an abundant country, a happily tempered climate, and a natural disposition to careless and indolent enjoyment.

* P. Martyr, decad. 1., 1. iii. Transl. of Richard Eden, 1555.

CHAPTER VII.

COASTING OF HISPANIOLA.

[1492.]

WHEN the weather became favourable, Columbus made another attempt, on the 14th of December, to find the island of Babeque, but was again baffled by adverse winds. In the course of this attempt, he visited an island lying opposite to the harbour of Conception, to which, from its abounding in turtle, he gave the name of Tortugas. The natives had fled to the rocks and forests, and alarm fires blazed along the heights, from which circumstance he inferred that they were more subject to invasion than the other islands. The country was so beautiful, that he gave to one of the valleys the name of Vallé de Paraiso, or the Vale of Paradise, and called a fine stream the Guadalquiver, after that renowned river which flows through some of the fairest provinces of