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As the European nations became better acquainted with the climate and produce of these islands, they extended their views beyond the simple necessaries of life. The progress of time continually added improvements to those arts which were adapted to the country, and gave embellishment to original invention. The success which waited upon exertion in the simple necessaries of life, stimulated to future achievements, and called forth energies which lay before concealed. From necessaries they proceeded to the conveniences and comforts of their situation, and called forth those various luxuries, which these regions produced; and to which the climate seemed to invite.

Having now stated the advantages and beauties of these delightful abodes, and given a general description of the country at large; having taken a survey, which is of general application, both as to ancient and modern days, and stated the most prominent disadvantages which act as a counterbalance to the astonishing magnificence of the scenery, and uncommon fertility of these islands, but few things remain to be considered which are common to them all.

Of the general beauties and striking singularities which we have described, no question can be made. They are facts to which every voyager must be able to bear his testimony, and the disadvantages are but too well known to require any proof. In both cases the facts are authenticated by the historians to whom we have referred in the close of the Introduction, and their historical testimonies are confirmed by those who either reside in these islands, or pay them occasional visits in different seasons of the year.

What the feelings of Columbus and other early voyagers were, it is impossible to describe, and extremely difficult for us fully to conceive. On their first views of the astonishing scenery which these islands must have presented, the prospect must have been both enchanting and sublime.

Delightful in themselves beyond description, these islands must have awakened in the minds of those early adventurers, sensations which we cannot represent. After all the relations which have been given, in the various journals, in which have been noted from time to time the highly gratifying appearances of the country to the approaching seaman, they fall considerably short of those scenes which he realizes, when, after a long and frequently perilous voyage, this Eden of the western world first beams upon him with its charms. To the modern voyager its trace those arts which now embellish Europe, to their infancy, we should behold them in their cradle, helpless and unpromising, without being able to discern those distant issues which now give confidence to our future hopes. But necessity excited to action; and experiment led on persevering application to those perfections in arts, which raise Europe superior to every other portion of the globe.

views exceed delineation; but to Columbus and his associates, though visible to their senses, they must have almost surpassed all belief.

Our modern voyagers arrive at these islands with minds already prepared by the various accounts which they have received, for something astonishingly magnificent, and sublimely grand. The mind in such a situation is awakened with romantic expectations; and visionary prospects press upon its sight. The ima ges which crowd the imagination in such cases must nearly engross every avenue, and leave but little room, even for realities which are surprising, to operate in all their force. But enlarged as his conceptions are, the adventurer approaches these abodes of wonder, with sensations, which nothing but the real prospect can excite. His imaginary grandeur melts away, and disappears before that which is real, and he gazes with an insatiable curiosity, and a degree of silent astonishment, on the enchanting scenes, which open to his views. A pleasing harmony tranquillizes his bosom, and hushes the tumults of the disordered passions. A transport of joy diffuses itself through all his powers, and flushes his countenance with an involuntary smile. He inhales the perfumes which are scattered from aromatie shrubs, with exquisite delight; and, amid such a profusion of blessings, he half forgets his native land. The thoughtful mind, in this peculiar situation, sinks beneath the pressure of its own emotions, and appears absorbed in awful contemplation.

But powerful as these sensations are to the modern voyager, on his first approaches towards these Indian shores, they cannot stand in competition with those which Columbus must have felt, when the land first opened to his view. He had not been prepared by any antecedent account, and therefore must have been agitated with the most anxious solicitude, both for his reputation and his fate. Yet circumstanced as his mind was, the prospect must have delighted him with its beauties, and these beauties must have increased as he drew near, and opened their charms upon every sense.

Nor were his sensations less exquisite when he actually set his foot upon the land, either of Hispaniola, Cuba, or St. Salvadore. The abatement of the novelty did not quell the ardour of his soul, nor consign him over to that apathy, which fre quently succeeds to disappointed hopes. The sentiments of Columbus on this occasion we learn from an extract of a letter written by him from Cuba to Ferdinand V. king of Spain, soon after he had visited that island. "There is a river which discharges itself into the harbour which I have named Porto Santo, of sufficient depth to be navigable. I had the curiosity to sound

it, and found it eight fathom; yet the water is so limpid, that I can easily discern the sand at the bottom. The banks of this river are embellished with lofty palm-trees, whose shades give a delicious freshness to the air; and the birds and the flowers are uncommon and beautiful. I was so delighted with the scene, that I had almost come to the resolution of staying here the remainder of my days; for, believe me, Sire, these countries far surpass all the rest of the world in beauty and conveniency; and I have frequently observed to my people, that, with all my endeavours to convey to your majesty an adequate idea of the charming objects which continually present themselves to our view, the description will fall greatly short of the reality." A multiplication of words rather than an improved account of this country, is to be found in the numerous writers upon the same subject; and so sensible have they been of the accuracy of Columbus, that most of them have preserved this valuable letter.

As the productions of the West Indies are various, and as they differ specifically from one another, their variety and utility will best appear in the description of each particular island. There are many natural productions, it must be admitted, which are of general application, and therefore might with equal propriety be introduced in a separate view; but such pursuits will detain us too long on preliminary matters, and prevent us from entering more immediately upon the great objects of this history.

The different species of animals and vegetables, which abound in the islands, would occupy too many of our pages, if described with minute exactness in this stage of the work; and to make selections where all is new, and therefore interesting, would be an unpleasant and difficult task.

The

Many of the land animals, and of the feathered race, which once inhabited these delightful abodes, are now no more. desolating hand of man has pursued them with unjustifiable avidity, and exterminated them from this portion of the globe. Their names are preserved by historians, and some particulars of their features have been transmitted to us; but the pages of history are their only places of residence; they are struck from the lists of existence, and are to be found no more. Their names and their description will appear hereafter, when we proceed to contemplate their peculiarities, and to describe the places where they were found.

Such general observations as we have judged applicable to the islands at large, have been already introduced. The ap pearance of the country, its situation and general extent, have been given, together with the varied seasons of the tropical year. But lest from the manner in which the subjects have

been introduced, and to which we thus refer, it should be thought that the details are uniform and exact in all their parts, it is necessary again to remind the reader, that many deviations are to be found. The ideas which are conveyed, are only to be taken in a general point of view; allowing for those diversities, which must always be included in a country of any great extent; and which more particularly must be applicable to a group of islands, engrossing no inconsiderable portion of the globe.

From the observations which we have made on the various forms of inanimate matter, and the peculiar beauties with which these forms strike upon our senses; and from tracing the works of the Almighty Father, from inanimate matter through a few displays of vegetative life, we shall proceed in the next chapter to turn our thoughts to man. The various human beings that are scattered over the face of our sublunary sphere, present to our views a strange diversity of our race. The shades which in many cases darken the intellectual powers, are not less diversified, than those which distinguish the external features, and mark the skin. In the latter case, they pass through all the variety of light and shade; and in the former we behold the intellectual powers of man descending from exalted comprehension, through comparative knowledge, down to that degraded ignorance which half joins him in appearance to the brute creation.

Instructed by revelation, and guided by a degree of understanding which takes a circuit round human actions; and directed by a judgment which looks backward on the past, and anticipates the future, man rises above his apparent station in existence, and we behold him approaching towards angelic natures. But descending from this height, and pursuing man through all the intermediate stages of intellectual debasement and deformity; beholding him acting under the dominion of error; in captivity to his passions; impelled by appetite; directed by lawless sallies; deluded by his senses; actuated by instinct; or by those diabolical intruders which have stifled every thing that was good in his original nature when first created; we behold him, sinking to the lowest station, and joining himself to the tenants of the forest.

The situation of man in polished society, is not just at present our subject: but in this, in which it appears most degraded, it is less generally known. Its condition is not, however, on that account less certain. The facts of which the next two chapters will give a melancholy example, are but a specimen of the state of millions of our fellow-creatures in the present day, who now implore our assistance and solicit our relief.

CHAP. II.

NATIVES OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.

Reflections on their situation and calamities their origin-character arising from their conduct towards the Spaniards—arrival of Columbus at Hispaniola-country-inhabitants-diversions modes of life-personal and intellectual endowments-mechanic arts-governments-changes effected by the introduction of Cuanaboa a Charaibean Chief-history of Anacoana-religious rites-funeral solemnities-number of inhabitants-inhuman butcheries of the Spaniards-reflections on the whole.

THAT the various islands of the West Indies, both Leeward and Windward, when first visited by the Europeans, were inhabited by man, must be reckoned among those truths which supersede the necessity of all proof, and of which even incredulity will not permit us to doubt. It is natural, therefore, to suppose that the reader will expect some account to be given him of the original inhabitants in these introductory chapters. And in compliance with so just an expectation, this and the following chapter will be devoted to that purpose.

The aborigines have been invariably divided into two distinct classes of native Indians by Columbus himself, and by the earliest writers on this subject; and in this view they have been justly presented to the world. But in what light soever we consider them, much difficulty will attach to an investigation, which attempts to reach their origin, their internal manners and modes of life. A great deal of learned discussion may be found in Rochfort and La Bat upon this question, Whether these islanders were all originally emigrants from the continents of North and South America, or whether we are to ascribe to them a transatlantic origin? But the discoveries which have been made by British navigators in modern days, seem to have nearly decided the point; and they support that opinion, which, from the light of their discoveries, in conjunction with a train of circumstantial evidence, we have ventured to adopt.

The proofs drawn from these quarters, have induced us to suppose, that the Charaibees, or natives of the Windward Islands, migrated originally from some of the countries of the southern continent of America. The language and savage cus

VOL. I.

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