CHAPTER XXII

THE ABORIGINES OF THE NEW WORLD1

THE narratives of the voyages of Elizabethan mariners form England's true prose epic; and in Richard Hakluyt she found, not her Homer, indeed, but the man who did most to preserve the records of these voyages for succeeding times. His fame mainly rests on The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation, a large work in three volumes, of which a second edition was published in 1596–1600. As the title indicates, it is a compilation of the various accounts of the adventurous journeys made by English seamen in the Old World and the New, chiefly during the sixteenth century. Had not Hakluyt formed his collection, doubtless many of the narratives in it would have been lost. The book is a treasure-house of material for the history of geographical discovery and colonization. It also contains many interesting descriptions of aboriginal peoples.

100. The Indians of Dominica and Venezuela 2

The history of the English in America may be said to begin with the three slave-trading voyages of Sir John Hawkins of Plymouth. These were made in the years 1562-63, 1564-65, and 1567-68. On his first voyage Hawkins took a cargo of negro slaves from Africa to the Span ish colony of Hispaniola (Haiti). His were the first English ships to

1 The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation, edited by Richard Hakluyt. 12 vols. Glasgow, 1903-1905. James MacLehose and Sons.

' Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, vol. x, pp. 25, 27–28.

navigate the West Indian seas. Hawkins's second voyage 1

was on a

more extensive scale. He sailed with three ships to the Guinea coast, procured a large number of negroes, and then started across the Atlantic to the West Indies. The first land sighted was the island of Dominica, one of the Lesser Antilles.

The cannibals of this island, and also others adjacent, are the most desperate warriors in the West Indies, by the report of the Spaniards, who are never able to conquer them. . . . Not two months past, in the said island, a ship being driven to water there, was in the night set upon by the inhabitants, who cut its cable, whereby the sailors were driven ashore and so taken by them and eaten. The Green Dragon of Newhaven, whose captain was one Bontemps, came to one of those islands, called Grenada; and, being driven to water, could not do so on account of the cannibals, who fought with him very desperately for two days. For our part, also, if we had not lighted upon the most deserted place in all that island, we could not have missed them, but should have been greatly troubled by them.

From Dominica Hawkins sailed southward to the coast of Venezuela. Here he came into contact with the Cumanas, an Indian tribe which had reached a considerable degree of civilization. They lived in fixed villages, practiced agriculture, and were bold and skillful warriors.

Near this place were certain Indians, who the next day after we arrived came down to us, presenting mill and cakes of bread, which they had made of a kind of corn called maize.2

Also they brought down to us hens, sweet potatoes, and pineapples, which we bought for beads, pewter whistles, glasses, knives, and other trifles.

These sweet potatoes are the most delicate roots that may be eaten, and far exceed our parsnips or carrots. Their pineapples are of the bigness of two fists, the outside whereof is

1 The narrative of this voyage is by John Sparke, one of the members of the expedition.

2 Indian corn, or maize, one of the most important of the cereals, originated in the New World, where it was extensively cultivated.

rough, but it is soft like the rind of a cucumber, and the inside eateth like an apple; but it is more delicious than any sweet apple sugared. The Indians are of tawny color, having every one of them, both men and women, hair all black, the women wearing the same hanging down to their shoulders, and the men rounded, and without beards. Neither men nor women allow any hair to grow in any part of their body, but daily pull it off as it groweth. . . . These people are very small feeders; for traveling they carry but two small bottles of gourds, wherein they put, in one the juice of sorrel whereof they have great store, and in the other flour of their maize, which, being moist, they eat, taking sometime of the other.

Every man carries his bow and arrows. Some arrows are poisoned for wars. These they keep together in a cane, which cane is of the bigness of a man's arm; other arrows are provided with broad heads of iron, wherewith they strike fish in the water. They are such good archers that the Spaniards for fear thereof arm themselves and their horses with quilted canvas two inches thick, and leave no place of their body open to their enemies, except their eyes, which they may not hide; and yet oftentimes are they hit in that so small an opening. Their poison is of such a force that a man being stricken therewith dieth within four-and-twenty hours, as the Spaniards affirm; and, in my judgment, it is likely there can be no stronger poison as they make it. They use apples which are very fair and red of color, but are a strong poison, together with venomous bats, vipers, adders, and other serpents. Of all these they make a mixture, and therewith anoint the points of their

arrows.

101. The Natives of Florida 1

Having disposed of his slaves and loaded his vessels with hides and other West Indian products, Hawkins started on the return voyage. In the Caribbean the current carried him far to the leeward, compelling him to double the western point of Cuba and sail past the shores of Florida. He visited the French settlement in Florida, and thence

1 Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, vol. x, pp. 51-53.

proceeded northward to Newfoundland, and so, with the prevailing westerly winds, to England. This was the pioneer voyage made by Englishmen along the coast of what is now the United States.

Their houses are not many together, for in one house a hundred of them lodge. A house is made much like a great barn, and in strength not inferior to ours, for they have stanchions and rafters of whole trees, and are covered with palmito leaves.

In the midst of each house is a hearth, where they make great fires all night; and they sleep upon certain pieces of wood hewn in for the bowing of their backs, and another piece made high for their heads. In their houses they remain only at night, and in the day they frequent the fields, where they prepare their food. . . . There is one thing to be marveled at, for the making of their fire, and not only they, but the negroes also do the same. Their fire is made only by two sticks, rubbing them one against another; and this they may do in any place they come, where they find sticks sufficient for the purpose.

In their apparel the men use only deer skins . . . which are painted, some yellow and red, some black and russet, and every man according to his own taste. They do not omit to paint their bodies also with curious knots, or antique work, as every man in his own fancy deviseth. To make this painting continue the better, they prick their flesh with a thorn, and dent in the same, whereby the painting may have better hold. . . . In their wars they use bows and arrows, whereof their bows are made of a kind of yew, but blacker than ours. . . . Their arrows are also of a great length, but yet of reeds, like those of other Indians; but varying in two points, both in length and also for nocks and feathers, whereby they shoot very steady. The heads of the same are vipers' teeth, bones of fish, and flint stones. Points of knives, which they obtained from the Frenchmen, they broke and used in their arrowheads. . . . The women for their apparel also use painted skins, but most of them wear gowns of moss, somewhat longer than our moss. These they sew together artificially, and make in the form of a surplice.

102. The Carolina Indians 1

Sir Walter Raleigh, having obtained from Queen Elizabeth the privilege of founding a settlement in America, sent over in 1584 two small ships commanded by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow. They reached the New World in the latitude of North Carolina and spent several weeks viewing the country and trading with the Indians. Barlow, in his narrative of the voyage, writes enthusiastically of the natives, whom he describes as “most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and living after the manner of the Golden Age."

The next day there came unto us a number of boats, and in one of them the king's brother, accompanied by forty or fifty men, very handsome and goodly people, and in their behavior as mannerly and civil as any Europeans. . . . When he came to the place, his servants spread a long mat upon the ground, on which he sat down, and at the other end of the mat four others of his company did the like; the rest of his men stood round about him somewhat afar off. When we came to him, with our weapons, he never moved from his place, nor any of the other four, nor ever mistrusted any harm to be offered from us; but, sitting still, he beckoned us to come and sit by him, which we did; and, being set, he made all signs of joy and welcome, striking on his head and his breast and afterwards on ours, to show we were all friends. After he had made a long speech to us, we presented him with various things, which he received very joyfully and thankfully. None of the company dared speak one word all the time; only the four which were at the other end spoke in one another's ears very softly.

After we had presented the king's brother with such things as we thought he liked, we likewise made presents to the others, who sat on the mat. But he arose and put them into his own basket, making signs and tokens that everything ought to be delivered unto him, and that the rest were only his servants and followers. A day or two after this we fell to trading with them, exchanging some things that we had for chamois, buff, and deer skins. When we showed him our packet of merchandise,

1 Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, vol. viii, pp. 300–303.