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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The West Indies and the Spanish Main [1899], by James Rodway This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The West Indies and the Spanish Main [1899] Author: James Rodway Release Date: June 14, 2010 [EBook #32809] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEST INDIES *** Produced by Steven Gibbs, Jane Hyland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net The Story of the Nations. THE WEST INDIES. [Illustration: RECEPTION OF SPANIARDS BY ARAWAKS. (_From Gottfried's "Reisen."_)] THE WEST INDIES AND THE SPANISH MAIN BY JAMES RODWAY _SECOND IMPRESSION_ London T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE MDCCCXCIX COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN, 1896 (For Great Britain). COPYRIGHT BY G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1896 (For the United States of America). INTRODUCTION. The story of the West Indies and Spanish Main is one to stir the hearts of many nations. The shores of the Caribbean Sea have been the scene of marvellous adventures, of intense struggles between races and peoples, of pain, trouble, and disaster of almost every description. No wonder that the romance writer has laid his scenes upon its beautiful islands and deep blue waters, for nowhere in the world, perhaps, could he find such a wealth of incident. From "Robinson Crusoe" to Marryat's genial stories, and down to "Westward Ho!" and "Treasure Island," old and young have been entranced for many generations with its stories of shipwrecks, pirates, sea-fights, and treasure-seekers. Yet with all this the field has not been exhausted, for hardly a year passes without a new romance dealing more or less with the "Indies." Under this name of the Indies the islands and continent were first known to the Spaniards, and it was not until some years had passed that the mainland received the name of _Terra Firma_. The string of islands facing the Atlantic were the Antilles, so called from a traditional island to the west of the Azores, marked on maps and globes of the fifteenth century. This "Bow of Ulysses," as Froude called the islands,
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