to
the matter at all pass it off as a good jest.

Is it any wonder that the population decreased to a wonderful degree in
a few years? The sugar-cane had been introduced by Columbus on his
second voyage, and labour was soon required for cultivating this and
other crops. As long as slaves were procurable the planters throve, and
as by that time Hispaniola had become the great centre of the Indies,
the settlers were in a fair way to make fortunes. But the decrease in
the population became alarming, and something had to be done; then, new
settlers were continually arriving who also wanted slaves. It followed,
therefore, that some of the more audacious of the adventurers took up
the trade of kidnapping the Indians from other islands and the mainland.
A host of disappointed treasure-seekers had ransacked every shore, and
were now well prepared for the business of man-hunting.

The first people to suffer were those who so kindly welcomed Columbus on
his arrival--the gentle inhabitants of the Bahamas. They were even more
peaceful than the Haitians, because they had not suffered from Carib
invasions. When the slave hunters told them to come to the south and
live with their ancestors, they willingly allowed themselves to be
carried off to suffer like their neighbours. Some ran away and got to
the northern shores of Hispaniola, where they stretched out their hands
to their beautiful homes and then died of grief.

Having entirely depopulated the smaller islands, and being prevented
from kidnapping the people of Cuba, Porto Rico, and Jamaica, by the
settlers on those islands, they tried the Caribbees. Here they met their
match. No longer was it the gentle Arawak whom they encountered, but the
ferocious cannibal. Like his foes he had been trained in war for many
generations. Not only did he refuse to work for the stranger, but even
went so far as to oppose his landing. On his islands was little to
attract the treasure-seeker, and if he would not submit to be a slave,
nothing was to be gained by interfering with him. This the Spaniard
found out by bitter experience. A few vessels were wrecked on these
inhospitable shores, the crews of which escaped to land only to be
killed and eaten, after being tortured with all the ingenuity of the
savage. Even a landing for fresh water had to be made in the most
cautious manner, and the carriers protected by a strong guard. No doubt
the Caribs had heard of the white man's cruelties from their A