en intimated, had been almost depopulated by the
oppressive colonial policy of Spain. The island had become the home of
immense herds of wild cattle, and it was the custom of the smugglers to
stop there to provision their ships.

The natives, which were still left, had learned to be skilled in
preserving the meat by means of fire and smoke, and they called their
kilns "boucans." The smugglers, besides obtaining what they desired for
their own use of this preserved meat, established an extensive illicit
trade in it. Hence, they obtained the name of buccaneers.

Spanish monopolies were the pest of every port in the New World, and
mariners of the western waters were filled with a detestation, quite
natural, of everything Spanish.

Gradually, the ranks of the buccaneers were recruited. They were given
assistance and encouragement, direct and indirect, by other nations,
even in some cases being furnished with letters-of-marque and reprisal
as privateers.

The commerce of Spain had been gradually dwindling since the defeat of
the so-called Invincible Armada, and the buccaneers commenced now to
seize the returning treasure ships and to plunder the seaboard cities of
Cuba and other Spanish possessions.

Even Havana itself was not spared by them.

The buccaneers, indefensible though many of their actions were, had a
great influence upon the power and colonial tactics of Spain.

Beyond this, they opened the eyes of the world to the rottenness of the
whole system of Spanish government and commerce in America, and
undoubtedly did much to build up the West Indian possessions of England,
France and Holland.

It is curious to note here the career of one of their most famous
leaders, an Englishman named Morgan. He was barbarous in the extreme and
returned from many expeditions laden with spoil. But, finally, he went
to Jamaica, turned respectable and was made deputy-governor of the
island. He died, by favor of Charles II., the "gallant" Sir Henry
Morgan.

But in 1697, the European powers generally condemned the buccaneers.

In spite of the lessons they had received, and the universal protest of
other nations, the Spaniards, obstinate then as ever, refused to change
their policy. They persisted in closing the magnificent harbors of Cuba
to the commerce of the rest of the world, and that, too, when Spain
could not begin to use the products of the island. Still she could not
and would not allow one bit of gold to slip from bet