nsils and
necessaries within doors, and yet more pleasure and diversion too.

It is true, the wives of the three were very handy and cleanly within
doors; and having learned the English ways of dressing, and cooking from
one of the other Englishmen, who, as I said, was a cook's mate on board
the ship, they dressed their husbands' victuals very nicely and well;
whereas the others could not be brought to understand it; but then the
husband, who, as I say, had been cook's mate, did it himself. But as for
the husbands of the three wives, they loitered about, fetched turtles'
eggs, and caught fish and birds: in a word, anything but labour; and they
fared accordingly. The diligent lived well and comfortably, and the
slothful hard and beggarly; and so, I believe, generally speaking, it is
all over the world.

But I now come to a scene different from all that had happened before,
either to them or to me; and the origin of the story was this: Early one
morning there came on shore five or six canoes of Indians or savages,
call them which you please, and there is no room to doubt they came upon
the old errand of feeding upon their slaves; but that part was now so
familiar to the Spaniards, and to our men too, that they did not concern
themselves about it, as I did: but having been made sensible, by their
experience, that their only business was to lie concealed, and that if
they were not seen by any of the savages they would go off again quietly,
when their business was done, having as yet not the least notion of there
being any inhabitants in the island; I say, having been made sensible of
this, they had nothing to do but to give notice to all the three
plantations to keep within doors, and not show themselves, only placing a
scout in a proper place, to give notice when the boats went to sea again.

This was, without doubt, very right; but a disaster spoiled all these
measures, and made it known among the savages that there were inhabitants
there; which was, in the end, the desolation of almost the whole colony.
After the canoes with the savages were gone off, the Spaniards peeped
abroad again; and some of them had the curiosity to go to the place where
they had been, to see what they had been doing. Here, to their great
surprise, they found three savages left behind, and lying fast asleep
upon the ground. It was supposed they had either been so gorged with
their inhuman feast, that, like beasts, they were fallen asleep, and