he natives at once, and some of the
men who went in the barge leapt on shore and went up to a village, whence
the inhabitants had already withdrawn and hidden themselves. They took in
this island five or six women and some boys, most of whom were captives,
like those in the other island; we learned from the women whom we had
brought with us, that the natives of this place also were Caribbees. As
this barge was about to return to the ships with the capture which they
had made, a canoe came along the coast containing four men, two women,
and a boy; and when they saw the fleet they were so stupefied with
amazement, that for a good hour they remained motionless at the distance
of nearly two cannon shots from the ships. In this position they were
seen by those who were in the barge and also by all the fleet. Meanwhile
those in the barge moved towards the canoe, but so close in shore, that
the Indians, in their perplexity and astonishment as to what all this
could mean, never saw them, until they were so near that escape was
impossible; for our men pressed on them so rapidly that they could not
get away, although they made considerable effort to do so.

When the Caribbees saw that all attempt at flight was useless, they most
courageously took to their bows, both women and men; I say most
courageously, because they were only four men and two women, and our
people were twenty-five in number. Two of our men were wounded by the
Indians, one with two arrow-shots in his breast, and another with one in
his side, and if it had not happened that they carried shields and wooden
bucklers, and that they soon got near them with the barge and upset their
canoe, most of them would have been killed with their arrows. After their
canoe was upset, they remained in the water swimming and occasionally
wading (for there were shallows in that part), still using their bows as
much as they could, so that our men had enough to do to take them; and
after all there was one of them whom they were unable to secure till he
had received a mortal wound with a lance, and whom thus wounded they took
to the ships. The difference between these Caribbees and the other
Indians, with respect to dress, consists in their wearing their hair very
long, while the latter have it clipt and paint their heads with crosses
and a hundred thousand different devices, each according to his fancy;
which they do with sharpened reeds. All of them, both the Caribbees and
the others,