thing to do but to give Notice to all the three Plantations, to keep within Doors, and not fhew themselves, only placing a Scout in a pro per Place, to give Notice when the Boats went to Sea again.

This was without doubt very right, but a Difafter spoil'd all these Measures, and made it known among the Savages, that they were Inhabitants there, which was in the End the Defolation of almoft the whole Colony; after the Canoes with the Savages were gone off, the Spaniards peep'd abroad again, and fome of them had the Curiofity to go to the Place where they had been, to fee what they had been doing: Here to their great Surprize they found three Savages left behind, and lying faft afleep upon the Ground; it was fuppos'd, they had either been fo gorg'd with their inhuman Feaft, that like Beafts they were a fleep, and would not ftir when the others went, or they were wandred into the Woods, and did not come back in time to be taken in.

The Spaniards were greatly furpriz'd at this Sight, and perfectly at a lofs what to do; the Spaniard Governour, as it happen'd was with them, and his Advice was ask'd, but he profefs'd he knew not what to do; as for Slaves, they had enough already, and as to killing them, they were none of them inclin'd to that; the Spaniard Governour told me, they could not think of fhedding innocent Blood, for as to them, the poor Creatures, had done them no Wrong, invaded none of their Property, and they thought they had no juft Quarrel against them, to take away their Lives.

And

And here I must in Juftice to thele Spaniards, obferve, that let the Accounts of Spanish Cruelty in Mexico and Peru, be what they will, I never met with seventeen Men of any Nation whatfoever, in any foreign Country, who were fo univerfally Modeft, Temperate, Virtuous, fo very good Humour'd, and fo Courteous as thefe Spaniards; and as to Cruelty, they had nothing of it in their very Nature, no Inhumanity, no Barbarity, no out-rageous Paffions, and yet all of them Men of great Courage and Spirit.

Their Temper and Calmnefs had appear'd in their bearing the unfufferable Ufage of the three English Men; and their Juftice and Humanity appear'd now in the Cafe of the Savages, as above; after fome Confultation, they refolv'd upon this, that they would lie ftill a while longer, till if poffible, these three Men might be gone; but then the Governour Spani ard recollected, that the three Savages had no Boat, and that if they were left to rove about the fland, they would certainly discover that there were Inhabitants in it, and fo they fhould be undone that way.

Upon this, they went back again, and there lay the Fellows faft afleep ftill, fo they refolv'd to waken them, and take them Prifoners, and they did fo; the poor Fellows were ftrangely frighted when they were feiz'd upon and bound, and afraid like the Women that they fhould be murther'd and eaten; for it seems thofe People think all the World does as they do, eating Mens Flesh; but they were foon made eafy as to that, and away they carry'd them.

It

It was very happy to them that they did not carry them Home to their Castle, I mean to my Palace under the Hill; but they carry'd them first to the Bower, where was the chief of their Country-work, fuch as the keeping the Goats, the planting the Corn, &c. and afterwards, they carry'd them to the Habitation of the two English Men.

Here they were fet to work, tho' it was not much they had for them to do; and whether it was by Negligence in guarding them, or that hey thought the Fellows could not mend themselves, I know not, but one of them run away, and taking into the Woods, they could never hear of him more.

They had good reafon to believe, he got Home again foon after, in fome other Boats or Canoes of Savages who came on Shore three or four Weeks afterwards,and who carrying on their Revels as ufual, went off again in two Days time: This Thought terrify'd them exceedingly, for they concluded, and that not without good Caufe indeed, that if this Fellow came fafe Home among his Comrades, he would certainly give them an Account, that there were People in the Inland, as alfo how few and weak they were; for this Savage, as I obferv'd before, had never been told, and it was very happy he had not, how many they were, or where they liv'd; nor had he ever feen or heard the Fire of any of their Guns, much lefs had they fhewn him any of their other retir'd Places: Such as the Cave in the Valley, or the new Retreat, which the two English Men had made, and the like.

The

The firft Teftimony they had, that this Fellow had given Intelligence of them, was, that about two Months after this, fix Canoes of Savages, with about feven, or eight, or ten Men in a Canoe, came rowing along the North Side of the Ifland, where they never used to come before, and landed about an Hour after Sunrife, at a convenient Place, about a Mile from the Habitation of the two English Men, where this escap'd Man had been kept: As the Spaniard Governour faid, had they been all there, the Damage would not have been fo much, for not a Man of them would have efcaped; but the Cafe differ'd now very much, for two Men to fifty was too much odds: The two Men had the happiness to discover them about a League off, fo that it was above an Hour before they landded, and as they landed a Mile from their Huts, it was fome time before they could come at them : Now having great Reafon to believe that they were betray'd, the first Thing they did,was to bind the two Slaves which were left, and caufe two of the three Men, who they brought with the Women, who it feems proved very faithful to them, to lead them with their two Wives, and whatever they could carry away with them, to their retir'd Place in the Woods, which I have fpoken of above, and there to bind the two Fellows Hand and Foot till they heard farther.

In the next Place, feeing the Savages were all come on Shore, and that they bent their Course directly that Way, they open'd the Fences where their Milch-Goats were kept, and drove them all out, leaving their Goats to ftraggle into the Woods, whether they pleas'd, that the Savages. might

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might think they were all bred wild; but the Rogue who came with them was too cunning for that, and gave them an Account of it all, for they went directly to the Place.

When the two poor frighted Men had fecur'd their Wives and Goods, they fent the other Slave they had of the three, who came with the Women, and who was at their Place by accident, away to the Spaniards, with all speed, to give them the Alarm and delire fpeedy Help, and in the mean time they took their Arms, and what Ammunition they had, and retreated towards the Place in the Wood, where their Wives were fent, keeping at a Distance, yet fo that they might fee, if poffible, which Way the Savages took.

They had not gone far, but that, from a rifing Ground they could fee the little Army of their Enemies come on directly to their Habitation, and in a Moment more, could fee all their Huts and Houfhold-Stuff flaming up together, to their great Grief and Mortification, for they had a very great Lofs, to them irretrievable, at leaft for fome time. They kept their Station for a while, till they found the Savages, like wild Beafts, fpread themselves all over the Place, rumaging every Way, and every Place they could think of, in fearch for Prey, and in particular for the People, of whom it now plainly pear'd they had had Intelligence.

The two English Men feeing this, thinking themselves not fecure where they stood, becaufe as it was likely fome of the wild People might come that Way, fo they might come too many

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