terious power to which they did reverence. Their
religious conceptions, like their mental activity,
seem to have been somewhat higher than those of
the more virtuous Arawaks, and they believed in
one God, and a future life for the brave and worthy.
T h e y had a kind of family life and lived in small
huts, made of poles stuck in the ground, bound to gether
at the top, and covered with branches, bark,
and leaves. How many of these people there were
on all the islands no one ever knew, and the first conjectures
were very wild. T h e y were not wholly addicted
to war and the securing of animal fo o d ; but
they, too, raised crops after a fashion, and did not
wholly disdain the products of the soil. Neither the
mild Arawak nor the fierce Carib seems to have been
given to sensuality, and in that respect they con^
pared favourably with the Spanish Christians,
who proceeded to exterminate the gentler race and
to enslave, so far as they could, the more vigorous.
Incidentally the lack of animals and of quadrupeds
in the archipelago has been noted, and as a result
there was practically no such thing as beasts of
burden or domestic animals, little use of skins, and no
occupation in huntin g ; and the simple industries of
the people were carried on by hand with the rudest
devices. But the lavish gifts of nature, gathered
with little effort, were sufficient for the wants of man;
the forests flourished unchecked from generation to
generation; vegetation waxed and waned with the
changing seasons, and the teeming life of bird and
reptile and insect went on beneath the tropic sun
and through the whirlwind and the storm.
C H A P T E R IV
THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY
XT is not our business to follow the trials and
1 triumphs of Don Cristobal Colon, known to
readers of English as Christopher Columbus, and
christened in his native Italy as Cristoforo Colombo,
for they have been made familiar by many writers;
but we must trace briefly the process of his discovery
of the West Indies. It was Friday, Au gust
3, 1492, when he left the small port of Palos with
his three little vessels, and on September 6th, after
a call at the Canary Islands, he left all known land
¡behind him, and ventured upon the unexplored
I waters to the west. T h e Santa. Maria was a decked
¡vessel, ninety feet long, with four masts, two of
¡which were square - rigged and the other two
[equipped with lateen sails. A poop above the deck
[astern covered an armament of guns capable of
I hurling the grape and shrapnel of that day, and
I officers and crew numbered sixty-six men. T he
IjPinta and Niña were little caravels, or undecked
■ vessels, turned up fore and aft like a floating cradle.
35