_Ships of different European Nations frequent the =West Indies=.
Opposition experienced by them from the =Spaniards=. Hunting
of Cattle in =Hispaniola=._
[Sidenote: 1518. Adventure of an English Ship.] In the year 1517 or 1518,
some Spaniards in a caravela going from _St. Domingo_ to the Island _Porto
Rico_, to take in a lading of cassava, were surprised at seeing a ship
there of about 250 tons, armed with cannon, which did not appear to belong
to the Spanish nation; and on sending a boat to make enquiry, she was
found to be English. The account given by the English Commander was, that
two ships had sailed from _England_ in company, with the intention to
discover the country of the Great Cham; that they were soon separated from
each other by a tempest, and that this ship was afterwards in a sea almost
covered with ice; that thence she had sailed southward to _Brasil_, and,
after various adventures, had found the way to _Porto Rico_. This same
English ship, being provided with merchandise, went afterwards to
_Hispaniola_, and anchored near the entrance of the port of _San Domingo_,
where the Captain sent on shore to demand leave to sell their goods. The
demand was forwarded to the _Audiencia_, or superior court in _San
Domingo_; but the Castellana, or Governor of the Castle, Francisco de
Tapia, could not endure with patience to see a ship of another nation in
that part of the world, and, without waiting for the determination of the
_Audiencia_, ordered the cannon of the fort to be fired against her; on
which she took up her anchor and returned to _Porto Rico_, where she
purchased provisions, paying for what she got with wrought iron, and
afterwards departed for _Europe_[3]. When this visit of an English ship to
the _West Indies_ was known in _Spain_, it caused there great inquietude;
and the Governor of the Castle of _San Domingo_, it is said, was much
blamed, because he had not, instead of forcing the ship to depart by
firing his cannon, contrived to seize her, so that no one might have
returned to teach others of their nation the route to the Spanish Indies.
[Sidenote: The French and other Europeans resort to the West Indies;] The
English were not the only people of whom the Spaniards had cause to be
jealous, nor those from whom the most mischief was to be apprehended. The
French, as already noticed, had very early made expeditions to _Brasil_,
and they now began to look at the _West Indies_; so that in a short time
the sight of other European ships than those of _Spain_ became no novelty
there. Hakluyt mentions a Thomas Tyson, an Englishman, who went to the
_West Indies_ in 1526, as factor to some English merchants. [Sidenote: Are
regarded as Interlopers by the Spaniards. 1529. Regulation proposed by the
Government in Hispaniola, for protection against Pirates.] When the
Spaniards met any of these intruders, if able to master them, they made
prisoners of them, and many they treated as pirates. The new comers soon
began to retaliate. In 1529, the Governor and Council at _San Domingo_
drew up the plan of a regulation for the security of their ships against
the increasing dangers from pirates in the _West Indies_. In this, they
recommended, that a central port of commerce should be established in the
_West Indies_, to which every ship from _Spain_ should be obliged to go
first, as to a general rendezvous, and thence be dispatched, as might suit
circumstances, to her farther destination; also, that all their ships
homeward bound, from whatsoever part of the _West Indies_, should first
rendezvous at the same port; by which regulation their ships, both outward
and homeward bound, would form escorts to each other, and have the
benefit of mutual support; and they proposed that some port in
_Hispaniola_ should be appointed for the purpose, as most conveniently
situated. This plan appears to have been approved by the Council of the
_Indies_; but, from indolence, or some other cause, no farther measures
were taken for its adoption.
The attention of the Spaniards was at this time almost wholly engrossed by
the conquest and plunder of the American Continent, which it might have
been supposed would have sufficed them, according to the opinion of
Francisco Preciado, a Spanish discoverer, who observed, that _there was
country enough to conquer for a thousand years_. The continental pursuits
caused much diminution in the importance of the _West India Islands_ to
the Spaniards. The mines of the Islands were not comparable in richness
with those of the Continent, and, for want of labourers, many were left
unworked. [Sidenote: Hunting of Cattle in Hispaniola.] The colonists in
_Hispaniola_, however, had applied themselves to the cultivation of the
sugar-cane, and to manufacture sugar; also to hunting cattle, which was
found a profitable employment, the skins and the suet turning to good
account. [Sidenote: Matadores.] The Spaniards denominated their hunters
Matadores, which in the Spanish language signifies killers or
slaughterers.
That the English, French, and Hollanders, in their early voyages to the
_West Indies_, went in expectation of meeting hostility from the
Spaniards, and with a determination therefore to commit hostility if they
could with advantage, appears by an ingenious phrase of the French
adventurers, who, if the first opportunity was in their favour, termed
their profiting by it '_se dedomager par avance_.'
Much of _Hispaniola_ had become desert. There were long ranges of coast,
with good ports, that were unfrequented by any inhabitant whatever, and
the land in every part abounded with cattle. These were such great
conveniencies to the ships of the interlopers, that the Western coast,
which was the most distant part from the Spanish capital, became a place
of common resort to them when in want of provisions. Another great
attraction to them was the encouragement they received from Spanish
settlers along the coast; who, from the contracted and monopolizing spirit
of their government in the management of their colonies, have at all times
been eager to have communication with foreigners, that they might obtain
supplies of European goods on terms less exorbitant than those which the
royal regulations of _Spain_ imposed. [Sidenote: Guarda-Costas.] The
government at _San Domingo_ employed armed ships to prevent clandestine
trade, and to clear the coasts of _Hispaniola_ of interlopers, which ships
were called _guarda costas_; and it is said their commanders were
instructed not to take prisoners. On the other hand, the intruders formed
combinations, came in collected numbers, and made descents on different
parts of the coast, ravaging the Spanish towns and settlements.
In the customary course, such transactions would have come under the
cognizance of the governments in _Europe_; but matters here took a
different turn. The Spaniards, when they had the upper hand, did not fail
to deal out their own pleasure for law; and in like manner, the English,
French, and Dutch, when masters, determined their own measure of
retaliation. The different European governments were glad to avoid being
involved in the settlement of disorders they had no inclination to
repress. In answer to representations made by _Spain_, they said, 'that
the people complained against had acted entirely on their own authority,
not as the subjects of any prince, and that the King of _Spain_ was at
liberty to proceed against them according to his own pleasure.' Queen
Elizabeth of _England_, with more open asperity answered a complaint made
by the Spanish ambassador, of Spanish ships being plundered by the English
in the _West Indies_, 'That the Spaniards had drawn these inconveniencies
upon themselves, by their severe and unjust dealings in their American
commerce; for she did not understand why either her subjects, or those of
any other European prince, should be debarred from traffic in the
_Indies_. That as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title
by the donation of the Bishop of _Rome_, so she knew no right they had to
any places other than those they were in actual possession of; for that
their having touched only here and there upon a coast, and given names to
a few rivers or capes, were such insignificant things as could no ways
entitle them to a propriety further than in the parts where they actually
settled, and continued to inhabit[4].' A warfare was thus established
between Europeans in the _West Indies_, local and confined, which had no
dependence upon transactions in _Europe_. [Sidenote: Brethren of the
Coast.] All Europeans not Spaniards, whether it was war or peace between
their nations in _Europe_, on their meeting in the _West Indies_, regarded
each other as friends and allies, knowing then no other enemy than the
Spaniards; and, as a kind of public avowal of this confederation, they
called themselves _Brethren of the Coast_.
The first European intruders upon the Spaniards in the _West Indies_ were
accordingly mariners, the greater number of whom, it is supposed, were
French, and next to them the English. Their first hunting of cattle in
_Hayti_, was for provisioning their ships. The time they began to form
factories or establishments, to hunt cattle for the skins, and to cure the
flesh as an article of traffic, is not certain; but it may be concluded
that these occupations were began by the crews of wrecked vessels, or by
seamen who had disagreed with their commander; and that the ease, plenty,
and freedom from all command and subordination, enjoyed in such a life,
soon drew others to quit their ships, and join in the same occupations.
The ships that touched on the coast supplied the hunters with European
commodities, for which they received in return hides, tallow, and cured
meat. The appellation of _Boucanier_ or _Buccaneer_ was not invented, or
at least not applied to these adventurers, till long after their first
footing in _Hayti_. At the time of Oxnam's expedition across the _Isthmus
of America_ to the _South Sea_, A. D. 1575, it does not appear to have
been known.
There is no particular account of the events which took place on the
coasts of _Hispaniola_ in the early part of the contest between the
Spaniards and the new settlers. It is however certain, that it was a war
of the severest retaliation; and in this disorderly state was continued
the intercourse of the English, French, and Dutch with the _West Indies_,
carried on by individuals neither authorized nor controlled by their
governments, for more than a century.
In 1586, the English Captain, Francis Drake, plundered the city of _San
Domingo_; and the numbers of the English and French in the _West Indies_
increased so much, that shortly afterwards the Spaniards found themselves
necessitated to abandon all the Western and North-western parts of
_Hispaniola_.