iberty after the space of two
or three years. They put in very frequently for refreshment at one
island or another; but more especially into those which lie on the
southern side of the Isle of Cuba. Here they careen their vessels, and
in the meanwhile some of them go to hunt, others to cruise upon the seas
in canoes, seeking their fortune. Many times they take the poor
fishermen of tortoises, and carrying them to their habitations they make
them work so long as the pirates are pleased."

The articles which fixed the conditions under which the buccaneers
sailed were commonly called the "chasse-partie."[105] In the earlier
days of buccaneering, before the period of great leaders like Mansfield,
Morgan and Grammont, the captain was usually chosen from among their own
number. Although faithfully obeyed he was removable at will, and had
scarcely more prerogative than the ordinary sailor. After 1655 the
buccaneers generally sailed under commissions from the governors of
Jamaica or Tortuga, and then they always set aside one tenth of the
profits for the governor. But when their prizes were unauthorised they
often withdrew to some secluded coast to make a partition of the booty,
and on their return to port eased the governor's conscience with politic
gifts; and as the governor generally had little control over these
difficult people he found himself all the more obliged to dissimulate.
Although the buccaneers were called by the Spaniards "ladrones" and
"demonios," names which they richly deserved, they often gave part of
their spoil to churches in the ports which they frequented, especially
if among the booty they found any ecclesiastical ornaments or the stuffs
for making them--articles which not infrequently formed an important
part of the cargo of Spanish treasure ships. In March 1694 the Jesuit
writer, Labat, took part in a Mass at Martinique which was performed for
some French buccaneers in pursuance of a vow made when they were taking
two English vessels near Barbadoes. The French vessel and its two prizes
were anchored near the church, and fired salutes of all their cannon at
the beginning of the Mass, at the Elevation of the Host, at the
Benediction, and again at the end of the Te Deum sung after the
Mass.[106] Labat, who, although a priest, is particularly lenient
towards the crimes of the buccaneers, and who we suspect must have been
the recipient of numerous "favours" from them out of their store of
booty, relates a