nd heaven, and were governed by patriarchs whose age gave them
precedence. They spoke the dialect of the Lucagos or Bahamas, from which
islands it was thought they originated, but it would seem more
reasonable to suppose that both the people of the Bahamas and of the
West Indian islands originally came from the mainland; that is, either
from north or south of the Isthmus of Panama.

The natives were at once subjected by the new-comers, who reduced them
to a condition of slavery, and proving to be hard taskmasters, the poor
overworked creatures died by hundreds, until they had nearly
disappeared. They were of tawny complexion, and beardless, resembling in
many respects our native Indians. As Columbus described them in his
first letter sent to his royal patrons in Spain, they were "loving,
tractable, and peaceable; though entirely naked, their manners were
decorous and praiseworthy." The wonderful fertility of the soil, its
range of noble mountains, its widespread and well-watered plains, with
its extended coast-line and excellent harbors, all challenged the
admiration of the discoverers, so that Columbus recorded in his journal
these words: "It is the most beautiful island that the eyes of man ever
beheld, full of excellent ports and deep rivers."

The Spaniards were surprised to see the natives using rude pipes, in
which they smoked a certain dried leaf with apparent gratification.
Tobacco was native to the soil, and in the use of this now well-nigh
universal narcotic, these simple savages indulged in an original luxury,
or habit, which the Spanish invaders were not slow in acquiring.

The flowers were strongly individualized. The frangipanni, tall, and
almost leafless, with thick, flesh-like shoots, and decked with a small,
white blossom, was fragrant and abundant. Here, also, was the wild
passion-flower, in which the Spaniards thought they beheld the emblem of
our Saviour's passion. The golden-hued peta was found beside the
myriad-flowering oleander and the night-blooming cereus, while the
luxuriant undergrowth was braided with the cactus and the aloe. They
were also delighted by tropical fruits in confusing variety, of which
they knew not even the names.

This was four hundred years ago, and to-day the same flowers and the
same luscious fruits grow upon the soil in similar abundance. Nature in
this land of endless summer puts forth strange eagerness, ever running
to fruits, flowers, and fragrance, as if they were