uin and desolation; the
rippling ocean that lovingly laves their shores becomes a roaring
monster trying to swallow them. The refreshing breezes that fan them
become a destructive blast. Yet, such is the fecundity of nature in
these regions that a year after a tempest has swept over an island, if
the debris be removed, not a trace of its passage is visible--the
fields are as green as ever, the earth, the trees, and plants that
were spared by the tempest double their productive powers as if to
indemnify the afflicted inhabitants for the losses they suffered.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 85: See Bulletin H, Weather Bureau, West Indian Hurricanes,
by E.B. Garriott, Washington, 1900.]

[Footnote 86: L'Atmosphere, p. 377 and following.]

[Footnote 87: Enrique del Monte, Havana University, On the Climate of
the West Indies and West Indian Hurricanes.]

[Footnote 88: Histoire physique des Antilles Francaises.]

CHAPTER XLII

THE CARIBS

The origin of the Caribs, their supposed cannibalism and other customs
have occasioned much controversy among West Indian chroniclers. The
first question is undecided, and probably will remain so forever. With
regard to cannibalism, in spite of the confirmative assurances of the
early Spanish chroniclers, we have the testimony of eminent
authorities to the contrary; and the writings of Jesuit missionaries
who have lived many years among the Caribs give us a not unfavorable
idea of their character and social institutions.

The first European who became intimately acquainted with the people of
the West Indian Islands, on the return from his first voyage, wrote to
the Spanish princes: " ... In all these islands I did not observe much
difference in the faces and figures of the inhabitants, nor in their
customs, nor in their language, seeing that they all understand each
other, which is very singular." On the other hand the readiness with
which the inhabitants of Aye-Aye and the other Carib islands gave
asylum to the fugitive Boriquen Indians and joined them in their
retaliatory expeditions, also points to the existence of some bond of
kinship between them, so that there is ground for the opinion
entertained by some writers that all the inhabitants of all the
Antilles were of the race designated under the generic name of Caribs.

The theory generally accepted at first was, that at the time of the
discovery two races of different origin occupied the West Indian
Archipelago. The larger