The Project Gutenberg EBook of The West Indies and the Spanish Main [1899], by
James Rodway

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Title: The West Indies and the Spanish Main [1899]

Author: James Rodway

Release Date: June 14, 2010 [EBook #32809]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Story of the Nations.

THE WEST INDIES.

[Illustration: RECEPTION OF SPANIARDS BY ARAWAKS.

(_From Gottfried's "Reisen."_)]

THE WEST INDIES

AND THE

SPANISH MAIN

BY

JAMES RODWAY

_SECOND IMPRESSION_

London

T. FISHER UNWIN

PATERNOSTER SQUARE

MDCCCXCIX

COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN, 1896
(For Great Britain).

COPYRIGHT BY G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1896
(For the United States of America).

INTRODUCTION.

The story of the West Indies and Spanish Main is one to stir the hearts
of many nations. The shores of the Caribbean Sea have been the scene of
marvellous adventures, of intense struggles between races and peoples,
of pain, trouble, and disaster of almost every description. No wonder
that the romance writer has laid his scenes upon its beautiful islands
and deep blue waters, for nowhere in the world, perhaps, could he find
such a wealth of incident. From "Robinson Crusoe" to Marryat's genial
stories, and down to "Westward Ho!" and "Treasure Island," old and young
have been entranced for many generations with its stories of shipwrecks,
pirates, sea-fights, and treasure-seekers. Yet with all this the field
has not been exhausted, for hardly a year passes without a new romance
dealing more or less with the "Indies."

Under this name of the Indies the islands and continent were first known
to the Spaniards, and it was not until some years had passed that the
mainland received the name of _Terra Firma_. The string of islands
facing the Atlantic were the Antilles, so called from a traditional
island to the west of the Azores, marked on maps and globes of the
fifteenth century. This "Bow of Ulysses," as Froude called the islands,