ury. It destroyed sixteen
vessels, and caused the loss of thirteen lives; and yet so small an
amount of steam-power was fully able to bear up against the dreaded
fury of a Norther, and to insure the safety of the vessel.

THE BUCCANEERS.

Vera Cruz, like almost every other Spanish American seaport town, has
its traditional tales of the horrors committed by the buccaneers, or
filibusters. The history of the buccaneers, their origin, their fearful
exploits of blood, the terror that their name even now inspires in the
minds of all Spanish Americans, are too well known to demand a
repetition here, though we may give the substance of their story, by
saying that they had their origin in a laudable effort to avenge the
gross wrongs inflicted by the Spaniards upon the honest traders of
other nations, while trafficking with the native inhabitants of
America, within the region which the Pope, as the representative of the
Almighty, had bestowed upon the King of Spain, to conquer and subdue
for the benefit of the Church. Elizabeth of England raised the question
of the validity of the title of the King of Spain derived from so
questionable a source, and insisted that he had no rights in America
beyond those acquired by discovery, followed up by possession. But the
King of Spain was too good a Catholic to have his right called in
question, and when a heretic ship was caught among the West Indies, the
avarice of priests and officials, and their holy horror at the approach
of heresy to these regions, were exhibited in their dealings with the
cargo and the unhappy crew. The inhuman treatment that the Spaniards
inflicted upon honest traders aroused men to reprisals; and all ships
venturing into these seas went fully armed. Private war was the natural
consequence of Spanish cruelty and injustice; and the superior prowess
of the Dutch and English soon made sad havoc with the plunder which the
Spaniards had wrung from the natives for a hundred years and more.

The filibusters finally degenerated into pirates and robbers, and the
treasure ships ("galleons") of Spain, and the towns upon her American
coasts, were the victims of their depredations. The fury of the
buccaneers was mainly directed against the monks, and when they sacked
a town, they never failed to pay an especial visitation to the
convents. When Vera Cruz was sacked they showed their contempt for the
clergy by compelling the monks and nuns to carry the plunder of the
town to