make preparations to move to some more favored soil, when a furious hurricane was experienced. The destruction of property was great; dwelling houses and sugar works were destroyed, and lives were lost. The inhabitants who survived the tempest were in despair, believing their calamities would never cease. But they soon found, to their great joy, that this hurricane was a blessing, rather than a The black ants were exterminated, and none have since been seen in the island. curse. CHAPTER XXIX. INSURRECTION IN GRENADA. I HAVE already stated that the French established their first settlement in the island of Grenada in 1650. They found the island inhabited by the Carib Indians, who, regarding the white men as beings superior in goodness as well as intellect, gave them a cordial welcome, and treated them with kindness and hospitality. The French, well pleased with their reception, gave the cacique a few hatchets, knives, and beads, and a barrel of brandy, and very coolly took possession of the island they had thus purchased. Their conduct in this respect reminds one of the language of the ill-treated Caliban to the proud Prospero: "This island's mine, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first, Water with berries in't; and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night; and then I loved thee, And showed thee all the qualities of the isle The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile; The remonstrances of the Caribs against the wrongs they were doomed to suffer were as little heeded by the colonists as the complaints of Caliban by Prospero. The French were resolute, powerful, and rapacious, and treated the red men with inhumanity. The Indians, unable to contend with their oppressors by open force, fled to their mountain fastnesses, and commenced an obstinate predatory warfare upon the whites, murdering without discrimination all whom they found defenceless. This led to a bloody and protracted struggle for the mastery; and a reënforcement of troops having been sent from France to aid the infant colony, it was decided, after mature deliberation, that the most expeditious and effectual mode of ending the war, and establishing peace on a permanent basis, was to exterminate the Caribs. These original "lords of the soil" were accordingly driven from their fastnesses, hunted by parties of soldiers, shot down like wild beasts wherever found, until their number was reduced from thousands to about one hundred. Being cut off from the mountains by a military force, this remnant of a powerful band fled to a promontory on the north part of the island which overlooked the ocean, and, hard pressed by their civilized foes, more than half their number leaped over the rocky precipice into the sea which dashed against its base. The others were massacred. This promontory has ever since been known as "Morne des Sauteurs," or the "Hill of the Leapers." I have stood upon the extreme point of this promontory, where I could look down some eighty or a hundred feet into the raging abyss beneath, and listened to the mournful tradition as detailed by one of the oldest inhabitants of the island. This is only one of the vast catalogue of cruelties and wrongs that have been inflicted on the Indians by the whites in constant succession, from the first settlement of the New World to the present time. The French, who were long in possession of the island of Grenada, established on the plantations French customs, the French language, and the Roman Catholic religion. When the island fell into the hands of the English, although no organized plan was adopted to interfere with the customs of the slaves, or change their language, the English failed in acquiring the attachment of the negroes, who lamented the absence of their French masters, and sighed for their return. Early in the year 1795, during the French revolution, a plan was conceived by some white men and free mulattoes, in Guadaloupe, who were aware of the existence of this discontented feeling, to create an insurrection among the slaves in Grenada, and take possession of the island. Emissaries were sent among the plantations, who conferred with the principal negroes, and secretly made arrangements for the work they contemplated. In the month of August, two or three sloops, each containing thirty or forty men, with a supply of arms and ammunition, arrived in the harbor of La Baye, on the eastern side of the island. The expedition was commanded by an active and intelligent mulatto named Fedon, and landed in the night, captured the small fort which overlooked the harbor, took possession of the town, murdered a number of the white inhabitants, and plundered the houses and stores. Runners were employed to convey the news to the different plantations, and the insurrection of the slaves was complete. Some of the white men of the plantations received secret intelligence of the rising among the blacks, and lost no time in fleeing to a place of safety; others remained unconscious of the approach of danger, and were murdered. Deeds of cruelty were perpetrated on this occasion by the negroes, a relation of which would chill the stoutest heart. It unfortunately happened that when this insurrection broke out, the acting governor with several members of the council, and some merchants and planters of great respectability, were on a visit to the eastern part of the island. As soon as they heard of the attack on La Baye, and the progress of the insurrection, they left the quarters where they had been hospitably entertained, and, accompanied by their host and some other gentlemen, proceeded to the sea shore, and embarked in a sloop, with the intention of proceeding to St. George, which was the seat of government, and was strongly fortified and garrisoned. As the sloop was passing the little village of Guayave, some negroes appeared on the shore, bearing a flag of truce, and indicated by expressive gestures a wish to hold a conference with the governor. This functionary, not aware of the dreadful atrocities that had been committed, and hoping that some means might be agreed upon to heal the disturbances, imprudently ordered the vessel to be anchored in the roadstead, and himself and a number of the most influential of his friends went ashore in a boat, and were landed on the beach. A party of armed blacks, who until that moment had been concealed, immediately surrounded them, pinioned them, and marched them away. The boat was seized by the negroes, and a party pushed off for the purpose of boarding the sloop, and securing the remainder of the white men; but they, having witnessed the capture of the governor and his companions, suspected the object of this manuœuvre, cut the cable, and with a fine breeze, distanced the boat which had started in pursuit, and proceeded to St. George with the mournful news. The rebel chief, Fedon, collected around him, as it were by a single tap of the drum, an army of some thousands of blacks, and distributed among them a considerable number of fire-arms. Others were armed with weapons hastily prepared; and the great body of the insurgents, being desperate men, stimulated by the hope of freedom and the desire of vengeance, with leaders of ability and some military skill, the insurrection assumed a formidable appearance. Fedon took possession of Mount Quaqua, a high, steep, and somewhat bald mountain in the interior, and there encamped with his army. The base of the mountain was cultivated, and furnished excellent pasturage for the many cattle which were driven thither from the various plantations to furnish subsistence for his army. This place he fortified, determined to make it his stronghold in case of adversity; and he went vigorously to work in organizing and disciplining his army with a view to make an attack on St. George before the government could receive reënforcements, and thus get possession of the whole island. The governor and his friends, and other prisoners, principally planters, having been strictly confined for several days, and treated with many indignities, were conveyed under a guard to the camp of the rebel chieftain. Fedon caused them to be brought before him, and after exulting over their capture, and heaping upon them insults and abuse, ordered them to be shot. This sentence was executed on the following day. Only one of the number escaped to tell the sad tale. This was Mr. Bruce, a merchant residing at St. George, who had acted as attorney for the Pearl plantations. When led out with others to be executed, a negro whispered in his ear, "Massa, my capen tells me, shoot you! but I no shoot you! only make b'live. You stand up straight when I fire, you fall to ground, and scream, and twist, all same as if you be dead!" -- The deception was successful. The negro, whose name was Quamina, and belonged to the Lower Pearl estate, was stationed opposite to Bruce. The word was given. Bruce fell with the rest, and imitated to admiration the agonies of a dying man; and Quamina, at the risk of his life, succeeded in saving that of the white man. That |