THE short-sighted policy of the Spaniards in exterminating the natives of the countries which they conquered, necessitated the importation of the negro from Africa, and led to the development of a huge traffic in slaves, in which England, France, and Portugal played an important part.

The men engaged in this trade were naturally a ruffianly set who soon became familiar with the operations in the newly acquired Spanish territories, and were quick to take advantage of the knowledge which they thus acquired.

Lucrative as the slave trade undoubtedly was, those engaged in it could not but be tempted by the untold wealth which they saw in the countries they visited and which passed them in the galleons crossing the sea; and the growing jealousy on the part of the other European nations of the power and opulence of Spain encouraged the more lawless and daring to organise attacks upon the wealth and treasure in course of transit.

Many of these hardy ruffians, the off-scourings of their own countries, conceived the idea of acquiring territory in the West Indian Islands, and were encouraged by their respective Governments.

A number of them possessed themselves of the small island of Tortuga, which lies to the north-west of Hayti, and from here roved the whole Caribbean Sea making war upon the Spaniards both on sea and land.

They had learned from the Indians the art of curing the flesh of animals killed in hunting so that it would keep for almost any length of time. The method adopted was to lay the meat upon a wooden grill placed over a smouldering fire composed of leaves, into which—to give a flavour to the meat—they cast the skins of the slaughtered animals. The meat thus smoked was called “Boucan,” and ultimately this name was also given to the place where it was cooked, and those who had adopted the preparing of meat in this way were called “buccaneers.”

This name came to be generally applied to the motley collection of characters from all Europe who settled in these parts, every type of social Ishmaelite of the period let loose on the world to fight and struggle for existence as best they could.

Some among them from England had started on their roving life from very exuberance of good spirits and love of adventure. Others were driven to this lawless existence by necessity, or by some trivial violation of the stringent laws then existing in their own country.

Whenever a successful fleet of these desperadoes arrived in Port Royal or Tortuga, it was the signal to the populace that festive times were at hand—such times as make the head dizzy to think of, lasting not only till the money was all spent, but until credit was gone as well.

The tavern keepers would give credit according to the faith they had in their customers’ ability to redeem their pledges. Doubtless their faith often received rude shocks, for the risks were many, but taking it on the whole their profits were immense, as the larger part of the ship’s plunder was spent with them.

Lawless as the buccaneers were, they yet had laws which regulated the conduct of each adventure they embarked upon. True these were liable to be changed by a successful majority, but, as a rule, all obeyed them, probably because sufficient inducement was offered or coercion used.

During the three distinct epochs of the history of these piratical adventurers the types were constant. From the time when they first forsook their wild calling in Hispaniola and took to hunting men for their treasure instead of animals for their flesh—up to the period when Morgan stood out as a hero who commanded the consideration if not the respect of all the inhabitants of the New World, they were unhampered by the interference of Government.

From 1671 to 1685 they extended the sphere of their operations, and ranged the whole of the Pacific Coast of America from California to Chili, and this has been called the second period.

The third extends from 1685 onwards, and marks the decline of their power, a degeneration in their methods, and a lessening of their numbers.

There is a glamour about their adventures which appeals to most persons, the fine courage and persistent daring which was undaunted by the terrible hardships and sufferings they underwent, giving a touch of heroism to their doings in spite of the inhuman butcheries and cruelties they perpetrated.

Outstanding names of buccaneers are familiar to everyone, Mansvelt, L’Ollonois, Morgan, Dampier, Kidd, Sharp, being a few of the more prominent. Round each of these romances have been written, and although there may be some deeds of valour credited to them, the glory of which they are not entitled to, and some atrocities, the gruesomeness of which they were guiltless of, yet it cannot be said that authentic details of their lives and enterprises do not furnish parallel instances.

Their callous indifference to the sufferings of their own companions prepares us for the studied fiendishness with which they treated their enemies, and their fanatical hatred of the Spaniards overmastered every consideration of humanity.

That the buccaneers had courage and daring is well borne out by the life of Henry Morgan, the son of a respectable Welsh farmer. He appears to have found his way to Jamaica, and there fallen in with Mansvelt, then the most notorious of the freebooters.

After serving a sort of apprenticeship with this redoubtable pirate, Morgan, on the death of Mansvelt was promoted to the command.

Using Jamaica as his headquarters he made excursions in the neighbourhood of Cuba which added to his reputation. His next venture was against Porto Bello, one of the best fortified ports in the West Indies.

Morgan’s profession and attention were directed to this spot by the knowledge he had of its containing the large storehouses, in which the treasure from the Spanish colonies in the South awaited the arrival of the fleet of royal galleons which sailed with it annually to Spain.

As formerly in Nombre de Dios, so here an annual fair was held, and the merchants who had business came over from Panama with their treasure of gold and silver from the mines of Peru, attended by an escort of Spanish troops.

Ships belonging to the West Indian Company arrived from Africa with cargoes of slaves, and the whole town was, while the fair lasted, a scene of great animation.

Porto Bello at this period was not considered quite a health resort, so that in the off seasons the population decreased. Morgan, who had four hundred and sixty men in his expedition, kept his plans secret, and, only telling his companions that he expected to make a big haul, he landed by night at a short distance from the city. Guided by an Englishman who had been a prisoner in these parts, they marched on to the town, capturing on their way one of the sentinels, whom they bound and carried in front of them. They surrounded one of the castles which stood near the town, and called upon the inmates to surrender, but the only reply was a volley which alarmed the town. After a brief but gallant defence the fortress was forced to surrender, and the pirates, thrusting the vanquished inside, blew both garrison and castle into the air. The Governor of the city and a number of the more influential merchants, had taken shelter in the remaining castle, against the walls of which the pirates now placed broad scaling ladders constructed hastily for this purpose. Up these ladders Morgan forced friars and nuns whom he had taken prisoners to ascend as a cover to his men following close behind, but in thinking the besieged would not risk harming members of their religious orders he was mistaken, for pious and pirates were alike killed by the inmates of the castle, who used all means they could to prevent the assault being successful.

After a long and determined resistance the defenders at length threw down their arms and surrendered, but the Governor fought to the last, killing many of the pirates, and even despatching some of his own men for not standing to their arms. He would accept no quarter in spite of the pleading of his wife and daughter who, on their knees, begged him to give in; and he fell fighting.

The pirates took possession of the castle, shutting up all the prisoners, men and women together. The wounded were placed in an apartment by themselves, “that their complaints might be a cure of their diseases, for no other was afforded them.”

This done, the buccaneers gave themselves up to a wild debauch which lasted well into the night. Next morning the prisoners were brought out and tortured till they should reveal the hiding-places of their treasure.

For fifteen days looting and carousing fully occupied the time of the marauders, and before departing Morgan fixed the ransom of the city at one hundred thousand pieces of eight, threatening to burn the town and blow up the castles if this were not procured at once.

Messengers were sent with this demand to Panama, and the Governor of that city, having got a force together, set out for Porto Bello.

The pirates, hearing of this, went out to meet him at a narrow gorge through which he was bound to pass, and a hundred of them were sufficient to check the approach of the bold men from Panama.

From a safe distance the Governor then sent word to Morgan, threatening him that if he did not retire at once it would go hard with him, to which the implacable buccaneer replied that all he wanted was the money, and when he got it he would leave, but not before. Persuaded that he was in earnest the Governor rode back to Panama, leaving the distressed citizens of Porto Bello to get out of their difficulties as best they could.

The ransom was raised and the demands of Morgan were satisfied.

So astonished was the Governor of Panama at the fall of so strong a city before such a handful of men, that he sent to Morgan to ask him for a pattern of the weapons with which he had accomplished so great a feat. Not without humour Morgan gave a pistol and some bullets to the envoy to take back, with instructions to his master to keep the same for a year, when the sender would come in person to Panama and claim them.

The Governor, thinking this was no joke, returned the proffered loan, assuring Morgan that he had no need of such weapons. At the same time he sent a ring of gold and the message “that he desired him not to give himself the labour of coming to Panama as he had done to Porto Bello, for he did assure him he should not speed so well there as he had done there.”

In July, 1670, a treaty was concluded between Great Britain and Spain with the object of putting an end to the depredations of the buccaneers, and bringing about peace and a settled state of affairs in the West Indian Islands. On the publication of this treaty, the buccaneers determined on a great expedition; fearing, doubtless, that the chances for their professional operations would be curtailed after the treaty had been put into force and was well established.

Morgan, therefore, made preparations and gathered around him men and ships for what was to be his greatest undertaking. The rewards to be given on this voyage, and the rules for the conduct of the enterprise, were all written out, agreed upon, and signed by each of the pirate crews. Morgan himself was to take one hundredth part of the booty, and the captain of each ship was to draw the shares of eight men over and above his own, for the expenses of his vessel.

The surgeons were allowed two hundred pieces of eight, besides their pay, for chests of medicines. The compensations for the loss of limbs or eyes were very liberal, the payment being made in money or slaves according to the sufferers’ choice. An extra reward was held out to the pirate who should, in any engagement, be the first to haul down the enemies’ colours, enter a castle or perform some similar act of daring.

Panama had been decided upon, by general consent, as being the richest of the three cities from which a selection was to be made, the other two being Cartagena and Vera Cruz.

The pirates sailed first to the island of St. Catherine or Old Providence to obtain guides from among the bandit outlaws from Panama who were banished to that place.

When they arrived at this penal settlement, which was strongly fortified, Morgan, with the connivance of the Governor of the island, put up a sham fight in order to give the appearance that force had been used in obtaining what he wanted.

Having obtained a plentiful supply of provisions and three bandits, who were acquainted with the route from Porto Bello to Panama and who were promised their liberty and a share of the plunder, should the undertaking prove successful, Morgan sent four ships and one boat well equipped to Chagres to take the castle there, while he remained at St. Catherine’s with the bulk of the expedition awaiting the result of this preliminary venture, and to avoid giving the alarm to the Spaniards as to his real design. The castle of Chagres or San Lorenzo, situated on the summit of a steep hill at the entrance of the river, was surrounded by high palisades filled in with earth, a formidable place almost impregnable in those days, yet notwithstanding the strong position it occupied and the extraordinarily brilliant defence which the Spanish untiringly maintained it fell at last into the hands of the enemy.

AN OLD SENTRY TOWER ON THE CHAGRES.