him an authentic narrative of what was observed by the first conquerors, as if written by themselves. From him, and also from the life of Columbus by his son, translated in Churchill's "Collection of Voyages," we learn that the discoverers fell in with several tribes of savages of a darker colour than the general body of Indians, and some of them actually black. One of these tribes is described by Peter Martyr in terms expressive of their having been negroes, and, if negroes, they must be supposed to have crossed over from Africa. Whether they had any affinity to the general body of the nation or people known as the Caribs does not appear; but independently of them, as they dwelt on the main land, there was found a widely- diffused tribe of a dark colour and peculiar ferocity, throughout the islands, designated Caribs or Cannibals. These names were given them by the other Indians, the word "Carib," as Peter Martyr informs us, "in the language of all these countries signifying 'stronger than the rest,' and was never uttered by any of the other islanders without dread." This people seem to have been then but newly arrived in those islands, some of which, as the Spaniards were informed, they had lately depopulated. Peter Martyr considered their original country to have been what he and the Spaniards called Caribana, situate on the east of the Bay of Uraba, on the main land. They were, however, evidently too intractable a race to submit to any intercourse with the Spaniards, whereby any satisfactory information might have been obtained; and though the name Carib might thus have been given them extraneously, yet, as they seem to have taken it as their own, it might possibly have been also their proper name, as in Africa are found people bearing one of a similar sound, Karabàs and Carabalis. It was upwards of a century and a half after the conquest before the attention of inquiring minds was turned to their history, when two French writers gave the fullest and most interesting account of them and their language that we possess. The first was M. De Rochefort, who published in 1658 his "Histoire Morale des Antilles;" and the second, Father Raymond Le Breton, who published in 1665-66 his Carib Grammar, Dictionary, and Catechism. The latter has treated only of the language, while the former not only gave a distinct corroborative Vocabulary of it, but also endeavoured to investigate their history, so as to have at least the merit of affording valuable assistance to all future inquirers on the subject. That he might not have been altogether correct in his conjectures does not at all detract from his merits; and, canvassing them freely, we must fully
