with plundering. In concert with the English they lost no opportunity of injuring the Spanish trade. However, successive defeats made them feel the necessity of having a rallying-point, at least a place where they could refit their ships. In 1625 a party of Frenchmen under the command of Enembuc, and of Englishmen, under the leadership of Warner, took possession of St. Christopher Island. Private initiative began thus to deprive Spain of its possessions in the West Indies.
The presence of these dangerous neighbors alarmed the Court at Madrid. In 1630 Admiral Frederic de Tolède expelled both the English and French from St. Christopher. Looking for a safer shelter, they settled at Tortuga Island (La Tortue), situated in the northern part of Hispañola or Saint-Domingue. Their new possession, eight leagues long and two leagues wide, became rapidly the rendezvous of the freebooters who swept the Spanish Main. In 1640 the French drove the English from this small island, thus remaining the sole masters. That was the starting point of their settlement in Saint-Domingue.
At that time the Spanish colony was in full decline. Owing to the necessity of preserving themselves from the depredations of their terrible foes, the Spaniards had almost deserted the coasts and were concentrated in the interior of the island. The Frenchmen availed themselves of the opportunity to take possession of the greatest part of the northern seashore. They had Port Margot,[1] and soon founded Port-de-Paix.[2]
These new inhabitants of Saint-Domingue were rough men of very coarse manners. They devoted their time to hunting wild oxen, the flesh of which they dried and smoked over a wood-fire called "boucan";[3] hence their name of buccaneers. But hard pushed by the Spaniards they turned their attention to piracy. Under the name
