With these
auxiliaries the barbarians were hunted with great severity, and many of
them massacred. Finding themselves pursued in this manner, the outlaws
banded together for mutual defence. Their avocations required them often
to separate in the daytime; but they assembled in considerable numbers
at night; and if individuals were missing, diligent search was made
until their fate was ascertained. If he returned from an extended chase,
it was well. If not--if it was discovered that he had fallen a victim to
the Spaniards, or had been taken prisoner--his loss was requited with
terrible vengeance. Everything Spanish was devoted to destruction,
without distinction of age or sex. But in this partisan warfare, the
buccaneers maintained a decided advantage. When too hotly pressed, they
could fly to their canoes or hoys, as they were called, and escape to
Tortuga; and if the Spaniards pursued them thither in numbers too
powerful for an open combat, they would return back again to their
principal island. Despairing at length of success in this mode of
warfare, the Spaniards resolved to conquer the ruffians by destroying
their means of subsistence. For this purpose, by a general hunt over the
whole island, the wild bulls were killed, and the droves of cattle
previously roaming the forests were consequently reduced so rapidly that
the buccaneers found it necessary to change their employment--to form
settlements and cultivate the lands. More than two thousand of them
clustered upon Tortuga, where the business of cultivating sugar and
tobacco was begun; but the more general and lucrative employment became
that of piracy.
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