Indies

“ But the localities of great events and the homes of the actors in them are only saddening when the spiritual results are disappointing, and scenery loses its charm unless the grace of humanity is in the heart of it. To the man of science the West Indies may be delightful and instructive. Rocks and trees and flowers remain as they always were, and Nature is constant to herself. ”

“ In the days of the early explorers, after the islands discovered by Columbus were called the West Indies, some people began to call the Indian continent the East Indies, to distinguish it; and some of the papers about India drawn up for the information of Parliament about Indian affairs still use this name, but it is not a familiar use to most people. ”

“ EAST INDIES, a name formerly applied vaguely, in its widest sense, to the whole area of India, Further India and the Malay Archipelago, in distinction from the West Indies, which, at the time of their discovery, were taken to be the extreme parts of the Indian region. ”

“ I VERILY believe that the people in these Indies have been there for many ages, as is shown by the ancient buildings and the extensive regions they have peopled; and, although they are all brown and beardless, and are so much alike, they have such a multitude of languages that there is almost a new language at every league in all parts of the country. ”

“ THE great show of power made at first by the Portuguese in the East and West Indies inspired profound admiration in the minds of the Indians, so that these people embraced, without any contradiction, the belief of those whom they admired. ”

“ That's true, but I understand the Indians. Those who are my friends are my friends, and those who are my enemies are my enemies. I take it that in the West Indies you never know what change is coming. ”

“ These Indians, who were masters of this region, originally came, as I have before said, from the other side of the great river of Darien. The lords or caciques are obeyed and feared by the Indians, and their women are the prettiest and most loveable of any that I have seen in the Indies. They are clean in their eating, and have none of the dirty habits of other nations. These Indians have small villages, and their houses are like long sheds. They sleep in hammocks and use no other sort of bed. Their land is fertile and abundantly supplied with provisions, such as well tasted roots. ”

“ IT is known to all the world how the Spaniards, aided by God, have prosperously gained and made themselves masters of this new world, which is called the Indies. These Indies include so many and such great kingdoms and provinces, that it causes wonder even to think of them; and their discovery and conquest have been successful, as all who live in this age well know. I have sometimes thought that, when one people and nation succeeds another, as time rolls on the first is forgotten ”

“ When America was first discovered, it was found to be inhabited by a race of men different from any already known. They were called Indians, from the West Indies, where they were first seen, and which Columbus, according to the common opinion of that age, supposed to be a part of the East Indies. On exploring the coasts and the interior of the vast continent, the same singular people, in different varieties, were everywhere discovered. ”

“ Let us bring to the test the lofty phrases 323of Colonial declamation. The West Indies, we are told, are a source of vast wealth and revenue to the country. They are a nursery of seamen. They take great quantities of our manufactures. They add to our political importance. ”

“ The history of the West Indies has been written by various men at different times, and little now remains to be told of those wonderful islands around which the naval heroes of England, France, Spain, and Portugal had many fierce fights and exciting adventures. ”

“ For the colonies in the Indies, they are yet babes that cannot live without sucking the breasts of their mother cities, but such as I mistake if when they come of age they do not wean themselves; ”

“ I agreed with them that no North American Indian would use that mode of getting his living, but that there were Indians in different parts of the world, and that these were from the East Indies, a country many thousands of miles from here; that these people were Indians from that country, and were of a tribe called Lascars; that many of them were employed by the captains of English ships to help to navigate their vessels from that country to this; and that in London they often come to want, and are glad to sweep the streets and beg, as the means of living, instead of starving to death. ”

“ The fruits of the East Indies are in general so much cried up by those who have eaten of them, and so much preferred to our European ones, that I shall give a full list of all the sorts which were in season during our stay, and my judgment of each, which I confess is not so much in their favour, as is that of the generality of Europeans after their return home ”

“ And the threefold division, with its inclination to place one of the Indies in Africa, I think may have originated with the Arab Hind, Sind, and Zinj. I may add that our vernacular expression “the Indies” is itself a vestige of the twofold or threefold division of which we have been speaking.
The partition of the Indies made by King Sebastian of Portugal in 1571, when he constituted his eastern possessions into three governments, recalled the old division into Three Indias. The first, India, extending from Cape Gardafui to Ceylon, stood in a general way for Polo’s India Major ”

“ And finally a few essential points are mentioned for all fully to realize when God shall suffer them to land in the Indies, namely, the danger of sleeping on the ground, of eating unknown fruits, or any flesh until it be salted, of bathing in rivers. Especial stress is laid upon the necessity of treating the Indians with courtesy in order to win their help and friendship. ”

“ As there is no more to say on this subject I will go on to tell you about the Great Province of Abash, which constitutes the Middle India;—but I must first say something about India in general.
You must understand that in speaking of the Indian Islands we have described only the most noble provinces and kingdoms among them; for no man on earth could give you a true account of the whole of the Islands of India. Still, what I have described are the best, and as it were the Flower of the Indies. ”

“ TO THE READER THESE sketches were written during a memorable cruise to the West Indies and the Spanish Main in the winter and spring of 1901. There has been no attempt to write a West Indian guide-book, but rather to give preference to the human side of the picture through glimpses of the people and their ways of life and thought. With this idea it was thought best to give attention only to such of the ports visited as were full of human interest and typical of the life about the Caribbean Sea. ”

“ We also judged that it would add to the interest of the work, were we to investigate and make out the pedigree of a variety of geographical names which are or have been in familiar use in books on the Indies; take as examples Bombay, Madras, Guardafui, Malabar, Moluccas, Zanzibar, Pegu, Sumatra, Quilon, Seychelles, Ceylon, Java, Ava, Japan, Doab, Punjab, &c., illustrating these, like every other class of word, by quotations given in chronological series. ”

“ The luminosities of tropic foliage could only be imitated in fire. He who desires to paint a West Indian forest,—a West Indian landscape,—must take his view from some great height, through which the colors come to his eye softened and subdued by distance,—toned with blues or purples by the astonishing atmosphere.
... It is sunset as I write these lines, and there are witchcrafts of color. Looking down the narrow, steep street opening to the bay, I see the motionless silhouette of the steamer on a perfectly green sea,—under a lilac sky,—against a prodigious orange light. ”

“ But our mountain boys of Santander, by an especial dispensation of nature, have the one longing to be independent, with the title of Don, and a lot of money, and to their way of thinking the only way to acquire this is to go to "The Indies." ”

“ The inhabitants of India, on the contrary, pretend that they were the first navigators; particularly the Tabencos, whom we now call Chinese; and allege in proof of this, that they were lords of all the Indies, even to Cape Bona Speranca, and the island of St Lawrence [2] , which is inhabited by them; as likewise all the coasts of the Indian seas, also the Javas, Timores, Celebes, Macassar, the Moluccas, Borneo, Mindanao, Luçones, Lequeos, the Japans, and many other islands; also the countries of Cochin-China, Laos, Bramas [3] , Pegu, Arracones [4] , till you come quite to Bengala. ”

“ I cannot and ought not to pass on without saying something concerning the evils and miseries which these Spaniards, and all others, suffered in the discovery of these Indies, because I hold it{156} for very certain that no nation that has ever been in the world has passed through so much. It is a thing well worthy of note that, in less than sixty years, a navigation so long, and a land so vast and so full of different tribes should have been discovered, the way leading through dense and dismal forests, and over deserts without roads ”

“ Listening on the one hand to the proposals of every needy adventurer, and slighting all those men on the other hand who were most likely to have pushed the new discoveries to advantage, by the knowledge they had acquired of the West Indies, by their wise conduct in the settlement of the new colonies, and the power they possessed for prosecuting farther discoveries and establishing new colonies ”

“ I can’t tell you all the things we did in the West Indies. At last we went home, and were paid off; and I remained on shore with my widowed mother till I heard that Captain Nelson had commissioned the ‘Boreas.’ I went and joined him. He received me heartily, and away we sailed for the West Indies.
“Young as was our captain, he found himself senior officer on the station—that is to say, second in command under the admiral; for in those days we had old heads on young shoulders; so we should now, if boys would try to imitate the example of wise and noble men, not to ape the folly of foolish ones. ”

“ How strange it must all seem to Mademoiselle who stands so silent there at the rail!—how weird this veiled world must appear to her, after the sapphire light of her own West Indian sky, and the great lazulite splendor of her own tropic sea!
But a wind comes;—it strengthens,—begins to blow very cold. The mists thin before its blowing; and the wan blank sky is all revealed again with livid horizon around the heaving of the iron-grey sea. ”

“ If the Spanish churchmen were a bit upset at finding in the Indies both a new world and a race unaccounted for in the Bible, later explorers and settlers of the mainland were quite as astonished over the discovery of huge bones in swamps and creeks, prairies and badlands. ”

“ Great as these conveniences are, the people who come from afar must do little more than live, as there is no trade here, but in a few articles of provisions, which are sent to the East Indies, and curiosities. ”

“ ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.
The theory was that the Indians were the vassals of Spain, no more to be imposed upon than other Spanish subjects. The sovereigns wishing to stimulate discovery, pacification, and settlement, were willing to waive their right to the tribute due the crown in favor of enterprising and meritorious persons, who had taken upon themselves the hardships incident to life in 265 a new country. ”

“ Beaver was a man of remarkable energy and ability, and in the exceptional posts which he held, both in the Mediterranean and in the East Indies, he performed his duty not only effectively, but without awakening the jealousy of his seniors whom he temporarily superseded. ”

“ Every sea-captain who sailed to the West Indies was expected to bring home a turtle on the return voyage for a feast to his expectant friends. ”

“ England and France were rivals, not only on the continent, but in the West Indies, in India, and in Europe. ”

“ 3 I would not change my native land
For rich Peru, with all her gold:
A nobler prize lies in my hand
Than East or Western Indies hold. ”

“ Vincent— Grenada—The harbour—Disappearance of the whites—An island of black freeholders—Tobago—Dramatic art—A promising incident.
West Indian civilisation is old-fashioned, and has none of the pushing manners which belong to younger and perhaps more thriving communities. ”

“ I meanwhile made acquaintances among my West Indian fellow-passengers, and listened to their tale of grievances. The Exhibition had been well enough in its way, but Exhibitions would not fill an empty exchequer or restore ruined plantations. The mother country I found was still regarded as a stepmother, and from more than one quarter I heard a more than muttered wish that they could be 'taken into partnership' by the Americans. They were wasting away under Free Trade and the sugar bounties. ”

“ The Indian, like all savages, is very superstitious. He loves to think over the time, hundreds of years ago, when the red men roamed over the whole continent from ocean to ocean. He dreams of those days, and believes they will again return—that the pale faces will be driven into the sea, and the vast land become the hunting ground of the Indians. ”

“ The warmth yet shade-loving Indian of the Amazon; the Indian of the hot, dry and treeless coasts of Peru and Guayaquil, who exposes his bare head to the sun with as much zest as an African negro; the Indian of the Andes, for whom no cold seems too great, who goes constantly barelegged and often bare-headed, through whose rude straw hut the piercing wind of the paramos sweeps and chills the white man to the very bones;—all these, in the colour and texture of the skin, the hair and other important features, are plainly of one and the same race. ”