(OF 3)***


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Note: Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work.
      Volume II: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38632
      Volume III: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38633


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THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN;

Or,

Adventures of the Buccaneers.

by

GEORGE W. THORNBURY, ESQ.

"One foot on sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never."
                MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

In Three Volumes.

VOL. I.







London:
Hurst and Blackett, Publishers,
Successors to Henry Colburn,
13, Great Marlborough Street.
1855.

London: Sercombe and Jack, 16 Great Windmill Street.




CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.--THE PRECURSORS OF THE BUCCANEERS.

History of Tortuga--Description of the island--Origin of the
Buccaneers--Conquest of Tortuga by the French and English--Hunters,
planters, and corsairs--Le Basque takes Maracaibo--War with the
Spaniards of Hispaniola--The French West Indian Company buy
Tortuga--Their various governors                                      1

CHAPTER II.--MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.

Indian derivation of the word Buccaneer--Flibustier--The three
classes--Dress of the hunters--West Indian scenery--Method of
hunting--Wild dogs--Anecdotes--Wild oxen--Wild boars and wild
horses--Buccaneer dainties--Cow-killing, English, French, and Spanish
methods--Amusements--Duels--Adventures--Conflicts with the Fifties, or
Spanish militia--The hunters driven to sea--Turn corsairs--The hunters'
_engages_, or apprentices--Hide curing--Hardships of the bush life--The
planters' _engages_--Cruelties of planters--The _matelotage_--Huts,
manners, and food                                                    35

CHAPTER III.--THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.

Originated in the Spanish persecution of French hunters--Customs--"No
peace beyond the line"--"No prey, no pay"--Pay and pensions--Their
helots the Mosquito Indians--Lewis Scott, an Englishman, the first
Corsair--John Davis takes St. Francis in Campeachy--Their
debauchery--Gambling--Religion--Classes from which they sprang--Equality
at sea--Mode of fighting--Food--Dress                               111

CHAPTER IV.--PIERRE-LE-GRAND, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.

Plunder of Segovia--Pierre-le-Grand--Peter Francis--Captures of Spanish
vessels--Mode of capture--Barthelemy Portugese--His escapes and
victories--Roche the Brazilian--Fanatical hatred of the Spaniards--His
wrecks and adventures                                               152

CHAPTER V.--LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.

Lolonnois' stratagems--His cruelty--His partner, Michael le
Basque--Takes Maracaibo--Tortures the citizens--Sacks the town--Takes
Gibraltar--Attempt on Merida--Famine and pestilence--Retreat--Division
of spoil--Ransom--Takes St. Pedro--Burns Veragua--Wrecked in the Gulf of
Honduras--Attacked by Indians--Killed and eaten by the savages      188

CHAPTER VI.--ALEXANDRE BRAS DE FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.

Bras de Fer compared by French writers to Alexander the Great--His
exploits and stratagems--Montbars--Anecdote of his childhood--Goes to
sea--His first naval engagement--Joins the Buccaneers--Defeats the
Spanish Fifties--His uncle killed--His revenge--Anecdote of the <DW64>
vessel--Adam and Anne le Roux plunder Santiago                      267




PREFACE.


I claim for this book, at least originality. But this originality,
unfortunately, if it attaches interest to an author's labours, adds also
to his responsibilities.

The history of the Buccaneers has hitherto remained unwritten. Three or
four forgotten volumes contain literally all that is recorded of the
wars and conquests of these extraordinary men. Of these volumes two are
French, one Dutch, and one in English. The majority of our readers,
therefore, it is probable, know nothing more of the freebooters but
their name, confound them with the mere pirates of two centuries later,
and derive their knowledge of their manners from those dozen lines of
the