The name of my forefather, who reigned in Guanhani when white men first came there was the same as mine, Buonahari. He was a good cacique, and the people loved him; he ruled the island, and none disputed his sway. Then there was great plenty in the land; the earth bore her fruits, and the people subsisted upon them. There were no fish caught with hook, or spear, or net; and no birds with snare or arrow. The people ate only what grew—the fruits of the ground and the corn, and about the hut of each man was the field of maize which he cultivated. Then were the gods worshipped piously—the gods who sent the good things the people enjoyed. There were songs and dancing through all the land. The people met in the evenings, and lighted great fires upon the altars, and then the young men and the maidens danced, and the old men and their wives looked on, and the Bohitos, that is, the priests and the bards, sang songs in praise of the gods.
One night there was a great feast of singing and dancing before the hut where my forefather, the cacique, dwelt down by the sea. All the people of the village were there, for the cacique and the chief of the Bohitos had caused proclamation to be made that every man and every woman should come forth from their huts to dance and sing and praise Zemi, the greatest of the gods.
Now, when the night was dark, and the songs of the[Pg 413] people were loud, the chief of the Bohitos came to my forefather, the cacique, and said—
‘Why are not all the young men at the festival?’
And the cacique answered, ‘They are at the festival; they have come from the woods and the sea to praise Zemi.’
But the chief of the Bohitos answered, ‘Not so—look! there is a light upon the sea.’
Then my forefather caused search to be made, but all the canoes were drawn up upon the beach above the surf. Still there was a light upon the sea. And the chief Bohito said—
‘It is Zemi, who looks at our festival from the sea.’
At these words all the people were glad, and redoubled their songs and their praise. Presently a flash of lightning, and a loud roar of thunder, came across the water, and the chief of the Bohitos and the people were troubled, for they thought that Zemi was speaking in anger. And the Bohito said to my forefather—
‘Saw you ever thunder and lightning so close to the ocean?’
And my forefather answered, ‘Never.’
Then sad thoughts and ominous whispers began to spread among all the crowd; and the dances ceased, and the songs of praise died away, and the fire went out that was kindled on the altar of Zemi. Still the light burned bright upon the sea; and presently two lights shone; and after that three.
‘There are three gods watching us,’ said my forefather; but the Bohito answered never a word. None went to rest that night, but tarried sadly on the beach waiting the day. The darkness paled away, and the people saw three mighty shadows on the sea. The grey of the dawn brightened into the day, and the people saw, as it were, three great houses on the sea—houses which floated, and which spread mighty wings to the wind, and glided to-and-fro.
At this the chief of the Bohitos was troubled, and all the people were afraid, and kneeled down upon the beach,[Pg 414] and prayed to Zemi; when, behold, the houses on the sea thundered and lightened as though they were black clouds in the air, and a great smoke rose up from them, and came with the wind down to the beach, and the people smelt an odour new and strange to their nostrils. But the prodigies were not over—great canoes came forth from the floating houses and approached the beach, and, rising from them upon the air, there swelled a mighty strain of music and figures, with faces all white, bearing strange weapons, which flashed in the sun, and clad in glorious garments, whereof none knew the name, stood in the big canoes, waving their arms and shouting in great joy.
But one of the canoes came first, and on the prow of it was a man of a figure so goodly that he seemed a god. He stood up towering like a giant. There was glory on his forehead—there was holiness on his forehead. His eyes flashed like the eyes of the chief of the Bohitos, when Zemi enters into him and fills him. He waved in the air a glittering sword. He stretched forth his arms, and his big voice spoke tremblingly, and as if he knew not what it said.
Nearer and nearer came the canoes. Then the man, who was as a god, waved his sword, and they paused, and he alone walked, with a glorious port, through the surf, which flashed beneath him, up upon the dry sand, and there he knelt down, and prayed and wept!
But in a moment more all the white men who followed him plunged into the water and struggled to the land. First they knelt, as the foremost of them all had knelt, and each kissed the sand; then they knelt round about the leader, and sought to get near him to kiss his hand or his foot, while he stood erect among them like a palm-tree above weeds!
This is a description of the cacique of the white strangers. He was past the middle age, but erect as a sapling, and sturdy as a tree. He had a thin, hard face, with a long hooked nose, and a mighty forehead, marked with deep lines like furrows. His hair was very short,[Pg 415] and quite grey. He had shaggy eyebrows, and under them eyes which pierced, and of a grey or ash colour. He had a scanty beard, which hung in a peak from his chin, with very few hairs on the upper lip. He was not tall, but handsome and strong. On his head he wore a hat looped with golden chains and crowned with feathers, and his garments were all glittering and glorious, and in his right hand he ever held the naked sword! When the white strangers knelt to him, and when my forefathers saw the grandeur and majesty of his face, they felt he was a god, and they knelt likewise—the chief of the Bohitos and also the cacique. So the white cacique stood erect above them all.
Then the white men placed in the sand an upright stick with a shorter stick crossing it, and all baring their heads, sang a loud song very solemn and slow, looking up to heaven, and making a cross with their fingers on their foreheads and their breasts.
Meantime the cacique and the chief of the Bohitos advanced with fear and trembling, and prostrated themselves before the great white cacique. But he raised them with kind looks and gentle-sounding words, and put into their hands treasures—bright flat stones, in which whoso looked saw his own face looking back at him—and hollow vessels like shells, but bright and glittering, which made merry music when they were shaken in the hand. In exchange, the cacique and the chief of the Bohitos gave what they had, maize and the cloth of the cotton-tree. Presently, the white strangers touched the golden plates which hung from our forefathers’ ears, and asked by signs where the gold came from? and our forefathers pointed towards where Cuba and Hispaniola lay across the sea. At this the white strangers smiled to each other, and were pleased. The multitudes followed them whithersoever they went, and when the even was come, and the sun going down, the white men passed again in their great canoes to the floating houses with wings, in which they lived on the sea. Our forefathers accompanied them with songs and rejoicings in their small canoes, and[Pg 416] the great white cacique, standing high above the ocean, waved them farewell, while the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled from the floating house beneath him.
And this is the story of the first coming of white men, as my forefather, the cacique, who saw them, told it to my forefather, the next cacique, who was carried by them a slave to dig for gold in Hispaniola.