In the island of Trinidad which is much larger than that of Sicily and more beautiful and which is linked to the mainland by the Province of Paria, the Indians are as good and kind as any to be found in all the Indies.'A marauder went there in the year 1516 with some 60 or 70 other villains who represented to the Indians that they had come to settle thereand live in the Island with them. The Indians received them as if they were their friends and relatives showing every mark of respect andaffection, supplying them every day with food, the best that could be got. It is the generous custom of all the Indians in the New World to giveliberally to meet the needs of the Spaniards from whatever they may have.These men began to make a large house of wood in which they could all live as this was what they had alleged they had come to do. When thetime came to apply palm leaves to the supports and some way up the walls had been covered so that those without could not see within, theSpaniards said that they wanted to finish the house quickly and so put many Indians inside to help while the Spaniards went outside and drew their swords to prevent any Indians leaving. Then they began to threaten the defenceless Indians with death should they attempt to escape.They bound the Indians as prisoners while some, forcing their way out, were cut to pieces by the Spaniards.Some who had managed to escape though wounded, and others from the pueblo who had not entered the house, seized their bows and arrowsand retired to another building in the pueblo to defend themselves. When one or two hundred of the Indians were inside holding the gate, theSpaniards set fire to the house and burnt them all alive. With the prisoners who amounted to about 180-200 men whom they had been able tocatch, they returned to their ship and set sail for the Island of San Juan (Puerto Rico) where they sold half of them for slaves; thence they wentto Hispaniola where they sold the remaining half of the Indians.'Having reprimanded the Captain for this dastardly treachery and evil attack when I met him at this time in the said Island of San Juan, hereplied: "I did, Sir, what I was ordered; those who sent me instructed me to take them how I could either by war or in peace." He also told methat in all his life he had never found Indians so kind and ready with assistance as those in the Islandof Trinidad. I repeat this to emphasise the importance of his confession and to show how great was his sin.'Such things have often been done on the mainland repeatedly, the Indians being taken and enslaved without restriction. Should such things beallowed to continue and should Indians taken in this way be sold as slaves?'

Eric Williams History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago