The Pirates Own Book Read Online Free PDF

settle on some convenient spot on shore; and the island of
Madagascar was chosen. Tew, however, and a few others, in a short time
went for Rhode Island, and obtained a pardon.
    The natives of Madagascar are negroes, but differ from those of Guinea
in the length of their hair and in the blackness of their complexion.
They are divided into small nations, each governed by its own prince,
who carry on a continual war upon each other. The prisoners taken in war
are either rendered slaves to the conquerors, sold, or slain, according
to pleasure. When the pirates first settled among them, their alliance
was much courted by these princes, and those whom they joined were
always successful in their wars, the natives being ignorant of the use
of fire-arms. Such terror did they carry along with them, that the very
appearance of a few pirates in an army would have put the opposing force
to flight.
    By these means they in a little time became very formidable, and the
prisoners whom they took in war they employed in cultivating the ground,
and the most beautiful of the women they married; nor were they
contented with one, but married as many as they could conveniently
maintain. The natural result was, that they separated, each choosing a
convenient place for himself, where he lived in a princely style,
surrounded by his wives, slaves and dependants. Nor was it long before
jarring interests excited them also to draw the sword against each
other, and they appeared at the head of their respective forces in the
field of battle. In these civil wars their numbers and strength were
greatly lessened.
    The servant, exalted to the condition of a master, generally becomes a
tyrant. These pirates, unexpectedly elevated to the dignity of petty
princes, used their power with the most wanton barbarity. The punishment
of the very least offence was to be tied to a tree, and instantly shot
through the head. The negroes, at length, exasperated by continued
oppression, formed the determination of extirpating them in one night;
nor was it a difficult matter to accomplish this, since they were now so
much divided both in affection and residence. Fortunately, however, for
them, a negro woman, who was partial to them, ran twenty miles in three
hours, and warning them of their danger, they were united and in arms to
oppose the negroes before the latter had assembled. This narrow escape
made them more cautious, and induced them to adopt the following system
of policy:—
    Convinced that fear was not a sufficient protection, and that the
bravest man might be murdered by a coward in his bed, they labored to
foment wars among the negro princes, while they themselves declined to
aid either party. It naturally followed, that those who were vanquished
fled to them for protection, and increased their strength. When there
was no war, they fomented private discords, and encouraged them to wreak
their vengeance against each other; nay, even taught them how to
surprise their opponents, and furnished them with fire-arms, with which
to dispatch them more effectually and expeditiously. The consequences
were, that the murderer was constrained to fly to them for protection,
with his wives, children, and kindred. These, from interest, became true
friends, as their own safety depended upon the lives of their
protectors. By this time the pirates were so formidable, that none of
the negro princes durst attack them in open war.
    Pursuing this system of policy, in a short time each chief had his party
greatly increased, and they divided like so many tribes, in order to
find ground to cultivate, and to choose proper places to build places of
residence and erect garrisons of defence. The fears that agitated them
were always obvious in their general policy, for they vied with each
other in constructing places of safety, and using every precaution to
prevent the possibility of sudden danger, either from the negroes or
from one another.
    A description of one of these dwellings will both show