ABSTRACT
Although this island had been discovered and reconnoitred by Columbus in 1493, it did not attract the interest of the Spanish until 1509; it was the lure of gold which brought an expedition there from San Domingo, commanded by Ponce de León.1 This new conquest was to cost them dear. [...]
It was lianas, very prolific in damp and marshy places, which provided the continent with the poison which was widely used there. They were cut into pieces, which were then boiled in water until the liquid had acquired the consistency of a syrup. Arrows were then steeped in it, becoming impregnated with a deadly poison. [...]
In the islands of the West Indies, the poison is extracted from trees rather than from lianas; but of all those that can cause death, the most deadly is the manchineel tree. [...]
This tree seems to have been fatal only to the Indians from the mainland. The inhabitants of Puerto Rico, the island where it grows, made use of it to repel the Caribs, who made frequent raids on their shores. They could have used the same weapons against the Europeans. The Spaniards, who were then unaware that salt applied instantly to the wound was an infallible remedy against the poison, would perhaps have succumbed immediately to it. But they met with not the least resistance on the part of these island savages. Having learned what had happened in the conquest of the neighbouring islands, the latter looked on the foreigners as superhuman beings, and voluntarily entered into servitude. But it was not long before they wished to escape from the intolerable yoke that had been imposed on them. Before attempting to do this, however, they wanted to find out whether their oppressors were immortal or not. This task was entrusted to a cacique named Broyoan.
