As for Denzil Fane’s motives I can offer
no adequate explanation. One, and per
haps t tie most powerful, may have been
that since his arrival on the island lie had
married a wife. The Spanish captain of
the “Santa Anna,” who fell on ids own
quarter-deck, had with him his wife and
daughter, the latter a handsome girl of
nineteen. The wife (Sanora Velasquez y
Blanco) survived tier husband only a few
weeks; but Mercedes was among the rem
nant who reached the island, and a month
afterward she and Fane were made one by
the Rev. Robert Hare.
if the commander had left a wife in
England (and such things have happened),
Ids reluctance to return thither would be
accounted for. But, though his conduct
may have been questionable, and his mo
tives obscure, there can he noquest lon that
Denzil Fane was a man of resolute will
and strong character—a horn leader of
men, I should say. If his people thought
they were going to haul idle lives, ttiey
were very much mistaken. So soon as the
decision was taken to remain on the island
he assigned to every one ids task, organ
ized a government, and promulgated a
code of laws. Opposition (if the idea of it
was ever conceived) would have been out
of the question: the Caribs simply idolized
their “White Chief,” and rendered him
the most implicit, obedience. Roads were
made, houses built, gardens laid out, trees
cut down, and the country opened out.
