Chapter 1376 The Native Kingdom Is Just Around the Corner!

"Pray to the Almighty Lord! May those who are baptized die cleansed of sins in the death and resurrection of the Lord, and finally enjoy a beautiful resurrection after death!..."

The prayers led by the two noble captains rang out on the two Portuguese ships. And six bodies were thrown into the endless sea.

During the siege of the Caribbeans this time, six people on the flagship were shot by arrows, and four died. And four people on the deputy ship were poisoned, but only two died. The fleet of 44 people was reduced to 38 people again, and the morale of the fleet suddenly dropped!

Now it seems that the loss of the storm was indeed a misfortune brought by fate. Columbus's straight first voyage went straight to the Bahamas and came to the territory of the kind and simple Taino tribe. He ate, drank, cheated, robbed, burned, killed, raped and plundered all the way. But Bruno's first voyage stumbled into the extremely xenophobic Caribbean territory and sailed all the way to the Caribbean's nest!

You know, among the many tribes in the Caribbean Islands, whether it is the Ciboney, the ancestors of the marginal people, or the Aravacanteño-Lokono, the most numerous people, they are far less fierce and barbaric than the newly emerged Caribbean people hundreds of years ago!

These fierce tribes occupying the Lesser Antilles used the simplest canoes, stone spears, hunting bows and blowguns to resist the Western colonists for more than a hundred years!

The first of their two most powerful weapons is the famous "Poison Arrow Curtain", which smears deadly jungle frog poison on light arrows and blowguns, and uses "natural enchantment" to eliminate the armor advantage of the colonists, bringing unexpected "instant casualties".

And their other more powerful weapon is "poverty"! Extremely poor, usually do not provide any "trophies" except food. Moreover, they are poor and savage, and will bite anyone they see, like a crab with a hard shell and sharp claws, but no meat at all...

"Lord! Why is there another big island full of fierce natives? So many barbaric natives rowing small boats, two or three hundred again!..."

"Damn it! They found us and rushed towards us again!... Turn! Turn! Avoid them, fire fewer shots, save gunpowder!..."

Less than a hundred miles northwest of Martinique is the later Dominica Island. This big island in the Caribbean Sea resisted Western colonists for the longest time and was not conquered until the 18th century. It is the core gathering area of ​​the Caribbean people, just like Martinique!

Dominica is a mountainous island with a very tortuous and steep coastline, and there is no natural port for large ships to pass. The most eye-catching landmark on the island is the Diablotin volcano, which is more than 1,400 meters on the north side. This volcano makes the central basin very fertile and feeds many Caribbean tribes. Before the plague from the Old World was introduced, there were an estimated 5,000 to 9,000 or more tribal populations here, and the density was very alarming.

"Foda-se! Get around these annoying hornets! Get around this damn big island!..."

Bruno felt a headache when he saw the size of the natives' boats. These barbarians with dyed hair and tattooed faces either fought or ran away when they met, refused any communication, and could not be coaxed at all. They were completely "violent non-cooperative".

These Caribbean people can shoot arrows in various ways, some arrows are not poisonous, some arrows are poisonous, and some are highly poisonous. Once the sailors are shot, life and death will depend on fate. What's worse is that even if you try your best to kill these natives, there is almost no benefit!

Even the expensive purple dye, they seem to never have extra storage, and they use as much as they can. This can be clearly seen from the fact that those heads only dyed half of their hair!

"Boom! Boom!..."

The artillery of the Portuguese fleet, as always, played a dispersing effect, and shot and killed seven or eight natives again. Taking advantage of the temporary fear and dispersion of the Caribbean natives, the fleet changed direction and passed by the rich Dominica Island.

This core island of the Caribbean people does have murex that produces purple dye, and can also be called the "Purple Island". However, extracting purple dye requires a lot of manpower to capture, breed and collect murex, which is a real "labor-intensive industry". If there are not enough docile slaves, it is almost impossible for the small number of colonists to extract dyes by themselves...

The flag of Dominica in later generations has a parrot with purple feathers. And this is also the only two national flags in later generations with purple color. As for another country with purple on its flag, it is Nicaragua, also located in the Caribbean Sea, which added purple to the rainbow...

"God bless you! Be careful! If you see the natives with dyed hair leaders in small boats again, as long as the number exceeds 100, avoid them in advance!..."

"Notify Knight Silveira! Tell him to fire less fiercely! If he continues to bombard like this, we will run out of gunpowder before we encounter the native kingdom mentioned by Columbus!..."

From Dominica Purple Island, a hundred miles north and west is Guadeloupe, the second largest island in the Lesser Antilles, second only to Trinidad Black Oil Island. Of course, in the mouths of local tribes, it has a more beautiful name, "Karukera", "Island of Beautiful Waters", or "Water Island" for short!

"Virgin Mary, Captain, we haven't seen any troublesome natives yet...Should we stop at this island and get some food and water?"

"There's enough food, so eat sparingly! As for water...Lookouts, stay alert! Move quickly, get some fresh water and leave!..."

Guadeloupe Water Island has many rivers and lush scenery. Bruno could vaguely see the smoke in the distance, but he had no interest in checking it.

The sailors on the ship were unwilling to attack the native villages anymore, mainly because they were worried about "the poisonous arrows cursed by the devil." This kind of probability of hitting and random death is often more psychologically frightening than fighting with real swords and guns!

"Raise the sails and keep going!..."

As the sun set, the Portuguese exploration fleet set sail again, bidding farewell to this last "big island" in the Lesser Antilles. From Trinidad to Guadeloupe, there are seven fertile volcanic islands that support Caribbean tribes with a population of tens of thousands!

The seven large islands are Trinidad's "Black Oil Island", Grenada's "Narrow Island", St. Vincent's "Rainbow Island", St. Lucia's "Sulfur Springs Island", and Martinique's "Flower Island". ”, Dominica’s “Purple Island”, Guadeloupe’s “Water Island”.

This is the essence of the entire Lesser Antilles, a plantation island that was not finally fully colonized and slowly developed until the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th century. To use a short poem compiled by someone I don’t know, the seven islands from south to north are:

"Black Bay, colorful springs, flowers and purple water, the seven islands are all good places! The volcano river is rich and fertile, sugar cane, cinnamon and coffee. We have enough cassava and bananas, but the natives are difficult to deal with..."

cough! After crossing the seven islands, the remaining scattered islands in the Lesser Antilles, such as Antigua-Barbuda-Montserrat, and St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, are all "scum" "! Most of these barren, loose islands with few rivers are the territory of small Caribbean tribes. A few of them are also inhabited by cave-dwelling Sibonese people. They can be simply called "cave-dwelling islands". By the way, there is also Barbados, which was missed by the fleet, and later became known as the "Sugar Island" for its sugar production.

The arid, barren and small area of ​​the Cave Islands naturally meant that the size and number of tribes that could support them began to decrease rapidly. It wasn't until he came here that Bruno carefully selected the target and loosened the "dog leash" again. Afterwards, the fleet slaughtered a small tribe of a hundred people and captured a few Sibonese coolie sailors, which boosted their morale a little.

"Lord! According to the captured prisoners... From here on, there are no islands to the north. There are only islands to the west, and they are still very big islands!... And those Caribbean people who are as annoying as wasps are getting more and more... They come less and less, and they are almost impossible to encounter! It seems that they are the Guanahaní people?…"

"Blessed Mother! I have another strong premonition! The real kingdom of the natives is on the big island to the west, right before our eyes!..."