The history of Antigua may be said to commence with its discovery by Columbus, for although it was at that period, and subsequently, frequented by the Caribs, they appear not to have made it a place of permanent residence; the want of water, which caused European settlers so long to neglect the island, deterring them also from establishing themselves upon it. For an account of the Caribs, and of their probable origin, the reader is referred to the chapters devoted to that interesting subject; and we shall now proceed to the history of the settlement of the island and of its internal administration down to the present time, reserving for future chapters those sketches of the island, and its inhabitants, which are the result of personal experience. It was not until his second voyage, in the year 1493, that Columbus discovered Antigua. He landed with a party, but finding, on examination, that it was peopled only by a few Caribs, who possessed nothing that was serviceable to the Spaniards, and who were, probably, only casual visitants, and that the island was destitute of fresh water, he contented himself with giving it a name, Antigua, from the church of St. Mary of Antigua, at Seville, and abandoned it. There is a tradition that the name given to the island by the natives was “Xaymaca,” signifying the “land of springs;” but whether this “lucus a non lucendo” was a specimen of Caribbean wit, or, more probably, arose from a mistake on the part of the European visitants, is uncertain. Antigua remained neglected by all the various European adventurers, who hastened in crowds to other more favoured spots, until the year 1520, when a small party of Spaniards, under the Licentiate Don Antonio Serrano, who had received letters-patent from the King of Spain to colonize Antigua, Montserrat, Barbadu, Deseada, Dominica, and Martinique, landed, and driving off the few Caribs they found there, attempted to establish themselves; but after a short stay they abandoned it, and the island remained without a European claimant until the year 1627, when the Earl of Carlisle obtained a grant of Barbados, Antigua, and the rest of the Leeward Islands, from Charles I. This grant was opposed by the Earl of Marlborough, on the plea of a prior grant from James I., which was, however, eventually compromised, and the Earl of Carlisle was recognised as the sole proprietor. He, however, contented himself with settling Barbados; and although Antigua was colonized in his lifetime, yet neither he nor his son, who died without issue in 1660, and in whom the family honours became extinct, appear to have ever interested themselves in Antigua, or to have exercised any rights of ownership or property. In fact, the first permanent occupation of the island appears to have been a mere private speculation, and to have excited little notice or inquiry, since it is still a question who was the first actual settler.