“I don’t wonder you ask,” replied his father. “To read of it one would think it a body of water, for we hear of ‘sailing the Spanish Main.’ But in reality it was the mainland of South and Central America and when the buccaneers spoke of ‘sailing the Spanish Main’ they meant skirting the coast. But to continue. Of course the British and French claimed many of the West Indies and, despite the dangers, settlers went to them. Among the others that were settled was the island of St. Kitts, which was settled by both French and English. Although the settlers quarreled among themselves, still they managed to exist and were becoming fairly prosperous when in 1625 the Spanish vessels swept down upon them, burned their plantations and, after killing many of the settlers, drove them into the woods. Without homes or means the survivors sought to reëstablish themselves, but a few set sail in little dugout canoes seeking new lands. In these little craft they reached Santo Domingo, which was then known as Hispaniola, and was a stronghold of the Spaniards. But it was such a marvelously rich and promising country that the fugitive Frenchmen landed and sent back for their companions. At first the Dons knew nothing of these new arrivals, but as they increased, word of their presence reached the authorities, and soldiers were sent to drive them off or destroy them. “At that time Hispaniola was teeming with wild cattle, wild hogs, wild horses and wild dogs, descendants of the animals introduced by the Spaniards, and the Frenchmen occupied most of their time hunting and killing these creatures. Their hides were valuable, and their meat was preserved by drying it over fires or transforming it into a product known to the Spaniards as ‘bucan.’ Thus the Frenchmen became known as ‘bucaniers,’ from which the name ‘buccaneer’ was derived. So you see the buccaneers were not pirates at all at that time, and the name has no connection with piracy.