Although the discovery and settlement of the Danish West Indies by Europeans are not of ancient date, their early history is fragmentary and conjectural. Tribes of Caribs[361] were found on these islands by Christopher Columbus when he discovered the group on his second voyage to America in 1493. Judging from carvings upon the rocks and numerous relics these people had occupied the islands from time immemorial. The natives were decreed enemies of the state by Charles V in 1550 and thereafter were soon exterminated. When the Earl of Cumberland touched at the islands on his way to Porto Rico in 1596 he described them as a knot of little islands, uninhabited, sandy, barren and craggy[362]. The Dutch and English preceded the Danes in the occupation of St. Thomas, but as far as is known, they were at no time present in large numbers. Nine families of them with their slaves were found there in 1666. That year a company of Danes under Erik Smidt landed at St. Thomas and made the first Danish settlement in the Virgin Islands. They claimed to represent the Danish Chartered Company of Guinea and the West Indies with headquarters at Copenhagen. Before these settlers could permanently settle here, however, their expedition was broken up by certain Dutchmen led by one Huntman after the death of Smidt and before the Danes had finished their fort. But this was only temporary success for the Dutch. This company had previously acquired territory on the Gold Coast and had built forts between Christiansburg and the eastern side of the Volta River. Their purpose in the West Indies was the cultivation of sugar, tobacco and other products; and because of the scarcity of labor the work was to be done by slaves[363] from their African possessions. Under the encouragement of Christian V the first cargo of slaves was brought over in 1680[364]. It is conceded that the real progress of the colony began with the rule of Gov. Joergen Iwersen, who succeeded Smidt, landing on the island May 23, 1672. He was a man of stern and forceful personality who exacted absolute observance of the regulations he imposed, with severe penalties for their violation. He required the strict keeping of the Sabbath, dealt severely with bond servants guilty of misdemeanors, and treated the Negro slaves still more cruelly.[365]