The next year the French and English buccaneers who occupied the small
island of Tortuga made a descent upon the western part of la Española,
called Haiti by the natives (mountainous land), and maintained
themselves there till that part of the island was ceded to France by
the treaty of Ryswyk, in 1697.

Spain equipped a fleet to clear the West Indies from pirates in 1630,
and placed it under the command of Don Federico de Toledo. He was met
in the neighborhood of San Cristobal by a numerous fleet of small
craft, which had the advantage over the unwieldy Spanish ships in that
they could maneuver with greater rapidity and precision. There are no
reliable details of the result of the engagement. Abbad tells us that
the Spaniards were victorious, but the buccaneers continued to occupy
all the islands which they had occupied before.

In 1634 they took possession of Curagao, Aruba, and Bonaíre, near the
coast of Venezuela, and established themselves in 1638 in San
Eustaquio, Saba, San Martin, and Santa Cruz.

In 1640 the Governor of Puerto Rico sought to expel them from the
last-named island. He defeated them, killing many and taking others
prisoners; but as soon as he returned to Puerto Rico the Hollanders
from San Eustaquio and San Martin reoccupied Santa Cruz, and he was
compelled to equip another expedition to dislodge them, in which he
was completely successful. This time he left a garrison, but in the
same year the French commander, Poincy, came with a strong force and
compelled the garrison to capitulate. The island remained a French
possession under the name of Saint Croix until it was sold to Denmark,
in 1733, for $150,000. Another expedition set out from Puerto Rico in