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“...colony. The settlers, who
were at first well received, soon quarrelled with the Caribs;
but with the aid .of reinforcements from Martinique, the Indians
were exterminated. On the northern coast the Mome des
Sauteurs is still shown, where many of the Caribs leapt into the
sea in order to escape from their enemies. Du Parquet, now
in full possession of the island, did not find it profitable, and so
in 1656 he sold it to Count de Cerillac for about ^1,890. The
latter appointed as Governor a man “ of brutal manners,” who
oppressed the colonists to such an extent that he was tried and
condemned to be hanged. By pleading that he was of noble
origin he managed, however, to get the sentence altered to one
of beheading, but no skilful executioner being available, he was
at last shot at the Summit of the hill on the Grand Etang road.
De Cerillac sold the island in 1664 to the French West India
Company, and on the dissolution of that organisation at the
end of the year 1674 it passed to the French Crown...”
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