Silent Screams Never Heard
Silent Screams Never Heard Michael De Cuneo wrote of a his violent beating and rape of a beautiful, innocent Carib Indian girl, in “Letters on Columbus’s Second Voyage.” In his writings De Cuneo describes the first historical, violent account of Columbus’s men with the cannibals of the Island of St. Croix. The Indian girl in this story has no voice and her screams of fear and hopelessness during her ordeal have never been heard. In the story that follows I will attempt to give the cannibal girl her last and only voice as she speaks through my words the account of that dark day. We were returning from a raid on an enemy island. Our boat was full with 6 of us, and two evil Awaka’s (feast hostages). The weight of us made the canoe travel low in the clear great water. My mate and his family were pulling our canoe forward with great paddle strokes of excitement, for we were bringing home a great feast for our village. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the coolness of the aqua blue great waters on my feet as I lay in the canoe next to my sister.