C H A P. are repeated' for the laft ’time,, and the whole neighbour*
■ jjy . - . ^ ,r .,' : ’ ' ' °
t - _■ hood look out''for another fettlement. -Some tribes of
Indians, having put their deceafed friends in'the above
pofture, place them naked for a few days under water,
-■ where the bonesbeing picked clean by the piree and other
fifh, the fkeleton is dried in the fun, and hung up tö
the ceiling oftheir houfesor wigwams-; - and this is done
as the ftrongeft inftanee of their great regard for their
departed friend.
When thefe Indians travel by land, their cadiöe, which
is made of a large tree hollowed by means of fire,. is al*
ways carried along with them to tranfport their jluggage
acrofe fwamps, creeks, and rivers ; it is^ like thenflèlivjes',
all over befmeared with arriotta. If they, tray elan the
rivers, they generally paddle againft the tide, -to has© a
better opportunity of Ihooting iuchr game as theyXee^in
- the trees i or on the banks; whereas, if.. they- weftt .with
thé current, the rapidity of the ftream would often make
them run paft it. When travelling on the coaft* it frer
quently happens that thef^fcanoes fhip a fea which jiis
them, hut öö fuch thing as a Ihipwreck is heard of ;: both
fexes immediately leaping. over*board; then with lone
hand they hang by the canoe, with the other, and. by
means' of.xalihaflies, they throw out the water.
/ Notwithftahding; the Guiana Indians; are upon the
wholé a peaceable people, they fometimes go to war
among- themfelves, purely for the fake of capturing prifoners,
to which they are too much encouraged by the
11 I Chriftians,
e x p-ËD i t ï o N t o i g f i p l i n a m . 401
Chriftians, who’^db'iVe them'in exchange for other chap.
commodities,' and make them flaves, which is too fre- ,,
quently pra&ifed. But thefe kind ofs flaves are only for
fhew and parade, as'they abfolutely* r efufe to work, and
if at afl ill-treated, or especially if tieaten, they pine and
languifti like .caged turtles*'even refufing food, till by affliction
and want ttfey are exhaufted, and finally expire.
The Indians alwayslight their battles by midnight:
indeed their coritefts refetrible more a fiegC than a battle,
as1' thefe broils confift only in furroundirig the hamlets of
their enemies While they- are afleep, making prifoners of
the*'women, bbys, and girls, while they Ihoot the men
With poifoned arrows, or .with their clubs or apootoos
divide their fculls when they - come to dofe quarters';
• they alfo flcalp their male prifoners, bring home their
hairj and' even their bones,r as trophids: of War, and
prefents to their wives, unlefs they intend to fell them
to the Europeans at Paramaribo. In their open rencounters,
which happen very feldom, the bows and
barbed arrows are their principal weapons of offence;
with thefe they often kill at the diftance of fixty paces;
nay, the fwifteft bird1 in its flight, provided it has the
■magnitude of a crow, feldom efcapes them. In truth,
fuch is the fkih of thefe people at thefe manly exercifes,
that the heft archers at Creffy, Poi&iers, and Agmcourt,
muft have yielded to their fuperiority.
VOL. I. 3 ? Now