As I had two meafuring rods with me, we went round
and meafured thofe that appeared to be talleft among them.
One of thefe was fix feet feven inches high, feveral more
were fix feet five, and fix feet fix inches ; but the ftature of
the greater part of them was from five feet ten to fix feet.
Their complexion is a dark copper colour, like that o f the
Indians in North America; their hair is {trait, and nearly
as harfli as hog’s briftles : it is tied back with a cotton firing,
but neither fex wears any head-drefs. They are well made,
robuft, and boney; but their hands and feet are remarkably
fmall. They are cloathed with the flrins o f the guanico,
fewed together into pieces about fix feet long, and five wide:
thefe are wrapped round the body, and fattened with a
girdle, with the hairy fide inwards ; fome of them had alfo
what the Spaniards have called zpuncho, a fquare piece o f cloth
made of the downy hair of the guanico, through which a
hole being cut for the head, the reft hangs round them
about as low as the knee. The guanico is an animal that in
fize, make, and colour, refembles a deer, but it has a hump
on its back, and no horns. Thefe people wear alfo a kind of
drawers, which they pull up very tight, and bufkins, which
reach from the mid-leg to the inftep before, and behind are
brought under the heel; the reft of the foot is without any
covering. We obferved that feveral of the men had a red
circle painted round the left eye, and that others were
painted on their arms, and on different parts o f the face ;
the eye-lids of all the young women were painted black.
They talked much, and fome o f them called out Ca-pi-ta-ne ;
but when they were fpoken to in Spanifti, Portuguefe,
French, and Dutch, they made ho reply. Of their own language
we could diftinguifh only one word, which was
chevow.- we fuppofed it to be a falutation, as t-hey always
i pronounced
pronounced it when they fhook hands with us, and when, DJj|j8ji
by figns, they a fired us to give them any thing. When they —
were fpoken to in Englifh, they repeated the words after us c >; 17
as plainly as we could do; and they foon got by heart the
words “ Englifhmen come on fhore.” Every one had a
miflile weapon o f a lingular kind, tucked into the girdle.
It confifted of two round {tones, .covered with leather, each
weighing about a pound, which were fattened to the two
ends of a firing about eight feet long. This is ufed as a
.fling, one ftone being kept in the hand, and the other
whirled round the head till it is fuppofed to have acquired
fufficient force, and then difcharged at the object.. They
are fo expert in the management o f this double-headed {hot,
that they will hit a mark, not bigger than a {hilling, with
both the ftones, at the diftance of fifteen yards; it is not
their cuftom, however, to ftrike either the guanico or the
oftrich with them in the chace, but they difcharge them fo
that the cord comes againft the legs of the oftrich, or two of
the legs of the guanico, and is twilled round them by the
force and fwing of the balls, fo that the animal being unable
to run, becomes an eafy prey to the hunter.
While we flayed on {hore, we faw them eat fome of their
flefh meat raw, particularly the paunch o f an oftrich, without
any other preparation or cleaning than juft turning it
infide out, and Ihaking it. We obferved among them feveral
beads fuch as I gave them, and two pieces of red baize,
which we fuppofed had been left there, of in the neighbouring
country, by Commodore Byron.
After Iliad fpent about four hours with thefe people, I made
figns to them that I was going on board, and that I would
take fome of them with me.if they were defirous to go. As
foon as I had made myfelf underflood, above an hundred
X 2 eagerly