the Caribbians who mutually destroy'd one the other till at last after many fights the Apalachites joyning with that party which carried on their Interest the other was forced to quit the Provinces of Amana and Matica and to find out a more setled habitation elsewhere The victorious Caribbians having by the assistance of the Apalachites rid themselves of those who were the disturbers of their Peace fortified their Frontiers and placed up and down on the avenues the most valiant and most generous of their Forces to deprive the Banish'd of all hope of ever returning That done they contracted a most strict Alliance with the Apalachites submitting themselves to their Laws embracing their Religion and so making themselves one people with them and that incorporation continues to this day yet not so but that those Caribbians do still retain their ancient name as we have already observ'd in the beginning of this Chapter as also many words which are common between them and the Inhabitants of the Caribbies Of this kind are among an infinite number of others the terms of Cakonnes to express the little curiosities which are preserv'd for their rarity that of Bouttou to signifie a Club of a weighty kind of wood that of Taumali to express a certain picquancy or delightfulness of taste that of Banaré to signifie a familiar Friend that of Etoutou to denote an Enemy They also call a Bow Allouba Arrows Allouani a great Pond Taonaba the evil Spirit Mabouya and the Soul of a Man Akamboué which are the proper terms which the Caribbian Inhabitants of the Islands make use of at the present to signifie the same things As concerning the Caribbians forc'd out of their Country by those of their own Nation and driven out of the limits of their ancient Habitation and all the places they had Conquer'd having straggled up and down a while neer the River which derives its source from the great Lake and endeavour'd to no purpose to enter into some Accommodation with the Inhabitants of either side of it they at last resolv'd to make their way through their Country either by fair means or foul and so to get into some place where they might perpetuate themselves and make a secure establishment of what was left of them With this resolution they made a shift to get to the Sea-side where having met with a people which took compassion on their misery they winter'd among them and pass'd over that disconsolate Season in much want And while they spent their time in continual regrets for their loss of a Country so pleasant and fertile as that which they had liv'd in and considered that they should never enjoy themselves in that whereto their misfortune had cast them as Exiles there arrived where they were at the beginning of the Spring two little Vessels which came from the Islands called the Lucayos and had been driven by the Winds into the Road neer which our Caribbians had pass'd over the Winter There were in those two Vessels which they call Canows or Piragos about thirteen or fourteen persons Inhabitants of Cigateo one of the Lucayan Islands who being got ashore related to the natural Inhabitants of the Country how they had been forc'd thither by a Tempest and among other things they told wonders of the Islands where they liv'd adding that there were yet divers others beyond them towards the Aequator which lay desart and were not inhabited and those such as were accounted better then the others whereof they had given them an account That for their parts all they desired of the Inhabitants of the Country was only some Provisions and a little fresh Water to enable them to get home to their own Country from which they conceiv'd themselves to be distant not above four or five days Sailing The Caribbians who were studying where to find out some new habitation and extreamly troubled that they had no setled place where they might no longer be expos'd to the inconveniences of a wandring kind of life having heard so much of these Islands and that they were not far from the Lucayas resolv'd to make their advantage of the opportunity of those Guides whom they had met with by so extraordinary a good fortune to follow them when they should depart thence and after their arrival at home to plant themselves in some of those desart Islands whereof they had given so advantagious an account They doubted not but that the execution of this enterprize would put a period to all their miseries But there was yet a great obstacle lay in their way which at firsst they knew not how to overcome to wit the want of Vessels to cross the Sea and bring them to the places whereof they desir'd to possess themselves The first Proposals were to fell down Trees and to make them hollow with fire as other Nations did nay that among whom they then were But that expedient requir'd a long time to compass it while in the interim those whom they hoped to have for their Conductors would be gone Whereupon they thought it the surest way to find out Vessels ready made To that end they resolv'd in the night time to seize on all those which the Nations of the neighbouring Creeks and and such as liv'd neer the Rivers which fall thereabouts into the Sea had ready in their Ports and in condition fit for the Sea The day being come for the departure of the Lucayans who were to be their Guides our Caribbians who had furnish'd themselves before-hand with all necessary provisions met together the most secretly they could along the River-sides and neer the Ports and having possess'd themselves of all the Canows or Vessels they met with joyn'd with the Lucayans with whom without taking any leave of their Hosts they set Sail for the Lucayas The Wind having prov'd favourable to these Fugitives they got in a few days to Cigateo where they were very civilly entertain'd by the Inhabitants who having supply'd them with all necessary refreshments conducted them to the most remote of their Islands and thence gave them a Convoy to bring them to the next of the desart Islands whereof they had given them a relation which they call'd Ayay but it is now call'd Santa Cruz In their passage they sail'd by the Island of Boriquen now call'd Porto-Rico which was inhabited by a very powerful Nation It was then in the said Island of Ayay that our Caribbians laid the first foundations of their Colony and where enjoying an undisturbed Peace which made them forget all precedent misfortunes they multipli'd so that within a few years they were forc'd to spread themselves into all the other Islands now known by the name of the Caribbbies And some Ages after having possess'd themselves of all the inhabitable Islands they transported themselves into the Continent of the Meridional part of America where they have at this day many great and numerous Colonies wherein they are so well setled that though the Yaos the
the uniformity and connexion of the matter Yet have we a word further to add in answer to a question which the curiosity of some person might haply take occasion to start which is How long it may be since the Caribbians came out of Florida into these Islands We must acknowledge there can no certain account be given of it inasmuch as these Nations have commonly no other Annals than their own memories But in regard those people ordinarily live two hundred years it is not to be thought strange that the occurrences happening among them should be transmitted to posterity to three or four Generations And to confirm this we may aver that there are many men and women among them who can give an exact account of the first arrival of the Spaniards in America as if it had happened but yesterday So that the remembrance of the departure of the Caribbians out of Florida and the wars they have had there being yet fresh among the Apalachites those who have heard them discourse conjecture that it may be about five hundred years since those things came to pass But if it be further question'd why they did not endeavour to make their way back again into Florida to be reveng'd of the Apalachites and those of their own Nation who had forc'd them thence especially after they had multiply'd and recruited themselves so powerfully in the Islands it may be answered That the difficulty of Navigation which is very easie from the Caribbies to Florida but very dangerous from Florida to the Caribbies the winds being commonly contrary chill'd the earnestness they might have to make any such attempt In the next place it is to be noted that the air of the Islands being warmer and the soil as good and in all appearance more suitable to their constitution than that of Florida they apprehended that those who had forc'd them thence had contrary to their intentions procur'd them a greater happiness than they could have desir'd and thinking to make them miserable had made them fortunate in their exile CHAP. VIII By way of Digression giving an account of the Apalachites the Nature of their Country their Manners and their ancient and modern Religion SInce we have had occasion to speak so much concerning the Apalachites and that above one half of the ancient Caribbians after the expulsion of those among them who would not adore the Sun have to this present made up one people and one Common-wealth with those Apalachites it will be consonant to our design especially since the subject thereof is rare and little known if we give some account of the nature of their Country and the most remarkable things that are in it as also of the manners of the Inhabitants the Religion they have had heretofore and that which they profess at this day as we have the particulars thereof from the English who have traded among them and have not long since laid the foundations of a Colony in the midst of the noblest and best known of their Provinces The Territories of the Apalachites consist of six Provinces whereof three are comprehended within that noble and spacious Vale which is encompass'd by the Mountains of the Apalates at the foot whereof these people inhabit The most considerable of those Provinces and which lies towards the East wherein the King keeps his Court is called Bemarin That which is in the midst and as it were in the centre of the three is called Amani or Amana And the third of those which are within that Vale is known by the name of Matica True it is that this last which begins in the Vale reaches a great way into the Mountains nay goes yet much beyond even to the South-side of the great Lake which they call Theomi The other Provinces are Schama and Meraco which are in the Apalatean Mountains and Achalaques which is partly in the Mountains and partly in the Plain and comprehends all the Marshes and Fenny places confining on the great Lake Theomi on the North-side The Country under the King of the Apalachites being thus divided into six Provinces there are in it some Mountains of a vast extent and prodigious height which are for the most part inhabited by a people living only upon what they get by hunting there being great store of wild beasts in those Wildernesses Besides which there are also certain Vales which are peopled by a Nation that is less barbarous such as addicts it self to the cultivation of the earth and is sustain'd by the fruits it produces And lastly there are abundance of Marshes and Fenny places and a great Lake whereof the Inhabitants are very numerous maintaining themselves by fishing and what the little good ground they have furnishes them withall The three Provinces which are within the Vale which as we said in the precedent Chapter is sixty leagues in length and about ten more in bredth lie as it were in a Champion Country save only that in some places there are certain risings and eminences on which the Towns and Villages are commonly built many little Rivers which descend from the Mountains and abound in Fish cross it up and down in several places That part of it which is not reduc'd to culture is well furnish'd with fair trees of an excessive height For instance there are Cedars Cypress Pines Oaks Panamas which the French call Saxafras and an infinite variety of others which have no proper names among us As concerning the Fruit-trees of this Country besides Chestnut and Walnut-Trees which grow naturally there the English who have planted themselves in those parts as we shall relate more at large towards the end of this Chapter have planted Orange-trees sweet and sharp Citrons Lemons several sorts of Apples and Pears and divers Stones as of Plumbs Cherries and Apricocks which have thriv'd and multiplied so that in some places of this Country there are more European fruits then in any other part of America There is also good store of those lesser sort of Trees which bear leaves or flowers of sweet scent such as Laurel Jessemine Roses Rosemary and all those others that are so ornamental in the Garden Nor is there any want of Pinks Carnations Tulips Violets Lillies and all the other Flowers which adorn Knots and Borders Pot-herbs also and all sorts of Pulse and Roots thrive very well there Citruls Cucumbers and Melons are common all Summer long and as well tasted as those which grow in any part of the Caribbies Strawberries and Raspberries grow in the Woods without any culture They have also Small-nuts Gooseberries and an infinite variety of other small Fruits which in their degree contribute to the delight and refreshment of the Inhabitants The Wheat Barly Rie and Oats which some sow'd there at several Seasons and in different Soils hath grown only to the blade but in requital there grows every where such abundance of small Millet Lentils Chick-pease Fetches and Mais or Turkish Wheat which are sown and harvested
called Mappou and divers kinds of thorny wood others only satisfie the smelling by their sweet scents others have venemous qualities as the Milkie-tree as also that whose root reduced to powder and cast into rivers inebriates the Fish the Mancenilier which we shall describe in its proper place and an infinite number of others the wood whereof is white soft and of no use and have yet got no names among the foreign Inhabitants of those parts CHAP. IX Of other Trees growing in these Islands whose Fruits or Roots contribute to the subsistance of the Inhabitants or serve for some other uses IT hath pleased the great Contriver of all things to divide that Element which we call Earth into several Countries each whereof he hath endued with certain advantages and conveniences not to be found in other places that by such a delightful variety of things he might make a more distinct and remarkable demonstration of his own all-cherishing Providence But it must be acknowledg'd that in the distribution which the Divine Wisedome hath made of its bounties the Caribby-Islands have had a very large portion For to confine our selves to the design we intend to prosecute not only the greater sorts of Trees which we have described in the former Chapters contribute to the Shelter Nourishment Cloathing Health and several other accommodations of the Inhabitants but there are also divers shrubs or lesser Trees which either shoot forth Roots or bear Fruits conducing to the same purpose as shall be seen in the perusal of this Chapter MANYOC INstead of Wheat the Inhabitants make use of the root of a small Tree called Manyoc by some Manyot and by others Mandioque of which is made a kinde of Bread delicate enough called Cassava whence it is also sometimes called the Cassava-tree This root is so fruitful that a small parcel of ground planted therewith will feed more persons then six times as much sown with the best Wheat could do It shoots forth crooked branches about the height of five or six foot easie to be broken and full of small knots the leaf is narrow and somewhat long at nine moneths end the root comes to its maturity Nay it is reported that in Brasil it grows to the bigness of a mans thigh in three or four moneths If the ground be not too moist the root may continue in it three years without corrupting so that there needs no Store-house oâ— Garret to put it up in for it is taken out of the ground as it is spent To propagate this Root you must take of the branches and cut them in pieces about a foot in length then make trenches in your Garden with a Hoe and thrust in three of those sticks triangle-wise into the earth which had been taken out of the trenches and wherewith a little hill or tump had been rais'd this is called Planting by the trench But there is another way of planting Manyoc much more expeditious and more easie but the Manyoc is neither so fair nor so much esteemed as the other The way is only thus to make a hole in the ground with a stick and to thrust the Manyoc strait into it care must be had in the planting of it that the knots be not set downwards for if they should the Manyoc sticks would not grow The Indians never plant it otherwise but that it may ripen in its season they observe a certain time of the Moon and see that the ground be not too moist There are several kinds of these shrubs differing one from the other only in the colour of the bark of their wood and of their root Those which have the bark greyish or white or green make a very good tasted bread and grow up in a short time but the roots they produce do not keep so well nor thrive comparably to those of the red or violet Manyoc which is the most common the most esteem'd and the most advantageous in house-keeping The juice of this root is as cold as Hemlock and so effectual a poyson that the poor Indians of the greater Islands being persecuted with fire and sword by the Spaniards to avoid a more cruel death made use of this poyson to destroy themselves There is to this day to be seen in the Island of Hispaniola otherwise call'd S. Domingo a place called the Cave of the Indians where there are the bones of above four hundred persons who ended their lives there with this poyson to avoid the cruelties of the Spaniards But let this juice which is so venemous to all sorts of living creatures rest four and twenty hours after it is taken from the root and it loses that malignant and dangerous quality PALMA-CHRISTI THere are in these Islands an infinite number of the shrubs called Palma-Christi or Ricinus and they grow up so high and so big in some places that they would be taken for a different kind from those commonly seen in Europe The Negroes gather the seed and extract an oyl from it wherewith they rub their hair to keep themselves clear from vermine The qualities attributed to it by Galen and Dioscorides confirm the use these Barbarians make of it the leaf of this shrub is sovereign for the healing of some kinds of Ulcers as being very attractive There grow in all these Islands two kinds of shrubs or rather great Reeds spongy within growing of themselves in fat ground neer little rivulets or in Valleys not annoyed by winds They are commonly called Banana-trees or Planes and Fig-trees or Apple-trees of Paradise These two kinds of shrubs have this common to both 1 That they grow of equal height to wit about twelve or fifteen foot above ground 2 That their stalks which are of a green colour shining spongious and very full of water shoot out of a great Onion like a Pear encompass'd with many little white roots which fasten it to the ground 3 That they have shooting forth at the foot of the stems certain Scyons which bear fruit at the years end 4 That when one stem is cut off for the getting of the fruit the most forward next that succeeds in its place and so the shrub is perpetuated and multiplies so exceedingly that in time it spreads over all the good ground neer it 5 That the substance of both is very soft and reducible into water which though extreamly clear yet hath the quality of dying Linen and white Stuffs into a dark brownish colour 6 That their Fruits lye at the top of the stem like great clusters or posies And lastly that their leaves which are about four foot or more in length and a foot and a half in bredth may serve for Napkins and Towels and being dried make a soft kind of Couch or Bed to lye upon These two shrubs have this further resemblance that which way soever their fruit be cut when it is come to maturity the meat of them which is white as snow represents in the middle the form of a Crucifix especially when it
confederates These Apalachites make it their boast that they had propagated certain Colonies a great way into Mexico And they show to this day a great Road by land by which they affirm that their Forces march'd into those parts The Inhabitants of the Country upon their arrival gave them the name of Tlatuici which signifies Mountaineers or High-Landers for they were more hardy and more generous than they They planted themselves in a quarter like that from which they came scituate at the foot of the Mountains in a fertile soil where they built a City as neer as they could like that which they had left behind them whereof they are possess'd to this day They are so united there by inter-marriages and other bonds of peace that they make up but one people with them nor indeed could they well be discern'd one from the other if they had not retain'd several words of their originary language which is the only observable difference between them After the Apalachites had planted this Colony the Cofachites who liv'd more towards the north of America in a fenny and somewhat barren Country and who had continu'd till then in good correspondence with them knowing that they were then far from their best and most valiant men took an advantageous opportunity to fall upon their Neighbours the Apalachites and to force them out of their habitations or at least to participate with them of the land where they had setled themselves after they should become Masters thereof This design having been carried on very cunningly among the chiefest of the Cofachites they afterwards publish'd it in all their Villages and got it approv'd by all the heads of Families who instead of minding the business of Husbandry and setting things in order for the sowing of Corn at the beginning of the Spring as they were wont to do other years prepar'd their Bows Arrows and Clubs and having set their habitations on fire and furnish'd themselves with some little provisions out of what was left of the precedent Winter they took the field with their wives and children and all the little baggage they had with a resolution either to conquer or dye since they had cut off all hopes of returning to a place which they had destroy'd and despoil'd of all manner of conveniences In this equipage they in a short time got to the frontiers of their Neighbours The Apalachites who thought of nothing less than having an enemy so neer them were then very busie about the planting of their Mais and the roots from which they derive their ordinary sustenance Those who liv'd about the great Lake at the foot of the Mountains which they call in their Language Theomi having perceiv'd this powerful Army ready to fall on them immediately made their retreat into the neighbouring Mountains and left their villages and cattel to the disposal of the enemy thence they took their march through the woods to carry intelligence of this erruption to the Cities which are in the vallies among the first mountains where resided the Paracoussis who is the King of the Country with all the considerable forces thereof Upon this so unexpected news the said Prince while he was making his preparations to go against the Enemy posted those who were most in a readiness for the expedition in the Avenues of the mountains and placed Ambuscadoes in several parts of the great Forests which lye between the great Lake and the Mountains and through which there was a necessity of passing to get into that pleasant and spacious valley which is above sixty leagues in length and about ten in bredth where are the habitations of the chiefest Inhabitants of the Country and the most considerable Cities in the Kingdom While the Cofachites were busie about the plundering and pillaging the houses they had found neer the great Lake the Apalachites had the opportunity to prepare themselves for the reception of them But the former instead of taking the ordinary Roads and ways which led to the flat Country which as we said lie between the Mountains having left their Wives and Children neer the great Lake under the guard of some Forces they had drawn off from the main Body and being guided by some of the Apalachites whom they had surprized fishing in the great Lake cross'd through the woods and made their way over mountains and precipices over and through which the Camels could hardly have pass'd and by that means got into the heart and centre of the Country and found themselves of a sudden in a Province called that of the Amanites They without any resistance surpriz'd the chiefest places of it wherein they found to guard them only Women Children and some old men such as were not able to follow their King who with his people lay expecting the Enemy at the ordinary descents which led into the Country The Cofachites perceiving that their design had prov'd so successful and that there was a great likelihood that in a short time they should become Masters of the whole Country since they had met with so good fortune immediately upon their first appearance prosecuted their conquests further and having Cities for their retreat where they had left good strong Garrisons they marched towards the King of Apalacha with a resolution either to fight him or at least oblige him to allow them the quiet possession of some part of the Country The Apalachite was extreamly surpriz'd when he understood that the Enemy whom he had all this while expected on the Frontiers and at the known avenues of the Country had already possess'd himself of a Province that lay in the centre of his Dominions and that he had left Garrisons in the Cities and most considerable places thereof However being a magnanimous and gallant Prince he would try whether the chance of Arms would prove as favourable to him as he thought his cause good and just he thereupon came down with his people out of the Mountains where he had encamped himself and having encourag'd those that were about him to do their utmost he confidently set upon the van-guard of the Cofachites which was come out to observe his motion having on both sides spent all their arrows they came to a close fight and having taken their Clubs there was a great slaughter in both Armies till that night having separated them the Cofachites observ'd that they had lost a great number of theirs in the engagement and found that they had to do with a people that behav'd themselves more valiantly than they had imagined to themselves they would have done and consequently that their best course would be to enter into a friendly treaty with them rather than venture another hazard of their Forces in a strange Country Upon this they resolv'd that the next morning they would send Embassadours to the King of the Apalachites with certain Overtures of Peace and in case of a refusal dissembling the loss they had receiv'd in the former Engagement to declare
open War and to challenge him to be immediately ready to receive their Charge which should be much more violent then what they had met withal the day before and that then all their Forces were come together The Paracousses of the Apalachites having given audience to these Embassadours desir'd that days time to consider of the Propositions which had been made to him and thereupon having requir'd of them the Articles and Conditions under which they would Treat with him in case he might be inclin'd to Peace they told him That they had left their own Country with a resolution to plant themselves either by friendship or by force in that good and fat Country whereof he was possess'd and that if he would condescend to the former of those means they desired to become one People with the Apalachites to dwell in their Country and to cultivate it and so to supply the empty places of those who not long before had gone from among them to plant a new Colony in some remote parts of the World The Apalachite assembled his Council upon these considerations and having acquainted them therewith he represented That the Army of the Cofachites hindred the coming in of the Assistances which they might receive from the other Provinces that had not been ready to come in to them at the beginning of the War That by the same means the passage of Provisions was absolutely obstructed That the Enemy was Master of the Field and that without any resistance he had got into one of the best Provinces of the whole Country where he had also possess'd himself of places of Importance and That though in the precedent Engagement he had taken particular notice of the incomparable fidelity and gallantry of his People in setting upon and fighting against the Enemies over whom they had very considerable Advantages yet had that good Success been bought with the loss of his most valiant Captains and the best of his Souldiers and consequently it concern'd them to bethink themselves of some means to preserve the rest of the Kingdom by sparing what was then left of the choicest Men And since the Enemies were the first Proposers of the Conditions of Peace it would be the safest way to hearken thereto if it might be done without any derogation from their Glory and the great Reputation they had acquir'd before inasmuch as there was waste grounds enough in several places and that the Country by reason of the transplantation of some part of their Inhabitants was spacious and fertile enough to sustain them all All the chief Commanders of the Apalachites having heard what had been propos'd by their King and concluding it was not fear that oblig'd him to hearken to an Accommodation with the Cofachites since that the day before he had ventur'd his Person among the most forward but that it proceeded purely from the desire he had that they might not be rashly expos'd to further danger and his care of preserving his People which was already at the mercy of the Enemy who had possess'd himself of one of the richest Provinces and having also understood by some Spies who were come into the Kings Army by some secret ways and made their escape out of the Cities where the Cofachites had their Garisons that they treated with great mildness and respect the women and old men whom they had found there having I say taken all these things into consideration they unanimously subscribed to the sentiments of their Prince and made answer That there was a necessity of condescending to an Accommodation and making some Agreement upon the most advantageous Conditions they could according to the present posture of their Affairs And after they had confirm'd this resolution by their Ha Ha which is the sign of the applause and ratification wherewith they are wont to conclude their Deliberations they signified the same to the Embassadors of the Cofachites who expected it with impatience This news being carried over to the Camp of the Cofachites was receiv'd with great joy as being consonant to the end they had propos'd to themselves when they first undertook the War and left their Country They thereupon immediately deputed some of the chiefest among them to agree with the Apalachites about the absolute conclusion of that Peace and to sign the Articles of the Treaty These Deputies being come to the place where the Prince of the Apalachites expected them attended by the most considerable Persons about his Court sitting on a Seat somwhat higher then any of the rest and cover'd with a rich Fur were very kindly receiv'd and having taken their Seats the King drank to them of a certain Beverage call'd Cassina out of a Bowl of which he first tasted himself All that were present at the Council drank afterwards in order which done they fell upon the business of the Treaty which was concluded upon these Conditions That the Cofachites should inhabit promiscuously in the Cities and Towns of the Apalachites That in all respects they should be esteem'd and accounted as the natural Inhabitants of the Country That they should absolutely enjoy the same Priviledges That they should be subject to the King as the others were That they should embrace the Religion and observe the Customs of the Country Or if they would rather the Apalachites would resign up to them the rich and great Province of Amana to be enjoy'd only by them according to the limits which should be agreed upon Provided nevertheless That they should acknowledge the King of the Apalachites for their Sovereign and that from thence forward they should render him reasonable homage This Agreement being thus reciprocally concluded was attended with mutual acclamations Not long after the Deputies of the Cofachites having given an account of their negotiation to their Commander in chief and his Councel and represented to them the choice which had been left them either of living promiscuously among the Apalachites or being sole possessors of the Province into which they were entered they unanimously accepted of the latter and so became absolute Masters of that Province of Amana whereof the King of the Apalachites put them himself into quiet possession The Women Children and Old men who had been left behind when all s as were able to bear arms had follow'd their Prince were transported into some of the other Provinces where the King appointed a setled habitation for them and all the gallant men of that Province who had ventur'd their lives against the Enemy and for the preservation of their Country All things being thus setled both parties laid down their arms and the Cofachites went to fetch their Wives Children Cattel Baggage and the Souldiers they had left neer the great Lake of Theomi and being safely return'd they dispos'd themselves into the Cities appointed them congratulating their good fortune in the conquest of so noble a Country answerably to their expectation at the first undertaking of the War From that time the Apalachites gave the
part of them were grown so zealous for the service of the Sun that nothing would be able to force out of their apprehensions the deep sentiments they had conceiv'd of his Divinity resolv'd upon the instigation of their Priests for whose advice the King and all the people had great respects and submissions to take occasion from the expiration of the Truce to renew the war against the Caribbians and to forbid them access to their Ceremonies if they would not as they did make a publick profession of believing the Sun to be God and perform the promise they had sometime made of acknowledging the King of the Apalachites for their Sovereign and do homage to him for the Province of Amana upon which account they had been admitted to be the Inhabitants thereof The Caribbians were divided about these proposals For all those who were inclin'd to the adoration of the Sun were of opinion that satisfaction should be given to the Apalachites affirming that though they were not oblig'd thereto by their promise yet would there be an engagement to do it though it were only to prevent their being depriv'd of the free exercise of their Religion and debar'd their presence at the sacrifices made to the Sun which they could not abandon without much regret The Cacick or chief Commander and a great number of the most considerable among the Caribbians alledged on the contrary that they would not blast their reputation and the glory of all their precedent Victories by so shameful a peace which under pretence of Religion would make them subject to the Apalachites That they were free-born and that as such they had left the place of their birth and transplanted themselves into a better Country than their own by force of Arms That their greatest concernment was to endeavour the continuance of that precious liberty and to cement it with their own blood if occasion requir'd That they were the same men who had sometime forc'd the Apalachites to resign upto them the most considerable of their Provinces such a one as was the centre and as it were the eye of their Country That they had not remitted any thing of that generosity and that that valour was so far from being extinguish'd that on the contrary they had enlarg'd their jurisdiction by the acquest of a noble and spacious Country which gave them passage beyond the Mountains whereby they were surrounded before That having thus remov'd out of the way whatever might obstruct their designs it would be thought an insupportable cowardice in them only under pretence of Religion and out of pure curiosity of being present at Sacrifices to quit the possession of what they had reduc'd under their power with so much trouble and bloodshed In fine that if any were desirous to adore the Sun they needed not to go out of their own Territories to do it since he shined as favourably in their Provinces as those of the Apalachites and look'd on them every day as graciously as on any other part of the world and if there were any necessity of consecrating a Mountain to him or a Grot they might find among those which separated their Country from the great Lake some that were as high and as fit for those mysteries as that of Olaimi Those who maintained the service of the Sun and were against engaging in a new war which must be the sequel of refusing conditions which were as advantageous to them as to the Apalachites made answer that since they had for some years enjoy'd the sweetness of peace and experienc'd upon so many occasions the kind entertainments and generosity of their Neighbours it would be the greatest imprudence in the world to run themselves into new troubles which they might avoid upon such easie terms and that without any loss of the reputation they had acquir'd That the acknowledgments which the Apalachites requir'd for the Province they were possessed of might be such and of so little importance that it would not be any diminution of their Honour or prejudice to their Authority That as to what concern'd the Service and Sacrifices of the Sun they were not furnish'd with such Priests as were instructed in that Science and acquainted with the Ceremonies thereof That it was much to be fear'd that if they should undertake to imitate the Jaoüas of the Apalachites they would by the miscarriages likely to be committed therein draw upon themselves the indignation of the Divinity which they would serve instead of gaining its favour That they had found upon enquiry that there was not any Mountain in the whole Country so kindly look'd upon by the Sun and so pleasant as that of Olaimi Nor was there any other that had a Temple naturally made in the Rock after so miraculous a manner which was such that all the art and industry of man could never bring to that perfection and that it could be no other than the work of the beams of that Divinity which was there ador'd That though it were suppos'd they might find out a Mountain and a Cave that came somewhat neer the other which yet they thought impossible it was questionable whether those Birds who were the Sun's Messengers would make their habitation there And that the Fountain consecrated in honour of him which wrought admirable effects and unheard of cures would be found there And consequently that they should expose themselves to the derision of the Apalachites who would still have occasion to make their brags of an infinite number of prerogatives peculiar to their ancient Temple and Service which the new one they pretended to build would never have From all which considerations the Religious party concluded that their best course was to make a firm peace that so they might have the convenience of participating of the same Ceremonies for the future which they had frequented during the Truce But those who were resolv'd on the contrary side were so obstinate that all those remonstrances prevail'd nothing upon them nor could in the least divert them from the resolution they had taken never to acknowledge the Apalachites for their Sovereigns nor lose their liberty under pretence of Religion and way of Worship which their fore-fathers had been ignorant of So that in fine this contrariety of sentiments made an absolute rupture among the Caribbians so as to divide them into two factions as the Priests of the Apalachites had foreseen whereupon being divided also in their Councels they could not return an unanimous answer to the propositions of peace or war which had been made to them by the Apalachites But either party growing stronger and stronger daily that which voted for an allyance with the Apalachites and stood for the adoration of the Sun became so powerful as to be in a condition to oblige the other either to embrace their opinion or quit the Province It would be too tedious a Relation to set down here all the mischiefs and miseries which that Civil War brought among
of Green-sauce in regard that Grain requires winter and the soil there being too rank it shoots forth too much at first and there is not strength enough left in the root to force it to staulk and knit in the ear But if tryal were made of the sowing of Barley and Rye and other Grains which require heat its probable they would thrive well And yet should they come to maturity and with great increase the Inhabitants being at little trouble to get Manyoc Potatoes Turkey-wheat and several kinds of Pulse would not take the pains to put them into the ground All the natural Provisions of these Islands are light and of easie digestion in regard the Country being hot the stomack ought not to be burthened as may be presumed in colder Climates Upon this account it is that such as are newly come into these parts are advis'd to eat little and often Nor doth what is eaten breed much blood and therefore Phlebotomy is not much used These Islands are inhabited by four different Nations whereof the first are the Indigenae or Originary Inhabitants who have lived there time out of mind and these are the Caribbians or Cannibals of whom we shall give a perfect accompt in the Second Book of this History The other three are the English the French and the Dutch The establishment of these foreign Nations in those parts happen'd about the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred twenty five since which time they have so encreas'd that the English and French are now become a very numerous people as will be seen more at large in the sequel of this History CHAP. II. Of each of the Caribby-Islands in particular THat we may observe some order in the Description we intend of each of these Islands in particular we shall divide them into three Classes whereof the first shall comprehend those which lye towards the South and are neerest the Line the second those which lye Northward and the last those which are commonly called the Lee-ward Islands which reach Westward from St. Christophers the best known of them all TABAGO THe first and most Southerly of all the Caribbies is Tabago or Tabac distant from the Equinoctial Northward eleven degrees and sixteen minutes It is about eight leagues in length and four in breadth There are in it several pleasant Mountains out of which arise eighteen Springs or small Rivers which having drench'd the Plains fall into the Sea It is conceiv'd the air of it would be healthy enough if the Trees were cut down and the ground opened The extraordinary height of the Trees growing in this Island argue the fruitfulness of its soil There are in this the five kinds of four footed creatures whereof there are but one or two in any of the other Islands As 1. a kind of Swine not much furnish'd with bristles which have a certain hole on their backs 2. Tatous 3. Agoutis 4. Opassums and 5. Musk-Rats all which we shall describe in their proper place Not to mention the Wood-Quists Turtles Partridges and Parrats which are commonly seen there it affords abundance of other Birds not known in Europe The Sea which encompasses this Island is abundantly furnish'd with all sorts of excellent Fish Sea-Tortoises come in multitudes to hide their Egges in the sand which lyes on the shoars On the West and North side of it there are Bayes where Ships may safely Anchor About sixteen years since a Company of Burghers of Walcre in Zealand sent thither 200 men to plant a Colony there under the States-General of the United Provinces and call'd the Island the New-Walcre But the natural Inhabitants of the Country fearing the Neighbourhood of those Foreigners massacred some of them which forc'd the rest who were troubled with sickness and feared the treatment their companions had receiv'd to retire elsewhere Whereupon the Island was along time destitute of Inhabitants and frequented only by some Caribbians who coming and going to their Wars struck in there to get necessary refreshments as also by some French of the Islands of Martinico and Gardeloupe who came thither to fish for Lamantine and Tortoises at certain seasons of the year But now the Zealanders are re-establish'd there and about three years since Lampsen an ancient Burgo-master of Flushing and one of the States-General ventur'd to people the Island anew He brought thither in his own Ships several gallant persons who are likely restore the Colony which his Country-men had planted there before This Island lying next to the Continent of that part of America which lyes Southward lyes very convenient for a Commerce with the Arovagues the Calibis the Caribbians and several other Indian Nations and the keeping together of a considerable force of men which might be easily sent over into the Continent and lay the foundations of a powerful Colony GRANADA THe Island of Granada lying at twelve degrees and sixteen scruples on this side of the Line does properly begin the Semicircle of the Antilles It is in length about seven leagues the breadth not the same in all places reaching North and South like a Crescent The French became masters of it about six years since They had at the beginning great contestations with the Caribbians who for some moneths disputed the possession of it with them by force of arms But at last Monsieue Parquet Governour of Martinico who had resolv'd at his own charge to make an establishment there oblig'd them out of a consideration of their own concernments grounded principally on the great advantages they received from the Neighbourhood of the French to leave him quietly possess'd of it The ground produces all manner of the Country provisions as Sugar-Canes Ginger and excellent Tobacco The air is very healthy It is well furnish'd with Springs of fresh water and places of good Anchorage for Ships It hath also abundance of fair Trees some excellent for their fruit others for their fitness for building There is good Fishing all about it and the Inhabitants have also good Fishing and Hunting in and about three little Islands called the Granadines lying North-East from it The first Governour of this place was Monsieur Le Comte Governour of Martinico who was succeeded by Mon. dela Vaumeniere It hath since been bought by the Count of Serillas of Mons Parquet BEKIA THe Island of Bekia is distant from the Line twelve degrees and 25 scruples It is ten or twelve leagues about and would be fruitful enough if it were cultivated There is in it a good Haven for Ships but inasmuch as it is not furnish'd with fresh water it is not much frequented unless it be by some Caribbians of St. Vincent's who sometimes go thither a fishing or to dress some small Gardens they have up and down there for their diversion St VINCENT THe Island of St. Vincent is the most populous of any possess'd by the Caribbians It s Altitude is sixteen degres North from the Line Those who have seen the Island Ferro or
his Nation entred into against him In the Quarter of Case Capot there is a very noble Savanna thus they call in the Islands pleasant Meadows and Pastures which hath on the one side the River called Capot and on the other many fair Edifices The Carbet Quarter hath its name from the ancient Inhabitants who sometime had there one of their greatest Villages and a publick House which they called Carbet a name yet common to those places where they have their meetings The French Governour liv'd in this Quarter a long time having built a noble Brick-house neer the Haven in a pleasant bottom refresh'd by a considerable River which falls down out of the Mountains The Indians who never had seen Structure of any such material look'd on it at first with a great astonishment and having attempted to shake it by the strength of their shoulders but not stirring it they were forc'd acknowledg that if all Houses were so built the Tempest which they call the Hurricane would not prejudice them But since the Governour not having his health perfectly there he made a present of it to the Jesuits together with the Gardens about it as also the rarities and curiosities of the Country and several other habitations dependent on it and a great number of Negro-slaves who cultivate them Fort St. Pierre or St. Peter's Fort is the place where the Governour now lives There are in it several great pieces of Cannon some of Brass some of Iron This Fort commands all the Haven About a stones cast from the Governours stands the fair Colledge of the Jesuits situate on a pleasant River which is thence called The Jesuits River This Structure is of Free-stone and Brick very delightful to the eye The Avenues also want not their temptation and all about it are Gardens and Orchards producing whatever is most delicious of the growth of the Islands as also several Plants Herbs Flowers and Fruits brought thither from France There is also a Vine-yard which yields yearly good store of Wine The Le Prescheur or the Preachers Quarter contains an even low part of the Country very considerable for its extent and several high Mountains upon the skirts whereof there are a good number of fair Habitations Between the Cabes-terre and the Basse-terre there is a kind of bottom where is abundance of that Wood by which the Tobacco climes up There they have also the Reeds wherewith the Hutts are Palisado'd as also the wild Mahot the bark whereof serves for several things about the house Most of the Houses in this Island are of wood very convenient and delightful to the eye The most considerable are built on certain eminences That advantageous situation contributes much to their health who live in them for the air is clearer then that of the Valleys It also adds much to the beauty of those pleasant Structures and causes a very divertive prospect The best Haven of this Island lyes between Carbet and St. Peters Fort. It is more safe then any of the neighbouring Islands as being encompass'd with high Mountains which secure the Ships lying in it from the violence of all winds Between Case du Pilote and a bottom called Culde Sac des Salines there is a Rock running about half a league into the Sea which is called the Diamond from its figure and is a retreat for an infinite number of Birds and among others Wood-quists which breed in it It is hard getting up to it yet some visit it as they pass by when the young ones are fit to eat There is another place on the same side as the Diamond into which Ships are brought to be refresh'd and mended The Sea there is always calm but the air not healthy in regard the Sea-men commonly catch Fevers which yet are not very dangerous inasmuch as they shake them off as soon as they depart thence Besides the Torrents which in times of rains fall down with great violence and the inundations of this Island there are nine or ten considerable Rivers which are never dry Their sources are at the ascent or foot of the highest Mountains and having watered the Valleys they fall into the Sea They are prejudicial to the places neer them in regard that when they overflow they root up Trees undermine rocks and make a desolation over the Fields and Gardens carrying along with them the houses which lye in the plain Country and whatever opposes the impetuosity of their course This inconvenience hath oblig'd the Inhabitants of this Colony to take up their habitations on the tops of those little Mountains wherewith their Island is richly furnish'd for they secure them from these inundations But what is most considerable in this Island is the multitude of the Inhabitants possessing it who are thought to amount to nine or ten thousand persons not comprehending in that number the Indians and Negroes who are neer as many The mildness of the Government and the advantageous situation of the Island contribute much to the advancement of it and the multiplication of its Inhabitants For most of the French and Dutch Ships bound for America so order their course that they may touch here rather then at any other of the Islands and as soon as they have cast Anchor in any of the Havens to take in the refreshments necessary for them they set a shoar their Passengers if they be not expresly oblig'd to bring them to some other place Nay it hath often hapned that whole Families which had left France with a designe to pass over into some of the other Islands which lye beyond this and are not inferior to it either as to Air or Soil being wearied out with the inconveniences of a long Voyage have setled here to avoid exposing themselves to the same again Among the great multitude of people which make up this Colony there are many persons of worth and quality who after their honorable imployments in other parts of the world have at last made choice of this place for their repose and retirement Among these are particularly to be mentioned Mons Courcelas Lieutenant-General under the Governor a person who by his excellent conduct hath gain'd the affections of both Inhabitants and Strangers Mons Le Comte and Mons de L' Oubiere as being the principal Officers At the beginning of our Description of this Island we said that the French and Indians lived there a long time together in good correspondence But the Letters that came thence lately giving an account of the state of it affirm that about four years since the Caribbians made an insurrection and have continued a War with the French ever since that since that time those Barbarians had done great mischiefs in the French Quarters and that neither the height of the Mountains nor depth of the precipices nor yet the horror of vast and dreadful solitudes which till then had been accounted an impenetrable wall lying between the several divisions of both the Nations hindred not their falling
is cut in thin slices Hence the Spaniards are so superstitious as to think it a kind of mortal sin to use a knife about it and are scandaliz'd to see any thing employ'd about it but the teeth But there is this to be said particularly of the Banana-tree 1 That its fruit is in length about twelve or thirteen inches a little bending towards the extremity much about the bigness of a mans arm whereas that of the Fig-tree is but half as big and about six inches in length 2 The Banana-tree hath not in its posie or cluster above 25 or 30 Bananas at the most which do not lye over-close one to another but the Fig-tree hath many times 120 Figs which lye so close together that they can hardly be gotten asunder 3 The meat of the Bananas is firm and solid and may be dress'd either by roasting it under the embers or boiling it in a Pot with meat or preserv'd and dry'd in an Oven or in the Sun and afterwards easily kept But the â—ig being of a soft substance hath not the same conveniences To get in these fruits the trees which it seems bear but once are cut at the very foot and the great cluster is supported by a â—ork that it may not be bruised in the falling But they are seldom cut till some of the fruits of each cluster be turn'd a little yellowish for that is a sign of their maturity and then being carried into the house those which were green ripen by degrees and so they have every day new fruit The cluster is commonly as much as a man can well carry nay sometimes it is laid on a Leaver and carried upon their shoulders between two as that bunch of Grapes which the Spies of the Israelites brought out of the Land of Canaan Some have thought this fruit so excellent and delicate that they have imagined it to be the same which God forbad our first Parents to eat of in Paradise accordingly they have named it Adams Fig-tree or the Fruit-tree of Paradise the leaf of these Reeds being of the largeness we have before described may indeed be allow'd very fit to cover the nakedness of our first Parents and as to the figure of the Crucifix which may be seen within the fruit when it is cut we leave it to find work for their profound speculations who busie their thoughts in searching out the secrets of Nature There are some who affirm that the figure of a Cross is also marked in the seed of the Herb commonly called Rue The small Gentiana or Cruciata hath the leaves dispos'd in the form of a Cross upon its stalk and it is to be acknowledg'd that Nature as it were sporting her self hath been pleas'd to make several such representations in Plants and Flowers Hence it comes that some have the resemblance of Hair others of Eyes others of Ears others of a Nose a Heart a Tongue a Hand and some other parts of the Body There are in like manner divers famous Plants which seem to represent several other things as Eagles Bees Serpents Cats-clawes Cocks-combs Bears-ears Harts-horns Darts and the like whence many times those Plants derive their names from the said resemblance But of these it is besides our design to give any account CORAL-WOOD THere is also in several of the Islands a little shrub which bears a seed as red as any Coral it grows in bunches at the extremity of its branches which derive an extraordinary lustre from it But these little seeds have a small black spot at one end which disfigures them and abates much of their esteem with some others on the contrary affirm that that diversity of colours makes them more delightful to the Eye This may be called the Coral-tree The seeds are used for Bracelets JASMIN and CANDLE-WOOD THe shrubs called by some Jasmin and Candle-wood may be numbred among those that are considerable in these Islands The former bears a small white flower which perfumes all about it with its sweet scent and thence it had the name The other casts forth so pleasant and sweet a scent when its wood is burnt dry and does so easily take fire and gives so clear a flame by reason of a certain Aromatick Gum lying within it that it is with reason sought after by the Inhabitants for their firing and to serve them for a Candle or Torch in the night time CHAP. X. Of the Plants Herbs and Roots growing in the Caribbies HAving in the former Chapters represented the Trees and Shrubs wherewith these Islands are richly furnished we come now to the Description of several rare Plants Herbs and Roots whereby they are also abundantly supply'd PYMAN THe Plant called by the French and others Pyman or American Pepper is the same which the natural Inhabitants of the Country call Axi or Carive it grows close like a little Briar without any prickles the stem of it is covered with an Ash-colour'd rind and bears several little boughs loaden with an infinite multitude of leaves which are pretty long full of jags and of a grass-green colour Of these there are three kinds differing only in the figure of the husk or cod or the fruit they bear One bears only a little red button somewhat long like a Clove within which there are very small seeds much hotter then the Spices brought from the Levant and in a manner caustick which easily communicates that picquant quality to all things wherein it is us'd The second kind hath a much larger and longer Cod which when ripe is of a perfect Vermilion colour and being us'd in Sauces it makes them yellow as Saffron would do The third hath yet a larger Cod then the precedent which is thick enough red as any Coral and not smooth in all parts The seed which is not so biting nor so spicy as those of the other two kinds lies in the midst of it Being ripe it is one of the most delightful fruits that may be The seed hath been brought over into France and other parts and hath come to perfection but the fruit is not so big as that of America This cod and the seed within it is us'd instead of pepper because it communicates a certain picquancy to things like that spice But the operations of them differ much for after it hath bitten the tongue and by its acrimony inflam'd the palat instead of fortifying and warming the stomach it weakens it and causes coldness in it or rather according to the opinions of some Physicians it over-heats it and by its caustick vertue weakens it causing coldness in it only by accident inasmuch as it disperses the radical moisture which is the seat of heat Whence it is observ'd in the Islands that those who ordinarily use it in their meat are subject to pains in the chest and apt to contract a yellow colour TOBACCO THe Plant called Tobacco from the Island Tabago where as some affirm it was first discover'd by the Spaniards had also the
it grows sometimes to the height of a shrub it hath many little branches which are at all times loaden with an infinite number of long and narrow leaves which during the rains are enamell'd with small golden flowers like so many stars But what makes this Plant esteem'd one of the rarest and most admirable of any in the world is that as soon as one would fasten on it with his hand it draws back its leaves and wriggles them under its little branches as if they were wither'd and when the hand is remov'd and the party gone away some distance from it it spreads them abroad again Some call this Plant the Chaste Herb because it cannot endure to be touch'd without expressing its resentment of the injury Those who have pass'd by the Isthmus from Nombre de Dios to Panama relate that there are whole Woods of a Tree called the Sensitive-tree which being touch'd the branches and leaves start up making a great noise and close together into the figure of a Globe Some years since there was to be seen in the Kings Garden at Paris a Sensitive-shrub valued at a very great rate But some body having advis'd the putting of it in the bottom of a Well to keep it from the cold and the sharpness of Winter it there miserably perish'd to the great regret of the Curious Of several sorts of PEASE THese Islands are also fruitful in bearing all sorts of Pulse such as are several sorts of Pease and Beans The Savages call them by the general name of Manconti The Pease are in a manner of the same kinds as those growing in Europe those only excepted which are gather'd from a little shrub which is about the height of Broom and hath small green and narrow leaves it bears Pease in cods or husks which are fastened to its branches they are green and less then the ordinary ones of an excellent taste and so easily boil'd that they need but a walm or two they are called in the Islands The Pease of Angola probably because the seed was brought from that Country There is another kind known by the name of Pease which yet have the figure of Beans they are small enough and of this kind there are some white some black some red or brown all very excellent and are ripe in three moneths These in S. Christophers are called English Pease BEANS OF Beans and Fasels there grow in the Caribbies several kinds not to be seen in the Western parts of Europe The most common are white to which the first Inhabitants gave an undecent name by reason of their figure their fruit may be eaten six weaks after they are planted others are of several pretty colours as those which are called Roman-Beans or Lombardy-Beans But the most considerable for their rarity are those called the Seven-years Beans because the same stalk bears seven years one after another and spreads it self over Trees Rocks and whatever it can fasten on and what is to be yet further admir'd is that at all times during the said term of years it bears flowers green fruit and ripe fruit So that he who sees it may well admire Spring Summer Autumn in one bough conspire The same thing is affirmed of a certain Tree in Egypt called Pharaohs Fig-tree on which there may be seen at all times fruit fully ripe fruit ripening and fruit newly knit Orange-trees have the same advantage Plants useful in Physick OF Plants useful in Physick there are many kinds in these Islands whereof the vertues and temperament are not yet well known and some others which are also to be had from other places Such as are Scolopendria and a kind of Aloes and several sorts of Maiden-hair There are also some whereof trial hath been made and they have been endued with great vertues among which the most esteem'd are the Sweet-Rush the Balisier and the Dart-Herb SWEET-RUSH THe Sweet-Rush is like other Rushes which grow neer Ponds and Rivers but it hath a round root about the bigness of a Small-nut which casts a sweet scent like that of the Flower-de-luce and being dried in the shade and beaten to powder hath a miraculous vertue to help Women in Labour if they take but a small dose of it BALISIER THe Balisier grows bigger and higher according to the soil it meets with but it thrives best in moist places The leaves of it are so large that the Caribbians in case of necessity cover their little Huts therewith They are also apply'd to abate and mollifie the inflammations of wounds and to make baths for such as have had their Nerves crush'd or have contracted any other weakness The flower of it which grows like a Plume of Feathers consisting of several yellow or red cups are succeeded by certain buttons which are full of seeds as big as Pease and so smooth and hard that Beads are made of them DART-HERB THe Dart-Herb is a sad kind of Herb for in the day time the leaves lye close together and in the night they are spread abroad its leaves which are of a bright-green are about six or seven inches long and three broad the root of it pounded and applyed on the wound takes away the venom of poysoned Darts POT-HERBS MOst of the Pot-Herbs growing in several parts of Europe grow also in these Islands 'T is true there are some as Cabbages and Onions will not bear seed yet is there no want of them The Cabbages being ripe shoot forth many slips which transplanted produce others which come to be as fair and as large as if they grew from the seed And for Onions there are good store brought in the Ships which produce abundance of Chibols and those only are commonly used in Pottage and with Pease MELONS THere is also abundance of ordinary Melons the seed whereof is brought thither from these parts but by reason of the heat of the Country they grow more easily ripe the meat is firmer and of a better taste and they have a sweeter scent And what is a greater advantage they are to be had at any time in the year WATER-MELONS THere grows in these Countries another kind of Melons which are common in Italy but must needs be incomparably better in Egypt and the Levant There grow of them also in some parts of France but they are naught they are called Water-Melons because they are full of a sugar'd water intermingled with their meat which ordinarily is of a Vermilion colour and red as blood about the heart wherein are contained their seed which is also of the same colour and sometimes black their rind continues always green and without any scent so that it is rather by the stalk then the fruit that their ripeness is to be discover'd they are sometimes bigger then a mans head either round or oval they are eaten without Salt and though a man feed liberally on them yet do they not offend the stomack but in those hot Countries they are very cooling and cause appetite They
plant also in these Islands Mays otherwise called Spanish-Wheat or Turkey-Wheat all sorts of Millet Cucumbers Citrulls Red-Parsnips and other Roots all which are of an excellent taste LILLIES NOr is it to be doubted but that the flowers of these Countries are very beautiful and admirable for their scent Among others there is a kind of White-Lilly that smells extreamly well for the scent of it is like that of Jessemine but so communicative of it self that there needs but one flower to perfume a whole Room The round top and the leaves are like those of the Lillies of France but the flower hath its leaves dispers'd and divided into little Labels as if they had been cut with a pair of Scissers there are also other Lillies which differ in nothing from our Yellow and Orange-colour Lillies PASSION-FLOWER THere is another Plant in these Islands famous for the beauty of its leaves the sweet scent of its flowers and the excellency of its fruit The Spaniards call it Grenadile the Dutch Rhang-Appel and the French La Fleur de la Passion that is The Passion-Flower because it bears that rare flower wherein may be seen not without admiration some of the Instruments of our Blessed Saviours Passion plainly represented 'T is true some curious Persons who have attentively considered it do affirm that they have observ'd therein a certain resemblance of the Crown of Thornes the Scourges the Nails the Hammer and the Pillar but they add withall that most of those things are therein represented or figured much after the same manner as Virgins Lyons and Bears are seen among the Celestial Bodies so that to find all these representations of the Passion in those flowers they say with Acosta in his History Lib. 4. Ch. 27. that there is some piety requisite to help on the belief of some of them There are several sorts of them all which have this common that if they meet not with some Tree to fasten themselves too they creep along the ground as Ivy doth that their flowers are display'd after Sun-rising and close again before it sets and that they bear a delicate and very refreshing fruit but the leaves flowers and fruits of some are so different as to their outward figure that it is not to be wondred if the Authors who treat of this Plant imagining there had been but one kind agree not in their descriptions thereof The Inhabitants of Brasil number seven kinds thereof but in the Caribbies there are but those two known which are represented among the Sculps of this Chapter One hath very large leaves which are divided into five lesser leaves whereof that in the midst is round at the top and the four others pointed its flower being fully blown is bigger then a Rose it is enclos'd neer the stem in three little green leaves the body consists of several other beautiful leaves whereof some are of a Sky-colour chequer'd with little red pricks which have the figure of a Crown and others are of a purple colour All this fair flower is encompass'd with an infinite number of small waving filaments which are as it were the beams of this little Sun among the flowers they are enamell'd with White Red Blew Carnation and several other lively colours which contribute an admirable grace thereto The other kind hath also its leaves divided into five parts as the former but its flower which is like a little bowl bordered above with little white and red strings is not so large within it is adorned with white pointed leaves there shoots as it were out of the heart of both these kinds of Passion-Flowers a small round Pillar which hath on its chapter a button beset with three grains somewhat like Cloves From this Pillar there issue out also five white strings which support little yellow knobs like those which may be seen in the cavity of the Lillies and these they say represent our Saviours five wounds These flowers which are of a sweet scent falling off the button that is on the pillar grows so big that it comes to be a fair yellow fruit smooth and about the bigness of an ordinary Apple The rind of it is as thick as that of a Pomegranate and it is full of a certain juice very delicious to the taste among which there is a great number of kernels which are black and extreamly hard This fruit is prescrib'd as a sovereign refreshment to such as are in Fevers and it hath been found by experience that it hath a singular vertue to retrive lost Appetite to comfort the vital Spirits and to abate the heat of the Stomack The Inhabitants of Brasil are very careful in the cultivation of this Plant using it as a singular ornament for the covering of their Arbours and other places in their Gardens for its leaves and flowers make a very delightful shade and they make of the fruit a cordial syrrup which is highly esteem'd among them upon this account that besides the properties assigned it in our description it hath also this remarkable quality that those who are once accustomed to use it shall never have an aversion against it The rind of this fruit and its flowers being preserv'd work the same effects as the juice MUSK-HERB THere is also an Herb called the Musk-Herb the stalk of it is of a considerable height and it grows very thick and close together as a little Briar or Bush without prickles its leaves are long enough and rough the flowers are yellow very delightful to the eye after the form of a Chalice or little Bell which afterwards becomes a button of a pretty bigness and when it is ripe is of a white Satin colour within and of a Musk-colour without the seed contained within this button is also of the same brownish colour it hath the perfect scent Ch 12. Opassum p 69. p 70 Tatous Iavaris p 70 Rocquet p 75 p 71. Musk rat p 74 A great lizzard p 75. Anolis of Musk when it is newly gather'd And thence is it called Musk-grain and it keeps that scent a long time provided it be kept in a dry place and in some vessel where it may take no air In like manner several other Herbs several Shrubs nay most of those Lienes or Withies which creep among the bushes and fasten for their support on the Trees growing in the Caribbies bear flowers as fair and delightful to the eye as they are sweet and acceptable to the nostril insomuch that many times as a man crosses through the Fields he may come to places where the Air is perfum'd all about CHAP. XII Of five kinds of four-footed Beasts found in these Islands BEfore the Spaniards and Portuguez had planted Colonies in America there were not in those parts any Horses Kine Oxen Sheep Goats Swine or Dogs But for the better convenience of their Navigations and supply of their Ships in case of necessity they left some of these creatures in several parts of that new-found World where they have since
put off Monsieur du Montel relates that he purposely caused some places to be digg'd where it was likely there were of them hidden Having met with them he found them wrapp'd in leaves of Trees which no doubt was their sustenance and serv'd them for a nest during that retirement but they were so weak and unable to endure the air that they seemed as it were half dead though fat enough and excellent meat and as such highly esteemed by the Inhabitants Close by them he found the shell they had put off which seem'd to be as entire as if the animal had been still within it And what was strange though he look'd very narrowly yet hardly could he find any hole or cleft at which the body of it might get out of that prison But having view'd it very exactly he found a little disjunction neer the tail at which the Crab had slipped out They are commonly dress'd as the Crevices in these parts are but the more delicate will take the time and pains after they are boiled to pick out all that is good in the claws and to extract a certain oily substance which is in the body and by some called Taumaly and to fry all together with the egges of the female putting thereto a little of the Country Pepper and some juice of Oranges and this makes it one of the most dainty dishes in the Caribbies In these grounds where there are many of the Trees called Manchenillos the Crabs which feed under them or eat of the fruit have a venemous quality insomuch that those who eat thereof fall dangerously sick But in other parts they are wholsom enough and as the Crevices in Europe are numbred among the delicacies Such as are careful of their health open them them before they eat thereof and if they be black within they think them dangerous and use them not CHAP. XXIII Of Thunder Earth-quakes and the Tempests sometimes happening in the Caribbies AS there is hardly any face so beautiful but that it may be subject to some defect spot or mole so these Islands having all the excellencies and advantages before represented have also some imperfections and defects which take off much of their lustre and abate of the enjoyments and pleasures they might otherwise afford We shall give a short account of the principal inconveniences happening there and the remedies which may be apply'd thereto THUNDER OF those Thunder may be named in the first place which though never heard on the Coasts of Peru is in these Islands so frequent and in many places so dreadful that by its terrible claps it forces the most confident into terrour and astonishment EARTH-QUAKES EArth-quakes do also sometimes produce very sad effects and shake the very foundations of the Earth so violently that they make a man reel in those places where he might think himself most safe But through Gods goodness these happen very seldom and in some places the agitation is not so great HURRICANE WHat is most to be feared is a general conspiracy of all the Winds which goes about the Compass in the space of 24 hours and sometimes in less This is that which is called a Hurricane and happens commonly in the moneths of July August or September at other times there is no fear of it Heretofore it happened but once in seven years and sometimes seldomer but within these few years it hath happened once every two years nay in one year there happened two of them Nay not long after Monsieur Auber was sent to command in chief at Gardeloupe there were three Hurricanes in one year This kind of Tempest is so violent that it breaks and unroots Trees deprives those it takes not away of all verdure makes desolate whole Forests removes Rooks from the tops of Mountains and casts them into the Valleys overthrows Houses carries away the Plants it hath forc'd out of the Earth into the Sea makes a general waste of all it meets with in the Fields and in a word leaves famine all over the Country which groans a long time after that disaster and will be a long time ere it recovers the ruines occasion'd thereby Nor does the Hurricane all this mischief only by Land but it raises withall such a tempest on the Sea that it seems to be mixt and confounded with the Air and the Sky It breaks to pieces the Ships that happen to be on the Coasts at that time casting some upon the shores and swallowing others into the Abysses of the Deep So that those which escape shipwrack at such a time are extreamly oblig'd to acknowledg the great mercy of God towards them Those who observe the signs preceding this Tempest have particularly noted these That a little before it happens the Sea becomes of a sudden so calm and even that there appears not the least wrinkle on her face That the Birds by a natural instinct come down in multitudes from the Mountains where they make their ordinary abode to retire into the Plains and Valleys where they keep on the ground to secure themselves against the injuries of the cruel weather which they foresee coming And that the Rain which falls a little before is bitter and salt as the Sea-water It is not many years since that there happen'd a memorable example of this Tempest upon several Ships lying in the Road of S. Christophers loaden with Tobacco and ready to set sail For they were all broken to pieces and cast away and the Commodities wholly lost Whereof there follow'd another strange and unexpected accident which was that most of the fish upon the Coast was poysoned by the Tobacco The Sea seem'd in a manner cover'd with those poor creatures which turn'd upside-down and languishing floated on the face of the water and came to dye on the shore Nor are these disasters particular only to the New-World but there have been seen in France and other places such dreadful Tempests as might well be accounted Hurricanes In the year M. D. XCIX there rose neer Bourdeaux such a violent wind that it broke and unrooted most of the great Trees which were able to resist especially the Wall-nut-trees whose boughs are commonly very large and transported some of them above five hundred paces from the place where they grew But the weaker Trees which gave way were spared The Palace of Poictiers receiv'd much hurt divers Steeples were batter'd and that of Cangres neer Saumur quite blown down Some persons on horse-back in the fields were carried above sixty paces out of their way For the space of six or seven leagues as far as it blew there was nothing but ruine and confusion To this place may be reduced among others that Tempest which happen'd here in England at the removal out of this world of the late Usurper Oliver Cromwel the mischiefs whereof are yet fresh in mens minds as also that in February 1661. To give an example of a Hurricane that shew'd its malice here in Europe particularly on the
not able to endure that yoke broke out into a Rebellion And that they might the better live undisturb'd and at a distance from their Enemies they retreated to the Caribby-Islands which were not at that time inhabited and their first landing was in the Island of Tabago which is one of the neerest to the Continent Afterwards the other Calibites shook of the Domination of the Arouagues but finding themselves strong enough or not having the same inclination with the former they continu'd in their Country and what they had at the time of their revolt they have kept ever since and live free in the Country but Enemies to the Arouagues having a Captain-General of their own Nation by whom they are commanded They have also continu'd to this present Friends and Confederates to the Caribbians Upon this Relation it is that some ground the explication they make of the word Caribbians as if it signified Rebells whether it was impos'd upon them by the Arouagues or that those people assum'd it of themselves by way of triumph as deriving a certain glory from their noble Insurrection and the generous Rebellion which establish'd them in peace and liberty But there needs no more to shew that the word Caribbian does not signifie Rebel as among others a certain Journal of a Dutch-man than that there are many Colonies in several parts of the Continent of America both the Septentrional and Meridional which no body pretends or can pretend were ever under the power of the Arouagues which yet are known by the name of Caribbians And as to the being among them any that have rebell'd against other Sovereigns only this may be inferr'd thence That being since reconcil'd to them and living to this day in the midst of them under the said name of Caribbians as we shall see more particularly anon there is no likelihood that it should signifie Rebels since it were a blasting of their Reputation and a mark of Infamy to them But those who have convers'd a long time together among the Savages of Dominico relate that the Caribbian Inhabitants of that Island are of opinion that their Ancestors came out of the Continent from among the Calibites to make a War against a Nation of the Arouagues which inhabited the Islands which Nation they utterly destroy'd excepting only the Women whom they took to themselves and by that means repeopled the Islands Whence it comes that tâ—e Wives of the Caribbian Inhabitants of the Islands have a language different from that of the Men in many things and in some consonant to that of the Arouagues of the Continent He who was the Commander in chief in that Enterprise bestow'd the conquer'd Islands on his Confidents and he to whose lot the Island of Dominico fell was called Ouboutou-timani that is to say King and caused himself to be carried on the shoulders of those whom the Islanders call Labouyou that is Servants There is so little certainty and so much variety in all these Relations and others of the like nature which these poor ignorant people make upon this occasion that the most prudent sort of people conceive there cannot any judgment be grounded thereon And indeed these Savages themselves speak not thereof but at adventure and as people tell stories of what they had seen in their dreams so careless have they been in preserving the tradition of their Origine and they palpably contradict and confute one the other by the difference of their Relations However we shall find at the end of this Chapter what seems most probable to have given occasion to most to believe that they are descended from the Calibites In all the several sentiments whereof we have given an account either out of the Writings or Discourses of divers others there is this that 's commendable That those who advance them proceed consequently to the discoveries they had made and that they do all that lies in their power to unravel and disengage ancient and unknown Truths But if the Relation we are about to give of the Origine of the Caribbian Inhabitants of the Islands be the most ample the most particular the most full of Curiosities and the best circumstanc'd of any that hath hitherto appear'd it is but just we should think it accordingly the truest and most certain yet with this caution that we still leave the judicious Reader at liberty to follow that sentiment which shall seem most rational to him And whereas we ought to render every one the commendation he justly deserves we are to acquaint the Publick that it is oblig'd for these Particularities and Discoveries to the obliging Communication we have receiv'd thereof from one Master Brigstock an English Gentleman one of the most curious and inquisitive Persons in the World who among his other great and singular accomplishments hath attained the perfection of the Virginian and Floridian Languages as having in his noble Travels seen all the Islands and a great part of the Septentrional America By that means it was that he came exactly to understand upon the very place whereof we shall make mention and from such intelligent Persons as could give him an account thereof with some certainty the ensuing History of the Origine of our Savages the truth whereof he will make good whenever occasion shall require The Caribbians were originary Inhabitants of the Septentrional part of America of that Country which is now called Florida They came to Inhabit the Islands after they had departed from amidst the Apalachites among whom they lived a long time and they left there some of their people who to this day go under the name of Caribbians But their first origine is from the Cofachites who only chang'd their denomination and were called Caribbians in the Country of the Apalachites as we shall see anon The Apalachites are a powerful and generous Nation which continues to this present planted in the same Country of Florida They are the Inhabitants of a gallant and spacious Country called Apalacha from which they have received their name and which begins at the altitude of thirty three degrees and twenty five minutes North of the Equinoctial Line and reaches to the thirty seventh degree This people have a communication with the Sea of the great Gulf of Mexico or New Spain by the means of a River which taking its source out of the Apalachaean Mountains at the foot whereof they inhabit after it hath wandred through many rich Campagnes disembogues it self at last into the Sea neer the Islands of Tacobago The Spaniards have called this River Riu del Spirito Santo but the Apalachites call it still by its ancient name of Hitanachi which in their Language signifies fair and pleasant On the East-side they are divided from all other Nations by high and far-spreading Mountains whose tops are cover'd with snow most part of the year and which separate them from Virginia on the other sides they abjoin to several inconsiderable Nations which are all their friends and
some seed that might be sown when there were some people living in France whose habitations being at a great distance from the places where Salt was made thought out of a like imagination that it was gather'd in Gardens It hapned also not many years since that a Woman an Inhabitant of Martinico having sent several pounds of Caret-shells and Tobacco to a She-Merchant of S. Malo's when this latter had put off the Commodity she gave an account thereof to her Correspondent at Martinico and advis'd to plant Carets in her Garden rather then Tobacco for that the former was much dearer in France and that there was no danger of its rotting in the Ship as there was of Tobacco But let us consider what there is yet to be said concerning the natural simplicity of our Savages of the Caribbies It is a pleasant thing to consider that these poor people should be so simple as that though they have many places fit for the making of Salt yet dare they not make use of it as accounting Salt extreamly prejudicial to health and the preservation of life thence it proceeds that they never either eat of it or season their meat therewith and when at any time they see our people make use of it they say to them out of a compassion worthy compassion Compere thou hastenest thy own death But instead of Salt they season all their messes with Pyman or American Pepper Nor is there any Swines-flesh eaten among them which they call Coincoin and Bouïrokou nor yet Tortoise or as some call them Turtles which they call Catallou though there be abundance of those Creatures in their Country Of this their abstinence they give the simplest reasons imaginable For as to the Swine they are afraid to taste of it lest they should have small eyes like those of that Beast now in their judgment it is the greatest of all deformities to have small eyes and yet there are few among them but have them such As for the Tortoise the reason of their abstinence from that is no less ridiculous they will not feed on that say they out of a fear lest if they did they should participate of the laziness and stupidity of that Creature Most of those people who are known by the name of Savages are also full of strange and fantastical imaginations concerning the matter and manner of eating For example the Canadians abstain from Muscles only out of a pure fancy but they are such Beasts that they cannot give any reason for that abstinence They will not cast the Beavers bones to the Dogs lest the soul of that Beast should go and tell the other Beavers and so oblige them to leave the Country It is reported also That they do not eat the marrow of the back-bone of any Creature for fear of having any pain in the back The Brasilians eat no hens egges out of an opinion they are poison They abstain also from the flesh of Ducks and that of every Creature that goes slowly as also from Fishes that do not swim swiftly for fear of participating of the slowness of those Creatures The Maldiveses forbear the meat of Tortoises as the Caribbians do but it is because of the conformity there is in their judgment between them and Man The Calecutians and some others who live more towards the East never taste of the flesh of wild Oxen Cows and Bulls out of a perswasion that mens Souls when they depart out of their Bodies go and animate those of the said Beasts In fine certain Peruvians of the Province of Pastu abstain from all kinds of flesh whatsoever and if they are intreated to taste thereof their answer is That they are not Dogs All these Instances are brought upon the Stage to shew that the aversion of the Caribbians to eat Salt Swines-flesh and Tortoises should not cause them to be accounted the most self-will'd and most extravagant of all the Savages Besides the discoveries we have already made of their sottishness and simplicity there is this yet to be added That they are so stupid that they cannot count a number exceeding that of the Fingers of their Hands and the Toes of their Feet which they shew to express the said number what exceeds it surpassing with them all Arithmetick so that they would be very unfit for Bankiers an humour contrary to that of the Chineses who are such excellent Accomptants that in a moment they cast up such Sums as it would trouble us much to do and that with greater certainty But the Caribbians have the priviledge not to be the only Nation in the World which may be reproach'd with this ignorance for it is as great among the people of Madagascar and Guinny to cite no more nay some ancient Historians affirm That there were some people who could not count above five and others who could not exceed four The Inhabitants of Guinny having counted to Ten were wont to set a mark and then begin again Certain Savages of the Septentrional part of America to express a great number which it was impossible for them to name make use of an easie kind of demonstration taking their hair or some sand in their hands a sort of comparisons which are frequent in holy Scripture The Inhabitants of the Caribby-Islands have also their invention to supply the defect of Arithmetick for when they are to go to the Wars and are to be ready at their general Rendezvouz on a certain day they take each of them one after another an equal number of Pease in their solemn Assembly as for instance thrice or four times Ten and some certain number under Ten if need be according as they are resolv'd to advance their Enterprise they put up these Pease in a little Gourd and every morning they take out one and cast it away till there are none left and then the appointed time for their departure is come and the next day they are to be upon their march Another way they have is this every one of them makes so many knots on a little Cord and every day they unty one and when they are come to the last they make ready for the Rendezvouz Somtimes also they take little pieces of Wood upon which they make so many notches as they intend to spend days in their preparation every day they cut off one of the notches and when they come to the last they take their march towards the place appointed The Captains the Boyez and the most ancient among them have more understanding than the common sort and by long experience join'd to what they had receiv'd by tradition from their Ancestors they have acquir'd a gross knowledge of divers Stars whence it comes that they count the Months by Moons and the Years by the Seven Stars taking particular notice of that Constellation Thus some Peruvians regulated their Years by their Harvests Those Inhabitants of Canada who live in the Mountains observe the number of the
the liberty to taste of them nay they durst not do that unless they have that cleanness of body which they say is requisite in all those that are to be admited thereto Assoon as these poor Savages are troubled with any sickness or pain they believe that they are sent upon them by the Gods of some of their Enemies and then they make their applications to the Boyé who consulting his Daemon tells them it is the God of such a one or such a one who hath caus'd chose mischiefs to them And this raises in those who consult enmity and a desire to be revenged of those whose Gods have treated them in that manner Besides the Boyez or Magicians who are highly respected and honoured among them they have also Sorcerers at least they think them such who as they say send charms upon them and dangerous and fatal enchantments and those whom they account such they kill if ever they light on them 'T is many times a plausible pretence to be rid of their Enemies The Caribbians are subject to some other mischiefs which they say proceed from Maboya and they often complain that he beats them True it is that some persons of worth who have conversed a certain time among this poor people are perswaded that they are neither molested nor effectually beaten by the Devil and that all the complaints and dreadful relations they make as to that are grounded only on this that being of a very melancholick constitution and having for the most part their spleens swell'd and inflam'd they are many times subject to terrible dreams wherein they imagine the Devil appears to them and beats them whereupon they start up frighted out of their wits and when they are fully awake they say that Maboya hath beaten them and having the imagination thus hurt they are perswaded that they feel the pain But it is manifest by the testimonies of several other persons of quality and exquisite knowledge who have sojourned a long time in the Island of St. Vincent which is inhabited only by the Caribbians and such as have also seen those of the same Nation who live in the Continent of the Meridional part of America that the Devils do effectually beat them and that they often shew on their bodies the visible marks of the blows they had received We are assured further by the Relations of divers of the French Inhabitants of Martinico that going into the Quarter of these Savages who live in the same Island they have many times found them making horrid complaints that Maboya had immediately before their coming thither treated them ill and saying that he was Mouche fache contre Caraibes mightily incens'd against the Caribbians so that they accounted the French happy that their Maboya did not beat them Monsieur du Montel who hath often been present at their assemblies and conversed very familiarly and a long time together with those of that Nation who inhabit in the Island of St. Vincents as also with those of the Meridional Continent gives this testimony upon this sad occasion Notwithstanding the ignorance and irreligion wherein our Caribbians live they know by experience and fear more than death the evil Spirit whom they call Maboya for that dreadful Enemy doth many times appear to them under most hideous shapes And what is particularly observable that unmerciful and bloudy executioner who is an insatiable murtherer from the begining of the world cruelly wounds and torments those miserable people when they are not so forward as he would have them to engage themselves in wars so that when they are reproached with that over-eager passion which hurries them to the shedding of mans blood their answer is that they are forced thereto against their wills by the Maboya But these are not the only people whom that implacable Enemy of Mankind treats as his slaves There are several other barbarous Nations who can alwaies show on their bodies the bloudy marks of his cruelties For it is reported that the Brasilians shake and sweat with horrour at the remembrance of his apparitions and many times out of the pure apprehension they have of the cruel treatment they are wont to receive from him Thence it proceeds that some of those Nations flatter that old Dragon and by adorations offerings and sacrifices endeavour to abate his rage and appease his fury as among others not to mention the people of the Eastern part of the World some of the Inhabitants of Florida and Canada For that is the only reason they can give for the service they do him Nay it is affirmed that the Nation of the Jews was heretofore inclin'd to make offerings to that Devil to be delivered out of his temptations and snares And one of their own Authors cites this Proverb as used among them Make a present to Samael on the day of expiation But how great soever the apprehensions which the Caribbians have of their Maboya may be and how ill soever they may be treated by him yet do they not honour him with any offerings prayers adorations or sacrifices All the remedy they use against his cruel vexations is the best they can to make little Images of wood or some other solid matter in imitation of the shape under which that wicked spirit hath appeared to them These Images they hang about their necks and say they find ease thereby and that Maboya does not torment them so much when they have those about them Sometimes also in imitation of the Caribbians of the Continent they make use of the mediation of the Boyez to appease him and they thereupon consult their Gods as upon the like occasions those of the Continent have recourse to their Sorcerers who are highly esteemed among them For though the Caribbians of those parts are all generally subtle enough yet have they among them a sort of crafty companions who to gain greater authority and reputation among the rest make them believe that they hold a secret correspondence with the evil Spirits whom they call Maboya as our Islanders do whereby they are tormented and that they learn of them things absolutely unknown to others These Impostors are looked upon among this poor people that have no knowledge of God as Oracles and they consult them in all things and superstitiously give credit to their Answers This occasions irreconcileable Enmities among them and many times Murthers for when any one dies his Friends and Relations are wont to consult the Sorcerer how he came to his death if the Sorcerer answers that such or such a one was the cause of it they will never rest till they have dispatch'd him whom the Piais so they call the Sorcerer in their Language hath nam'd to them The Caribbians of the Islands do also in this follow the custom of their Country men of the Continent as we have represented before But this is most certain and a thing which all the Savages daily acknowledg themselves by experience That the wicked one hath
she who is promised me because naturally they are to be wives to their Cousins The women say Youellou The Children of two Brothers are called brothers and sisters the children of Sisters the like III. CONDITIONS and QUALITIES A man or a male Ouekelli M. in the plural number Ouekliem Eyeri W. in the plural Eyerium A Woman or a Female Ouelle M. in the plural number Ouliem Inarou W. in the plural Innouyum A Child Niankeili A Boy Mouléke A Girl Niankeirou A little boy Ouekelli-raeu properly a little male A little girl Ouelle-raeu properly a little female An old man Ouaïali A Father of a Family Tiouboutouli authe A Widdow and Widdower Moincha A Comrade Banaré A Friend Ibaouanale M. Nitignon W. An Enemy Etoutou M. Akani W. An Enemy who goes clad in opposition to those who go naked Etoutou noubi Savage Maron The Caribbians attribute that name only to animals and wild fruits An Inhabitant Bonon An Islander or Inhabitant of the Islands Oubao-bonon An Inhabitant of the Continent Balouë-bonon A man come thither by Sea Balanaglé Thus they call the Christians because they come to their Country by Sea An Admiral or General of a naval Army Nhaléné A Captain of a Vessel Tiouboutouli Canaoua A Commander in chief or General Ouboutou in the plural numb Ouboutounum A Lieutenant Tiouboutoumali arici that is properly the track of the Captain or that which appears after him A Souldier or Warriour Netoukouiti A Sentinel or Spie Arikouti Nabara My Prisoner of war Nïouitouli Niouemakali He who hath the charge of entertaining Guests Niouakaiti My hired servant such as the Christians have Nabouyou A servant who is an absolute Slave Tamon A Huntsman Ekerouti Fat Tibouleli Lean Touleeli Great Mouchipeeli Big Ouboutonti Little Nianti racu Pretty little one Pikenine in the bastard Language High Inouti Low Onabouti Deep Ouliliti Anianliti Broad Taboubéreti Long Mouchinagouti Round Chiririti Square Patagouti Fair Bouitouti Deformed Nianti ichibou Soft Nioulouti Hard Téleti Dry Ouärrou Ouärrouti Moist Kouchakouali Heat and cold are express'd in the ix Section White Alouti Black Ouliti Yellow Houëreti Red Ponati They have no names but only for those four colours and they refer all the rest to them A Thief Youalouti An incestuous person Kakouyoukouatiti An Adulterer Oulimateti A Fornicator Huereti Quarrelsome Oulibimekoali Koauaiti A treacherous person Nirobouteiti Evil Oulibati Nianouanti Good Iroponti Wise Kanichicoti Cunning Manigat A fool Leuleuti ao or Talouali ao that is properly he who hath no light Valiant Ballinumpti Cowardly Abaouati Joyful Aouerekoua Liouani Sad Imouemeti Drunk Nitimaïnti Rich Katakobaiti Poor Matakobaiti Picquant Chouchouti Dead Neketali IV. ACTIONS and PASSIONS HE puts his trust in him Moingatteti loné Stay for me Jacaba Noubara Hope expect Alliré Hope in him Emenichiraba Hope Ementchira My hope Nemenichiraeu My fear Ninonnoubouli My joy Naoueregon M. Niouanni W. My sadness Nitikaboué He is born Emeïgnouali You are welcome Halea tibou I am hungry Lamanatina I am thirsty Nacrabatina Give me to eat or give me some bread Yerebalium boman M. Nouboute um boman W. Give me some drink Natoni boman Eat in the Imperative Baika To eat in the Infinitive which is seldome used Aika I eat Naikiem Drink thou Kouraba I drink Natiem Natakayem I am warm with drinking or have drunk plentifully Nacharoüatina Come hither Hac-yeté Go thy wayes Bayouboukaa Speak Ariangaba I speak Nanangayem Hold thy peace Maniba Sit down Niourouba Lie down on the ground Raoignaba Rise up Aganekaba Stand up Raramaba Look Arikaba Hear Akambabaë Blow Irimichaba Tast it Aochabaë Touch it Kourouabaë Go Bayoubaka I go Nayoubakayem Walk Babachiaka Run Hehemba Dance Babenaka I dance Nabinakayem Leap Choubakouaba I am going or about to leap Choubakoua niabou Laugh Béérraka I laugh or am glad Naouërekoyem Weep Ayakouaba Sleep Baronka Awake Akakotouäba Watch Aromankaba Labour or pains-taking Youategmali M. Noumaniklé W. Rest Nemervoni A Fight Tibouikenoumali War Nainchoa M. Nihuctoukouli W. Peace Niuëmboulouli He is defeated Niouellemainti He is overcome Enepali Breathe Aouraba banichi that is properly refresh thy heart Blow Phoubaë Spit Chouëba Cough Hymba Wipe thy nose Nainraba To ease ones self Homoura Wash thy self Chibaba Moisten Touba boubara Go to wash thy self Akao bouka I swim Napouloukayem I swim well Capouloukatiti He was drown'd Chalalaali He was choak'd Niarakouäli Open Talaba Shut it Taba Seek Aloukaba Find Ibikouabaë Fly Hamamba Thou fallest Batikeroyen Loose it Aboulekouabaë Sell it Kebeciketabaë Buy A mouliakaba He trades Haouanemeti Go a hunting Ekrekabouca That which I have taken in hunting Nekeren He shoots well with the Bow Kachienratiti Boukatiti He shoots well with a gun Katouratiti Go a fishing Tikabouka authe I fish Natiakayem What I have got a fishing Natiakani He is come into the Port Abourricaali I sing in the Church Nallalakayem I sing a song Naromankayem He is in love with her or makes much of her Ichoatoati tao Kiss me Chouba nioumolougou I would be named name me Yetikleé yatek He loves him Kinchinti loné Tibouinati He hates him Yerekati loné A quarrel Liouelébouli Drunkenness Liuetimali Strike beat Baikoaba A whip or wand Abaichaglé Beat him Apparabaë Scratch Kiomba Kill him Chiouibae He is well Atouattienly He is sick Nanegaeti Nanneteiti Sickness Aneck He hath bewitched me Naraliatina I will be revenged Nibane bouibatina Revenge Nayouïbanabouli He hath bitten him Kerrelialo He is wounded Niboukabouali He is yet living Nouloukeili M. Kakekeïli W. Life Lakakechoni He is dead Aouéeli Nikotamainali M. Hilaali W. Bury him or it which is not said only of a man but generally of whatsoever is put into the ground as of a Plant Bonambaë Buriall Tonamouli V. Things relating to HOUSE-KEEPING and TRADE A Village Authe A Publick-House Karbet An ordinary house Toubana M. Touhonoko W. A Penthouse Covering or Hut suddenly erected Aïoupa A Garden Maina My Garden Imaïnali M. Nichali W. A Trench for the planting of Manioc Tomonack The Roof Toubana ora properly the covering of the House or Hut A Wall or Pallisado Kourara Floor of boards they have not any A Plank Iboutou A door Béna A Window Toullepen properly a Hole A Bed Amac and Akat M. Nekera W. A Table Matoutou A Seat Halaheu A Cage Tonoulou-banna A Vessel Takae which is generally applyed to all Vessels A Vessel made of a Gourd Couï Half the Couï which serves for a dish Tauba this word signifies properly a side A Drinking-cup Ritta A Glass Flagon bottle Boutella from the Spanish The wooden frame which serves for a Gridiron and is by other Savages called Boucan Youla An Iron Pot or Kettle Touraë An Earthen Pot Taumali akaë and Canary A Candlestick or any thing that holds a thing Taketaklé A Candle Lamp Torch Touli which is a Sandal-wood which yields a Gum. A pair of snuffers Tachackoutaglé A Hook Keouë A needle Akoucha A pin Alopholer A Coffer Arka A basket Alaouata Catoli The hair-cloth to sift the meal of