Maboya that is to say the evil spirit hath reduc'd us under the power of the French English Spaniards and others who have driven us out of the best part of our Country Thirdly it is possible they may have different Customs according to the diversity of the Islands though they all make up but one people as may be observed in the diversity of the Customs of one and the same Kingdom according to the several Quarters and Provinces of it Whence it may have proceeded for example that those that have conversed most at Dominico will give an account of the Opinions Customs and Ceremonies of the Caribbians much different from what shall be related thereof by those persons who shall have frequented other places and yet the Relations of either side shall be true Fourthly as in the Continent of America the Caribbians who inhabit a good way within the Country and consequently seldom see any forreigners retain much more of their ancient Customs and their old course of life than those who living neer the Dutch Colonies of Cayenna and Berbica drive on an ordinary trade with the Christians so among our Caribbians the Inhabitants of the Islands those who converse least with the Europaeans such as are those of St. Vincent's are more strict observers of their ancient course of life than are for example those of Martinico or Dominico who are oftner seen among them Fifthly thence it proceeds that those persons who have seen them only in these last mentioned places or have heard of them only from such as have been acquainted with them only in those places will haply find many things in the prosecution of our History which may clash with the Relations they had received of them from others which if they do they are not to wonder thereat since most of our Observations relate to the Caribbians of St. Vincents Lastly we desire our Readers to take this further advertisement that it is our design to give a description of the ancient Manners and Customs of these Caribbians to the end that no body may think it strange if their present demeanour be not in all things answerable thereto These advertisements being thus premis'd we proceed to give the Reader satisfaction consequently to the title of this Chapter Most of those people whom we call Barbarians and Savages have some thing hideous and deformed or defective either in their Countenances or some other part of the body as Historians affirm of the Maldiveses the Inhabitants about the Magellane streights and several others which we need not name here But the Caribbians are a handsome well-shap'd people well proportion'd in all parts of their bodies gracefull enough of a smiling countenance middle stature having broad shoulders and large buttocks and they are most of them in good plight and stronger than the French Their mouths are not over large and their teeth are perfectly white and close True it is their complexion is naturally of an Olive-colour and that colour spreads even into the whites of their Eyes which are black somewhat little like those of the Chineses and Tartars but very piercing Their foreheads and noses are flat not naturally but by artifice For their mothers crush them down at their birth as also continually during the time they suckle them imagining it a kind of beauty and perfection for were it not for that their noses would be well shap'd and they would have high foreheads as well as we They have large and thick feet because they go barefoot but they are withall so hard that they defie Woods and Rocks Among those of the Country a man cannot meet with any wanting either one or both eyes lame crook-back'd or bald or having any other deformity naturally as is in like manner affirmed of the Brasilians the Floridians and most Nations of America whereas those who have walked through Grand Cairo relate That in the Streets they have met with many one-eyed and many stark blind people those infirmities being so frequent and so popular in that Country that of ten persons five or six are subject thereto But if any among the Caribbians are thus deformed or have lost or are maimed in any limb it hapned in some Engagement against their Enemies and so those scars or deformities being so many demonstrations of their Valour they glory in them so far are they from being in any danger of mischief or being cast into a furnace by their Country-men as those poor Children were among the people of Guyana and among the Lacedemonians in the time of Lycurgus who came out of their Mothers wombs imperfect and deformed Nay there are some handsom Maids and Women amongst the Savage Caribbians witness Madamoiselle de Rosselan wife to the Governour of Saintalousia All the Caribbians are black-hair'd as the Chineses are who for that reason are sometimes call'd the Black-hair'd People The hair of the Caribbians is not curl'd or frizzled as that of the Moors but streight and long as those of the Maldiveses And the Women attribute the highest perfection of Beauty to this black colour as to what concerns the hair It is reported also That the Indian Women of Peru are so enamour'd of black hair that to make their own of that colour by artifice when Nature does it not they are willing to endure incredible pains and torments On the contrary in Spain many Ladies to make their hair seem to be of a golden yellow colour perfume it with Sulphur steep it in Aqua-fortis and expose it to the Sun in the heat of the day nay in the very Dog-days And in Italy the same colour is much affected The Caribbians are very careful in combing themselves and they think it commendable so to do They anoint their hair with Oil and have certain Receipts to advance the growth thereof The Women commonly comb their Husbands and their Children Both Men and Women tie up their hair towards the hinder part of the head winding it about so as that it stands up like a horn on the Crown on both sides they leave locks hanging down like so many Mustachioes according to natural liberty The Women part their hair so as that it falls down on both sides of their heads but the men part theirs the quite contrary way so as that one half falls down behind the other before which obliges them to cut off the fore-part of it otherwise it would fall down over their eyes This they did heretofore with certain sharp Herbs before they had the use of Scissers not to mention that they were also accustomed to cut off their hair when they were in mourning whereas on the contrary in Madagascar the Men never cut off their hair but the Women shave it clear off a custom contrary to that of those people among whom S. Paul liv'd The Caribbians seem not to have any Beards at all but as soon as they grow they pluck them off by the roots as the Brasilians the Cumaneses and
which way they will in their little Amacs or Beds of Cotton or upon little Couches of Bananaleaves laid on the ground in some corner of their Huts and yet their limbs are not any way distorted but the whole body is perfectly well-shap'd Those who have liv'd among the Maldiveses and the Topinambous affirm the same thing of the children of those people though they never bind them up in any thing no more then the Caribbians are The Lacedaemonians heretofore did the like They do not impose Names on their children as soon as they are born but after twelve or fifteen days and then they call a Man and a Woman who stand as it were for Godfather and Godmother and make holes in the child's ears the under-lip and the space between the nostrils and put a thred through that there may be places to hang Pendants But if they conceive the children too weak to endure the boring of those parts they defer that ceremony till they are grown stronger Most of the Names the Caribbians give their children are deriv'd from their Ancestors or from divers Trees which grow in their Islands or else from some accident that happen'd to the Father while his Wife was with child or during the time of his own lying in Thus ones Daughter in the Island of Dominico was called Ouliem-banna that is to say The leaf of the wild â—ine which is a Tree whereof we have given a description in its proper place Another of the same Island having been at S. Christophers whilst his Wife was with child and having there seen the â—râ—nâ—h General nam'd the child he had at his return General upon remembrance of the kind entertainment he had receiv'd at the General 's Something of this kind is also observ'd among other Nations For instance the Canadians borrow Names from Fishes and Rivers The Virginians and Brasilians take theirs from the first thing they think of as from Bows Arrows living Creatures Trees Plants The Grand Seignors of Turkey are wont to give to the Eunuchs who keep their Wives the Names of the fairest Flowers to the end that those Women calling them by the same Names there should proceed nothing out of their mouths but what were decent and delightful The Romans as may be seen in Plutarch sometimes took their Names from Fishes sometimes from their Country-divertisements sometimes from the marks and imperfections of their bodies and sometimes from their most Heroick Actions in imitation of the Greeks Nay the Holy Scriptures furnish us with abundance of examples of Names taken from divers accidents as among others those of Benoni Pharez Icabod and the like The Names which the Caribbians impose on their male children some time after their birth are not to be continu'd while they live for they change their Names when they come to the age requisite to be receiv'd into the number of Souldiers and when they have behav'd themselves valiantly in the Wars and have kill'd one of the chief Commanders of the Arouagues they assume his Name as a mark of Honour Which Custom relates somewhat to what was practis'd among the Romans after their Victories when they assum'd to themselves the Names of the Nations whom they had subdu'd as may be instanc'd in Scipio Africanus and divers others whom we need not cite These victorious Caribbians have also in their Wines or publick rejoycing days some particular person chosen to give them a new Name to whom they say after they have taken a sufficient dose of drink Yeticlée y atec that is I would be named name me whose desire the other presently satisfies and in requital he receives some Present such as may be a knife or a grain of Chrystal or some other trifle much esteem'd among them The Caribbian Women suckle their own children and are very good Nurses and indulgent Mothers having all the care imaginable to bring them up nay when their neighbours are gone to the wars they look to their Children All the Peruvian and the Canadian women and most of the West-Indians are also their own Nurses And in the East-Indies in the Kingdom of Transiana and the Maldivos the women of what quality soever they be of are obliged to suckle their own Children And Tacitus affirms that all Mothers nurs'd their own Children among the ancient Germans Nay it is reported that heretofore the Queens of Peru took the pains to bring up their own children And we have the examples of some Queens of Eraâ—ce who have not thought those maternal endeavours below them a Custom much contrary to that of those Canarian Women who commonly caus'd their Children to be suckled by Goats The same thing was also done by some country-Country-women of â—â—â—â—â—ne in Montaigne's time The Mothers of our little Garibbians do not only give the bâ—east to their Children but assoon as they are grown a little strong they chew the Potatoes Bananas and other fruits to feed them withall And though they suffer the little ones to tumble up and down stark naked â—pon the ground and that many they eat and lick the dust and other filth which they are apt to put into their mouths yet do they thrive extreamly and for the most part become so strong that at six months they are able to go alone At two years of age their hair is cut and then there is a Feast made for the whole Family some Parents defer till that time the piercing or boring of their ears lips and the space between the nostrils yet is not this much in use but only when the weakness of the child will not permit it to be done sooner When they are a little more advanc'd in years the Boys eat with their Fathers and the Girls with their Mothers Fathers-in-Law and all Relations which are in the collateral line with their true Fathers they call by the general name of Fathers Though the Children of the Caribbians are not instructed to do any reverence to their Parents nor to express the respect and honour they owe them by any gestures of the body yet have they a natural affection for them and if any injury be done them they immediately espouse their quarrel and endeavour all the ways they can to be revenged For instance a French-man of Gardeloupe having cut the cords of the Amac wherein an old Caribbian lay by which means falling down he bruised himself and put his shoulder out of joint the old man's Son-in-Law immedately got together some young men who making an incursion into the Island of Marigalanta maslacred the French who were then beginning to plant themselves there But the main business which the Caribbians mind in the education of their Children is to teach them the use of the Bow And to bring them the better on assoon as they are able to go the Parents put their Breakfast on the branch of a tree whence they must strike it down with their Arrows before they eat if they
certain Nations subject to the Empire of the Tartars do who have always an iron instrument in their hands wherewith they pluck out the hair of their Beards as soon as they come out But the Caribbians are seldom seen to put themselves to that trouble insomuch that it is conceiv'd they have a secret to prevent the growth of hair when it is once gotten off an invention which would have been of great convenience to the ancient Romans For it is affirm'd that they would not suffer their Beards to grow till after the time of the Emperour Adrian who first suffer'd his to grow before that time it was thought among them so honourable a thing to wear no beard that there was a prohibition made that Slaves should not shave theirs The same prohibition extended also to all persons charg'd with any Crime as it were to set a mark of infamy on them till such time as they were clear'd as Aulâ—â— Gellius affirms which proceeding was contrary to what is practis'd in the Seignior's Territories who causes the Beard to be shaven as a mark of ignominy In the year One thousand six hundred fifty two that hapned to the French Consul at Alexandria being charg'd with having done some unhandsom things in his Employment his Beard had such a natural graceful curl and was of so fair a flaxen colour that some Turks would have given him a considerable sum of money for it and kept it for a Rarity but he chose rather to bring it along with him into France The Caribbians wonder very much to see our Europeans suffer their Beards to grow so long and think it a great deformity to wear any as they account it a perfection in themselves to have none but they are not the only Savages who are fantastick in matter of gracefulness and beauty All barbarous Nations nay some that are civiliz'd are wedded to their particular sentiments as to that point For instance among the Maldiveses it is accounted an accomplishment of Beauty to have the body all over hairy which among us would be thought more becoming a Bear then a Man Among the Mexicans to have a little narrow forehead and that full of hair Among the Japoneses not to have any hair at all whence it comes that they are ever employ'd in the plucking of it off leaving only a little tuft on the crown of the head Among the Tartarian Women it is thought a piece of Beauty to be flat-nos'd but to heighten the attractions of their noses they rub them with a very black unguent Among the Inhabitants of Guinny they make the same account of great nails and flat noses and thence it comes that assoon as the children are come into the world they crush down their noses with their thumbs as do also the Brasilians Among those of the Province of Cusco in Peru and some oriental Inhabitants of the Indies as also among the Calecutians and the Malabars it is thought very graceful to have extraordinary large ears hanging down over their shoulders insomuch that some among them use divers artifices to make them such Among the Aethiopians great lips and a skin black as Jet are thought beautiful The Negroes of Mosambico are extreamly pleas'd to have their teeth very sharp so that some use Files to make them such Among the Maldiveses they are no less desirous to have them red and to that end they are continually chewing of Petel Among the Japoneses and the Cumaneses they are industrious to have them black and they purposely make them such And among the latter it is accounted beauty to have a long face lean cheeks and excessively big legs And hence it is that they squeeze the heads of their children between two cushions as soon as they are born and that after the example of the Inhabitants about the River of Essequebe they bind the legs very hard a little below the knee and a little above the ankle that so the calf may swell Among some Peruvians to have the face cut and chequer'd as it were with Lancets and to have flat and broad heads huge foreheads and the head very narrow from the forehead to the nape of the neck is accounted beautiful And to reduce it to this comely shape they kept their childrens heads press'd between two thin boards from the time of their birth till they were four or five year old To be short among some oriental Nations and some Africans it is accounted a great perfection in the Women to have their breasts hanging down over their shoulders and among the Chineses it is the principal part of beauty to have the foot extreamly little and thin and the better to have it so while they are yet children they bind their feet so hard that they are in a manner lam'd and it is with much ado that they are able to stand It were a hard matter to make a description of beauty according to the different opinions of all these nations But to return to the Caribbians They go stark-naked both men and women as many other Nations do And if any one among them should endeavour to hide the privy parts all the rest would laugh at it Though the Christians have conversed very much among them yet have all the perswasions that have hitherto been used to induce them to cover themselves been to no purpose And whereas sometimes when they come to visit the Christians or to treat with them they have comply'd so far with them as to cover themselves by putting on a shirt drawers a hat and such cloaths as had been given them yet assoon as they were return'd to their own habitations they strip themselves and put up all in their Closets till some such other occasion should oblige them to put them on again To requite this compliance of the Caribbians some among the French having occasion to go among them made no difficulty to strip themselves after their example This defiance of cloaths reigns in all places under the Torrid Zone as every one knows When the Brasilians are reproach'd with their nakedness they reply that we came naked into the world and that it were a mad thing for us to hide the bodies bestowed on us by nature The Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Benin in Africa are to be commended that they cover themselves when they are to be married and would do it sooner if their King would permit it The women of the Lucayan Islands ought also to participate of that commendation for they were wont to cover themselves when they came to be marriageable and solemnized that action with great rejoicing But now that custome is abrogated for that poor Nation hath been utterly destroy'd by the Spaniards or carryed away and made slaves to work in the Mines and there are not in any of the Islands known under that name any of the natural Inhabitants but only some few English who were transported thither out of the Island of Bermudez But come we
desiring one of Tin Whence it may easily be imagined what account they made of Tin since they gave a young maid in exchange for a Spoon of that mettal Herodotus affirms that heretofore among the Aethiopians Copper was in better esteem than Gold the use whereof was so vile that they bound Malefactors with chains of Gold The Caribbians do sometimes also make holes through their lips and put through them a kind of little Bodkin which is made of the bone of some beast or fish Nay they bore through the space between the Nostrils that they may hang there some Ring a grain of Chrystal or some such toy The necks and arms of our Caribbians have also their respective ornaments for they have their Neck-laces and Bracelets of Amber Coral or some other glittering material The men wear Bracelets on the brawny part of the arm neer the shoulder but the women wear theirs about the wrists They adorn also their legs with Chains of Rassada instead of Garters Those among them who have no acquaintance with the Europaeans commonly wear about their necks Whistles made of the bones of their enemies and great chains made of the teeth of Agoutys Tygers wild Cats or little shells bor'd through and fasten'd together with a thread of fine Cotton of a red or violet colour And when they would make the greatest show they can they add to all this a kind of Caps certain Bracelets which they fasten under their armpits Scarfs and Girdles of Feathers very industriously dispos'd together by a delightful intermixture which they suffer to hang down over their shoulders or from the navel to the middle of the thigh But the most considerable of all their Ornaments are certain large Medals of fine Copper extreamly well polished without any graving on them which are made after the figure of a crescent and enchac'd in some kind of solid and precious wood these in their own language they call Caracolis They are of different largeness for there are some so small that they hang them at their ears like Pendants and others about the bigness of the palm of a mans hand which they have hanging about their necks beating on their breasts They have a great esteem for these Caracolis aswell by reason the material whereof they are made which never contracts any rust glisters like Gold as that it is the rarest and most precious booty they get in the incursions they make every year into the Country of the Arouagues their Enemies and that it is the livery or badge whereby the Captains and their Children are distinguish'd from the ordinary sort of people Accordingly those who have any of these jewels make so great account of them that when they die they have no other inheritance to leave their Children and intimate Friends Nay there are some among them who have of these Caracolis which had been their Grandfathers wherewith they do not adorn themselves but on extraordinary occasions The women paint the whole body and adorn themselves much after the same manner as the men do excepting only those differences we have mentioned before and that they wear no Crowns on their heads There is this also particularly observable in them that they wear a kind of buskins which fall no lower than the ankle This kind of ornament is very neatly wrought and edg'd above and below with a certain intertexture of rushes and cotton which lying streight on the calf of the leg makes it seem more full CHAP. X. Certain Remarks upon the Caribbian Language IT is our intention at the end of this History for the satisfaction of the more curious Reader to add a large Vocabulary of the Caribbian Language and therefore in this Chapter we shall only make some principal remarks upon it such as may in some measure discover the grace the smoothness and the proprieties thereof 1. The Caribbians have an ancient and natural Language such as is wholly peculiar to them as every Nation hath that which is proper to it 2. But besides that ancient Language they have fram'd another bastard-speech which is intermixt with several words taken out of forreign Languages by the commerce they have had with the Europaeans But above all they have borrowed many words of the Spaniards for they were the first Christians that came among them 3. Among themselves they alwaies make use of their ancient and natural Language 4. But when they have occasion to converse or negotiate with the Christians they always make use of their corrupt Language 5. Besides that they have also a very pleasant intermixture of words and expressions when they would undertake to speak in some forreign Language As for example when they use this expression to the French saying Compere Governeur that is Gossip Governour using the word Compere generally towards all those who are their Friends or Allies In like manner they would say without any more ceremony Compere Roy that is Gossip or Friend King if there were any occasion to do it It is also one of their ordinary complements to the French when they say with smiling countenance Ah si toy bon pour Caraibe moy bon pour France If thou art good for the Caribbian I am good for France And when they would commend and express how much they are satisfy'd with those of the same Nation they say Mouche bon France pour Caraibe France is very good for the Caribbian they say also Maboya mouche fache contre Caraibe Maboya doth much against the Caribbian when it thunders or in a Hurricane and Moy mouche Lunes I have lived many Moons to signifie that they are very ancient They have also these words often in their mouths when they find that the French would abuse their simplicity Compere toy trompe Caraibe Friend thou deceivest the Caribbian And they are often heard to say when they are in a good humour Moy bonne Caraibe I am an honest Caribbian 6. Yet is it to be observ'd that though the Caribbians of all the Islands do generally nnderstand one another yet is there in several of them some dialect different from that of the others 7. There is no great use made of the letter P. in their Language but that only excepted there is no want of letters as there is in the Language of Japan Braseel and Canada which want the letters F. L. R. Or in that of Peru wherein B. D. F. G. J. consonant and X are wanting as Historians affirm 8. The Language of the Caribbians is extreamly smooth and for the most part pronounced with the lips some few words with the teeth and in a manner nothing at all from the throat For though the words we shall set down hereafter seem to be rough as they are written yet when they pronounce them they make elisions of certain letters and give such an air thereto as renders their discourse very delightful to the ear Whence it came that Monsieur du Montel hath given this testimony of them I
took great pleasure said he in hearkning unto them when I was among them and I could not sufficiently admire the grace the fluency and the sweetness of their pronunciation which they commonly accompany with a little smiling such as takes very much with those who converse with them 9. The Caribbians who are Inhabitants of the Islands have a sweeter pronunciation than those of the Continent but otherwise they differ only in a dialect 10. By the same word according as it is diversly pronounced they signifie several things For example the word Anhan signifies 1. Yes 2. I know not 3. Thine or take it according to the pronunciation that is given it 11. The Europaeans cannot pronounce the Caribbian Language with the grace and fluency natural thereto unless they have learnt it very young 12. They hear one another very patiently and never interrupt one the other in their discourse But they are wont to give a little hem at the end of every three or four periods to express the satisfaction they have to hear what is spoken 13. What advantage soever the Europaeans may imagine they have over the Caribbians either as to the natural faculties of the mind or the easiness of pronunciation of their own Languages in order to the more easie attainment of theirs yet hath it been found by experience that the Caribbians do sooner learn ours than we do theirs 14. Some among the French have observ'd that the Caribbians have a kind of aversion for the English tongue nay so far that some affirm they cannot endure to hear it spoken where they are because they look on them as their Enemies And whereas there are in their corrupt Language many words taken out of the Spanish a people whom they also account their Enemies it proceeds hence that they learn'd them during the time they held a fair correspondence with that Nation and before they began to treat them as they afterwards did 15. They are very shie in communicating their Language out of a fear the secrets of their Wars might be discovered nay those among them who have embrac'd the Christian Religion would not be perswaded to reveal the grounds of their Language out of a belief it might prejudice their Nation 16. We shall here set down some of the most particular proprieties of their Language In the first place the men have many expressions proper only to themselves which the women understand well enough but never pronounce And the women have also their words and phrases which if the men should use they would be laugh'd at whence it comes that in this Discourse one would think the women spoke a Language different from that of the men as will be seen in our Vocabulary by the difference of expressions which the men and women make use of to signifie the same thing The Savages of Dominico affirm that it proceeds hence that when the Caribbians came to inhabit these Islands they were possess'd by a Nation of the Arouagues whom they absolutely destroy'd save only the Women whom they married for the re-peopling of the Country so that those Women having retain'd their own Language taught it their Daughters and brought them to speak as they did which being practis'd to the present by the Mothers towards their Daughters their Language came to be different from that of the Men in many things But the male Children though they understand the speech of their Mothers and Sisters do nevertheless imitate their Fathers and Brethren and accustom themselves to their Language when they are five or six years old To confirm what we have said concerning the cause of this difference of Language it is alledg'd That there is some conformity between the Language of the Arouagues who live in the Continent and that of the Caribbian Women But it is to be observ'd That the Caribbians of the Continent as well Men as Women speak the same Language as having not corrupted it by inter-marriages with strange Women 17. The old men have also some terms particular to themselves and certain affected expressions not at all us'd by the younger sort of people 18. The Caribbians have also a certain Language which they make use of only among themselves when they entertain any warlike Resolutions it is a very hard kind of fustian-language The Women and Maids know nothing of that mysterious Language nor yet the young Men till they have given some assurances of their generosity and the zeal they have for the common Quarrel of their Nation against their Enemies This is to prevent the discovery of their designs before the appointed time 19. For the variation of their Cases Persons Moods and Genders they have no distinct particles as we have but they lengthen their words by certain syllables or letters at the beginning or end of the word and sometimes by the change of the letters Thus they say in the Imperative Bayoubaka Go but in the Indicative Nayoubakayem I go In like manner Babinaka dance Nabinakayem I dance much like the formation of the Hebrew Verbs 20. Indefinite and absolute Nouns are not much in use among them especially the names of the parts of the body but they are always in a manner restrain'd to a first second or third person 21. The first person is commonly express'd by the Letter N at the beginning of a word as Nichic my Head the second by a B as Bichic thy Head and the third by an L as Lichic his Head 22. The neuter and absolute Gender is express'd by a T as Tichic the Head but this is not much in use 23. They have different names in speaking to persons when they are present and others when they speak of them thus they say Baba Father speaking to him and Youmaan speaking of him Bibi Mother speaking to her and Ichanum speaking of her which with the difference there is between the Language of the Men and the Women the young and the old their ordinary Discourse and that us'd by them when they are engag'd in Military Deliberations must needs cause a great multiplication of words in their Language 24. Their proper Names are many times deriv'd from certain Accidents as we shall see more particularly in the Chapter of the Birth and Education of their Children 25. They never name any one when the party is present or at least out of respect they do but half name him 26. They never pronounce the whole Name of either Man or Woman but they do those of Children so that they will say the Father or Mother of such a one or else they say half the Name as for instance Mala insteed of saying Malakaali and Hiba for Hibalomon 27. The Uncles and Aunts as many as are of the collateral Line are called Fathers and Mothers by their Nephews so that the Uncle is called Baba that is to say Father But when they would expresly signifie the true and proper Father they many times add another word saying Baba tinnaca 28. Consequently to the
look over-earnestly upon them and laugh at their nakedness they are wont to say to them Friends you are to look on us only between both the eyes a vertue worthy admiration in a people that go naked and are as barbarous as these It is related of Captain Baron that in one of the incursions made by him and his party into the Island of Montserrat then possest by the English he made great waste in the Plantations that lay neerest to the Sea so that he carried a great booty and that among the Prisoners there being a young Gentlewoman Wife to one of the Officers of the Island he caused her to be brought to one of his houses in Dominico this Gentlewoman being big with child when she was carried away was very carefully attended during the time of her lying in by the Savage women of the same Island And though she liv'd there a good while after among them neither Captain Baron nor any other ever touched her a great example of reservedness in such people Yet must it be acknowledged that some of them have since degenerated from that chastity and many other vertues of their Ancestors But we must withall make this acknowledgment that the Europaeans by their pernicious examples and the unchristian-like treatment they have us'd towards them basely deceiving them perfidiously upon all occasions breaking their promises with them unmercifully rifling and burning their houses and villages and ravishing and debauching their Wives and Daughters have taught them to the perpetual infamy of the Christian name dissimulation lying treachery perfidiousness luxury and several other vices which were unknown in those parts before they had any Commerce with them But as to other concerns these Savages are remarkable for their civility and courtesie beyond what can be imagined in Savages Not but that there are some Caribbians very brutish and unreasonable but for the greater part of them their judgment and docility is observable upon many occasions and those who have conversed long with them have found several experiences of their fair dealing gratitude friendship and generosity But of this we shall speak more particularly in the Chapter where we shall treat of their Reception of such Strangers as come to visit them They are also great lovers of cleanliness a thing extraordinary among Savages and have such an aversion for all nastiness that if one should ease himself in their Gardens where their Cassava and Potatoes are planted they will presently forsake them and not make use of any thing growing therein Of this their neatness in this and other things we shall have occasion to say more in the Chapter Of their Habitations and their Repasts CHAP. XII Of the natural simplicity of the Caribbians ADmiration being the Daughter of Ignorance we are not to think it strange that the Caribbians who have so little knowledge of those excellent things which study and experience have made familiar amongst civiliz'd Nations should be so much astonish'd when they meet with any thing whereof the cause is unknown to them and that they should be brought up in so great simplicity that it might be taken in most of these poor people for a brutish stupidity This simplicity is remarkable among other things in the extraordinary fear they conceive at the sight of Firearms which they look on with a strange admiration but their astonishment is greatest at Fire-locks much beyond what they have for great Guns and Muskets because they see Fire put to them but for Fire-locks they are not able to conceive how it is possible they should take Fire and so they believe it is the evil Spirit Maboya who does that Office But this fear and astonishment is common to them with divers other Savages who have not found any thing so strange in their encounters with the Europaeans as those Arms which spit Fire and at so great a distance wound and kill those whom they meet with This was it together with the Prodigy of seeing Men fighting on Horseback which principally made the Peruvians think the Spaniards to be Gods and occasioned their submission to them with less resistance It is reported also that the Arabians who make Incursions along the River Jordan and should be more accustomed to War are not free from this fear and astonishment Among the several discoveries of the simplicity of our Caribbians we shall here set down two very considerable ones When there happens an Eclipse of the Moon they believe that Maboya eats her and they dance all night making a noise with Gourds wherein there are many small Pebbles And when they smell any thing of ill scent they are wont to say Maboya cayeu eu that is The Devil is here Caima Loary Let us be gone because of him or for fear of him Nay they attribute the name of Maboya or Devil to certain Plants of ill scent such as may be Mushrooms and to whatever is apt to put them into any fright Some years since the greatest part of the Caribbians were perswaded that Gun-powder was the Seed of some Herb nay there were those who desir'd some of it to sow in their Gardens nay some were so obstinate that though disswaded from it they put it into the ground out of a perswasion that it would bring forth somwhat as well as other Seeds Yet was not this Imagination so gross as those of certain Brutes of Guinny who the first time they saw Europaeans thought the Commodities they brought them such as Linnen Cloathes Knives and Fire-arms grew on the Earth so prepar'd as the Fruits did on Trees and that there was no more to be done than to gather them That certainly is not so pardonable a piece of simplicity as that of the Caribbians And we may further alledg to excuse that simplicity or at least to render it the more supportable the stupidity of those Inhabitants of America who upon the first Discovery of the New-World imagin'd that the Horse and the Rider made up one Creature like the imaginary Centaurs of the Poets And that of those others who after they were subdu'd coming to desire peace and pardon of the Men and to bring them Gold and Provisions went and made the same Presents to the Horses with a Speech much like that which they had made to the Men interpreting the neighing of those Creatures for a Language of composition and truce And to conclude these instances we shall add only the childish sottishness of those same Indians of America who roundly believ'd that the Letters which the Spaniards sent one to another were certain Messengers and Spies speaking and seeing and discovering the most secret actions and upon this perswasion fearing one day the eye and tongue of one of these Letters they hid it under a stone that they might freely eat some Melons of their Masters In fine there will be no cause to think it so strange that the Caribbians should take Gun-powder a thing absolutely unknown to them for
kind of amphibious Creatures But if the other inventions for fishing should fail our Caribbians they have their recourse to a certain wood which they bruise after they have cut it into little pieces which done they cast it into Ponds or those places where the Sea is quiet and calm and this is as it were a Sovereign Mummy wherewith they take as much Fish as they please but they are so prudent as not to make use of this last expedient but only in case of necessity for fear of making too great a waste among the Fish After Hunting and Fishing they apply themselves to several kinds of Works as to make Beds of Cotton very neatly woven which they call Amaes The Women spin the Cotton on the knee and commonly they make use of neither Distaff nor Spindle but some of them in the Island of Martinico have learn'd the use thereof of the French They have also the perfect Art of twisting it but in some Islands the Men weave the Beds Besides this they make Baskets of Bull-rushes and Grass of divers colours wooden chairs all of one piece little Tables which they call Matoutou weav'd of the leaves of the Latanier-tree the straining-cloths called Hibichets the Catolis which are a kind of great baskets to carry things on the back several sorts of Vessels fit for eating and drinking which are polish'd painted and adorn'd with abundance of pretty figures delightful to the eye They make also some other little ornaments as Girdles Hats and Crowns of feathers wherewith they set out themselves on solemn days And the women make for themselves a kind of Buskins or half-stockings of Cotton But above all they take abundance of pains in ordering and polishing their Arms that is their Bows their Arrows and their Boutous or Clubs which are of a hard and smooth wood and neatly wrought about the handles with wood and bones of divers colours They take no less pains about their Piragas or Vessels wherein they go to Sea and whatever belongs to Peace or War These Vessels are made of one great Tree which they make hollow smooth and polish with an unimaginable dexterity The greater sort of Piragas are many times rais'd higher all about especially towards the poop with some planks Sometimes they paint in them their Maboya sometimes they represent Savages or some other fantastick figures These Shallops are so large as many times to carry fifty men with all their Arms. Before they had any acquaintance with the Christians who furnish'd them with all sorts of Wedges and other Carpenters and Joyners tools they were put to a great deal of trouble to make their Vessels for they were oblig'd as the Virginians and some other Savages were to set fire at the foot of the Trees and to compass them about a little above the foot with wet moss to keep the fire from ascending and so they undermin'd the Tree by little and little Afterwards to pierce the wood they us'd certain hard stones sharpened at one end wherewith they cut and made their Piragas hollow but with so great trouble and expence of time that they acknowledge how much they are oblig'd to the Europeans who have taught them easier ways to do it by the iron-instruments wherewith they have supply'd them Thence it came that the Peruvians thought it so great a happiness to have the tools which were brought them by the Europeans that the use of Scissers being introduc'd into Peru by the means of the Spaniards an Indian of Quality admiring the invention said to one of them That though the Spaniards did not furnish them with any thing but Rasors Scissers Combs and Looking-glasses it sufficiently oblig'd them liberally to bestow on them all the gold and silver they had The Caribbians employ themselves also in making earthen Pots of all sorts which they bake in furnaces as our Potters do And of the same material they also make those Plates or Planks on which they bake the Cassava The dexterity they express in these little Exercises is a sufficient discovery that they would easily learn other Trades if they were taught them They delight very much in handling the tools of Carpenters and Joyners and though they have not been taught how they are to be us'd yet are they able to do many things since the Europeans have supply'd them therewith So that it is to be presum'd that if they had good Masters they would do well at those Trades They are great Lovers of divertisements and recreation and thence it comes they seek after whatever may keep them in a good humour and divert melancholy To that purpose they take a pleasure in keeping and teaching a great number of Parrots and Paraquitos To divert themselves they also make several Musical Instruments if they may be so called on which they make a kind of harmony Among others they have certain Tabours or Drums made of hollow Trees over which they put a skin only at one end To this may be added a kind of Organ which they make of Gourds upon which they place a cord made of the string of a reed which they call Pite and this cord being touch'd makes a sound which they think delightful The concerts of divers other Savages are no better then theirs and no less immusical to their ears who understand Musick In the morning as soon as they are up they commonly play on the Flute or Pipe of which Instrument they have several sorts as well polish'd and as handsom as ours and some of those made of the bones of their Enemies And many among them can play with as much grace as can well be imagin'd for Savages While they are playing on the Flute the Wives are busie in making ready their breakfast Sometimes also they pass away the time in singing certain Airs the burthens whereof are pleasant enough and in that Exercise they sometimes spend half a day together sitting on their low stools and looking on their fish while it is broiling They also put pease or small pebble-stones as the Virginians do into gourds through the midst whereof they put a stick which serves for a handle and then shaking them they make a noise This is the invention the women have to quiet their children Most of the Caribbian Songs consist of bitter railleries against their Enemies some they have also on Birds and Fishes and Women commonly intermixt with some bawdery and many of them have neither rhime nor reason Many times also the Caribbians of the Islands joyn Dancing to their Musick but that Dancing is regulated according to their Musick There are some Barbarians excessively addicted to that Exercise as for instance the Brasilians who as de Lery affirms spend day and night in dancing And we have said elsewhere that there are many Savages who make their imaginary felicity of the other life to consist in dancing But the Caribbians use Dancing particularly at their solemn Entertainments in their Carbet or publick house These
be taken but they affirm that the sole of the foot is the most delicious bit of any thence it comes that the said part is ordinarily serv'd up to their Carlin who is their Lord whereas anciently the Tartars cut off the breasts of young Maids and reserved them for their chief Commanders whose ordinary food they were To these Barbarians we may add those of the Province of Hascala and of the Region of the City of Darien in New-Spain who did eat not only the flesh of their Enemies but also that of their own Country-men And Historians affirm that the Yncas Kings of Peru subdued divers Provinces the Inhabitants whereof thought no Law so rigorous and insupportable among all those which the said victorious Princes imposed on them as those which prohibited the eating of mans flesh so much were they addicted to that execrable diet for not staying till he whom they had mortally wounded had given up the ghost they drunk off the blood which issued out of his wound and they did the like when they cut him up into quarters greedily sucking it lest a drop should be lost They had publick Shambles for the selling of mans flesh whereof they took pieces and mine'd them very small and of the entrails they made puddings and saucages And particularly the Cheriganes or Chirrhuanes a people inhabiting the Mountains had so strange and so insatiable an appetite to mans flesh that they gluttonously eat it raw not sparing their neerest Relations when they dyed The same thing is at this day affirmed of the Tapuyes a certain other oriental Nation and Herodotus assures us of such a thing in his time nay it is averred that the people of Java are so barbarous and so great lovers of that abominable nourishment that to satisfie their damnable appetite they deprive their Parents of their lives and toss the pieces of their flesh one to another like balls to see who shall have most of them The Amures a people of Brasil are yet more inhumane and detestable so that we need not feign Saturnes devouring their own children for if we may credit Historians these Barbarians eat in effect their own Children member after member and sometimes opening the wombs of great belly'd women they take out the fruit thereof which they immediately devour longing so strangely after the flesh of their own species that they go a hunting of men as they do beasts and having taken them they tear them in pieces and devour them after a cruel and unmerciful manner By these examples it is sufficiently apparent that our Cannibals are not so much Cannibals that is Eaters of men though they have the name particularly attributed to them as many other savage Nations and it were an easie matter to find yet elsewhere certain discoveries of Barbarism answerable to that of our Caribbian Cannibals nay such as far exceeds theirs But we have done enough let us draw the Curtains on these horrours and leaving the Cannibals of all other Nations return to those of the Caribbies to divert our eyes wearied with beholding so many inhumanities and bloudy Tragedies by a prospect of their Marriages CHAP. XXII Of the Marriages of the Caribbians THere are in America some Savages so savage and so brutish that they know not what Marriage is but go indifferently together like beasts This among others is affirm'd of the ancient Peruvians and the Inhabitants of the Islands of Robbers But the Caribbians with all their barbarism subject themselves to the Laws of this strict Alliance They have no set time of the Year appointed for their Marriages as the Persians who ordinarily marry in the Spring nor yet are they oblig'd to do it at any certain age as several other Savages whereof some marry commonly at nine years others at twelve some at four and twenty and others only at forty Nor is it the custom among the Caribbians as in a manner among all other Nations that the young Men should ordinarily make choice of the Maids according to their own minds and inclinations nor on the other side do the young Maids make choice of their Husbands as those of the Province of Nicaragua do at their publick Feasts and Assemblies and as it was done heretofore in Candia as Historians affirm But when our Savages are desirous to marry they have a priviledge to take all their Cousin-germans and have no more to say then that they take them to their Wives for they are naturally reserv'd for them and they may carry them to their houses without any other ceremony and then they are accounted their lawful Wives They may all take as many Wives as they please especially the Captains pride it much in having a great number of them They build a particular Hut for every Wife They continue what time they please with her whom they fancy most yet so as that the others conceive no jealousie thereat She whom they most honour with their company waits on them with the greatest care and submission imaginable she prepares Cassava for them paints them and goes along with them in all their Expeditions Their Husbands love them all very well but this love is like a fire of straw since that many times they forsake them with as much ease as they take them yet are they seldom seen to leave their first Wives especially if they have had children by them If there chance to be among the She-prisoners of War any that they like they make them their Wives but though the children born of them are free yet are the Mothers for their parts still accounted Slaves All the Wives speak with whom they please but the Husband dares not discourse with the Relations of his Wife but upon extraordinary occasions When it happens that any one among them hath no Cousin-germans or that having staid too long ere they took them to Wives their friends have dispos'd of them to others they may now marry such as are not of any kin to them but it is requisite that they demand them of their Fathers and Mothers and as soon as the Father or Mother hath granted their request they are their Wives and they carry them to their own habitations Before they had alter'd some part of their ancient Customs by reason of the converse they have had with the Christians they took none for their lawful Wives but their Cousins who were theirs by natural right as we said before or such young Maids as their Fathers and Mothers willingly proffer'd them at their return from the Wars This ancient Custom of theirs hath many particular circumstances worthy our remark and therefore we shall give an account of it at large as we have it from the most ancient of that Nation who have related it to shew the great changes which have crept into their Manners and Customs since they became acquainted with forreign Nations When the Caribbians return'd with success from their Wars
and the Mexicans who cut off their wives noses and ears in that case Divers other barbarous Nations punish this crime with death nay the Peguans are so severe upon these occasions and have so great a horrour for this breach of conjugal love that both men and women who are found guilty thereof are buried alive Nor are the Caribbians the most indulgent and the least jealous of their honour in this case heretofore they knew not how to punish this Crime because it reigned not among them before their commerce with the Christians but now if the Husband surprises his Wife prostituting her self to some other or have otherwise any certain knowledge of it he does himself justice and seldom pardons her but dispatches her sometimes with his Club sometimes by ripping up the upper part downwards with a Rasor or the tooth of an Agouty which is neer as sharp This execution being done the Husband goes to his Father-in-law and tells him in cold blood I have killed thy Daughter because she proved unfaithful to me The Father thinks the action so just that he is so far from being angry with him that he commends him and conceives himself oblig'd Thou hast done well replies he she deserved no less And if he hath any more Daughters to dispose of he immediately proffers him one of them and promises to bestow her on him at the first opportunity The Father marries not his own Daughter as some have affirmed they abhor that crime and if there have been any incestuous Fathers among them they were forc'd to absent themselves for had they been taken by the rest they would have burnt them alive or torn them into a thousand pieces CHAP. XXIII Of the birth and education of Children among the Caribbians THere is hardly any Custom among these poor Indians so brutish as that which they use at the birth of their children their wives are delivered with little pain and if they feel any difficulty their recourse is to the root of a certain Rush out of which they get the juice and having drunk it they are immediately delivered Sometimes the very day of their delivery they go and wash themselves and the child at the next River or Spring and fall about their ordinary business The Peruvian the Japonneses and the Brasilian women do the like and it was ordinary among the Indians of Hispaniola and the ancient Lacedemonians to wash their children in cold water immediately after their birth to harden their skins The Maldiveses wash theirs so for several daies together and it is affirmed by some that the Cimbri were heretofore wont to put those little newly-born creatures into snow to accustom them to cold and hardship and to strengthen their members They make no feast at the birth of their Children save only at that of the first-born and they observe no set time for that but every man according to his humour But when they assemble their friends to rejoice with them upon the birth of their first-born they spare nothing that may contribute to the entertainment and merry-making of the invited whereas heretofore the Thracians accompanied with their tears the cries of those who came into the world reflecting on the miseries they were to suffer in this life But behold the brutality of our Savages in their enjoyments for the augmentation of their Family Assoon as the Wife is delivered the Husband goes to bed to bemoan himself there and act the part of the woman in that condition a custome which though savage and ridiculous is yet used as some affirm among the Peasants of a certain Province of France where they have this particular phrase for it faire la couvade But what is most troublesome to the poor Caribbian who hath put himself into bed instead of his newly-delivered Wife is that they oblige him to a certain diet for ten or twelve days together allowing him every day only a little piece of Cassava and a little water wherein there had been boiled a little of that root-bread afterwards his allowance is a little encreased yet still continued in that same diet but he breaks the Cassava which is presented to him only in the middle for the space of about forty days leaving the extremities entire which he hangs up in his Hut to serve at the entertainment he afterwards intends to make for all his friends nay after all this he abstains sometimes for the space of ten months or a whole year from several kinds of meat as Lamantin Tortoises Swines-flesh hens Fish and delicious things being so pitifully simple as to fear that those things might prejudice the child but this great abstinence they observe only at the birth of their first-born for at those of the rest their fasts are much less rigorous and shorter not lasting ordinarily above four or five days Among the Japonneses and the Brasilians the Husbands are also subject to the same extravagance of personating the women delivered but they are not such fools as to fast in their beds on the contrary they are deliciously and plentifully treated with all things Some affirm that heretofore the same thing was observable among the Tibarians a people not far from Cappadoeia and some others But the natural Inhabitants of Madagasear imitate this fast of the Caribbians when they would have their children circumcis'd Some of our Caribbians are yet guilty of another extravagance worst of all for the poor Father who hath a child born for at the expiration of his fast his shoulders are scarified and open'd with the Tooth of an Agouty and it is requisite that the besotted wretch should not only suffer himself to be so ordered but he must also endure it without expressing the least sentiment of pain Their perswasion is that the more apparent the Fathers patience shall be in these tryals the more recommendable shall be the valour of his Son but this noble blood must not be suffered to fall to the ground since the effusion thereof contributes so much to future courage it is therefore carefully sav'd to rub the childs face withall out of an imagination he will be the more generous This is also done in some parts towards the Daughters for though they are not to be in their military engagements as the Amazons heretofore were yet do they go to the Wars with their Husbands to provide Victuals for them and look to their Vessels while they are engaged with the Enemy Asâ—oon as the Children are born the Mothers make their foreheads flat and press them so that there is a descent backwards for besides that that form of the forehead is accounted one of the principal pieces of beauty among them they affirm that it facilitates their shooting up to the top of a tree standing at the foot of it wherein they are extreamly expert as being brought up to it from their child-hood They do not swathe their children at all but leave them at liberty to turn themselves
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