g themselves by day, they
would sally forth by night and attack the villages of the revolters--
setting fire to their roofs, and slaughtering the inmates, who fled from
their burning habitations.

Sir Walter Raleigh describes them as a naked people, but valiant as any
under the sky: and thus they remained, still rude and savage, till the
common fate of other tribes overtook them. Powerful as they were, these
wild hordes could only fight, overrun, oppress, and destroy; and even in
their highest prosperity they were incapable of accomplishing any great
and useful work. Up to the close of the last century they were the most
numerous, as well as the most warlike, of all the tribes.

Though their chiefs were not hereditary, if a son equalled his father in
courage and skill, he succeeded to his power. To attain that office, it
was necessary for him to be acquainted with every art and stratagem of
savage warfare, and to possess more strength and bravery than the rest
of his tribe. When a Carib aspired to be the chief, it was customary to
expose him to the biting of ants; and if he could bear the torture
without flinching, then he was considered fit for the office.

When a band determined on a predatory excursion, they would often,
unlike other tribes, attack their enemies in the daytime, paddling their
canoes against the current in order that the sound of their paddles
should be heard by their enemies, and allow them time to prepare for
battle. That they were cannibals, there appears no doubt; at least,
they feasted on their enemies taken in battle, whose flesh they tore and
devoured with the avidity of wolves. The men were put to death, while
the women and children were preserved to be sold into slavery.

Scattered tribes still exist in different parts of the interior. The
dress of the women is merely a narrow strip of blue cloth; and their
naked bodies are smeared with arnatto, which gives them the appearance
of bleeding from every pore. Some dot their bodies and limbs over with
blue spots. They wear round the leg, just below the knee, a tight strap
of cotton, and another above each ankle. These are bound on when a girl
is young, and hinder the growth of the parts by their compression, while
the calf, which is unconfined, appears in consequence unnaturally large.
Through the lower lip, which they perforate, they wear two or three
pins with the points outwards. Should they wish to use one of them,
they take it o