stone for each moon; and, computing in this manner, we
discovered that the age of one man that we saw was seventeen
hundred moons, or about one hundred and thirty-two years,
reckoning thirteen moons to the year.

"They are a warlike race and extremely cruel. All their
weapons are, as Petrarch says, "committed to the winds"--for
they consist of spears, arrows, stones, and javelins. They
use no shields for the body, going to battle almost wholly
naked. There is no order or discipline in their fights,
except that they follow the counsels of the old men. Most
cruelly do they combat, and those who conquer in the field
bury their own dead, but cut up and eat the dead of their
enemies. Some who are taken prisoners are carried to their
villages for slaves. Females taken in war they frequently
marry, and sometimes the male prisoners are allowed to marry
the daughters of the tribe; but occasionally a diabolical
fury seems to come over them, and, calling together their
relations and the people, they sacrifice these slaves, the
children with the parents, accompanied by barbarous
ceremonies. This we know of a certainty, for we found much
human flesh in their huts, hung up to smoke, and we
purchased ten poor creatures from them, both men and women,
whom they were about to sacrifice, to save them from such a
fate. Much as we reproached them on this account, I cannot
say that they amended at all. The most astounding thing in
all their wars and cruelty was that we could not find out
any reason for them. They made war against each other,
although they had neither kings, kingdoms, nor property of
any kind, without any apparent desire to plunder, and
without any lust for power--which always appeared to me to
be the moving causes of wars and anarchy. When we asked them
about this they gave no reason other than that they did so
to avenge the murder of their ancestors. To conclude this
disgusting subject: one man confessed to me that he had
eaten of the flesh of over two hundred bodies, and I believe
it was the truth.

"In regard to the climate of this region, I should say it
was extremely pleasant and healthful; for in all the time
that we were there, which was ten months, not one of us
died, and only a few were sick. They suffer from no