202 Scientific Jnf^iffence, — Zoology. 



hand, and provoke fearlessly the deadly cobra-di-capello, or 

 spectacle viper, a serpent whidi, next to the rattle-snake of 

 North America, is perhaps one of the most dangerous reptiles 

 in existence. Tliis serpent, in common with others of a similar 

 nature, are not imfrequently met with in Canton in the posses- 

 sion of these men, who, for a trifling gratuity, exhibit them to 

 the curious spectator. — Canton Register. 



33. Siliceous Spicida in Alcyonium cydonium, and A. lyn- 

 ceum. — Dore Nardo of Chioggia finds that the spiculae of these 

 species are not corneous or calcareous, as some maintain, but 

 siliceous, — an observation, however, which had been previously 

 made in this country by Dr Grant. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



34. Original Country of the Caribs. — That many of the pic- 

 tures given us of this extraordinary race of people have been 

 coloured by the fears of the Indians, and the prejudices of the 

 Spaniards, is highly probable. They were constantly the terror 

 of the former, and the brave and obstinate opponents of the lat- 

 ter. The evidences adduced of their cannibal propensities, must 

 be considered with large allowances for the careless and inaccu- 

 rate observations of seafaring men, and the preconceived belief 

 of the fact, which existed in the minds of the Spaniards. It was 

 a custom among the natives of many of the islands, and of other 

 parts of the New World, to preserve the remains of their de- 

 ceased relatives and friends ; sometimes the entire body ; some- 

 times only the head, or some of the limbs, dried at the fire ; 

 sometimes the mere bones. These, when found in the dwellings 

 of the natives of Hispaniola, against whom no prejudice of the 

 kind existed, \»ere correctly regarded as relics of the deceased, 

 preserved through affection or reverence ; but any remains of 

 the kind found among the Caribs, were looked upon with horror 

 as proofs of cannibalism. The warhke and unyielding charac- 

 ter of these people, so different from that of the pusillanimous 

 nations around them, and the wide scope of their enterprises and 

 wanderings, like those of the Nomade tribes of the Old World, 

 entitle them to distinguished attention. They were trained to 

 war from their infancy. As soon as they could walk, their in- 

 trepid mothers put in their hands the bow and arrow, and pre- 

 pared them to take an early part in the hardy enterprises of 



