CHAP, ii.] WEST INDIES. 39 



some respects superstitious ; in others cruel and de- 

 testable. 



As soon as a male child was brought into the world, 

 he was sprinkled with some drops of his father's blood. 

 The ceremonies used on this occasion were sufficient- 

 ly painful to the father, but he submitted without 

 emotion or complaint; fondly believing, that the same 

 degree of courage which he had himself displayed, 

 was by these means transmitted to his son.* As the 

 boy grew, he was soon made familiar with scenes of 

 barbarity; he partook of the horrid repasts of his na- 

 tion, and he was frequently anointed with; the fat of 

 a slaughtered Arrowauk ; but he was not allowed to 

 participate in the toils of the warrior, and to share 

 the glories of conquest, until his fortitude had been 

 brought to the test. The dawn of manhood ushered 

 in the hour of severe. trial. He was now to exchange 



the name he had received in his infancv, for one more 



j y 



sounding and significant ; a ceremony of high import- 

 ance in the life of a Charaibe, but always accompa- 

 nied by a scene of ferocious festivity and unnatural 

 cruelty. f 



The severities inflicted on such occasions by the 

 hands of fathers on their own children, exhibit a me- 

 lancholy proof of the influence of superstition in sup- 

 pressing the most powerful feelings of nature; but 

 the practice was not without example. Plutarch re- 



* Rochefoit, liv. ii. c. xxv. p. 551. 



fRocheforf, liv. ii, c. xxiii. p. 556. Dw Tcrtre, v'ol.-r. p. -?-. 



