40 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK, i, 



cords the prevalence of a similar custom among the 

 Lacedemonians. " At Sparta/' says the Historian, 

 " boys are whipped for a whole day, oftentimes to 

 " death, before the altar of Diana, and there is a 

 " wonderful emulation among them who best can 

 " sustain the greatest number of stripes/ 3 Nor did 

 the Charaibe youth, yield in fortitude to the Spartan. 

 If the severities he sustained extorted the least symp- 

 tom of weakness from the young sufferer, he was 

 disgraced for ever; but if he rose superior to pain, 

 and baffled the rage of his persecutors, by perseve- 

 rence and serenity, he received the highest applause. 

 He was thenceforth numbered among the defenders 

 of his country, and it was pronounced by his relations 

 and countrymen, that he zvas now a man like one of 

 themselves. 



A penance still more severe, and torments more 

 excruciating ; stripes, burning and suffocation, con- 

 stituted a test for him who aspired to the honour of 

 leading forth his countrymen to war;J for in times of 

 peace the Charaibes admitted of no supremacy but 

 that of nature. Having no laws, they needed no 

 magistrates. To their old men indeed they allowed 

 some kind of authority, but it was at best ill-defined, 

 and must at all times have been insufficient to protect 

 the weak against the strong. In war, experience 

 had taught them that subordination was as requisite 

 as courage; they therefore elected their captains in 



J Rochefort, liv. ii. c. xix. p. 519. Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1262. Gu- 

 milla, torn. ii. p. 286. Lafitau, torn. i. p. 297, et seq. 



