AMONG THE CARIBS. 73 



CHAPTER VI. 



AMONG THE CARIBS. 



THEIR PEACEFUL LIFE. — FRUITS AND FOOD. — THE SECOND VOY- 

 AGE OF COLUMBUS. — DISCOVERY OF THE CARIBS. — FIERCE 

 NATURE AND INTELLIGENCE OF THE "CANNIBAL PAGANS." — 

 UNLIKE THE NATIVES OF THE GREATER ANTILLES. — THE 

 CARIB RESERVATION IN DOMINICA. — MY CAMP IN CARIB 

 COUNTRY. — TWO SOVEREIGNS. — THE VILLAGE. — THE HOUSES. 



— CATCHING A COOK. — A TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION. — LIGHT- 

 ING A ROOM WITH FIRE-FLIES. — "LOOK ZE COOK." — LABOR. 



— DOMESTIC RELATIONS. — A DRUNKEN INDIAN. — WILD MEN 

 AND NAKED CHILDREN. — CARIB PANNIERS. — THE ONLY ART 

 PRESERVED FROM THEIR ANCESTORS. 



I£s two of the smaller islands of the Caribbean Sea 

 lives a vestige of a once powerful people. A 

 people with a history ; an unwritten and forgotten 

 history, running back unnumbered ages, farther than 

 we can trace it ; but beginning to be known to civil- 

 ized man when the existence of America was first be- 

 coming evident to his awakened senses. 



Peaceful and gentle, singularly mild and affectionate, 

 they dwell happily in their rude houses of thatch, draw- 

 ing their sustenance from mother earth with occasional 

 forays upon the sea. 



Bananas, plantains, yams, and tanniers are the 

 crops they cultivate, and altogether rely upon. The 

 bread-fruit grows about their cabins, and the mango 



