/^ 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



thing; and she is not present at this ceremony and drinking bout, 

 but stays in retirement in her room ; and when they have finished the 

 funeral ceremonies after this manner, and have exhausted everything 

 on hand, the relatives at once discuss marrying off the widow ; and 

 on their suggesting some suitor to her, she asks him if he will be 

 like her late husband in supporting her; and if the suitor agrees to 

 the conditions she lays before him, he goes and lies down in a ham- 

 mock (which is their bed), and the closest relative she has takes her 

 by the hand quite negligently along where the man who is to be her 

 husband is lying in his hammock ; and he, staying very much on the 

 lookout, seizes her when she strolls near him and pulls her away 

 from the relative who has her by the hand ; and after struggling with 

 her, he lays her in his bed and sleeps with her ; and before day dawns, 

 she goes off into the woods overcome with shame, and stays there 

 3 days without her new husband seeing her or learning anything 

 about her, nor does she ask after him ; and after 3 days the relatives 

 on both sides meet and say to the suitor : Let us go for your wife ; 

 and they all go to where the relatives know that she is, and there 

 they embrace and then they are married in every respect ; and she 

 says to him : Take note that I have such and such property, or so 

 many axes or knives, belonging to such and such Spaniard or 

 Spaniards, and my former husband received them and they gave him 

 credit and he did not pay for them ; and you have to help in the 

 settlement of this business, both for the relief of my husband's con- 

 science and for good relations ; and he comes to the rescue with 

 much solicitude and exactness, satisfying the owners with his good 

 relations and truthfulness. 



186. The important Indians and the caciques have six or eight 

 wives, and each moon he sleeps with one particular one, and although 

 they all are responsible for providing him with food, the chief and 

 favorite dish is prepared by the one who sleeps with him that moon. 

 The ordinary Indians have two or three wives. For wife they say 

 soco ; son, dadite ; father, dajuna ; friend, dabuquei or tapane. 



Chapter XVII 



Of the Manner in Which the Carib Tribe Commissions Its Cap- 

 tains, and of the Mouths of the River Orinoco, Where They Live. 



187. The Carib tribe, who eat human flesh, have their settlements 

 along those mouths of the Orinoco which are called Carinas. In 

 order to be commissioned captain among them, one has to kill three 

 of the enemy in battle with a wooden club, which is their sword ; and 



