WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 73 



when he has succeeded in killing the three enemies, he throws his 

 club on the ground and secures witnesses to his prowess, and fights 

 no more, going off to his canoe, where he lies down and does not 

 get up till his cacique or general who governs them, arrives ; then 

 they retire to their villages or provinces, where they cut off his hair 

 and hang a hammock for him at the highest point of the house where 

 they live ; and there they make him fast for a whole year, without 

 his eating, or drinking anything but mazato, their drink made out 

 of cassava; and 15 days before the end of the year, they go out after 

 big wild ants, almost as large as bees, which in their language they 

 call jalofas ; they pick up quantities of them by their necks, and every 

 bite or sting of theirs lasts 24 hours and causes fever ; they throw 

 troops of these into the hammock or bed where he lies, for them to 

 bite and sting him, and he has to endure them with patience without 

 flinching or showing weakness, for the period of 24 hours ; and then 

 they take him out of the hammock and put on him a feather head- 

 dress of many colors ; and as they all stand there together, they set 

 him between two powerful Indians with two whips, such as coach- 

 men use ; they give an account of the deeds and the bravery of their 

 ancestors and tell him he must imitate them in the defense of his 

 country ; then, raising up their arms, they give him many lashes of 

 the whip ; and if he shows any weakness or fear, they take him back 

 again for penance; and if he shows valor and fortitude, they all 

 honor and cheer him with much noise ; and giving him his bow and 

 arrows, they throw a fast-rolling ball of cotton yarn, and he shoots 

 four arrows at the ball ; and with this he becomes a commissioned 

 captain and headman. 



188. Since the River Orinoco through its size belongs among the 

 greatest known rivers of the world, since it pours into the sea through 

 numerous mouths scattered over a distance of 70 leagues, and since 

 the majority of its mouths and shores are occupied by the Carinas 

 tribe of Carib Indians, I shall give an accurate description, never 

 before published, of these mouths, of which each is as large as its 

 parent channel ; of the distance from one to another, with their 

 names ; of the localities settled by the Caribs, viz, Guarapiche, 

 Mataroni, and Amacuro ; and of the harbors and towns on these 

 rivers. 



189. The Rio Esequibo was considered by some a mouth of the 

 Orinoco, but it is not ; it empties into the sea between the island of 

 Trinidad and the island of Tobago ; it is a large, deep river ; its 

 mouth is 2 leagues wide ; it lies toward the Maraiion. The first mouth 

 of the Orinoco is the Varima ; it is 10 leagues distant from the 



