434 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 110. 



warlike. In short, no two races ever presented 

 such a striking disparity, not only in their man- 

 ners and customs, but in their features and per- 

 sonal appearance. 



The second error into which Sir E,. Schomburgk 

 has fallen, is where he says : 



" There are various proofs that the Caribs inhabited 

 Santo Domingo; among others, I found at the eastern 

 point of the island, called Junta Engano, niunerous 

 heaps of conch shells." 



The fact is, that the Caribs were the mortal 

 enemies of the Indians. They were engaged with 

 them in the fiercest warfare, and made frequent 

 depredatory incursions into Santo Domingo and 

 the other large islands. But they never formed 

 any settlements in those islands, and cannot be 

 said to have " inhabited" any of them, in the sense 

 in which that word is used by Sir R. Schomburgk. 



Whenever the Caribs in any of the lesser An- 

 tilles jn'ojected an expedition against the Indians, 

 they provided themselves with clubs and poisoned 

 arrows, and set off in their canoes. On their way, 

 they touched at most of the other small islands ; 

 and with their conch shells, of which they always 

 kept a supply, they summoned their brother Caribs 

 to join tiie expedition. As the fleet of canoes 

 approached St. Domingo (the principal theatre of 

 their depredations) they glided silently along the 

 coast, and secreted themselves in some sheltered 

 bay, till the darkness of the night enabled them to 

 emerge from their hiding places. Then, with the 

 most savage yells and war-whoops, accompanied 

 by the blowing of shells, they pounced upon the 

 nearest village, beating down with their clubs such 

 of the Indians as had not taken refuge in flight. 

 In these encounters, however, the Caribs were not 

 always victorious. If the Indians were less robust 

 and warlike than their invaders, they were also 

 far more numerous ; and it sometimes happened 

 that the Caribs were driven back to their canoes 

 with much slaughter. In all hand-to-hand con- 

 flicts the conch shells would easily get detached, 

 or, becoming an incumbrance, would be thrown 

 aside ; and tiie Indians, finding them on the field 

 of battle, may be supposed to have piled them up 

 as so many trophies. 



As the Caribs were incited to these incursions 

 by the prospect of plunder among a race of people 

 their superiors in the arts of civilisation, but 

 chiefly from their inveterate hatred to the Indians, 

 so the moment they had accomplished their object, 

 thej' lost no time in retreating from a country 

 where a longer sojourn would only have afforded 

 their enemies an opptn-tunity of rising en masse, 

 and exterminating them by the superiority of tlieir 

 numbers. 



These fiicts are sufficient to account for the 

 heaps of shells found by Sir R. Schomburgk, and 

 for the other traces of the Caribs which he appears 

 t,o have discovered in St. Domingo, without re- 



sorting to the supposition that the Caribs had 

 actually "inhabited" that island, or warranting 

 the conclusion that the two races were identical. 



IIenet H. Bkeen. 

 St. Lucia, Sept. 1851. 



MITIGATION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO A FOEGER. 



The well-known cases of Dr. D. the divine and 

 Mr. F. the banker, who were executed for forgery, 

 notwithstanding the powerful intercessions that 

 were made in tlieir behalf, induced me to suppose 

 that any mitigation of punishment under similar 

 circumstances used to be a very rare occurrence ; 

 and, if so, that a curious instance of successful ap- 

 plication for mercy may interest some readers of 

 " Notes and Queries." 



A young man of respectable Scotch connexions 

 settled in a town in the north of England as a 

 merchant, and soon afterwards made an offer of 

 marriage to a young lady of the same place. Her 

 parents rejected his suit, on the ground of his not 

 being sufficiently established in business, and he 

 seemed to acquiesce in their decision. In a short 

 time, however, the young merchant took possession 

 of larger premises than he had hitherto occu]iied, 

 and showed other symptoms of wishing to have it 

 understood that his fortunes were improving. But 

 these appearances were of short duration. He 

 was suddenly arrested, and committed to take his 

 trial at the ensuing assizes on several charges of 

 forgery. Immediately after his arrest, a sister of 

 singularly energetic character arrived from Scot- 

 land, and applied to the father of my informant 

 for professional aid. This gentleman told her 

 that he never touched criminal business, and de- 

 clined to interi'ere. But she was no common 

 client, and it ended in his undertaking to prepare 

 the defence of her brother, and receiving her into 

 his house as a guest. Her innnediate object was 

 to prevent the prosecutors pressing their charges 

 at the trial ; and, by her indefatigable manage- 

 ment, she succeeded with all, except the L 



bank, the directors of which, as a matter of prin- 

 ciple, were inexorable to her entreaties. The trial 

 came on at an early period of the assize, and the 

 prisoner was found guilty, and condemned to be 

 hanged. His sister left the court, and instantly 

 ])ro<:eeded to Scotland. There were no railways 

 in those days, and she had to rely on coaches and 

 post-chaises, and she travelled for four days and 

 nights successively, without stopping or removing 

 her clothes, and carrying a petition with her from 

 house to house amongst her titled and powerful 

 Scotch friends. 



AVith this she returned to the city at which the 

 assizes had been held, just as they were concluded. 

 The two judges were in the act of descending 

 through the cathedral nave, after partaking of the 



