ITS PROBABLE CAUSES. 240 



avoid the disturbance of conjugal tranquillity, the old female 

 relations of the mother take care, that when twins axe born 

 one of them shall disappear. If a new-born infant, though 

 not a twin, have any physical deformity, the father instantly 

 puts it to death. They will have none but robust and well- 

 made children, for deformities indicate some influence of 

 the evil spirit loloquiamo, or the bird Tikitiki, the enemy 

 of the human race. Sometimes children of a feeble con- 

 stitution undergo the same fate. When the father is asked 

 what is become of one of his sons, he will pretend that he 

 has lost him by a natural death. He will disavow an action 

 that appears to him blameable, but not criminal. "The 

 ")oor boy," he will tell you, "could not follow us; we must 

 have waited for him every moment ; he has not been seen 

 again ; he did not come to sleep where we passed the night." 

 Such is the candour and simplicity of manners such the 

 boasted happiness of man in the state of nature ! He kills 

 his son to escape the ridicule of having twins, or to avoid 

 journeying more slowly; in fact, to avoid a little incon- 

 venience. 



These acts of cruelty, I confess, are less frequent than 

 they are believed to be ; yet they occur even in the Missions, 

 during the time when the Indians leave the village, to retire 

 to the conucos of the neighbouring forests. It would be 

 erroneous to attribute these actions to the state of polygamy 

 in which the uncatechized Indians live. Polygamy no doubt 

 diminishes the domestic happiness and internal union of 

 families; but this practice, sanctioned by Ismaelism, does 

 not prevent the people of the east from loving their children 

 with tenderness. Among the Indians of the Orinoco, the 

 father returns home only to eat, or to sleep in his hammock ; 

 he lavishes no caresses on his infants, or on his wives, whose 

 office it is to serve him. Parental affection begins to display 

 itself only when the son has become strong enough to take 

 a part in hunting, fishing, and the agricultural labours of the 

 plantations. 



While our boat was unloading, we examined closely, 

 wherever the shore could be approached, the terrific spec- 

 tacle of a great river narrowed and reduced as it were to 

 foam. I shall endeavour to paint, not the sensations we felt, 

 but the aspect of a spot so celebrated among the scene* of 



