680 MOUNDS FULL OF HUMAN REMAINS. 



in its purity, regard as corrupt the language of those Caribs 

 who elsewhere have intermarried with other races/' observes 

 Mr. Brett. It may easily be understood how an unwritten 

 tongue can, in the course of ages, be thus totally changed, so 

 as to bear no resemblance to the original language. Although 

 in some there is a wide distinction, there are others in which 

 all the Indian dialects seem to ao-ree. In their method of 

 numeration, especially, the first four numbers are represented 

 by simple words. Although the Indian children learn to read 

 and write with facility, they acquire with difficulty the simplest 

 rudiments of arithmetic. This arises from their general method 

 of numeration — five is represented by one hand ; two hands, 

 ten ; then they use the toes, and call twenty by the name of 

 " loko," or man. They then proceed by men or scores. Thus 

 forty-five is laboriously expressed by a word signifying two 

 men and one hand upon it. Some of the Indian words are 

 of o'reat leno-th. Anion o- the Arawaks, such words as loko- 

 boroJavatoasia (his thought, or remembrance), rahuintiriien- 

 rutihanano (eighteen), are continually used. '' Notwithstand- 

 ing these," says M. du Ponceau, " the Indian languages are 

 rich in words and grammatical forms, and in their complicated 

 construction the greatest order, method, and regularity prevail." 



MOUNDS FULL OF HUMAN REMAINS. 



Undoubted proof has been discovered of the cannibal pro- 

 pensities of some large tribe now passed away, in mounds 

 situated on high ground, and in swamps in the neighbourhood 

 of the coast. On opening one of them — upwards of 20 feet in 

 height and 130 in diameter at its base — it was found to be 

 composed of shells mixed with a large number of broken bones, 

 apparently the relics of meals. The shells were chiefly peri- 



