. 



MATAGORDA 



most anciently known processes of animal mn^netism. 

 Though I had opportunities of seeing many persons who 

 had closely observed the confederated Caribs, I could not 

 learn whether the marirris belong to a particular caste. It is 

 observed in North America, that, among the Shawanese,* 

 divided into several tribes, the priests, who preside at the 

 sacrifices, must be (as among the Hebrews) of one particular 

 tribe, that of the Mequachakes. Any facts that may here- 

 after be discovered in America respecting the remains of a 

 sacerdotal caste appears to me calculated to excite great inte- 

 rest, on account of those priest-kings of Peru, who styled 

 themselves " the children of the Sun ;" and of those " sun- 

 kings" among the Natchez, who recall to mind the Heliades 

 of the first eastern colony of Rhodes. 



On quitting the mission of Cari, we had some difficulties 

 to settle with our Indian muleteers. They had discovered 

 that we had brought skeletons with us from the cavern of 

 Ataruipe ; and they were fully persuaded that the beasts of 

 burden which carried " the bodies of their old relations" 

 would perish on the journey. t Every precaution we had 

 taken was useless ; nothing escapes a Carib's penetration 

 and keen sense of smell, and it required all the authority 

 of the missionary to forward our passage. We had to cross 

 the Rio Cari in a boat, and the Rio de agua clara, by fording, 

 or, it may almost be said, by swimming. The quicksands of 

 the bed of this river render the passage very difficult at the 

 season when the waters are high. The strength of the cur- 

 rent seems surprising in so flat a country ; but the rivers of 

 the plains are precipitated, to quote a correct observation of 

 Pliny the younger,^ " less by the declivity of their course 

 than by their abundance, and as it were by their own weight." 

 "We had two bad stations, one at Matagorda and the other at 

 Los Eiecetos, before we reached the little town of Pao. We 

 beheld everywhere the same objects ; small huts constructed 

 of reeds, and roofed with leather; men on horseback armed 

 with lances, guarding the herds ; herds of cattle half wild, 

 remarkable for their uniform colour, and disputing the 



* People that came from Florida, or from the south (shawaneu] to the 

 north. t See vol. ii. p. 485. 



J Epist. lib. viii. ep. 8. " Clitumnus non loci devexitate, sed ipsa sui 

 copia et quasi pondere impellitur." 



