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THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. 73 
exhorted him to be valiant ;—after that he placed him- 
self in the centre with his hands on his head ; the other 
Captains then each took a Maguary, which is a twisted ° 
whip of Pita, about five feet long, thick at the bottom, 
and tapering at the end, beating him alternately round 
the body, so that little of his skin from the arm-pits to the 
stomach remained whole, everything being beat to rags, all 
this, without his being allowed to show the least sign of 
pain ; he was then placed on a wooden grate, or Barbecot, 
covered with leaves, under which a gentle fire was 
raised; if he fainted, he was lifted off and sprinkled 
with water over the face, after which he was compli- 
mented with 8 or g blows from each of the Captains, 
and brought into a small square room where he could 
hang his hammock, in order to have a little rest, whilst 
the women sang songs in honour of his courage; this 
proof was to be repeated two or three times before he 
could be eleéted a Captain ; if he was married, his wife 
likewise received two or three blows, to participate in 
the honour and valour of her husband. Generally their 
courage and intrepidity consist in being able to endure 
blows, whilst most of them (the Caraibs excepted, who 
possess great courage) are great cowards, of which we 
will quote a small instance: a certain Captain or Owl of 
the Arowaks, in the Colony of Berbice, called Aak- 
kebaretze, living in the village Abary, had accidentally 
arrived at the Fort of that Colony with some of his 
people to sell some merchandise, when a few English 
freebooters in the year 1665 attacked the Fort with a 
Barque of ro guns; the Indians took flight to the forest, 
but this Captain to give a specimen of his courage, re- 
mained with the whites, where, frightened by the roaring 
K 
