88 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
\ 
character must have most wonderfully changed, for 
they now treat their wives well, even love them. For 
certain misdemeanors they claim the privilege, and 
exercise it, too, of beating them soundly. If a woman 
quarrel with another, of whom she is jealous with 
regard to her husband’s affections, she is generally* 
treated by her lord to an interview with the stick. 
But as a community, they dwell together in amity, 
loving one another, and taking affectionate interest 
in their children. 
One day, upon the solicitations of an Indian, I went 
to his hut to see a native dance. This man was 
very drunk; as he approached his hut he darted in 
and called for his wife. What was my astonishment 
to see him, instead of pounding her, throw his arm 
around her neck and kiss her. 
I had been among them two weeks before I knew 
there were Indians in the woods about me, other than 
those living along and near the road. But one after- 
noon, in a hunt among the hills, I discovered four 
huts, the inmates of which, unless suddenly surprised, 
hid themselves at my approach. They were dressed 
very meagerly: a shirt for the men, and for the women 
a torn skirt. In the woods and in the provision- 
grounds, I met children, from eight to thirteen years 
old, entirely naked. These people never appear to 
the white inhabitants; they make a few baskets which 
their neighbors dispose of for them, but they never 
leave the woods, not having overcome their original 
savagery. 
Basket-making is the only art they have preserved 
from the teachings of their ancestors; but in this they 
indeed excel. Their baskets have such a reputa- 
