136 Distinctive characteristics of the 



The only example of a naval contest that I have met with, is 

 described by Dobrizhoffer to have taken place between the so-called 

 Mamalukes of St. Paulo, in Brazil, and their enemies the Guaranies. 

 The former were a banditti derived from the intermarriage of the 

 dregs of Europeans of all nations with the surrounding Indians ; and 

 assisted by two thousand of their native allies, they came forth to 

 battle in three hundred boats. The Guaranies, on the other hand, 

 had five ships armed with cannon. But it is obvious from this 

 statement, that European vessels and European tactics gave the 

 battle all its importance. It took place on the river Mborore, in 

 Paraguay ; but after all, both parties finding themselves out of their 

 element on the water, at length abandoned their vessels by mutual 

 agreement, and fought to desperation on shore. 



It is said of the inhabitants of New Holland, that their only sub- 

 stitute for a boat is a short and solid log, on which they place them- 

 selves astride, and thus venture upon the water. Even this, the 

 humblest of all human contrivances, was in use among the Indians 

 of the Bay of Honduras, who had learned to balance themselves 

 so dexterously standing upon a log, as to be able in this position to 

 pursue their customary occupation of fishing in the adjacent sea. 



In fine, his long contact with European arts, has furnished the 

 Indian with no additional means of contending with the watery 

 element ; and his log canoe and boat of birch bark, are precisely the 

 same as at the landing of Columbus. 



5. Manner of Interment. Veneration for the dead is a sentiment 

 natural to man, whether civilized or savage ; but the manner of 

 expressing it, and of performing the rites of sepulture, differ widely 

 in different nations. No offence excites greater exasperation in the 

 breast of the Indian than the violation of the graves of his people ; 

 and he has even been known to disinter the bones of his ancestors, 

 and bear them with him to a great distance, when circumstances have 

 compelled him to make a permanent change of residence. 



But the manner of inhumation is so different from that practised 

 by the rest of mankind, and at the same time so prevalent among 

 the American natives, as to constitute another means of identifying 

 them as parts of a single and peculiar race. This practice consists 

 in burying the dead in the sitting posture ; the legs being flexed 



