The Hijlory of B o o k II. 



fore the Queens of Peru took the pains to bring up their own 

 children : And we have the examples of fome Queens of 

 nhklna- France o wno nave not thought thofe maternal endeavours be- 

 tife of Navi- l° w tnem 3 a Cuftom much contrary to that of thofe Canarian 

 gatiom. Women, who commonly caus'd their Children to be fuckled by 

 Goats.* The fame thins; was alfo done by fome Country-wo- 

 %Q a J'9 1 > 2 ' men of Guyenne^ in Montaigne 's time. 



€ ' 3 ' The Mothers of our little Caribbians do not only give the 



breaft to their Children, but affoon as they are grown a littie 

 ftrong, they chew the Potatoes^ JEananas and other fruits, to 

 feed them withall : And though they fufTer the little ones to 

 tumble up and down ftark naked upon the ground, and that 

 many times they eat and lick duft, and other filth which they 

 are apt to put into their mouths, yet do they thrive extream- 

 ly 5 and for the moft part become fo ftrong, that at fix months 

 they are able to go alone. 



At two years of age their hair is cut, and then there is a 

 Feaft made for the whole Family > fome Parents defer till that 

 time the piercing or boring of their ears, lips, and the (pace be- 

 tween the noftrils *, yet is not this much in ufe, but only when 

 the weaknefs of the child will not permit it to be done fooner. 

 When they are a little more advanc'd in years, the Boys eat 

 with their Fathers, and the Girls with their Mothers : Fathers- 

 in-Law, and all Relations which are in the collateral line with 

 their true Fathers, they call by the general name of Fa- 

 thers. 



Though the Children of the Caribbians are not inftrudted to 

 do any reverence to their Parents, nor to exprefs the refpedt 

 and honour they owe them by any gefturesof the body 5 yet 

 have they a natural affection for them, and if any injury be 

 done them, they immediately efpoufe their quarrel, and en- 

 deavour all the ways they can to be revenged : For inftance, 

 French- man of Gardeloupe having cut the cords cttheAma 

 wherein an old Caribbian lay, by which means falling down he 

 bruifed himfeif and put his lhoulder out of joint, the old man's 

 Son-in-Law immediately got together fome young men, who 

 making an incurfion into the Ifland of Marigalanta } mafiacred 

 the French who were then beginning to plant themfelves 

 there. 



But the main bufinefs which the Caribbians mind in the edu- 

 cation of their Children, is to teach them the ufe of the Bow : 

 And to bring them the better on, affoon as they are able to go 

 the Parents put their Breakfaft on the branch of a tree, whence 

 they muft ftrike it down with their Arrows before they eat 5 

 if they cannot there is no companion : As the Children grow 

 up, their portion of meat is hung up higher .* Sometimes alfo 

 they cut off a Banana-tree^ and plant it in the ground as a But, 

 to teach their Children to ftioot at the Fruit : by this means 



in 



