SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 14T 



and large clubs made of iron wood : they also use poisoned 

 shafts, which are discharged through a reed by the force of 

 the lungs. They are seldom at war with other tribes, but 

 against the Spaniards they carry on an almost constant hosti- 

 lity. Their houses are situated near each other, so that the 

 blowing of a shell, which is their usual signal, will in a very 

 short time assemble many hundreds of the inhabitants. The 

 Carribbees excel the other tribes in industry. The chief em- 

 ployments of the men are hunting and fishing : the women 

 perform the in-door labors; they also cultivate plaintains and 

 cassava, upon as much ground as they choose, for there is no 

 property in land among the Indians. Their hammocks are 

 made with great labor: the cotton is spun with the hand, and 

 in the process of weaving, the thread analogous to our shoot is 

 passed under every other thread of the warp separately, as in 

 darning, raising them one by one with the finger. When 

 the weaving is finished, the hammock is dyed with red figures. 

 Some part of the produce of their industry they barter for Eu 

 ropean articles. For this purpose they make canoes out of 

 trees, hollowed by fire, some of which are seventy feet in 

 length. Beside these, they exchange wax, gourds full of the 

 balsam capivi, cotton hammocks, different kinds of wood, 

 and staves. For these they get in return hooks, knives, hat- 

 chets, fire arms, combs, looking glasses, beads of glass and 

 of coral. 



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