SETTLEMENTS OK THE DEMERARY, &C. 16\ 



The females of Guyana endure little pain or after-illness 

 from parturition. As soon as it is over, the mother and child 

 are plunged into water, and the woman immediately goes 

 about her usual occupations. I^ittle care is taken of their 

 off-spring during infancy. The males, as soon as they arc 

 old enough, go a hunting with the father, and the females 

 learn the domestic duties of the mother. Indolence is a uni- 

 versally prevailing feature in the Indian character ; and al- 

 though the game is so plentiful, and the earth so fruitful, that 

 the greater part of their time is unoccupied, excepting by 

 amusements, yet they are often in want of their usual suste- 

 nance. Their indolence is so great, that they spend a much 

 greater part of their time in their hammocks, than in active 

 pleasures. Here an Indian will set a long time picking the 

 hairs out his beard, and then admiring himself in a looking- 

 glass; then he will take a flute and play upon it for some time; 

 then he will eat, converse, and go to sleep. They are very ex- 

 pert swimmers, and are very fond of the exercise : large compa- 

 nies of men and women bathe in the rivers several times a day, 

 without the least regard to the indiscriminate mixture of the 

 sexes: sometimes they form large parties at each others houses, 

 when they divert themselves with stories, dancing, laughter, 

 and drunkenness. They are very quarrelsome in their cups, 

 and almost all their disputes take place in a state of intoxica- 

 tion. They are remarkably deficient in the art of calculation : 



