247 



the sources of the Tuamini, to the spot where it 

 is now found. This old captain, Javita, was 

 still living, when we proceeded to the Rio Ne- 

 gro. He is an Indian of great vigour of mind 

 and body. He speaks Spanish with facility, 

 and has preserved a certain influence over the 

 neighbouring nations. As he attended us in all 

 our herborizations, we obtained from his own 

 mouth information so much the more useful, as 

 the missionaries have great confidence in his 

 veracity. He assured us, that in his youth he 

 had seen almost all the Indian tribes, that inha- 

 bit the vast regions between the Upper Oroo- 

 noko, the Rio Negro, the Inirida, and the Ju- 

 pura, eat human flesh. The Daricavanas, the 

 Puchirinavis, and the Manitibitanoes, appeared 

 to him to be the greatest cannibals among them. 

 He believes, that this abomiable practice is with 

 them the effect of a system of vengeance ; they 

 eat only enemies, who are made prisoners in bat- 

 tle. The instances where, by a refinement of 

 cruelty, the Indian eats his nearest relations, 

 his wife, an unfaithful mistress, are, as we shall 

 see below, extremely rare. The strange cus- 

 tom of the Scythians and Massagetes, the Ca- 

 panaguas of the Rio Ucayale, and the ancient 

 inhabitants of the West India islands, of honor- 

 ing the dead by eating a part of the corpse, is 

 unknown on the banks of the Oroonoko. In 

 both continents this feature of manners belongs 



