423 



good, and laborious ; but, suffer them to take 

 part in an incursion (entrada) to bring in the 

 natives, and you can scarcely prevent them from 

 murdering all they meet, and hiding some por- 

 tions of the dead bodies." In reflecting on the 

 manners of these Indians, we are almost terri- 

 fied at that combination of sentiments, which 

 seem mutually to exclude each other; that 

 faculty of nations to become but partially hu- 

 manized ; that preponderance of customs, pre- 

 judices, and traditions, over the natural reflec- 

 tions of the heart*. We had a fugitive Indian 

 from the Guaisia in our canoe, who had become 

 sufficiently civilized in a few weeks, to be useful 

 to us in placing the instruments necessary for 

 our observations at night. He was no less mild 

 than intelligent, and we had some desire of 

 taking him into our service. What was our 

 * regret, when, talking to him by means of an 

 interpreter, we learned, " that the flesh of the 

 marimonde monkeys, though blacker, appeared 

 to him to have the taste of human flesh." He 

 told us " that his relations (that is the people of 

 his tribe) preferred the inside of the hands in 

 man, as in bears." This assertion was accom- 

 panied with gestures of savage joy. We in- 

 quired of this young man, so calm and so afFec- 



* I have treated of this matter in another work. See my 

 Americ. Monum., vol. i, p. 221. 



