11 



ously asserted, to the desire of the natives to 

 imitate their masters, the fathers of the order of 

 Saint Francis. The tribes, that have preserved 

 their savage independance, between the sources 

 of the Carony and the Rio Branco, are dis- 

 tinguished by the same cerquillo de frailes, 

 which the first Spanish historians # at the time of 

 the discovery of America attributed to the na- 

 tions of Caribbee origin. All the men of this 

 race, whom we saw either during our voyage 

 on the Lower Oroonoko, or in the missions of 

 Piritoo, differ from the other Indians not only 

 by their tallness, but also by the regularity of 

 their features. Their nose is not so large, and 

 less flattened ; the cheek-bones are not so high ; 

 and their physiognomy has less of the Mongul 

 cast. Their eyes, darker than those of the 

 other hordes of Guyana, denote intelligence, I 

 had almost said the habit of reflexion. The 

 Caribbees have a gravity in their manners, and 

 something of sadness in their look, which is 

 found for the most part among the primitive 

 inhabitants of the New World. The expression 

 of severity in their features is singularly in- 



* ". Regio ab incolis Caramaira dicitur, inquaviros siroul 

 " et fberainas statura aiunt pulcherrimos esse, nudos lamen, 

 " capillis aure tenus scissis mares, fceminas oblongis. A Ca~ 

 " ribibus, sive Canibalibus, car ni urn bumanarum edacibus, 

 " originem traxisse Caramairenses existimant." Petr. Mar- 

 tyr, Ocean. (1533), p. 25. D et 26 B, 



