43 



sacerdotal cast appears to me calculated to ex- 

 cite great interest, on account of those priest- 

 kings of Peru, who called themselves the chil- 

 dren of the Sun ; and of those sun-kings among 

 the Natchez, who involuntarily recall to mind 

 the Heliades of the first eastern colony of 

 Rhodes*. In order to study thoroughly the 

 manners and customs of the great Caribbee 

 nation, it is requisite to visit the missions of the 

 Llanos, those of the Carony, and the savannahs 

 that extend to the South of the mountains of 

 Pacaraymo. The more we learn to know them, 

 say the monks of Saint Francis, the more we 

 lose the prejudices, which prevail against them 

 in Europe, as being more savage, or, to use the 

 simple expression of a lord of Montmartin, as 

 being less liberal than the other tribes of Guy- 

 ana*^. The language of the Caribbees of the 

 Continent is the same from the sources of Rio 

 Branco to the steppes of Cumana. I was fortu- 

 nate enough to procure a manuscript, contain- 

 ing an extract, made by father Sebastian Gar- 

 cia, of the Gramatica de la lengua Caribe del 

 P. Fernando Ximenes. This valuable manu- 

 script has been used in the researches made by 



* Diod. lib. v, § 56 ; Clavier, vol. i, p. 283. 



+ " The Caribbees are tall and plump ; but are little dis- 

 posed to be liberal, for they like to feed on human flesh, 

 lizards, and crocodiles." (Descript. gen. de V Amfrique par 

 Pierre d' A city, Seigneur de Montmartin, 1600, p. 118.) 



