lAws or iirnErjTA>-CE. 
89 
tile East ; as suampans, tliey liave been employed in tliu 
Operations of manual arithmctio by the Chinese, the Tartars, 
and the Eussiaus. The independent Caribs, who inhabit, 
16 little-hnown country situated between the sources of the 
ritioco and those of the rivers Essequibo, Carony, and 
arnna, are divided into tribes ; and, like the nations of the 
^tissouri, of Chili, and of ancient Germany, form a political 
confederation. This system is most in accordance with the 
^pirit of liberty prevailing amongst those warlike liordcs 
10 see no advantage in the ties of society but for common 
cetence. The pride of the Caribs leads them to withdraw 
b from every other tribe ; even from those to whom, 
lan^age, they have some affinity, 
m claim the same separation in the missions, which 
®. iiom prosper wdicn any attempt is made to associate them 
^ b other mixed communities, that is, with villages where 
^'^efy hut is inhabited by a family belonging to another 
and speaking another language. The authority ol 
lie chiefs of the independent Caribs is hereditary in the 
®ie line only, the children of sisters being excluded from 
0 succession. This law ol succession, which is founded on 
system ot mistrust, denoting no great purity of manners, 
Pjevads in India ; among the Ashantees (in Africa) ; luid among 
yeral tribes of the savages of North America.* The young 
8iih- ’ yoiittis who are desirous of marrying, are 
“eject to the most extraordinary fasts and penances, and 
^6 required to take medicines prepared by the marirris or 
Th™n’ ®“bed in the transalleghauiau countries, war-physic. 
“e Carribhee marirris are at once priests, jugglers, and 
1 “ysicians ; they transmit to their successors their doctrine, 
“eir artifices, and the remedies they employ. The latter are 
°®Pauied by imposition of hands, and certain gestures 
mysterious practices, apparently connected with the 
tl,g aiODg tlie Hurons (Wyandots) and the Natchez, the succession to 
is continued by the women : it is not tbe 8on who succeeds, 
® of the sister, or of the nearest relation in the female line, 
succession is said to be the most certain, because the supreme 
insurp attached to the blood of the last chief; it is a practice that 
so CO ® Ancient traces of this strange mode of succession, 
Africa apd in the East Indies, exist in the dynasty of the 
‘“B. of the India Wanda. 
