ITS PROBABLE CAUSES. 
249 
Avoid tlie disturbance of conjugal tranquillity, the old female 
relations of the mother take care, that when twins are born 
°ne of them shall disappear. If a new-born infant, though 
not a twin, have any physical deformity, the father instantly 
Puts it to death, they will have none but robust and well- 
niade children, for deformities indicate some influence of 
the evil spirit Ioloquiamo, or the bird Tikitiki, the enemy 
°t the human race. Sometimes children of a feeble con- 
s titution undergo the same fate. When the father is asked 
''hat is become of one of his sons, he will pretend that he 
has lost him by a natural death. He will disavow an action 
that appears to him blameable, but not criminal. “The 
Poor boy,” he will tell you, “ could not follow us ; we must 
have waited for him every moment ; he has not been seen 
®gain ; he did not come to sleep where we passed the night.” 
jjuch is the candour and simplicity of manners — such the 
“pasted happiness — of man in the state of nature ! He kills 
jus son to escape the ridicule of having twins, or to avoid 
journeying more slowly; in fact, to avoid a little incon- 
v ®uience. 
, These acts of cruelty, I confess, are less frequent thau 
they are believed to be ; yet they occur even in the: Missions, 
*-'Uring the time when the Indians leave the village, to retire 
l ° the conucos of the neighbouring forests. It would be 
p^oneous to attribute these actions to the state of polygamy 
which the uncatechized Indians live. Polygamy no doubt 
Tuiinishes the domestic happiness and internal union of 
'"nilies ; but this practice, sanctioned by Ismaelism, does 
Uqt prevent the people of the east from loving their children 
jTth tenderness. Among the Indians of the Orinoco, the 
i “er returns home only to eat, or to sleep in his hammock; 
wishes no caresses on his infants, or on his wives, whose 
thee it i s to 8e rve him. Parental affection begins to display 
Se u only when the son has become strong enough to take 
‘P&rt in hunting, fishing, and the agricultural labours of the 
P a nt:atio ns . 
Mi, 
facie 
Atr ;- jns 
" hile our boat 
was unloading, we examined closely, 
soever the shore could be approached, the terrific spec- 
i Q Uu of a great river narrowed and reduced as it were to 
art1 ' I shall endeavour to paint, not the sensations we felt, 
hut 
the aspect of a spot so celebrated among the scenes of 
