292 
ORIGINAL CANOES 
in every part, with the chiefs who commanded them, as well 
as the ancestors of the different tribes who came in them, it 
is a sure proof that the general tradition is correct, and that 
the natives have a more accurate account of the founders of 
their race than either the English or Spanish have of theirs 
in America, although the period of their arrival was far more 
remote than that of the others, and labouring under the dis- 
advantage of not possessing a written language to preserve 
its memory, when they can thus give the names of all the 
canoes which brought their ancestors, of those in them, and 
even the various things brought with them. 
A RATA TREE CLASPING ANOTHER. 
