History of the Caribs. 227 
which are unfit to be related here. He made fishes out 
of scrapings and fragments of cassava, which he threw 
into the water : he rose again three days after death and 
returned to the sky : the animals came after him, but 
the Caribs know not whence. 
The Caribs were formerly long-lived, and even if they 
did not get old they died without illness. They ate 
nothing but fish, which is always young and never gets 
old. 
Later, they found a small field of cassava which 
LOUQUO had left behind him ; but, not knowing this 
plant, an old woman appeared and taught them the use 
of it. and told them that by breaking the wood in small 
pieces and planting these in the earth more roots would 
come. They say that in the beginning the cassava only 
took three months to mature ; that afterwards it took 
six ; and at last nine, as at present, before it was fit to be 
made into bread, which they call Aleba, and the women 
Marou. 
They believe that the sky has always existed, but not 
the earth and seas, and that these have not always been 
in the same good order in which they are at present. 
Their first man, LOUQUO in the beginning made the 
earth soft and smooth, without mountains : they cannot 
say from where he got the substance. The Moon fol- 
lowed immediately, and esteemed herself very pretty, 
but after seeing the sun she went and hid herself from 
shame, and has never shown herself but in the night. 
All the heavenly bodies are Caribs. They make the Moon 
masculine, and call her NONUN and the Sun, HUOIOU. 
They attribute the eclipses to MABOIA, the devil, who 
tries to kill them. They say that this wicked seducer 
FF 2 
