History of the Caribs. 243 
teeth. For this would cause the hammock to be soon 
torn. These beds, or hammocks, are generally 8 to 10 
feet wide, and 4 or 5 long, and are hung at a little dis- 
tance from the ground, to forked sticks. They are painted 
with roucou, diluted with oil, in so many different ways, 
that one seldom finds two alike. 
Calaba* oil is made from palm seeds and serves to oil 
their hair. 
Roucou is a red paint which they rub on their body. 
It is made with oil and the seeds which grow on a tree 
like the cotton tree.t 
Their canoes are made of a tree, which is hollowed by 
means of fire and a hatchet, about 25 to 40 feet long and 
5 to 6 broad, capable of conveying 30 to 40 persons. 
While being burnt out, sticks are placed across so 
as to enlarge it. If a woman did but touch it 
with her fingers, they believe it would split. They 
never go to war without first having a great drink. 
There they deliberate and decide all state questions. 
Their war consists of attacks on the enemy, never 
openly, but by hiding in the bushes and trying to sur- 
prise the enemy. After killing a person or burning a 
hut they hastily retreat. If they are discovered, or if 
even they hear the barking of a dog, they will not follow 
out their purpose but return without doing any thing. 
They carry away their dead, and it is then that they 
lose most of their people. 
A savage of St. Vincent showed me the foot of an 
* Calaba oil, is I suspect crab oil, which is prepared from the seeds 
not of a palm but of a tree called Caraba (Carapa guianensis) ; or 
possibly the Indian word Carapa is applied to any oil tree. 
f The tree is Bixa Orellana, called by the Indians of Guiana, Faroah 
HH 2 
