Chap. XV.—B. P.] EARLY ACCOUNT OP THE ABORIGINES. 249 
This states that they deserved to he sold as slaves, 
rather than to he allowed to live at liberty, on account 
of their brutish way of living; that the Indians of 
the mainland were idolaters, pathics, liars, dirty, ugly, 
void of judgment or perception, lovers of novelty, 
fierce, inhuman, and cruel; that they used poisoned 
darts, so that when a man was wounded by them he 
soon went mad and died ; that they went about naked, 
and were devoid of shame. They wear no beard, the 
report continues, and if a few hairs appear they pull 
them out with certain little pincers; they eat human 
flesh, and also the flesh of some extremely dirty ani¬ 
mals, such as spiders, lice, and horrid worms. All 
their delight is in drunkenness; they observe no faith 
in matrimony, so that it is impossible to make them 
alter their habits. They are devoid of pity towards 
their infirm, and, let them be ever so closely related, 
they abandon them, and to get rid of the sight of 
their sick, they carry them to the woods or the 
mountains, to die like wild animals. Finally, to con¬ 
clude all in one sentence, it affirmed that no more 
wicked or wretched nation can be found under heaven. 
These accounts are interesting, as being the earliest 
record we have, but it is curious to observe the dif¬ 
ference of style in the three observers above quoted, 
—a fair indication, I think, of the bent of their re¬ 
spective minds. Columbus states what he saw in a 
grave, impartial manner; and although his account 
is meagre, yet the little he tells us can be relied on. 
The costume of the tribes in the interior continues the 
same to this day; they still sketch those outlines of 
