272 
GUATEMALA. 
sea, now called, from their supposed name, Caribbean. The 
Caribs dwelt also in the valley of the Orinoco ; but seldom 
chose their home far from the sea. They were understood 
to have the habit of eating their fellow-men ; and it is from 
a corruption of Caribal 
that we have the oppro¬ 
brious term “ cannibal.” 
Whether they did limit 
their diet to the orthodox 
fare or not, is by no means 
clear; for the Spanish con¬ 
querors did not scruple to 
indict, condemn, and put 
to death the innocent na¬ 
tives who opposed them, 
— and no stouter oppo¬ 
nents than the Caribs did 
they find. Two distinct 
tribes are generally in¬ 
cluded under the name,— 
the black Caribs, and the 
yellow: the latter with 
straight black hair; but 
the former are no doubt 
the mixed breed of the true 
Carib (who was generally 
at war with the European 
intruder) and the African slaves who escaped to the pro¬ 
tection of the aborigines from their tyrannical masters. 
In 1/96 England removed these troublesome people from 
St. Vincent to Roatan, •—- one of the Bay Islands off the 
coast of Honduras, whence they gradually emigrated to 
Carib Woman. 
