Remarks upon the aboriginal Americans--Suppositions of various
authors--Caribs--Arrowawks--Ferocity of the Carib--Complexion--
Dress--Ornaments--Dreadful revenge--Wars-Chiefs--Severities
practised--Feasts--Remarks upon paganism--Anthropophagi--A
traveller's tale--The Carib's opinion of death--Religious
tenets--Altars--The burning Carib.
It may perhaps be proper to remark, that although this work has
been entitled, "Antigua and Antiguans," still, as I have
commenced its history from the period of its first discovery, it
will be necessary to say something about its ancient inhabitants,
the Caribs. As it is impossible at this lapse of time, to give
the history of the individual tribe who peopled this island, I
have been obliged to gather my information from what the early
writers have transmitted to posterity, of the habit and customs
of the entire nation. Consequently, while I am writing of the
Carib of Antigua, or, as the island was called at that period,
"Xamayca," I must at the same time allude to those of the other
islands; only remarking, that ferocious as they all were, the
Carib of this country seems to have borne the pre-eminence in
hardy daring and relentless animosity toward their conquerors. In
the same manner, I have thought proper to give a short account of
the discovery of America, as antecedent to that of this island;
and as, in furtherance of my plan, I have introduced Columbus to
my readers, from his boyhood, it is but right I should trace the
Caribbean nation from their source. With this apology for trying
the patience of my readers, while I write of a people whose
existence is no more, I will proceed with my subject, which I
hope may neither prove foreign nor unpleasant.
To enter into minute inquiries how America and its contiguous
islands were _first peopled_, would fill many volumes, the
opinions of the learned upon this subject being so various. Some
authors suppose the Americans do not derive their existence from
the same common parent as the rest of mankind. Others, that they
are descended from a remnant of the antediluvian world which
survived the deluge; but this must be erroneous, or how are we to
understand the sacred historian, when, speaking of that momentous
circumstance, he says--"And all flesh died that moved upon the
earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the face of the earth, and
every man. _All_ in whose nostrils was the breath of life, _of
all that was in the dry land, died!_"--Gen. vii. 21, 22. Again,
many authors assert that their ancestors came from the north-east
of Asia, after the dispersion of the people for their impious
attempt to build the Tower of Babel; and to establish this
doctrine upon a firmer basis, endeavour to point out the great
similitude between the Asiatics and the Southern Americans, in
their manners, customs, and general appearance. Another, and
perhaps the most probable idea, is, that the _southern_ parts of
North America, and the islands which lie in the Gulf of Mexico,
and the Caribbean Sea, were originally peopled by Africans. This
idea is maintained by various speculations:--as the trade-winds
blow direct from east to west, a canoe of these savages might
have been driven by bad weather across the Atlantic; and this
position may be further proved by the statement of the Indians of
Florida, who, when asked about their origin, reply, "that their
ancestors came from the east, and that at the time they
discovered America, they were nearly dead from want of
provisions." These Africans, uniting with the different tribes
with which the other parts of America were peopled, must have
produced the various degrees of colour and character which
astonished so much the first discoverers of this extensive
quarter of the world.
The Caribs, from whom Antigua and the adjoining islands took
their names, were a very different race of beings from the gentle
and hospitable inhabitants of Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, &c., who were
called Arrowawks, and with whom the Caribs were ever at war. From
the martial and ferocious spirit of the Caribs, and from their
repasts upon human flesh, historians agree in supposing they were
descended from the Africans; while, on the contrary, the
peacefulness and indolence of the Arrowawks evidently bespeak
them of an Asiatic origin.
When Columbus visited these islands for the first time, he found
the inhabitants so very savage, that he was for a while fearful
of landing; but upon despatching small presents to them, they
afterwards appeared more friendly, and desirous of an
acquaintance. In nearly all of their huts were found relics of
their horrid feasts upon the bodies of their slaughtered enemies;
and in one of them, a man's arm was roasting for the intended
meal of the inmates.
The character of the Caribs presents little of what is
interesting to the imagination; ferocious, superstitious, and
revengeful, they looked upon all strangers as enemies; and, in
return, were dreaded as such by the inhabitants of the other
islands; still they are represented as being, generally,
peaceable and friendly to one another. They ever retained a high
sense of equality and independence. Accustomed to be absolute
masters of their own conduct, they scorned to follow the orders
of others; and having never known control, they would not submit
to correction. Many, when they found they were treated as slaves
by the Spaniards, and that resistance or escape was impossible,
sought refuge from calamity in the arms of death. While the Carib
roamed in his native wilds, his reason was but little exercised,
and consequently, his intellectual powers were very limited. His
ideas never extended beyond the narrow sphere in which he moved,
and everything but his present preservation and enjoyment was
perfectly indifferent to him. When disposed to sleep, no
consideration on earth would tempt him to sell his bed; but in
the morning, when satisfied with slumber, and prepared to set out
on the usual business or recreation of the day, the Carib has
been known to dispose of it for the smallest trifle which caught
his fancy. The only thing they deemed of _real_ value, was their
weapons--consequently, when they found, by sad experience, the
superiority of fire-arms over the bow and arrows of their own
country, they viewed them with unbounded admiration; but the
inventions and improvements of civilized life, with all the arts
and manufactures of the Spaniards, they regarded with apathy, or
paid them the same attention as we do the toys of childhood.
Columbus noticed two distinct races of Caribs. One was quite
black, with hair approaching to woolly; the other, of a deep
copper colour complexion, with long, straight hair; the latter
inhabited Antigua and the adjoining islands, while the blacks
predominated more in the islands further south. In appearance,
the Caribs were robust and muscular; their limbs flexible and
active. They ornamented their hair with shells and grease; and
some of them had it turned up like women, and decorated with thin
plates of gold, which they procured from the Arrowawks. Their
garments were composed of cotton cloth, fabricated by their
females, and which they had the art of staining red, their
favourite colour; but many of them were in a state of nudity. The
cartilage of the nostril was perforated, and in it they stuck a
piece of tortoise-shell, the bone of a fish highly polished, or a
parrot's feather. They adorned their arms, neck, and ankles, with
the teeth of their enemies which they had slain in battle, or
devoured at home. Their bodies were painted in the most hideous
manner, which appears to have been intended to make them look
more formidable in the eyes of their enemies than pleasing in the
sight of their friends. The favourite style of doing this, was
first to smear a quantity of red paint all over them; they then
encircled one eye with a streak of white, and the other with one
of black; they also disfigured their cheeks with deep incisions
and horrible scars, which they stained with various colours; and
the greater number and depth of these disfigurations constituted
their idea of manly beauty, and martial appearance.
Their revenge was deep and implacable--it resembled rather the
wild fury of a lion than the passion of a man. When anger took
possession of a Carib's heart, he vented it against everything,
whether animate or inanimate, which chanced to fall in his way.
Although in general calm and apparently insensible to pain, if
struck by an arrow in these moments of rage, like the North
American Indian, he would tear it from the wound, bite it, spit
upon it, and, dashing it to the ground, trample it to atoms
beneath his feet. He never pitied--never forgave--never spared!
To fall upon an enemy unarmed, knock him down, capture him, and
finally eat him, was the boast of a Carib warrior! For this they
were bred up from their youth. To bear with an unflinching spirit
the most excruciating torments, inflicted by the hands of his own
father and nearest kin--to suffer all the severities and
unnatural cruelties which the savage breast was capable of
imagining without betraying one symptom of weakness--to rise
superior to pain, and baffle the rage of his persecutors by
calmness and tranquillity, was the test by which the courage of
the young Carib was tried. If he succeeded in this, he was looked
upon as one of the warriors of his country, and pronounced "a man
like themselves;" while, on the contrary, should one cry escape
his lips, one supplication for mercy break from him, he was
despised as a coward, and driven from society.
When an expedition against the Arrowawks was intended, a chief
was elected, with solemn ceremonies. During the time of peace,
however, the Caribs appear to have owned no head; they paid,
indeed, some little veneration to the old men, but this appears
to have been merely from respect to their age,--at any rate, they
were not able, by their influence, to protect the weak or the
stranger. The man who aspired to lead his countrymen to war was
obliged to undergo the most severe sufferings before he was
accounted worthy of that honour. If he was successful, upon his
return he was treated with a grand feast, and was allowed to take
as many captives for his own share as he liked, and alter his
name a second time to that of the most formidable Arrowawk who
had fallen by his hand, while his own people presented for his
choice the most beautiful of their daughters. Their mode of
warfare was very different to that of the present day,--they
thought it no honour to fall fighting for their country. Their
plan was, not to wait for a drawing up of their forces, but to
capture all their foes they found unprepared, whom, at the end of
the war, they carried home, and either slaughtered them for the
grand feast, or kept them until they became sufficiently plump
for eating. They preserved the fat of these poor creatures to
anoint the bodies of their children, in hopes of making them as
martial as themselves.
Happy for us is it that we live in an age when Paganism, with all
its accompanying horrors, has given place to the mild doctrines
of Christianity--when this land, so beautified by the hand of
Nature, is freed from those barbarous wars, those soul-sickening
feasts of human flesh, which once polluted it! That man can
actually devour his fellow-creatures is almost incredible--
indeed, some persons of philosophical minds have doubted the
truth of anthropophagy; yet, shocking as it is to the
imagination, it has been too fully proved to be denied; indeed,
some of the Caribs, when, in later years, they have been asked
about this revolting practice, have unhesitatingly answered in
the affirmative, and even gone so far as to say that Frenchmen
eat better than Englishmen, and Englishmen better than
natives.[101] Although, within these last years, so much has been
effected by the laudable zeal of Christian missionaries, yet,
even now, there are "dark corners of the earth" where human flesh
is not only eaten from feelings of revenge, but partook of as a
luxury.[102]
I read in a periodical, some time ago, a circumstance which may
be termed a romance of real life. I pretend not to give it in its
original words, but the tenour of the case is as follows: A
gentleman was once travelling through the interior of Grenada, or
Trinidad, I am not certain which, and after riding for some time
through rocky defiles and umbrageous woods, he at length came to
an open plain, on which was erected about half a dozen Carib
huts. Riding up to the door of the principal one, an old man was
seen reclining upon a rustic seat, who at the approach of the
stranger arose, and, with much native politeness, invited him to
alight, and spend the day at his hut. The gentleman, being one
who was travelling in pursuit of knowledge as well as amusement,
was well pleased to have the opportunity of becoming a little
acquainted with the domestic manners of this ancient people.
After walking about for some time, and making sketches of the
various beautiful scenes which surrounded the hut, his attention
was arrested by the plaintive cry of a female. Having a good
supply of the "milk of human kindness" within his breast, and a
heart open to the distresses of his species, the traveller
determined to go in quest of the afflicted fair. Directing his
steps by the sound of the voice, which appeared to issue from a
magnificent grove of trees near the spot, he soon came in sight
of the object of his commiseration, whom he found to be, not a
fair, but a dark beauty, of sixteen or seventeen years of age.
Her long black hair floated down her naked shoulders; the tears
were rolling over her smooth brown cheeks; while her languishing
dark eyes were turned with mournful looks upon the face of a man,
who, with knitted brow, was employed in fastening her slender
wrists to one of the trees. Supposing she had committed some
fault for which she was about to receive corporal punishment, the
gentleman begged very earnestly for her pardon; and from the
smile which passed over the harsh features of the man, he thought
his request was complied with.
The day passed very rapidly, and our traveller was delighted with
all he saw. His host was all attention, pointing out to his
notice whatever he thought would amuse; and when dinner was
announced, ushered him into his hut with the air of a French
_petit-maitre_. The dinner table was laid out in the English
style, in compliment to his guest; and the calabashes which
contained the water &c. were beautifully carved and stained. The
first refreshment introduced was soup, which was contained in an
English tin tureen, that shone like silver; and from the keen air
of the mountain, and the exercise he had taken, our traveller
made a very hearty repast upon it. After its removal, and while
waiting for the other viands, the host asked--"How he liked Carib
soup?" "Excellent!" said the gentleman--"very delicious--I must
beg a few receipts from your _cookery book_." "O, it's very
simple," replied the old Carib, "if you have the proper articles
to make it of: what you have been eating was made from the hands
and feet of the girl you were begging for this morning!" What
were the feelings of the traveller at this horrible information
can be better imagined than described. The repast he had _shared
in_, the fate of the poor girl, and his own situation amid a race
of cannibals, filled him with horror, and almost drove reason
from her throne. It is almost unnecessary to state that he left
the scene of bloodshed as soon as possible; and never, never more
did he think of visiting a Carib, or partaking of _Carib soup_. I
have given the story as I received it; as to its _authenticity_,
I will not take upon myself to vouch for it.
With regard to the religious rites and tenets of the Caribs but
little can be said, for but little is known with any degree of
truth. They appear to have an idea that death was not a final
extinction of being; but that the soul (or rather souls, for it
was the general opinion among them that every pulse that beat in
their bodies was a _separate_ soul) went to another world, where
they enjoyed themselves very much after the manner they did in
this, and that their bows and arrows were as necessary there as
here. For this reason they buried the weapons in the graves of
their friends, and inhumed several captives with them, that they
might have attendants in "the land of spirits." Some authors
assert that they acknowledged one great universal Cause, to whom
they gave the name of "Mayboya," who was invisible to them, but
who watched their actions, and heard their words; that this being
possessed an irresistible power; and that subordinate to him were
many other gods. Other writers, however, maintain that the Caribs
had not even a name for a deity; and that after death they
believed they decayed away like the animals they were acquainted
with. Which was the fact is a matter of surmise; but Columbus
mentions that in several of their huts were seen little altars
composed of banana leaves and rushes, and that upon these were
laid offerings of fruit, fish, flowers, &c. It seems probable
that their religious principles were like those of other savages,
suggested rather by the dread of impending evils, than gratitude
for favours received. "We can all forget benefits, although we
implore mercy," was their motto.
Some of the Caribs pretended to be magicians, and worshipped
demons with rites and ceremonies of the darkest superstition:
these people were termed Boyez, and in them was placed implicit
faith. Upon the discovery of these islands, the Spaniards
endeavoured to convert the natives to Christianity; but the means
used to accomplish this were diametrically opposite to what they
ought to have been. Instead of setting it forth as a doctrine of
love and mercy, and inculcating its precepts with mildness and
humanity, they shewed at once the bloody tenets of the church of
Rome, and condemned those to the stake who did not immediately
subscribe to their opinions.
This manner of proceeding, instead of converting the Caribs, only
fixed firmer in their minds their dislike to the intruders; they
witnessed their quarrels among themselves, their ferocious and
implacable resentments, their insatiable thirst after gold, and
the cruelties they perpetrated in searching after that metal. Can
it be wondered at, then, that they did not believe the
superiority of the Christian religion, as taught by the
Spaniards, over their own? or that the rites of baptism, which
they could not understand or appreciate, were despised by them?
One of these unhappy people being condemned to be burnt for his
attempts to save his country from the encroachments of its
conquerors, was promised, by a Roman-catholic priest, admittance
into heaven if he would only embrace the Christian faith before
he died. "Are there any Spaniards in that region of bliss you
tell me of?" inquired the unhappy victim. "Yes," replied the
priest; "but only such as are good."--"Then I will never go
there, where I may meet with one of that accursed race; for the
_best_ of _them_ have neither worth nor goodness." And from the
cruel treatment these islanders met with, there was but too much
reason in this exclamation.
------
[101] Some authors assert that this is only vanity in the French;
that they think so highly of themselves, that even in the
_interesting_ point of being eaten, they will not allow the
pre-eminence to other nations.
[102] "The New Zealanders are perpetually carrying on war with
each other, to which they are stimulated, not by thirst of
conquest, but by the desire of eating the flesh of their
antagonists!"--See Prichard's "Researches."
END OF VOL. I.
T. C. Savill, Printer, 107, St. Martin's Lane.