AMERICAN TRIBES, INCIDENTAL AND MISCELLANEOUS ILLUSTRATIONS. [Atrocious Custom of the Mexicans.] ONE of the cursed customs of the Mexicans was to distort the limbs of children, and break their backs, in order to make court-monsters of them."-HERRERA, 2, 7, 10. [Cruelty of Atahualpa.] ATAHUALPA was quite as cruel as his conquerors. The Cañaris, a brave and highly civilized people, sent their youths and children to request pardon for having opposed him, and he slew thousands and tens of thousands of them, and had their hearts taken out, and set in rows in the fields, saying he would see what fruit would come of such lying hearts. "To this day," says HERrera, "their bones and skulls strike horror into any one who sees the multitude of them, which still remain unconsumed in that dry and sandy soil."-Ibid., 5, 3, 17. [Suggestion as to some of the Population of America.] IN 1731, a bark, with six men, which was laden with wine, and bound from Teneriffe to [Extraordinary Statement as to the immense number of Cattle in the Neighbourhood of Monterey.] "THE immense herds of cattle now to be seen in these parts spring from five head which were brought hither by the mission in the year 1766. The Governor of Monterey, with whom we became acquainted during our stay, assured me that the number had been so great during the latter years in the missions of St. Francisco, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, that some months before he had been under the necessity of sending out a party of soldiers, who had killed no less than twenty thousand, as he began to be afraid that from the immense increase of them, there might, in a short time, have been a want of sufficient pasture for their support." ."-Langsdorff, vol. 2, p. 170. [Stars brighter as they pass over the Emerald Mines of Ytoco.] "BOTH Spaniards and Indians say, that when a star passes over Ytoco, where the emerald mines are, it becomes manifestly brighter, as bright as the moon of six days old."-HERRERA, 8, 4, 11. [Starry Influences.] "I WILL conclude this Treatise of Brazil with a word or two of the Stars of the other Hemisphere, garnished with many Constellations wholly unknown to us, of which the Cruciers, or Crosse, is the principal, consisting of five or six Stars of the first magnitude, as bright as any in our Hemisphere; whose brightness, as with a foil, is set off the more by a great black cloud that is continually under it, as is the whiteness of the Milky Way rendered more perspicuous, by a streak of 360 VIEYRA-HERRERA-MERC. PERNANS-DOBRIZHOFFER, ETC. black in the midst of it, tending towards the same | dresse de procurer artificiellement aux perroquets Constellation; both which, as also another great des couleurs naturelles, differentes de celles qu'ils black cloud on the other side the Milky Way, I observed at my being there, for more than six months continually whence I concluded, it was the natural complexion of that sky (as ours is blue) to have much part black; which perhaps renders the people of that climate far more melancholy than ours, which black clouds I much wonder none (as I know of) has observed besides myself, especially since there are two white clouds not far from the Cruciers, appearing always in the same posture and figure, so generally observed and known, as they are called Nubes Ma- | gellenica, from Magellan, who first discovered them."-FLECKNO, p. 80. [Enter:-Letter M.] "Os vicios da lingua sao tantos, que fez Drexelio hum Abecedario inteiro et muito copioso delles. E se as letras deste Abecedario se repartissem pelos Estados de Portugal, que letra tocaria ao nosso Maranham ? Nao ha duvida que o M. M. Maranham, M. murmurar, M. motejar, M. maldizer, M. malsinar, M. mixericar, et solve tudo M. mentir: mentir com as palatras, mentir com as obras, mentir com os pensamentos, que de todes, et por todos os modus aqui se mente."-VIEYRA, Serm., t. 4, p. 294. [The Weapon Yuele.] "THEY used also a singular weapon, which they called yuele, but to which the Spaniards improperly applied the name of the macana: it was a truncheon, three palms in length, well rounded, and thicker at the ends than in the middle; with this they practised at a mark, making it skim along the ground, as boys make a flat pebble leap along the surface of the water. In war it became a formidable missile, with which they broke the bones of their enemies."-HERRERA, 2, 58. [Population of the Valley of Tariga.] "THE population of this valley of Tariga is redundant, and the Chirihuanos continually send out swarms of emigrants towards Tucuman."MERC. PERNANS, May 15, 1791, t. 2, p. 37. [Belief of equestrian Tribes in evil Spirits.] "THE equestrian tribes towards the south believe in an immense number of evil spirits, whom they call Quezubû, and their prince El-El. But they offer them no worship, execrating them as the authors of all evil."-DOBRIZHOFFER, t. 2, p. 100. [Artificial Parroquets.] "Les Indiens des bords de l'Oyapoc ont ont reçues de la nature, en leur tirant les plumes, et en les frottant avec du sang de certaines Grenouilles; c'est la ce qu'on apelle à Cayenne, tapirer un Perroquet; peut être le secret ne consistet-il qu'a mouiller de quelque liqueur acre l'endroit qui a été plumé; peut être même n'est-il besoin d'aucun apprêt, et c'est une expérience à faire. En effet, il ne paroit pas plus extraordinaire de voir dans un viseau renaître des plumes rouges ou jaunes, au lieu des vertes qui lui ont été arrachées, que de voir repousser du poil blanc en la place du noir sur le dos d'un cheval qui a été blessé.”—CoxDAMINE, Relation Abregée, p. 169. [Feathers of the Inca's Crown.] "THE Peruvians believed that there were two birds, spotted with black and white, who lived by the Lake of Tongasuca, who never bred, and were themselves immortal. At the coronation of an Inca, thousands of the people went to the mountains where these two birds made their abode, and hunted them till they caught them, took a feather from each, and then let them go. To offer them any other injury at any time was a capital offence. These feathers were inserted in the crown of the new Inca."-MERC. PERNANS, No. 139. [Singular Custom in Trinidad Bay of grinding down the Teeth to the Gums.] Ar Trinidad Bay, VANCOUVER observed a fashion "particularly singular, which must be attended with much pain in the first instance, and great inconvenience ever after. All the teeth of both sexes were, by some process, ground uniformly down horizontally, to the gums; the women especially, carrying the fashion to an extreme, had their teeth reduced even below this level, and ornamented their lower lip with three perpendicular columns of punctuation, one from each corner of the mouth, and one in the middle, occupying three fifths of the lip and chin."—Vol. 3, p. 415. [Expert Fishing.] THEY have a surprising method of fishing under the edges of rocks, that stand over deep places of a river. There, they pull off their red breeches, or their long slip of Stroud cloth, and wrapping it round their arm, so as to reach to the lower part of the palm of their right hand, they dive under the rock where the large catfish lie to shelter themselves from the scorching beams of the sun, and to watch for prey: as soon as those fierce aquatic animals see that tempting bait, they immediately seize it with the greatest violence, in order to swallow it. Then is the time for the diver to improve the favourable op l'a-portunity: he accordingly opens his hand, seizes the voracious fish by his tender parts, hath a sharp struggle with it against the crevices of the 1 DOBRIZHOFFER says, Hungarorum pusagan aliquomodu refert. GUMILLA-RIBAS-BANDINI-WINTERBOTTOM, ETC. 361 rock, and at last brings it safe ashore."-ADAIR'S | he would quickly be destroyed if not immediateHist. of the American Indians, p. 404. [Buoyancy of the Cayman.] GUMILLA (c. 43) believes, with the Othomacos, that the Cayman, having no alacrity at sinking, is obliged to swallow stones by way of ballast, till he is heavy enough to get to the bottom. [Free Negroes of the Caraccas, and their Town.] GUMILLA (c. 17) says that the free Negroes in Caraccas have been permitted to found a town of their own, which is called Nirua, where they have their own priest, their own municipal government, and from which they exclude all white persons, and all strangers. ner. [Extempore Clock at Cinaloa.] "In the province of Cinaloa (in New Spain), the natives used to make extempore clocks of this kind, in a rude but easy and effectual manQuando llueve, si quieren defenderse del agua, el remedio es coger una macolla, o manojo de paja larga del campo. Este atan por lo alto, y sentandose el Indio lo abre, y pone sobre la cabeça, de suerte que le cubra el cuerpo al rededor ; y esse le sirve de capa aguadera, y de techo y casa, o tienda de campo, aunque este lloviendo toda una noche.-P. ANDRES PEREZ DE RIBAS, l. 1, c. 2. [Query! What Number of Languages in the World.] AMERIGO VESPUCCI says, "It is said that there are not more than seventy and seven languages in the world, and I say, there are more than a thousand, for even those which I have heard are above forty."-BANDINI, Vita e Lettere di Amerigo Vesp., p. 81. [Ants of the River Corentyn.] "THE Moravian Missionary, Daehne, speaks of Ants, up the river Corentyn, nearly two inches long, of which the Indians are as much afraid as of serpents. He was bit by them on the hand, and the bite produced such excruciating pain, that he was for some time almost senseless."Periodical Accounts of the Missions of the United Brethren, vol. 1, p. 330. [The Omnivorous Ant of Africa.] "THE snakes have a formidable enemy in a species of ants, not larger than those in England, and from their colour, called black ants. These frequently enter houses in such incredible multitudes as to cover the walls and floors, which they never quit unless driven out by fire or boiling water, until they have searched every cranny, and have destroyed every thing which has life, or which can serve them for food. Were they to find a person confined to bed by sickness, ly removed. When they depart, the house is left perfectly desert; neither snake, rat, lizard, frog, centipes, cockroach, nor spider, the usual guests in an African hut, are to be seen."-WINTERBOTTOM's Native Africans, vol. 2, p. 176, Note. [The White Ant an Article of Food.] "THE Termes, or White Ant, is a common BUCHANAN, vol. 1, p. 7. article of food among one of the Hindoo tribes." They [The Amphisbana, or, King of the Emmets.] "STEDMAN saw one species of Ants perfectly black, and not less than an inch long. pillage a tree of all its leaves in a short time, which they cut in small pieces the size of a sixpence, and carry under ground to feed their young. But the common belief is, that it is to feed a blind serpent, the Amphisbona, who is called therefore the King of the Emmets."Narrative, &c., vol. 2, p. 141, 203. 362 DU PRATZ-PEYRON-DOBRIZHOFFER-DOCTOR MONARDUS. ing barefoot, as they are believed to fasten more | pillar is Cottil, among the Tobas, Ajox among the easily, and consequently, in greater numbers, Mataguajos. upon the cloaths, whence, however, they very speedily find their way to the skin."-STEDMAN'S Narrative, &c., vol. 1, p. 19. [The Razor Grass of Surinam.] STEDMAN mentions the cutty-weeree-weeree, as among the most serious pests in Surinam; it is a kind of strong-edged grass which is in some places very plentiful, and when a man walks through it, will cut his legs like a razor, vol. 2, p. 29. We have grasses in England which would do the same if we went bare-legged. Pacheco desirous of going on the Indian Mission. "SUBITO fugere parentum Illecebræ, notique omnes è pectore, dulcis [The Natchez enslaved and sent to St. Domingo.] "1730. WHEN the French extirpated the Natchez this year, they sent all whom they spared as slaves to St. Domingo."-DU PRATZ, vol. 1, p. 161. [The Bridge of Xativa.] "THERE is a bridge about three miles from Xativa, called the Widow's Bridge, and interesting for its history. A mother, who lost her only son in the river there, built it, in order that the same affliction might never happen to any mother again for want of one in that place."-PEYRON. [The Chaco Grub that produces Milk.] "JOLIS speaks of a grub in the Chaco, which only the women eat, and which, in a few days, produces milk, even in persons who are not pregnant, and who are advanced in years. He affirms this positively. Per mezzo di detti vermini fritti, o a lesso, che mangiansi, abbonda in pochi giorni il latte nelle donne, ancorché avvanzate in età, ed anche in quelle, che in istato non sono di partorire, come ne fui lo assicurato, e convinto da quei seloaggi. Non è cio, come sembrar potrebbe, una favola, ma un fatto avverato, e di cui non è a dubitarsi. (SAGGIO JULLA Storia del Chaco, p. 374.) The ABATE JOLIS is not a judicious writer, though in many respects a valuable one. The thing itself is most improbable, but, perhaps, not absolutely impossible. The name of this cater [Eating of the Louse by the Indian Women.] “Indæ mulieres, dum per suorum capita pediculos venantur, quotquot capiunt, glutiunt : si pinguiorem cæperint, assidenti sibi fœminæ vorandum muneris instar propinant perinde, ut nos tabaca pulverem alter alteri. Hunc Barbararum morem barbarum dicerem, nisi et ab Hispanis matronis plebeiis idem factitari in Paraquaria, ipsus spectassem toties."-DOBRIZHOFFER, Vol. 2, p. 369. [Eating of Clay by the Othomacos and Guamos explained.] THE Othomacos and Guamos are said to eat clay. GUMILLA (t. 1, c. 13) explains how far this assertion is well founded. The women have little pits by the river side, which they line with chalk or fine clay, tempered as if for pottery. In this they lay their maize, or whatever fruit or grain they choose: when the mass ferments, they take it out with the clay, work it up in water, pass it through a sieve, mix it with a considerable quantity of tortoise or cayman fat, and bake it in round balls. If there is plenty of this fat, the bread is tender, otherwise it is almost as hard as a brick." [Tobacco-Indian Smoking of the Calumet.] "ONE of the mervelles of this herbe, and that whiche bringeth most admiration, is the maner howe the priests of the Indias did use it, which I was in this manner. When there was amongst the Indians any manner of businesse of greate importance, in the which the chiefe gentlemen called Casiques, or any of the principal people of the countrey, had necessitie to consult with their priestes in any businesse of importance, then they went and propounded their matter to their chief priest; foorthwith, in their presence, he tooke certeyne leaves of the Tobaco, and cast them into the fire, and did receive the smoke of them at his mouth and at his nose with a cane, and in taking of it, hee fell down upon the ground as a dead man, and remayning so according to the quantity of the smoke that he had taken. When the hearbe had doone his worke, he did revive and awake, and gave them aunsweares according to the visions and illusions which he sawe, whiles he was rapt in the same manner, and hee did interpret to them as to him seemed best, or as the divell had counselled him."— DOCTOR MONARDUS. [Advantage of a Position in War.] “SEÑALADO el lugar, hecha la traza, de poderosos arboles labrados eercan una quadrada y ancha plaza en valientes estacas afirmados, que a los defuera impide y embaraza la entrada y combatir, porque guardados "Ex lo que usan los niños en teniendo habilidad y fuerza provechosa, es que un trecho seguido han de ir corriendo por una aspera cuesta pedregosa; y al puesto y fin del curso revolviendo le dan al vencedor alguna cosa; vienen a ser tan sueltos y alentadas que alcanzar por aliento los venados."-Ibid. 'Quando la luz las aves anunciaban y alegres sus cantares repetian, un sitio de altos arboles cereaban que una espaciosa plaza contenian, y en ellos las cabezas empalaban que de Españoles cuerpos dividian, los troncos de su rama despojados eran de los despojos adornados." Ibid., Canto 3. [Lautaro after a Victory.] "Y POR llegar de subito rebato el camino torcio por la marina, ganosos de burlar al bando amigo tomando el nombre y voz del enemigo. "Tanto marcho, que al asomar del dia dio sobre las esquadras de repente con una barahunda y voceria, que puso en arma y altero la gente; mas vuelto el alboroto en alegria conocida la burla claramente, los unos y los otros sin firmarse sueltas las armas, corren a abrazarse." Ibid., Canto 8. [Araucan Lance.] "Cox audacia, desden y confianza Lautaro contra el Fuerte caminaba, siguele atras la gente en ordenanza, y el con gracioso termino arrastraba una larga, ñudosa y gruesa lanza, que ayroso poco a poco la terciaba, y tanto por el cuento la blandia que juntar los estremos parecia." Ibid., Canto 9. [Red Painting of the Yucatan Women.] 363 THE women in Yucatan smeared themselves Iwith red, and mixed with the colouring liquid amber as a perfume.-HERRERA, 4, 10, 4. AND then he began to speake in the Spanish tongue in thys wise, 'Maisters, are ye Christians?' WHEN Valdivia marched against the Arau- 'Yea,' quoth they, 'and of the Spanish nation.' Then he rejoyced so much, that the teares fell from his eyes, and demaunded of them what day it was, although he had a Primer wherein he dayly prayed. "He then besought them earnestlye to assist him with their prayers and thanksgiving unto God for his delivery, and kneling devoutly downe uppon his knees, holding up his handes, his eyes In the same manner the Araucans staked the toward heaven, and his face bathed with teares, heads of Valorvia and his troops : made his humble prayer unto God, giving most |