574 MONARDES-NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW-JOHN WOOLMAN.

porcupine-skins on the one side, and curled wool on the other.

"After I had eat, this chief put the same robe on his head, and covered my face with it, saying with a loud voice before all that were present, He whose dead body thou didst cover, covers thine while alive. He has carried the tidings of it to the country of souls (for these people believe the transmigration of souls): what thou didst in respect of the dead is highly to be esteemed: all the nation applauds and thanks thee for it.'"-Ibid. p. 247.

[Black Earth of Peru, to make Ink with.]

THERE is a black earth in Peru of which "I can say," says MONARDES, "that they sent me a little that therewith I might make ink; which being cast into water or wine there is made thereof very good ink, wherewith one may write well, but it is somewhat blue, which maketh of it a better show."ff. 102.

[Indian Tradition.]

a sort of grampus, whose descendants still delight to sport about the ancient dwelling of their great progenitor.

"The giant then hurled his wife Saconet into the air, and plunging himself beneath the waves, disappeared for ever. Saconet fell on the promontory of Rhode Island, which now bears her name, and long lived there, exacting tribute from all passengers. At length she was converted into stone, still however retaining her former shape, till the white men, mistaking her probably for an idol, lopped off both her arms; but her mutilated form remains to this day on the spot where she fell, and affords lasting and unimpeachable evidence of the truth of the tradition."-North American Review, vol. 5, p. 318.

[Indian Histories painted on Trees.]

His daily food was broiled [Notions of the American Indians relative

to the Food they eat.]

66 NEAR our hut on the sides of large trees peeled for that purpose, were various representations of men going to, and returning from the wars, and of some killed in battle, this being a path heretofore used by warriors. Those Indian histories were "ACCORDING to the tradition of the In-painted mostly in red, but some in black.” dians, when their ancestors first came from-JOHN WOOLMAN's Journal, p. 134. the West to this island, they found it occupied by Manshop, a benevolent but capricious being, of gigantic frame and supernatural power. whales, and he threw many of them on the coast, for the support of his Indian neighbours. At last, weary of the world, he sent his sons and daughter to play at ball, and while they were engaged in their sport, drew his toe across the beach on which they were, and separated from the island. The returning tide rising over it, the brothers crowded round their sister, careless of their own danger, and while sinking themselves, were only anxious to keep her head above the waves. Manshop commended their fraternal affection, bade them always love and protect their sister, and preserved their lives by converting them into whale killers,

"THEY abhor moles so exceedingly, that they will not allow their children even to touch them, for fear of hurting their eyesight; reckoning it contagious. They be lieve that nature is possessed of such a property as to transfuse into men and animals the qualities, either of the food they use, or of those objects that are presented to their senses; he who feeds on venison is, according to their physical system, swifter and more sagacious than the man who lives on the flesh of the bear, or helpless dunghill fowls, the slow-footed tame cattle, or the heavy wallowing swine. This is the reason

J. ADAIR-VASCONCELLOS-D. BERNARDO.

that several of their old men recommend,

575

and say, that formerly their greatest chief- [Iron sold by the Spaniards to the Indians,

and used against them.] tains observed a constant rule in their diet, and seldom ate of any animal of a gross Bernardo de VARGAS MACHUCA, who quality, or heavy motion of body, tancying was settled at Santa Fe de Bogota, comit conveyed a dulness through the whole plains that the Spaniards sold iron to the system, and disabled them from exerting Indians, which thus got round to the warthemselves with proper vigour in their mar-like tribes, and was used to their own detial, civil, and religious duties.

"I once asked the Archimagus, to sit down and partake of my dinner; but he excused himself, saying, he had in a few days some holy duty to perform, and if he eat evil or accursed food, it would spoil him, -alluding to swines' flesh. Though most of their virtue hath lately been corrupted, in this particular they still affix vicious and contemptible ideas to the eating of swines' flesh, insomuch, that Shukapa, 'swineeater,' is the most opprobrious epithet they can use to brand us with: they commonly subjoin Akanggapa, 'eater of dunghill fowls.'"-J. ADAIR, History of the American Indians, p. 134.

[Indian Notion of the Joyful Fields.] VASCONCELLOS states it as the belief of the Brazilian tribes that the souls of women and warriors went to what they called the joyful fields, those of cowards to the Anhargus, to be by them tormented. Cowardice being the only vice, it seems then that women, by reason of their sex, could have no sin imputed to them."-Vida de Alneida, vol. 1, p. 5. § 7.

[Sword of the Suyzaros-What?]

D. BERNARDO DE VARGAS MACHUCA, 1599, says that the sword then in use was that which the Suyzaros invented. Does he mean the Swiss, and did they introduce a shorter sword which caused the estoque to be disused? A natural consequence when the chivalrous mode of war was growing obsolete, and battles were decided by 'nfantry.-Milicia Indiana, ff. 2.

struction, many lives having been lost in consequence. The traffic he says, is Cosa bien digna de castigo exemplar, que casi es traycion, o especie della.—Ibid. ff. 3.

[Santiago del Estero, or Mahomet's Paradise.]

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, by a play upon words which holds good only in Spanish, was called Mahomet's Paradise, the Mahoma women being favourites with the first ruffians who settled in that country. LoZANO says, " El partido de Venus estaba en especial tan valido y poderoso, que llamaban a esta ciudad el Paraiso de Mahoma; nombre infame, que manifesta bien la dissolucion que reynaba.—Vol. 1, p. 3, § 17.

[Indian Stealth.]

"THEY sometimes scatter leaves, sand, or dust over the prints of their feet; sometimes tread in each other's footsteps; and sometimes lift their feet so high, and tread so lightly, as not to make any impression on the ground."—CARVER, p. 339.

[Indian Form of Submission.]

"THE Indians consider every conquered people as in a state of vassalage to their conquerors.

"After one nation has finally subdued another, and a conditional submission is agreed on, it is customary for the chiefs of the conquered when they sit in council with their subduers, to wear petticoats as an ac

GUMILLA-TORQUEMADA-P. FRANCIS CHARLEVOIX.

knowledgment that they are in a state of with sighs, groans, tears, and loud lamensubjection, and ought to be ranked among tations."-Ibid. 1, c. 11.

578

LANGSDORFF-TOOKE-POUQUEVILLE-SAINT PIERRE.

feet long by four broad, and five and six feet deep, which is paved with large stones, and the pieces of fruit thrown into it. A strong fermentation ensues, and forms a leaven, which will then keep for months. This food is called popoi. When it is mixed with water, it makes a drink which has very much the appearance and taste of buttermilk, and is extremely cooling and refreshing."-LANGSDorff, vol. 1, p. 125. New Marquesas or Washington Islands.

The leaner the Monkey the greater the
Value of his Fur.

[The Cayman.]

DOBRIZHOFFER says that though the cayman would be good meat were it not for the odour of musk, none but the Payaguas eat them (vol. 1, p. 322). The Abate Jolis, on the contrary, says (p. 324) that many tribes eat them, first cutting out two glands in the mouth of the females, and the testicles of the males, which are the parts from whence this musky odour proceeds. These are sold to the Spaniards and Portugueze for medical uses, for keeping off reptiles and insects, and for preserving food. It is remarkable that parts which are cut from the cayman, because their scent would affect it

[Liannes.]

"LEAN foxes have better skins, and there. as meat, should be used for this purpose. fore the Ostiaks, who when they find cubs feed them with such care, that the women actually suckle them, break one of their legs some time before they are to be killed, that they may eat less and grow lean! Either of these customs is sufficiently shocking, but their co-existence renders them monstrous."-ToOKE's View of the Russian Empire, vol. 3, p. 44.

[Olive Trees of the Morea.]

"THE olive trees of the Morea are some of the finest to be found in any part of the world. The respect of the people for these trees is such, that they pay them a sort of veneration when they are loaded with fruit; to cut off a branch would be a crime against which the whole country would rise in arms. Every part of the province seems to suit this tree. Immense forests of wild olive trees had covered various districts before

"A GREAT variety of shrubs, all comprized under the general name of liannes, some of which are as thick as a man's leg, and grow round the trees, making the trunks look like a mast furnished with rigging. They, however, support the trees against the hurricanes, of whose violence I have seen frequent proofs. When they fell timber in the woods, they cut about two hundred trees near the root, which remain upright till the liannes, which hold them, are cut down also. When this is done, one whole part of the forest seems to fall at once, making a most horrid crash. Cords are made of their bark, stronger than of hemp." SAINT PIERRE, Voyage to the Isle of

France.

any attention was paid to them by the in- [Introduction of Indigo into Surinam.]

:

habitants. It was not till the country was occupied by the Venetians that the people became sensible of the treasure they possessed these new guests instructed them in the art of grafting the trees, and since that time olives have become an article of the highest importance among them."-PouQUEVILLE, p. 201.

INDIGO was introduced into Surinam by a M. Destrades, who called himself a French officer. "I myself," says STEDMAN, "was well acquainted with this poor fellow, who since shot himself through the head at Demerary. The circumstances of his death were somewhat remarkable. Having involved himself in debt, he turned to ready