Antigua and the Antiguans: a Full Account of the Colony and Its Inhabitants ...

Caribs Domestic state-Treatment of their women-Children-Their early tuition-Superstitious cruelties-Hatred of the Arrowawks— Female children Occupation of the men Canoes- Bows and arrows-Cottages-Cooking utensils-Native cloth-Food-Fishing -Decoy fish-Spirituous liquors—Personal appearance — Amusements-The Carib house-Extermination of the Caribs from Antigua -Remarks upon their history.

FROM a view of the religion of the Caribs, which we have endeavoured to give some account of in the last chapter, we will proceed to notice their domestic ties. Alas! we have a very sad picture here. The ineffable sympathies of the soul, the pure friendship, the chaste pleasures of the connubial state, were never known, or at least never appreciated by them. Proud of excelling in strength and courage, the chief marks of priority among this rude and savage people, the Caribs treated their women in every respect as beings of a far inferior nature-to despise and degrade them by every possible means was esteemed as a manly virtue. Although given as a reward to successful combatants, their wives were looked upon as no better than captives; every species of drudgery fell to their share; while their husbands passed the day in sleep, unless engaged in war, or in absolute want of a new weapon. When the men engaged in

TREATMENT OF CARIB WOMEN.

fishing, the women were obliged to attend to carry the tackle and bring home the fruits of their sport; but after cooking it, they were not allowed to partake of it with their husbands, or even to eat in their presence. In the island of Cuba at this day this custom is still extant, for a late traveller remarks, “In some of the first houses the men sit down to dinner while their wives wait behind their chairs." But to return to the Carib women. All their services were received without gratitude or even complacency-no cheering word or kind look (and how women appreciate those little endearments none but a woman can tell) mitigated their incessant toil or lightened their heavy burdens. They were not allowed to approach their husbands but with the most abject homage, to look up to them as exalted beings, to obey their every wish, and that without uttering a word of complaint or giving a single look of discontent-all this was expected of the Carib woman. Wearily must their days have passed, without a hope in this world, and scarcely one in the other-trouble and sorrow must indeed have been their lot!

Having considered the Carib's appreciation of the nearest and dearest tie in this world, we will proceed to take a view of his behaviour to his offspring. Perhaps there is not a stronger passion implanted by nature in the breast than that of parental love; even in the brute creation, there is a wonderful degree of instinct in the care of their young. The most stupid and sluggish, the most fearful and timid animals, become active and desperate in defence of their infant progeny, and will suffer any cruelty rather than permit their precious charge to be hurt or destroyed. If then this feeling exists so strongly in the breasts of animals devoid of reason, how much more should this be the case with man, raised as he is far above all terrestrial beings, endowed with a rational and comprehensive mind, and capable of enjoying the delights which flow from reciprocal affections! But in many instances we have to blush for our fellow creatures, and while we admire the instinct and parental feelings of brutes, deplore the inferiority of our own race:

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