The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-30
The Natives Of Guiana.


and continues jet black till au advanced period
of life. Their eyes are also black and keen,
and the sight and hearing very acute" The
men wear nothing of their own accord but
strip of cotton about the loins and on festivals
ooronas of feathers; and the women small
aprons of beads, and necklaces either Of beads
or teeth taken from wild animals; but the
Missionaries teach them some rules of dress
as essential to godly, or at all events to de-
corous,s fife. They dwell in thatched huts
with slopiDg roofs, which usually contain two
spartments, one for the man and his goods,
the other for the women and children. Most
of them allow polygamy, throw the drudgery
of life on their women, and are expert both
with the bow and arrow and the blow-p pipe, a
weapon almost peculiar to themselves. Thus
far they differ little from other savages, and
especially from the aborigines of India, but
they have few customs peculiar to them
selves. The most remarkable of these is their
mode of avengiDg murder. When any one is
put to death the soTcerer OF the tribe indicates
the murderer, and the nearest relative then
goes through certain ceremonies, which end
in his becoming a "Kanaima," that is, man
possessed with the deity of that name. He
devotes himself to the slaughter of the mur-
derer, or some one of his family, lives by rule,
and appears to work himself up to a state of
madness, in which he is as dangerous
as wild beast. When his vic
tim is found he first renders
him dumb by pressing poison into his mouth,
then kills him; and then II the relatives re-
move the body visits his grave to run stake
through his heart, in order that he may taste
it. II he can fulfil all these ceremonies he
gees home composed; if not, he wanders on
till overtaken by madness or starvation. This
custom is dying out on the coast, but is still
preserved in the interior and, perhaps ac-
counts for the dislike of many tribes to quar-
rellipg. The uniformity of the native clans is
only apparent, as the word "native' includes
several tribes, notably the Arawaks, Acawoios,
Waraus, and Caribs. The Arawaks, or Lo-
kono, are a gentle tribe, mach favored by the
Dutch, who take readily to Christianity and
civilization, seldom quarrel, and would, but
for tendency to get drunk on chewed cas-
sava, very much resemble the less civilized
inhabitants Of Bengal. They are
willing to learn, are interested in
maps and pictures, and exhibit as We
gather from several anecdotes, q livelier con-
science than most semi.civilized people. The
Waraus seem to be precisely like the Sonthals,
cling to the coast, are indolent, but capable of
hard labor, and, unlike most American sava-
ges, are of jovial disposition. The Acawoios
are iercer tribe, who combine the avocations
Of traders and pirates. They undertake
immense journeys, which they make in armed
parties, to Venezuela or Brazil, usually mas
sacripg the people of any village en- route not
strong enough to resist them. They are
brave to audaoity, and are greatly dreaded by
their neighbors, and exhibit the phenomenon,
rare, though not unknown among savages, of
discomfort with their own creed. In 1S45 an
impostor, supposed to have been a white man,
summoned them to encamp in sort of para
disc, as he described it, and they marched in
in hundreds from all parts Of their territory,
received orders from a concealed voice. and
remained encamped, waiting apparently for a
new revelation, till after twelve months delay
they came to the conclusion that they had
been duped by the Devil. Once civilized they
become excellent Christians.
1t appears certain that even in the wild
state their women are chaste, and they are
probably the only savages in the world who
habitually speak low, mark OF acharaeter
given to self-restraint. Even the Acawoios,
however, yield both in courage and cruelty
to the Caribs, the warrior tribe which once
ruled the whole of this region, was declared
by the Dutch to eat its enemies and was
unquestionably fierce and courageous beyond
any other in America. The Caribs are now
comparatively civilized, though still liable tc
ferooious bursts of passion, and in Guiana
as everywhere, they are rapidly dying out
On the Corentyn, the eastern boun'
dary of the colony rude carvings are con-
stantly seen in places whence the
human race has died out the Caribs having
apparently worn themselves out with war,
slave-hunting, and the orgies to which the
latter habit gave rise. They had probably
adopted, moreover, some habit OF infanticide
for in 1866 the average Of children among
few scattered families which still remained
was only one per couple. In one place where
they had been numerous, only 70 Caribs re
mained, still honored by the Indians OF oths
tribes as the descendants of once irresistible
race. The same decline is visible in all pro
vinces, and this not only within our rule, bu
in districts which no white man has eve
visited-a strange fact, as it disposes of on
plausible theory, that the presence OF Eu
ropeans impressss the native imagination till
hopeless of rivalling or enduring the invaders
they perish of melancholy. At all events
unlike the aborigines OF India and the ne
groes, they are perishipg, and officials expec
speedily to record their extinction.
The creed of all these races seems to be o
the same kind, general belief in Suprem
fures, or demons whom he allows to Iormen
mankind-an idea almost universal anon
races who have found nature hostile. The
hold that man was created by Cos, or His so
Sigu, and tell wild and poetic legends t
They believe in the future life, and bury thei
dead upright to show that they are not beast:
and have a tradition of a deluge, and, lik
other American Indians, repeat stories Of grei
men who taught them improvements and the
hold belief about the fall OF man not widel
differing from that Of the author of Genesis
There is, however, little evidence that an
tribe in Guiana had ever reached oivilize
stage, and some that they were once wilde
than they are. Great mounds OF shells hav
been discovered filled with the skeletons
- l.l l., Ioo he Lo,,