ページの画像
PDF
ePub

It was wrapped twice round the body under the armpits, and then was tied, and the ends hung down to the knee. They wore necklaces, composed of several strings of beads, and bracelets of the same. They had buskins also, which were ornaments for the legs, very tasteful, and in high fashion. The females performed most of the cooking, and made the hammocks; and they had likewise to carry all the burdens which were borne in baskets. A man would have been dishonored forever if he had spun or woven cotton, or painted a hammock, or carried a market-basket. But all the hard labor was performed by the men, and they were very kind to their wives and children.

They had some singular customs respecting deceased persons. When a Carib died, he was immediately painted all over with the red paint, and had his mustaches, and the black streaks on his face, made very deep and shining. He was next put into a hole surrounded with mats, and kept till all his relations could see and examine the body. No matter how distant they lived, if on another island, they must be summoned and appear, before the dead body could be buried. But the thick coat of paint preserved it from decay for a long time. In their wars, I have told you, the Caribs were murderous and cruel. They often poisoned their arrows, and probably often eat their captives. They fought with bows and arrows, and clubs. But when their angry passions became cool, they treated their prisoners with humanity, and never tortured them like the northern savages.

In some instances these islanders were faithless and treacherous. In 1708 the English entered into an agreement with the Caribs in St. Vincents, to attack the French colonies in Martinico. The French governor heard of the treaty, and sent Major Coullet, who was a great

favorite with the savages, to persuade them to break the treaty. Coullet took with him a number of officers and servants, and a good store of provisions and liquors. He reached St. Vincents, gave a grand entertainment to the prin cipal Caribs, and after circulating the brandy freely, he got himself painted red, and made them a flaming speech. He urged them to break their connection with the English. How could they refuse a man who gave them brandy, and who was red as themselves? They abandoned their English friends, and burnt all the timber the English had cut on the island, and butchered the first Englishman who arrived. But their crimes were no worse than those of their christian advisers, who, on either side, were inciting these savages to war.

But the Caribs are all gone, perished from the earth. Their race is no more, and their name is only a remembrance. The English and the French, chiefly the latter, have destroyed them.

There is, however, one pleasant reflection attending their fate. Though destroyed, they were never enslaved. None of their conquerers could compel them to labor. Even those who have attempted to hire Caribs for servants, have found it impossible to derive any benefit or profit from them; they would not be commanded or reprimanded.

This independence was called pride, indolence, and stubbornness by their conquerors ;-if the Caribs had had historians to record their wrongs, and their resistance to an overwhelming tyranny, they would have set the matter in a very different light. They would have expressed the sentiment which the conduct of their countrymen so steadily exemplified-that it was better to die free than to live slaves.

So determined was their resistance to all kinds of authority, that it became a proverb among the Europeans, that to

show displeasure to a Carib was the same as beating him, and to beat him was the same as to kill him. If they did anything it was only what they chose, how they chose, and when they chose; and when they were most wanted, it often happened that they would not do what was required, nor anything else. The French missionaries made many attempts to convert the Caribs to Christianity, but without success. It is true that some were apparently converted; they learned the catechism, and prayers, and were baptized; but they always returned to their old habits.

A man of family and fortune, named Chateau Dubois, settled in Guadaloupe, and devoted great part of his life to the conversion of the Caribs, particularly those of Dominica. He constantly entertained a number of them, and taught them himself. He died in the exercise of these pious and charitable offices, without the consolation of having made one single convert.

As we have said, several had been baptized, and, as he hoped, they were well instructed, and apparently well grounded in the christian religion; but after they returned to their own people, they soon resumed all the Indian customs, and their natural indifference to all religion.

Some years after the death of Dubois, one of these Carib apostates was at Martinico. He spoke French correctly, could read and write; he had been baptized, and was then upwards of fifty years old. When reminded of the truths he had been taught, and reproached for his apostasy, he replied, "that if he had been born of christian parents, or if he had continued to live among the French, he would still have professed Christianity-but that, having returned to his own country and his own people, he could not resolve to live in a manner differing from their way of life, and by so doing expose himself to the hatred and con

tempt of his relations." Alas, it is small matter of wonder that the Carib thought the christian religion was only a profession. Had those who bore that name always been Christians in reality, and treated the poor ignorant savages with the justice, truth and mercy which the Gospel enjoins, what a different tale the settlement of the New World would have furnished!

A GOOD REPLY.-A countryman drove up his cart to a grocer's door, and asked him what he gave for eggs. "Only seventeen cents," he replied, "for the grocers have had a meeting and voted not to give any more." Again the countryman came to market, and asked the grocer what he gave for eggs. "Only twelve cents," said the grocer, "for the grocers have had another meeting and voted not to give any more." A third time the countryman came and made the same inquiry, and the grocer replied, that "the grocers had held a meeting and voted to give only ten cents. Have you any for sale?" continued the grocer. "No," says the countryman; "the hens have had a meeting too, and voted not to trouble themselves to lay eggs for ten cents a dozen.”

PET OYSTER.-There is a gentleman at Christ Church, Salisbury, England, who keeps a pet oyster of the largest and finest breed. It is fed on oatmeal, for which it regularly opens its shell, and is occasionally treated with a dip in its native element; but the most extraordinary trait in the history of this amphibious pet is, that it has proved itself an excellent mouser, having already killed five mice, by crushing the heads of such as, tempted by odoriferous meal, had the temerity to intrude their noses within its bivalvular clutches. Twice have two of these little intruders suffered together.-Eng. Journal, 1840.

[graphic][merged small]

THIS diminutive breed of horses, many of which are not larger than a Newfoundland dog, is common in Shetland, and all the islands on the north and west of Scotland; also in the mountainous districts of the mainland along the coast. They are beautifully formed, and possess prodigious strength in proportion to their size. The heads are small, with a flowing mane and long tail, reaching to the ground.

They are high-spirited and courageous little animals, but extremely tractable in their nature. Some of them run wild about the mountains, and there are various methods of catching them, according to the local situation of the district which they inhabit.

The shelties, as they are called, are generally so small, that a middlingsized man must ride with his knees raised to the animal's shoulders, to prevent his toes from touching the ground. It is surprising to see with what speed they will carry a heavy man over broken

and zigzag roads in their native mountains.

When grazing, they will clamber up steep ascents, and to the extreme edge of precipices which overhang the most frightful abysses, and there they will gaze round with as much complacency as if on a plain.

These horses, small as they may be, are not to be considered a degenerate breed, for they are possessed of much greater physical strength in proportion to their size than larger horses. They are called garrons in the highlands of Scotland.

Many years ago, when turnpikes were first established in Scotland, a countryman was employed by the laird of Coll to go to Glasgow and Edinburgh on certain business, and furnished with a small shelty to ride upon. Being stopped at the gate near Dunbarton, the messenger good-humoredly asked the keeper if he would be required to pay toll, should he pass through carrying a

[ocr errors]

burthen; and upon the man answering "Certainly not," he took up the horse in his arms, and carried him through the toll-bar, to the great amusement of the gate-keeper.

A gentleman, some time ago, was presented with one of these handsome little animals, which was no less docile than elegant, and measured only seven hands or twenty-eight inches in height. He was anxious to convey his present home as speedily as possible, but, being at a considerable distance, was at a loss how to do so most easily. The friend said, "Can you not carry him in your chaise?" He made the experiment, and the shelty was lifted into it, covered up with the apron, and some bits of bread given him to keep him quiet. He lay quite peaceable till he reached his destination; thus exhibiting the novel spectacle of a horse riding in a gig.

A little girl, the daughter of a gentleman in Warwickshire, England, playing on the banks of a canal which runs through his grounds, had the misfortune to fall in, and would in all probability have been drowned, had not a little pony, which had long been kept in the family, plunged into the stream and brought the child safely ashore, without the slightest injury. The engraving at the head of this article exhibits this interesting

scene.

A gentleman had a white pony, which became extremely attached to a little dog that lived with him in the stable, and whenever the horse was rode out, the dog always ran by his side. One day, when the groom took out the pony for exercise, and accompanied as usual by his canine friend, they met a large dog, who attacked the diminutive cur, upon which the horse reared, and, to the astonishment of the bystanders, so effectually fought his friend's battle with his fore feet, that the aggressor found it his interest to scamper off at full speed,

and never again ventured to assail the small dog.

Shelties sometimes attain a great age. There was in the small village of Haddington, Eng., a very small black pony, not exceeding eleven hands high, of the Shetland breed, which in the year 1745, at only two years of age, was rode at the battle of Preston Pans, by a young gentleman, who afterwards sold it to a farmer near Dunbar. This pony, at forty-seven years of age, looked remarkably fresh; trotted eight miles an hour for several miles together; had a very good set of teeth; eat corn and hay well; was able to go a long journey; and had not, to appearance, undergone the least alteration, either in galloping, trotting, or walking, for twenty years preceding.

CURIOUS.-In a book of accounts, be

longing to a small dealer, who had become bankrupt, in the west of England, were found the following names of customers to whom credit had been given: Coal Woman; Old Coal Woman; Fat "Woman on the Key; Jew Woman; Coal Woman; Market Woman; Pale Woman; A Man; Old Woman; Little Coachman; Big Woman; Lame WoMilk Girl; Candle Man; Stable Man; tel Black Girl; Old Watchman; Shoeman; Quiet Woman; Egg Man; Litmaker; Littel Shoemaker; Short Shoe

maker; Old Shoemaker; Littel Girl; Jew Man; Jew Woman; Mrs. in the Cart; Old Irish Woman; Woman in Cow street; A Lad; Man in the country; Long Sal; Woman with Long Bonnet; Blue Bonnet; Green Bonnet; Sal; Mrs. Irish Woman; Mrs. Feather Green Coat; Blue Britches; Big Britches; The woman that was married; The woman that told me of the man."

"I hope I don't intrude," as the knife said to the oyster.

[graphic][merged small]

As M. Moreau de Johnes was riding through a wood in Martinique some years since, his horse reared and exhibited the greatest degree of alarm, trembling in every limb with fear. On looking around to discover the cause of the animal's terror, he observed a serpent, called fer de lance, standing erect in a bush of bamboo, and he heard it hiss several times.

He would have fired at it with his pistol, but his horse became quite unmanageable, and drew back as quickly as

Varieties.

LITTLE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER.-About three o'clock, one cold, dark, damp day, at the end of December, I met a little chimney-sweeper in England, who had come with his father that morning from a town eight miles off, to sweep the various chimneys about. He was nearly ten years old.

possible, keeping his eyes fixed on the snake. M. de Johnes, on looking around for some person to hold his horse so that he might destroy the viper, beheld a negro, streaming with blood, cutting with a blunt knife the flesh from a wound which the serpent had just inflicted.

The negro entreated M. de Johnes not to destroy it, as he wished to take the animal alive, to effect a cure on himself, according to a superstitious belief; and this M. de Johnes allowed him to do.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« 前へ次へ »