Rochefort speaks of slavery existing among the Caribs of the Antilles. They believed, that the bravest warriors of their nation after death would live in happy islands, and have their enemies, the Arawaks, for slaves, whereas the cowards would be the slaves of the Arawaks. In their wars with the Spaniards they did not kill the Negro slaves, but took them with them and made them work. Sometimes slaves were killed after their master’s death, to serve him in the other world. Male prisoners were killed and eaten after a few days. Captive women became slaves; their children were reared with those of the Caribs. Female prisoners were sometimes taken for wives; then the children were free, but the mothers remained slaves. In the isle of Saint Vincent there were in Rochefort’s time English boys and girls, captured when very young; they had quite forgotten their parents, and would not even return with them, so accustomed were they to the mode of life of the Caribs, who treated them very kindly, just as if they were of their own nation. De la Borde makes no mention of slaves[143]. It seems to us very doubtful whether slavery really existed here. Rochefort’s statement that captive children were reared with those of the conquerors is more suggestive of adoption of captives than of slavery, and the enslavement of Negroes by the Indians is something foreign to the aboriginal state of things, as has been said before. So we cannot arrive at a definite conclusion.
The Continental Caribs, according to Gumilla, killed all their prisoners, except the young women and children, whom they sold[144]. So slavery probably did not exist among them.
Ling Roth, in his article on Hispaniola or Hayti (inhabited by Arawaks), makes no mention of slavery; but this does not prove much, as his sources of information (early Spanish literature) were very incomplete. For instance, he has not been able to find anything bearing on the division of labour between the sexes[145]. [[73]]
The several describers of the Indians of Guiana[146] make no mention of slavery. The tribes most fully described are the Arawaks, Warraus, Macusi and Roucouyennes. Martius however states that the Arawaks have slaves, who work in their houses and on the fields[147]. So we are not certain about the Arawaks; but we may safely suppose that among the three other tribes slavery does not exist.
The Saliva of Columbia, according to Gumilla, made war in order to acquire slaves to till their lands[148].
In Sievers’, Reclus’ and Simons’ descriptions of the Goajiro no mention is made of slaves[149]. According to De Brettes, however, “slavery exists; but the slave is a member of the family, though looked upon as an inferior being that may be killed if he refuses to obey”. A few more details are added about these slaves[150]. Sievers, reviewing De Brettes’ articles, remarks that this author is generally not very trustworthy, but that the ethnographical parts are the best of his work. Speaking of a photograph of Goajiro slaves given by De Brettes, be adds: “If there can be any question at all of slavery among them”[151]. On the same page, however, he translates De Brettes’ ethnographical account of the Goajiro, in which it is stated that slavery exists, without any commentary. Considering all this, we cannot arrive at any accurate conclusion.
De Lery, speaking of the ancient Tupinambas, describes at considerable length the fate of their captives, who were killed and eaten; even the child of a captive and a woman of their own tribe was not allowed to live. Though an expert hunter or fisher, and a woman well able to work, were preserved somewhat longer than the rest, all were invariably killed after a few months. Nowhere in De Lery’s book does it appear, that they made slaves by capture or by any other means[152]. According to another ancient writer, however, they kept prisoners as slaves. The slaves were kindly treated, allowed to [[74]]marry free women, but finally killed and eaten. They had to catch fish and game and to bring it to their master. Without the master’s consent they were not allowed to work for others. If they tried to escape and were caught, they were killed. A slave, who died a natural death, was not buried but thrown away in the bush[153]. All this is very suggestive of slavery. But the fact, that D’Evreux got his information through an interpreter, prevents us from decidedly concluding, against the testimony of our other informants, that the Tupinambas kept slaves.
Martius remarks about the Indians of Brazil in general: “Many of these tribes keep slaves.… Captivity in war is the only cause by which one loses his freedom, especially if a male; for the husband may sell his wife and children; but this is of rare occurrence”[154].
The Apiacas (a group of the Central Tupis), according to the same author, in their wars kill all adult prisoners, male and female, and eat them. Children they take with them and rear them with their own; they make them work in the plantations; but when about twelve or fourteen years old, these children are killed and eaten[155]. Though these children may be kept in a somewhat slave-like state, a tribe that kills its slaves when full-grown is not properly to be called a slave-keeping tribe.
The same author informs us, that the Mundrucus and Mauhés have slaves[156].