To enter into minute inquiries how America and its contiguous islands were first peopled, would fill many volumes, the opinions of the learned upon this subject being so various. Some authors suppose the Americans do not derive their existence from the same common parent as the rest of mankind. Others, that they are descended from a remnant of the antediluvian world which survived the deluge; but this must be erroneous, or how are we to understand the sacred historian, when, speaking of that momentous circumstance, he says—“And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the face of the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died!”—Gen. vii. 21, 22. Again, many authors assert that their ancestors came from the north-east of Asia, after the dispersion of the people for their impious attempt to build the Tower of Babel; and to establish this doctrine upon a firmer basis, endeavour to point out the great similitude between the Asiatics and the Southern Americans, in their manners, customs, and general appearance. Another, and perhaps the most probable idea, is, that the southern parts of North America, and the islands which lie in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, were originally peopled by Africans. This idea is maintained by various speculations:—as the trade-winds blow direct from east to west, a canoe of these savages might have been driven by bad weather across the Atlantic; and this position may be further proved by the statement of the Indians of Florida, who, when asked about their origin, reply, “that their ancestors came from the east, and that at the time they discovered America, they were nearly dead from want of provisions.” These Africans, uniting with the different tribes with which the other parts of America were peopled, must have produced the various degrees of colour and character which astonished so much the first discoverers of this extensive quarter of the world.
The Caribs, from whom Antigua and the adjoining islands took their names, were a very different race of beings from the gentle and hospitable inhabitants of Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, &c., who were called Arrowawks, and with whom the Caribs were ever at war. From the martial and ferocious spirit of the Caribs, and from their repasts upon human flesh, historians agree in supposing they were descended from the Africans; while, on the contrary, the peacefulness and indolence of the Arrowawks evidently bespeak them of an Asiatic origin.
When Columbus visited these islands for the first time, he found the inhabitants so very savage, that he was for a while fearful of landing; but upon despatching small presents to them, they afterwards appeared more friendly, and desirous of an acquaintance. In nearly all of their huts were found relics of their horrid feasts upon the bodies of their slaughtered enemies; and in one of them, a man’s arm was roasting for the intended meal of the inmates.
The character of the Caribs presents little of what is interesting to the imagination; ferocious, superstitious, and revengeful, they looked upon all strangers as enemies; and, in return, were dreaded as such by the inhabitants of the other islands; still they are represented as being, generally, peaceable and friendly to one another. They ever retained a high sense of equality and independence. Accustomed to be absolute masters of their own conduct, they scorned to follow the orders of others; and having never known control, they would not submit to correction. Many, when they found they were treated as slaves by the Spaniards, and that resistance or escape was impossible, sought refuge from calamity in the arms of death. While the Carib roamed in his native wilds, his reason was but little exercised, and consequently, his intellectual powers were very limited. His ideas never extended beyond the narrow sphere in which he moved, and everything but his present preservation and enjoyment was perfectly indifferent to him. When disposed to sleep, no consideration on earth would tempt him to sell his bed; but in the morning, when satisfied with slumber, and prepared to set out on the usual business or recreation of the day, the Carib has been known to dispose of it for the smallest trifle which caught his fancy. The only thing they deemed of real value, was their weapons—consequently, when they found, by sad experience, the superiority of fire-arms over the bow and arrows of their own country, they viewed them with unbounded admiration; but the inventions and improvements of civilized life, with all the arts and manufactures of the Spaniards, they regarded with apathy, or paid them the same attention as we do the toys of childhood.
Columbus noticed two distinct races of Caribs. One was quite black, with hair approaching to woolly; the other, of a deep copper colour complexion, with long, straight hair; the latter inhabited Antigua and the adjoining islands, while the blacks predominated more in the islands further south. In appearance, the Caribs were robust and muscular; their limbs flexible and active. They ornamented their hair with shells and grease; and some of them had it turned up like women, and decorated with thin plates of gold, which they procured from the Arrowawks. Their garments were composed of cotton cloth, fabricated by their females, and which they had the art of staining red, their favourite colour; but many of them were in a state of nudity. The cartilage of the nostril was perforated, and in it they stuck a piece of tortoise-shell, the bone of a fish highly polished, or a parrot’s feather. They adorned their arms, neck, and ankles, with the teeth of their enemies which they had slain in battle, or devoured at home. Their bodies were painted in the most hideous manner, which appears to have been intended to make them look more formidable in the eyes of their enemies than pleasing in the sight of their friends. The favourite style of doing this, was first to smear a quantity of red paint all over them; they then encircled one eye with a streak of white, and the other with one of black; they also disfigured their cheeks with deep incisions and horrible scars, which they stained with various colours; and the greater number and depth of these disfigurations constituted their idea of manly beauty, and martial appearance.
Their revenge was deep and implacable—it resembled rather the wild fury of a lion than the passion of a man. When anger took possession of a Carib’s heart, he vented it against everything, whether animate or inanimate, which chanced to fall in his way. Although in general calm and apparently insensible to pain, if struck by an arrow in these moments of rage, like the North American Indian, he would tear it from the wound, bite it, spit upon it, and, dashing it to the ground, trample it to atoms beneath his feet. He never pitied—never forgave—never spared! To fall upon an enemy unarmed, knock him down, capture him, and finally eat him, was the boast of a Carib warrior! For this they were bred up from their youth. To bear with an unflinching spirit the most excruciating torments, inflicted by the hands of his own father and nearest kin—to suffer all the severities and unnatural cruelties which the savage breast was capable of imagining without betraying one symptom of weakness—to rise superior to pain, and baffle the rage of his persecutors by calmness and tranquillity, was the test by which the courage of the young Carib was tried. If he succeeded in this, he was looked upon as one of the warriors of his country, and pronounced “a man like themselves;” while, on the contrary, should one cry escape his lips, one supplication for mercy break from him, he was despised as a coward, and driven from society.
When an expedition against the Arrowawks was intended, a chief was elected, with solemn ceremonies. During the time of peace, however, the Caribs appear to have owned no head; they paid, indeed, some little veneration to the old men, but this appears to have been merely from respect to their age,—at any rate, they were not able, by their influence, to protect the weak or the stranger. The man who aspired to lead his countrymen to war was obliged to undergo the most severe sufferings before he was accounted worthy of that honour. If he was successful, upon his return he was treated with a grand feast, and was allowed to take as many captives for his own share as he liked, and alter his name a second time to that of the most formidable Arrowawk who had fallen by his hand, while his own people presented for his choice the most beautiful of their daughters. Their mode of warfare was very different to that of the present day,—they thought it no honour to fall fighting for their country. Their plan was, not to wait for a drawing up of their forces, but to capture all their foes they found unprepared, whom, at the end of the war, they carried home, and either slaughtered them for the grand feast, or kept them until they became sufficiently plump for eating. They preserved the fat of these poor creatures to anoint the bodies of their children, in hopes of making them as martial as themselves.
Happy for us is it that we live in an age when Paganism, with all its accompanying horrors, has given place to the mild doctrines of Christianity—when this land, so beautified by the hand of Nature, is freed from those barbarous wars, those soul-sickening feasts of human flesh, which once polluted it! That man can actually devour his fellow-creatures is almost incredible—indeed, some persons of philosophical minds have doubted the truth of anthropophagy; yet, shocking as it is to the imagination, it has been too fully proved to be denied; indeed, some of the Caribs, when, in later years, they have been asked about this revolting practice, have unhesitatingly answered in the affirmative, and even gone so far as to say that Frenchmen eat better than Englishmen, and Englishmen better than natives.[[101]] Although, within these last years, so much has been effected by the laudable zeal of Christian missionaries, yet, even now, there are “dark corners of the earth” where human flesh is not only eaten from feelings of revenge, but partook of as a luxury.[[102]]
I read in a periodical, some time ago, a circumstance which may be termed a romance of real life. I pretend not to give it in its original words, but the tenour of the case is as follows: A gentleman was once travelling through the interior of Grenada, or Trinidad, I am not certain which, and after riding for some time through rocky defiles and umbrageous woods, he at length came to an open plain, on which was erected about half a dozen Carib huts. Riding up to the door of the principal one, an old man was seen reclining upon a rustic seat, who at the approach of the stranger arose, and, with much native politeness, invited him to alight, and spend the day at his hut. The gentleman, being one who was travelling in pursuit of knowledge as well as amusement, was well pleased to have the opportunity of becoming a little acquainted with the domestic manners of this ancient people. After walking about for some time, and making sketches of the various beautiful scenes which surrounded the hut, his attention was arrested by the plaintive cry of a female. Having a good supply of the “milk of human kindness” within his breast, and a heart open to the distresses of his species, the traveller determined to go in quest of the afflicted fair. Directing his steps by the sound of the voice, which appeared to issue from a magnificent grove of trees near the spot, he soon came in sight of the object of his commiseration, whom he found to be, not a fair, but a dark beauty, of sixteen or seventeen years of age. Her long black hair floated down her naked shoulders; the tears were rolling over her smooth brown cheeks; while her languishing dark eyes were turned with mournful looks upon the face of a man, who, with knitted brow, was employed in fastening her slender wrists to one of the trees. Supposing she had committed some fault for which she was about to receive corporal punishment, the gentleman begged very earnestly for her pardon; and from the smile which passed over the harsh features of the man, he thought his request was complied with.
The day passed very rapidly, and our traveller was delighted with all he saw. His host was all attention, pointing out to his notice whatever he thought would amuse; and when dinner was announced, ushered him into his hut with the air of a French petit-maitre. The dinner table was laid out in the English style, in compliment to his guest; and the calabashes which contained the water &c. were beautifully carved and stained. The first refreshment introduced was soup, which was contained in an English tin tureen, that shone like silver; and from the keen air of the mountain, and the exercise he had taken, our traveller made a very hearty repast upon it. After its removal, and while waiting for the other viands, the host asked—“How he liked Carib soup?” “Excellent!” said the gentleman—“very delicious—I must beg a few receipts from your cookery book.” “O, it’s very simple,” replied the old Carib, “if you have the proper articles to make it of: what you have been eating was made from the hands and feet of the girl you were begging for this morning!” What were the feelings of the traveller at this horrible information can be better imagined than described. The repast he had shared in, the fate of the poor girl, and his own situation amid a race of cannibals, filled him with horror, and almost drove reason from her throne. It is almost unnecessary to state that he left the scene of bloodshed as soon as possible; and never, never more did he think of visiting a Carib, or partaking of Carib soup. I have given the story as I received it; as to its authenticity, I will not take upon myself to vouch for it.