number was likewise destined for the labour of the fields, whose fruits were deposited in public granaries, in order to be afterwards divided by the chiefs. Never did an Indian of this tribe go two days successively to labour.

Exercise of Playing Ball amongst the Otomaques.

All the Otomaques whose turn it was not to go to the fishing, or labour of the day, went to the field to play ball, and did not quit till night. They played in a party of twelve against twelve, in a manner that deserves to be particularly mentioned here.

Their ball, which they still continue to use, is as big as the bowl used at mall. It is made of a kind of rosin which they call caocho. The slightest touch made it spring as high as a man. Striking it with the right shoulder, they kept it continually playing from side to side; nor were they allowed to touch it with " any other part of the body without forfeiting a fifteenth, or, as it is expressed in their own language, a point. The wonder is, that in this manner they keep up the ball bounding and rebounding from alternate sides with as much ease and velocity as the Biscayans do with the hand. Nor are they inferior to them for the regularity and decency with which this diversion is conducted. Before they begin the game, they chuse judges who are to preside and to determine with respect to any differences or difficulties that may occur in the course of the game; and their decisions are acquiesced in without murmur. Those who do not play, make bets, and thus every person who is present feels an interest in the play.

In the morning the women were engaged in manufacturing a coarse kind of earthen ware. Their most

curious workmanship consisted of mats, baskets, and very neat bags. The material they made use of for these was a kind of hemp, not unlike our colonial pite; but finer. The tree which produced it was in their language called, marichi. At noon the women quitted labour and went to join their husbands in their diversion. They immediately took part in the game, ranging themselves twelve upon each side of the par. ty already formed; so that by this addition they amounted in all to forty-eight persons engaged at once in the same game, and yet not the smallest confusion was to be seen amongst them. Each remained at his post and left to his neighbour the ball that came most convenient for his stand. The women played with a kind of battle-door, which they wielded with incredible dexterity.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the fishermen arrived with their canoes full of fish. Upon this the party at play immediately broke up; all went to wash themselves in the river, and afterwards retired to their respective homes. The women and children unloaded the boats, and carried the fish before the captain's gates, who distributed them amongst the several families in proportion to the number of their members. Then the village sat down to the only repast which they had made through the day, except some fruits and morsels of earth, of which we shall say more hereafter. After that, they went again and washed themselves; in the interim, night came on; the dance commenced, and was not closed till mid

night. The same routine of exercises was repeated every day. At Terra Firma, no other Indian nation is known to have presented the spectacle of a similar republic, more proper to give a lesson of concord and sound morals to certain civilized states, than to receive any from them. The misfortune is that it has lost almost all the purity of its primitive institutions, so that hardly a trace remains of them.

Indians who eat Earth.

It is observed that the Otomaques are amongst the most voracious of the Indians; it is easy to account for this from their mode of living. They are accused of eating earth, and the charge is founded on fact; but according to their primitive system of administration, it appears that that strange habit is retained more from taste than necessity. It is true, according to father Gumilla, that it is a particular kind of earth kneaded and mixed with alligator or other fat, and which afterwards undergoes some sort of cooking, which prevents it from being hurtful to the body. He neglected to tell that the fat is only mixed with the earth which is prepared for the chief. All the vagrant tribes who are found on the borders of Meta likewise eat earth. There are some on the banks of the Casiquiare who even make ants their principal nourishment.

Food of the Indians.

Next to the Otomaques the Guaraunos, who inhabit the islands which are formed by the mouth of

the Oronoko, enjoy the most comfortable subsist

ence.

Their position insures them as much fish as they please. They have besides a kind of palm they call murichi, which abundantly furnishes bread, wine, &c. &c. but, in general, the subsistence of the wild Indians is neither abundant nor at all seasons equal.

The chace is subject to casualties, and fishing is not less so; besides, they both depend on the weather, and the fruits have likewise their season; to all this, let the improvident spirit of the Indians be added, and we shall see that they would frequently be under the necessity of prolonging their sleep, for want of victuals to eat, unless providence had provided them with such resources, as are indispensable for a people who hate labour.

Turtle Fishery.

Every year, on the fall of the waters of the Oronoko, which begins in the month of February, millions of turtles deposit their eggs among the sands on the beach of the river, and wait till they are hatched, and the young ones far enough advanced not to require their assistance: at this period all the Indians, in the neighbourhood of the Oronoko, repair with their families to its borders, in order to catch turtles, which they preserve by drying them at the fire. They use the same precaution with the eggs, excepting that part of them from which they extract an oil no wise inferior to sweet oil of the first quality. All these articles, besides a sufficient stock of provision, afford a surplus to be employed in barter with Indians at a

in their religious opinions, or in their manner of worship. The reader will permit me to lay before him a few instances in support of this observation.

Of the Salive Indians.

The Funerals of Indians of distinction among the Salives afford an opportunity for the display of whatever is remarkable and particular in the nation. They place the tomb in the middle of the house where the personage died. Stakes, painted with different colours and representing all the emblems of sadness and mourning, form a circle around it. The widow, without finery or painting, sits constantly beside the corpse. Every visitant who arrives, weeps bitterly before he enters, whilst their woful cries are echoed from within; soon after this, assuming an air of gaiety, they drink and dance. It will at once gratify the curiosity and excite the surprise of the reader to be told of so sudden a transition from excessive grief to excessive joy; from a burst of unfeigned tears, to peals of unaffected laughter. They perform very singular dances to the sound of funeral instruments, which one cannot hear without horror; so well are they adapted to these sorts of ceremonies. When fatigued they take some few hours of repose. To crown all, after three days very violent exercise, during which they do nothing else but dance, sing and drink, the whole company march in procession to the river, and plunge into it the tomb and its contents, together with every thing that belonged to the de