POLYGAMY
OF THE NATIVES.
455
them in t h e s u n , a n d r e d u c e t h e m t o p o w d e r w i t h o u t separating t h e b o n e s . I have seen masses o f fifty o r sixty p o u n d s o f this flour, w h i c h resembles that of cassava. W h e n it is w a n t e d f o r eating, it is m i x e d with water, a n d r e d u c e d t o a paste. In every climate t h e abundance o f fish has l e d t o t h e invention o f the same means o f preserving them. Pliny a n d D i o d o r u s Siculus have described the fishbread o f t h e i c h t h y o p h a g o u s nations, that dwelt on t h e Persian G u l f and the shores o f the Red Sea.* At Esmeralda, as everywhere else t h r o u g h o u t t h e missions, the I n d i a n s w h o will n o t b e baptized, and w h o are merely aggregated in the c o m m u n i t y , live in a state o f p o l y g a m y . The n u m b e r of wives differs m u c h in different tribes. It is m o s t considerable a m o n g the Caribs, a n d all t h e nations that have preserved t h e c u s t o m o f carrying off y o u n g girls from the n e i g h b o u r i n g tribes. H o w c a n w e i m a g i n e d o m e s t i c happiness in so u n e q u a l an a s s o c i a t i o n ? T h e w o m e n live in a sort o f slavery, as t h e y d o in m o s t nations which are in a state o f barbarism. T h e husbands b e i n g in t h e full e n j o y ment o f absolute p o w e r , no c o m p l a i n t is heard in their p r e sence. A n apparent tranquillity prevails in the h o u s e h o l d ; the w o m e n are eager t o anticipate the wishes o f an imperious and sullen m a s t e r ; a n d they attend w i t h o u t distinction to their o w n children and those o f their rivals. T h e missionaries assert, what m a y easily b o believed, that this d o m e s t i c peace, the effort o f fear, is singularly disturbed when the husband is l o n g absent. T h e wife w h o c o n t r a c t e d t h e first ties then applies t o the others the names o f c o n c u b i n e s a n d servants. T h e quarrels c o n t i n u e till the return o f t h e master, w h o k n o w s h o w t o calm their passions b y t h e s o u n d of his voice, b y a mere gesticulation, o r , i f h e thinks it necessary, b y means a little m o r e violent. A certain inequality in the rights o f t h e w o m e n is sanctioned b y t h e language of the Tamanacs. The husband calls the second and third wife t h e c o m p a n i o n s o f t h e first; a n d t h e first treats these companions as rivals a n d e n e m i e s ( i p u c j a t o j e ) , * These nations, in a still ruder state than the natives of the Orinoco, contented themselves with drying the raw fish in the sun. They made up the fish-paste in the form of bricks, and sometimes mixed with it the aromatic seed of paliurus (rhamnus), as in Germany, and some other countries, cummin and fennel-seed are mixed with wheaten bread.