DRESS OF THE CARIBS.
1
the hurricanes are more frequent than they were formerly. It is an evil spirit who has done all this ; who has taken our best lands from us, and given us up to the dominion of the Christians." Alas ! poor Caribs, it was an evil spirit which had come among you—the evil spirit of lawless and unchristian men. Why was your country invaded and your rights trampled on ? Why were your wives and children torn from you ?— and you yourselves condemned to death ?—yea, worse than death—to vile and endless slavery, till time, the end of all things, consigned you to your silent graves ?—are questions which will arise, but whose answer can only be given in these words—“ What is, is best." To resume our description of these ancient possessors of Antigua—these warlike Caribs. Vanity is a passion which to a greater or lesser degree pervades the breast of almost every mortal, and the savage in his native wilds feels the force of it in the same manner, although, perhaps, not to the same extent, as the giddy fair who whirls round the vortex of dissipation within the purlieus of May Fair. When first discovered by the Spaniards, the Caribs were habited in different fashions ; some appeared in complete dresses of native cloth, stained of a dark red ; others had only a cotton girdle rolled round their loins ; while others, again, were arrayed in " Nature's garb." But although this plain and scanty dress forbid much fancy or variety, they were far from unadorned. Their hair was arranged in a thousand fantastic shapes ; some had it braided with small pieces of gold, shells or shining stones; others decorated it with the teeth and bones of their enemies ; and some, again, placed large bunches of parrots' feathers upon the top of the head. Nor were all their decorations confined to their head-dresses ; they stained their bodies with various colours, and in a variety of figures, and, as before alluded to, caused themselves much pain in thus ornamenting their persons, by their great propensity for altering their natural features. It does not appear if this was intended to heighten their beauty, and render them