boast of having reared negroes of three and four generations. Some negroes, not being able to accommodate themselves with wives on the estate where they were setted, were sent for to Stabroek, and taken to a sale-room, where a cargo of negroes was just lauded, and there made choice of wives, which their masters paid for. Two chose pretty women, and the third an ordinary one. On asking him why he did not prefer a handsome wife, he replied, "No, massa, me no want wife for handsome, me want her for to do me good, and work for massa as well as me." She was a stout young woman, and turned out much better than the other two.".

When an Indian of GUYANA marries, he is perfectly indifferent about the virginity of his wife; but after his marriage he expects fidelity to his bed; and so strong is the influence of opinion, that adultery is very uncommon, although it is not forbidden by any part of their religious tenets. Polygamy is universally allowed; but an Indian is never seen with two young wives; the only case in which he takes a second, is when the first has become old.

BRAZIL.

THE native Brazilians differ very little in stature or complexion from the Portuguese themselves; but some of the tribes greatly exceed them in strength and vigour.

At the period this country was discovered, some of the natives lived in villages, and others roamed about according to their caprice or their necessities. These villages consisted, however, only of three or four very large houses, is each of which lived a whole family or tribe, under a species of patriarchal government.

The Portuguese and Dutch writers give the name of Tapuyers to the native inhabitants of the northern part of Brazil; and that of Tupinambies, or Tupanamboys, to those who dwell in the south; but divide these again into several petty nations, each having a different dialect, though their manners and customs were nearly similar. "Every colony of this vast continent," says the Abbé Raynal, "had its own idioms; but not one of them had any words to convey general or abstract ideas. This poverty of language, which is common to all the nations of South America, affords a con

vincing proof of the little progress the human understanding had made in these countries. The analogy between the words in the several languages of this continent shews, that the reciprocal transmigration of these savages had been frequent."

The Tapuyers are in general tall, and from living under the equator, of a dark copper colour; their hair, which is black, hangs over their shoulders, but they have no beards or hair on any part of their body. They go naked, the women only concealing certain parts of their bodies with leaves, which they fasten to a cord or small rope, tied round the waist like a girdle. The men employ a little bag or net, formed of the bark of trees, with the same intention, and wear on the head a cap or coronet of feathers. Their ornaments consist of glittering stones, hanging to their lips and nostrils, and bracelets of feathers on their arms; some of them paint their bodies of various colours; while others, rubbing themselves with gum, attach by this means to their skin feathers of different birds, which give them, when viewed at a distance, a very motley appearance.

The Tupinambies, on the contrary, are of a moderate stature, and of a lighter complexion than their more northern neighbours, who are not, however, so dark as the African negroes under the same degree of latitude. The Tupinambies resemble them in their flat noses, which being esteemed

a beauty, are produced by art during infancy. The hair of their head, which is black, is long and lank, but like the Tapuyers, they have no hair on their faces or any part of the body.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese, they were masters of the arts of spinning, weaving, and building houses; they also formed arms, which consisted of bows, arrows, lances, and darts. They pretended to have a knowledge of the virtues of herbs, some of which they administered with success to the sick.

The Brazilians are extremely fond of dancing; their songs, however, consist of one monotonous tone, without the least modulation, and generally turn on the subject of love and war.

Polygamy was universal among the Brazilian tribes: each individual espoused as many wives as his fancy dictated, and repudiated them with equal facility but a violation of the marriage vow by the latter was punished with death.

These women are extremely prolific, and seldom miscarry. Child-birth among them is not attended with the consequences which result from it in civilized states; for no sooner are they delivered, than, proceeding to the next river without assistance, they bathe their bodies, and hanging the child to their neck in a kind of scarf, return to their ordinary occupations without experiencing the slightest inconvenience.

In the Brazils and among some tribes of the Canadians, the sex, during the menstrual time, are shut up in a little hut by themselves; and, contrary to common custom in the Brazils, when a young virgin becomes marriageable, they burn or cut off her hair, make incisons from her shoulders to her waist, which is daubed with a corrosive powder. After a month, the incisions are repeated, and on the third she begins to appear abroad, when she is reckoned a delicious morsel for the arms of an ardent lover.

Mothers lament the death of their infants by howling and crying for three or four days; but on the death of their parents they pull out the hair of their head, and strew it over the body, which they regard with the most tender emotions, recounting the exploits of the deceased with complacency, and celebrating their virtues with transport.

The Brazilian wives constantly follow their husbands, whether they go to war or the chace. While the men carry only their arms, the poor females are loaded not only with their children, but also with the provisions and other articles necessary during the journey. Towards night they fasten their hammocks on trees, or long poles, and defend them from the rain by the leaves of palmtrees. These hammocks constitute the chief part of their furniture; they are made of cotton, formed inta a kind of net-work, being commonly six or