ng their
boundaries, neither are they incited to engage in them by
inordinate covetousness [unlike the Spaniards], but from
ancient enmity which has existed among them in times past;
and having been asked why they made war, they could give us
no other reason than that they did it to avenge the deaths
of their ancestors. Neither have these people kings or
lords, nor do they obey any one, but live in their own
entire liberty; and the manner in which they are incited to
go to war is this: when their enemies have killed or taken
prisoners any of their people, the oldest relative rises and
goes about proclaiming his wrongs aloud, and calling upon
them to go with him to avenge the death of his relation.
Thereupon they are moved with sympathy and make ready for
the fight.

"They have no tribunals of justice, neither do they punish
malefactors; and what is still more astonishing, neither
father nor mother chastises the children when they do wrong;
yet, astounding as it may seem, there is no strife between
them; or, to say the least, we never saw any. They appear
simple in speech, but in reality are very shrewd and cunning
in any matter which interests them. They speak but little,
and that little in a low tone of voice, using the same
accentuation that we use, and forming the words with the
palate, teeth, and lips; but they have a different mode of
diction. There is a great diversity of language among them,
inasmuch as every hundred leagues or so we found people who
could not understand one another. Their mode of life is most
barbarous; they do not eat at regular intervals; but it is a
matter of indifference to them whether appetite comes at
midnight or at mid-day, and they eat upon the ground at all
hours, without napkin or table-cloth, having their food in
earthen basins, which they manufacture, or in half-gourd
shells or calabashes. They sleep in nets of cotton, very
large and suspended in the air; and although this may seem a
very bad way of sleeping, I can vouch for the fact that it
is extremely pleasant, and one sleeps better thus than on a
mattress. They are neat and clean in their persons, which is
a natural consequence of their perpetual bathing; but some
of their habits are unmentionable....

" ... We are not aware th