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CARIES
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CARIES , the name, used first by See also:Columbus (from Cariba, said to mean " a valiant See also:man "), of a See also:South See also:American See also:people, who, at the arrival of the See also:Spanish, ocoupied parts of See also:Guiana and the See also:lower See also:Orinoco and the Windward and other islands in what is still known as the Caribbean See also:Sea. They were believed to have had their See also:original See also:home in See also:North See also:America, spreading thence through the See also:Antilles southward to See also:Venezuela, the Guianas, and north-See also:east See also:Brazil. This view has been abandoned, as Carib tribes, the Bakairi and Nahuquas, using an archaic type of Carib speech and See also:primitive in habits, have been met by See also:German explorers in the very See also:heart of Brazil. It may thus be assumed that the See also:cradle of the See also:race was the centre of South America; their first migrating movements being to Guiana and the Antilles. A cruel, ferocious and warlike people, they made a stout resistance to the Spaniards. They were cannibals, and it is to them that we owe that word, Columbus's Caribal being transformed into Cannibal in apparent reference to the canine voracity of the Caribs. They are physically by no means a powerful race, being distinguished by slight figures with limbs well formed but lacking muscle, and with a tendency to be pot-bellied; due apparently to their See also:habit of drinking paiwari (liquor prepared from the See also:cassava plant) in See also:great quantities. Their See also:colour is a red See also:cinnamon, but varies with different tribes. Their See also:hair is thick, See also:long, very See also:black, and generally cut to an even edge, at right angles to the See also:neck, See also:round the See also:head. The features are strikingly Mongoloid. Among the true Caribs a 2-in. broad See also:belt of See also:cotton is knitted round each See also:ankle, and just below each See also:knee of the See also:young See also:female See also:children. All See also:body-hair in both sexes is pulled out, even to the See also:eye-brows. Among the See also:women the lower lips are often pierced, pins of See also:wood being passed through and forming a sort of chevaux de frise round the mouth. Some-times a See also:bell-shaped See also:ornament is hung by men to a piece of See also:string passed through the lower See also:lip. The Carib See also:government was patriarchal. Though the women did most of the hard See also:work, they were kindly treated. See also:Polygamy prevailed. Very little ceremony attended See also:death. The Caribs of the See also:West Indies, known as "Red" and "Black," the first pure, the second mixed with See also:negro See also:blood, after a protracted See also:war with the See also:British were transported in 1796 to the number of 5000 from See also:Dominica and St See also:Vincent to the See also:island of Ruatan near the See also:coast of See also:Honduras. A few were subsequently allowed back to St Vincent, but the See also:majority are settled in Honduras and See also:Nicaragua. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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