They are most expert archers, hitting any thing they aim at with wonderful precision; the women also, in some places, being excellent archers.  Their other arms are a kind of very sharp lances or pointed stakes, and clubs, having their heads very nicely carved.  They are chiefly accustomed to make war against their neighbours speaking a different language; and as they give no quarter, unless to such as are reserved for the most horrid tortures, they fight with extraordinary fury.  When they go to battle they are accompanied by their wives, not to assist them in fighting, but on purpose to carry their provisions and other necessaries; and one of their women will carry a greater weight on her back for a journey of thirty or forty leagues, than a strong man is able to lift from the ground, as we have often seen.  They have no regular captains or commanders in their wars; and although any one may assume the office of leader, they always march onwards without any order whatever.  Their wars do not originate in any desire of extending their power or territory, neither from any inordinate lust of dominion, but from ancient enmities, transmitted from one generation to another; and when asked the cause of these enmities, their only answer is that they are bound to revenge the death of their ancestors.  These people living in perfect liberty, are not subjected to any kings or rulers, and are chiefly excited to war when any of their tribe happens to be slain or made prisoner.  On such occasions, the elder relations of the slain person or of the prisoner go about among the huts and villages, continually crying out, and urging all the warriors of the tribe to make haste and accompany them to war, that they may recover their friend from captivity, or revenge his death.  All being moved to compassion and revenge by these incitements, immediately prepare for war, and march away in haste to the assistance of their friends.

These people have no laws, or any idea of distributive justice, neither are malefactors ever punished among them.  Parents even neither teach nor chastise their children.  We have sometimes seen them conferring together among themselves in a strange manner.  They seem very simple in their discourse, yet are they very cunning and shrewd.  In speaking they are neither loud nor loquacious, using accents similar to ours, but squeezing as it were most of their words between the teeth and the lips.  They have a great number of dialects, as at every hundred leagues distance we found a different language, the different tribes not understanding each other.  Their manner of feeding is very barbarous, as they have no fixed periods for eating, but just as inclination or opportunity offers, whether by day or night.  When taking food they recline on the ground, using neither table-cloths nor napkins, as they have no linen or any other kind of cloth.  Their food is put into vessels of earthen ware, manufactured by themselves, or into half gourd shells instead of dishes.  They sleep in large