The Caribs

Introduction

The Caribs came from much further south than their Arawak counterparts. They migrated across Brazil to the interior of Guyana, then north to the coast of Venezuela as seen in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Migration pattern of the Caribs from South America

They followed that Arawaks to the West Indies, moving from island to island in the Lesser Antilles, fighting and winning over the Arawaks that were already there. Apart from Barbados and most of Trinidad, the Caribs resettled most of the eastern Antilles. Many Caribs have visited Barbados and some settled on the north western coast of Trinidad, but the Arawaks were still the strongest group on the island.

The name, "carib" is from the Spanish word, caribales.

Appearance & Dress

The Caribs looked almost like the Arawaks, but they were taller, yet still, they were considered to be of only medium height. In addition, they were described as physically stronger than the Arawaks due to the emphasis placed on training and fighting. Caribs had straight, long, black hair, which they combed and dressed with oil. A typical Carib family is indicated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. A Carib family

It was the women's duty to comb and oil the men's hair daily. They had a complete absence of body hair. The Caribs had short heads, and they flattened the foreheads of babies. This was because the Caribs had Arawak women living amongst them, and of course, these Arawak women were the spoils of raids and wars. Hence, the women continued practicing their ways of life and eventually, integrate what they know into the Carib society as well.

The Caribs' skin was brown and they usually went naked. It was very rare for a cotton cloth to be worn around the loins. The women painted their bodies with a red dye called roucou and made impressive designs and decorations in many colors. The dye was made from vegetable dye and oil, which the Caribs felt toughened their skin and protected them from insect bites. The eyes were usually circled in black. The women also wore bracelets called rassada around their arms and legs. The men painted their bodies as well.

A necklace made of small bones and teeth of victims, the caracoli, was used to suspend a crescent shaped ornament, shown in Fig. 3. This was used to show the wearer's courage. Both men and women wore bracelets and necklaces made of amber, shell, agouti teeth, seeds and coral, and bored holes in their lips and ear lobes into which they inserted smooth fish bones and other ornaments.

Fig. 3. Carib necklace mostly worn by males

Around their necks, also, were worn small idols representing the powerful and frightening maboya, which will be discussed shortly. For very special occasions, the men wore feathered cloaks and head-dresses of heron or macaw feathers. Most of the men among the Caribs were maimed, but instead of being pitied, these men were respected, for it was honorable among them to have suffered wounds in battle. Only beards were considered a deformity and were plucked out.

Many of the first Europeans who came to the West Indies commended on the beauty of the Caribs. The Caribs were probably fitter and leaner than the Arawaks because of their diet and way of life. They also found that the Caribs were a cleanly people, who always built their villages beside a stream so that they could wash daily.

The Caribs as Columbus saw them:

These people…are very graceful in form - tall, and elegant in their movements, wearing their hair very long and smooth, they also bind their heads with handsome worked handkerchiefs, which from a distance look like silk or gauze; others use the same material in a longer form, wound around them so as to cover them like trousers, and this is done by both the men and women…It is the fashion among all the classes to wear something at the breast, and on the arms, and many wear pieces of gold hanging low on the bosom. Their canoes are larger, lighter and of better build than those of the islands which I have hitherto seen, and in the middle of each they have a cabin or room, which I found was occupied by the chiefs and their wives…I made many inquiries as to where they found the gold, in reply to which, they all directed me to an elevated tract of land at no great distance, on the confines of their own country, lying to the westward; but they all advised me not to go there, for fear of being eaten, and at the same time I imagined that by their description they wished to imply that there were cannibals who dwelt there; but I have since thought it possible that they meant merely to express that the country was filled with beasts of prey. I also inquired of them where they obtained the pearls? and in reply to this question likewise, they directed me to the westward, and also to the north, behind the country they occupied.

Survival

The Caribs ate almost the same foods as the Arawaks did, but had more protein in theirs and they did not eat much fat. They were not such good farmers, and hence, they relied less on maize (corn) and cassava, though they knew how to grow these crops. However, they were excellent hunters and fishermen, very much better than the Arawaks.

The Caribs relied more on seafood actually, and as well as using hooks and nets, they used long arrows and a type of poisoned bark, which stunned the fish when it was thrown into the water. Of course, the Caribs would not eat certain foods, such as turtles and manatee, which they fear would make them slow like those animals. In addition, pig was not eaten for fear of having small, beady eyes and eating crab before a sea voyage would bring storms.

Fig. 4. Stone tools

They made a soup made from agouti bones and other leftovers that they seasoned with pepper sauce, cassava flour and oysters. Sometimes they ate grilled fish cooked slowly over a wooden grid and served with a sauce called couii and served with sweet potato and yam. Their favorite dish was a stew made with crab and cassava and seasoned with taumalin sauce, which was made from lemon juice, pepper and the green meat of crab near the shell. It is apparent that the introduction of Arawak women in the Carib society would also make way for different types of dishes that were typical to the Arawak community, such as pepperpot or casareep. Barbecued human meat was a specialty as well as discussed below.

The Caribs made ouicou, a cassava beer with a strong alcoholic content, and got very drunk on festivals and holidays.

With regards to Fig. 4, pestle (A) was found in the Dominican Republic whereas pestle (B) was discovered in Jamaica.

Government

The Caribs had a more complicated organization to give them best leadership in their warlike society. As with the Arawaks, they had hereditary chiefs, nobles and priests, but military leaders were elected. The ouboutou (or ubutu or obutu), or Great Captain, who was the commander in chief of all the warriors was elected for his life. He was chosen for his prowess in battle and his great strength, and was treated with the utmost respect. Anyone who wised to stand for election as ouboutou had to have killed several Arawak warriors or at least one cacique with his bare hands. The ouboutou was assisted by a ouboutou maliarici, a lieutenant. The ouboutou was always accompanied by attendants, and everyone remained silent while he spoke. If any seemed lacking, the attendants had the right to strike him.

The ouboutou decided when the men would be called to the carbet (see below) for a raid. He chose the commanders of the canoes and piragas, which were special war canoes. When the raid was over, and the men returned victorious, the ouboutou presided over the victory celebrations, during which everyone who had killed an Arawak chief was allowed to take his name a mark of honor. Enemies killed in a raid were cut up and favorite portions eaten on the spot. It was during this celebration that the Arawak women who had been captured were given as wives to the bravest warriors. The men that were captured were carried off to their captor's house where they were tied up and starved for four to five days. During the same ceremony, they were tortured to death. Brave prisoners were expected to take pain without flinching and to mock at their torturers. Those who did so with great courage were the most valued. They were killed quickly and eaten with great reverence by members of the tribe as the central part of the ceremonial feast. The Caribs believed that in doing so they increased their power, by adding their enemies' strength to their own. The rest of the body was boiled; the fat was skimmed off and rubbed into the bodies of young male children to give them additional strength. Caracolis were distributed to the young men who had distinguished themselves in battle, and these warriors were highly prized as husbands. Because of their cannibalistic nature, the Caribs were the most feared of all the Amerindian tribes. On his second voyage in 1493 Columbus referred to Dominica as Isla de Caribales (Isle of Cannibals). Columbus found the Caribs extremely savage, as they were cannibals not from necessity but from choice due to the belief that their victim's powers were passed to the eater of the body. Evidence of Carib cannibalism was very strong; in 1564 the Caribs of Dominica ate the crew of a Spanish ship, and in 1596 the Caribs of St. Vincent did the same to the crew of a French ship.

Even though the ouboutou were the most important men among the Caribs, they also had lesser governors for their villages, who ruled in times of peace. These men were called tiubutuli hauthe, and were the heads of families, for each family lived in its own village. Like the Arawak cacique, the tiubutuli hauthe supervised the fishing and cultivating, but he had very little authority beyond this. The Caribs disliked taking orders, and in fact, they had very few laws. If any one did injury to a Carib, the injured man was expected to take his own revenge without any interference from the rest of the tribe. He could even kill the person who injured him. In fact, anyone who did not avenge himself when he was wronged was despised by his tribesmen and considered a weakling.

The role of men and women in the extended family:

They have no other government or code than that of the household, and along with that whole generations live together as in the times of old Patriarchs: and the eldest of the sons always steps into his father's place. The heads of the families ordinarily have three or four wives, where as the others have but one: and one may reasonably call them altogether servants rather than housewives: because independently of it they have to be just as much to their husbands as the lowest servant with us has to be to her master or mistress. The man will very rarely burden his shoulder with any freight or load, but he leaves it altogether to his wives: and they have such a respect for their husband that they always wait upon him at table and will not eat until he is finished.

Warrior Training

A Carib's group strength was reckoned on the number of male warriors and it was common for it to keep a number of Arawak slave women to produce male children, as boys were more highly regarded then girls among the Caribs. This favoritism was because the Caribs were warriors and lived mainly by warfare, which was a male occupation. Although the women sometimes accompanied the men on expeditions, and guarded the boats while the men were fighting, their main duty was to serve their husbands. Women lived in their own houses with their children until the boys were four or five years old, then they were taken by their fathers to live in the carbet with the men. Caribs believed that women were soft and weak and it was believed that if the boy was to become a warrior he should be moved away from the influence of women, except for the few who were to become priests.

Carib boys were trained to make and use weapons that were considerably better than those of the Arawaks. They were taught how to use the bow and how to apply poison to the arrowhead. The poison was deadly and the victim dies in great pain. To improve their marksmanship, the young warriors in training had to shoot their meals down from the tops of trees and learn to shoot accurately while swimming.

Before a Carib boy could become a warrior, he had to undergo a sever initiation ceremony. The Caribs considered courage the greatest virtue and the boys were taught to bear pain without flinching. When the day came, he was seated on a stool before all the warriors of the village, while his father explained to him what his duties and responsibilities would be in the future. Then a bird was beaten to death against his body, scratching and pecking at his skin as it struggled. After this, he was deeply scratched with agouti teeth, and his body rubbed with the dead bird, which, in the meantime had been dipped in pepper. During all this, the boy was expected to show no signs of pain or discomfort. When the bating was over, he was given the bird's heart to eat, and then was sent to his hammock and made to fast. Another test was to shoot a bird off the top of tree with a bow and arrow. Only when he successfully passed through this initiation was he given the warrior's name, taught the warrior's language and allowed to go on raids. The Carib warriors were also excellent swimmers and Columbus mentioned seeing a warrior firing his bow while swimming in the sea.

Raids

The Caribs were a seafaring people who attacked from piragas or canoes, which could hold over fifty men and traveled swiftly. Canoe building is indicated in Fig. 5. They often put to sea in bad weather and paddled for long distances. Carib canoes probably reached Cuba, which is a journey of at least three hundred kilometers from the nearest Carib base. The women, too, knew how to fight and use a bow and arrow. When Columbus concluded that Martinique was inhabited by a race of Amazons, he must have visited the island when the men were away on a raid.

Even though the Caribs raided each other, their attacks were mainly directed against the peaceful Arawaks. They liked to make surprise attacks by sea in their canoes and these attacks were sudden, brutal and very vicious. Often they began with a shower of fire arrows, which set their enemies' thatched houses ablaze. Then, leaping from their canoes, the Caribs savagely clubbed and shot their way to victory. When the fighting was over, the victors piled the bodies of their dead into their canoes, for they refused to leave their wounded or dead behind. In the canoes, too, were the men and women they had taken prisoner.

. Fig. 5. Canoe building

Before returning home, the canoes sailed along the coasts while the Carib warrior sang songs of their triumph and shouted insults at their defeated enemies. This lifestyle was so common that the women of the Caribs had an entirely different language to that of the men. After the Spanish, English and French had settled in the Caribbean the Caribs were bold enough to attack their settlements and defended themselves fiercely against the European invasion of their islands. For example, Dominica was still a Carib island at the time of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. The Caribs of St. Vincent were still resisting the Europeans as late as 1796. Gradually they were wiped out by the muskets and cannons of the Europeans, or deported to South America. Whereas the Arawaks in the West Indies were wiped out in just over fifty years, the Caribs resisted the Europeans for 200 years and there are descendants of Caribs living in eastern Dominica and Guyana today.

Letter from Dr. Chanca, physician to Columbus' fleet on his second voyage, 1494:

The habits of these Caribees are brutal. There are three islands: the one called Turuqueira (Mariegalante); the other, which was the first we saw, is called Ceyre (Dominica); the third is called Ayay (Guadeloupe): there is a resemblance amongst all these, as if they were of one race, and they do no injury to each other; but each and all of them wage war against the other neighboring islands, and for the purpose of attacking them, make voyages of a hundred and fifty leagues at sea, with their numerous canoes, which are a small kind of craft with one mast. Their arms are arrows, in the place of iron weapons, and as they have no iron, some of them point their arrows with tortoise-shell, and others make their arrow heads of fish spines, which are naturally barbed like coarse saws: these prove dangerous weapons to a naked people like the Indians, and may inflict severe injury, but to men of our nation are not very formidable.

Berkel, "Travels in South America", 1670-1689 wrote:

When a campaign is decided on, the General or Supreme Captain sends to tell all the village and households who have to be collected a stick in which there are as many notches as there are days remaining before they are to come to the place of meeting: they cut one of these notches out every day, until the time appointed, and they can all know by it, that the time has arrived…They put to sea with painted canoes or boats which are made out of one piece from a tree, which is hollowed out like a trough, and is so large that altogether two or three tons of goods can be carried in them. Their weapons are bows with poisoned arrows and short staves of speckled wood. Some carry for their protection bucklers or shields which are handsomely made and cut with figures. They keep no order in fighting, and unless they recognize a marked advantage likewise make no attempt except by night. The men whom they manage to capture they put to death with the greatest cruelty that bloodthirsty people can think of towards enemies who have fallen into their hands. The children and women they make slaves of, and sell for knick-knacks. They once upon a time attacked the French in Surinam, and tried it also upon the English when they first came there: but they were so treated by the latter that they still repent their folly.

Housing

The Carib villages were similar to those of the Arawaks. Their houses, however, were larger but the sexes did not live together.

Fig. 6. Carbet

Fig. 7. A Carib hammock

The men lived together in a large rectangular house called a carbet, or tabouii, measuring roughly 60 feet by 20 feet shown in Fig. 6. They were made of woven thatch reaching almost to the ground, looking like large beehives. The woven thatch made a strong flexible house, which could stand up to hurricanes. The villages were open and not protected by stockades or other defenses. In addition to hammocks illustrated by Fig. 7, Caribs sometimes slept on a type of bed called an amis, made of a piece of cotton folded at both ends and hung from the roof. The hammocks had a small packet of ash placed at each end, which it was thought would make them last longer. Other furniture included stools made from red or yellow wood, highly polished, and a table made from latanier rushes. At night candles made of a sweet smelling gum lighted the homes. Outside, the Caribs built a small storehouse in which they kept their warclubs, household utensils, stone tools and extra hammocks and beds.

NOTE: The Drawing of the Carib Hammock was taken from a book written by Oviedo, a Spaniard who wrote one of the first European accounts of the Americas

Crafts, Tools & Weaponry

It is obvious that the Carib's way of life reflected in their tools and weapons, which were much better than those of the Arawaks. Some are shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 8. Carib tools and weapons

They used the same equipment, but theirs were of a higher caliber. In addition, they were better potters and gave their pots a rim at the top to add strength and make pouring easier. They also made pots from several layers of clays and then cut patters through the clays to give their designs different colors. The most elaborate pots were used as funeral urns for holding ancestors' bones or placing food in the graves.

Seamanship

Of all the early Amerindian tribes, the Caribs were the pros when it came to the sea. This meant that they were also better at constructing canoes.

Like the Arawaks, the Caribs made their canoes out of tree trunks and some canoes reached almost 20 feet. The trunk was charred and hollowed with stone axes and left to season, after which it was left buried in moist sand. Bars were placed across the opening to force out the sides, and were left in place until the wood had thoroughly dried and hardened. Then triangular boards were wedged at the bow and stern so that water could not enter the boat, and the sides were raised by fastening sticks bound with fibers and coated with gum to the upper edges. If this type of canoe overturned it did not sink, but instead could be righted by the paddlers and then vigorously rocked to splash out the water. The rest of the water was bailed out with calabashes. Some of these canoes had cabins in the center in which the women lived when the family traveled from one island to another.

Raids were made in war canoes, called piragas, which were larger than other canoes. These were not dugouts, but built with planks. Some were 40 feet long, and could carry 50 men. They had a raised and pointed bow and a maboya was painted on the stern to frighten away the enemy. Sometimes for additional decorations, a barbecued human arm was also fastened to the stern.

Religion

The Carib religion was essentially spiritualistic and they worship ancestor spirits. They believed in good or evil spirits called maboya, which was the most important of all Caribs idols (Note: Maboya was used to refer to either the spirits of the idols that represented them).

Fig. 9. A ceremonial club used by Carib priests

Most Carib boys were trained as warriors, but a small group were trained for an equally important position, that of priest, or boyez. When a boy was to be trained as a boyez, he was apprenticed for several years to an older priest. During this time, he had to fast, and abstain from eating meat. Then the boy had to undergo an initiation ceremony as severe as that of a warrior. If he passed through this initiation successfully, his teacher took him to the carbet where fruit, cassava and ouicou were sacrificed to the priest's maboya. The priest sang and smoked, inviting his maboya to enter the carbet. When at last the maboya was thought to have come, the boyez asked him to provide a special maboya for the apprentice. If the maboya agreed, the young man became a full fledged boyez, with his own personal maboya to help him perform his duties.

They felt that each person had their own maboya, and that all evils, whether sickness, defeat in battle, or even death came as a result of a spell put on them by an enemy maboya. When a person was ill, for instance, the boyez was called in to defeat the maboya's evil spell. First, the house was thoroughly cleaned, and gifts of cassava, ouicou and first fruits were laid on a table, or matoutou for the maboya. The matoutou was placed at the end of the room, and stools for each member of the family were placed at the other end. When it was dark, the boyez entered and began his incantations, addressed to the patient's good god, for the Caribs believed that everyone had their own good god, as well as a maboya. Then he struck the ground three times with his left foot. He then put a lighted tobacco into his mouth and blew the smoke upwards four or five times. After this, he rubbed a leaf in his hands and scattered the powder on the patient's body. Finally, he prescribed a mixture of herbs to be given, and warned the family to take strong revenge against the maboya which had caused the sickness.

Unfortunately, the patient died in spite of the treatment. In that case, the boyez explained, a stronger revenge was necessary. In the meantime, all the dead man's relatives examined the body to see if he had dies by sorcery. After this, the body was carefully washed and painted red, and the hair was combed and oiled. Then it was placed on a stool in a grave dug inside the carbet. For ten days, the relatives would bring food and water to the graveside, and build a fire around it so that the corpse would not get cold. After ten days, the grave was filled in, and the dead man's possessions were burnt. When the grave was completed, there was dancing over it, and as a sign of mourning the relatives cut their hair. Later, a feast was held over the grave, and often the dead man's house, especially if he was a chief, was burnt down.

The Caribs had great respect for the ocean over which they traveled, and they took great care not to offend the spirits of the water for fear they would be harmed. They would eat no crab or lizard while they were at sea, or drink any water, for fear, the spirits would be displeased and prevent them from reaching land. If they were carrying fresh water in the canoe, they took care not to spill any into the sea, as it might cause a storm. On the other hand, I they sailed over a place where Caribs had drowned, they were careful to throw food into the water, so that the drowned man would not reach up to the boat and capsize it. When they were approaching land, they made sure not to call its name nor point to it, in case an evil spirit was watching and tried to prevent their getting to shore.

The Caribs shared the belief that death led to life in another form. However, they spent more time in trying to please the maboya and the many sea spirits they believed in. death for a Carib meant a journey to either a heaven or hell. The souls of brave warriors went the "fortunate" islands where they were waited on by Arawak slaves; cowardly souls went to a dreary desert where they became the slaves of Arawak masters.

A Jesuit missionary describes the Carib death rituals:

As soon as they are dead they paint them red, comb them, and if they are of consequence, wrap them in a fine cotton bed, and in the middle of the hut dig a round hole of depth proportionate to the posture they give them (which is that which they had in their mother's womb) into which they are lowered onto a piece of board placed there, the covered with another such onto which earth is thrown and tears shed, the while they sing their sorrow and lament in a lugubrious tone. This they continue last thing in the evening and at daybreak in the morning for sometime. They do not forget their custom of putting bread and wine on the grave, nor to light a fire around it for quite a time. After a year they return to weep, remove the boards and, throw and trample down earth upon the decayed body, drink the rest of the day and night, and sometimes quit the house and habitation as I saw them do after the death of their captain.

Some Carib words passed down to us as recorded by Spanish settlers are as follows:

aoli	dog
barana	sea
binakha	dance
boutalli	earthenware
boyez	priest
canalli	vessels
canoua	canoe
caracoli	jewels
carbet	meeting house
couleuve	tube basket for squeezing manioc
couliana	smaller boat
couris	calabashes
itehwenne	drinking party
kueyu	sun
kunubo	rain
maboya	evil spirits
matoutou	basketwork table
nokubu	body
nunu	moon
oboutou	chief
ouicou	manioc beer
roucou	red dye from annatto tree
tuna	water