Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/83

 In a crowd these strange people at once attract attention by their peculiar language. It sounds like the following syllables constantly repeated with great rapidity—gloo-ga log-boo-ga-loog. Strange to say they use the French numerals up to ten, though French is hardly spoken in British Honduras. It sounds odd to hear un, deux, trois, quatre mingled with their gloo-gloo talk. The reason of it is that those particular Caribs come from Saint Vincent, once a French colony, in the West Indies.

The women dress in skirts, but have no jacket over their low-necked undergarment. They twist a gaudy striped kerchief round their heads as a turban, and wear all the ornaments they can obtain, a favorite necklace being a string of gold or silver coin. They are not accustomed to eat with their husbands, or associate with them as companions. Tradition has it that Carib men captured these women from another tribe and made them their wives; the women then swore that they would never be their companions, though compelled to serve them.

It was rumored that Caribs dwelling at Stan Creek, a settlement not far from Belize, every year made human sacrifice. The late Sir Frederick Barlee, at that time Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, made inquiries to put a stop to it if possible, Stan Creek