Surveyor-General Lawson, Lond. 1714, had still another reason for
something similar. Speaking of their use of varnish, pipe-clay,
lamp-black, &c. &c. for colouring their bodies before going out to war,
he says, "when these creatures are thus painted, they make the most
frightful figures that can be imitated by man, and seem more like devils
than human creatures. You may be sure that they are about some mischief
when you see them thus painted; for in all the hostilities which have
ever been acted against the English at any time, in several of the
plantations of America, the savages always appeared in this disguise,
whereby they might never after be discovered, or known by any of the
Christians that should happen to see them after they had made their
escape; for it is impossible even to know an Indian under these colours,
although he has been at your house a thousand times, and you know him at
other times as well as you do any person living."--Mr Bryan Edwards
mentions something of the Charaibes like this. "Not satisfied with the
workmanship of nature, they called in the assistance of art, to make
themselves more formidable. They painted their faces and bodies with
arnotto so extravagantly, that their natural complexion, which was
really that of a Spanish olive, was not easily to be distinguished under
the surface of crimson. However, as this mode of painting themselves was
practised by both sexes, perhaps it was at first introduced as a defence
against the venomous insects, so common in tropical climates, or
possibly they considered the brilliancy of the colour as highly
ornamental." These Charaibes had other ways of deforming themselves,
some of which resembled what we shall find described in the course of
this work. They made deep cuts on their cheeks, and stained them black;
and painted white and black circles round their eyes. The tatooing which
Mr Barrow speaks of, as practised in part of Africa where he travelled,
one should incline to imagine very different from what is in fashion at
Otaheite, which, according to our text, affords any other than