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.
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