Show f z among the carias j k a a when columbus first sailed his quaint caravels across the blue bean sea and gazed with wonder on the verdure clad mountains of the antilles he found the beautiful islands inhabited by a strange canal bal race which he called carlas spanish french and english in their turn found this warlike people a menace to their settlements and progress and fought them doggedly but more or less ineffectually for three centuries merciless warlike and brave these carlas not only waged relentless war upon the whites but in their swift dugout canoes made frequent sorties from one island to another to prey upon their neighbors of their own race on these excursions they killed the men and carried the women back as slaves and wives and celebrated their victories by cannibal orgies and it was doubtless upon the island of tobago on such an occasion that robinson crusoe saved the life of his man friday at last however the superior arms and skill of the europeans triumphed over the savage foe and the natives were gradually forced back from the coasts and exterminated until to day the sole survivors of this once dreaded people number scarcely one hundred souls living peacefully upon a gov reservation on the island ol 01 dominica previous to the eruptions of morne belee pelee and the of st vin cent there was another small band of carias in the latter island all of these however were destroyed by the eruptions of the dominican carias only about one half are of pure blood or so nearly pure that no trace of negro blood is discernible the others are greatly mixed and it Is difficult to determine where negro leaves off and begins in appearance the carlas are rather short and thick set with yellowish or coppery olive skin stiff straight blue black hair and oval faces with distinctly mongolian features they are quiet almost to taciturnity in dust rious and peaceable but like poor lo 10 everywhere have an in vet erate fondness for strong drink and also possess another nate indian tailing being ancor thieves they profess the catholic religion dress in civilized clothes and dwell in neatly made but primitive houses of mud daubed cane or wattle thatched with or palm leaves two forms of language few if any of their members now speak the tongue but many possess a limited knowledge of words strangely enough the language had two distinct forms one of which was confined to the use of the women the other to the men this state of affairs was doubtless due to the fact already mentioned that their wives were captured from other tribes their numeral system was also rather remarkable they were unable to count numerically above five the word tor five was the same as for hand ten was two hands or halt a man fifteen was a foot and hands and twenty two hands and two feet or a man and so on the dominican carlas are for the most part agriculturists in a small way and cultivate little patches of cacao cane yams plantains etc some work as laborers on neighbor ing estates and many are fishermen their fishing boats are particularly interesting inasmuch as they have apparently been patterned from the flower of the palm tree in fact the boys use the natural for toy canoes the real carloes are formed from the trunk of the gemmler tree hollowed out inside and spread open by means of heated stones and hot water to add greater freeboard to the shell a plank is fastened to either gunwale ana the whole Is strengthened by hand hewed ribs and thwarts these boats are used throughout the islands not only by a fishermen but as passenger crat as well and when larger and more stoutly built are even used as lighters in loading and discharging the steam ship cargoes lani rag in the surf to the stranger destruction of the craft seems certain for the first time he sees one of thes canoes dashed on the crest of a huge roller upon the shingle As the smooth round hot tom touches the stones the bare tooted bare legged oarsmen leap over board and with wonderful judgment and skill rush their boat far up the slope on the wash of the breaking comber another craft used by abe carias Is a sort ol 01 miniature raft known as a this Is formed from three or tour pieces 0 the hollow trunk of the bols canut a wood almost as light as cork fast ened together and floored over with rough native planks the navigator sits upon a low seat amidships and as his weight sinks the contrivance slightly below the level of the flater the appearance of a group of Is a sight to startle the beholder when seen for the first time the effect Is exactly as though the dusky owners were standing and sitting upon the surface of the sea reminding one ot overgrown aai abic so common oa stagnant pools and ponds As hunters the carlas are experts dolitca and during the open season bring many agoutis parrots and wild pigeons to the boseau market how they manage to kill anything other than themselves with the shaky gaa pipes consider guns has always been a marvel to me cabb se they also excel in basket work and make many an honest shilling from the sales of their closely woven water proof baskets which are in great de mand throughout the antilles in lieu of grips and trunks these baskets are woven in two sections or shells the inner portion of split bamboo the outer of palm leaf ribs with a layer of wild plantain leates between the two to render it waterproof they are usually richly colored in dull reds browns yellows and black in geo patterns and are commonly sold jn nests of assorted sizes rang ing from a few inches to two feet square they also utilize their basket beav ing skill in making fish pots of split bamboo and cane and make excellent rope twine and elsh nets from the fiber of various plants few of the tribe speak english the majority contenting themselves with the french patois of the island although numerous stones axes hammers knives and other primitive implements as well as fragments pottery idols and sculptured rocks are found throughout dominica no systematic search has been instituted tor ancient burial places or relics of the past and no study has been made to throw light upon the long tor gotten customs of this interesting race whose religion language and history lie burled in the fastnesses of their island home from which ere many years the last of the carias will have disappeared new york herald |