The women cook the victuals, but though of the highest rank, they are never permitted to partake of it, till all the males, even the servants, have eaten what they think proper; and in times of scarcity, it is frequently their lot to be left without a single morsel; and should they be detected in helping themselves during the business of cookery, they would be subject to a severe beating; and be considered afterward, through life, as having forfeited their character. "The accounts we have had of the effects of the small pox on that nation (the Maha Indians) are most distressing; it is not known in what way it was first communicated to them, though probably by some war party. They had been a military and powerful people; but when these warriors saw their strength wasting before a malady which they could not resist, their phrensy was extreme; they burnt their village, and many of them put to death their _wives_ and _children_, to save them from so cruel an affliction, and that all might go together to some better country." [95] WEST INDIES. _Hayti_ (late St. Domingo.) Extract of a letter, dated Nov. 1810. "The Indigenes, or natives of Hayti, are extremely ignorant; but few can read: their religion is Catholic; but neither it, or its priests, are much respected. That they are in a most awful state of darkness, is but too evident: mothers are actually panders to their own daughters, and reap the fruit of their prostitution. The endearing name of father is scarcely ever heard, as the children but rarely know to whom they are indebted for existence." [96] SOUTH AMERICA. In this region there are whole nations of cannibals, who devour their captives. Sometimes they slay their own wives, and invite their neighbours to the repast.