No people in the world were more expert than the Caribs in the management of a boat. They had two sorts of vessels--_becassas_, with three masts and square sails, and _piroques_, with only two masts. The last were about thirty feet long by four and a half feet wide in the middle. The _becassa_ was about forty-two feet long and seven feet wide in the middle. They had sometimes figures of monkeys painted red at the stern of their vessels. These vessels were built of the West India cedar tree, which there grows to a prodigious size. One tree made the keel of the vessel. It was felled with immense labor, hewed to a proper degree of thickness, made very smooth, and if any addition to the height was necessary, planks were added to the sides. This work was all performed with sharp hatchets made of flint. Some of these vessels had topmasts, and the Caribs could rig out fleets of thirty sail at a time. After the French had been some years settled at Martinico, they were surprised one foggy morning by the appearance of a fleet on their coast. The whole island was instantly in alarm and commotion; every man seized his arms, thinking a large squadron from Europe was come to attack the island. But the fog cleared away, and there, close-hauled in shore, were twenty sail of becassas and piroques, filled with Caribs, who had come for a friendly trading visit. The Caribs were usually rather above the middle stature, well proportioned, and their countenances were rather agreeable. Their foreheads had an extraordinary appearance, as they were flattened by having a board bound tight on the forehead when they were infants, and kept there till the head had taken the fashionable form. The forehead then continued flat, so that they could see perpendicularly when standing erect, and over their heads when lying down. These were the objects aimed at, and so they, at least, had a reason for their ridiculous custom; which is more than can be said of all the customs of modern refined society. They had small black eyes, beautiful teeth, white and even, and long, glossy, black hair. The hair was always kept well anointed with oil of palmachristi. It was difficult to judge of the color of their skin, because they were always painted with rouco, which gave them the appearance of boiled lobsters. The coat of paint preserved their skins from the hot rays of the sun, and from the stings of the musquito and gnat. It was thus far a useful invention, but they also considered it highly ornamental. When they wished to appear exceedingly grand, they added black mustaches, and other black strokes on their red-painted faces, with the juice of the geripa apple.