This is the
reason that several of their old men recommend, and say, that
formerly their greatest chieftains observed a constant rule in their
diet, and seldom ate of any animal of a gross quality, or heavy
motion of body, fancying it conveyed a dullness through the whole
system, and disabled them from exerting themselves with proper
vigour in their martial, civil, and religious duties." The Zaparo
Indians of Ecuador "will, unless from necessity, in most cases not
eat any heavy meats, such as tapir and peccary, but confine
themselves to birds, monkeys, deer, fish, etc., principally because
they argue that the heavier meats make them unwieldy, like the
animals who supply the flesh, impeding their agility, and unfitting
them for the chase." Similarly some of the Brazilian Indians would
eat no beast, bird, or fish that ran, flew, or swam slowly, lest by
partaking of its flesh they should lose their ability and be unable
to escape from their enemies. The Caribs abstained from the flesh of
pigs lest it should cause them to have small eyes like pigs; and
they refused to partake of tortoises from a fear that if they did so
they would become heavy and stupid like the animal.
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