Caribs, an Indian nation which when Columbus reached the new world occupied Porto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and a portion of the mainland of South America, in what is now Guiana and Venezuela. The name signified brave, and they were very fierce and cruel. They had canoes capable of carrying 50 men, and made constant war on the milder Yucayos occupying the larger islands. They were man-eaters, the term cannibals being originally one of the names of the nation. They were gradually reduced or expelled from the islands to the mainland. At present only a few remain on Trinidad, Dominica, and St. Vincent. They are divided into the Caribs proper; Galibi, in French Guiana; Tuapoka, on the lower Orinoco; Yaoi, in Trinidad and Venezuela; Guachire, on St. Margarita; and include apparently the Avari-gotes, Purugotes, and Acherigotes. They resembled some of our northwestern tribes in their use of paint, weeping on occasions of joy, and in fasting and severe probation for the chieftainship. The French began missions among them at an early day, and a catechism and dictionary of the Galibi were printed in 1663-'5 by Raymond Breton.