I love finding stuff like this; thought some of you might like to see it too.
I'm reading The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca(1500's Spanish explorer who lived amongst the Native Americans for 8 years), and he writes the following:
"From the island of Malhado to this land all the Indians whom we saw have as a custom, from the day their wives know they are pregnant, not to sleep with them until after two years of nurturing their children, who suckle until they are twelve years old, at which time they are of an age that by themselves they know how to search for food. We asked them why they raised them in this manner, and they said that because of the great hunger in the land it happened many times, as we had seen, that they went two or three days without eating, and sometimes four; and for this reason, they let their children suckle so that in times of hunger they would not die, since even if some should survive[without it], they would end up sickly and of little strength."
I'm reading The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca(1500's Spanish explorer who lived amongst the Native Americans for 8 years), and he writes the following:
"From the island of Malhado to this land all the Indians whom we saw have as a custom, from the day their wives know they are pregnant, not to sleep with them until after two years of nurturing their children, who suckle until they are twelve years old, at which time they are of an age that by themselves they know how to search for food. We asked them why they raised them in this manner, and they said that because of the great hunger in the land it happened many times, as we had seen, that they went two or three days without eating, and sometimes four; and for this reason, they let their children suckle so that in times of hunger they would not die, since even if some should survive[without it], they would end up sickly and of little strength."
