The North-West Amazons: Notes of some months spent among cannibal tribes

CHAPTER XX

Chapter 3926,239 wordsPublic domain

No individualism--Effect of isolation--Extreme reserve of Indians--Cruelty--Dislike and fear of strangers--Indian hospitality--Treachery--Theft punished by death--Dualism of ethics--Vengeance--Moral sense and custom--Modesty of the women--Jealousy of the men--Hatred of white man--Ingratitude--Curiosity--Indians retarded but not degenerate--No evidence of reversion from higher culture--A neolithic people--Conclusion.

We find in all savage races, peoples of the lower cultures, that there is no differentiation of individualism, that is to say all members of the race or group are at approximately the same level. This is what we know as a “low state of civilisation.” It has been suggested that such dead level, the lack of all initiative, of progress in short, is due to the absence of religion, of ideals or gods, through which true enthusiasm only is engendered. A religious ideal undoubtedly tends to progress, and with the exception of patriotism--which, after all, is a religious ideal--is the main influence. It is a case of cause and effect, however, for the effect of environment must not be overlooked. Local conditions initiate progress and may cause enthusiasm for an ideal, the effect and, at the same time, the potent accelerator of such progression.

It is an extraordinary but undeniable fact that the Indian is individually wise yet racially foolish, individually intelligent, racially inept. This may be due entirely to geographical control, to the peculiar characteristics of the social environment. The greatest incitement to human progress, intercommunication, is denied in the Amazon wilds. True, there are the rivers, but the value of rivers and waterways in this respect is negatived by custom. Existing conditions make this necessary, for in isolation alone is protection to be found for any tribe.

We find, then, the group system, where the community is everything, the individual nothing, blocking the path of progressive evolution to a very great extent among the forest Indians of South America, as it has done among the native tribes of Australia. The individual can gain nothing for himself, he can only work for the greater glory of the group, and has therefore no intimate incentive for strenuous advancement. A tribe has little or no opportunity for progress when it consists of but a few hundred members, and is practically isolated from all other tribes, except for the hardly intellectual shock of war, or perhaps the occasional intrusion of some wandering barterer, a member of possibly a hostile tribe, who is tolerated on account of the necessary articles which he brings, things that cannot be manufactured by the tribes he visits.

The Indian is hedged about with a constricting environment against which he can scarcely be said to battle. He accepts with the resignation of the East, and knows nothing of the restless rebellion that makes for Western amelioration and progress. What the Indian lacks is not intelligence but character, that is to say will-power. The Indian is brave, he endures pain and privation with the greatest stoicism, he can be doggedly obstinate, but only in exceptional cases can he rise above his fellows to anything approaching individuality and strength of mind.

The dominant characteristic of the Indian is a profound and nervous reserve. The extreme nervousness of his manner is due undoubtedly to wholesale indulgence in coca. It affects all the conditions of social intercourse. It makes the Indian character extraordinarily negative. Enthusiasm is to seek in Amazonia. The Indian never expresses violent joy or fear. A shock is more likely to raise a laugh from him than a cry. He will submit to much, he will bear greatly, but it is easy to provoke a laugh against even a fellow-tribesman. An Indian will invariably laugh at another’s discomfiture. But with a stranger all Indians are taciturn, and they will have little or nothing to say to him if he be a white man.

Outside the narrow limit of the tribe the Indians possess no altruistic feelings, no sympathy with strangers. They look upon every man as a definite, or at least a possible enemy. The gentle Indian, peaceful and loving, is a fiction of perfervid imaginations only. The Indians are innately cruel. They certainly have no true kindliness for animals; every animal is a foe, as I have elsewhere noted. The Maku children are especially cruel to them, but cruelty to the dumb brute is universal among the tribes. On the other hand, intra-tribal hospitality is without end. I have given a single biscuit to a boy and seen him religiously divide it into twenty microscopic pieces for all and sundry. But they are quite improvident so far as the morrow is concerned. If a family is threatened with famine the whole party will walk over to another house, make themselves at home, eat and drink without the slightest hesitation, without even craving invitation so to do. The reason is obvious. The host of to-day may be the guest of to-morrow. I have seen, however, a hunting party doing their best to eat a whole tapir, with the evident desire to finish the feast before the arrival of another, and possibly a less successful, hunting party. Otherwise division of spoil is absolutely equal, except that the chief by right has the greatest share.

The Indian is not always a hospitable host where other than his own tribe or language-group is concerned. Vague tales have penetrated even to his well-guarded ignorance of the customs of the Rubber Belt, of the servitude of his fellows. He hates the white man and mistrusts him. The Andoke are invariably surly in their attitude towards him. There are tribes--the Karahone, for instance, on the northern bank of the Japura--who refuse all attempts whatsoever at intercourse. They will neither receive presents nor ambassadors. If the explorer persist despite the rejection of his overtures he will find poisoned stakes sunk in his path. He will be harassed in all his doings. When at length he attains to the tribal head-quarters he will find a house indeed, and perhaps food, but no warriors, no women, no children The fire will still be burning within the _maloka_, but the tribe has vanished, leaving no track, no sign of its whereabouts. The Indian’s “Not at home” is no mere social euphemism. It is a demonstrated fact.

When the stranger finds such silent evidence of the tribal attitude toward his presence, it behoves him to take steps very promptly for his protection. He may be certain that the natives, though hidden, are covering his every action. If he, or one of his party, show himself, a flight of poisoned arrows whistles forth from the bush. Then follows a siege that tries the nerves of the stoutest campaigner. The hidden enemy, the noiseless weapons, menace from every tree. It is almost certain death to stop in the open. Within the house is a shelter little more dependable. The natives pierce the thatch with fire-javelins, with tiny spears bearing blazing tufts of hemp or cotton, and sooner or later the great structure will catch fire. There follows the imposed rush into the clearing, and the quick butchery by that unseen but ever-watchful enemy.

Later comes the dance of triumph and the feast of the victims.

Against such an enemy, in such a situation, the resources of civilisation are of little avail. A wretched little dart steeped in the tribal war-poison may be fragile as a reed, but fired from the near shelter of the bush it is as effective as a Mauser bullet.

When travelling among these Indians it is necessary in order to gain their respect to do as they do. I have emphasised this throughout. The traveller must cross the most nerve-racking bridge without help, he may have no hammock in which to be carried. This is a striking contrast to what I have met with in parts of Africa, where to walk is taken as a sign of unimportance; the man who does so cannot in native eyes be what they would call in India a “burra sahib.” I have also noted that the student of life must conform in all things that may be with the customs and habits of the tribesmen with whom he wishes to associate. In a land where _pia_ is the supreme law, deviation from custom can be only regarded as criminal.

When an Indian house is reached the chief comes out with a party of his warriors. The burden of proof rests with the invading European. He advances to the chief with his interpreter, and must make declaration of friendship. If the explanation of his appearance be accepted, the Indian laughs and may slap his visitor vigorously on the back, after the usual custom of the native in South America welcoming the stranger. Together they then proceed to the house, and the chief calls his woman and orders food to be provided for the strangers. The white man on his part tenders whatever he has brought by way of presents--beads, gun-cartridges, a small-tooth comb, or a knife.

When the evening meal is finished the chief stalks into the centre of the _maloka_, which has hitherto been untenanted, like the arena of a circus before the performance begins. A great fire is made up, and about it the men of the tribe squat on their haunches. The chief explains to them the presence of the stranger, and takes counsel on the question of his entertainment. As he describes his intentions he falls into a rhythmic chant, and his followers assent with deep-chested _Huhh!_ All this is a lengthy business, but the tribe eventually arrive at a common decision. The chief then bends forward to the tribal tobacco pot that has been placed midway among the group. Into this he solemnly dips a tobacco stick, and conveys a little of the liquid to his tongue. Man after man bends forward round the circle, and each in turn dips his splinter of wood into the pot to notify his assent. It is a sign of tribal agreement as binding as the Lord Chancellor’s seal on a document of state. With it the tobacco palaver is concluded and the Indians seek their hammocks for sleep.

The Indian’s treachery is proverbial. I may mention on this point two sayings--there are hundreds similar--which illumine this phase of the character and customs of the tribesmen. The Andoke says, relevant to the Karahone, “If your spirit wander (sleep) in the hammock of a _monkey_ or _beast_ Indian, it wanders always.”[408] The meaning is this, the Karahone appear to have a real and exact knowledge of virulent poisons. It is related that they can saturate a hammock with some narcotic which the victim does not discover, thus ensuring his death or destruction. They also burn fires under the hammock of those they wish to remove from the world, and stifle them with a narcotic smoke.

Another proverbial remark runs: “If a Karahone give you a pineapple, beware.” This refers to the Karahone’s playful habit of presenting poisoned pines. The Boro have a similar saying: “Take a pine from an enemy and die,” but this is due to the recognition of the fact that an Indian is never so dangerous as when simulating hospitality that is treacherous in the extreme.

Perhaps the Indian trait that soonest strikes, and most indelibly impresses the observer, is his charming altruism in the community of the family or tribal group, his wild misanthropy towards other tribes. His ambition is to live undisturbed with his family in the deep recesses of the forest. He asks only to be let alone.

In a region where land is free for all to take who will, and personal belongings are few--and invariably buried with the owner--laws of inheritance there can be none. But the law of possession is strict, and the penalty is death. There can be no toleration of theft, as on account of the publicity in which the Indians live it may be effected with such ease. The punishment for theft has therefore to be drastic, final. The victim may kill the thief. I was told that this is done by hacking at the culprit’s head with a wooden sword or a stone axe. This savours of ceremonial sacrifice. But though to steal from a member of the tribe is to steal from the whole community and therefore a crime, there is no bar against stealing from the stranger. They will do so unblushingly. I remember once missing a pair of scissors. On searching I discovered a Witoto woman stealing them. But she swore she had never put them in her basket, though they were found there!

There is very distinctly a dualism of ethics, one law for the tribe, and another law for all who are not members of it. To kill a fellow-tribesman is to injure the tribe by destroying one of its units. Sin against the individual is of no importance except in so far as injury to any one person is injury to a unit of the tribe, to be punished by the law of retaliation in kind if the offender be of another tribe. Sin against another tribe is no sin except in the eyes of the tribe sinned against; then for its members it becomes not the sin of the individual doer but of his whole community. It is the tribe and not the individual that would be held guilty for any offence committed by one of its members. For instance if a Boro killed a Menimehe, vengeance may be taken by the dead man’s tribe on all or any of the members of the Boro tribe concerned.

Vengeance is primarily a matter for the individual principally affected. A man considers it a disgraceful thing not to be able to avenge himself, and will therefore never apply to the chief for tribal help. On the other hand the chief and the tribe will sometimes take up a quarrel and make it their own. This is a common custom amongst small communities, an affront to any one of the community being a personal attack upon every other member, though it is not necessarily avenged by all unless the affronted one is himself unable to compass revenge.

Members of a tribe sometimes quarrel, though rarely, but at times a fight commences in which others join, till eventually it becomes a “set to” between two families. On the whole I am inclined to say that the natives of the Amazons are the least quarrelsome people I have ever met.

It would be wrong to state that these people have no moral sense, because a slavish adherence to custom in itself is moral. That is to say they possess a moral code. However that does not entail any right or wrong as we know it, but only _pia_, that is “what our forefathers thought and did,” in other words tribal usage, which may be translated by what we call “good form.” There are no words in the Indian tongues for virtue, justice, humanity, vice, injustice or cruelty. These are unknown to the tribes who differentiate only with the equivalents for good and bad. Points like this earmark the ethics of a people. The curious negative character I have already noted is carried out here also. Again there is recognition of the moral law of conjugal fidelity in that there is definite punishment for infidelity--the ordeal of the stinging ants. Punishment infers transgression of a law or code. It is not sufficient to say that in this case it is due to the extraordinary jealousy of Indian husbands, for the penalty is imposed on both husband and wife, the retribution is due to public opinion not personal revenge. Before marriage the men take the tribal prostitutes--the Maku girls and to some extent the unattached women--openly, but after marriage this is not the case. Incest is unknown among them, and in that term I include promiscuous intercourse among any of the members of a household. The antipathy to this lies only between those living under the same roof, it does not extend to consanguineous individuals who are members of different households.

The women are extraordinarily modest in their behaviour. Their eyes rarely leave the ground in the presence of a stranger. I had one woman in my party who never spoke to me, or even looked in my direction, the whole time we were together. After much dancing, I have seen the women, succumbing to dance stimulation, show their preference for certain men in the dancing party by placing their hands on their shoulders, an act in obedience to the impulse of the moment. In fact after dancing for a length of time they become comparatively boisterous and irresponsible. But even at the height of excitement there is nothing markedly rude in the dance, when one allows for the fact that sexual suggestion is not to be included in that category in Indian ethics. Even on this point they have their limitations, for Koch-Grünberg relates that when talking to some Desana Indians on sexual subjects, the conversation was stopped by them till the women were sent away. After their departure the men talked freely and broadly. This I did not remark among the Indians I visited, in fact sexual matters appeared to be discussed freely and lewdly by both sexes, and even by young children.

The Indians under the range of discussion most certainly possess the greatest racial antipathy towards the white man. This is noticeable among the women especially, for they will never admit to their own people if they have ever had any dealing or connection whatsoever with the white man.

Gratitude among Indians is unknown--at least to me. Take this example: I had Indians who had been slaves, who had elected to come with me, or at least had evinced no repugnance at the idea, with whom I had shared all the food at my disposal, stinting myself often to ensure their gratitude--as I thought--caring for them, doctoring and curing them when sick, till eventually I became fond of them. But on the main river at the first opportunity they ran, apparently at the suggestion of one of their own tribe, the Peon of a rubber-gatherer. What arguments were used I know not--perhaps that I was a devil, that my real motive was to fatten them for culinary purposes. The fact remains they left me, to all appearances, willingly.

This stealing of Indians is a well-recognised source of amusement on the Amazon river, and the victims of such loss--who of course perpetrate the same sort of outrage on others directly opportunity permits--are so indolent, so lethargic, that they will not cross a river to recover the stolen. The custom is the more prevalent on account of the character of the Indian. He will always leave one white man to go to another. He is always on the alert to run, to go elsewhere. This is true of Indians enslaved by other Indians, to a limited extent. Unless they are well treated and identified with the tribe they will run, only to be again enslaved by others, or put to death. The matter is hard to explain. It simply is in the blood. It is _Pia_, as Brown remarked. It is their custom. They do it “just for so.”

Another point about the Indian is that he must always be kept up to the work in hand. The women toil unceasingly, but the men are only too ready to seize any excuse to cry off a job. They spend their time mainly in mooning around. Obtaining food is their chief occupation. But when an Indian is kept up to his work he works hard and well.

Though the Indian attitude at first is invariably stoical they are not lacking in inquisitiveness. Their curiosity was enormously aroused by many of my possessions. It is hard to say what will evoke their wonder. I have seen an Indian evince no interest in a steam-boat, but show the most extraordinary interest in my jackboots, and be greatly occupied with the problem of how I got into them. A walking-stick was an unanswerable conundrum to them, it never occurred to their minds that I could use it as an assistance in walking. My eyeglass, my camera, were mysterious devils that could read into their hearts and filch their souls, as I have already noted. My watch, with an alarm to it, struck consternation to their simple minds. My phonograph, that reproduced records of dancing which were repeated on reversal, raised shouts of wonder. An Indian in a down-river town saw nothing to excite him in a tram, and took a ride thereon quite unconcernedly, but the women’s hats were exciting, and at the sight of a man on a bicycle his astonishment was unbounded: it was “man on spider-web!” Horses are unknown in these regions, and there is no possibility of the majority of the Indians seeing any one on horseback. I could only get a mule as far as the first big river, but beyond the bush became too dense. Otherwise I fancy their amazement would equal that of the Australian natives when they saw the beast come in two on the man dismounting.[409]

Decadent the Indian may be, and thanks mainly to his inveterate cocainism he undoubtedly is, but that he is the degraded descendant of a higher race is a theory that I beg leave to doubt entirely. According to von Martius the standard of ethics rises or falls with the increase or decrease of a tribe. He based his theory on the fact that the most corrupt Coeruna and Nainuma were nearly extinct. It is possible to argue that they were dying out because they were corrupt,[410] rather than they were corrupt because they were dying out. Sir Roger Casement appears to have accepted the theory expounded in _Vergangenheit und Zukunft der amerikanischen Menschheit_. But Tylor remarks, “I cannot but think that Dr. Martius’ deduction is the absolute reverse of the truth.” Certainly the theory of the Indians’ regression is, I consider, entirely erroneous. I see nothing to suggest it. On the contrary it appeared to me that in spite of the awful handicap of their environment, these tribes were slowly evolving a higher standard of culture. There is no evidence of their having reverted from a higher culture. A people who once knew how to produce fire by friction do not easily forget that method to rely on the clumsy processes of fire-carrying. Men who have smoked tobacco are not very likely to content themselves, nor would their offspring be contented, with merely sucking it. People who knew the simple method of preparing yarn with a spindle would only revert in exceptional cases to the slow and even painful process of rolling fibre on the naked thigh, and that in a land where cotton is abundantly to hand on every side. The tedious method of plaiting and tying by hand would hardly, one imagines, be substituted for weaving. A race that has once worked metal and relapsed to the use of stone without even more exceptional and definite reasons for that relapse, is no more likely in fact than it is recorded--so far as I am aware--in history.

Examples are known of peoples who have forgotten one useful art, for material and utilitarian, or social, or magico-religious reasons; but a people who have allowed some half dozen to disappear is unknown to me. Yet these Indians carry fire, lick tobacco, roll fibre on the thigh, and though they make use of an embryo loom--the two posts between which their hammocks are plaited--have not appreciated its potentialities. Some of the Amazon tribes,[411] though surrounded by canoe-building peoples, can only make rafts; the secret of the dug-out, if ever known to them,[412] has been forgotten. But it is possible that an isolated section of the original canoe-builders--as we have seen these tribes today are all isolated sections--may for some reason have had no need to construct a canoe for such lengths of time that the method of fire-heating and burning, especially of forcing the hot trunk open, had through disuse been at least partially forgotten.[413] Presume that they failed in their attempt to build one for some reason,[414] and it was found that a raft would do momentarily in its place, the original skill and knowledge might easily die out in a generation. Therefore the absence of canoes alone would be no convincing argument. Nor must it be forgotten, as Dr. Rivers has pointed out,[415] that other causes besides defective memory and lack of practice may result in the entire disappearance of even useful arts. But I repeat hardly of so many among all these tribes in common.

Everything points to the conclusion that these tribes found their way to the forest in a very primitive condition. The forest has arrested, it has stunted their growth, but it has not plunged them back from later cultures to the Stone Age. The stones themselves deny it, _for stone is not the natural substitute for iron in these regions_.[416] Whence the tribes came hither, and when, in whatsoever far back age of our earth’s story, they were a Neolithic people--hardly that, a people emerging from the unsettled conditions of the Paleolithic hunter, agricultural but not yet pastoral, and such they have remained throughout the centuries.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Physically, as may be judged from the accompanying tables, there is a wide margin for dissimilarity among these tribes. Their appearance is nearly as varied as their speech, more so in fact, in that there is much diversity of type even among individuals of the same speaking-group. I have seen a Boro as dark as a Witoto, while his fellow-tribesmen may be yellow as a Chinaman. It is, of course, possible that the darker Boro are sons of Witoto women. The custom prevalent in all the tribes of adopting the young children captured from their enemies, makes of necessity for great changes in type even in one household, so that despite the preference for group endogamy that undoubtedly exists there are few households where cross-breeding is not in evidence.

In stature the Indian is small, which I take to be a result of depression due to his forest environment; but the body is well-balanced and upright. Among the tribes I visited the Andoke as a speaking-group were, so far as I could observe, the largest in build and the tallest. The Okaina may possibly come into the same scale. The Karahone represent the mean, while the Maku are invariably small, a low class and badly-fed people. The average measurements of the tribes are best gathered from the types tabulated. I made the average height to be for men 5 feet 6 inches; and for women 4 feet 10 inches.[417] I certainly remember one case of a man among the Andoke nearly 6 feet high, but can recall no other. The women were never much over the average of the female type. I give my measurements for what they are worth, but unfortunately I did not know the correct way in which they should have been taken; they were made with a centimetre rule, but not on the correct anthropometrical principles. The Indians stood against the side of the house to be measured, and I registered their height by the simple process of placing the ruler on the head and measuring its distance from the ground.[418]

The bone of the Indian’s skull is thick, and both dolichocephalic and brachycephalic types are in evidence.[419]

The Indian does not run to fat, rather is he inclined to be thin, but strong, muscular and healthy, with rounded outline and finely-developed chest. The Witoto, however, though broad and strong, fail in the limbs, their legs especially lack development. On this point my observations tally with Robuchon’s notes. The Tukana have a magnificent physique. The Andoke, though some are tall, with large frames, as a group incline more to breadth of both face and figure. The tribes of the Tikie are of a low grade.

The Indians as a rule, have hands of an average size, with stumpy fingers, and short, spatulate nails. Constant manual labour of some sort would seem to keep the nails naturally of a normal length. I never remember seeing an Indian pare his nails, but fear this is a point that may have escaped my observation. The men’s arms are frequently distorted, and the shoulders gain an artificial breadth by the use of ligatures to swell the muscles of the upper arm by means of constriction.

The natural symmetry of the Indian’s person is further enhanced by slight hips, flat buttocks. The abdomen seldom protrudes though the navel is prominent, but not to the same extent as is found among negroes.

The men generally have large feet,[420] with long toes. Both men and women have very prehensile toes, and will pick up objects off the ground with their feet rather than trouble to stoop. They are flat-footed.

The Indian does not extend his legs when he walks, as Europeans do. He moves rather with the action of an unathletic woman. His step is on an average about two-thirds of an ordinary man’s thirty-inch pace. The foot is of necessity raised well above the ground, on account of the lianas which would trip the slovenly walker. This does not make for rapid progression. But though he walks more slowly than the white man, the Indian can keep up a jog-trot of about five miles an hour for tremendous distances. Moreover his wind is far better than any white man’s. At a push, to get away from hostile neighbours for example, he is capable of going sixty miles a day. In ordinary circumstances he walks nowhere, except about the house and compounds. Consequently he has developed a different set of muscles from the ordinary pedestrian.

As the Boro are more harassed than the Witoto they march as a rule in silence, while the Witoto are noisy generally; but a march in country that might prove hostile is done in silence by every tribe for obvious reasons. In friendly country the Indians go along chattering and joking, or in silence, just as the spirit moves them: there is no rule. The necessity for walking in single file, and the invariable difficulties of the route, do not, however, altogether encourage conversation. These restricted paths have a further influence upon the Indian. Often enough it is necessary to place one foot directly in front of the other in order to find any footway at all. This is the probable reason, or one of the reasons, why the men walk with a straight foot, a specially needed precaution on the narrow bridges, that are merely formed of single trees. The women walk in rather a stilted fashion, with the toes turned inwards at an angle of some thirty degrees, on account of the tight ligatures they wear below the knee and above the ankle, which cause the calf to swell to enormous proportions, as has been noted. This may not inconceivably have a contracting effect in the angle of the foot. It is regarded as a sign of power if the muscles of the thighs are made to come in contact with each other when walking.

That the men run and jump well is due to their good wind, but they have no pace, and could easily be outstripped over a limited course by an average white man in good condition. But the women neither run nor jump with any facility, as they all suffer from varicose veins, caused by the ligatures to some extent, but also by the burdens they carry, and from labouring in the fields when in a condition unsuited to such physical exertion. As weights are carried on the back suspended by a strap across the forehead, the tendency to stoop or grow round-shouldered is counteracted, for the pull of the strap brings the head back, and the strain is taken by the muscles of the neck.[421] Water is always carried in vessels balanced on the head, and though the Amazonian Indian may not have the superb carriage of her sisters in the East, yet the young girls at least are very well set up, though with advancing age a lifetime of field work and burden-bearing may bow the elder women till they walk, as described by Robuchon, “in an inclined position.”

The Indian woman has generally a beautiful figure, well proportioned and supple, with high, straight shoulders. Untrammelled by dress she is graceful and free in her actions. Before marriage the women have very small breasts, but after they have borne a child the breasts develop considerably. Old women, probably on account of poorer nourishment, are very flat-chested, and one never sees a woman with very pendent breasts. In the older women they atrophy.[422]

There is great individuality in the faces of the Amazonian Indians. A tribe is no herd of sheep, differentiated only to the experienced eye of the shepherd; the dissimilarities of countenance are immediately apparent, and even to the most casual observer Indians show marked variety of face and colour and feature. Like all savages the Indians admire most the lightest coloured skins. The divergence of colour is both tribal and racial; and as a rule it will be found that the higher the type the better the physical development, and the greater the mental capacity, the lighter will be the skin. On account of the saturation of the atmosphere the Indians mostly have skins of a good texture. I never found rough skins on Indians in these districts.[423] Of all the tribes the Menimehe have the lightest complexions, and they are invariably fatter and in better condition than the surrounding tribal groups.

I have mentioned the custom of covering a new-born infant with rubber milk either for warmth or to protect the skin; the women daub themselves with gum and a yellow clay because it is supposed to preserve the skin; but none of these peoples use any oil for lubricating purposes, and they are free from any noxious-smelling secretion. The smell of a negro they consider most offensive, but do not extend this dislike to the white man. The Indian owes his immunity from this unpleasant trait in part because he does not perspire at all freely, perhaps to difference of glandular secretion, and in part to frequent ablutions. Yet, though even a dirty people like the Witoto will bathe at least three times a day and most tribes far more often, these Indians, as has already been noted, are by no means free of body parasites. Head lice may be said to be universal, and in addition jiggers and the red tick that drops off leaves in the forest and burrows under the human skin, there is another burrowing parasite that invades the human body to lay its eggs, which is extremely common among these people. One is apt to be infested with these pests merely from touching an Indian, certainly by lying in an Indian hammock. The parasite causes considerable irritation, and the local remedy is to apply babasco juice.

Except in the case of a medicine-man, who never depilates, hair is looked upon as dirt; therefore it is always removed, only the hair of the head being permitted to grow. Depilation is usually done just before a dance. The method of removal adopted is to cover the hirsute parts with rubber latex. This is allowed to dry, so that a grip can be obtained and the hair removed simply with the forefinger and thumb or by means of two small pieces of cane. Two persons will, as far as facial hairs are concerned, depilate one another. It is universally considered a sign of cleanliness to remove all the body hairs, and even to pull out the eyebrows and eyelashes.[424] That the eyebrows are not removed for æsthetic purposes is proved by the fact that the effect is promptly reproduced with paint. It is not easy to get information with regard to the removal of body hair,[425] but I was able to obtain a little from a Karahone slave boy who was with an Andoke tribe I met. He told me that the Karahone did not depilate the hair of the face. This is the one exception among these tribes.

On the authority of Schomburgh, im Thurn states that occasionally when there is great demonstration of grief at a burial “the survivors crop their hair.” So far as my experience went none of the Indians of the Upper Amazons ever “crop” the hair close, except that of young girls when danger threatens. Should there be any reason to suppose that some man is inclined to steal a girl, her hair might be closely cut as a preventive measure to save the child from being kidnapped, for a hairless woman is looked upon as a social outcast among the tribes. The young Indians have long hair that often reaches to below the small of the back, but this length does not continue, and it is a varying quantity among the adults.

The hair is uniformly scattered over the scalp, and is coarse in texture, lank, and very abundant. Baldness is unknown, and greyness, as with the negroes, is very rare. I have only seen grey hair on a few people of apparently unusual age. In colour it is almost uniformly black, a red- not a blue-black, which gives it an occasional brown glint. Some of the children are lighter-haired, but such a variation as red hair is unknown, though in the sunlight the women’s hair may take a reddish gleam. Both women and children have finer hair than the men, and with young children it is often quite downy. As a rule it is straight, but among the Tukana wavy hair is more evident.

Among the greater part of these peoples the hair is not cut, either by the men or women. The Karahone men cut their hair to the shoulders; the Boro women, and in some cases the men, trim theirs round very much as is often seen among our small girls. Sometimes the Witoto women trim their lank locks. This is done with a knife if they have one, otherwise it is singed. With the Menimehe and Karahone it grows very low on the forehead. The Tikie tribes have most untidy and ill-kept hair.

Owing to race--possibly of Mongoloid origin--and to the prevalence of depilatory customs, the men have scanty beards, if any.

On the whole these Indians hold their own in the matter of good looks, even the lowest types are not repulsive in appearance. I mean, of course, to the eye of the stranger, not according to their individual standard of beauty. In feature both the various language-groups and the tribes of each group show many grades. It may be taken as usual that with a lighter skin the nose and lips are thinner than among those with darker colouring. The Boro and the Resigero, both comparatively light-skinned groups, have thin lips. This naturally follows from what I have already said as to colour and type, the higher type possessing, as would be expected, the more refined features. The Boro, taken as a group, are the best looking, many of them are very handsome, and some of the Andoke also are notably well favoured in appearance. “Noble” is Koch-Grünberg’s decision on the question of the Tukana tribesmen’s appearance. The Okaina, also, must be classed as good looking.

It seems somewhat of a contradiction after this to remark that a squint is so common a trait among these tribes that one cannot but notice immediately any one with normal eyes. This is, however, with the exception of the Tukana, very prevalent among all these tribes. The eyes are not large, and are deeply set. They are black in colour with occasional yellowness of the eyeball, but never to the degree seen in the bilious eye of the negro. Both eyesight and hearing are very acute. In the bush, or in the dark, the tribesmen have most penetrating sight, and can distinguish details at a glance where the ordinary white man can see nothing of any description. In the sun, or any strong light, their sight is inferior.

It is difficult to judge what an Indian’s ears would be like if left to Nature’s fashioning, as they are invariably distorted to more or less degree by artificial means. They are frequently prominent, and do not appear to be set close to the head in any case. The large ear-plugs will pull the lobe of the ear half-way down the neck and more. Nose-boring is not carried to so disfiguring an extent. The Boro, especially the women of those tribes, bore the wing of the nose--a custom peculiar to this people--as well as the septum, which is also bored by Muenane and Witoto women, but the nose pins are small, and do not distort the feature as the ear-plugs do the ear. The Tukana’s nose has naturally large alæ. The tribes on the Tikie also have broad noses, with prominent cheek-bones, a characteristic noted by Wallace among the Kuretu.[426]

The Indian’s chin is narrow, small, rounded, and, especially in the case of the women, retreating. There is no dimple or cleft. The teeth are big and even, and very rarely found projecting.

The Indian’s expression is stolid enough ordinarily, but when talking he has much play of feature, and he will gesticulate freely under the influence of coca. Among the tribes to the south of the Japura a man will look a stranger straight in the face, but north of that river the native has a more furtive glance. The Indian’s gaze is intense.

They are never demonstrative of affection, and, though they will touch a white man as a salutation, never touch each other. By this I mean that when friendlily disposed an Indian would return a white man’s salute, the offer of the hand, but no Indian would grasp a fellow-tribesman’s hand, or put an arm around his neck. Kissing is unknown among these people. Crevaux records that he saw children among the Calina kiss to show affection, but the nearest approach to an embrace I ever witnessed was a slap on the shoulder, probably under the shoulder-blade, which is the salutation between great friends. Mothers of course fondle their children, and I have even seen a woman with her arm round her husband, but such an exhibition is considered barely decent. Neither do they exhibit grief by weeping. The girl children cry occasionally, but no child ever screams; and adults may whine but never shed tears.

As regards brain-power, the Boro group are the most intelligent, with the possible exception of the Menimehe. I invariably found the Boro exceedingly anxious to learn from me anything they judged might be of utility to themselves. They evinced a definitely intelligent interest, not to be confounded with the ordinary curiosity of the untaught. Among all these peoples the power of mental development ceases after they have attained puberty.

One limitation that is to be noticed with all of them is their inability to grasp any chronological data. They have nothing in the way of a tally of any description, and in speaking use the vaguest expressions only for reckoning. It is my opinion, based on observation of the number of generations still living at any one time, that these people live to an advanced age. They grow elderly at from twenty-five to thirty years, and may, under favourable conditions, live another half-century or more. This is borne out by the fact that I found occasionally a man with grey hair--a sign in all coloured peoples, and I believe in Mongoloid peoples, of great age. But no Indian can give any information as to his own age, or the age of his children. For him age is non est, time of little value. He cannot tell you when he came to the neighbourhood in which you find him, though obviously only a year or two may have been passed there. His day is regulated to some extent by the rising and the setting of the sun, portioned only by its height in the heavens. If but occasion serve, one or other of the warriors, drunk with coca, will talk the whole night through, excitedly recounting some folk-tale, or endlessly boasting his feats in the hunt or on the war-path. The interruption is not resented by his comrades, nor does it seem to interfere with their slumber. Indians, in fact, never appear to sleep much, or rather they sleep little and often, as chance offers. Night is no more the time of repose than day, except in so far as darkness puts a stop to certain of their avocations. When sleeping on the ground an Indian curls up on one side with his knees to his chin, or he sleeps on his stomach, seldom lying on the back.[427]

Though, as has been noted, they sleep with no wrap or covering, these Indians are most sensitive to climatic changes. They are decidedly susceptible to a difference of locality, and, more than this, in a land where the extreme contrast of temperature is no more than twenty degrees throughout the year, with an average of half that total, they are affected by even slight variations of temperature. They fear the cold of the early morning, and, accustomed as they are to the half-lights of the forest, they dislike sunshine, and prefer to keep in the shade, fearful of sun-sickness if exposed to the sun.

It has been suggested by some travellers that the curious habit of the Indians of inducing sickness every morning by means of a feather was based on the idea that any food which was retained in the stomach all night must be unwholesome and ought to be removed immediately.[428] I have often seen the Indians do this, but always put it down to a desire to rid the stomach of the non-absorbent constituents of the coca powder, as only the men, who alone may take coca, resort to this practice. The Indian in the early morning drinks an infusion of herbs, as I have already mentioned, which induces the removal of such substances by vomiting, although not taken primarily for this purpose.

Sickness is also secured with the fingers after a prohibitive quantity of cahuana has been drunk, as afore noted, during a big dance. Having imbibed to his utmost capacity, the Indian adopts this simple expedient to enable him to drink again.

The tribes of the upper Amazons are, comparatively with others, very cleanly. But it is only comparatively. The Boro are the cleanest, and the Witoto unquestionably the most dirty. Immediately on rising all Indians resort to the river, but except among the Boro and the Resigeros, who rub themselves with sand, the performance can hardly be called washing, it is simply bathing. The Nonuya and Muenane are cleanly, like the Resigero. Even the Andoke, though they use no sand, are cleaner than the Witoto, for this tribe never wash, and only take a dip two or three times a day, while at least five times is the ordinary rule with the majority.[429]

The first duty of the morning is a visit, as has been said, to the bathing-place. Thither troop the old and the young, both male and female, to wash and revive in the water. They do not attempt to rub their bodies dry, but are content to let the moisture evaporate when they emerge from the stream. When on a march or out hunting Indians will always bathe in any water available on the route. They go in streaming with perspiration, but seem to suffer no ill-effects. Bates has described them as “taking merely a sitz-bath” like a dog,[430] but they seemed to me to bathe as any ordinary person would who went into the water to get cool.

After returning from war the Indians bathe scrupulously before they re-enter the house. It is in the nature of a ceremonial washing, and possibly is a subconscious act of purification, though the Indians, when asked the reason, told me only that it was _pia_, our custom. In fact lustration with the Indian is too frequent an action to keep any ceremonial significance it may ever have had.

It follows as a matter of course with people so familiar with water that one and all are expert swimmers. The Indian of the Amazons invariably swims as naturally as he walks, and with as little tuition. From the hour of his birth he has been conversant with the river, and in a climate where the temperature of the water varies but little from 75° to 80° or more, he regards a dip as his chief solace. He never passes a stream without taking advantage of its proximity to bathe, and the fact that he may have recently fed, or that he is perspiring freely, does not hinder him from a plunge, and makes no difference to his enjoyment.

In swimming the Indian paddles like a dog, and does not attempt to attain to anything approaching the breast-stroke of the European, nor does he extend the legs widely. He flexes the legs sharply upon the trunk, and, suddenly stretching them in a straight line, drives the body forward. The stroke is not a tiring one, and the native is capable of undergoing long immersion without suffering exhaustion, but the speed he can acquire is not remarkable. For that matter there are no reasons why the Indian should desire to make rapid progression. Swimming to him is an adjunct to bathing, or a means to cross a stream; its finer developments trouble him not at all. In the muddy rivers of the Amazons there is nothing to tempt the native to dive, nor are there suitable places to jump off the banks. The Indian slips in as best suits the occasion, and does not aspire to exhibition feats, or to water games.

When bathing the Indian is exposed to a certain element of danger from fish that inflict varying degrees of injury. There is the stinging eel, and skate of some sort and another stinging fish,[431] the caneiro, and the piranha. Electric fish are less common in the upper rivers than in the main streams, and I never noticed one Indian of the Issa-Japura tribes take any special precaution against them, though elsewhere the natives will beat and prod the water with rods before they bathe, to discover, if possible, whether any eels are lurking in the vicinity. The caneiro’s method of attack is by suction, not shock. They are very plentiful in all these rivers, and their power of suction is most extraordinary. I am not likely to forget the first time I made acquaintance with one of these voracious little fish. It suddenly attacked, or rather attached itself with its sucker-like mouth, to the inner side of my leg. The sensation was most alarming. I made with all possible speed to land. The caneiro certainly sucks up the flesh rapidly and painfully, but I am doubtful if it really “tears off pieces of the skin and flesh,” as it is said to do.[432] The piranha, though quite a small fish,[433] is even more ferocious. It will attack anything, and is said to be capable of reducing a large animal to a skeleton in the space of a few minutes. There is a story, repeated elsewhere, that one very small fish is actually a human parasite. The Indians aver that it will enter the body of a man when bathing. Orton mentions this fish, which according to him is “a slender silurid fish (_Vandellia_)” but remarks that he never met “with one confirmatory case.”[434] Neither did I. But I found that all Indians take precautions against it when bathing.

APPENDIX II

MONGOLOID ORIGIN

On the vexed question of original Asiatic extraction what little evidence I have to offer is in general support of the theory that some at least of the ancestral stock probably found their way hither from Asia, or--what is more in accordance with the laws of migration as so far ascertained--spread from the American to the Asiatic continent. There is undeniably a marked prevalence of what are recognised as Mongoloid traits among these peoples. I fully accept Ratzel’s dictum, “We may hold firmly to the relationship of the Americans with the East Oceanic branch of the Mongoloid race.”[435] To quote another writer, “As Burton remarks, this strain demonstrates itself in big round Calmuck skulls, flat faces, with broad, prominent cheek-bones, oblique oriental eyes, rather brown than black. They have also dark thick eyebrows, and thin moustaches fringing large mouths, with pointed teeth and sparse beards hardly covering the long pointed chin.”[436] The truth of this description can be judged from the illustrations in this volume. The most casual observer must notice the prevalence of Mongoloid facial characteristics prevalent among the South American Indians, such as obliquity of eye, prominent cheek-bones, broad flat nose. My own observations led me to conclude that the Mongoloid type was very pronounced in individual cases, so much so that I estimated at least one per cent to be of a pure Chinese type, and my common name for them (_vide_ my note on secrecy of individual names, p. 154) was Chin-Chin. I would refer to such illustrations as that facing p. 254 in the second volume of Spruce’s _Notes of a Naturalist_. (See again Spruce, i. 328; Orton, p. 170, for references to prevalent obliquity of eye.) On the other hand, Bates remarks of the Tupuyo that “their eyes are black and seldom oblique like those of the Tartar races” (Bates, i. 78); and Wallace remarks, “I never could discern an unusual obliquity of the eyes” (Wallace, p. 332). I cannot agree with this statement. The latter, however, noted the prominent cheek-bone among the Curetu (p. 354); and Orton refers to it and to the flat nose (Orton, p. 170).

Further characteristics in common among Mongoloid peoples and these tribes are the customs of shaving or depilating facial hair, and a prolonged period of suckling the young (_vide_ Westermarck, p. 484).

APPENDIX III

DEPILATION

All tribes south of the Japura remove hair, except that on the head.

Tukana depilate body hair.

Tuyuha men depilate armpits, not pudenda: women depilate pudenda.

Kuretu--all depilate.

Purakato, according to Koch-Grünberg, do not depilate.

Karahone are said not to depilate. This (see text) is debatable. I believe that they pluck out the hair of the chin and whiskers, but leave eyebrows and moustache.

Bara--women only depilate.

Menimehe--all depilate, but the women are not so careful about it as the Boro.

Boro--all depilate.

Witoto--men more careless, women depilate.

Tuhana, according to Koch-Grünberg, do not depilate.

Okaina--all depilate.

Resigero--all depilate.

Muenane--all depilate.

These tribes have no body hair, except pubic hair, which is very scanty. The Indian women are most particular about the removal of all pubic hair. The men are less careful, though it is supposed to be done, but as that part of their bodies is never voluntarily exposed they are more heedless than the women.

APPENDIX IV

COLOUR ANALYSIS AND MEASUREMENTS

COLOUR

(_Vide_ Colour Curve. Tintometer.)

1. Menimehe--lightest. 2. Resigero. 3. Okaina. 4. Boro. 5. Nonuya. 6. Andoke. 7. Karahone. 8. Muenane. 9. Witoto.

Robuchon gives the colours of the Witotos as brown-copper colour, varying between twenty-nine and thirty of the chromatic scale of the Anthropologicas of Paris.

COLOUR ANALYSIS

_Unexposed Part--Armpit_

+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ | Substance | Matching Standards. Colour developed. | | examined. +------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+ | | Red. | Yellow. | Blue. | Black. | Orange. | Red. | +---------------+------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+ | Witoto } | | | | | | | | Muenane } | | | | | | | | Karahone } | 3.6 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 1.6 | .2 | .8 | | Andoke } | | | | | | | | Nonuya } | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Boro } | | | | | | | | Okaina } | | | | | | | | Resigero } | 3.3 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 1.5 | .2 | .6 | | Menimehe } | | | | | | | +---------------+------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+

Mean average attempted by means of colour markings and identified according to Lovibond’s tintometer scale.

There was practically no tribal differentiation of pigmentation in the units of these groups, as far as the unexposed part of the body is concerned. This is understandable. The palm of the nigger’s hand differs little from his white brother’s.

COLOUR ANALYSIS

_Exposed Part--Back_

+---------------+-----------------------------------------------------+ | Substance | Matching Standards. Colour developed. | | examined. +------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+ | | Red. | Yellow. | Blue. | Black. | Orange. | Red. | +---------------+------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+ |9. Witoto } | | | | | | | |8. Muenane } | 10.6 | 9.2 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 3.0 | 1.4 | | | | | | | | | |7. Karahone } | | | | | | | |6. Andoke } | 8.7 | 7.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 1.2 | | | | | | | | | |5. Nonuya | 8.0 | 7.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | | |4. Boro } | | | | | | | |3. Okaina } | 4.9 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.9 | .5 | |2. Resigero } | | | | | | Yellow. | | | | | | | | | |1. Menimehe | 3.4 | 4.1 | .7 | .7 | 2.7 | .7[437]| +---------------+------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+

There is here more differentiation. The tribes numbered 1-9 are in order of shade, from the lightest according to personal observation. This is borne out by data except the grouping which was not so apparent to the eye.

Apparently in one tribe only is red non-existent, free yellow taking the place--No. 1 (_vide_ curve).

_Note._--It will be seen at a glance that differentiation is caused by increased “sadness” or excess of black, and by the amount of free red. These are the two governing factors. Orange is constant throughout.

_N.B._--There is extraordinary variation amongst individuals of the same tribe, as well as amongst tribes of the same language-group and language-groups themselves.

HUIS’ MEASUREMENTS OF SAMPLES OF WOMEN’S HAIR

No. 1. Maturity.

No. 2. Ante-pubertal.

_Note._--The lighter tips of latter which become eliminated after puberty, _i.e._ elimination of _orange_.

+--------------+------+---------+--------------+--------+---------+ | | Red. | Yellow. | Blue. Black. | Green. | Yellow. | +--------------+------+---------+--------------+--------+---------+ | No. 1 | 19.5 | 31.0 | 28.0 = 19.5 | 8.5 | 3.0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Orange.| | | No. 2 | 18.5 | 26.0 | 17.0 = 17.0 | 1.5 | 7.5 | | | | | | | | | Light tips } | | | | Green. | | | Dark ends } | 19 | 26.0 | 25.0 = 19.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 | +--------------+------+---------+--------------+--------+---------+

_Descriptive Characters_

_Eye._--1. Dark, _i.e._ black-brown iris. _Note._--Outer angles of eyes visibly elevated; deep-set; eyeball thick; covers the caruncle; outer angle slightly compressed and pointed.

_Hair._--_Colours_--1. Black, _not coal_ black. 2. Children’s hair is some shade lighter than adults’, but still “black.”

_Form of Face._--1. Face inclined to be square and wedge-shaped. 2. Inclined to concavity. 3. Compare photographs. 4. Chinese, Fig. 6, but not so pronounced. (_N.B._--There is great variation.) 5. Chin small, round, retreating. 6. Cheek-bones broad. Face flat (inclination to, _vide_ photographs). 7. Medium lips--great variation. 8. Ears medium-sized--flat. 9. Lobes sometimes attached.

MEASUREMENTS OF TYPES[438] IN CENTIMETRES

+-------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | | Head--Round. | Head--Across. | | Tribe. +-----------------+-----------------+ | | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | +-------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | 1. Resigero | 56 | 53 | 14 | 14 | | 2. Nonuya | 56 | 51 | 16 | 14 | | 3. Boro | 56 | 52 | 18 | 15 | | 4. Andoke | 57 | 53 | 17 | 16 | | 5. Witoto | 54 | -- | 15 | -- | +-------------+-----------------+-----------------+

+-------------+-------------------+------------------+ | | Head-Length. | Neck. | | +---------+---------+--------+---------+ | Tribe. | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | +-------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+ | 1. Resigero | 20 | 18 | Short | Short | | 2. Nonuya | 21.5 | 19 | Long | Short | | 3. Boro | 24 | 20 | Short | Long | | 4. Andoke | 22 | 19 | Medium | Short | | 5. Witoto | 21 | -- | Short | -- | +-------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+

+-------------+-----------------------+---------------+ | Tribe. | Nose. | Height. | | +-----------+-----------+-------+-------+ | | Male. | Female. | Male. |Female.| +-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+-------+ | 1. Resigero | Straight | Broad, | 160 | 138 | | | | bridged | | | | 2. Nonuya | Aquiline | Flat | 168 | 149 | | 3. Boro | Depressed | Depressed | 162 | 146 | | 4. Andoke | Aquiline | Depressed | 171 | 146 | | 5. Witoto | Flat | -- | 164 | -- | +-------------+-----------+-----------+-------+-------+

+-------------+---------------+---------------+ | Tribe. | Chest--Round. | Waist. | | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ | | Male. |Female.| Male. |Female.| +-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 1. Resigero | 85 | 75 | 73 | 71 | | 2. Nonuya | 87 | 79 | 73 | 75 | | 3. Boro | 88 | 75 | 77 | 65 | | 4. Andoke | 89 | 82 | 76 | 76 | | 5. Witoto | 90 | -- | 77 | -- | +-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

+-------------+---------------+------------------------+ | Tribe. | Hips--Round. |Tip Shoulder-Tip Elbow. | | +-------+-------+------------+-----------+ | | Male. |Female.| Male. | Female. | +-------------+-------+-------+------------+-----------+ | 1. Resigero | 82 | 79 | 35 | 28 | | 2. Nonuya | 83 | 88 | 35 | 32 | | 3. Boro | 87 | 81 | 34 | 30 | | 4. Andoke | 90 | 87 | 38 | 33 | | 5. Witoto | 84 | -- | 36 | -- | +-------------+-------+-------+------------+-----------+

+------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+ | Tribe. |Elbow to Top Middle Finger.|Eminence Buttock to Tip| | | | Flexed Knee.[439] | | +-------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+ | | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | +------------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+ | 1. Resiger | 45 | 39 | 52 | 44 | | 2. Nonuya | 47 | 41 | 53 | 48 | | 3. Boro | 46 | 42 | 47 | 45 | | 4. Andoke | 48 | 40 | 53 | 48 | | 5. Witoto | 44 | -- | 52 | -- | +------------+-------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+

+-------------+-----------------------------+------------------------+ | Tribe. |Crutch to Tip of Flexed Knee.|Eminence Knee to Ground.| | +---------------+-------------+-------------+----------+ | | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | +-------------+---------------+-------------+-------------+----------+ | 1. Resigero | 37 | 28 | 51 | 44 | | 2. Nonuya | 40 | 31 | 53 | 45 | | 3. Boro | 36 | 32 | 51 | 45 | | 4. Andoke | 41 | 33 | 55 | 44 | | 5. Witoto | 38 | -- | 52 | -- | +-------------+---------------+-------------+-------------+----------+

+--------------+---------------------------+--------------------------+ | |Length from Centre Nipples | | | | to Navel. | Navel to Crutch. | | Tribe. +-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+ | | Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. | +--------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+ | 1. Resigero | 23 | 24 | 19 | 19 | | 2. Nonuya | 25 | 22 | 24 | 20 | | 3. Boro | 21 | 22 | 20 | 20 | | 4. Andoke | 25 | 25 | 24 | 23 | | 5. Witoto | 26 | 22 | -- | -- | +--------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+

ESSENTIAL MEASUREMENTS

_Two Cases, Women, Witoto_

Centimetres.

1.} Head {Maximum length 17.3 18.15 2.} {Maximum breadth 13.85 13.9 3.} Nose{Length from base to root 4.3 4.0 4.} {Breadth across nostrils 3.0 3.0 5.} {From vertex to root of nose 9.2 10.0 6.} Projection { ” ” mouth 16.0 14.2 7.} of head { ” ” chin 19.0 17.4 8.} { ” ” tragus of ear 10.7 12.0 9. Bizygomalic breadth of face 12.75 12.0 9. Face length from nasim to chin 10.2 9.3 10. Length of upper limb 60.0[440] 11. ” cubit 38.0 12. ” hand along its back 15.0 13. ” foot 23.0 14. Sitting height 72.0 15. Kneeling height 103.75 16. Standing height 139.5 17. (Obvious) height to chin 120.5 18. Height to sternal notch 117.0 19. Height from internal malleolus to ground 6.4 20. Span of arms 140.5

EXTRA NOTES ON TWO WOMEN, WITOTO (chosen types)

No. 1. Very short neck; short sternum; straight shoulders. When standing at ease the middle finger of hand is half-way between flexion of knee and hip-joint. Thighs short.

No. 2. Neck short; shoulders straight; good teeth--very large and even.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF TWO INDIAN WOMEN FOR EVOLVING A TYPE. BOTH WITOTO-SPEAKING

No. 1. Woman full grown. No. 2. Still growing, of pubertal age. According to _Schedule_, pp. 11, Anatomical Observation.

_External Characters._--General condition well nourished--healthy. No. 1. Stout. No. 2. Medium.

_Descriptive Characters._

A. Colour of skin. No. 1. Exposed part light reddish-brown. No. 2. Unexposed part--very much lighter, and tintometer curve, etc.

B. Colour of eyes. Black. No. 1. Dark-brown iris. No. 2. Black iris.

C. Fold of skin at inner angle of eyes. No. 1. } Covering the caruncle. No. 2 }

D. Colour of hair. No. 1. } Black, brown in sunlight, No. 2. } _i.e._ brown-black.

E. Character of hair (_vide_ Section of Hair). No. 1. } Straight and coarse (horse hair but finer). No. 2. }

F. Amount of hair. No. 1. Body very very scanty, depilation not recent. No. 2. Face _nil_. Body _nil_.

G. Shape of face. No. 1. Short. Broad. No. 2. Pyramidal. Wedge-shaped.

H. Profile of nose. No. 1. Chinese type. No. 2. Chinese type, but not so pronounced, between this and European.

I. Prognathism. No. 1. Slight. No. 2. Very slight.

J. Lips. No. 1. Medium--slightly everted. No. 2. Medium European type.

K. No. 1. } Platyoprosopic _not_ excessive. No. 2. }

APPENDIX V

ARTICLES NOTED BY WALLACE AS IN USE AMONG THE UAUPES INDIANS THAT ARE FOUND WITH THE ISSA-JAPURA TRIBES

_Household Furniture and Utensils_

Hammocks. Baskets, flat and deep. Calabashes and gourds. Earthenware water-pots. Earthenware cooking-pots. Manioc graters. Manioc squeezers. Wicker sieves.

_Weapons_

Bows and arrows. Quivers. Blow-pipes. Small pots and calabashes for poison. Spears. Nets. Rods, lines, and palm-spine hooks. Wicker fish-traps.

_Musical Instruments_

Fifes and flutes of reeds--Menimehe and Napo tribes.

_Dress and Ornaments_

Feather head-dress. Palm-wood combs. Necklaces of seeds, beads, and teeth. Wooden ear-plugs. Armlets. Painted aprons. Rattles and ornaments for legs. Knitted garters. Calabashes of red pigment. Painted earthen pot for _caapi_. Small pot of dried peppers. Dancing rattles. Balls of string. Baskets for edible ants. Small dug-out canoe. Paddles. Pestles and mortars. _Bombax_ silk-cotton for arrows. Stone axes.

APPENDIX VI

NAMES OF DEITIES

Many writers have stated that the Indians of the Upper Amazon forests have no words in their languages to express a Supreme Being. (See, for example, Bates, i. 162; Wallace, p. 354; Nery, p. 273; Orton, p. 316; Bates, ii. 137, 162-3; Markham.) It therefore seemed to me worth while to make the following list of words expressive of some idea of a superior, non-human being, good or bad.

APPENDIX VII

VOCABULARIES AND LISTS OF NAMES

_Note re Pronunciation._--Vowels as in Italian and consonants as in English. The system adopted by the Anthropological and Geographical Societies has been followed.

SOME WITOTO TRIBES OF THE ISSA-JAPURA WATERSHED

Achopego. Aifuya. Aiguya. Aigwene. Aimene. Aiyofo. Amenane. Angarofo. Aniliene. Arama. Aronia.

Baienise.

Chaigero. Chepeye. Choria.

Dedinuia. Diguene.

Eguidafo. Eifuya. Eikifo. Emerai. Emuidifo. Enao. Enenea. Enifofo Enokaise. Erai. Erifo.

Fainya. Feyagene. Fitia. Foetano. Fueragero. Futekwene.

Gidone. Gimene. Guidua. Gwamareya

Hane. Hedua. Hegero. Hemui. Heone. Heya. Hifikuine. Hikoniai. Himene. Himua. Hipunya. Hitamene. Homaguya. Huieku. Hui-Hui. Hurae. Husinene.

Iagero. Iane. Iconya. Ifekwene. Ipunya. Isikifo. Itomangero. Iyane.

Kaiduya. Kaio. Kaniane. Kaniene. Kitopeise. Kokoya. Kotuene. Kotwine. Kuito. Kumaiere.

Machifuri. Megiya. Menia. Merekweine. Mereta. Mikagwe. Minwa. Mofuinista. Mokine. Monane. Monanisei. Monanuise. Monawike. Muidofege. Muititefa. Muitofeiche.

Naikwene. Naimene. Naiuiene. Nefesa. Nemuigaro. Nigwerene. Nimaita. Nofuinista. Nirafo. Nomene. Nomuene. Nongone. Nonuya. Nufuidai. Nufuya. Nuisai. Nuiuene.

Owapirei. Owapure.

Pofaito. Pueneisa. Puinaise. Puineita. Puruia.

Raikene. Riai. Rochegero. Ruiraga.

Sebua. Seguene. Sigwene. Sikibia. Sikitaise.

Taigwene. Taikebua. Tiase. Torifa.

Uane. Uchopego. Uekanise. Uguine. Uiguene. Uhiya. Urafo. Urama. Utiguene.

Yaaniani.

SOME TRIBES OF THE OKAINA GROUP

Aniokasa. Dukaiya. Ekanocha. Enoya. Fatite. Harabahanako. Konega. Movanio. Netarako. Nimone. Ofofo. Pikaha. Tokoia. Tonhanoija. Zohonoija.

SOME BORO TRIBES OF THE ISSA-JAPURA WATERSHED

Atehl.

Bachiwame. Bakiehe. Bakohe.

Chemaio. Chenome. Chibame.

Dossamehe.

Ibamahe. Ikepake. Imene. Inege. Itiage. Ivamehe.

Kontadura. Kugwamihe. Kugweme.

Megwae. Megwamehe. Mememue. Metakwe.

Nabeme. Nevahe. Nonuya. Nuremehe.

Oha. Okaina.

Paheime. Pei. Pirehamuena.

Teiere. Tichibamuene.

Ugwame. Uhemehe. Uratefo. Uwame.

Wanahe. Warime. Warine. Warume. Wawako.

WITOTO CHIEFS AND MEDICINE-MEN

Aikikwe. Ainenatofe. Amenatofe. Amuiyena.

Bogana.

Diehi. Diomao.

Eavama. Echu. Efuyaima. Etokwenami.

Fenamena. Forina.

Hename. Henatoba. Hifaro. Hirevaina. Huguraitoma Husinachire.

Itomakuto.

Kaimarigero. Kutina. Kutofirima. Kwegado. Kwegare.

Magui. Maiji. Maiu. Mayi. Meinyitofo. Monagara.

Naimekwe.

Okaima. Okainama.

Puinanyete. Puinayeni. Puineima.

Riaduema.

Sekwana. Sotaro. Suneirokwe.

Tifecheamena.

Wamue.

NAMES OF BORO CHIEFS AND MEDICINE-MEN

Adiama. Adiwako. Agepa. Akteume. Ativa. Ativatahe.

Bugwaheio.

Chevetahgwe. Chiako. Chikaho.

Darapade. Dekio. Dihidihe.

Ekeniba. Evahihaia. Evahikie.

Gwanebe.

Ibaje. Ibapakama. Imenepa. Inateraka.

Kadokuri. Katinere. Kivape.

Magapamena. Matremiko. Mewago. Mucheochime. Muchichigwako.

Nehevaio. Nevamarime. Nevame. Nipemeiwako. Nivagwa. Nivahna.

Poachiiba.

Rimetagwa.

Tchitchitaga. Teripa. Tikaame. Tirakagwako. Tirakawako.

Uvatipa.

Wadikova.

WITOTO

Darkness (devil) _Apuehana_ Fire _Ireiki_ God _Usiyamoi_ Moon _Fuibui_ Sky _Mona_ Sun _Itoma_ Water _Heinowei_

Hunger _Ameniti_, _naimede_ Laugh _Sateide_, _seteide_ Metal _Okkupe_ Paper (book) _Kwerape_ (literally my leaves) Paper (leaves) _Rape_ Paper, a speaking leaf _Kwede_, _hweyarape_ Powder (dust) _Himuisa_ Sleep _Inude_, _unyude_, _kwinyakate_ Sleep, dream _Inie_

Bush, the _Aisikumo_ Cliff _Ifere_ Compound _Gicheipwere_ Palm jungle _Amena_ Plantation _Akafo_ River _Imane_ River, a large _Ichue_ Road _Io_ Stream _Hurete_ Streamlet _Ichemo_

Alligator pear _Nomedo_ Coca _Hibia_ Cocoa _Museje_ Fruit (general) _Rie_ Grape fruit _Hurekoi_ Gum (rubber milk) _Hittie_ Leaves _Rape_ Maize _Bechado_ Mango palm _Himeki_ Mango palm drink _Hayabei_, _hagapui_ Manioc (poisonous) _Maika_ Palm _Amena_ Palm _Himepile_, _hitiji_ Palm drink (pjnayo) _Himepwi_ Palm-spines _Edo_ Pepper _Ifigo_ Pineapple _Rosiji_ Plantain _Ogoda_ Plum _Nemawsi_ Rubber _Isire_ Rubber latex _Hittagei_ Sugar-cane _Kananoganei_, _kononga_ Sugar-cane juice _Kananogan’heinowei_, _kononochiki_ Tobacco _Deui_ Tree _Inya_ Trees, felled _Amena_ Tree poles _Neda_ Withe _Vineihi_

Bird (small generally) _Siji_ Bird (small unknown species) _Iguyitoi_ Bird, cock _Eitaba_ Birds (small game) _Ataba_ Birds, chickens _Ataba hissa_ Capybara _Okeina_ Curassoa _Eifoke_ Deer (one species) _Kito_ Deer (generally) _Chaota_ Eggs (generally) _Herga_ Eggs (one kind) _Ataba hige_ Fish (general) _Jukua_ Jaguar _Hekko_ Monkey (general) _Homa_ Monkey (one species) _Hemwi_ Monkey, small _Hidobe_ Parrot _Kwiyoto_ Parrot (another kind) _Kweko_, _Uiyike_ Pig _Mero_ Pig, small _Emo_ Spider _Humakinyo_ Tapir _Zuruma_ Tiger, dog, etc. _Hekko_ Turkey _Muitoka_, _muito_ Turkey (another kind) _Egwe_ Turkey Buzzard _Eifoke_

Boy _Toii_ Girl _Rinyosa_ Lad _Hivisa_ Man _Rema_ Man, old _Weikiroma-superoma_ Man, strong _Reima_ Men, white (Europeans) _Riei_, _riama_ People _Komweine_ Stranger _Oikommo_ Stranger, an enemy _Ikagmake_ Stranger, a friend _Cheinama_ Woman _Rinyo_ Woman, old _Weirinyo-irokwe_

Brother-- Man speaking _Ama_ Woman speaking _Tio_ Brother-in-law _Oima_ Child _Hito_ Father _Moma_ Grandfather _Marama_ Grandmother _Einyoko_ Husband _Une_ Mother _Einyo_ Nephew-- Brother’s child _Enasai_ Sister’s child _Komona_ Niece-- Brother’s child _Enasanyo_ Sister’s child _Momonio_ Sister-- Man speaking _Mirinyo_ Woman speaking _Epunyo_ Sister-in-law _Ofanyo_ Uncle-- Father’s brother _Iso_ Mother’s brother _Vichama_ Wife _Ei_

Anus _Sirafo_ Arm _Onawji_ Fore-arm _Onefai_ Belly _Ero_ Blood _Dueidi_ Body _Namaseapwi_ Bowels _Hepe_ Clitoris _Hito_ Ears _Efo_ Eyes _Uise_ Face _Uyeko_ Feet _Elba_, _epa_ Finger _Onoko_ Flesh _Jukua_ Hair _Ifoterai_ Hair (body) _Heinektere (!)_, _heineitere_ Hair (face) _Eimago_ Hair (pubic) _Hueke_ Hand _Ono_ Head _Ifo_ Heart _Komeke_ Limbs _Rueisi_, _reesi_ Mouth _Fue_ Nails _Onokobi_, _onopeko_ Nails (toe) _Ekobe_ Navel _Modda_ Neck _Kimo_ Nose _Dofo_ Penis _Hechina_ Pudenda _Jana_ Semen _Uke_ Skull _Ifoku_ Teeth _Isido_, _isife_ Testicles _Hinyergo_ Tongue _Hufe_ Urine _Poji_ Vagina _Berirafo_

Ague _Fuibuiko_ Diarrhœa _Nuimuisa_, _Jui_, _chui_ Illness _Duide_, _tuike_ Small-pox _Guiyoko_, _tutuko_

Bark cloth _Vinei_ Beads _Sirie_ Breech cloth _Mokoto_, _makuto iroi_, _hinoi-giroi_ Clothes (general) _Uiniroi_ Cord (belt) _Kirige_ Feather head ornaments _Eniago_ Necklace, dance _Chikai_ Necklace of seeds _Imaidu_ Necklace, of teeth _Efoke_ Slippers, boots _Epa iko_ Socks _Epa iko_ (see Feet and Cap) White man’s cap _Ifoigiko_, _ifoiko_, _iko_ White man’s shirt _Kaifofero_

Baking-pan _Sipe_ Cassava _Tano_ Firewood _Rege_ Hammock _Kunei_ House _Hofo_ House, large _Ejo hofo_ Hut _Hiochupe_ Light (artificial) _Maha_ Lighted torch _Maha_ Mat _Duriei_ Pot _Inogo_, _ichuki_ Thatch _Ereije_ Tobacco-pot _Kuruke_ Torch _Rekekawdo_, _rekeketo_, _recheki_

Axe _Chovema_ Blow-pipe _Obidiake_ Fish-hook _Fakawasi_ Knife _Chovefa_, _chovetera_ Drum _Hugwe_ Drum mallet _Quaki_ Pan pipes _Piabami_ Sword _Chovega_ Trap, animal _Iregi_ Weapons, stones, shot _Chowefi_, _jowefi_, _chowefei_ Signal-drum _Ware_

Afternoon _Nawipe_ Morning _Wiremoni_ Morning, early _Monanyeno_ Night _Nagona_ Night, last _Nago_, _hahe nago_ Night before last _Beinawife_ To-day _Beiruido_ To-morrow _Wiremonei_ (see Morning) To-morrow, day after _Dawire_ Twilight _Naruide_, _nagona-yakate_ Yesterday _Nawire_ Yesterday, day before _Beinawire_

All _Nana_ Before _Fuere_ Before (position) _Uikota_ Before (long time) _Heiyei_ Behind _Moina_ Behind (position) _Moina_ Enough _Asirete_ Farther _Beife_ For _Mero_ Full, carefully, good measure _Einue_ Full _Moniteidi_, _monite_ Here _Benomo_ How many? _Nigama?_ How much? _Niga?_ Much _Eijo_ Much, enough _Monome_ Nobody _Buna_ Now _Monokoi_ Only _Dama_ Then, afterwards _Achue_ There _Batinomo_ This _Pie_ Together _Fofona (?)_ Well? _Mei?_ What? _Nifote?_ Where? _Ninomo?_ Who? _Bu?_ Why? _Nibaji_, _nibeiji?_

No _Damaita_ Not _Inyete_ Yes _Huhh_, _U_ (ventral)

I _Kwe_ Thou _O_ He, she, him _Afima_ We _Koko_ You _Omei_ They, them _Afimaki_

Bad _Figonigete_ Big _Eijue_ Bitter _Neimenete_ Black _Ituide_ Cold _Rosirete_ Cool _Maneide_ Dark _Hitirite_ Dead _Teide_ Deeper _Nane efarite_ Dry _Daherede_ Good _Figora_ Hard _Agarrite_ Heavy _Merete_ Hot _Usirete_ Light (sun) _Hite_ Light (weight) _Fekote_ Long _Are_ Red _Larede_ Short _Hiannare_ Small, little _Yewrete_ Soft _Itieide_ Straight _Huchinyete_ Strong _Agarrite_ Thick _Herie_ Thin _Henite_ Twisted _Huchite_ Well (in health) _Gagritte_ White _Userede_

Early, soon _Ono_ Slowly _Puiya_ Soon _Reiri_

To bathe _Noise_ To bring _Ate_ To carry _Ui_ To come down _Anabi_ To come up _Kifobi_ To cool _Rosirete_ To cry _Ede_ To dry _Nokitenyete_, _nohipuinyete_ To eat _Oko_, _gunyo_ To go down _Anahei_ To go quickly _Reiri maka_ To go up _Kifohei_ To hear, listen, understand _Kekate_ To heat _Usirete_ To hurt _Isirete_ To like, love, desire (persons) _Dwere-uite_ To like, love, desire (things) _Oyakate_ To know _Onote_ To make _Nenyo_, _fuiho_ To rain _Nokitede_, _nokipuite_ To sit down _Anarana_ To sleep _Mei-ine_ To speak _Naitode_ To stay _Fuipire_ To take _Gweipi_ To urinate _Chowei_, _pochite_ To wait _Anafue_ To wash _Hokoa_ To work _Biefono_

I am _Iti kwe_ Thou art _Iti-o_ He is _Afima ite_ We are _Iti koko_ You are _Iti omoi_ They are _Afimaki ite_

I was _Kwe ia_ Thou wert _Ia o_ He was _Afima ia_ We were _Koko ia_ You were _Ia omoi_ They were _Afimaki ia_

One _Dahe_ Two _Mena_ Three _Dahe-amene_ Four _Menahere_ Five _Dapekwiro_ Ten _Nagapekwiro_

Ask me _Kwemohikka_ Give me _Kweme_ Give me food _Eka_ A few days ago _Tika irue_ It is dark _Nawite_

It is going to rain { _Teyakate_ { _Puiyakate_

What tribe do you belong to? { _O Komweine?_ { _O Memeka bu?_

Move along! { _Hei!_ { _Ifo!_

Come! _Bi!_

It is very far { _Hikka Ite_ { _Hikka Are_

It is near _Hiannare_ It is very near _Hikka-iannare_ It is very much farther _Hikka-fe_ Be quick _Reiri_

Be slow { _Pwia hei_ { _Pwia ifo_

You do not want me _Kwena dueruenyeteo_ I am about to punish you _O feitakkwe_ What do you want? _Nifote oyakateo_ How much do you want? _Niga oyakateo_ I want to see _Eroi yakatekwe_ I want to eat _Okoyakatekwe_ I want to sleep _Iniyakatekwe_ I do not want to sleep _Iniyakanyetekwe_ Let us sleep _Meikoko ini_ Let us walk _Manyakoko maketchi_ Let us bathe _Manya koko noi_ Go and wash _Hokorise_ What are you doing? _Nefoteo nia?_ What are they doing? _Nefoteo nietimeke?_ What have you done? _Nefoteo nieteo?_ What have you others done? _Nefoteo omoi nieteo?_ Are you sick? { _O seicha?_ { _Tuiko teiteo?_ What is the matter with you? _Neisoi o icha?_ What pains you? _O nino isiritte?_ He is dead _Ei e teide_ He is well again _Ei e hichoet_ Put water to boil _Heinoi kokoita_ We are nearly there _Duki-eikateki_ We have not arrived _Duki nieteke_ It is a long way yet _Nia areiti_ It is a very long way _Nia are are are_ It is very short _Wei iannare_ Put on more wood _Nane rege honne_ Fill it full _Nue oruita_ Be careful not to break it _Chitesai_ Remove the leaves _Rape honne_ Open it carefully _Nue ekonotta_ Cook only manioc and plantains _Dama seteo meika ogoto_ Eat the skins _Igore ine_ Take some crushed maize _Pechato tuta hisano ui_ How many women are there? _Niga rinyona hisa ite?_ From what cause has your brother died? _Nipeiche tio teide?_ Why did you leave the child outside? It will be eaten by the dogs _Nipeiche hito hino o fuaka ia daria_ Go soon and guard the women _Mei rieri rinyona hofona ipeise_ Do not do it again _Mene amanyete omoi_ An unmoral Indian woman _Rinyo Rei-irage_ An immoral Indian woman _Rinyo Kachirete_ With whom have you been having intercourse? _Bu tika beriteo?_ How many husbands have you had? _Nigama bettora-o?_ Are you (a virgin) married? _Nia rutanyega-o?_ Who ravished you? _Bu-o rutaka?_ You are blind (a fool) _O ui nirite_ Do not delay _Fwepi neri_ Give me something _Feka_ Do not give anything _Fekanyete_ Walk _Mekkate_ Do not walk _Mekanyete_ I do not understand _Kehanyete_ That’s my business (common expression without intention of rudeness) _Pia_ My body aches _Kwe apui isirete_ Let me go _Kwe-mosueta_ Hold me _Kwe-mojeno_ Turn round _Jireno_ Do not move _Weihoi_ Why do you shout? _Nipeiche kicheteyo?_ It is big _Ei ichwe_ It is small { _Hurete_ { _Eichonyete_ It is not good _Fogonyete_ Do you like it? _Kimmarueteo?_ Do you not like it? _Kimmaruenyeteo?_ You are pretty _Nuen otego_ You are ugly _Nuenonyeteo_ You are dirty _Oapwi gagrette_ I want you _Ona dueruetckwe_ I do not want you _Ona dueruenetckwe_ Tie well (the cross poles) _Nue kwina_ Tie higher _Keifofe kwina_ Take care not to break _Titeise_ Well done, you thatch well _Mei omoi ita_ Is everything clean? _Nana ganino fuinore?_ That is dirty, I shall punish you _Vie gagrette a kioiteo o feitikwe_ It is very sweet _Eicho nimerettega_ I do not like it hot _Usirete ittinyetekwe_ I like it warm _Chiei maneide ittitekwe_ Look well in front of you _Nue oroi_ The plantation is a good one _Nue akafo icha_ The plantation is a bad one _Akafo fogonyete_ Let us go and build a house _Manya ofo koko fuinoche_ There are not sufficient palisades _Nia amena nana inyete_ All of you bring timber _Omoi amena atiche_ You make the thatches _Are niite omoi_ These boys will bring canes _Bie hettanitino are gweichi_ These others will bring palm leaves _Bimeke ererite_ Those will make holes _Bimeichino iffweirakte_ I do not want it there _Batinomo ittinyetekwe_ Open it here _Benomo ekkono_ Send me the small boy _Urettema kwemo hito_ Go and throw away that water _Mei ba i heinoi dota_ Wash it well _Nue hokorii_ Do not delay _Are enyeno bi_ You are dirty _Nia gagrette_ Put it there _Batinomo honne_ Put it here _Benomo honne_ Put it yonder _One honne_ Do not put it over there _Batinomo honne nieno_ Why are you sad? _Nipeiche sure iteo?_ Who hurt you? _Bu o faga?_ When did you come? _Nirueteo viteo?_ When did you go? _Nirueteo heito?_ It is so firm I cannot move it _Are agagrette ekkononyette_ Bring the wood _Itofie nue omoi ire_ Do not throw them away _Oni tinyeno nue ofitare_ I am going to see _A chimitekwe_ If you do not bring them, I shall punish you _Omoi pweya fachiomoi_ Plant them carefully _Nue omoi haire_ Go and clean up _Mei omoi reitiseiri_ Place all the sticks together _Reitekinyo nue omoi ofitare_ You have left the plantation untidy _Akkafo gagritte omoi fueka_ Why don’t you bring it? _Nipeiche atinyeta omoi?_ Make enough cassava _Eichwe tano fuinore_ Let it be good _Nuere finoiche_ Bring a little _Yewre atitomoi_ Not enough _Dutenyete_ It is soft _Itieide_ What are you doing? _Nifote niecomoi?_ What are you eating? _Nifote okoteomoi?_ Where are they--the rest of you? _Ninomo iteomoi?_ Why have they (the others) gone without telling me? _Nipeiche kwe jonyeno heite omoi?_ Bring it to the light _Useritenomo ate_ To-morrow go and see the tribe and then return here together _Weirimoni dama komweine hoke teiteo nana fofona orerire_ Split it with the knife _Chovefa do ekkono_ Take out the cane early _Monanyano kononwe ono_ It is rich _Kei maritte_ Wash the pot well before boiling water in it _I chiko nue hoko heinowei hoku-itechi_ Do not put much fruit in it _Eicho rie dotenyino_ It is very inconvenient _Y otirette_ I am unable { _Kwe mona_ { _Hitinyete_ I shall carry it _Diuitikwe_ Do not carry it _Uinyetekwe_ I am tired _Aeeiontekwe_ You are going to carry manioc _Meika omoi ui_

BORO

Brother _Tanyabe_ Chief _Abihibya_ Chief’s wife _Abihilya_ Child _Chemene_ Father _Iero_ Fellow-tribesman _Miamuina_ Husband _Tahe_ Liar _Aliraje_ Man _Gwapime_ Medicine-man _Chekobe_ Mother _Gwaro_ People _Akime_ Sister _Tanyali_ Sluggard _Ubeye_ Son _Chukije_ Wife _Tapa_ Woman _Gwame_

Abdomen _Mebigwa_ Arm _Menejeko_ Back _Meatche_ Belly _Epae_ Blood _Tibune_ Body _Kepe_ Bone _Pukene_ Bosom _Neghpane_ Buttocks _Medehe_ Cheek _Mekwa_ Ear _Menimeo_ Eye _Ajike_ Finger _Utsigwako_, _mechiko_ Flesh _Iyame_ Foot _Tia_ Hair _Nikwako_ Hand _Meuche_ Head _Nikwa_ Heart _Meebe_ Knee _Mimoko_ Leg _Take_ Mouth _Mehe_ Navel _Icheba_ Neck _Metchke_ Nose _Metiko_ Penis _Nomeo_ Testicles _Domiba_ Thigh _Kibaje_ Tongue _Menigwa_ Tooth _Igwahe_ Vagina _Elyapo_, _diugwa_

Ague _Chinabe_ Prickly heat _Nikemoi_ Smallpox _Maraipa_ Tick _Chichihe_ Wound _Pepene_

Dance _Machiba_ Falsehood _Achipe_ Fear _Apichune_ Grief _Abiyene_ Ill _Chemei_ Remedy (in general) _Tabota_ Smell _Tukine_ Truth _Imiane_

Agouti _Bute_ Anaconda _Bua_ Ant-eater _Ehe_ Armadillo _Tie_ Bird _Karaha_ Capybara _Uba_ Deer _Nibigwa_ Fish _Amome_ Flea _Ikookwa_ Frog _Nihagwa_ Hawk _Ane_ Head-louse _Knawni_ Jigger-flea _Mipahe_ Land crab _Nekwalige_ Monkey _Kemuime_ Mosquito _Nee_ Paca _Tahe_ Parrot _Yabe_ Pig _Mene_ Tapir _Ukahe_ Tiger, wild dog _Wipe_ Tucan _Neiche_ Turkey-buzzard _Pikahe_ Wild turkey _Imiko_

Cane _Imuepa_ Cassava _Mao_ Cassava (cake) _Topohe_ Coca _Ipe_ Fruit _Kome_ Grain _Tsokome_ Guarana fruit _Inye_ Guava _Tuche_ Gum _Makhine_ Leaf (letter) _Gwahake-ane_ Lemon _Teheba_ Maize _Ihio_ Manioc (flour) _Chobéma_ Manioc (Poisonous) _Pika_ Manioc (Sweet) _Baheri_ Millet _Matsaka_ Palm needle _Aneto_ Peppers _Dio_ Pine-apple _Kitsea_ Plantain _Uhiko_ Plantation _Emiye_ Stinging-herb _Ate_ Twig _Katine_ Withe _Ahéba_, _mo_ Yam _Kate_

Basket _Minyeba_ Baulks of timber _Imei_ Comb _Pidogwa_ Cooking pot _Iguanye_ Door _Cheugwa_ Drinking gourd _Jirijo_ Firewood _Kuba_ Grater _Chilye_ Hammock _Gwapa_ House _Ha-a_ Manioc squeezer _Buahe_ Mirror _Mekeme_ Oil _Diripa_ Platter _Patahe_ Salt _Kanama_ Small timber _Igwa_ Soap _Nishtie_, _tagwa_ Spoon _Daihigwa_ Tobacco _Banye_ Tobacco stick-match _Kugwao_ Torch _Diripa_ Water jar _Ijo_

Arrow _Beremehe_ Arrow-poison _Bakua_ Boat, canoe _Kihikwame_ Blowpipe _Dodike_ Dance rattle _Tekie_ Fish-net _Tsene_ Gun _Anihe_ Head feathers _Aboka_ Knife, sword _Nitsikwa_ Mallet _Imepachura_ Paddle _Bodugwa_ Rope (vegetable cable) _Igwanye_ Signalling drum _Kimwe_ Sword _Pitoho_ Whip _Gwachike_

Beads _Ichkabe_ Clothes _Kwaiame_ (loin-cloth) Garment _Kameha_ Head ornament _Gwatako_ Loin-cloth _Ike_, _pakehe_, _kwaiame_ Man’s bracelet _Manyame_ Metal _Tsitsi_

Bush, the _Bahe_ Dawn _Tsitsibeko_ Death _Tsihibeko_ Devil _Navena_ Dust _Anijio_ Fire _Kihigwa_ God _Neva_ Good Spirit _Neva_ Gunpowder _Anijio_ Morning _Neva_ Night _Beko_ Plantation _Emie_ Rain _Nihava_ Shadow _Nave_ Star _Mikirigwa_ Stream _Te-e_ Sun _Neva_ Thunder _Tsitsi_ Water _Nepakio_

Now _Ikuka_ To-morrow _Pekore_ Yesterday _Aiupe_

Yes _Eh_ No _Cha_

To call attention of a man _Mupe!_ To call attention of a woman _Muije!_

All _Bemere_ Enough, much _Lirane_ Other _Chipe_ Same _Tedere_

Slowly _Tsikene_ Quickly _Chukure_

Far _Chiejene_ Far away _Kamine_ Here _Iji_ Near _Perine_ There _Eji_ What _Itsebane_, _ina_ When _Mukoka_ Where _Kia_ Why _Ivekie_

Angry _Kaiyupa_ Bad _Nemine_, _imitine_ Black _Kiribebe_ Cold _Tsigore_ Good _Imine_ High _Kame_ Higher _Kame-kame_ Lazy _Urenere_ Little _Neku_ Long, big _Kameme_ Low _Paa_ Lower _Paa-paa_ Old _Kieme_ Purple _Chepanye_ Small _Chuchine_ Strong _Kupene_ Thin _Arenegwe_ Warm _Kogore_ White _Alijimuinya_ Young _Balyika_

I } Me } We } _O_ Us, Mine } Ours } You } Yours } _Di_ My _Ta_

One _Tsanere_, _tsape_ Two _Mieke_ Three _Tsape-mieke_ Four _Mieke-mieke_ Five _Sause_ One-half _Tiamie_

To advance _Ikeyi_ To bathe _Maboigete_ To beat flat _Kihigwa_ To bind, sew _Tsiko_ To break wind _Nepo_ To bring _Tsate_ To call _Pibwa_ To catch hold _Dekeba_ To come _Dichabe_ To crush _Megwasako_ To cut, shorten _Gwatairo_ To drink _Mado_ To eat _Macho_ To go _Opeko_ To go away _Gwadipe_ To hang _Nehigwa_ To make, do _Mene_ To move _Chinye_ To open _Paiyeke_ To rain _Nihaba_ To rest _Paribe_ To run away _Imiba_ To scratch _Medonakons_ To search _Neku_ To see _Aktime_ To speak _Dibaje_ To strike _Kaboko_ To throw _Wago_ To tie _Chichi_ To wait _Ubi_ To wash _Nitie_ To work _Wakimei_

Where are you going? _Kia bwipe ite?_ Where do you come from? { _Kia-te itse?_ { _Minekwe?_ Do not go away _Tsa petine_ Stand still _Tachure_ Sit down _Takebe_ Bring here _Chibahe_ Let us go _Mahu Mepei_ Leave me alone _Ubiédere_ Give me _Okedake_ Where (is it?) _Kia_ Whose (is this?) _Mu_ There is none _Tsa ikatine_ I do not know { _Ureta_ { _Tsa quaha Kétine_ How many? _Muitemeko?_ What is the matter? } _Ina ichabie?_ What is hurting you? } What are you called? _Muipa dimene?_ Are you willing? _Imeje?_ Cover it up _Gwatako_ Hold your tongue _Kéktere_ It is well _Imine_ Good-bye _Opeko_

APPENDIX VIII

_Oikommo_ is within the _hofo_,[451] With our tribe there is _Oikommo_, And whence cometh _Oikommo_, And from where does he come? He comes from the clouds, From the clouds he comes; And why does he come so far? And why does he come? In his land are no bread and few women In his land is no bread; And what is the name of the stranger, And what is his name? His name is Whiffena _Ri-e-i_,[452] His name is Whiff-en-a, And partly his name is Itoma,[453] Itoma is also his name; And what is he called by his man friends. And what is his other name? His privy name is _Ei-fo-ke_,[454] _Ei-fo-ke_ is his privy name;[455] And why is he called _Ei-fo-ke_?

FOOTNOTES

[1] My arrival in England was postponed to some months later through an attack of beriberi.

[2] It was unknown to me till afterwards that Dr. Koch-Grünberg of Berlin had, in 1904, ascended the Uaupes to, I believe, 71° west longitude.

[3] A rifle, where possessed, is never used against an animal but kept for use against the white man.

[4] Turtle eggs are, curiously enough, not considered fœtal.

[5] For my share I had the honour to receive, through the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the thanks of the French Government.

[6] Steamers have been on the Amazon since 1853, and navigation is continuous throughout the year (cf. _Brazilian Year-Book_).

[7] I never saw the Andes actually from these districts, but the suggestion is always there, they are seen in the mind’s eye; an ultimate, if invisible, limit to what would otherwise seem more than illimitable.

[8] Wallace, p. 246.

[9] Spruce, ii. 379-380.

[10] Robuchon’s estimate of distances is 471 geographical miles from Iquitos to the mouth of the Issa; thence to the Cotuhe, which he places at 2° 53′ 12″ S. and 69° 41′ 10″ W., 150 geographical miles. From the Cotuhe to the Igara Parana, 252 miles, a total distance of 873 geographical miles from Iquitos to the Igara Parana.

[11] Robuchon gives latitude 1° 43′ 9″ S., longitude 71° 53′ 36″ W.

[12] Spruce, i. 7, ii. 100.

[13] September to January is the hottest portion of the year, the heat being at its worst in December. 90° would be extreme heat, and 70° the lowest the mercury would probably reach; the average being from 75° to 85°. Robuchon is responsible for the statement that the temperature at the mouth of the Cotuhe in September was 43° Cent. in the shade, but that after a brisk shower it fell to 31°. The water of the Amazon has a temperature of 81°; the Japura is a warmer river and reaches 85°. Wallace gives the mean temperature of the Rio Negro water in September--that is, during the hot season--as 86°, and the corresponding temperature of the air as from 76° to 92.5°. The water, he considers, is probably never less than 80° at any time. The temperature of the Uaupes has been noted as invariably 76° at three to six feet below the surface (_Geo. Journ._, 1910, p. 683).

[14] The Amazon at its mouth is 158 miles across from bank to bank.

[15] This I take to be the _Yacitara_ mentioned by Spruce, i. 30.

[16] Wallace noted a butterfly frequenting “the dung of some carnivorous animal” in Malacca, and remarks that many tropical butterflies suck liquid from muddy places, “and are generally so intent upon their meal that they can be easily approached and captured” (Wallace, _The Malay Archipelago_, pp. 29, 114).

[17] Spruce, ii. 366.

[18] Bates, ii. 262.

[19] Spruce, i. 49.

[20] One tree is reputed to be so poisonous that no Indian will touch it. See Maw, p. 294.

[21] These tribal houses differ from the communal long-houses of the Fly Delta, British New Guinea, not only in shape, but in that there are no platforms and no divisions for each family; the whole interior is open. For description of Kiwai and Daudai long-houses see _Expedition to Torres Straits_, iv. 112-117.

[22] _Maloka_ = Indian lodge or tribal house (lingoa-geral).

[23] _Manicaria saccifera_ (cf. Spruce, i. 56).

[24] Eugene André noted that two kinds were commonly used on the Causa, the _mulato_, a kind of _Aroideae_, and the _murcielago_, which belongs to the _Bignoniaceae_ family.

[25] Several kinds of palm-leaves are used for this purpose, and whichever was most easily procurable in the district where the house was built would be used by the tribe. Hardenburg mentions the leaves of the _Phytelephas macrocarpa_, the vegetable ivory-tree, as in use among the Witoto, and the _Bactris ciliata_ or Chonta palm for the posts and rafters (p. 135). The leaves of the Bussu palm, _Manicaria saccifera_, will make a thatch that lasts for ten or twelve years, by some accounts (cf. Waterton, p. 479).

[26] Wallace, p. 341.

[27] This is architecturally interesting in view of Foucart’s theory of the evolution of the Egyptian grooved stone pillar from wooden originals, bundles of reeds.

[28] Simson mentions such a “door,” p. 237.

[29] Wallace, p. 341.

[30] Among the Jivaro one partitioned half of the house is kept for the women (Orton, p. 171). There is no such distinction among the Issa-Japura tribes.

[31] Cf. Wallace, p. 354.

[32] Crevaux has described the process. He watched an Indian “qui fait du feu en roulant vivement un roseau dans une cavité creusée dans une tige de roncon” (_Voyage dans l’Amérique du sud_, p. 214). Wallace mentions this method among the Kuretu, _op. cit._ 355.

[33] If a jigger is removed at once with a needle it will not hurt, and scarcely makes a puncture.

[34] Vampires in this country are few and far between, but Simson mentions them as a plague at Agnano (Simson, p. 131).

[35] Bates, i. 246. For the taming of a full-grown _Coita_ see p. 247. Another pet mentioned by Bates, a “strange kind of wood-cricket,” is also unknown to me as a pet, and though I have often heard loud-voiced insects of the cricket class they have never been in captivity (cf. Bates, i. 250).

[36] Cf. Martius, _P.R.G.S._ ii. 192.

[37] See Appendix.

[38] Deniker, p. 552.

[39] Marriage by capture was a Carib custom (Westermarck, p. 383). It is unknown nowadays to the tribes south of the Japura.

[40] Partial couvade is found also among tribes in the north of America, that is to say, certain things are tabu to the father after the child’s birth. Cf. Dorsey, _Siouan Cults_, p. 511; Venegas, i. 94; Tylor, pp. 294-7.

[41] im Thurn, p. 173. Joyce locates the original Caribs on the upper Xingu, from whence, he considers, they spread over Guiana and the lesser Antilles (_South American Archæology_, p. 256). Rodway, on the authority of Spanish chronicled Arawak information, suggests they were the original inhabitants of the north-west coast, migrant from Mexico (_Guiana_, pp. 41, 45).

[42] _Ibid._ pp. 171-2.

[43] Crevaux, _Fleuves de l’Amérique du Sud, Yapura_, F. 5 et 7.

[44] Crevaux, _Vocabulaire français-roucouyenne_.

[45] Koch-Grünberg, _Journal de la Société des Américainistes de Paris_, tome iii. No. 2 (1906).

[46] Koch-Grünberg, _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, xxxviii, 189.

[47] It must be remembered that I came to all these people from the Witoto country.

[48] Crevaux, _Voyages dans l’Amérique du Sud_, p. 368.

[49] Martius, _Beiträge_, ii. 340.

[50] The Inca were called _Orejones_ by the Spaniards on account of the large studs they wore in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110; Ratzel, ii. 172.

[51] Simson, p. 210.

[52] Koch-Grünberg, _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, xxxviii. 188 (1906).

[53] Cd. 6266, pp. 9, 10, 12, 25, 26.

[54] Rice, p. 690.

[55] Wallace, p. 354.

[56] See Appendix.

[57] Hardenburg, _Man_, p. 134.

[58] This combination is of so exceptional a character that it is hardly to be recognised as a definite trait of organisation, and it follows that though such exceptional cases may point to a possible past unity of clans as a tribe, these clans are now practically small tribes, being incapable of combining for common action. The expressions language-group, tribe, and tribesman are therefore more correct than tribe, clan, and clansman would be.

[59] Cf. im Thurn, p. 185.

[60] This is exactly the reverse of the matrilocal customs related by Sir Everard im Thurn.

[61] Or their artists and publishers.

[62] “The natives are ashamed, as they say, to be clothed” (Humboldt, _Travels_, iii. 230; cf. also Wallace, p. 357). Clothes, in fact, are often donned by savages at periods of license only. See Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_, chap. ix.

[63] There are several trees in these forests that supply the needed fibrous bark. im Thurn suggests that the bark used is that of the _Lecythis ollaria_, but Spruce states that tauari is made from the bark of certain species of _Tecoma_ of the _Bignoniaceae_ order, and tururi, a thinner bark-cloth, from various figs and _Artocarps_. Naturally natives use the tree that is handiest when required (cf. im Thurn, pp. 194, 291; Spruce, i. 27).

[64] Dr. de Lacerda in his journal for July 22, 1798, describes just such a manufacture of bark-cloth carried on by the Muizas, who traded this with their neighbours the Maraves. See _Land of Carembe_, R.G.S., 1873, p. 71. Loin-cloths made from the bark of the _Artocarps_ are also found among the Semang of Kedah and other wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula. See Skeat and Blagden, i. 143-4, 157, 376, etc.

[65] A similar geographical progression has been noted among the women of British New Guinea. See Williamson, _The Mafulu_, p. 28.

[66] Sandals known as _alparagatas_, with soles of plaited aloe-fibre, are usually worn by travellers in the Amazons. These can be cleaned and washed in the same way. See also Simson, p. 83.

[67] Wallace, p. 351.

[68] Feather ruffs are worn by Napo Indians, but not by these tribes.

[69] im Thurn, p. 305.

[70] One feather head-dress in my possession is made with rough cotton yarn, obtained presumably by barter, for none of these tribes make cotton yarn themselves, and it is very rarely to be found among them. The feathers are bound into the hank with very fine fibre.

[71] _Oenocarpus distichus._

[72] Wallace, p. 351.

[73] According to Koch-Grünberg the Yahabana and other Kuretu-speaking tribes part the hair in the middle and plait it with bast. After bathing, the hair is dried, combed, and arranged with a bandage.

[74] Red was the favourite colour for a djibbeh. White ones were not much liked.

[75] This corresponds with the bead _tanga_ described by Wallace, but the Uaupes’ apron is “only about six inches square,” and these girdles or garlands are two feet long or more (Wallace, p. 343).

[76] Value, I believe, about ninepence exchange or less.

[77] So uncommon is it that I was under the impression that it was entirely unknown until I examined the necklace in question very carefully after my return to England. Certainly I never saw any of these tribes preparing cotton or making use of it in any way except in its natural state to tip their blow-pipe arrows. String or yarn of any sort, except the fibre thread, I always found to be absolutely unobtainable anywhere throughout these districts.

[78] Possibly one of the _Histeridae_ mentioned by Bates, i. 211.

[79] _Pace_ Maw, p. 226.

[80] Belts of apparently similar minute plaiting are worn by the Mafula of British New Guinea. These natives also wear armlets and leglets of the same material, but not tightened to swell the muscles. The thread these are made of is manufactured from vegetable fibre in the identical manner employed by the Issa-Japura Indians (Williams, _The Mafula of British New Guinea_, pp. 32, 53, 54).

[81] Compare illustration with pictures of ligatures in D. Rannie’s _My Adventures among South Sea Cannibals_, pp. 80, 170, 179.

[82] The Spaniards called the Inca _Orejones_ on account of the large studs worn by them in the lobes of their ears. See Joyce, p. 110.

[83] Wallace states that all the Indians “have a row of circular punctures along the arm” (Wallace, p. 345). These tribes have nothing of the sort.

[84] Wallace describes the mark as “three vertical blue lines on the chin” (Wallace, p. 345). This is not correct; _vide_ drawing.

[85] Crevaux, p. 264.

[86] The _Bixa Orellana_ (Spix and von Martius, p. 228).

[87] _Genifa americana_ (Spix and von Martius, p. 228).

[88] Hardenburg, p. 138.

[89] “Covering, if not used as a protection from the climate, owes its origin, at least in a great many cases, to the desire of men and women to make themselves mutually attractive” (Westermarck, p. 211). “Clothing was first adopted as a means of decoration rather than from motives of decency. The private parts were first adorned with the appendages that were afterwards used by a dawning sense of modesty to conceal them” (Johnston, _The River Congo_, p. 418).

[90] The result of this is that a traveller is forced to have women as well as men in his escort, or he would find that half the services required would not be rendered him. For instance, no male Indian will prepare food, neither will he wash clothes, nor clean the cooking vessels. This refers to the untouched districts, and must not be confused with the forced “willingness” of the Rubber Belts.

[91] A. R. Wallace, p. 349.

[92] E. B. Tylor notes that the savage is often skilled in map-making as a form of picture-writing (_op. cit._ p. 90), and quotes Prescott for the existence of maps in Peru before Europeans reached South America (Prescott, _Peru_, i. 116). Ancient maps or books like “rolled up palm leaves” (Ratzel, ii. 169).

[93] See Chap. XVIII.

[94] _Pudenda maioris statuae muliebris nigra, labia maiora rubra picta sunt; sed et in maiore et in minore statua vagina tam profunde perforata est ut transitum ab vulva ad uterum suggerere videatur. Scrotum statuae virilis nigrum, praeputium rubrum, pictum est; membrum autem ipsum, quamvis quiescens, erectum tamen est et sic ad abdomen parallelum._

[95] See Chap. XVII.

[96] Keane tells of the Mojos valley natives that so uncommon is stone in that district that if a man set out on a journey to the uplands where stone is procurable he would be asked to bring some back as a curiosity (Keane, p. 12). For some use of stone implements of the past still employed among present-day peoples, see Mitchell, _Past in the Present_, p. 12, etc.; Routledge, _With a Neolithic People_; Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 592-4, etc.; Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, i. 242, 296.

[97] Spruce mentions a white pitch obtained from _Icica_ trees, I never saw any white pitch. These Indians use only black.

[98] Some tribes near the Napo also use circular shields of tapir hide, p. 116.

[99] The use of the potter’s wheel was even unknown to the Incas (Joyce, p. 193).

[100] Crevaux, p. 193.

[101] The caraipé tree is, according to Spruce and Bentham, one of the _Licania_ genus of the _Chrysobalaneae_ order (Spruce, i. 13).

[102] Spruce, i. 14.

[103] The _Cerropia peltata_, according to Spix and Martius, p. 259.

[104] Tylor mentions the hammock as one of “the inventions which it seems possible to trace to their original districts,” and states that it has spread from South America and the West Indies “far and wide over the world, carrying with it its Haitian name, _hamac_” (_op. cit._ p. 175). It is interesting to note in this connection that a hammock is known as a _hamaka_ among the Yakuna; the Tariana call it _hamaka_ or _amaka_; and the Yavitero Indians call it _aimaiha_ (Koch-Grünberg, _Aruak-Sprachen Nordwestbrasiliens und der angrenzenden Gebiete_, p. 65). The Baré Indians call it _mi_; the Baniwa _bidzaha_ or _bisali_; the Siusi _pieta_ or _piete_; the Katapolitani change the _t_ to _d_ and have _pieda_; the Kurutana call it _makaitepa_; the Uarekena say _soalita_ (Koch-Grünberg, _op. cit._); while the Pioje call hammocks _jangre_ (Simson, p. 268). The Witoto word is _kinai_ and the Boro _gwapa_.

[105] Hamilton Rice gives the distances between the meshes as the space of thumb to little finger stretch for the Witoto, palm-length for the Karahone, four fingers for the Cubbeo (p. 700). I knew the spacing differed, but never heard that it was a tribal distinction.

[106] The palm employed is, according to Bates, an _Astrocaryum_ (Bates, ii. 209). Wallace and im Thurn mention the _Mauritia flexuosa_ (A. R. Wallace, p. 342; im Thurn, pp. 283, 290), which, according to Spruce, “seems confined to the submaritime region” (Spruce, i. 15). He gives _Bromelia karatas_, ii. 520. Spix and Martius give the Tucuma palm (_Astrocaryum vulgare_) and others of the same genus (Spix and Martius, p. 248).

[107] “A species of _Desmoncus_” (A. R. Wallace, p. 336).

[108] Women make both cassava-squeezers and graters. This may be a coincidence, as I have seen men making the mats for the doorways, usually women’s work.

[109] _Guilielmia speciosa._

[110] Spruce, ii. 447.

[111] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 668-9, and _Across Australia_.

[112] Any hard wood may be used, but cedar makes the best canoe. Hamilton Rice says _cachicama_ (Rice, p. 691). Spruce mentions “a heavy laurel, probably _Paraturi_,” used by the Tussari for making their _cascos_ (Spruce, i. 413). Bates mentions the _Itauba amarello_, “the yellow variety of the stone-wood” (Bates, ii. 117). But all trees will not do, for some will not open properly when they are fired (André, pp. 241-2).

[113] _Iriartea ventricosa._

[114] This is said to be the only kind of canoe used by the Auhishiri (cf. Simson, p. 199).

[115] Viz. the Maca, the Guaharibo, and the Guahibo (Spruce, i. 477).

[116] Wallace, p. 358.

[117] For example, the Zaparo (Simson, pp. 169, 295); the Uaupes Indians (Wallace, p. 349).

[118] Among other tribes this is not always the case. Manioc and banana cultivation with the Rucuyens is carried on by the men (Ratzel, ii. 128).

[119] There is a wild species on some of the rivers, but the Indians make no use of it (cf. Bates, i. 194).

[120] _Anauana sativa_ (Wallace, p. 336).

[121] Spruce, i. 180-81.

[122] Among the Issa-Japura tribes it is rather sustaining than stimulating, _i.e._ it is not fermented.

[123] _Theobroma_, the food of the gods (Spruce, i. 79).

[124] I would suggest that _manioc_ is the true name for the plant, _cassava_ for the “bread” made therefrom. _Mandiocca_ is only American-Spanish for manioc.

[125] Bates i. 194, n.

[126] Spruce, i. 215.

[127] _Capsicum frutescens_ (Spix and Martius, p. 259). _Artanthe eximia_ and other _Artanthe_ and _Peperomia_ (Spruce, ii. 283-4).

[128] For processes of growing and preparation, see Markham, pp. 148-9.

[129] _Erythroxylon coca_ and _E. cataractarum_ (Spruce, ii. 446-8).

[130] Cf. E. B. Tylor, p. 170.

[131] An illustration in Sir H. Johnston’s _Liberia_, ii. 406, shows a West African native climbing with only one ring and both arms and ankles free. Bates mentions an Indian climbing with only one ring used for the feet (Bates, ii. 196). The same method is to be found in Ceylon, among the Malays, etc. (cf. Skeat and Blagden, i. 51, 62, 85; Tennant, _Ceylon_, ii. 523; Partridge, _Cross River Natives_, p. 150, etc.).

[132] This is no uncommon thing among peoples of lower culture, but that it does not of necessity follow as a corollary to life in the bush is proved by some of the West African tribes who are most indifferent sportsmen. This is the case among sundry of the peoples of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, where a British official has before now had to train his shikari, if he hoped for successful sport.

[133] The blow-pipe, the _gravitana_ in lingoa-geral, is known as the _zarabatana_ among the Teffe tribes (Bates, ii. 236); the _bodoquera_ on the Napo. Koch-Grünberg gives the following names for it: _todike_, Imitritä Miranya; _uataha_, Yavitero; _uilipona_, Uarekena; _uapana_, Yukuna; _Mauipi_, Katapolitani; _mauipi_ or _moipi_, Siusi; _mauipi_ or _mauipi_, Tariana (_Aruak-Sprachen_, p. 73).

[134] A species of _Arundinaria_.

[135] _Bactus ciliata._

[136] The wood used is _paxiaba-i_, the _Iriartea setigera_ (Spruce, ii. 522). This small palm grows from ten to fifteen feet high, with a stem of an inch to two inches in diameter. When dry the soft inner pith is removed, and the bore polished with a bunch of tree-fern roots pulled up and down (Wallace, p. 147).

[137] _Jacitara_ (Bates, ii. 236).

[138] From the _arbol-del-lacre_ (Hardenburg, Man, p. 136); _Pao-de-lacre_, _Vismia guianensis_ (Spruce, ii. 522).

[139] _Bombax_ (Wallace, p. 147); _Eriodendron sp._ (_Sterculiaceae_), (Spruce, ii. 523; Bates, ii. 237).

[140] _Oenocarpus Batawa_ (Spruce, ii. 522).

[141] These blow-pipes appear to be similar to those still in use among the Orang Kuantan Malays, of which a specimen is to be seen in the British Museum. It is made of two grooved halves of a hard wood, bound with cane, and coated with “a gutta-like substance” (Skeat, _Man_, 1902, No. 108). This is, however, a shorter instrument than the Witoto or Boro use, the measurements given being only 5 feet 2 inches for total length, with an interior diameter of seven-sixteenths of an inch at the mouthpiece and three-eighths of an inch at the muzzle-end. The blow-pipe is found among all Malayan tribes. For distribution in the South Seas, cf. map in Skeat and Blagden’s _Pagan Tribes_, i. 254.

[142] Deniker states that the Miranha hunt “like the ancient Quechuas by means of nets stretched out between the trees, into which they drive, with cries and gestures, the terrified animals” (Deniker, p. 561). I have never seen or heard of such nets among them.

[143] Orton, pp. 169-70.

[144] Cf. method of poisoning adopted by natives of Torres Straits (_Torres Straits_, iv. 159).

[145] _Jacquinia armillaris._ According to Spix and Martius _babasco_ poison is made from the leaves and blossom of the _Budleya connata_ (Spix and von Martius, _Reise_, 1820, p. 98).

[146] Simson, p. 131.

[147] _Paullinia pinnata_ (_Sapindaceae_) (Spruce, ii. 523; Bates, ii. 82-3). Spruce also mentions _cunambi_, poison obtained from the roots of _Ichthyothera cunambi_ (Spruce, ii. 520); and Yuca-raton, the root of _Gliricidiae sp._ (Spruce, ii. 455).

[148] The frame is made of _timbo-titica_, _Heteropsis sp._ (Spruce, ii. 523).

[149] Such very hard wood is procurable, and so abundant is it that even tribes like the Botucudo, who could use shell, stone, or metal, use wood in preference, and many tribes prefer their lithic axes to metal ones. The inference is obvious--these peoples are not, and never have been, metal-using races, and poisoned wood suits sufficiently their purposes for arrow-heads.

[150] Oakenfull, p. 30.

[151] Compare with customs of the Mafulu in British New Guinea (Williamson, p. 179; _Fiji_, Thompson, p. 35).

[152] Clough, pp. 104-5; Wallace, p. 353.

[153] Partridge, _Cross River Natives_, p. 59; “Upper Congo Cannibals,” _J.R.A.I._, xxiv. pp. 298-9.

[154] For example, Maw, p. 160.

[155] Wallace, pp. 346-7.

[156] Ratzel, ii. 138-9; Orton, pp. 171-2.

[157] See British Museum, Cambridge Museum, Munich Museum.

[158] Bates, ii. 132.

[159] I was never present at a cannibal feast. This information is based on Robuchon’s account, checked by cross-questioning the Indians with whom I came in contact.

[160] Johnson, _Liberia_, ii. 898.

[161] On the other hand earth-eating is prevalent among the Torres Straits people, where salt is not rare. The pregnant woman eats it to make her infant light in colour and strong and brave (_Torres Straits Exped._, iv. 139).

[162] Crevaux, p. 287.

[163] Bates, ii. 195.

[164] _Ibid._

[165] Some tribes, for example the Jivaro (Simson, pp. 93-4), are said to be more provident in this respect, but the Boro and Witoto groups are not among them. Occasionally a store of pines may be made in October, when pines are most plentiful, but this is all.

[166] It may be noted here that all the denizens of the forest, including even the larger carnivora, are by popular report fruit-eaters, and are specially fond of the wild alligator pear (cf. Spruce, ii. 362-3).

[167] _Tapirus americanus._

[168] All animals when wounded appear to take to water.

[169] _Coelogenys paca._

[170] _Hydrochaerus capybara._

[171] _Dasyprocta agouti._

[172] I captured some and brought them away as pets.

[173] Spruce, i. p. 182.

[174] _Dicotypes tajacu_ is the only one I observed in these parts, but _D. labiatus_ is common in the bush. The peccary is called _kairooni_ by the Arawak; _mero_ and _emo_ by the Witoto according to the species; _mene_ by the Boro; and _whinga_ by the Macusi.

[175] See Wood’s _Natural History_, “Mammals.”

[176] Oakenfull, p. 30.

[177] Turning turtles is prohibited by law in Brazil, but no law reaches these wilds.

[178] The Indians of British Guiana who eat the turtles’ and iguana eggs, also “will not touch the egg of a fowl” (im Thurn, p. 18).

[179] They do not, however, object to their food being decidedly “high” (cf. Simson, p 115).

[180] In this they share the tastes of the Liberian women (cf. Johnston, _Liberia_, ii. 954).

[181] Spruce, ii. 381.

[182] _Manihot aypi._

[183] The description given by Fr. Pinto in Dr. de Lacerda’s eighteenth-century journal of the preparation of manioc flour by the Murunda Kaffirs differs only from the Indian method in that the root is not squeezed, merely soaked till “almost rotten,” then dried and pounded (R.G.S., _The Lands of Cazembe_, 1873, p. 129).

[184] It would seem that the Boro use what is known in Brazil as _Farinha de aqua_, and the Witoto make _Farinha secca_ (cf. Spruce, i. 11-12). Brazilian arrowroot and tapioca are products of the manioc prepared in different ways. Only the Boro and Menimehe make _Farinha de aqua_.

[185] “A mandiocca oven (called _budari_ in Barré)” (Spruce, ii. 477-8).

[186] Bates noted that he saw Indians on the Tapajos season this sauce with ants in place of fish (Bates, i. 318-19).

[187] Wallace, p. 340.

[188] Simson mentions salt-licks in the neighbourhood of the Rio Salado Grande (Simson, p. 238).

[189] The ashes of the drum tree (_Cecropia peltata_) “are saline and antiseptic” (Spruce, ii. 447). “A kind of flour which has a saline taste” is extracted from the fruits of the _Inaja_ palm (_Maximiliana regia_), and the _Jara_ palm (_Leopoldinia major_), and the _Caruru_, a species of _Lacis_ (Wallace, p. 340). _Cuaruru_ is given by Spruce as a native name for _Pogostemon sp._; when this is burnt the ashes give salt (Spruce, ii. 520).

[190] Cf. _Torres Straits_, “The chief meal of the day is taken at night, soon after sundown; the remains are eaten in the morning,” iv. 131.

[191] This is probably the puruma (_Puruma Cecropiaefolia Martius_) mentioned by Bates (Bates, ii. 217).

[192] _Yerba Luisa_ (Simson, p. 61).

[193] This may be _Mimusops sp._ (_Sapotacae_) or _Callophora sp._ (_Aponcynaccae_) (Spruce, i. 50, 224; ii. 520). Bates, i. 69; Spruce, i. 51; Orton, pp. 288, 500, 581.

[194] _Caapi_ is known as _aya-huasca_, the drink of Huasca, the greatest king of the Inca, to the Zaparo and other tribes farther west (Spruce, ii. 424).

[195] Spruce, ii. 419-21.

[196] _Banisteria Caapi_ (Spruce, ii. 414).

[197] _Haemadictyon amazonicum_ (_ibid._ p. 415). This is only added by the Uaupes tribes.

[198] Both _Manihot utilissima_ and _Manihot Aypi_ (Spruce, ii. 414).

[199] Cf. Tylor, pp. 179-80.

[200] _Paullinia cupana_ (Spruce, i. 180).

[201] _Guarana_, “_pro panacea peregrinantum habetur_” (von Martius), is made from the roasted seeds. It is “almost identical in its elements with theine and caffeine” (Spruce, i. 181). It is cultivated on the Negro as an article of trade. According to Bates it is made from the seeds of a climbing plant (_Paullinia sorbilis_) (Bates, ii. 134).

[202] _Coca Erythroxylon._

[203] Spix and von Martius, p. 153.

[204] Joyce, p. 97.

[205] Markham, _Peruvian Bark_, p. 151.

[206] According to Bates the leaves of the candelabrum tree (_Cecropia palmata_) are used (Bates, ii. 211-12). Spruce has the _imbauba_ or drum tree (_Cecropia peltata_) (Spruce, ii. 447). Markham gives the quinoa plant (Markham, _op. cit._ p. 151).

[207] _Re_ effects. Spruce notes that it had little effect on him (Spruce, ii. 448). One of my companions though “at first affected … with slight nausea … soon became accustomed to it, and found it very useful on many occasions” (Hardenburg, p. 137-8). This is interesting in relation to my own continued intolerance. “In Peru its excessive use is said to seriously injure the coats of the stomach” (Spruce, ii. 448). At Ega it was regarded as a vice only to be indulged in secretly (Bates, ii. 211). Markham, on the other hand, considers it “the least injurious, and the most soothing and invigorating” narcotic (Markham, _op. cit._ p. 152). He even recommends it as a preventative of loss of breath to Alpine climbers (_ibid._ p. 153). With this I cannot concur.

[208] See Appendix for this and other notes.

[209] Spruce relates that a Guahibo told him, “With a chew of _caapi_ and a pinch of _niopo_ … one feels so good! No hunger--no thirst--no tired!” (Spruce, ii. 428).

[210] _Mimosa acaciodes_ (Bentham). “A species of Inga” (Bates, i. 331). The seeds of _Acacia Niopo_ (Humbolt). _Piptadenia peregrina_ (L.) (Bentham and Spruce, ii. 427).

[211] The Guahibo use no quicklime (Spruce, ii. 426).

[212] This is curious, but I can advance no reason.

[213] Or “a bit of the leg-bone of the jaguar, closed at one end with pitch” (Spruce, ii. 427).

[214] And by the natives on the upper Orinoco (Spruce, ii. 423).

[215] “Two feet long and as thick as the wrist” (Spruce, ii. 420). It “is smoked in the ordinary way”. A long cigar is also smoked on the Equatorial Pacific coast, but “held in the mouth _at the lighted end_” (_ibid._ p. 436). This is common amongst negroes.

[216] Like the eyes of a cocoanut--to allow passage to the budding rootlets.

[217] Spruce, ii. 413-55.

[218] Bates, ii. 288.

[219] Also called _curari_, _ourali_, _worara_, _woorari_, _urari_, _ervadura_. “A powerful South American arrow-poison occurring in commerce as a blackish extract, somewhat resinoid in appearance,” used for tetanus, hydrophobia, epilepsy (_Dict. Mat. Med._).

[220] _Strychnos castelmoeana_ and _Cocculus toxicoferus_ (Hardenburg, p. 136).

[221] “Many ingredients are used, such as several kinds of barks, roots, peppers (_Capsicum_), ants, and the poison-fangs of snakes” (im Thurn, p. 311).

[222] Crevaux gives a long description of the preparation of this poison (Crevaux, pp. 268-337).

[223] According to Bates, salt is considered to be an antidote for this poison (Bates, i. 247).

[224] Bates, ii. 200. This agrees with Darwin, _Descent of Man_, i. 128.

[225] Dr. Galt considered “that there is no more fertile race than the pure-blooded Indian of the Marañon” (Orton, p. 465).

[226] Menstruation has been known to commence in England at the age of eleven, generally in cases of well-nourished blondes, and in exceptional cases even earlier. It has been known to occur at nine years, but this was induced by a severe accident. This is unknown among the forest people. I made out the age of puberty to be not less than fifteen for girls, and eighteen for boys, among the tribes I was with.

[227] Cf. Thomson, _The Fijians_, pp. 179-80; Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 228, etc.

[228] Tapir flesh is undoubtedly rich, and over-indulgence would have evil effects upon any woman independent of other conditions, for equally it would upset a man.

[229] A tribe in British Guiana, the Macusi, carry this idea even further, and impose such restriction on a man before his actual marriage (im Thurn, p. 222). I have never met with this.

[230] Wallace in his account of the Uaupes Indians states that “the women are generally delivered in the house, and do no work for four or five days” (Wallace, p. 345). This does not tally with the customs among the Issa and Japura tribes, at least I never found it to be the case.

[231] These Indians adopt a sitting, _i.e._ continental (not English left lateral) position for parturition.

[232] For similar treatment elsewhere see Schomberg, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_, ii. 66.

[233] Hardenburg, p. 135.

[234] I cannot help thinking that some infanticides may be due to the fear by the wife that the husband would refrain from the fulfilment of his _debitum conjugale_ did he find that it resulted in his having to support an unduly increasing family.

[235] Infanticide is a subject open to unlimited misapprehension and misrepresentation. Compare with the above, for instance, the statements of a missionary among some of the Indian tribes farther south. Mr. Grubb speaks of “a shrill cry of pain when a child perhaps has been cruelly murdered” (_An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_, p. 17). A reviewer with much knowledge and experience of Paraguay, remarks, “I never remember hearing the women’s shrill cry of lamentation. The children are killed almost immediately after birth, as secretly as possible, and no one pays much attention to the fact” (Seymour H. C. Hawtrey, for R.A.I.). This is certainly the case with the Issa and Japura groups.

[236] Among the Ucayali deformed children are killed because they “belong to the devil” (Orton, p. 321).

[237] A similar practice is reported among the Kuni of British New Guinea (Williamson, _The Mafulu_, p. 178).

[238] Among Zaparo tribes also this is the case (Simson, pp. 175, 183).

[239] _Early History of Mankind_, p. 247.

[240] This is one of the many supposed indications of a possible Asiatic origin of these peoples, “remnants of a race driven into the mountains by the present dwellers in the plains,” as Tylor says of the Miau-tsze, who also practice the couvade (_op. cit._ p. 295). The practice is as widespread as the performance of the medicine-man or shaman, though not invariably an accompaniment of so-called shamanism or kindred performances: for example the Arunta have medicine-men but do not practise the couvade, the Basque people have couvade but no medicine-man.

[241] In support of this theory note that in Melanesia proper couvade has only been observed “where the child follows the father’s kindred” (Codrington, p. 228).

[242] According to one writer some Indians go so far as to remove all weapons and furniture from the house (Clough, p. 104).

[243] With the Issa-Japura tribes the father is subjected to no such torturing processes at the hands of his friends as are recorded of other tribes and peoples, “in such sort that from being sick by pure imagination they often make a real patient of him” (Tylor, _loc. cit._ p. 288 _et seq._; _J.A.I._ xviii. 248; cf. also Crevaux, Spix, and Martius, p. 381; Schomburg, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_, ii.).

[244] Bird names, as is commonly the case in South America, are attempts to repeat the cry of the birds themselves. _Kweko_, for instance, is a most suggestive name for a parrot. Birds, it may here be noted, very seldom sing in Amazonia.

[245] See Brinton on this subject, _Religions of Primitive Peoples_, p. 196. Cf. Howitt, p. 739.

[246] Witoto.

[247] Boro.

[248] Cf. Tylor, _Early History of Mankind_; im Thurn, p. 220; Hodson, _Naga Tribes_, p. 176; Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 139; Brinton, p. 195, etc.; Seligmann, p. 140; André, p. 16; Lang, _Origin of Religion_, etc.

[249] See _Folklore Journal_; Mitchell, _Past in the Present_.

[250] Every Indian man has two names, his own name and his secret name (name of genitalia). The latter is generally a significant name, and is used in ribald jesting round the fire, _e.g._ “the _Okaina_ (a rodent) went to the stream to bathe,” etc. etc., _ad nauseam_.

[251] The converse of this holds good elsewhere, for the names of the dead are often tabu. See Rivers, _Todas_, pp. 625-6; Tylor, p. 142; Brinton, pp. 94-5.

[252] Brinton, p. 197.

[253] _Pace_ Ratzel, ii. 128.

[254] Simson, p. 92; Ratzel, ii. 128.

[255] Markham, Clough, p. 104.

[256] Wallace, p. 360.

[257] According to Waitz the Carib medicine-man was accorded the _jus primae noctis_ (_Anthropologie der Naturvölker_, iii. 382); Westermarck, p. 76. Von Martius also attributes this custom to certain Brazilian tribes, the chief, not the medicine-man, claiming the right (i. 113, 428, 485).

[258] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 52.

[259] Wallace, p. 355.

[260] This is quite usual of course. See Westermarck, pp. 445-7.

[261] Cf. custom among the Muskoks (Ratzel, ii. 125. See also im Thurn, p. 221; Westermarck, p. 18).

[262] Wallace, p. 346.

[263] Westermarck puts the disparity of years at from five to six among natives of Brazil (_op. cit._ p. 137; Spix and Martius, ii. 248).

[264] This invariably takes place in the forest, for no intimacy, even between husband and wife, is ever permitted in the publicity of the house. According to Westermarck a similar custom prevailed in Fiji (_op. cit._ pp. 151-2), but this is denied by Thomson, _The Fijians_, p. 202.

[265] im Thurn, pp. 186, 221.

[266] As De Morgan remarked of a somewhat similar practice among the Sakai of Perak, this is a form of marriage by purchase “modified by the smallness of the price paid … a purely formal substitute” (_Bulletin de la Société Normande de Géographie_, vii. 422; Skeat and Blagden, ii. 60-61).

[267] Or _potacea_, a nut of bitter taste the size of an acorn.

[268] See von Martius, i. 113. For similar instances cf. Westermarck, p. 151.

[269] This confirms the account given by Wallace, p. 346; von Martius, i. 600.

[270] See for similar etiquette, Alcedo-Thompson, _Dictionary of America and the West Indies_, i. 416; E.R. Smith, _The Aurocanians_, p. 215; Westermarck, pp. 383-4.

[271] This seems to be the same as the Hottentot custom (Kolben, _Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_, i. 157).

[272] These are, I believe, the same ants that are used in the manufacture of the _curare_ poison. They are fairly common. In lingoa-geral they are called _tucaudera_.

[273] “The Carayas maintain quasi-husbands for widows at the public cost, lest they should be a source of disturbance to the general peace” (Ratzel, ii. 126). Widows are _repi_, prostitutes among some Melanesians (Codrington, p. 235).

[274] See, for similar belief among the Zaparo, Simson, p. 174.

[275] For example, among the Bororo when the medicine-man has announced that the patient will die in a given time, “if at the end of this time he still lives, the executioner, sent of course by the priest, will suddenly appear in the hut, sit astride his stomach, and strangle him to death” (Cook, p. 55).

[276] See Joyce, p. 249.

[277] See _supra_, p. 151.

[278] The idea of blood crying for vengeance is familiar enough, and the most universally-known example is that of the fratricide Cain informed that his brother’s blood cried for vengeance from the ground (Gen. iv. 10).

[279] See _supra_, p. 31.

[280] “A microscopic scarlet _Acarus_” (Orton, p. 485).

[281] “To an Indian smallpox is certain death--the most dreaded enemy, who has over and over again swept off entire tribes, and the name or passing suspicion of which from youth up has always been trembled at and fled from as from death itself” (Simson, p. 142).

[282] There are many varieties of this complaint. In one kind the patient wastes away. With another it assumes the characteristics of elephantiasis, the legs swell, the flesh becomes soft and podgy, the skin unhealthy and white. It is said by the rubber-gatherers that a cure can only be effected when the patient sees the sea, in other words through complete change of air.

[283] Simson speaks of a “skin-disease common amongst all Indians of the higher Marañon, called ‘carata.’ The skin is ‘scaly and blotched all over with black’” (Simson, p. 178). This seems to be similar to the “cutaneous disease” mentioned by Bates, except that he explicitly mentions “the black spots were hard and rough but not scaly” (Bates, ii. 382). The Purupura Indians have also a skin complaint that causes them to be “spotted and blotched with white, brown, or nearly black patches” (Wallace, p. 357).

[284] I did myself, and so did my boy Brown and others of the party.

[285] André, pp. 16-110.

[286] Spix and Martius, p. 31.

[287] Simson, pp. 148, 194. A very common practice among Indians.

[288] Koch-Grünberg, pp. 134, 165.

[289] I do not mean the body of an infant killed at birth, which, as I have said, is done as quietly and secretly as possible.

[290] “Primary urn-burial is characteristic in the main of the Tupi-Guarani family” (Joyce, p. 270).

[291] For the same reason that prompted similar proceeding among the Norsemen, an influence still alive in many parts of our own country. Cf. Mitchell, _Past in the Present_. An instance is reported from Hampshire within the last few years of a child’s toys being broken on its grave. (Read, _Folklore Journal_, vol. xxii. p. 322.)

[292] Ratzel, ii. 155.

[293] Shaman is in more general use among Americans. It should be remembered that the Zaparo, with whom Simson mentions the _shimano_ (Simson, pp. 174-5, 177), have had considerably more intercourse with western civilisation than the tribes away from the Napo line of communication.

[294] Vol. xxiv.

[295] “The chief ‘medicine’ of the Payes on the affluents of the Amazon, both northern and southern, and on the Orinoco” (Spruce, ii. 436).

[296] Crevaux, p. 300.

[297] im Thurn, p. 312; Wallace, p. 347; Crevaux, p. 299.

[298] im Thurn, p. 368.

[299] Spruce mentions Barré Indians “sucking out the rheumatism” from each other’s shoulders (Spruce, ii. 435).

[300] I am unable to say whether the medicine-man believes that an actual stick has been literally in the patient’s flesh, or whether he believes that the stick concealed in his mouth becomes a habitation for the supernatural power causing the sickness, or if he merely does the whole thing to impress his audience, and confirm their belief in his magical powers. Quite possibly all these reasons combined in varying degrees are present in any case. See Marett, _Anthropology_, p. 247.

[301] A boy “with epileptic tendency being preferred,” as im Thurn noted was the case in British Guiana (im Thurn, p. 334).

[302] Waterton, p. 449.

[303] Cf. im Thurn, p. 349.

[304] Cf. Westermarck, p. 152.

[305] Spruce, ii. 430-31.

[306] I have never seen the medicine-man’s palm-leaf boxes mentioned by Spruce, ii. 431.

[307] Among the Mungaberra the medicine-men “can and often do assume the form of eagle-hawks,” and thus attack other tribes (Spencer and Gillen, p. 533). It may be that the medicine-men of Indian tribes nearer the mountains, where these birds have their habitat, assume the form of a condor, as the medicine-man of the forest districts does that of the jaguar, for the condor is “sacred throughout practically the whole of the Andean region.” See Joyce, p. 175.

[308] The jaguar and the anaconda are both magical beasts. See Chap. XIX.

[309] Note: Among the Arunta the medicine-man has “a particular kind of lizard distributed through his body, which endows him with great suctional powers” (Spencer and Gillen, p. 531).

[310] See im Thurn, pp. 329-31.

[311] Spruce, ii. 432. Cf. Rochfort, _Histoire naturelle et morale des Isles Antilles_, p. 472.

[312] Spruce, ii 431.

[313] That the words are now incomprehensible may have arisen from the fact that the songs were originally intended only to recall things to those already instructed, in the same way that Mexican picture records “do not tell their stories in full, but only recall them to the minds of those who are already acquainted with them” (E. B. Tylor, p. 96). As instruction and memory lapsed the words would become mere gibberish. Certainly all these tribes appear to have songs they can no longer interpret. _La danse est accompagnée des chantes; je regrette de n’avoir pu saisir le sens de leurs paroles_ (Crevaux, p. 104). There are old dances with words no longer understood among the Tukano (Koch-Grünberg, p. 254). This is, of course, by no means peculiar to the Amazonian Indians. Some of the singing games played by children in British New Guinea have words whose meanings are either obscure or lost (Barton, _J.R.A.I._, p. 269). Among the Naga tribes the language of the songs “is known in many cases to be now unintelligible to those who sing them” (Hodson, _Naga Tribes_, p. 68). Corrobborees are passed from one tribe to the other among the Australian natives, “the result is that the words are, as a general rule, quite unintelligible to the performers” (Spencer and Gillen, _Central Australia_, p. 281). Zulu charm songs are said to be incomprehensible to the singers (Callaway, _Religious System of the Amazulu_, p. 413). These instances might be multiplied, but they suffice to show that this survival of words with lost meanings is world-wide.

As a curious contrast to this we find that the Spanish missionaries in South America complained that they had great difficulty in getting their converts to remember the Ave Maria and the Paternoster “seeing that the words were mere nonsense to them” (Tylor, p. 96). It should not be forgotten though, in this connection, that the potency of a word is in inverse ratio to its incomprehensibility. Cf. Brinton, _Religions of Primitive Peoples_, p. 92.

[314] Possibly there may be a second pine harvest and dance, but the great feast takes place in October.

[315] Koch-Grünberg mentions the same among the Opaina.

[316] Koch-Grünberg.

[317] Maw describes quite a different arrangement in a dance at Tabitinga. “The dancers were usually linked three together, one principal character supported by two others, one on each side; and there were generally two sets dancing at the same time, each set being followed by women and children dancing or jumping in the similar manner” (Maw, p. 220).

[318] Koch-Grünberg mentions a dance among tribes north of the Japura where the men and women dance together in pairs. The women do not wear aprons, and at the end of the figure they disappear.

[319] Spruce, i. 313.

[320] One is irresistibly reminded of the clown, especially of the comic man who usually puts in an appearance at military sports. It is possible that this custom of dressing-up to secure attention when airing a grievance is what has been mistaken by some writers for a part of the dance. Sir Roger Casement, quoting Maw in the _Contemporary Review_, September 1912, talks of “the masked men” as “a necessary part of each performance.” It is certainly quite unknown to me, for I never saw or heard of anything of the kind, though in the first edition of Bates’s _Naturalist on the River Amazon_ the frontispiece of the second volume gives a masked dance of the Tukuna, so I do not suggest that masked dancers do not exist, only that they are not known among the tribes of the Issa-Japura valleys.

[321] It must be remembered that Indians are extraordinarily generous, or improvident, in the matter of food. I should never hesitate to join a family party when feeding, without waiting for an invitation. The complaint in question probably refers to a whole basket of manioc bartered in the plantation, which transaction would belong to quite another category.

[322] Crevaux gives an account of an initiation dance where the torture applied is by means of the application of stinging ants to the naked bodies of the neophytes (Crevaux, pp. 245-50).

[323] Koch-Grünberg, p. 188. The German doctor also gives an account of a dance where boys and girls perform in couples. When the figures are ended the couples withdraw into the forest, and night covers subsequent proceedings. This takes place among the Yahuna of the Kuretu group. The men of these tribes when summoned by drum to a dance leave their women behind them.

[324] Bates, ii. 207.

[325] Manioc.

[326] Plantation.

[327] Manioc root.

[328] Cassava.

[329] What is it? what is it?

[330] It is good.

[331] As proof that this dance is borrowed, and not common to all the tribes that dance it, is the fact that all tribes, whatever their language-group, use the Muenane words for the answer.

[332] See Appendix.

[333] The individual in question was labouring under the most extraordinary sexual excitement. This may have been due to coca influence, to the lubricity of the song words, or to the intoxication due to rhythmic movement. The first two possible causes are eliminated by the fact that Indians are almost continually under the influence of the drug, and that no song could be more lewd than the ordinary conversation of these people.

[334] These Muenane riddle dances somewhat resemble the _Pirapurasseya_, or fish dance, seen by Bates at Ega. The performers joined hands in a ring and questioned the leader in the centre, who finally might try to rush the ring, and when successful was succeeded by whoever might be responsible for his escape (Bates, ii. 276). im Thurn’s description of a Guiana animal dance also tallies more or less with these dances. See im Thurn, p. 324.

[335] R. L. Stevenson, _In the South Seas_ (Pocket Edition, 1908), p. 100.

[336] “Dancing to the accompaniment of the human voice only. The word _ballad_ is derived from this.” Ital. _ballare_ = to dance. See _Games, Sports, and Pastimes_, by D. H. Moutray Read, in the new _Folklore Handbook_.

[337] North of the Japura the tribes use what are known as _Yapurutu_ pan-pipes, which are usually played in pairs. The Tukana call them _bupupo_ or _yapurato_ (Koch-Grünberg, p. 300).

[338] Cf. Howitt, _Native Tribes of South-East Australia_, p. 345, chap. xi., etc. Bull-roarer too sacred for women to see in Muralug Island, Torres Straits (_Expedition Torres Straits_, iv. 276; v. 217).

[339] Cf. Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_. Sound supposed by women and children to be the voice of the great spirit assisting at the boy’s initiation.

Also Howitt, pp. 594-5; Andrew Lang on “the Bull-roarer” in _Custom and Myth_; Haddon, _Study of Man_, p. 309.

[340] See Koch-Grünberg; Humbolt, ii. 363; Nery, p. 261; Spruce, ii. 416; Wallace, pp. 348-9.

[341] There are two in the British Museum on the top shelf in the South American room.

[342] _Mauritia flexuosa._

[343] Cf. Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._ p. 517.

[344] The one exception being where parturition is imminent, and no helpmate is available.

[345] See Appendix.

[346] Compare with identity of the white culture-hero of the higher South American cultures, Quetzalcoatl of the Nahua, Uiracocha of Peru, Tsuma of Venezuela. Note this being came from the East. See Joyce, p. 12. He is in fact the _Atahocan_ of the Algonquin “remote from the world, to whom no worship was paid”(Ratzel, ii. 144).

[347] According to the Malays’ anthropomorphic ideas concerning the tiger, “the tiger-folk … have a town of their own, where they live in houses, and act in every respect like human beings” (Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 157). In Perak tigers with human souls live in similar villages (Sir W. E. Maxwell, _J.R.A.S._, No. vii. p. 22). The natives of Korinchi in Sumatra are credited with the power to assume tiger form at will (Sir H. Clifford, _In Court of Kampong_, pp. 65-6).

[348] When Markham says of the Ticuna that “they fear the evil spirit, and believe of the good one that, after death, he appears to eat fruit with the departed and takes them to his home, this would seem to be a distinct survival of missionary teaching, for these Indians were preached to between 1683 and 1728.” Christian influence is also shown in their naming ceremonies (Markham, p. 200).

[349] These holes in the heavy mould of the forest are caused by subsidences. The Indians do not understand how they came to be, and explain the fact by asserting they are the work of devils.

[350] Among the Kuretu the soul is believed to hover near the body for one day after death, and then to flit away, and finally to retire to a beautiful house at the source of a mysterious river.

[351] Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 52.

[352] im Thurn, p. 343. Cf. also Skeat, _Pagan Malay_, p. 47.

[353] See Simson, p. 175; Orton, p. 170.

[354] Cf. Spencer and Gillen, p. 498.

[355] This is so frequently the case among primitive peoples as hardly to need amplifying. It is very general among the Indian races. See André, p. 16; im Thurn, pp. 158, 220.

The Algonquin hold that the mention of a man’s name offends his personal deity (H. R. Schoolcraft, _Oneota_, pp. 331, 456; _Indian Tribes of the U.S._ ii. 65). Australian natives only mention secret names in a whisper (Spencer and Gillen, p. 139). See also note on names in Chap. XI.

[356] This belief is also held by the Dyaks. “Their theory is that during sleep the soul can hear, see, and understand, so what is dreamt is really what the soul sees. When any one dreams of a distant land, they believe that his soul has paid a flying visit to that land” (E. H. Gomes, _Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo_, p. 161). Howitt writes of the South Australian native: “While his body lies motionless, his spirit goes out of him on its wanderings” (Howitt, pp. 410-11). See also Seligmann, p. 191.

[357] im Thurn, pp. 329, 343.

[358] See im Thurn, p. 349. In Australia “one black fellow will often tell you that he can and does do something magical, whilst all the time he is perfectly well aware that he cannot, and yet firmly believes that some other man can really do it” (Spencer and Gillen, p. 130).

[359] Spruce relates a custom unknown to me practised by some tribes when astray in the bush. The Indian when lost “names the Curupira, and … twists a liana into a ring … throws it behind him … follows the direction in which it has fallen” (Spruce, ii. 437-8). The Bororo use a bull-roarer to drive the bad spirits off (W. A. Cook, _The Bororo Indians of Matto Grosso_, p. 55).

[360] The Caribs of the Pomeroon river actually attempt to counter the attack of epidemic sickness by blocking the forest tracks “to stop the passage of the spirits” (im Thurn, p. 356). In Guiana disease is regarded as an evil spirit that prowls around (Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_, p. 225).

[361] Bates, ii. 115.

[362] Jurupari is unknown south of the Japura. I can therefore give no particulars or description from personal investigation and knowledge of aught concerning this all powerful demoniac deity of the northern tribes.

[363] J. D. Pfleiderer, _Die Genesis des Mythus der indogermanischen Völker_, p. 48.

[364] Elsewhere this appears not to be the case. See Bates, ii. 114.

[365] _Yacu_ = water, _mama_ = mother, _Mai d’agoa_ (Tupi). _Pachamama_, the earth, was worshipped in Peru, and the Inca also reverenced _Mamaccocha_, the sea mother (Joyce, pp. 154, 225).

[366] Bates mentions a boy at Ega being devoured by one of these huge creatures (Bates, ii. 113-15).

[367] Clough, p. 60.

[368] For description see Wallace, pp. 127-8.

[369] Bates, ii. 264.

[370] For dance at tiger’s “wake” see Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 169.

[371] Cf. Darwin, p. 64.

[372] “They consider the sun as the fountain-head of majesty and power and even of beneficence, and as the abode of the Great Priests who have passed to the spirit world and fear him” (W. A. Cook, _op. cit._ p. 55).

[373] Occidente is on the left bank of the Igara Parana, a tributary of the Issa.

[374] _Folklore Journal_, 1912, p. 314.

[375] Casement, _Contemporary Review_, September 1912, p. 325.

[376] Indians on the main river, however, according to Dr. Silva Coutinho, “not only give names to a great number of celestial bodies [stars], but they have legends about them” (Nery, p. 252).

[377] Markham, pp. 93-4.

[378] Poison.

[379] Narcotic.

[380] Spruce, i. 314. In South America manihot is propagated by means of slips or cuttings; but in the Torres Straits the _manihot sp._ introduced by the white man is grown from pieces of the old roots (_Exped. Torres Straits_, iv. 149).

[381] Clough, p. 212; Humboldt, ii. 182; Oakenfull, pp. 34-5; im Thurn, p. 375; Joyce, p. 167.

[382] im Thurn, p. 375.

[383] Humboldt, ii. 400-1; Chanoine Bernadino de Souza, _Para e Amazon_; see Nery, pp. 8-9.

[384] Humboldt, pp. 88, 400.

[385] Spruce, ii. 561.

[386] Spruce wisely remarks on this point, “that the Spaniards had been for two whole years among Indians who wore their hair long,” and therefore were not likely to mistake men for women (Spruce, ii. 459).

[387] Nery, p. 6.

[388] The French traveller rejects the ἀ-, μαζός theory in favour of the ἄμα ζώνη--bound with a belt (Nery, p. 2).

[389] Wallace, p. 343.

[390] “I have myself seen that Indian women can fight.… The women pile up heaps of stones, to serve as missiles for the men” (Spruce, ii. 457-8). This, _vide_ “stones,” is not possible in the Issa-Japura district.

[391] Where tribal differentiation of colour is so marked as among these people it is only natural that tales should be told of some mythical “white” folk.

[392] Crevaux, _Voyages dans l’Amérique du Sud_, p. 284.

[393] _Komuine_ = monkey (Boro).

[394] “So high”--demonstrated with the hand.

[395] These would be her natural protectors.

[396] Rubber latex. See Depilation.

[397] To hide the unsightliness.

[398] Of the chief’s daughter.

[399] This may be a folk-tale of the monkey-people stealing Indian women for their mates. Cf. Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 185; Clifford, _Studies in Brown Humanity_, p. 243.

But it should not be overlooked that the Boro depile most carefully, while the Andoke medicine-man does not depile at all, and the Andoke are mortal foes of the Boro. The Karahone also are said not to depile, and on this score would be regarded by the Boro as no better than brute beasts. So this story may be a traditional account of the actual rape of a chief’s daughter by a hostile tribe, the Amazonian version of Helen and Troy.

[400] Simson, p. 168.

[401] Spruce, i. 332. im Thurn relates of the Arawak Indians that “each family is descended--their fathers knew how, but they themselves have forgotten--from its eponymous animal, bird, or plant” (im Thurn, pp. 184, 376).

[402] The general principle is well known, and is now used both by the authorities of the United States and of Great Britain. It consists in giving to the vowels in native words their Italian significance, and to the consonants that which they have in the English language.

[403] _Notes and Queries on Anthropology_ (1912), pp. 187-96.

[404] Simson, p. 94.

[405] Tylor, p. 25.

[406] Koch-Grünberg transliterates it as _ingetā_, or _ingétā_; and gives _marā_ for good, _maringetā_, _marinyetā_, bad; _faréti_, fat; _faré ingetā_, thin (_Die Uitóto Indianer_, pp. 10-11).

[407] Orton stated that the Zaparo “have no words for numbers above three, but show their fingers” (Orton, p. 170). Simson gives words for four and five as in use among those tribes, and after that _manunu_, meaning “many-many” (Simson, p. 179).

[408] The reference to monkey or beast is due to the fact that the Karahone do not depilate all body and face hair.

[409] Spencer and Gillen, _Across Australia_, ii.

[410] Cf. Ratzel, ii. 125.

[411] For example the Maca, the Guaharibo, and the Guahibo (Spruce, i. 477).

[412] _Vide_ Chap. VI. p. 101, where it is stated that the dug-out is not the autochthonic boat of this country.

[413] These canoes, it must be remembered, are not affairs of everyday manufacture. They are tribal possessions, not many in number, and needing time, skill, and, above all, experience, to make successfully.

[414] For instance the wrong wood might have been chosen; some trees will not open when heated (cf. André, pp. 241-2).

[415] _The Decadence of Useful Arts._

[416] There are no stones in this region it should be remembered.

[417] Wallace gives 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches as not uncommon for the height of a Uaupes man (Wallace, pp. 335, 353), and the Isanna as very similar. The Bugre are shorter, 5 feet 4 inches, and misshapen in the leg (Oakenfull, p. 33). The Tukana, 160 to 170 centimetres (Koch-Grünberg).

[418] I had no calipers, and the breadth in all cases is approximate only, taken from point to point where it was individually greatest, not where, as I subsequently discovered, scientific measurement decrees.

[419] Tukuya, two types dolichocephalic. Koch-Grünberg. Napo, brachycephalic (Orton, p. 166). According to Orton the “long-headed hordes” came from the south (Orton, p. 316).

[420] Bates noted that the Tapuyo have “small hands and feet” (i. 78), and Orton mentions it as a characteristic of races of Tupi origin (Orton, p. 316).

[421] The women are muscular in the neck, and will carry considerable weights in baskets slung on a band passed round the forehead. They will carry through the thickest bush as much as sixty pounds and more in the same manner, their strength in lilting and carrying weights being confined to the neck.

[422] Robuchon states that the women’s mammae are pyriform, and the photographs show distinctly pyriform breasts with digitiform nipples. I found them resembling rather the segment of a sphere, the areola not prominent, and the nipples hemispherical.

[423] Orton and Galt, however, note that “one will sometimes find the skin of the Indian rough, hard, and insensible, like the skin of the larger lower animals” (Orton, p. 591). _Skin--Colour and Texture._--“Je remarque que ces Indiens, comme les Roucouyennes et les Oyampis, out les plis de la peau beaucoup plus saillants que chez les races blanches et noires. Les plis du genou resemblent à une peau d’orange. Je voudrais représenter exactement ces détails, qui m’intéressent au point de vue anthropologique, mais je trouve la difficulté insurmontable. Il me vient toutefois une idée; je fais barbouiller un Indien avec du roucou des pieds à la tête, et, à moyen d’un papier mince que j’applique avec la main, j’obtiens tous les détails de structure. Le roucou agit comme de l’encre d’imprimerie. Avec un pen d’exercice je recueille les détails anatomiques de toutes les parties du corps, et particulièrement des pieds, des mains, du genou et des coudes. Il est à noter que la peau d’enfant à la mamelle présente des plis aussi accentués que ceux d’un blanc à l’âge adulte. La peau d’un jeune homme vue à l’œil me semble grossie trois fois à la loupe” (Crevaux, p. 303). We have already noted that there Issa-Japura tribes are free from the skin diseases that Napo and other Indians frequently develop. This probably accounts for the contradiction of my observances with the notes of other writers.

[424] See note on Depilation, p. 282.

[425] According to Wallace, though the Uaupes Indians remove facial or body hair the Isanna tribes do not (Wallace, pp. 353, 356).

[426] Wallace, p. 354.

[427] I have found this amongst all people who sleep on the ground, I take it, for obvious buffer reasons.

[428] Simson, p. 93.

[429] During menstruation women wash more frequently, with intent to arrest as well as to hide their condition. A girl at such times will bathe as often as twenty times in a day. The cold water acts as a styptic.

[430] Bates, i. 200.

[431] Simson, p. 234.

[432] Simson, p. 235.

[433] Four inches to fourteen inches in length (Keane, p. 551).

[434] Orton, pp. 482-3.

[435] Ratzel, ii 170.

[436] Oakenfall, p. 26.

[437] The only yellow free colour.

[438] Approximate measurements.

[439] Outer measurements not, as they should have been, from head of fibula to top of great trochanter.

[440] _N.B._--As Case 2 was growing, further measurements will be useless if not misleading. These were taken with the help of a medical man and are therefore more correct than other measurements.

[441] _Neva_ = also sun, morning.

[442] _Navena_ = ghost, devil.

[443] _Bope_ = also disembodied soul.

[444] _Yaya_ = father.

[445] _Yaperikuli_ = heroes.

[446] Originally father or creator, not Great Spirit.

[447] Soul of father or parents.

[448] Soul of Evil.

[449] Heroes of the tribe.

[450] Also great-great-grandfather.

[451] House.

[452] _Ri-e-i_, white man.

[453] _Itoma_, sun.

[454] _Ei-fo-ke_, Turkey-buzzard.

[455] Privy name. Reference to the fact that all Indians have two names. See p. 154 for note on _nomen penis sui_.

LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO

ALCOCK, FREDERICK, F.R.G.S.

_Trade and Travel in South America._ 2nd edit. London, 1907.

ANDRÉ, EUGENE, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., M.S.A.

_A Naturalist in the Guianas._ London, 1904.

BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE.

_Native Races of the Pacific States._ 1875-76.

BANCROFT, EDWARD, and STEDMAN.

_Essay on Natural History of Guiana._ 1769.

BATES, HENRY WALTER.

_The Naturalist on the River Amazons._ 2 vols. London, 1863.

BRAZILIAN YEAR BOOK. 1908.

BRINTON, DANIEL G.

_Religions of Primitive Peoples._ London and New York, 1897.

CLOUGH, R. STEWART.

_The Amazons._ London, N.D.

CREVAUX, DR. J.

_Voyages dans l’Amérique du sud._ Paris, 1883. _Fleuves de l’Amérique du Sud, Yapura._ _Vocabulaire français-roucouyennes._

DARWIN, CHARLES.

_Narrative of the Voyages of the Beagle._ 1839.

DENIKER, JOSEPH, SC.D. Paris.

_The Races of Man._ 1900.

ENOCH, C. REGINALD, F.R.G.S.

_The Andes and the Amazons._ London, 1907. _Peru._ London, 1908.

FOUNTAIN, PAUL.

_The River Amazon._ London, 1914.

HARDENBURG, W. E.

_The Putumayo._ London, 1912.

_History of South America_, by an American. 1899.

HUMBOLDT.

_Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions by the New Continent, 1799-1804._ 3 vols. Bohn edition. 1852-53.

IM THURN, SIR EVERARD F., K.C.M.G.

_Among the Indians of Guiana._ London, 1883.

JOYCE, THOMAS A.

_South American Archæology._ London, 1912.

KOCH-GRÜNBERG, DR. THEODOR.

_Aruak-Sprachen Nordwestbrasiliens und der angrenzenden Gebiete._ _Journal de la Société des Américainists de Paris._ _Zwei Jahre unter den Indianern: Reisen in Nordwest-Brasilien, 1903-1905._ 2 vols. Berlin, 1910. _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie._

MARKHAM, SIR CLEMENTS R., K.C.B.

_Expeditions into the Valley of the Amazons._ Hakluyt Society, 1911. _Peruvian Bark: Introduction of Chinchona Cultivation into India, 1860-1880._ 1880.

MAW, HENRY LISTER.

_Journal of a Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic._ London, 1829.

NERY, BARON DE SANTA-ANNA.

_The Land of the Amazons._ London, 1901.

OAKENFULL, J. C.

_Brazil in 1909._ 1st edit. Paris, 1909.

ORTON, JAMES.

_The Andes and the Amazon._ New York, N.D.

RATZEL, F.

_History of Mankind._ 3 vols. Translated from 2nd German edition by Sir A. J. Butler, M.A. London, 1897.

RICE, HAMILTON.

_Quito to Iquitos by the River Napo._ _Further Explorations in the North-West Amazon Basin. The River Uaupes._

RODWAY, JAMES.

_Guiana: British, Dutch, and French._ London, 1912. _In the Guiana Forest._ 1894.

SCHOOLCRAFT, H. R.

_Historical and Statistical Information respecting the History, etc., of the Indian Tribes of the United States._ Philadelphia, 1851.

SIMSON, ALFRED.

_Travels in the Wilds of Ecuador and Exploration of the Putumayo River._ 1886.

SPIX, JOHN BAPTIST VON, and MARTIUS, C.F.P. VON.

_Travels in Brazil, 1817-20._ Translated by H. E. Lloyd. 1824.

SPRUCE, RICHARD, Ph.D.

_Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes._ 2 vols. London, 1908. _The Great River. Notes on the Amazon and its Tributaries._ London, 1904.

TYLOR, E. B.

_Researches into the Early History of Mankind._ London, 1865.

VON MARTIUS, C. F. P.

_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie._ _Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas zumal Brasiliens._

WALLACE, ALFRED R.

_A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro._ London, 1853. _On the Rio Negro._ Pamphlet. 1853.

WATERTON, CHARLES.

_Wanderings in South America._ New edition. London, 1879.

WESTERMARCK, EDWARD.

_The History of Human Marriage._ 3rd edit. London, 1901.

WOODROFFE, JOSEPH F.

_The Upper Reaches of the Amazon._ London, 1914.

INDEX

Agriculture-- crops, 104; harvest, 193; plantations, 103; sowing, 104; women’s work, 67, 102, 103-4, 105, 131

Amazons, legends of, 239-40

Animals-- characteristics, 243-4; no domestic, 52, 102; scarcity of, 128

Agouti, 127; ant-bear, 127; armadillo, 128; bats, 51; capybara, 127, 147; deer, 128, 147; dogs, 102; jaguar, 36, 182, 185, 221, 231, 232, 244; monkey, 52, 128; paca, 127; peccary, 128-9, 148; tapir, 126-7, 147, 174, 244; tiger (_see_ jaguar)

Anthropophagy-- dances, 204-5; feasts, 119-23; practices, 119; reasons for, 120-21, 177

Arts and Crafts-- basket-making, 96-7; carving, 91-2, 93, 211-12; painting, 91 (_see_ Ornaments); pottery, 62, 95, 96

Bates, Henry Walter, 52, 122, 125, 146, 199, 229, 232, 278, 280

Birds, 129; shooting, 108, 109; condor, 183-4; parrots, 129

Birth-- customs, 146-52, 273 (_see_ Couvade); of twins, 120, 150, 244

Boats-- how made, 100-101; canoes, 29, 101, 265; rafts, 101, 265

Bridges, 28-9

Brown, John, 3, 8, 9, 14, 38, 249, 253

Burial, 175-7, 224; customs, 74, 81, 176, 226

Casement, Sir Roger, 234-5, 246

Cassava--preparation of, 132-4, 144; grater, 99, 131-2; squeezer, 98, 132; Boro, 98, 132; manufacture of, 98-9; Witoto, 55, 98-9, 132

Cazes, Mr. David, 2

Charms, 234

Chiefs, 64-5, 67, 71, 193, 200, 244, 257, 258-9; death of, 65, 70, 119, 176-177; dress of, 71, 73, 76; house of, 47, 64; influence of, 64; wife of, 73, 123, 159, 200-201; women of, 64, 159-60, 163; Katenere, 63; Nonugamue, 63

Children, 88, 124-5, 135, 146-58, 208, 236, 257, 269, 276; boys, 76, 108, 165; capture of, 69-70, 274; girls, 68, 157-8, 164-5; marriage of, 162; stealing by spirits and tigers of, 219-20, 224, 232; treatment of, 155-8; toys, 93, 108, 156

Chorrera, 4, 5, 6, 21

Climate, 22-4, 25

Clough, R. Stewart, 158

Coca, 104, 106, 135, 141-2, 179, 187; effects of, 142-3, 264, 277; preparation of, 141

Couvade, 55, 148, 151-3

Crevaux, Dr., 55, 57, 72, 87, 96, 240-41, 276

Dances, Chapter XV.; complaints at, 196-7; decoration and dress for, 75, 191; effect of, 202-3, 204; invitation to, 192, 253; preparation for, 140, 191-2, 273. Varieties-- animal, 201-2; harvest, 193, 199-201, 208; initiation, 197-9; Jurupari, 157, 158, 198, 212-13; riddle, 201-2, 209; war, 203-5

Dancing-ground, 42, 102, 192, 194

Dancing staff, 193-4, 195

Dancing steps, 193, 194, 195-6, 203, 204

Death, 167, 168, 170, 173, 187; how regarded, 61, 175, 178; of chief, 65; homicide, 118, 171-2; infanticide, 146, 149-51, 170-71

Deniker, J., 54

Depilation, 120, 181-2, 241-2, 273, 281, 282

Disease, 168, 178, 186, 229; chronic, 170; infections, 169, 173; mental, 169; skin, 174, 175; beriberi, 13, 174; fever, 173, 188; smallpox, 174; sun-sickness, 173

Divorce, 165-6

Dress, 71-6; ceremonial, 74; travellers’, 15, 16; men’s, 72, 73; women’s, 72, 79; breech-cloth, manufacture of, 73; never removed, 74; ligatures, 73, 77, 83, 84, 271. _See_ Chief, Medicine-man, etc.

Drinks, 101; fruit, 104, 139; herb, 138, 277; intoxicating, 139-41; unfermented, 138-9

Drugs, 140, 175, 182-3, 187. _See_ Poison, Snuff, etc.

Escort, 3, 5, 71; management of, 4

Field of exploration, 17-18

Fire, 48-50, 133, 136; by friction, 48; method of making unknown, 48; plan of, 49, 50

Fish, 130-31, 245, 279

Fishing, 112; nets, 112; poison, 113-14; spears, 113

Floods, 22, 32; traditions of, 238-9

Folk tales, 221-3, 231, 236-45; animal stories, 243-4

Food, 50, 126, 128-30, 257; difficulty of obtaining, 15, 38; eggs not taken for, 130; influence of, 121, 147-8; preparation of, 68, 105, 135-6; scarcity of, 120, 121, 126; when eaten, 134-5; animal, 128-9; peppers, 105, 134; pepper-pot, 129, 134, 135-6; reptiles, 129; salt, 124, 134; sauces, 133-4, 139; sugar, 104; turtles, 129-30; vermin, 130. _See_ Cassava, Fish, Fruit, etc.

Forest-- birds in, 26; description of, 26-8; depressing influence of, 14, 35-6, 265, 266; lost in, 37; noises in, 34; silence of, 34; tracks in, 28; travellers’ danger in, 29; travelling in, 14, 34-5, 37

Fruit, 104, 135, 136-7

Games, 157; singing, 208-9; toys, 93, 108, 156

Geophagy, 124-5

Hair, 274, 282, 285; how worn, 77-8, 274

Hammocks, 55; how slung, 47, 50; made by women, 97-9; Witoto, 54, 91

Hardenburg, W. E., 62, 88, 149, 163

Head hunters, 122

Houses-- private, 47-8, 161; temporary, 47; tribal-- Maloka, 40-52; construction of, 43; light in, 49, 186; plan of, 41, 43, 45, 46; sites of, 42, 118; thatch of, 43-4

Hunting, 104, 107-9, 110; rights, 112; traps, 110-11. _See_ Weapons

Igarape Falls, 6

Implements-- household, earthenware, 133; human bone, 123-4; knives, 94; pestle and mortar, 99, 141; tools, 95, 214; troughs, 99, 140-41

im Thurn, Sir Everard, 55, 76, 152, 239, 274

Indian-- beliefs, Chapter XVII.; character, 4, 13, 61, 110, 156, 202, 236, 256-64, 275-6; cruelty to infirm, 169-70, 257; ethics, 65, 66, 68, 260-62; kinship, 67, 244, 276; life, 50, 236, 246, 276-7, 278; origin not decadent remnants, 54, 264-6; physical traits, 269, Appendices; treachery, 4, 258, 259-60; types, classification of, 53; Neolithic, 94, 266; voice, 207, 253-4; woodcraft, 106-7

Indians, story of white, 240-41

Initiation, 157-8, 165; dances, 197-9

Insects, 30, 52; ants, 32, 33, 51, 97; beetles, 82; bees, 31, 51, 130; butterflies and moths, 31-2; flies, 30; harvest boys, 31; jiggers, 51, 173-4, 273; lice, 130, 173, 273; mosquito, 31, 51; pium, 30-31, 51, 173; sand-fly, 31; spiders, 51; ticks, 31, 273; wasps, 31, 130

Joyce, Thomas A., 238

Jurupari, 229, 231. _See also_ Dances

Koch-Grünberg, Dr., 46-7, 60, 77, 111, 121, 151, 159, 175, 188, 194, 198, 247, 251, 262, 275, 282

Language, Chapter XIX.; drum, 215-216, 253; gesture, 251; groups, 56, 57, 247

Manioc, 68, 104-5, 237-8; cultivation of, 104-5, 131; preparation of, 98-99, 131-4

Map--Witoto, 92-3

Markham, Sir Clements, 158

Marriage, 60-61, 66-7, 103, 159-67; arrangement of, 158, 159-60, 161; betrothal, 162; ceremonies, 160-164; fidelity in, 69, 166-7, 262

Medicine-man, 140, Chapter XIV., 273; dress of, 73, 95, 183; functions of, 151, 153, 168-9, 175, 185-6; influence of, 64; magic powers of, 172, 178, 179-81, 182, 183-4, 185, 186-7, 188-9, 224, 228, 232; poison made by, 144, 178-9; succession of, 181-2

Music, 207-8; instruments, 210-17; castanets, 213; drums, 204, 210, 214-17; signal drums, 192, 214-17, 253; flutes, 123, 192, 194, 195, 197, 204, 210, 211-12; pan-pipes, 192-3, 204, 210-211; rattles, 83, 64, 194, 195, 210, 213-14; trumpets, 211-12; whistles, 194, 212; Jurupari, 212-213

Names, 56, 244, 248; boys’ and girls’, 153; not mentioned, 57, 153-4, 220, 226-7, 280

Nery, Baron de Santa-Anna, 239

Ornaments, 76; beaded garlands, 79-80, 81, 191; beads, 79-80, 82-3, 213; bracelets, 82-3, 213; combs, 77-8; earrings, 85, 86, 275; feather head-dress, 75-6; feathers, 76-7, 83, 85, 86, 191; labret, 86; necklaces, 81, 82, 192; nose-pin, 86, 275; paint, 87, 192; scarification, 66; tattoo, 86, 87

Orton, James, 279, 280, 281

Palms, 30; _Aeta_, 26; _Astrocaryum_, 30; _Chambiri_, 97; edible varieties, 137; _Iriartea ventricosa_, 29

Poisons, 91, 111, 116-17, 168-9, 219, 259-260; preparation of, 144-5, 179

Proverbs, 259-60

Rainfall, 22

Reptiles, 33; anaconda, 184, 231; boa-constrictor, 36; frogs, 129; iguana, 129; lizard, 184; snakes, 129; fear of, 30

Rice, Hamilton, 97

Rivers, Dr. W. H. R., 237, 266

Rivers-- Acre, 11; Aiary, 198; Amazon, 17, 18, 20, 33; fascination of, 17, 205; scenery of, 25; soil of basin, 24-5; Apaporis, 10, 59; Avio Parana, 7, 8; black water streams, 19; Fue, 6; Igara Parana, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 18, 58; description of, 20; Ira, 58; Issa, 5, 17, 19, 24, 31, 58, 173; description of, 19, 22; fish in, 131; Issanna, 140; Japura, 6, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 33, 58, 70, 73; camp on, 5; scenery, 22; Kahuinari, 7, 11, 13, 31, 58; description of, 22; journey up, 5; Kara Parana, 18, 21; Kuemani, 58; Miriti, 74; Napo, 18, 24, 222; houses on, 44; trip up, 2; Negro, 18, 19, 104, 222; Papunya, 8, 20, 58; Tapajos, 113; Tauauru, 58; Tikie, 61; Uaupes, 18, 59, 91, 112; black water, 19; description of, 18-19; houses on, 46; proposed journey up, 1, 2, 13; Wama, 58; white water streams, 19

Robuchon, Eugene, 20, 31, 46, 65, 86, 88, 89, 99, 119, 122, 123, 163, 210, 270, 272; deserted by carriers, 7, 8; disappearance of, 5-12; dog “Othello,” 7, 8, 10, 11; last camp of, 9, 10; last message from, 8; previously lost, 11; relief expedition, 8, 11; survivors of, 6

Route, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13

Rubber-- Belt, 3, 4, 11, 40, 72, 80, 91, 101, 174, 257; gatherers, 2, 3, 48, 63-4

Simson, Alfred, 243, 250

Slaves, 5, 69-70, 124, 170, 263, 273. _See_ Tribes, Maku

Snuff, 143, 179

Songs, 190, 196-7, 199-201, 206-10; meaning of words lost, 190, 207-8

Spelling, 57, 248-9

Spines, 30, 35; used for combs, 77

Spirits, 92, Chapter XVII.; evil, 179, 185, 186, 218, 219-20, 223-5, 228-9, 233; Good, 218-19, 221, 223, 224-5, 226; appeared to man, 93, 221-3, 237-8; land of, 225-6; return of, 172, 176, 177, 182, 224-7; transmigratory, 224-5, 227-8

Spruce, Richard, 19, 32, 33, 99, 101, 128, 140, 188, 238, 240, 244, 280

Stone-- absence of, 20, 24, 94, 265; found at Chorrera, 21; axes, 94, 260; magic stones, 163, 184

Tabu, 90, 243; birth, 121; coca, 68, 105, 143, 152; food, 121, 135, 147-148, 152, 155, 243-4; medicine-man’s, 162; removal of, 180; tobacco, 68, 105, 143-4; women’s, 68, 105, 123, 135, 140, 143-4, 147-8, 165, 197, 212-13, 240, 244

Teeth, 275; necklaces of human, 81, 124; painted black, 88

Theft, 171

Tobacco, 104, 105, 187; ceremonial licking, 153, 163, 221, 259; drinking, 65-6, 179; not smoked, 143, 158; preparation of, 143-4. _See_ Tabu

Tobacco palaver, 46, 64, 65-6, 117, 165, 197, 222

Tobacco pot, 65, 144, 259

Trade, 61-2, 79, 91, 105-6, 108, 134, 144, 164, 217

Travelling in bush, 14, 15, 258-9; dress, 75; equipment, 15-16

Tree-climbing, method of, 106

Tribal Council, 65; house (_see_ Houses, Maloka); marks, 61, 66, 158; signals, 253; system, 62-5

Tribes, 54, 56, 57, 58, 256; localities changing, 59, 62 Aiary, 198 Akaroa, 247 Andoke, 132, 133, 157, 162, 231, 273; appearance of, 60, 269, 275; cannibals, 120; character, 257, 259, 277; chief, 5, 65; country of, 5, 58, 201; dress of, 78; language of, 14, 248; manufactures, 108; medicine-man, 73, 95, 178, 179, 182, 183, 184; ornaments, 88, 89; statistics, 59, 247 Apaporis, 74, 75, 116, 158, 175 Arekaine, 120 Arawak, 54 Auhishiri, 60 Bara, 59, 61, 108, 140, 157, 188, 282; statistics, 247 Boro, 55, 56, 71, 104, 112, 127, 132, 133, 152, 153, 154, 162, 178, 216, 276; appearance of, 58, 60, 61, 77, 269, 271, 274-5, 282; beliefs of, 230-31, 234; cannibals, 119; character, 277; chief, 63, 197; dances, 194, 199-201; dress, 75, 78, 83, 84; folk-tales, 221-2, 241-2, 244; houses, 44, 48; language, 14, 220, 221, 247, 248, 251, 252, 253, and Appendices; localities, 58; manufactures, 91, 96, 108; ornaments, 82, 85, 86; statistics, 59, 247; tribal marks, 87; tribes, 9, 11, 12, 62; women, 149 Botocudo, 129 Carib, 54 Catanixi, 101 Chepei, 6 Cobeu, 120 Coto, 58 Issa, 79, 124 Issanna, 140, 160 Japura, 59, 60, 75, 79, 116, 124 Jivaro, 115-16, 122, 158 Karahone, 55, 57, 61, 140, 174-5, 178; appearance, 269, 274, 282; character, 257-8, 259-60; dress, 74, 77; manufactures, 96; ornaments, 87; poisons made by, 91, 111, 118, 144, 168, 259-60; slave boy, 5, 273; statistics, 59, 62, 247; women, 80 Kuretu, 104, 139, 140, 147, 150, 164, 176, 226; appearance, 275, 281, 282; character, 60; country, 59, 75; dress, 75; houses, 48; language-group, 58-9; ornaments, 84, 86; statistics, 247 Maku, 60, 61, 257, 262; appearance, 269; country, 59, 70; slaves, 70 Makuna, country, 75; dress, 75, 77; houses, 44; ornaments, 86; statistics, 247 Menimehe, 10, 56, 61, 75, 115, 139, 140, 143, 144, 276; appearance, 273, 274, 283, 284; beehives made by, 51, 130; character, 11; country, 11, 58, 74; dress, 74, 76; language, 247, 248; monkeys kept by, 52; ornaments, 86; pottery, 62, 91, 95; shooting fish, 113; statistics, 59, 247; tribal marks, 61, 86, 158; weapons, 95, 115, 116, 117, 194; women, 10 Muenane, 56, 61, 235; appearance, 77, 282; character, 277; country, 8, 63, 201; dance, 201, 208-9; language, 247, 248; ornaments, 86, 275; statistics, 59, 247 Napo, 58, 60, 74, 76, 82, 85, 112, 113, 116, 140, 174, 175, 211, 217 Nonuya, 56; character, 277; chief, 63; country, 58, 63; dress, 76; houses, 44, 46; language, 248; statistics, 59, 247 Okaina, 56, 60, 99, 132, 188, 216, 235; appearance, 269, 275, 282; country, 56; dances, 194; dress, 81, 83; language, 248; ornaments, 89; statistics, 59, 247; tribes, 62 Opaina, 59; country, 74; dress, 75; statistics, 247 Orahone, country, 58; dress, 74; houses, 46; medicine-man, 73, 183; name, 58, 85; ornaments, 85, 88 Orahone, 60 Ouayana, 241 Pegua, 247 Piohe, 60 Resigero, 60, 61, 132; appearance, 274, 282, 283, 284; baskets for ants, 97; cannibals, 120; character, 277; chief, 63-4; country, 8, 58, 63, 201; dress, 77; language, 248; ornaments, 86; statistics, 59, 247 Rio Negro, 140, 221 Roucouyennes, 57 Saha, 247 Saka, 86 Tapajos, 113 Tikie, 61, 104, 111, 147, 159, 194, 247, 270, 274, 275 Tukana, 59, 61, 112, 135, 194, 195, 213, 234, 247, 270, 274, 275, 282 Tureka, 194 Turuka, 191, 194, 196 Tutapishco, 58 Tuyuka, 86, 143, 151, 254, 282; houses, 47 Uacarra, 161 Uaenambeu, 160 Uaupes, 59, 76, 85, 116, 140, 143, 188, 198, 244, 248 Umaua, 74, 247 Witoto, 54, 55, 56, 57, 61, 71, 104, 115, 126, 132, 133, 151, 152, 153, 162, 178, 211, 231, 235; appearance, 58, 60, 269, 270, 271, 274, 282; arts, 92, 93; character, 277; country, 58; dance, 209-10; dress, 76, 63, 84; fishing, 112, 113; houses, 44, 46, 48; language, 14, 72, 220, 221, 248, 250, 251, 252, 253; language-group, 56, 247; manufactures, 91; ornaments, 82, 86, 88, 89; statistics, 59, 60, 62, 247; tribes, 6, 62, 93; tree venerated by, 233; women, 3, 149, 155, 223, 260, 275 Yahabana, 84, 86 Yahua, 247 Yahuna, 10, 116, 143, 194, 247 Yakuna, 86 Yuri, 56, 247 Zaparo, 226

Tylor, E. B., 152, 264

Vampires, 51-2

Vegetable life, 24-5, 26, 104, 130, 131

von Martius, Dr., 57, 264

Wallace, Dr. Russell, 1, 19, 44, 46, 60, 91, 101, 121, 134, 158, 160, 161, 197, 240, 275, 280

War, 61, 62, 117-19; blood feuds, 61; causes, 61; dance, 203-5; defensive, 5, 14, 118; dress, 74; preparations for, 5, 185; prisoners in, 118-19, 120-21, 159-60; strategy, 117

Waterton, Charles, 181

Weapons, 16, 115; arrows and darts, 109, 115-17, 145; blow-pipes, 91, 107, 108-9; club, 115, 116, 194; fish-spears, 113; guns, 91, 115; javelins, 111, 113, 115, 116, 145; shields, 115, 119; swords, 115, 116, 260; traps, 110-11, 118

Women, 47, 51, 67-9, 195; behaviour of, 262; duties and work of, 90-91, 95, 96, 97, 98, 102, 134, 173-4, 263; mothers, 147-55; physical traits, 271-2, 282; position of, 135, 159-160, 161, 164-5, 166, 240; prostitutes, 159-60, 167; widows, 167

THE END

End of Project Gutenberg's The North-West Amazons, by Thomas Whiffen