THE CAINGUA OF PARAGUAY. 401 



of war on a supreme chief, and in time of war, too, has under his 

 orders a series of officers bearing the titles of teniente (or lieutenant), 

 sarjente (sergeant), and cabogrades (corporal). But in time of 

 peace these grades imply no authority. The whites inspire a respect- 

 ful fear in them, and while in their relations with us — which they 

 rather avoid having — they behave honestly, the honesty is the result 

 of dread of the white man's presence. 



Recognizing the value of the protection of the white man, they 

 would more frequently have recourse to him for defense against the 

 Tupi, but that they would have to pay for that protection by the 

 servitude into which they would fall. Now they avoid, the white 

 man too, and it is only the desire of exchanging labor for objects of 

 prime necessity that prompts them to give their services in the collec- 

 tion of yerba or mate, and the getting out of building timber. 



Their tapuis or villages are situated in the depth of the forest in 

 a clearing, or on its edge near a stream. When they are a short dis- 

 tance from a navigable river, the people make a path that leads to 

 the place on the shore where the canoe used in fishing is moored. 

 These villages generally contain only a very limited number of 

 families, each of which has its own house. At a shorter or longer 

 distance away, in an artificial clearing, are small plantations of 

 manioc, yams, and maize, which are reached by paths cut through 

 the thicket. 



The house of the Caingua is smaller, but better built, than the 

 Paraguayan ranch. The frame of roughly hewn trunks of trees 

 supports a thatched roof and bamboo walls covered with a layer of 

 mud mixed with plant stalks. These houses have no windows; the 

 low and narrow roof is usually furnished with a large palm leaf as a 

 portiere. The floor of the cabin is made of beaten earth, and the 

 furnishings are simple and rude. A single piece of furniture that 

 is never wanting is the tatou, a kind of seat made out of a rudely 

 shaped piece of wood which in form resembles the animal (the arma- 

 dillo) after which it is named. 



The Caingua have no beds, but usually sleep on the ground. 

 The few hammocks they have, formed of a bundle of leathern strips 

 bound together by transverse knots, are considered objects of luxury 

 reserved for the men. Antonio, a young Indian whose guest we 

 were for about five days, found it quite natural to rest in the ham- 

 mock from fancied fatigues, while his poor little wife, hardly a dozen 

 years old, lay upon the bare ground at a nearly freezing temperature, 

 although she was in a delicate condition. Some bamboo bundles, 

 set a short distance above the ground, were not beds, like those we 

 saw among the Toba Indians in the Chaco, but supports on which 

 provisions were piled in anticipation of the heavy rains. Large 



TOL. LII. — 30 



