Branner.] i*^ [Nov. 16, 



Wither,* Professor Harttf and others, but nowhere have such carefully- 

 made drawings been published of them as the accompanying, for none of 

 the illustrations give any idea of the true features of these people. The 

 photographs from which these are made were taken by M. Marc Ferrez, 

 of Rio de Janeiro, in 1876, when he was employed as the photographer 

 on the Brazilian Geological Survey. A leveling rod (metric system) was 

 placed beside the subject in some cases for the purpose of affording an 

 approximate measure. The short horizontal bands running part of the 

 way across the rod are one centimetre wide. 



These Indians live near the Rio Doce, about three hundred miles north- 

 east of Rio de Janeiro. They are, or were but a short time ago, savages, 

 and were formerly regarded as the most ferocious and intractable of all 

 Brazil.:]: They wear but little clothing ; their hair is very black and coarse, 

 and their color a light mulatto. The women do not allow their hair to 

 grow upon any part of the bod}'' except the head, and in the illustrations 

 it may be noticed that they have no eyebrows, the hairs all having been 

 pulled out. The children are dirt-eaters. 



One of the most striking habits of these people is shown in the pictures 

 — the wearing in the lips and ears as ornaments of great plugs resembling 

 big, broad bottle-stoppers. As far as these pictures show the custom, the 

 ear-plugs seem to be worn by both men and women, but only the women 

 appear to wear them in the lips. The accounts given by Maximilien show 

 that this custom was not so restricted at the time of his visit in 1836. 



The openings for these ornaments (for that of course is what they are 

 meant to be) are made by first piercing the ear or lip of the child when 

 seven or eight years old with a small thorn or wooden spit of some kind, 

 just as the ears are pierced nowadays among some civilized people, and a 

 small stick is inserted in the opening. In a short time a larger stick is in- 

 serted, and as the opening yields to pressure, still larger sticks or plugs 

 are used until the desired size is attained. 



The lip ornament is made of a light kind of wood, is usually about two 

 inches across (Prince Maximilien measured one over four inches in diam- 

 eter), thi'ee-quarters of an inch thick, and with a groove about it in which 

 the flesh-band fits, holding it in place. The lips of the younger people 

 stand out at right angles or are somewhat elevated at the exterior margin, 

 but with age the muscles relax, the openings enlarge, and the lips dangle. 

 When the wearer smiles broadly the projecting ornament rises, and if it 

 fits tightly, strikes the end of the nose. This ornament is worn almost 

 all the time, though it is occasionally taken out. When these lip-plugs 

 are removed the loops of flesh hang down in the most ungraceful manner 

 imaginable, and are often torn out in the family jars that occur even in 

 savage life. So great is the attachment of the women to their lip-orna- 



* Pioneering in South Brazil, by Thomas Bigg-Wither, Vol. ii. 



t Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil, by Cli. Fred. Hartt. Appendix, p. 

 577 et seq. 

 JSouthey's History of Brazil. 



