18S8.] 1 * ^ [Braii'icr. 



mcnts, that ■vvhcn one of them gets the flesh-band broken, she patclies the 

 ends together with strings that she may not be without her ornamenis. 

 This breaking and mending are shown in illustrations 4, 5 and 7, while 

 in 3 and 6 the bands are shown unbroken. Lery says they used to take 

 the plugs from these openings and thrust their tongues through them in 

 order to give the impression that they had two mouths. He adds : " I leave 

 3'ou to judge whether they are handsome in this act." One cannot help 

 thinking that St. Hilaire was in a waggish mood when he wrote of these 

 people that "ils se distinguentsurtout par une physionomie plusouverte" 

 than the other Indians of Minas.* The use of these heavy lip-ornaments 

 appears to have affected the language of these people, for it is remarkably 

 guttural and nasal, and has no labial sounds. 



When the ear-rings or ear-plugs are lost or removed, the bands of 

 flesh dangle near the shoulders, as may be seen in 2 and 8, and are, on ac- 

 count of the danger of being broken or torn when thus left exposed, gen- 

 erally looped over the tops of the ears. This is shown in 3, 6 and 7. In 4 

 the ear-opening is not fashionably large. The lip and ear-ornaments of 

 South American Indians are not always made of plain wood and in this 

 bungling, bottle-stopper shape, the custom varying more or less among 

 the widely scattered tribes. Some of them use pendants smaller in diam- 

 eter, but of greater length, while some of them are made with the greatest 

 care, and of the most beautiful stones. In the Museu Nacional at Rio de 

 Janeiro are many of these more beautiful lip and ear ornaments made of 

 beryl, jade, serpentine, quartz, clay and wood.f Bigg- Wither figures one 

 large spindle-shaped lip-ornament from Southern Brazil weighing a 

 quarter of a pound.:}: 



The use of these monstrous plugs is gradually dying out among the 

 Botocudus. It is to be noticed, even in these illustrations, that the younger 

 members of the tribe do not wear them, and in the case of number 10 the 

 young woman wears ear-pendants very like those used among the more 

 civilized races of the present day. 



No. 9 is introduced to show the method used by the people to carry 

 children. The same method is employed in carrying other burdens. It 

 shows also the method of wearing the dress, which is usually nothing 

 more than a strip of cloth, but which is sometimes sewed together at the 

 ends. 



Under the encroaching influences of civilization, the savage customs of 

 these tribes are gradually disappearing. 



*Southey's History of Brazil, Vol. li, p. 151. 



t Archives do Museu Nacional, Vol. vi, 1885, Plate viii. 



tOp. cit.,p.U2. 



