Ch. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 395 



they make a jest of other nations, calHng them cala- 

 bash heads. 



Ix Older to give children thisheautiful flatness, the 

 upper part of the head is put, soon after the birth, 

 betwixt two pieces of board ; and repeated, from time 

 to time, till they have brought it to tiie fashionable 

 form. 



Another nation of these Indians, affecting a stri^ 

 king appearance, makesevcralh'v)lts in both their up- 

 per and under lips, boih sides of the cartilage of their 

 nose, their chins, and jaws : and in these they sticks 

 finefeathers, or little arrows, eight or nineinches long. 

 The reader's own imagination will sulhciently paint 

 the strange appearance they nmst make M'ith these de- 

 corations. Others place a great beauty in long ears ; 

 and accordingly extend them by art to such a degree, 

 that in some the inferix)r lobe touches the shoulder : 

 and they value themselves on the nickname of loug 

 ears, which has been given them in ridicule. The 

 method they make use of to extend their ears, is this: 

 they bore a hole in the lobe, and fasten to it a small 

 weight, which they from time to time increase, till 

 the ear is stretched to nearly the length above-men- 

 tioned : and as the lobe increases in length, so likewise 

 docs it in magnitude. Others paint 'lOme parts of their 

 bodies ; some the whole. All have something peculiar 

 in their modes and customs, but generally of such a 

 nature, that Europeans wonder how they could ever 

 enter the thoughts of rational creatures*. 



After describing this great river, and giving an 

 account of the villages and nations near its banks, I 

 shall proceed to some other particularities relating to 

 it ; as the extraordinary species of fish found in its 

 M'aters, and likewise the birds and other animals seen in 

 the adjacent countries through which it flows. Among 



* Another remarkable custom is, tliat of their tying their privities 

 in a bladder before they go into the v.ater. A. 



the 



