284 Dr Hancock on the Red Figment 



Caribs over all Guiana. Very little, however, reaches the 

 eastern shore, unless by the way of the Orinooko. 



The fracture of this substance is smooth, of a soft cochineal 

 crimson shade, diffusible, but insoluble, in water, unless by 

 heat, which I have not tried. When once fired, it burns with- 

 out flame until completely incinerated, leaving a grey cinder, 

 nearly equal in bulk to the portion burnt. This cinder is quite 

 insipid, containing, it seems, little or no alkali ; and is probably 

 a combustible substance, combined with an earthy base. 



The Carucru or Chica is an article in great demand amongst 

 the interior Indians as an ornamental paint. They employ it 

 chiefly as a pigment for the face, while they stain the other 

 parts of the body with Arnotta. They also apply the carucru 

 on the cheeks and about the eyes, and variegate the countenance 

 by marking the forehead, and along the facial line, with their 

 coomazu, a yellow clay or ochre which is abundantly found near 

 the residence of the Carib chief Manarawa. — This manner of 

 painting produces a singular and striking contrast, and gives 

 them a very strange and furious appearance. 



From the scarcity of this pigment, however, its employment 

 is almost exclusively confined to their chiefs and higher orders, 

 their nobility. The rest must be contented to decorate their 

 persons with Arnotta or Poncer mixed with the oil of Carapa, a 

 portion of which, with the balsam of Aracousiri (from a species 

 of Amyris), mixed with these paints, imparts to them a very 

 fragrant and agreeable odour. — The toilet, therefore, of these 

 rude tribes is simple as their manners and mode of life, their 

 chief material being perfume, and all being carried in a little 

 gourd. 



It is not a little extraordinary that such a species of manufac- 

 ture as this would be carried on by such a tribe, like those of 

 the interior of Guiana. It seems to indicate, at least, that great 

 advantages are derivable from it, since they are such as to fix 

 the attention of savages. I am not aware that indigo was 

 found prepared by the Indians of America. 



a ti-ansparent varnish. These Cassada graters are scarcely, if" at all, known 

 on the coast, or in the European settlements ; and those who may hereaflev 

 visit these parts will do weU to inciuire after this manufactory. 

 1 



