106 Inasmuch 



ing them to turn to this account whatever 

 frippery they can become possessed of ; so that the 

 thimbles, for example, which they procure from 

 the company are seen dangling at the end of 

 long thin braids of hair which hang from the men s 

 foreheads: some have feathers stuck into their 

 hair, and these, perhaps, bent into an imitation 

 of horns, with others appended to resemble the 

 ears of an animal. Many have their faces painted, 

 all the lower part of the visage being perfectly 

 black, and the eyes encircled with bright ver- 

 million: but it would be impossible to describe 

 the varieties of their costume, or their fantastic 

 decorations; and there they sit, or rather squat, 

 smoking and basking in the sun the live-long day, 

 sunk in an indolence from which nothing seems to 

 rouse them; but the excitement of war, or of the 

 chase. Every species of labour and drudgery, in 

 the meantime, is thrown entirely upon the women, 

 and if an Indian travels on foot with his family, 

 all the load which is to be carried is consigned to 

 the back of his wife or wives; for he does not 

 always content himself with one. We were par 

 ticularly struck with the appearance of one 

 savage, who, squatting, with his whole figure 

 in a heap, upon the point of a projecting rock 

 which overhung the river, perfectly naked and 

 perfectly motionless, staring down upon us out of 

 the hair which buried his head and covered his 

 shoulders, looked like some hideous idol of the 

 East. 



&quot;It was Saturday. If it could only be possible 



