402 EXCURSIONS BEYOND EGA. Chap VI. 



idle and debauched than other Indians belonging to 

 the superior tribes. They are not so warlike and loyal 

 as the Mundurucus, although resembling them in many 

 respects, nor have they the slender figures, dignified 

 mien, and gentle disposition of the Passes ; there are, 

 however, no trenchant points of difference to distinguish 

 them from these highest of all the tribes. Both men 

 and women are tattooed, the pattern being sometimes a 

 scroll on each cheek, but generally rows of short straight 

 lines on the face. Most of the older people wear 

 bracelets, anklets and garters of tapir-hide or tough 

 bark ; in their homes they wear no other dress except 

 on festival days, when they ornament themselves with 

 feathers or masked cloaks made of the inner bark of a 

 tree. They were very shy when I made my first visits 

 to their habitations in the forest, all scampering off to 

 the thicket when I approached, but on subsequent days 

 they became more familiar, and I found them a harm- 

 less, good-natured people. 



A great part of the horde living at the first Maloca 

 or village dwell in a common habitation, a large oblong 

 hut built and arranged inside with such a disregard 

 of all symmetry, that it appeared as though constructed 

 by a number of hands each working independently, 

 stretching a rafter or fitting in a piece of thatch, with- 

 out reference to what his fellow-labourers were doing. 

 The Avails as well as the roof are covered with thatch 

 of palm-leaves ; each piece consisting of leaflets plaited 

 and attached in a row to a lath many feet in length. 

 Strong upright posts support the roof, hammocks being 

 slung between them, leaving a free space for passage 



