3o8 TRAVELS through 



that their head lies three or four inches lower 

 than the reft of the body, therefore you never 

 fee any contrafled or hump-backed people 

 amongft them. The women leave the huts in 

 their catamenia, which the Indians call marks 

 of valour. During that time, they are obliged 

 to prepare their own meat and drink, and they 

 do not return among men, till they are tho- 

 roughly purified. The Indians believe, that if 

 they come near a woman in that ftate, they 

 would fall fick, and that if they went to war af- 

 ter it, they would have bad luck. 



Though the Indians only value themfelves 

 upon their origin from the fide of the women, 

 yet the latter are not allowed to correfb the 

 boys •, they have only an authority over their 

 daughters. If a mother lliould ftrike her fon, 

 fhe would be reprimanded and ftruck again ; but 

 if the boy difobcys her, Ihe muft bring him 

 to an old man, who inflidls a puniflimcnt 

 on him, and then throws fome frefh water over 

 his body. 



If a woman commits an infidelity, (he muft 



' j>afs through the meadow^ i. e. all the young men, 



and fometimes even the old ones, fatisfy their 



brutality on her, by turns. Such is the puniih- 



