AECHIDONIxVNS. 273 



' feminine appearance. The women in both form and fea- 

 ture are, as Dr. Jameson observes, inferior to the men. 

 Darwin remarks the same in spealdng of the personal 

 appearance of the Tahitian women. The only clothing 

 of the men consists of a narrow cloth about their waist, 

 and a light poncho, both of a coarse cotton manufacture, 

 obtained from Quito. This dress is especially becoming 

 to the little boys, who, with delicately-formed limbs, 

 painted a deep red with annotto {Bixa orellana)^ and 

 with every movement natural and unrestrained, are really 

 interesting ; and, often, the charming simplicity of these 

 children of the forest is graceful and winning. A life freer 

 from care than that led by these Indians can hardly 

 be conceived. To supply their wants they have only to 

 gather the fruit of the palm and the plantain, or secure 

 with their j)oisoned arrows game from the surrounding 

 forest. Far removed from moroseness, their disposition 

 is cheerful and active. Their minds, however, are unable 

 to grasp abstract ideas, and seem scarcely susceptible of 

 cultivation — a fact well attested by the padres, who have 

 labored among them for two hundred years, yet with no 

 perceptible results beyond keeping them docile. We could 

 not but think that should these assiduous and self-denying 

 teachers adopt the method pursued by our own mission- 

 aries in fields quite as unpromising, and teach these In- 

 dians the virtue of industry, to cultivate the rich soil, 

 manufacture fabrics from the productions of their virgin 

 forest, and encourage them to secure for themselves the 

 comforts of civilized life, their success in developing and 

 training their spiritual nature might be commensurate 

 with their untiring and praiseworthy zeal. 



While at Archidona we were quite successful in in- 

 creasing our collections. We were assisted in our work 

 by the Indian boys, who, as soon as they got an idea of 

 what we wanted, brought us large numbers of insects, 



