3^6 ON THE ABORIGINES 



only turning grey with extreme old age. The men do not cut 

 their hair, but gather it behind into a long tail, bound round 

 with cord, and hanging down to the middle of the back, and 

 often to the thighs ; the hair of the women hangs loose 

 down their backs, and is cut to a moderate length. The men 

 have very little beard, and that little they eradicate by pulling 

 it out ; men and women also eradicate the hair of the eyebrows, 

 the arm-pits, and the private parts. The colour of the skin is 

 a light, uniform, glossy reddish-brown. 



They are an agricultural people, having a permanent abode, 

 and cultivating mandiocca (Jatropha Manihot\ sugar-cane 

 (Saccharum officinarum), sweet potatoes (Convolvulus Batatas\ 

 carra, or yam (Dioscorea sp.), pupunha palms (Guilielma 

 speciosd)) cocura (a fruit like grapes), pine-apples \Ananassa 

 sativa\ maize ( 2ba Mays), urucu or arnotto (Bixa Orelland), 

 plantains and bananas (Musa sp.), abios (Lucuma Caimito)^ 

 cashews (Anacardium occidentale), inga*s (Ingti, sp.), peppers 

 (Capsicum sp.), tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum\ and plants for 

 dyes and cordage. All, even in the most remote districts, have 

 now iron axes and knives, though the stone axes which they 

 formerly used are still to be found among them. The men 

 cut down the trees and brushwood, which, after they have lain 

 some months to dry, are burnt; and the mandiocca is then 

 planted by the women, together with little patches of cane, 

 sweet potatoes, and various fruits. The women also dig up 

 the mandiocca, and prepare from it the bread which is their 

 main subsistence. The roots are brought home from the field 

 in large baskets called aturas, made of a climber, and only 

 manufactured by these tribes; they are then washed and 

 peeled, this last operation being generally performed with the 

 teeth, after which they are grated on large wooden graters 

 about three feet long and a foot wide, rather concave, and 

 covered all over with small sharp pieces of quartz, inserted in 

 a regular diagonal pattern. These graters are an article of 

 trade in all the Upper Amazon, as they are cheaper than the 

 copper graters used in other parts of Brazil. The pulp is 

 placed to drain on a large sieve made of the bark of a water- 

 plant. It is then put into a long elastic cylinder made of the 

 outer rind, or bark, of a climbing palm, a species of Desmoncus : 

 this is filled with the half-dry pulp, and, being hung on a cross- 

 beam between two posts, is stretched by a lever, on the further 



