8/8 nieuhoff's brazil. 



make alfo a kind of bracelets of the rind of the fruit Aguay ; thefe they wear round 

 their legs, and make a noife when they are dancing. Their fhoes are made of the 

 bark Kuragua, and call them Miapakabas. Some nations of the Tapoyers ufe no bows 

 or arrows, but throw their darts with their hands, but the Kariri have bows. Their clubs 

 are made of very hard wood, are broad, on the top, and full of teeth or bones, well 

 Iharpened at the end. Round the handle they wind a piece of calico, or fome other 

 ftuff, and at the end a bufli of feathers of the tail of the bird Arara ; fuch another 

 bulh is faftened round the middle ; they call them Atirabebe and Jatirabebe. Their 

 trumpets, which they Kanguenka, are made of men's bones ; but thofe called Nhum- 

 bugaku, which are much larger, are of horn ; they have alfo another fort made of 

 cane, called Meumbrapara. The Tapoyers are not fo good foldiers as the reft of the 

 Brazilians, for upon any fmart encounter they truft to their feet, and run away with 

 incredible fwiftnefs. They neither fow nor plant, not as much as the mandioka root, 

 their common food being fruits, roots, herbs, and wild beafts, and fometimes wild 

 honey, which they take out of the hollow trees. Among all other roots they are ex- 

 tremely fond of a certain kind of wild mandioka root, which rifes up to the height 

 of a fmall tree. Its ftem and leaves refemble the other mandioka root, but it is not 

 near fo good ; the inland Brazilians call it Cugua9uremiaj but thofe inhabiting near 

 the fea-fhore Cua9umandiiba. 



They eat alfo men's flefli ; for -if a woman happens to mifcarry, they eat the child im- 

 mediately, alledging that they cannot beftow a better grave upon it than the belly, from 

 whence it came. The Tapoyers lead a kind of vagabond life, like fome of the Arabians, 

 though they always remain within their certain bounds, within the compafs of which 

 they change their habitations according to the different feafons of the year j they dwell 

 for the moft part among the woods, and live upon hunting, in which perhaps they ex- 

 cel all other nations ; for they will flioot a bird flying with their arrows. So foon as a 

 woman has conceived, fhe abftains from her hufband ; after Ihe is brought to bed, fhe 

 goes into the next wood, where fhe cuts the child's navel ftring, with a fhell, boils it 

 afterwards with the after-burthen, and eats them both. She wafhes herfelf and the 

 child every morning and evening, neither does her hufband keep her company, as long 

 as fhe gives fuck, unlefs he has but one wife. If a woman be difcovered to have had 

 an~ unlawful commerce with another man, her hufband turns her away, but if they are 

 catched in the aQ:, he may kill them both. The mothers take extraordinary care that the 

 nuptials of their daughters are not confummated until after they have had their monthly 

 times, which they give notice of to their phyficians, and thefe to the king, who then gives 

 them. licence to go to bed with the bridegroom, who pays his acknowledgement to her 

 mother, for the care fhe has taken of her daughter. If a young maiden be marriageable, 

 and yet not courted by any, the mother paints her with fome red colour about the eyes, 

 and thus carries her to the king, who orders her to fit down near him upon a carpet, and 

 blows the fmoak of tobacco in her face *. For the refl of the Tapoyers, are the worfl 

 of all the other Brazilians, being ignorant of any thing that relates to God or religion ; 

 neither will they receive any inftruftion of that kind. They have certain priefts or ra- 

 ther forcerers, who pretend to foretel things to come, and to raife fpirits, which they 

 fay appear to them in the fhape of a fly, or any fuch like infe6t : when thefe fpirits dif- 

 appear, the women make mofl horrible cries and lamentations, in which confifls the 

 main point of their devotion : they avoid night-journeys, for fear of ferpents and othey 

 venomous creatures, neither will they fet on a journey until the dew be dried up by the 



* A very iadelicate pafTage is omitted. 



fun- 



