94 CHEEK-SMELLING INDIANS 



I called the lady's attention to her dog's action, and 

 she said it reminded her of a little sister when they 

 were young girls together. Her sister's sense of smell 

 was curiously acute, and when they would come in 

 from a walk and saw a lot of hats hanging on the 

 hat-rack, her little sister would take them down one 

 by one to smell them, and by smelling them identified 

 the visitors. 



Napier Bell, in his Tangwera, the autobiographical 

 account of his early life with the Mosquito Indians 

 in South America, relates that after all the men of 

 the village had been absent some days on a fishing 

 or trading expedition, on their return they would be 

 received with demonstrations of delight and affection 

 by their women. They would embrace and smell 

 one another's cheeks, first one cheek then the other; 

 but they never kissed. He also gives translations of 

 some of their songs of love and affection, in which, 

 in speaking of the loved one, they always mention 

 the nice or pleasant smell of the skin: " I remember 

 the smell of your cheek," and so on. 



It must be noted that the attractive smell was not 

 that of the odour glands in a woman's mouth, since 

 they never kissed, but was, as they said in their 

 songs, the pleasant smell of the skin of the cheeks. 

 They were then, we see, distinctly conscious of the 

 smell, and it need not be considered a fanciful 

 conclusion that the temper, the feeling of love 

 and affection at certain times, gave the agreeable 

 character to it. 



Another equally important fact bearing on the 



