6iO THE MUNDURUCUS. 



of the Tapajos are the Mundurucus. They are noted for tattoo- 

 ing their bodies more completely than any other tribe. The 

 whole body is covered with straight lines in diagonal patterns 

 from the mouth ' downwards, the upper part being left free. 

 Some of the women, whose bodies are ornamented in the 

 same fashion, have lines round their eyes, which look as if 

 they were intended to represent a pair of spectacles. Even 

 these marks, however, do not destroy the soft drooping look 

 of the eyes common to Indian women. The countenances of 

 some of the men are fine ; the face, bold, solid, and square, 

 possessing a passive dignity, with a look of tranquillity which 

 appears immovable. 



The more elaborate style of tattooing is only practised by 

 the chiefs, as a mark of their birth and rank. It requires ten 

 years to complete the whole process. The colour is intro- 

 duced by fine puncturings over the surface a painful pro- 

 cess, which causes swelling and inflammation. 



They are among the most warlike Indians of the Amazon, 

 and keep the neighbouring and less civilized tribes on their 

 good behaviour. They are expert agriculturists, and construct 

 canoes and hammocks. They generally make a foray every 

 year on an adjoining tribe, the Parentintins, when they 

 kill the men, whose heads they preserve by drying and smok- 

 ing, while they take the women and children for slaves. They 

 have regular villages of conical huts, the walls and frame- 

 work filled in with mud and thatched with palm-leaves. In 

 the centre is a large hut in which the fighting men sleep, with 

 their weapons ready for use. It is ornamented within with 

 the dried heads of their enemies. They have of late years 

 greatly decreased in numbers. 



Some thirty tiibcs or families are found on the River Uapcs. 



