GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 611 



The men wear their hair in a long tail hanging down the 

 middle of the back, while the women wear it loose, and cut 

 to a moderate length. The only dress worn by the men is a 

 small piece of matting passed between the legs, and secured 

 round the loins by a string. The women wear none what- 

 ever, but paint their bodies in regular patterns, generally red, 

 yellow, and black colours. The only ornament worn by the 

 women is a bracelet on the wrist ; while below the knee a 

 garter is fastened from infancy, for the purpose of swelling 

 out the calf. 



The men, however, adorn themselves in a variety of ways. 

 Their hair is carefully parted and combed on each side. The 

 young men, especially, wear it in long locks on either side of 

 their necks, with a comb stuck on the top of the head their 

 feminine appearance being greatly increased by the large 

 necklaces and bracelets of beads which they wear, and by 

 their custom of pulling out every particle of hair from their 

 beard. As these feminine -looking warriors always carry 

 their large shields before them, it was but natural, when the 

 Spaniards saw them, or other tribes similarly adorned, that 

 they should have supposed them to be women. When, also, 

 they saw in the distance parties of unadorned persons carry- 

 ing burdens, they took them to be slaves captured in war. 

 This, no doubt, was the origin of the fable of nations of 

 Amazons found on the banks of the river. 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 



Sometimes these natives wear circlets of parrot and other 

 gay feathers on their heads, as well as armlets and leg orna- 

 ments of the same materials. Some of these tribes have the 

 horrible custom of baking the bodies of their dead after they 



