TRIBES OF SOUTHERN BRAZIL. 77 



the Lesser Antilles, still exist in a variety of tribes from the 

 mouth of the Amazons to Lake Maracaybo. They are distin- 

 guished by an almost athletic stature, by a stately demeanour, 

 and an intense national pride, for, remembering the times when 

 they overran a considerable part of South America, they still 

 consider themselves as a superior race. When a Carib enters 

 the hut of another Indian he does not wait till food is offered 

 him, but, looking round with a haughty mien, seizes what pleases 

 him best, as if it were his own by right. Arrogant and tyran- 

 nical towards strangers, he is equally so towards his wives, and 

 it would be difficult to find a Carib woman who does not show 

 in numerous scars and wounds the marks of her husband's bru- 

 tality. 



In point of intelligence, the Caribs are surpassed by no other 

 Indians. They are excellent orators, and the earnest dignified 

 manner in which they deliver their speeches shows them to be 

 capable of a high degree of civilisation. 



Among the tribes of Southern Brazil the Botocudos, who in- 

 habit the primeval forests on the banks of the rivers Pardo, 

 Doce, and Belmonte, are the most remarkable. The custom of 

 piercing the ears and underlip for the purpose of inserting some 

 ornament is found among many other nations, both of the Old 

 and the New World, but nowhere is it carried to such an excess 

 as among the Botocudos. At an early age pieces of round light 

 wood, first small and gradually larger, are inserted into the 

 apertures, until at length the ears almost reach down to the 

 shoulders, and the lip, distended into a narrow rim, is made to 

 project to a distance of seven or eight inches. At a later age, 

 when the muscular fibres begin to lose their elasticity, it hangs 

 down, and as, in consequence of the pressure of the wood, the 

 front teeth soon fall out, it is hardly possible to conceive any- 

 thing more hideous than a face thus artificially deformed. 

 To add, probably, to their beauty, these savages shave their hair 

 so as to leave but a small crown or tuft on the top of the head. 

 The wourali is not in use among them, but their enormous 

 bows and long sharp arrows render them formidable to their 

 neighbours. A Botocudo, with his sharp eye and muscular arm, 

 accustomed from infancy to the use of these murderous 

 weapons, is indeed a greater object of terror in the gloomy im- 

 pervious forest than the jaguar or the snake. When a horde, 



