318 The Axdes and the A^iazox. . 



The Mundumcus are the most numerous and warlike 

 tribe in Amazonia. They inhabit both banks of the Ta- 

 pajos, and can muster, it is said, 2000 fighting men. They 

 are friendly to the whites, and industrious, selling to trad- 

 ers large quantities of farina, sarsaparilla, rubber, and 

 tonka beans. Their houses are conical or quadrangular 

 huts, sometimes open sheds, and generally contam many 

 families. According to Wallace, the Mundurucus are the 

 only perfectly tattooed nation in South America. It takes 

 at least ten years to complete the tattooing of the whole 

 person. The skin is pricked with spines, and then the soot 

 from burning pitch rubbed in. Their neighbors, the 

 Pararauates, are intractable, wandering savages, roaming 

 through the forest and sleeping in hammocks shmg to the 

 trees. They have delicately-formeft hands and feet, an 

 oval face, and glistening black eyes. On the west side of 

 the Tapajos, near Yilla Nova, are the Mauhes, an agricul- 

 tural tribe, well formed, and of a mild disposition. On 

 the Lower Madeira are the houseless, formidable Araras, 

 who paint their chins red with achote (anatto), and usually 

 have a black tattooed streak on eacli side of the face. 

 They have long made the navigation of the great tributary 

 hazardous. Above them dwell the Farentintms, light col- 

 ored and finely featured, but nude and savage. In the 

 labyrinth of lakes and channels at the mouth of the Ma- 

 deira live the laz}^, brutal Muras, the most degraded tribe 

 on the Amazon. They have a darker skin than their neigh- 

 bors, an extraordinary breadth of chest, muscular arms, 

 short legs, protuberant abdomens, a thin beard, and a bold, 

 restless expression. They pierce the lips, and wear peccari 

 tusks in them in time of war. The Indians on the Purus 

 live generally on the commimal principle, and are unwar- 

 like and indolent. The Puru-puriis bury in sandy beaches, 

 go naked, and have one wife. 



