224 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



misfortune in a country where they could not be replaced. 

 The pasturage was poor, and it was impossible to make 

 long marches with our weakened animals. 



At one camp three Nhambiquaras paid us a visit at 

 breakfast-time. They left their weapons behind them be- 

 fore they appeared, and shouted loudly while they were 

 still hid by the forest, and it was only after repeated an- 

 swering calls of welcome that they approached. Always 

 in the wilderness friends proclaim their presence; a silent 

 advance marks a foe. Our visitors were men, and stark 

 naked, as usual. One seemed sick; he was thin, and his 

 back was scarred with marks of the grub of the loathsome 

 berni fly. Indeed, all of them showed scars, chiefly from 

 insect wounds. But the other two were in good condition, 

 and, although they ate greedily of the food offered them, 

 they had with them a big mandioc cake, some honey, 

 and a little fish. One of them wore a high helmet of 

 puma-skin, with the tail hanging down his back — hand- 

 some head-gear, which he gladly bartered for several strings 

 of bright coral-red beads. Around the upper arms of two 

 of them were bands bound so tightly as to cut into and 

 deform the muscles — a singular custom, seemingly not only 

 purposeless but mischievous, which is common among this 

 tribe and many others. 



The Nhambiquaras are a numerous tribe, covering a 

 large region. But they have no general organization. Each 

 group of families acts for itself. Half a dozen years pre- 

 viously they had been very hostile, and Colonel Rondon 

 had to guard his camp and exercise every precaution to 

 guarantee his safety, while at the same time successfully 

 endeavoring to avoid the necessity of himself shedding 



