ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND 235 



huts were flimsy shelters of palm-branches. Yet they were 

 in fine condition. Half a dozen of the men and a couple 

 of boys accompanied Kermit back to our camp, paying no 

 slightest heed to the rain which was falling. They were 

 bold and friendly, good-natured — at least superficially — ■ 

 and very inquisitive. In feasting, the long reeds thrust 

 through holes in their lips did not seem to bother them, 

 and they laughed at the suggestion of removing them; 

 evidently to have done so would have been rather bad 

 manners — like using a knife as an aid in eating ice-cream. 

 They held two or three dances, and we were again struck 

 by the rhythm and weird, haunting melody of their chant- 

 ing. After supper they danced beside the camp-fire; and 

 finally, to their delight, most of the members of our own 

 party, Americans and Brazilians, enthusiastically joined 

 the dance, while the colonel and I furnished an apprecia- 

 tive and applauding audience. Next morning, when we 

 were awakened by the chattering and screaming of the 

 numerous macaws, parrots, and parakeets, we found that 

 nearly all the Indians, men and women, were gathered 

 outside the tent. As far as clothing was concerned, they 

 were in the condition of Adam and Eve before the fall. 

 One of the women carried a little squirrel monkey. She 

 put it up the big tree some distance from the tents; and 

 when she called, it came scampering to her across the 

 grass, ran up her, and clung to her neck. They would 

 have liked to pilfer; but as they had no clothes it was 

 difficult for them to conceal anything. One of the women 

 was observed to take a fork; but as she did not possess a 

 rag of clothing of any kind all she could do was to try to 

 bury the fork in the sand and then sit on it; and it was 



