198 



PARARUMA— EGGS— INDIANS. 



Encamp- 

 ment of 

 Indiana. 



CHAP.XVII. rivers ; and on the 0th anuveJ, early in the morning, at 

 BcacTof ^^^^ beach of Pararunia, ^vhel•e they found an encamp- 

 Puraruma. ment of Indians, who Iiad assembled to search the sanda 

 for turtles' eggs. The pilot wlio had brought them from 

 San Fcriiantlo de Apure would not undertake to accom- 

 pany them farther ; but tliey procured a boat from one 

 of the missionaries who had come to the egg-harvest. 



This assemblage or encampment afforded to the tra- 

 vellers an interesting subject of study. " How difficult," 

 says IIum])oldt, " to recognise in this infancy of society, 

 this collection of dull, taciturn, and unimpassioned 

 Indians, the original character of our species ! Human 

 nature is not seen here arrayed in that gentle simplicity 

 of which poets in every language have drawn such en- 

 chanting pictures. The savage of the Orinoco appeared 

 to us as hideous as the savage of the Mississippi, described 

 by the philosophical traveller who best knew how to 

 paint man in the various regions of the globe. One 

 would fain persuade himself that these natives of the 

 soil, crouched near the fire, or seated on large shells of 

 turtles, their bodies covered with earth and grease, and 

 their eyes stupidly fixed for whole hours on the drink 

 which they are preparing, far from being the original 

 type of our species, are a degenerated race, the feeble 

 remains of nations which, after being long scattered in 

 the forests, have been again immersed in barbarism." 



Red paint is the ordinary decoration of these tribes. 

 The most common kind is obtained from the seeds of the 

 BLrn orellana, and is called anotto, achote, or roucou. 

 Another much more expensive species is extracted from 

 the leaves of Bignonia chica. Both these are red ; but 

 a black ingredient is obtained from the Genipa Americana, 

 and is called caruto. Tlicse pigments arc mixed with 

 turtle-oil or grease, and are variously applied according 

 to national or individual taste. The Caril)sand Otomacs 

 colour only the head and hair, while the Salivas smear 

 the whole body ; but there ])revail3 in general as great 

 a diversity in the mode of staining as is found in Europe 

 in respect to dress ; and at Pararunia the travellers saw 



Red painta 



