The Life-history of an Indian. 141 



he could throw his limbs about his mother let him 

 sprawl on the sandy floor, where he soon learned to 

 creep. Like all the Indian houses this was infested with 

 jiggers — those fleas which burrow under the skin and 

 give rise to most unsightly ulcers and often dangerous 

 sores. Poor little fellow, he looked miserable enough as 

 he lay naked on the bare sand and learnt that his finger- 

 nails were made to scratch himself when the jiggers were 

 particularly irritating. Occasionally his mother would 

 make a raid upon the pests, picking them out one by one 

 with a palm needle, or a brass pin when she could get 

 one. But even then sand and dirt often got into the 

 punftures, causing sores which lasted for months, and 

 sometimes becoming alive with fly larvae. 



Morning and evening he was taken down to the creek 

 and encouraged to throw his arms and legs about. Before 

 he could do more than crawl he was able to swim, and 

 soon became quite at home in the water. To teach him 

 to stand up and walk, some hucu ants were procured, 

 and, taking one between his forefinger and thumb, his 

 father wonld let it bite the crawling little one and make 

 him strive with all his might to get away. This soon 

 taught him to use his legs and run when he saw one of 

 the ants. Cords were now wound round his legs to 

 give a right shape to the calves and his father made him 

 a necklace of peccaries' teeth. Otherwise he was quite 

 naked and remained so until approaching manhood, when 

 a lap was provided. 



A little later he was here, there and everywhere, now 

 stealing the cassava bread or picking bits of meat from 

 the barbecue, and anon swimming in the creek or run- 

 ning about the clearing. He was never beaten by his 



