172 The Andes and the Amazon. 



duced scale.* They also braid the long black hair of their 

 foes into girdles, which they wear as mementoes of their 

 prowess. They use chonta-lances with triangular points, 

 notched and poisoned, and shields of wood or hide. They 

 have a telegraphic system which enables them to concen- 

 trate their forces quickly in time of war ; large drums are 

 placed on the tops of the hills, and a certain number of 

 strokes, repeated along the line, rapidly convey intelli- 

 gence to the most distant habitation. 



An odd custom prevails among these wild Indians when 

 an addition is made to the family circle. The woman goes 

 into the woods alone, and on her return washes herself and 

 new-born babe in the river ; then the husband immediate- 

 ly takes to his bed for eight days, during which time the 

 wife serves him on the choicest dainties she can procure.f 

 They have also the unique practice of exchanging wives. 

 The Jivaro speech is sonorous and energetic. They do 

 not use salt ; so that they distinguish the Napo tribes as 

 the " Indians who eat salt." The chief articles manufac- 

 tured by them are cotton goods and blowpipes. They trade 

 mostly at Can^los and Macas, generally purchasing iron 

 implements, such as hatchets and knives. 



Can^los consists of about seventy families of Quichua- 

 speaking Indians, and lies on the south bank of the Bobo- 

 naza. A trail connects it with Banos, at the foot of Tun- 

 guragua. Candles was founded in 1536, and derives its 

 name from its situation in the Candla, or American cinna- 

 mon forest. The bark of the tree has the flavor of the 



* Bates (ii., 132) speaks of a similar custom among the ancient Mundu- 

 rucus : "They used to sever the head with knives made of broad bamboo, 

 and then, after taking out the brain and fleshy parts, soak it in bitter vegeta- 

 ble oils, and expose it several days over the smoke of a fire, or in the sun. " 



t A like custom existed among some Brazilian and Guiana tribes. It also 

 prevailed to some extent among the ancient Cantabrians and Corsicans, the 

 Congos and Tartars, and in the Southern French provinces. 



