2o6 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



actions, as it trotted about before it saw me, it must be 

 diurnal in habits. It was new to the collection. 



I spent much of the afternoon by the waterfall. Un- 

 der the overcast sky the great cataract lost the deep green 

 and fleecy-white of the sunlit falling waters. Instead it 

 showed opaline hues and tints of topaz and amethyst. 

 At all times, and under all lights, it was majestic and 

 beautiful. 



Colonel Rondon had given the Indians various pres- 

 ents, those for the women including calico prints, and, 

 what they especially prized, bottles of scented oil, from 

 Paris, for their hair. The men held a dance in the late 

 afternoon. For this occasion most, but not all, of them 

 cast aside their civilized clothing, and appeared as doubt- 

 less they would all have appeared had none but themselves 

 been present. They were* absolutely naked except for a 

 beaded string round the waist. Most of them were spot- 

 ted and dashed with red paint, and on one leg wore 

 anklets which rattled. A number carried pipes through 

 which they blew a kind of deep stifled whistle in time to 

 the dancing. One of them had his pipe leading into a 

 huge gourd, which gave out a hollow, moaning boom. 

 Many wore two red or green or yellow macaw feathers 

 in their hair, and one had a macaw feather stuck trans- 

 versely through the septum of his nose. They circled 

 slowly round and round, chanting and stamping their 

 feet, while the anklet rattles clattered and the pipes 

 droned. They advanced to the wall of one of the houses, 

 again and again chanting and bowing before it; I was 

 told this was a demand for drink. They entered one 

 house and danced in a ring around the cooking-fire in 



