The Highland Wilderness 207 



the middle of the earth floor ; I was told that they were 

 then reciting the deeds of mighty hunters and describing 

 how they brought in the game. They drank freely from 

 gourds and pannikins of a fermented drink made from 

 mandioc which were brought out to them. During the 

 first part of the dance the women remained in the houses, 

 and all the doors and windows were shut and blankets 

 hung to prevent the possibility of seeing out. But during 

 the second part all the women and girls came out and 

 looked on. They were themselves to have danced when 

 the men had finished, but were overcome with shyness 

 at the thought of dancing with so many strangers looking 

 on. The children played about with unconcern through- 

 out the ceremony, one of them throwing high in the air, 

 and again catching in his hands, a loaded feather, a kind 

 of shuttlecock. 



In the evening the growing moon shone through the 

 cloud-rack. Anything approaching fair weather always 

 put our men in good spirits; and the muleteers squatted 

 in a circle, by a fire near a pile of packs, and listened to 

 a long monotonously and rather mournfully chanted song 

 about a dance and a love-affair. We ourselves worked 

 busily with our photographs and our writing. There was 

 so much humidity in the air that everything grew damp 

 and stayed damp, and mould gathered quickly. At this 

 season it is a country in which writing, taking photo- 

 graphs, and preparing specimens are all works of diffi- 

 culty, at least so far as concerns preserving and sending 

 home the results of the labor; and a man's clothing is 

 never really dry. From here Father Zahm returned to 

 Tapirapoan, accompanied by Sigg. 



