224 Through the Brazilian Wilderness 



The men had holes pierced through the septum of the 

 nose and through the upper lip, and wore a straw through 

 each hole. The women were not marked or mutilated. 

 It seems like a contradiction in terms, but it is neverthe- 

 less a fact that the behavior of these completely naked 

 women and men was entirely modest. There was never 

 an indecent look or a consciously indecent gesture. They 

 had no blankets or hammocks, and when night came sim- 

 ply lay down in the sand. Colonel Rondon stated that 

 they never wore a covering by night or by day, and if 

 it was cool slept one on each side of a small fire. Their 

 huts were merely slight shelters against the rain. 



The moon was nearly full, and after nightfall a few 

 of the Indians suddenly held an improvised dance for us 

 in front of our house. There were four men, a small 

 boy, and two young women or grown girls. Two of the 

 men had been doing some work for the commission, and 

 were dressed, one completely and one partially, in ordi- 

 nary clothes. Two of the men and the boy were practi- 

 cally naked, and the two young women were absolutely so. 

 All of them danced in a circle, without a touch of embar- 

 rassment or impropriety. The two girls kept hold of 

 each other's hands throughout, dancing among the men 

 as modestly as possible, and with the occasional inter- 

 change of a laugh or jest, in as good taste and temper as 

 in any dance in civilization. The dance consisted in 

 slowly going round in a circle, first one way then the 

 other, rhythmically beating time with the feet to the music 

 of the song they were chanting. The chants — ^there 

 were three of them, all told — ^were measured and rather 

 slowly uttered melodies, varied with an occasional half- 



