210 ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND [chap, vii 



were not marked or mutilated. It seems like a contra- 

 diction in terms, but it is nevertheless a fact that the 

 behaviour 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 simply 

 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 smaU 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 

 ordinary clothes. Two of the men and the boy were 

 practically naked, and the two young women were 

 absolutely so. All of them danced in a circle, vvdthout 

 a touch of embarrassment 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 interchange 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-subdued shrill cry. The women 

 continually uttered a kind of long-drawn wailing or 

 droning ; I am not enough of a musician to say whether 

 it was an overtone or the sustaining of the burden of 

 the ballad. The young boy sang better than any of the 



