226 ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND [chap, vii 



evidently to have done so would have been rather bad 

 manners — like using a knife as an aid in eating ice-cream. 



They held two or three dances, and we were again 

 struck by the rhythm and weird, haunting melody of 

 their chanting. After supper they danced beside the 

 camp-fire ; and finally, to their delight, most of the 

 members of our own party, Americans and Brazihans, 

 enthusiastically joined the dance, while the Colonel and 

 I furnished an appreciative and applauding audience. 

 Next morning, when we were awakened by the chattering 

 and screaming of the numerous macaws, parrots, and 

 parakeets, we found that nearly all the Indians, men 

 and women, were gathered outside the tent. As far as 

 clothing was concerned, they were in the condition of 

 Adam and Eve before the fall. One of the women 

 carried a httle squirrel monkey. She put it up the big 

 tree some distance from the tents ; and when she called, 

 it came scampering to her across the grass, ran up her, 

 and clung to her neck. They would have hked to 

 pilfer ; but as they had no clothes it was difficult for 

 them to conceal anything. One of the women was 

 observed to take a fork; but as she did not possess a 

 rag of clothing of any kind all she could do was to try 

 to bury the fork in the sand and then sit on it ; and it 

 was reclaimed without difficulty. One or two of the 

 children wore necklaces and bracelets made of the 

 polished wood of the tucum palm, and of the molars of 

 small rodents. 



Next day's march led us across a hUly country of 

 good pastureland. The valleys were densely wooded, 

 palms of several kinds being conspicuous among the 

 other trees ; and the brooks at the bottoms we crossed 

 at fords or by the usual rude pole bridges. On the open 

 pastures were occasional trees, usually slender bacaba 



