230 ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND [chap, vii 



moulded to the shape of her head ; but both woman and 

 monkey showed some reluctance about having their 

 photographs taken. 



Bonafacio consisted of several thatched one-room 

 cabins, connected by a stockade which was extended to 

 form an enclosure behind them. A number of tame 

 parrots and parakeets, of several different species, 

 scrambled over the roofs and entered the houses. In 

 the open pastures near by were the curious, extensive 

 burrows of a gopher rat, which ate the roots of grass, 

 not emerging to eat the grass but pulling it into the 

 buiTows by the roots. These burrows bore a close 

 hkeness to those of our pocket gophers. MUler found 

 the animals difficult to trap. Finally, by the aid of 

 Colonel Rondon, several Indians, and two or three of 

 our men, he dug one out. From the central shaft 

 several surface galleries radiated, running for many 

 rods about a foot below the surface, with, at intervals 

 of half a dozen yards, mounds where the loose earth had 

 been expelled. The central shaft ran straight down for 

 about eight feet, and then laterally for about fifteen 

 feet, to a kind of chamber. The animal dug hard to 

 escape, but when taken and put on the surface of the 

 ground it Inoved slowly and awkwardly. It showed 

 vicious courage. In looks it closely resembled our 

 pocket gophers, but it had no pockets. This was one 

 of the most interesting small mammals that we secured 



After breakfast at Bonafacio a number of Nhambi- 

 quaras — men, women, and children — strolled in. The 

 men gave us an exhibition of not very good archery ; 

 when the bow was bent, it was at first held so that the 

 arrow pointed straight upwards and was then lowered 

 so that the arrow was aimed at the target. Several 

 of the women had been taken from other tribes, after 



