134 The Idol Head of the Jivaros. 



mity, was employed as a probe ; it failed to reach, the intended 

 prey, so that the slender hooked claw, with which it is armed, 

 was for a time useless, hut the powerful gnawing teeth, of the 

 animal were instantly put into requisition ; sufficient of the wood 

 was rapidly bitten away to enable the probe-like middle-finger 

 to be inserted with success, and the slender claw transfixed and 

 drew forth a large luscious larva, which was devoured with the 

 greatest relish. 



The peculiar configuration of the aye-aye is no longer a 

 mystery; its grasping hinder hands, leaving the fore limbs free, 

 its long attenuated probe-like finger, with its slender hook-like 

 claw; its enlarged ears, its gnawing teeth, are all evidently 

 adapted to the habits, instincts, and food of the animal, and 

 although they may not enable closet naturalists to locate it 

 with unerring certainty in this or that artificial group ; they, 

 nevertheless, prove what is of much more importance to be 

 determined, that there is a co-relation of structure with external 

 circumstances, which proves, as far as such evidence can prove, 

 that the organs of the animals are formed with special and direct 

 reference to the objects upon which they are to be exercised. 



THE IDOL HEAD OF THE JIYAEOS. 



BY WM. BOLLAEKT, F.K.G.S. 



On the eastern side of the Kepublic of Ecuador, formerly known 

 as Quito, live a tribe of Indians called Jivaros, a strange, wild 

 people, dwelling in the midst of a most beautiful mountainous 

 country rich with tropical vegetation, and dense forests, and 

 including in its wild grandeur the by no means inconsiderable 

 volcano of Macas. There, may be found, among other valu- 

 able vegetable productions, the handsome mahogany, sandal, 

 and ebony trees, the cinchonas, india-rubber, copal, storax, 

 indigo, guayusa, canelo, etc., most of them well known to 

 civilized life, and all of them deserving to be so for their useful 

 properties and capacities. The laurelo or wax palm is very 

 abundant, the wax being obtained by merely scraping it off the 

 bark. Cotton, of a long fibre, strong, and of a fine quality, 

 grows there indigenously; no limits could be put to its cultiva- 

 tion, and the Amazon affords an easy shipment to Europe. 

 Coffee and cacoa grow freely. The guayusa, a plant which tin 1 

 Indians cultivate near their huts, might probably compete witii 

 tea from China in the English market, as it has a similar 

 aromatic flavour without bitterness. Canelo is a species of 

 cinnamon ; the ishpingo is the calyx of its flower. It is equal 



