188. 



THE INDIANS. 



hut whilst his wife takes shelter in some neigh- 

 bour's shed. But if" they travel, she has her 

 young children to carry, the pots, the baskets, 

 and the excavated gourds, whilst the husband 

 takes his wallet of goat-skin and his hammock 

 rolled up upon his back, his fishing-net and his 

 arms, and walks in the rear. The children are 

 washed on the day of their birth in the nearest 

 brook or pool of water. Both the men and the 

 women are cleanly in many of their habits, and 

 particularly in those relating to their persons; but 

 in some other matters their customs are extreme- 

 ly disgusting ; the same knife is used for all pur- 

 poses, and with little preparatory cleaning is 

 employed in services of descriptions widely op- 

 posite. They do not reject any kind of food, 

 and devour it almost without being cooked ; rats 

 and other small vermin, snakes and alligators, 

 are all accepted. 



The instinct, for I know not what else to call 

 it, which the Indians possess above other men, 

 in finding their way across a wood to a certain 

 spot on the opposite side without path or appa- 

 entmark, is most surprising; they trace footsteps 

 over the dry leaves which lie scattered under the 

 trees. The letter-carriers, from one province to 

 another, are mostly Indians, for from habit they 

 endure great fatigue, and will walk day after 

 day, with little rest, for months together. I 

 have met them with their wallets made of goat- 



