On the Aborigines of Brazil. 33 



and he always protects his head at least from the moon 

 light by a cap.* In his cabin he sleeps naked on a mat 

 hammock. He does not protect his body by clothes, but, as 

 he himself says by fire, which he keeps alive at all seasons 

 of the year close to his sleeping place. If he must pass the 

 night out of doors, he buries himself up to the head in 

 the sand of the bank of a river, or he selects a dry place 

 between smooth projecting tree roots, and collects a nest 

 of leaves under and about him, or builds a light roof of 

 palm-leaves over his sleeping place. If he must pass the 

 night in an open field, he surrounds his body with light 

 brush-wood or palm-leaves, of which he forms a temporary 

 bower, and if he cannot have even this, he endeavours at 

 least to cover his face from the night dew with brush-wood 

 and palm-leaves. Any unusual change of temperature during 

 the night awakens him : after that he does not sleep again, 

 but endeavours to keep his body as much as possible in 

 motion until morning. Nothing has such an effect in keep- 

 ing an Indian awake for the whole night as cold. All these 

 facts in the mode of life of the Indian, shew that he is by no 

 means so much hardened against the influence of the weather 

 as is commonly supposed. Indeed I think I may say that 

 the European has greatly the advantage of him in this 

 respect.f His cold nature, his inactive nervous system, 

 his weak pulse, prepare as to believe how much he feels at- 

 mospheric vicissitudes. We are not then to be surprised 

 if we find, that he trembles and shivers in frost and cold, 

 and suffers from catarrhal affections in inclement weather. 



* Is there any truth in the universal prejudice, that sleeping in moonlight 

 is in itself a cause of disease, or is it merely, as some say, that when there is a 

 clear moon, there is a clear sky, consequently a rapid deposit of moisture ? — Tr. 



f i. e. We suppose, taking the native as he is, and the European protected hy 

 clothes. The remark would certainly not apply to N. American Indians, — Tr. 



(To be continued. ) 



