The Aborigines of Brazil. 3A1 



lances in several places ; on the sixth day he left his couch 

 with his wounds healed. Quosferrum non sanat i ignis sanat. 



If the Paje has exhausted his stock of remedies, and recovery 

 does not follow, and he sees the death of his patient ap- 

 proaching, he withdraws from him, using a variety of depre- 

 catory phrases. The relations approach, and cover the sick man 

 with the inner bark of trees, or with cloth, that they may not 

 see the death-struggle or hear the last cries of pain. They cover 

 him up to such a degree, that the sick man's death is often 

 hastened by suffocation. I have been told that in some cases, 

 where recovery is considered quite hopeless, it is customary to 

 shorten his painful existence by a blow on the head. During 

 his last moments, the family and the neighbours raise a wild 

 cry of lamentation, to deaden the sounds of the dying man, 

 and their own grief. The corpse is, a few hours after death, 

 enveloped in the inner bark of trees or in cloth, sunk in a round 

 grave, in a squatting position, with the head between the knees, 

 turned towards the east, and covered in with earth, which the 

 relations trample down with their feet, uttering the while wail- 

 ings and lamentations. Among some tribes, bodies of distin- 

 guished warriors are gradually mummified over the fire, or the 

 skeleton is kept anointed with oil and Rocou, and adorned 

 with feathers. 



The Paje's Fee. 



If we now come to enquire, according to the ideas of Euro- 

 pean civilization, what the doctor receives for his trouble ? we 

 must answer, everything or nothing. In a society so poor, 

 there is no wealth. ei Dat Galenus opes" is here an inapplica- 

 ble phrase. The Paje who has effected a cure, may carry 

 away with him from the cabin of his patient any of the products 

 of Indian industry ; but nothing, with the exception of the 

 weapons, is of any value. A few of the products of European 

 civilization, such as an axe, a knife, a fish-hook, or a bottle of 

 brandy, are sometimes to be found ; but are considered much 



