THIRD JOURNEY. 



161 



bread to them. They make earthen pots to boil their 

 provisions in; and they get from the white men flat 

 circular plates of iron, on which they bake their cas- 

 sava. They have to grate the cassava before it is 

 pressed, preparatory to baking; and those Indians who 

 are too far in the wilds to procure graters from the 

 white men, make use of a flat piece of wood, studded with 

 sharp stones. They have no cows, horses, mules, goats, 

 sheep, or asses. The men hunt and fish, and the women 

 work in the provision-ground, and cook their victuals. 

 " Fermented ^ n eacn hamlet there is the trunk of a 

 liquor. large tree, hollowed out like a trough. In 

 this, from their cassava, they make an abominable ill- 

 tasted and sour kind of fermented liquor, called piwarri. 

 They are very fond of it, and never fail to get drunk 

 after every brewing. The frequency of the brewing 

 depends upon the superabundance of cassava. 



Both men and women go without clothes. The men 

 have a cotton wrapper, and the women a 



Their habits. _ _ ri . 



bead-ornamented square piece of cotton, 

 about the size of your hand, for the fig-leaf. Those far 

 away in the interior, use the bark of a tree for this 

 purpose. They are a very clean people, and wash in 

 the river, or creek, at least twice every day. They 

 paint themselves with the roucou, sweetly perfumed 

 with hayawa or accaiari. Their hair is black and lank, 

 and never curled. The women braid it up fancifully, 

 something in the shape of Diana's head-dress in ancient 

 pictures. They have very few diseases. Old age and 

 pulmonary complaints seem to be the chief agents for 

 removing them to another world. The pulmonary com- 

 plaints are generally brought on by a severe cold, which 

 they do not know how to arrest in its progress, by the 



M 



