226 



NATIVE INDIANS. 



undulating edges ; but on being roasted, it assumes 

 a black colour, and acquires the properties of caout- 

 chouc. 



The natives of these countries live in hordes of 

 forty or fifty, and unite under a common chief only 

 when they wage war with their neighbours. As the 

 different tribes speak different languages they have 

 little communication. They cultivate cassava, plan- 

 tains, and sometimes maize ; but shift from place to 

 place, so that they entirely lose the advantages re- 

 sulting in other countries from agricultural habits. 

 They have two great objects of worship, — the good 

 principle, Cachimana, who regulates the seasons 

 and favours the harvests ; and the evil principle, Jo- 

 lokiamo, less powerful, but more active and artful. 

 They have no idols ; but the botuto, or sacred trum- 

 pet, is an object of veneration, the initiation into 

 the mysteries of which requires pure manners and 

 a single life. Women are not permitted to see it, 

 and are excluded from all the ceremonies of this 

 religion. 



It took the Indians more than four days to drag 

 the boat upon rollers to the Rio Pimichin. One of 

 them, a tall strong man, was bitten by a snake, and 

 was Drought to the mission in a very alarming con- 

 dition. He had dropped down senseless, and was 

 afterward seized with nausea, vertigo, and a deter- 

 mination of blood to the head, but was cured by an 

 infusion of raiz de mato ; respecting the plant fur- 

 nishing which Humboldt could obtain no satisfactory 

 ^formation, although he supposes it to be of the 

 family of Apocyneae. In the hut of this individual 

 he observed balls of an earthy and impure salt, two 

 or three inches in diameter. It is obtained by re- 

 ducing to ashes the spadix and fruit of a palm-tree, 

 and consists of muriate x>f potash and soda, caustic 

 lime, and other ingredients. The Indians dissolve 

 a few grains in water, which they drop on their 

 food. 



