OF THE AMAZON, 



343 



They pour the juice of a tree, which stains a deep blue- 

 black, on their heads, and let it run in streams all down their 

 backs; and the red and yellow are often disposed in large 

 round spots upon the cheeks and forehead. 



The use of ornaments and trinkets of various kinds is 

 almost confined to the men. The women wear a bracelet 

 on the wrists, but none on the neck, and no comb in the 

 hair ; they have a garter below the knee, worn tight from 

 infancy, for the purpose of swelling out the calf, which they 

 consider a great beauty. While dancing in their festivals, the 

 women wear a small tanga, or apron, made of beads, prettily 

 arranged ; it is only about six inches square, but is never worn 

 at any other time, and immediately the dance is over, it is 

 taken off. 



The men, on the other hand, have the hair carefully parted 

 and combed on each side, and tied in a queue behind. In 

 the young men, it hangs in long locks down their necks, and, 

 with the comb, which is invariably carried stuck in the top of 

 the head, gives to them a most feminine appearance : this is 

 increased by the large necklaces and bracelets of beads, and the 

 careful extirpation of every symptom of beard. Taking these 

 circumstances into consideration, I am strongly of opinion 

 that the story of the Amazons has arisen from these feminine- 

 looking warriors encountered by the early voyager. I am 

 inclined to this opinion, from the effect they first produced 

 on myself, when it was only by close examination I saw that 

 they were men ; and, were the front parts of their bodies and 

 their breasts covered with shields, such as they always use, I 

 am convinced any person seeing them for the first time would 

 conclude they were women. We have only therefore to suppose 

 that tribes having similar customs to those now living on the 

 river Uaupes, inhabited the regions where the Amazons were 

 reported to have been seen, and we have a rational explana- 

 tion of what has so much puzzled all geographers. The only 

 objection to this explanation is, that traditions are said to exist 

 among the natives, of a nation of women without husbands." 

 Of this tradition, however, I was myself unable to obtain any 

 trace, and I can easily imagine it entirely to have arisen from 

 the suggestions and inquiries of Europeans themselves. When 

 the story of the Amazons was first made known, it became of 

 course a point with all future travellers to verify it, or if possible 



