Ch. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 395 



they make a jeft of other nations, calling them caia- 

 bafh heads. 



In order to give children this beautiful fiatnefs, the 

 upper part of the head is put, foon after the birth, 

 betwixt two pieces of board;, and repeated, from time 

 to time, till they have brought it to the fafhionable 

 form. 



Another nation of thefe Indians, affeding a ftrik- 

 ing appearance, make feveral holes in both their up- 

 per and under lips, both fides of the cartilage of their 

 ^nofe, their chins, and jaws : and in thefe they (tick 

 fine feathers, or little arrows eight or nine inches long. 

 The reader's own imagination will fufficiently paint 

 the ftrange appearance they muft make with thefe de- 

 corations. Others place a great beauty in long ears ; 

 and accordingly extend them by art to fuch a degree, 

 :that in fome the inferior lobe touches the fhoulder : 

 and they value themfelves on the nickname of long 

 ears, which has been given them in ridicule. The 

 method they make ufe of to extend their ears is this : 

 they bore a hole in the lobe, and fallen to it a fmall 

 weight, Vv^hich they from time to time increafe, till 

 the ear is ftretched to nearly the length above-men- 

 tioned : and as the lobe increafes in length, fo likewife 

 does it in magnitude. Others paint fome parts of their 

 bodies ; fome the whole. All have fomething peculiar 

 in their modes and cuftoms, but generally of fuch a 

 nature, that Europeans wonder how they could ever 

 ' enter the thoughts of rational creatures *. 



After defcribing this great river, and giving an 

 account of the villages and nations near its banks, I 

 fhall proceed to fome other particularities relating to 

 it, as the extraordinary fpecies of filh found in its wa- 

 ters, and likewife the birds and other animals feen in 

 f he adjacent countries through which it flow^s. Among 



Another remarkable cuflom is, that of their tying their pri- 

 |/ities in a bladder before they go into the water. A. 



the 



