549 



is less polite, but more true, and more expres- 

 sive. The whole weight of labour being sup- 

 ported by these unhappy women, we must riot 

 be surprised, if in some nations their number is 

 extremely small. Where this happens, a kind 

 of polyandry is formed, which we find more 

 fully displayed in Thibet, and on the lofty moun- 

 tains at the extremity of the Indian peninsula. 

 Among the Avanoes and the Maypures, bro- 

 thers have often but one wife. When an 

 Indian, who lives in polygamy, becomes a Chris- 

 tian, he is compelled by the missionaries, to 

 choose among his wives her whom he prefers, 

 and to reject the others. The moment of sepa- 

 ration is the critical moment ; the new convert 

 finds the most valuable qualities in the wives he 

 must abandon. One understands gardening 

 perfectly ; another knows how to prepare the 

 chiza, an intoxicating beverage extracted from 

 the root of cassava ; all appear to him alike 

 necessary. Sometimes the desire of preserving 

 his wives overcomes in the Indian his inclina- 

 tion to Christianity; but most frequently the 

 husband prefers submitting to the choice of the 

 missionary, as to a blind fatality. 



The Indians, who from the month of May 

 to that of August take journeys to the east of 

 Esmeralda, to gather the vegetable productions 

 of the mountains of Yumariquin, gave us precise 



5 



