515 



ful to add, that some of them speculate on this 

 state of nudity of the natives. In their huts, 

 pompously called convemtos I have often seen 

 stores of chica, which they sold as high as four 

 francs the cake (turta). To form a just idea of 

 the extravagance of the decoration of these naked 

 Indians, I must observe, that a man of large 

 stature gains with difficulty enough by the la- 

 bour of a fortnight, to procure in exchange the 

 chica necessary to paint himself red. Thus as 

 we say in temperate climates of a poor man, 

 " he has not enough to clothe himself," you hear 

 the Indians of the Oroonoko say, f that man is 

 so poor, that he has not enough to paint ( sonoter, 

 se majefayer) half his body." The little trade in 

 chica is carried on chiefly with the tribes of the 

 Lower Oroonoko, whose country does not pro- 

 duce the plant that furnishes this much valued 

 substance. The Caribbees and the Otomacks 

 paint only the head and the hair with chica, but 

 the Salivas possess this pigment in sufficient 

 abundance, to cover their whole bodies. When 

 the missionaries send on their own account small 

 cargoes of cacao, tobacco, and chiquichiqui \ 

 from the Rio Negro to Angostura, they always 

 add some cakes of chica, as being articles of 



* In the missions, the parsonage house bears the name ot 

 convent ; it is la casa del padre, 



f Ropes made with the petioles of a palm-tree with pin- 

 nate leaves, of which we shall speak in the sequel. 



2 l 2 



