354 TRAVELS IN 
pended from them. I have already fald that 
this cuftom proceeds from a peculiar tafte, a 
very uncomman caprice of fafhlon, and a 
refinement of coquetry. In the horde, in 
which I then was, only four women, and the 
young girl already mentioned, were in this 
ridiculous fituatlon. Whoever has read Dio^ 
nh will readily comprehend how eafily this 
operation may be performed j as for my part, 
I fee nothing wonderful in it but the whim- 
licalnefs of the invention. Formerly, per- 
haps, whole hordes of favages, diftinguifhed 
by this particularity, were to be met with 
even in thofe parts which at prefent belong 
to the colonies, and this in all probabihty 
has given birth to thofe errors which have 
been propagated on this fubjeft ; but the 
difperfion of a people foon'deftroys their an- 
cient ufages. This one is pradllfed only in 
certain parts remote from one another, and 
by a few individuals attached by tradition to 
ancient manners, and who confider it as a 
merit ftill to obferve them with the moft 
fcrupulous minutenefs. 
When I had fiwifhed my obfervations, and 
traverfed, as far as the precautions neceflary 
to be taken would permit, different chains 
and 
