I 
CUSTOMS. 
183 
hanging in the direction of their route, in order to warn 
neighhours and ti-avellers to avoid the path they are 
taking in search of a man or beast to be offered up j for 
if one of their own people fall into their hands^ even he 
will be sacrificed as the expiatory victim. 
"They arc faithful in marriage, and only have one 
wife. When a young man has made his choice, his 
friends or parents ask the consent of the girl. It is 
never refused* The day is chosen, and in the morning, 
before sunrise, the girl is sent into the forest, where she 
hides herself, or not, according to her inclinations to- 
wai-ds her suitor. An hour aftei-wards the young man 
is sent to seek her, and if he has the good luck to find 
her and bring her back to her friends before sunset, the 
marriage is consummated, and she is his mfc for ever. 
But if, on the contraiy, he returns without her, he must 
give up all farther claim. 
Old age is very much respected among the Ajctas, 
and it is always one of the eldest who governs their 
assemblies. All the savages of this race live, as I have 
already said, in great families of sixty to eighty. They 
stray in the forests without a fixed residence, aud change 
the spot according to the greater or lesser quantity of 
game in the neighbourhood* 
* * * * 
Living in a state altogether primitive, these savages 
possess no instruments of music; and their language, 
which resembles, as I have already said, the chirrupping of 
birds, contains only a few words of incredible difficulty of 
acquisition by the stranger who tries to learn it, They 
