IN HUMBOLDT'S COUNTRY 417 
slung at his back or in his hand. One had a small 
instrument of a conical shape in his hand, made of 
some heavy wood (apparently mura-piranga) ; he told 
me it was formerly used in war in close encounters, 
and he who wielded it sought to smite his antagonist 
below and behind the ear. The dance was unfor- 
tunately interrupted in the commencement by a 
serious quarrel, arising from a young woman, re- 
cently married, refusing to remain any longer with 
her husband, the brother of Tussari. The young 
woman's part was taken by a stout fellow called 
Aranau, brother-in-law to Tussari, not, however, 
because he wanted the woman for himself (being 
already married to Tussarf's sister), but because, 
as I understood from the women, he was foremost 
in every quarrel. The young woman clung to 
her own father's arm and, though tearful, seemed 
resolute. The brother seemed to wish that she 
should follow the bent of her inclination. Tussari 
tried to soothe all parties, and to induce the woman 
to return to her husband, but the quarrel grew 
more fierce, and suddenly Aranau knocked the 
flambeau out of the hand of Tussari's wife, knocked 
down Tussari himself, and threw himself on the 
husband. The men shouted, the women screamed, 
we were in total darkness in a room not over 14 
feet square and the combatants had long knives. 
At one step I could have laid my hand on my gun, 
which had both barrels loaded, but I thought to 
myself, if I seem to notice their quarrels it may 
serve as a pretext for turning their rage on me, 
so I walked quietly out of an opposite door, and 
when I got outside was quickly joined by my men, 
who were also afraid of being implicated in the 
VOL. I 2 E 
