248 Indian Ideas of Chastity. 
his wife and children, just as he in general knows how to control all his 
feelings in the most masterly manner. But if the parents believe them- 
selves unnoticed they smother their children with all those endearments 
of which the European alone is at all capable. I can call to mind but 
one instance where this outward decorum was not observed: a couple, 
already married for over a yt*ai-, and who ;u-coinpanied us on the Takutii 
expedition, gave free expression to tlieir feelings of fondness in our 
presence. 
56G. And if I also wished to reject as untrue the reason given by 
him as the obstacle to pregnancy, there are a number of other circum- 
stances other than those suc-li as indirfcrcnce and impotence that would 
rather account for tlie certalidy snrjuising ]»ancity of children. The 
lieavy work in tlie field and in tlie houseliold, the restless fondness for 
travel wlum the Avomcn have to act as carriers of utensils, articles of 
ti'ade, and provisions, the oft prevailing want of the necessaries of life, 
and tlieir exhausting labours are without doubt the chief cause of 
sterility. This is confirnu'd \>y tlie fact that Indian women who marry 
Europeans, ^^■hich is very often tlie case on the coast -when they 
are then subject to neither of those fatigues, nor privations, become 
mothers of a numerous family. However reluctantly I might accept 
the assertion made against my will that pregnancy is often prevented 
by artificial means, it appears to me that a still further ground for this 
detestable practice may lie in the burden of the labour imposed upon 
the woman, as well as in the vanity so universally peculiar to her sex. 
because her work and trouble is increased with each new-born child and 
all traces of her former lieauty which her first child may have left will 
completely disappear after repeated confinements. Such expressions as 
"You have beau'tiful soft eyes and a lovely forehead." or ''What a pretty 
setting of your eyes" give rise to similnr- emotions in the Indian gii'l as 
flatteiw in the heart of a CTerniau eofpiette. Twin-births are extremely 
rare, and durina- the whole of my stay among the aboriü-ines of Guiana 
T can only call to mind two cases of twins, among the Macusis and 
TTaikas, which at the same time contradict another statement that 
when twins are born, one of the fhildreu always get killed by the 
mother, so as to avoid all suspicion of infidelitv to her husband, as well 
as the chaff from the other -women. This chaffing of the mother is also 
not customary among the Macusis and Waikas: it would refute the soft 
and crentV charadter of the former. 
.567. When we told the women that among the Paranaghieris, twin 
births were anything but rare, and that cases even occurred where 
women gave birth to three at a birth, they put on a satirical smile and 
every time retaliated "We are no Intclies that throw a lot of pups at a 
time." Their ideas of female chastity are of course heavens-away 
different from ours. Every girl may, without in the least damaging her 
reputation, favour iTeaps of lovers, but as soon as she is married, the 
most inviolate observance of marital fidelity is, as already stated, de- 
manded of her. In the freedom above mentioned, in the liberty of undis- 
puted control over their oavu bodies, the altorigines of Guiana corres- 
pond entirely w^th the natives of New Zealand, as reported in Cook's, 
